Chapter 713 Three Times the Advantage for Me
Zhang Shenyi, true to his name, was a cautious and courageous man throughout his life.
Whenever something shows even the slightest sign of trouble, he will analyze and prepare for the worst-case scenario.
At that moment, a very subtle sense of unease gently tugged at his sensitive nerve endings.
Fortunately, they had already raised the danger level of their target by several levels before leaving home, so this unease was still within his acceptable range and was considered a safe level of unease.
After all, since accepting the mission, he had repeatedly and forcibly raised the level of danger posed by the target by a total of four levels.
what does that mean?
This means that the Relief Studio has proactively allocated "redundancy" for this operation, sufficient to handle four major unforeseen events or conflicts far exceeding expectations.
This tactic has an absurdly low margin for error.
This might be a little hard to understand, so to put it simply, it's like when you're playing a game and fighting a boss, you're already prepared for the boss to have four transformation stages.
In reality, it's obviously impossible.
No game could be so outrageous as to design a boss with four stages... right?
The "random appearance" of the white mask can be considered an unplanned variable, but in Zhang Shenyi's cautious evaluation system, this accident is at most just a waste of a redundancy level.
4-1=3
They still possess a three-fold advantage in pre-war preparations.
Zhang Shenyi stared at the car moving at a steady speed on the computer screen and asked calmly:
"Target vehicle, how long until it arrives?"
Xu Yingyan immediately reported:
"Report to the captain: Based on the current speed and road conditions, the target convoy is expected to arrive at the crime scene in 50 seconds."
Zhang Shenyi nodded slightly, his gaze remaining fixed on the screen, and continued to ask:
How much longer will it take for Chen Zhen to evacuate to point B?
Xu Yingyan immediately reported:
"He is climbing very fast and has already climbed halfway. If there are no unexpected interferences, he is expected to reach point B safely in 11 seconds."
50 seconds and 11 seconds.
Two key moments collided in Zhang Shenyi's mind.
Chen Zhen's safety must be guaranteed to the greatest extent possible; this is his duty as the team leader.
The target vehicle's intentions are unclear: was it passing through? Was it providing reinforcements? Or did it have ulterior motives?
In short, we cannot pin our hopes on the other party's "ignorance".
Zhang Shen made various calculations in his mind.
The team members had no idea what kind of complex assessment their captain was making, but they firmly believed that the final action plan he gave was the safest.
This unconditional trust was built and solidified time and time again in their dozens of previous missions.
Suddenly, Zhang Shen clapped his hands.
The next second, all the team members inside the bungalow stood up in unison, turning their bodies to face the team leader and waiting for him to assign tasks.
Zhang Shenyi didn't waste any words; his instructions were clear and swift:
"All team members, immediately enter combat readiness."
"Group 1! Detour around the back of the bungalow, avoid the road's line of sight, and proceed at full speed to point B to meet Chen Zhen. If danger is detected, you are authorized to fire first."
"Group Two! From the six o'clock position, use the grass to sneak up and move to the side of the road, in the area of coordinates 41-73, and set up an ambush position on the spot."
"Three groups! Split into two teams and find the best sniping and observation points in the surrounding area to set up long-range firepower immediately!"
"Group Four! Remain in place as a mobile reserve team, ready to provide support at any time."
Zhang Shenyi paused for a moment, then said finally:
"action!"
"clear!"
"yes!"
"receive!"
The responses were crisp and clear, without any hesitation.
Once the order is given, the action is swift and decisive!
The team members quickly got into their designated groups and began working.
Almost the instant the word "action" was uttered, the figures inside the bungalow vanished as if by magic.
Before the men in the maintenance department could even open their mouths to ask questions or raise objections, they felt a figure move in front of them. When they looked again, the once slightly crowded bungalow had suddenly become empty.
Only three people remained in the same spot, including him.
One of them was Zhang Shenyi, who had already sat down in front of the computer, in the same spot where Xu Yingyan had just been, and was typing rapidly on the keyboard.
It was clear that he wasn't as fast as Hawkeye when he typed the code, but he wasn't slow either, and he still looked quite professional.
Anyway, the men in the maintenance department couldn't understand a single line of the green instruction codes on the computer screen.
In essence, those strings of code can be summarized in one sentence: the control of the Sentinel and all drones is temporarily transferred to the AI assistant Xiaoyou in the studio, entering automated managed combat mode.
