Chapter 731 Stealing kills?!

Zhao Zhibao called the line he saw the "Line of Cause and Effect of Life and Death," but the other members of the 087 team privately preferred to jokingly call the death line he saw, which pointed to the source of the disaster, the "Line of the Mastermind."

The words "mastermind" acted like a shot of adrenaline, instantly instilling a sense of euphoria in every member of Squad 087.

The moment the words left his mouth, without Chen Ya giving any further instructions, the entire 087 squad's running trajectory zigzagged sharply through the grass, changing direction without hesitation.

As if on the same wavelength, the five instantly abandoned their original plan to storm the main battlefield and focused all their attention and killing intent on the mastermind's hideout.

The priority of the objective changes instantly.

Their reaction speed was astonishing, and their turning movements were perfectly synchronized, demonstrating extremely high tactical awareness and teamwork.

Once the target is locked, the killing machine goes into full swing.

Their speed suddenly increased to another level!

Especially team leader Chen Ya, who took the lead!

He leaned slightly forward, using the waist-high grass for cover, and pointed his toes like a venomous snake poised to strike, tapping the ground repeatedly and rapidly with a specific frequency and force.

"call out--!"

His figure seemed to blur for a moment, and instead of running in a straight line, he exhibited a strange, intermittent acceleration.

A flash, a flicker, the interval between each flash is extremely short, but each time it appears, its figure is already dozens of meters away.

All that remained were the afterimages of grass blades swirling in the rapidly moving airflow, and the low sonic booms created by the forced expulsion of air.

It is one of the six techniques, the embodiment of ultimate speed – “Shave”!

Relying on the explosive advance of "Shaving", the distance between Chen Ya and the bungalow is closing rapidly.

The other four team members, including Zhao Zhibao, had not yet fully mastered the "shave" technique, but relying on their strengthened leg muscles and superb footwork, they were just as fast as a car.

Each step sank deep into the soil, sending grass clippings flying and creating a strong airflow.

However, no matter how fast they are, how can they outrun the pre-set explosion countdown?

After Chen Ya's figure flashed dozens of times with a "shave", the outline of the bungalow in front of her was clearly visible, and she could even distinguish the mottled walls and broken window holes.

Just as he took a deep breath, preparing to activate "Shave" again and break down the door,

"BOOM—!!!!"

A deafening explosion suddenly erupted without warning!

The bungalows in front of us looked like a giant powder keg that had been ignited, instantly expanding and bulging from the inside.

Crimson flames mixed with thick black smoke shot into the sky, forming a small mushroom cloud.

The violent shockwave spread wildly in a ring shape, tearing and throwing the fragile walls apart like pieces of paper.

Along with several dilapidated and abandoned bungalows nearby, the force of the attack easily leveled them, turning them into burning ruins and broken walls.

The explosion was far more powerful than usual, clearly indicating the use of high-energy explosives.

A wave of scorching heat hit her face, carrying the pungent smell of sulfur and burnt matter, making the hair on Chen Ya's forehead dance wildly.

He abruptly halted his forward momentum, stopping at the edge of the explosion, his gaze coldly fixed on the sea of ​​fire that had engulfed the "big fish."

"Captain, the mastermind is escaping at your 4 o'clock position, about 400 meters away!"

Zhao Zhibao's precise call to position came through the headset.

Did they think that blowing up their hideout would erase all traces and allow them to escape?

ridiculous!!

In the eyes of causality, unless death occurs, no mastermind can conceal the traces of their existence.

"Hey!"

A satisfied smile spread across Chen Ya's lips beneath his mask, and without any hesitation, he sprang into action once more.

"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!"

With a series of short, sharp "shaves," his figure moved like a ghost through the still-burning ruins, ignoring the scorching blasts and choking smoke, and went straight through the sea of ​​fire at the core of the explosion.

Once we were out of the fire zone, the view suddenly opened up.

Chen Ya's sharp gaze instantly locked onto the direction Zhao Zhibao pointed out—a man with a panicked and disheveled back was stumbling and running frantically with his head down.

"Got you!"

Chen Ya sneered inwardly, and his internal energy once again gathered at his toes.

But just as his toes were about to touch the ground, and his body was about to move but hadn't yet, he...

