Hidden Assassin 251

The roar of the battle boiled through the dark floors, shattering windows and glass, sending a wave of tremors through everyone’s eardrums. Ya Han gripped the gun handle tightly, huddled together with her mother-in-law behind a large testing machine. Bullets whizzed through the air, sparking and exploding against the walls, sending dust and chips of stone raining down.

In the center of the room, Mantou carried a frighteningly large gun, dragging the thermal imaging device with him as he moved. He loaded the gun, pulled the trigger, and the flash of fire was followed by the thunderous boom of a bullet piercing the wall, striking his enemies through several adjacent rooms. Its power was truly astonishing. Robert and the bodyguards on Ya Han’s side also fired continuously in the darkness, moving between the experimental equipment. The side of the laboratory facing the hallway was originally lined with large windows, making it easy for researchers to observe the inside, but now those windows, along with numerous blinds, had been destroyed by the flying bullets. As far as the eye could see, the entire floor had become a deadly, dangerous zone.

Outside the building, along with the sounds of gunfire, the faint wail of sirens could be heard. Someone seemed to be shouting, but their words were quickly drowned out. Ya Han muttered, “Thirty minutes, thirty minutes…” She reached for her mother-in-law’s wrist and glanced at the expensive women’s luminous watch, “We, we only have fifteen minutes left, fifteen minutes…” That was the time Mantou had predicted, but now it seemed that every minute stretched on endlessly.

She straightened slightly, trying to look out toward the gunfire, but at that moment, a series of machine gun bullets tore through the equipment next to her, spraying bright sparks. The piercing sound made Ya Han recoil backwards, her mother-in-law grabbing her hand, “Be careful!”

“Stay behind cover!” Mantou growled, dragging the thermal imaging device as he crawled quickly from a distance. He abruptly stood up and fired a shot, then ducked down again. The figures, the heat from the bullets, and the flames burning in various locations caused intense interference with the device. The screen was now a blur of light and shadow, and he could only rely on his instincts and experience to keep firing. His accuracy might have been lower, but the modified sniper rifle still posed a tremendous threat. At least for the moment, the assassins hadn’t managed to advance.

Just as he loaded a piercing bullet into the chamber, a bright spot appeared on the screen. Almost instinctively, Mantou leaped behind a nearby piece of equipment. A rocket propelled grenade whooshed past the outer corridor, followed by a deafening explosion, sending shockwaves throughout the laboratory.

*****************************************************

It wasn’t just the research building that was a chaotic mess. The streets outside were equally lively. Snow swirled in the air, blanketing the street in white. Abandoned vehicles were jammed together, blocking the entire road. Several cars, victims of explosions, were engulfed in flames, burning in the wind and snow. Gunfire raged on relentlessly.

It had to be admitted that the New York police were surprisingly efficient. Within five minutes of the disturbance, the first patrol car had arrived at the corner. However, as the first officer took cover behind the car and frantically shouted, “We’re Los Angeles, no… we’re New York police…” a bullet from who-knows-where shattered the loudspeaker in his hand, and the police car came under intense fire. It exploded into a ball of fire within three minutes. It seemed the officer, who had just been transferred from Los Angeles, had gained a new and profound understanding of the security situation in New York City.

Reinforcements continued to arrive, sealing off the surrounding blocks. An estimated one hundred police officers engaged in a standoff with the terrorists outside the cordon formed by their vehicles. At this point, there were about twenty assassins still on the streets. They were all battle-hardened veterans, and using the cover of numerous vehicles, they hid among them, simultaneously fending off occasional harassment from Yan Huang Jue Xing members and withstanding the barrage of gunfire from both ends of the street. They held the police firmly at bay.

Although the Yan Huang Jue Xing members who had been ambushed in the buildings on either side of the street were still able to carry out some harassing fire towards the street below, they had also found themselves in a precarious situation. The forces deployed by Pei Luo Jia had exceeded everyone’s predictions, including the street, the research building, and the people pursuing them. The total number was estimated to be over eighty. Traditionally and realistically, assassins were synonymous with solitary action, stealth, and unpredictability. Even if they were assassinating a head of state, it would only be a couple of skilled assassins acting alone. Deploying dozens of assassins to capture one person was equivalent to a war in every sense.