Meanwhile, another team member inside chewed gum, spat it out, and then pulled a handful of button bombs from the pocket of his tactical vest.
As the name suggests, button bombs are made to the size of a button, making them quite inconspicuous and very discreet.
Then he paced around the room, casually sticking these "buttons" on the inside of door frames, below windowsills, and in the corners of load-bearing columns, his movements as free and easy as if he were arranging decorations in his own home.
The men in the maintenance department felt their scalps tingle and could no longer contain themselves. They hurriedly approached Zhang Shenyi and exclaimed in shock and anger:
"What are you doing? I've already told you, the arrest of Feng Mu is temporarily suspended. There's an important person in the car."
Zhang Shenyi's gaze never left the screen, nor did his fingers stop typing. He responded calmly:
"I have already explained to you that whether a battle breaks out is not a decision I make unilaterally."
If they're targeting us, I have to be prepared for all possibilities.
The man from the maintenance department had a face as black as the bottom of a pot, and repeatedly emphasized his bottom line:
"I don't care how you prepare, the important thing is that Li Xiang cannot die. If he dies, even if I capture ten Feng Mus, the meaning will be greatly diminished!"
Do you understand?!
This time, Zhang Shenyi finally stopped typing, slowly turned his head, and looked at the man from the maintenance department.
His eyes were no longer calm; instead, they revealed a chilling coldness.
"People die in battle. If they die, they are either the enemy or my own men. I have to complete my mission and I also have to be responsible for my men."
So from now on, shut your mouth and stand quietly to the side. If you dare to utter another sound and interfere with my judgment and commands, I will tear your tongue out.
The man from the maintenance department trembled with anger, his voice stern yet weak:
"Is this how you do things? I... I'll definitely go back and..."
He wanted to say he would complain bitterly when he got back, but he didn't know who to complain to.
Zhang Shen remained expressionless and said earnestly:
"Your mission for us is to secretly arrest Feng Mu, leaving no survivors. So if anyone in the car with him dies, that's also part of carrying out the mission."
The man from the maintenance department said urgently:
"Then I'll modify the mission now. I demand that you..."
Zhang Shenyi interrupted:
"You have already assigned the task, and we have already accepted the order. We do not accept changes or cancellations midway through the process."
This is the contractual spirit that our Relief Studio has always strictly adhered to, and I hope you will also uphold this spirit.
The man from the maintenance department stared wide-eyed, his mind filled with questions.
Forget about contracts; all I know is that the customer is God.
He was about to speak again when another team member, having already attached the bomb, came over, spat out a sticky piece of chewing gum, and roughly shoved it into the other man's mouth.
A taste of other people's saliva and chewing gum instantly filled my mouth.
The team member then held up a finger to his lips, making a "shh" gesture at him.
The man from the maintenance department stared wide-eyed, angrily spitting out his secondhand chewing gum and wiping his mouth roughly with his sleeve.
But after all that, he seemed to have lost all his strength, and he shut his mouth in despair, no longer daring to make a sound.
He now had only one thought in his mind—to pray for Feng Mu and Li Xiang, that their vehicle would not stop halfway but would drive straight on, and that they would not do anything unnecessary or foolish.
Otherwise, given the excessive caution shown by the Relief Studio, they are likely to launch a preemptive attack, and it is very likely to be a saturation attack.
To some extent, the men in the maintenance department were mostly right.
However, he guessed wrong again. The moment the vehicle from the Second Prison stopped on the road, it was not the Relief Studio that launched the first wave of attacks.
Instead...
………
The roof of the abandoned gas station was disturbed by a slight airflow, where dust had accumulated over the years.
Fire Raven gripped the broken window sill with one hand, its five fingers like steel clamps. With a casual tug, its heavy exoskeleton body tumbled through the air like a weightless feather, landing on the rusted and cracked edge of the roof without making a sound.
He immediately looked in the direction of the strange "pongpong" sound he heard.
The distance was indeed quite far, with a large patch of tall grass swaying in the wind in between, which significantly obstructed the view.
But such a large, lively steel spider, reflecting a cold metallic gleam, was simply too much to bear; it was impossible not to see it.
"What is Iron Claw doing?"
The fire crow's left pupil kept zooming in, magnifying the distant scene.
