Chapter 97: Breathing Sounds
“He’s with my brother now, and my brother is young and doesn’t know any better,” Xie Chen wasn’t one to make things mysterious. Seeing his subordinate’s doubt, he took the initiative to answer, “I was afraid he might impulsively rush over, so I stopped Hols first. It would be difficult for him to find another pilot in time.”
"Then you..." The subordinate looked at Xie Chen with some worry.
"Just a few mercenaries, I can handle them," Xie Chen said calmly, quickly returning to the previous topic, "Can you help with this? If not, I'll find someone else."
"Yes, yes," the subordinate quickly replied. "I'm just worried about you... Please take care of yourself too."
"Yes, thank you." Xie Chen nodded to him, then turned and got into the helicopter he had come in.
He was on vacation when he was notified of the accident. He had arrived in his privately modified helicopter, and the pilot and the helicopter had been on standby nearby.
"I just sent you their location. They're almost in international waters. We need to hurry."
The pilot and he worked in perfect harmony. The pilot nodded, the cabin door closed, and the helicopter quickly plunged back into the clouds.
The seven-man mercenary squad, including Xie Rong, consisted of eight people in total. They were experienced, well-equipped with ammunition, and the hostages were unable to resist.
Xie Chen had experienced many missions far more dangerous than this, so he shouldn't have anything to worry about, but for some reason, his heart rate was still inexplicably high.
He subconsciously flicked the bottom of the magazine with his finger to confirm that it was full of bullets by the sound.
He had just had a check-up not long ago, but when he gets nervous, he still subconsciously does this action.
...It should go smoothly; they're only seven mercenaries.
As expected, Hols called, and Xie Chen answered quickly.
“Colonel,” Hols, unaware of his retirement, addressed him by his old rank, “I’d like to ask you, was my temporary no-fly notice your order?”
“Xiao Fan is a bit willful,” Xie Chen didn’t deny it. “You shouldn’t have followed his reckless behavior.”
On the other end of the phone, Hols paused for a moment: "........Okay, I understand what you mean."
He and Xie Chen had known each other for a long time, and had been partners and teammates in the Marine Corps for a long time. Even if Xie Chen didn't say everything, Hols could quickly understand what he meant.
After hanging up Xie Chen's call, Hols turned around and looked at He Fan, who was contacting other pilots after learning that he had been temporarily grounded.
"You can't fly either...? I can pay more, any amount..."
He Fan's left eye twitched violently. He frowned and closed his eyes. In a daze, he seemed to see Mu Yan covered in blood and bruises in his mind, blurry yet vivid.
He slumped to the ground, tears welling in his eyes, choking back sobs as he looked in his direction, his mind incoherent.
"Yes, charter a speedboat at the nearest port immediately... No need, I've already prepared the bulletproof vests, guns, and ammunition..."
He Fan did not have a flight permit, but he did have a regular ship pilot's license. Since no one was willing to fly, he could not just sit and wait to die.
He was on the phone with his assistant when his heart suddenly started racing for no apparent reason. Before he could turn around, a sharp pain shot through the back of his neck.
Hols somehow got behind him and mercilessly chopped him on the back of the neck.
He Fan briefly lost consciousness, but his S-rank alpha physique allowed him to wake up within two seconds. Hols pinned him to the ground, rummaging through his backpack, probably trying to administer an anesthetic.
The pheromones were released instinctively, and they smelled of bergamot, which was completely harmless.
However, no matter how non-aggressive bergamot itself may be, it is still an S-class alpha pheromone.
Hols was only an A-level alpha. Under the suppression of pheromones, even a trained soldier would find it difficult to gain an overwhelming advantage over He Fan in a one-on-one close-quarters combat.
He Fan gritted his teeth and used his willpower to fight against Hols.
He shouldn't have trusted Hols so much. He should have realized sooner that Hols was Xie Chen's man and that he should have trained other pilots instead...
He can't fall here. Who else can save Mu Yan besides him? The Marines? The government of Country C, which is more than 10,000 kilometers away?
Hols's body trembled violently, and sweat beaded on his forehead. He was only an A-level Alpha, and faced with the pheromone suppression of an S-level Alpha, he was almost physiologically forced to submit, wanting to ask the Alpha to suppress his pheromones.
Military training includes resisting pheromones, but he had been retired for too long, and in order to resist such pheromone suppression, cold sweat almost soaked the back of his clothes.
Despite the almost suffocating pheromone suppression, Halls struggled to retrieve a syringe filled with anesthetic.
The silver needle reflected a cold light under the room's lamplight, releasing an excessive amount of pheromones in a short time. He Fan was also at his limit, panting heavily: "You can't do this, Hols, that's the most important person to me, he's because of me..."
Hols ignored him, forcefully grabbed He Fan's arm, twisted it behind his back, and injected all the anesthetic into him.
A chill rushed into He Fan's veins, and his vision blurred instantly. He felt as if he had been thrown into a thick ball of cotton.
Anger, fear, and struggle were all swirling within me, yet it was as if a mute button had been pressed, leaving only a slow and feeble heartbeat.
