Chapter Forty-Nine: Operation Fury Dragon (Part Fourteen)

Before deciding to fire from the same sniper spot to eliminate the "Cobra," Lei Dong had already anticipated that his position would be exposed. After firing five consecutive shots without even checking his results, he grabbed his .50-caliber rifle, executed a roll, and dove straight into the building through the passage beside the rooftop utility room. The moment his body slipped into the opening, his right hand gave a gentle tug, and the hatch cover made of two-centimeter steel plate swung over with precision, sealing the entrance with absolute accuracy.

The cover had barely settled, and his feet had not yet touched the ground, when an overwhelming barrage of attacks hit the roof. A dense, chaotic storm of bullets and thousands of grenade fragments saturated the entire floor like a torrential downpour, merging into a continuous roar where individual shots were indistinguishable.

It was timed almost down to the exact second he had slipped into the passage!

"Damn those little Jap bastards, their tactical skills aren't half bad!" Lei Dong cursed. If he hadn't dodged so quickly, even with his Nascent Soul stage cultivation and the unique properties of the Chaotic Art that made his body nearly invulnerable, his combat uniform certainly wouldn't have survived—it would have been shredded back down into raw fibers and reduced to dust!

Tucking in his neck, Lei Dong slung the .50-caliber sniper rifle over his back, switched to a QBZ-95 assault rifle equipped with an under-barrel grenade launcher, and inserted a grappling hook into the launcher. He strode quickly to a pre-opened window overlooking the exterior of the building and glanced down. The small flanking squad of soldiers had just rounded the building's corner, cautiously scanning and searching their surroundings.

"Did you really think your grandpa is stupid enough not to leave a way out?" Lei Dong sneered contemptuously, pressing the remote detonation button.

"Boom! Boom!" Two remote anti-personnel mines, meticulously calculated and planted near the corner of the building, detonated simultaneously. The deafening roar, the massive shockwave, and eight hundred steel balls instantly saturated an area nearly a hundred meters in radius, sending the reconnaissance squad tumbling in disarray.

Amidst the billowing smoke, Lei Dong aimed at a window on the opposite building and pulled the trigger. With a sharp thud, the grappling hook, trailing its main cable, pierced the air like lightning. The sharp arrowhead struck the lower right corner of the window, shattered the glass with a sharp crash, and its barbs locked tightly into the concrete wall beside the window frame. Lei Dong gave the rope a firm tug to test its sturdiness, turned to secure the main cable firmly to a sturdy aluminum-magnesium alloy window frame, hooked the pulley to his belt, and slid across to the opposite building.

Seconds later, Lei Dong had infiltrated the adjacent building, pulled the release cord to detach the main line, retrieved his rope, and sprinted downstairs to rendezvous with Bei Shiliang, who had been lying in wait.

The moment he saw Bei Shiliang, anger flared up in Lei Dong. The guy was sitting leisurely on the ground in his full combat gear, leaning back against a low wall with a grenade launcher-equipped QBZ-95 resting across his knees, casually toying with a remote control. Seeing Lei Dong approach, the fellow even flashed a grin, revealing a row of white teeth.

"Damn it, you're having a pretty comfortable time, aren't you?" Lei Dong felt an itch to kick the guy a couple of times.

Bei Shiliang twisted his waist, rubbing his back against the wall as if it were slightly itchy, or perhaps just trying to settle into a more comfortable posture. "Think I'm too comfortable? Fine, I'll bring you some excitement!"

Bei Shiliang cocked his head to listen to the sounds outside. By now, the cultivation of all team members had borne fruit, and their spiritual perception covered a range exceeding one kilometer. Virtually every one of them functioned as a miniature tactical radar, rendering the pure reliance on eyes and ears largely unnecessary; this was merely a habitual action of his.

A moment later, Bei Shiliang smiled sinisterly. "Three, two, one!" His right index finger gently pressed the remote detonation button.

"Boom, boom, boom!"

Another series of violent explosions erupted a hundred meters away. The little Japs, who had just rushed out of their vehicles to form a perimeter defense and were organizing their assault squad, broke into wails and cries as their formation plunged into utter chaos.

Normally, according to the principles of special operations, taking advantage of the enemy's chaos would make this the optimal moment to withdraw. Once special forces get bogged down by large-scale enemy formations, it often leads to unpredictable consequences. The mission of the Angry Dragon Fourth Detachment was to launch attacks across Kyoto and beyond, creating widespread panic through swift strikes and rapid withdrawals, lighting fires everywhere.

However, this was precisely the moment when they could not retreat or disengage.

Lei Dong glanced down at his communicator. This set of communication equipment was not the domestic "Polaris" system commonly used, but a standard-issue product from the Mynia military specifically procured for this operation. It shared the exact same model used by the Amphibious Reconnaissance Brigade, the most elite special operations force of the Jeop Defense Forces, and linked directly into Mynia's military satellite network.

On the five-inch screen of the communicator, three blue lines were advancing rapidly from the east, north, and west toward the Mochikawa Reservoir. Those were the three units ordered to reinforce the reservoir. Judging by their movement speed and column length, they comprised at least four mechanized squadrons.

Currently, the three units were only about thirty kilometers away from the Mochikawa Reservoir, gradually forming a converging encirclement.

Meanwhile, along a parallel route two kilometers away from the westernmost unit, a tiny red dot emitted from Wu Yun's locator was traveling in the opposite direction, hurtling back toward downtown Kyoto at lightning speed.

"They're out!" Lei Dong breathed a sigh of relief. Throughout the first phase of the operation plan, Lei Dong's biggest concern was that Wu Yun's squad might get trapped by the reinforcing defense forces. Once contact was made and they became pinned down, leaving aside potential casualties or the massive impact on subsequent operational plans, just the thought of the monstrous wall of water hanging over their heads holding one billion tons of water made Lei Dong's heart skip a beat with lingering dread.

Yet the tactical picture displayed on the screen brought immense relief to Lei Dong. As long as they broke free from the encirclement of these three units, the subsequent operations would have a baseline guarantee. Now, everything depended on whether he could intercept the fourth and final reinforcement unit right here, thereby creating the maximum margin for maneuver.

Lei Dong cross-referenced the tactical situation on the monitor, made a swift calculation, and a smile appeared on his face.

Fifteen minutes!

Judging by Wu Yun's route and speed, as long as they could block the enemy right here for fifteen minutes, Wu Yun's squad would successfully enter the outer ring road of the urban area and switch to an alternate route, thereby avoiding any encounter with this returning reinforcement force!

Lei Dong's fingers flew across the military laptop, encoding the pre-planned marching route and combat strategy into a secure message sent to Wu Yun. Putting away the computer, Lei Dong gave Bei Shiliang a kick. "Get up, time to work!"

Bei Shiliang's body sprang upward dynamically from Lei Dong's boot, pushing off the ground to catapult himself like a rubber ball over the low wall behind him. Raising his rifle to his shoulder and flashing forward a few times, he quickly vanished into the distance.

"Beep, beep, beep..." Wu Yun's individual tactical radio chimed. Driving with one hand while operating the radio with the other, Wu Yun glanced at the screen and said in a deep voice, "Order received: 2:00 AM, rendezvous at Point B!"

The accelerator was stomped down hard, and the armored vehicle accelerated once more, the speedometer rapidly climbing toward 140 kilometers per hour as it sped toward the Kyoto outer ring road.