Chapter 43: Operation Raging Dragon (Part 8)

Whether they had been scared out of their wits, or simply trapped by the layout of the pressurizer workshop and the angles of its exterior walls and heavy doors, the police who retreated inside kept the doors tightly shut. Not a single person attempted to organize a counterattack by utilizing the terrain; instead, they huddled together, frantically calling for support over their communicators.

However, apart from static interference and the hum of current noise, they received no response. Long before launching the assault, Lei Dong and Bei Shiliang had jammed the nearby wireless signals and severed the communication cables. The emotions of helplessness and despair are always easy to transmit, especially when facing overwhelming force while completely isolated and helpless.

Soon, someone began to cry in despair.

"Great Amaterasu, have you abandoned us?"

"Mother... I'll never see you again..."

Lei Dong shook his head, a cold sneer forming in his heart. Perhaps having enjoyed peace for too long under the protection of the Minia Federation—the world's sole superpower—Jiepeng, a nation and ethnic group with formidable military prowess and a regional hegemony, was gradually losing its edge. This was clearly evident, whether looking at how easily its police force crumbled at the first blow or at these good-for-nothing cowards weeping and wailing at the mere sight of a little blood. With such combat aptitude, they actually dared to boast of strict training, superior equipment, and being the finest police force in the world? With this kind of fighting will, they even dared to claim they would realize the Greater Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere and revive the former glory of the "Imperial Army"? Had Shinzo Kishi lost his mind?

Yet, Lei Dong quickly realized that it was not just Jiepeng—didn't the Republic show similar tendencies? Too long a period of peace and the comfortable lives brought by high economic development allowed people to enjoy happier times while simultaneously losing their vigilance, numbing them to danger. More importantly, it was eroding the populace's martial spirit, combat awareness, and fighting morale. Weren't the recent domestic serial bombings and public terrorist murders clear proofs of this? The public's reaction and the police's combat effectiveness both had serious problems. In truth, so many people shouldn't have had to die...

He sighed inwardly, but his spiritual awareness remained tirelessly active, closely perceiving the movements inside the water plant. Right now, there were still seven police officers inside the entire pressurizer workshop, five of whom were injured. In the control room to the front left, four people were huddled together in a corner, shaking like chaff in the wind.

Lei Dong made a hand gesture. Bei Shiliang's figure flashed, his P9 pressed against his shoulder, body hunched, moving swiftly toward the control room. Less than two minutes had passed, and the weeping inside the pressurizer workshop grew louder. Some began to wail dryly, while others had even collapsed onto the ground, bodies hunched and convulsing, emitting bouts of dry retching.

"Shut up! Stop making a noise!" a voice shouted angrily. "You..." Before he could finish, the butt of the .50 sniper rifle in Lei Dong's hands flashed to his shoulder. The muzzle lifted slightly, a faint muzzle flash flickered, and with a dull, heavy thud, the wall of the pressurizer workshop suddenly burst open with a small hole. A 12.7mm sniper bullet, spinning at high speed, pierced through the thirty-centimeter wall, creating a large exit wound on the other side before drilling spirally into the man's throat. The immense kinetic force violently tore open the man's neck. Blood burst forth, splashing across the faces and bodies of those nearby, triggering a new wave of terrified screams.

Immediately afterward, the man's neck flopped limply to the side, and his body crashed heavily to the floor. Fresh blood quickly choked his throat and vocal cords, cutting off any sound save for a faint, hissing breath, much like a venomous snake sliding through the grass.

This bloody scene caused the situation to spin further out of control. Inside the pressurizer workshop, several figures scrambled on all fours, trying to hide behind thick pipes. Even the most severely injured managed to find strength from nowhere, laboring to wriggle across the floor.

Yet none of this could escape the path of the bullets, let alone the perception of Lei Dong's spiritual awareness. With the .50 rifle butt against his shoulder, Lei Dong rapidly adjusted his aim and fired in succession.

"Bang!" A running policeman took a bullet to the head; brain matter and blood, pressurized by the immense cranial pressure, sprayed everywhere.

"Bang!" A policeman kneeling and vomiting was struck in the back. The powerful impact lifted his body into the air, blood surged wildly within his chest cavity straight up to his throat, and he crashed heavily to the ground without a sound.

"Bang!"

"Bang!"

"Bang!"

Five shots, five bullet holes, five lives! Five corpses lay scattered in awkward postures across every corner of the workshop.

The terrifying scene drove the last remaining policeman to a desperate scream. Finding strength from an unknown source, this policeman, who had been struggling to crawl on the ground, managed to prop up his upper body. With his right hand tightly gripping a Model 637 revolver, he shrieked "Ahhhhh!" and frantically pulled the trigger outward.

"Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!" Six gunshots rang out. Six 9mm pistol bullets struck the workshop's interior wall with clattering sounds, leaving six tiny bullet holes, not a single one able to penetrate the wall.

With a few crisp metallic clicks, the revolver cylinder continued to spin. The bullets were gone, but the policeman remained completely unaware, continuing to frantically pull the trigger as the firing pin made futile clicking sounds in vain.

"Boom!" The heavy door was kicked off its hinges entirely, hurled dozens of meters away to crash heavily onto the ground. A dark figure stepped through the doorway. Clutching the 637 tightly, his fingers spasming on the trigger amidst the empty "click-click-click" of the gun, the policeman howled in a frenzy of despair.

"Awooooo—" The shrill sound carried far into the distance, resembling a trapped wolf at the end of its tether in a wasteland. Lei Dong looked coldly at the frantic policeman, raised his silenced Type 98 rifle, aimed at the man's head, and pulled the trigger expressionlessly.

"Puff!" With a soft sound, the 7.62mm bullet drilled with extreme precision right between the policeman's eyebrows, instantly severing his central nervous system. A stream of dark blood trickled out, and the policeman's entire body went limp, collapsing powerlessly to the floor. The Model 637 revolver dropped to the ground with a crisp metallic clatter.

Almost simultaneously, Bei Shiliang's report came through the earpiece: "Secure!" Then Bei Shiliang asked, "Four workers, how should we handle them?"

"Standard procedure!" Lei Dong didn't hesitate for a second. With four soft puffs, within his spiritual perception, Bei Shiliang delivered four consecutive chopping strikes. The four workers swayed and slumped unconscious to the floor. Bei Shiliang's voice followed immediately: "Done! They won't wake up for three hours!"

"Execute the plan and rig the explosives immediately!" Lei Dong gave the order swiftly, though mentally adding a thought regarding the four unconscious workers—and the underground drainage workers handled similarly earlier: We are not murderers, but three hours from now, you will have to rely on your own luck. If you want someone to blame, blame your own unrepentant right-wing politicians!