In the last second before he fainted, he vaguely saw Mu Yan's tearful face again.
...
The wind howled high above as the modified private helicopter slowly slowed down over the sea, looking like a tired bird if you didn't look closely.
Xie Chen knelt by the open side hatch, his left arm firmly supporting the sniper rifle, his right eye pressed against the high-powered scope, the casual clothes he had worn on the way there billowing in the wind.
He held his breath and listened intently. After only a second, he quickly locked onto the mercenaries who were on guard at the stern of the speedboat.
The wind speed is 3.2, the target's breathing is normal, and the head is slightly tilted to the left.
He took a deep breath, calmed himself, and then pulled the trigger without hesitation.
The silencer suppressed the gunshot to the extreme, almost blending it into the noise of the propeller, but a black and red flower of blood suddenly bloomed between the brows of the mercenary on the deck of the speedboat in the distance, and he fell backward.
Almost simultaneously, his partner reacted swiftly, his finger already touching the walkie-talkie in preparation for reporting.
Another shot, swift and clean. The man's head snapped to the side, his body went limp, and the walkie-talkie slipped from his fingers, crashing onto the deck.
The interval between the two shots was no more than three seconds, without the slightest hesitation or waste.
However, helicopters are quite conspicuous, and even if the lookouts are dealt with temporarily, they will eventually be discovered.
Without any hesitation, Xie Chen immediately began preparing for the rappelling.
“Sir, the enemy has spotted us,” the helicopter pilot said gravely in the cockpit, his fingers flying across the instrument panel. “The speedboat has been modified and is equipped with short-to-medium range automatic firepower.”
As soon as he finished speaking, the remote-controlled gun turret on the top of the speedboat spewed fire, and shells came whistling like a storm, heading straight for the helicopter with sharp whistles.
The pilot, a former ace pilot in the military, calmly maneuvered the aircraft, dodging most of the fire.
Nevertheless, the sound of metal being torn apart by shells was still deafening, and one of the shells hit the auxiliary fuel tank, causing the helicopter to immediately emit black smoke.
"The auxiliary fuel tank is destroyed, but the main fuel tank is intact, and the probability of explosion is less than 10%."
Xie Chen stood up, pulled off his sniper rifle, and deftly switched to a close-combat assault rifle. He then turned sideways and tightened the tactical rope on his belt: "I'll rappel down. You parachute to a spot near the sea. People from the Xie Family Foundation will come to pick you up."
The driver was a retired special forces soldier with old injuries, so his close combat skills were not strong. He didn't stand on ceremony with Xie Chen and just nodded, saying, "Take care."
Without any hesitation, Xie Chen leaped out of the cabin door, his body plummeting straight down in mid-air. The tactical rope snapped taut and sprang forward like an arrow, rapidly approaching the speedboat.
Leaving the 12x scope, looking down from high above, the speedboat looked like an ordinary white dot on the sea. Xie Chen wasn't afraid; he simply watched the white dot slowly grow larger as it fell until it formed a clear outline.
After a strange noise, the mercenary on lookout on the speedboat deck looked up quickly, only to see a dark shadow crash onto the deck.
"Bang!"
Upon landing, Xie Chen instantly drew his gun. Before the first mercenary could react, he was shot between the eyebrows and fell to the ground.
The other man drew his pistol almost immediately. Since they were on standby, their pistols were ready to fire at any moment. But before they could even aim, Xie Chen turned around and elbowed him in the jaw, then kneed him in the abdomen, and kicked him to the ground. The whole process was swift and seamless, without a single second of delay.
He drew his tactical knife, cleanly slit the other man's throat, and kicked the body into the sea without hesitation.
He then rolled to dodge bullets fired from areas outside his view in the cabin, leaned against the ship's wall, and quickly aimed his gun at the corner.
"Bang! Bang!"
Two precise shots were fired, but there was no further movement from the other side, making it impossible to determine whether they had lost their combat capability.
Conservatively speaking, there are three to four people left, including Xie Rong, whose combat ability is relatively weak and can be ignored.
The enemy's fighting strength is no longer a threat; the most urgent task is to find the hostages.
Xie Chen leaned against the wall, warily looking around.
This is a small but well-trained and mature mercenary group. There are lookouts, professional drivers who can use modified medium and short-range artillery, clear division of labor, and ample supplies.
Xie Chen didn't dislike encountering such groups. Although these mercenary groups were powerful, they operated in a predictable manner. With only one hostage, the leader would likely personally oversee the hostage.
...It will probably be the cockpit.
The smell of gunpowder on the deck had not yet dissipated. Xie Chen tightened his grip on his rifle, changed his route, and slowly approached the bridge, leaning against the wall.
With no enemies along the way, Xie Chen became increasingly cautious, and even the slightest sound would arouse his great vigilance.
wrong.
There are breathing sounds.
The breathing sound was coming from a closed room to his left, about eight meters away. Xie Chen stopped abruptly and cautiously observed the room for a few seconds, confirming that there was only one person breathing and having a heartbeat inside.
The breathing sounded weak and rapid, the kind of breathing only an injured person or a small animal like a kitten would make.
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