Through the high-definition magnified view, he could clearly see that the multiple mechanical limbs behind the iron claws were frantically scratching the ground, chasing after several yellow-green insects that were rapidly darting among the grass blades.
Beneath the mask, Fire Raven frowned and muttered weakly:
"He's chasing... leeches? This stupid creature, does he really think he's a spider that catches insects?"
Pong!
With another muffled thud, the leech exploded into a small fireball, the brief flash illuminating the swaying grass stems around it.
Fire Crow's pupils contracted sharply, and he immediately said:
"Leech exploded! Mimicry reconnaissance! Enemies nearby!!!"
The exoskeleton of Fire Raven's right arm rotated and twisted, its composite armor plates resembling deformable building blocks, rapidly rotating, twisting, and assembling along pre-set tracks and interfaces into an extremely bizarre-looking... sniper rifle?!
Completely different from conventional sniper rifles, the gun is three meters long and has a cold, bone-white color, matching the armor.
The slender barrel was not a smooth cylinder, but was tightly wrapped by spiraling dark blue tubing, looking like the shed skin of a dead snake wrapped around it.
The snakeskin is also engraved with countless fine and intricate dark blue patterns.
Those strange patterns seemed to be filled with invisible energy, and suddenly lit up with a ghostly blue light.
Starting from the end of the barrel, the light, like flowing blue blood, spread rapidly forward along the pattern, lighting up section by section.
The entire "snake skin" seemed to come alive, turning into an energy belt that was charging, but there was no conventional optical or electronic sight on the gun body.
Without aiming, without warning, the moment the eerie blue light flowed to the muzzle of the gun.
"Buzz..."
In front of the gun muzzle, the air seemed to distort, and a blinding white star condensed at an astonishing speed before disappearing in a flash.
It wasn't a bullet that was fired, but rather, like a stroke of God, it drew a straight white line on the yellow-green grass wallpaper.
Between Iron Claw and Fire Crow, a distance of 1.74km, this white line runs straight through, and continues its momentum, extending for an unknown distance.
The iron claw abruptly halted its pursuit, its eight mechanical limbs digging deep into the soil, its massive body arching slightly backward from the sudden stop.
The white light practically plowed across the front edge of his spider body.
The white light disappeared the next second.
Only then did the terrifying scene fully unfold.
Wherever the white awn passed, the dense grass along the way, whether it was tough shrubs or supple grass, was cut off at the root.
It stretched for miles and was half a meter wide, with flames rising nearly a meter high, like a fiery serpent suddenly crawling out of hell, dancing wildly in the wilderness.
Flames leaped, and heat waves distorted the air.
Only then did the sharp gunshots, which had been left far behind, finally reach us, creating an eerie sense of temporal displacement with the burning wall of fire.
Then came the crackling sounds of flames swaying wildly in the wind, the grass being rapidly charred and carbonized, and the faint sounds of several sparrows that had been foraging in the grass but hadn't had time to fly away falling from the sky, billowing black smoke.
Then came the sound of flames swaying in the wind, the scorching of the grass, and the sound of a few sparrows foraging in the grass being burned and falling to the ground before they could fly away.
Lastly...
Pongpongpong!
A series of explosions came from in front of him, and the face under the Iron Claw mask was extremely ugly.
He watched as the four leech corpses were blown apart by a single shot, the splattering debris covering him. He lifted his foot and moved it away from the wall of fire.
The exoskeleton, half of which was against the fire wall, was bathed in red light, making the entire spider body half red and half white, as if half of it had been heated to a warm red.
"Mind your own business. Do I need your help?"
Iron Claw turned his head irritably to look behind him, and a voice from under the mask came through the communication channel.
The fire crow didn't hear a thing.
Unlike Shadow Scorpion, who enjoys arguing with Iron Claw, he simply ignores Iron Claw.
He only disconnects the communication when he enters battle.
Shadow Scorpion curses Iron Claw for being stupid every day, but he still "enjoys" arguing with him. In Fire Raven's eyes, Shadow Scorpion is no better than Iron Claw; they are both fools.
It's just a difference between being extremely stupid and being 80% stupid.
Sure enough, the next second, Shadow Scorpion said gloatingly from the side:
"Fire Crow, you're too kind-hearted. Iron Claw won't appreciate your kindness."
(End of this chapter)
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