From the shadow of a bungalow that had not yet been completely affected by the explosion, a figure suddenly darted out.

The figure moved with incredible speed, far exceeding that of the fleeing maintenance crew, and even... gave Chen Ya a burst of power no less than when he used "Shave".

With just a blurry sway, he appeared behind the sprinting maintenance man.

The next instant, a hand covered in a white exoskeleton, yet still remarkably slender, gripped the man's neck like the most precise mechanical clamp.

"Well!"

The men in the maintenance department didn't even get to utter a complete scream; all their struggles and running came to an abrupt halt with that choke.

He was like a chicken with its neck squeezed, all his strength drained away in an instant. He twitched his limbs a few times in vain before going completely limp.

Chen Ya's pupils suddenly contracted to the size of pinpoints.

Only then did he see the figure clearly.

He was extremely short; even wearing a sophisticated, sleek, pure white exoskeleton armor, he was estimated to be only about 1.4 meters tall, several heads shorter than the maintenance worker he had captured.

But within this diminutive body lies a terrifying power completely disproportionate to its size.

The man from the maintenance department offered almost no resistance as he was lifted horizontally with one hand, as if he were carrying a lifeless package, casually half-tucked under his arm, a posture that looked indescribably absurd and comical.

"Stealing kills?!"

The sudden turn of events stunned even the battle-hardened Chen Ya, and a surge of anger at being outmaneuvered instantly welled up in her heart.

"snort!"

Chen Ya let out a disgruntled snort and angrily tapped the ground with her toes.

"Whoosh—"

A sonic boom, even louder than before, rang out, and a sharp hole was even punched into the ground beneath their feet.

Chen Ya pushed the speed of "Shave" to its limit, her figure flashing continuously, carrying an incomparably sharp aura, and chased straight after the short white figure.

The man from the maintenance department, who was being carried like cargo under his arm at high speed, felt a sensation that could no longer be described as simple fear.

The instant his neck was gripped, the boiling blood in his body seemed to freeze completely in a fraction of a second.

The extreme cold instantly spread from the skin that was touched to the whole body. It felt as if every part of the body was frozen by an invisible layer of ice, so stiff that it could not move or even shiver.

He could feel the wind whipping violently across his face, making his hair dance wildly and lash against his forehead and eyes.

Due to the high-speed movement and the upside-down posture, the view was dizzying, and all that could be seen was the grass and ground flying backward, and the ruins of the bungalows that were still burning and exploding in the distance.

His mind was in complete chaos, filled with endless terror and questions swirling wildly:

"What do you mean...? Two groups of people are coming at me! No, I'm just a spectator!!!"

"The one chasing me from behind is moving in a flashing pattern, which corresponds to the white dotted line marked on the computer screen earlier. But who is this one that suddenly appeared and is sandwiched between me... who is this person in the white mask?!"

He desperately tried to get a glimpse of the hostage-taker's profile out of the corner of his eye.

The pure white, streamlined exoskeleton armor covered most of the opponent's body, and the face was also covered with a mask of the same color that had no facial features.

This image is completely different from any of the white-masked figures he had previously seen in drone surveillance footage, fighting with members of the Relief Studio in the bushes.

Their physique, equipment, and temperament are all completely mismatched.

This is a brand new white mask that has never been seen before?!

"Strange... Who is this? Why haven't I seen this person in the drone surveillance footage? Is he invisible?"

"Wait a minute, the Relief Studio can see invisible units, so what's going on?"

The man in the maintenance department was unaware that another person shared the same doubts.

However, that person's doubts started 2 minutes earlier than his, and he also died 2 minutes earlier, dying in the bushes at point B.

……

A few minutes ago.

Deep within the dense and tangled grass, Chen Zhen suppressed his grief and indignation, still crawling forward like a silent lizard, clinging to the damp ground.

His teammate's death enraged him, and he longed to jump out of the bushes and join his teammates for a fierce battle.

But he couldn't. The more grief-stricken he was, the calmer he had to be. This was a survival rule he had learned through countless lessons of blood and fire.

Especially in situations like this, it is crucial to strictly adhere to the operational plan—evacuate to point B.

It wasn't out of fear of death, nor was it to escape alone. On the contrary, it was so that more teammates could be able to retreat from the chaotic battlefield relatively safely later.

Point B is a rear support point carefully selected by the Relief Studio, a pre-planned safe haven and counterattack fulcrum in the chaotic battle.

His arrival and deployment ahead of time were to build a final line of defense for the entire squad.

"Calm down... calm down... reach point B, establish a defensive line..."

Chen Zhen silently repeated the command in his mind over and over again.

Gunfire erupted from all directions like popping beans, cluster bombs exploded, flesh collided with muffled thuds, and the cries and angry roars of the dying.

The intense firefight attracted most of the attention. Whether it was the teammates from the Relief Studio, the white-masked people, or the strangely appearing Feng Mu, everyone's focus was on each other. No one would be distracted to notice whether there was someone hiding in some inconspicuous corner of the bushes.

The chaotic environment gave him the opportunity to stealthily move around.

His crawling movements were bolder and faster than before.

Unbeknownst to him, about fifteen meters behind him, a patch of grass moving parallel to his path was swaying in a subtle synchronization with his movements.

As he quickened his pace due to urgency and increased the force with which he parted the grass, the swaying of the grass intensified; when he paused briefly due to vigilance, the swaying of the grass subsided just in time.

Clearly, Chen Zhen also failed to notice that there was an invisible person hiding in the bushes behind him.

It's not surprising that he didn't notice this; he doesn't have eyes in the back of his head, so there are natural blind spots in his field of vision. It's normal that he couldn't pay attention to what was behind him during such a tense march.

Strangely, the stealth drones, which overlooked most of the battlefield from the sky and were equipped with multiple spectral scanning and life detection capabilities, seemed to completely "ignore" the anomaly in this patch of grass.

The "AI Brain Xiaoyou," which has a complete grasp of the situation and can even violently expose cloaked units, seems to be suffering from selective "blindness" at this moment, failing to send any warnings in the encrypted communication channel.

This is very strange.

Finally, Chen Zhen climbed to the back of the earthen slope at point B.

He carefully used the slope for cover, slowly raised himself, and changed from a crawling to a half-squatting position, with his back pressed tightly against the slope.

He first quickly scanned left and right to make sure there were no enemies or bullets aimed at him.

He then quickly manipulated the tactical eyepiece.

The eyepiece instantly switched its field of view, zooming in on several points of firefight on the battlefield, while also bringing the situation on the highway further away into view.

When Chen Zhen saw the convoy of modified prison vans speeding down the highway like a black dragon, his expression changed slightly, and a deeper gloom settled over him.

Enemy reinforcements arrived, and the situation became increasingly unfavorable for the squad.

He dared not delay any longer and immediately whispered into his earpiece:

"One group at a time, this is Chen Zhen, I have arrived at point B. Repeat, I have arrived at point B."

A faint electrical noise came through the communication channel first, followed by a slightly hurried but relatively steady male voice responding:

"Group 1 received. We are on our way and are expected to arrive at your location in half a minute. You can start setting up hidden mines now. Over."

Chen Zhen immediately responded:

"clear!"

After ending the call, he immediately crouched down, slung the assault rifle behind him, and quickly unlocked a specific buckle on the side of his tactical storage bag.

Inside, there are two neat rows of twelve "trigger mines - 'poison needle' type".

As its name suggests, this landmine is designed to look almost exactly like an ordinary pen, with a matte black finish that makes it inconspicuous.

However, the explosive charge inside is a highly compressed nano-sized explosive. Once triggered, its directional explosive force is enough to blow away a heavy armored vehicle.

What's even more ingenious is its layout, which is extremely simple.

Chen Zhen used his tactical gloved fingers to pinch the metal cap at the top of the "pen," gently rotated it half a turn counterclockwise, and then pulled it outwards.

With a soft "click," the pen cap separated, revealing an alloy nib with spiral patterns that shimmered with a faint red light inside.

He doesn't need to find particularly soft ground; he simply points the tip of the pen vertically at the chosen spot on the ground and then releases his finger.

As the "poison needle" falls under its own gravity, the micro-energy core inside activates the moment the tip touches the ground, causing the pen tip to spin at high speed and easily break through the soil and hard rock.

(End of this chapter)