The black buildings on either side of the street were a mix of shops and supermarkets on the lower floors, while the upper floors housed offices for companies of various sizes. When the power went out and the gunshots rang out, some people fled the building in the chaos, while others remained trapped inside, searching for hiding places in fear. As Pei Luo Jia’s assassins charged in after the Yan Huang Jue Xing team, there were occasional screams and pleas for help from the women trapped inside, making the night, filled only with the sounds of gunfire, seem both noisy and eerily quiet.

“Damn it, I heard that… America’s top assassin, John Amir, is a fan of *The Art of War*…” 乔国睿 tossed his gun aside, hiding in a dark room. He gasped for breath, speaking to Cui Guohua. “Using the strong to bully the weak, using numbers to overwhelm the few, that’s the way of *The Art of War*. This guy is so warped by his life as an assassin, he’s actually trying to fulfill his military aspirations. Come on, even if Yujinxiang’s actions over the past day are like slapping them across the face in front of the whole world, making the American Pei Luo Jia lose face, he’s an assassin…” There was a hint of admiration in his resentment. After all, the simultaneous deployment of so many assassins was not something you saw every day.

“But whatever, it’s effective, isn’t it?” Looking down from the dark window at the street below, Cui Guohua said. “Hit them all at once, catch them off guard, and then settle things directly. Although all the assassins have lost the advantage of stealth, their combined destructive power is enough to give everyone a headache. If this were to happen in a mid-sized city in China, this force could practically wipe out any government agency. But… Jian Suyan hasn’t shown up yet, I don’t know if she has a plan… Mantou and the others are doomed…”

“Unless Jian Suyan can know everything in advance, but…” Qiao Guorui shook his head, “Right now, I just hope she doesn’t appear under these circumstances. John Amir’s plan must be to use this opportunity to force Jian Suyan to appear. Then he’ll settle everything at once, that’s the way of *The Art of War*… The Japanese Pei Luo Jia has suffered too many losses at the hands of Yujinxiang. Yuan Lai Chao Chuang has been forced to retreat twice, and the Da Nei Chang Du and the Shenshen Wunian have all died at her hands. If they kill Jian Suyan, the alliance between the American and Japanese branches will only become stronger. The other Pei Luo Jia branches will then naturally unite, and things will become extremely troublesome… As long as Jian Suyan doesn’t appear, I’ve already given Mantou instructions. If the situation becomes irrecoverable, he’ll be the last one to kill Zhang Yahán…”

Cui Guohua nodded silently.

*******************************************

Flames danced, air currents raged, and countless pieces of paper, plastic, and even metal debris flew across the space, raining down on everyone.

Ya Han and her mother-in-law were relatively unscathed, thanks to their well-chosen hiding spot. Two or three others had suffered minor injuries. Mantou climbed to his feet, tossing the now-destroyed thermal imaging device aside. He set down the terrifying sniper rifle and grabbed a machine gun, firing wildly at the outside. The others also opened fire blindly toward the window. Numerous test tubes had been shattered, and with the explosion, various solutions now flowed freely across the floor.

“Everyone, get over here, we can’t stay here. We have to break out from the side, hurry…” Mantou said, firing and firing, his clothes already stained with blood.

Bullets whizzed through the room, and flames from the explosions and sparks from the bullets danced around Robert, who was rolling through the spilled solutions. He crawled over, “We don’t need to go out, we…”

“We have to go out! Of course, you can choose to stay!” Since they had already been hit by a rocket-propelled grenade, the assassins could launch another attack at any time. Mantou roared, and a few bodyguards escorted Ya Han and her mother-in-law, who crouched low, to his side. Robert pointed to a large piece of experimental equipment next to them, yelling back, “That… should be used for filtering… I don’t care what the hell it is, I just know it connects the top and bottom floors. We can get to the second floor through its pipes! All we need is for you to blow the partition open with your gun!”

“I’m starting to like this laboratory…” Mantou froze for a moment. “Let’s take the shortcut to the lower floor… Second floor, hopefully they haven’t set up too many ambushes there…”

**********************************************

“Second floor? Hopefully we have enough people prepared…”

This was a three-story parking garage not far from the building where the fighting was taking place. A silver sports car sat quietly in the darkness. John Amir was sitting in the driver’s seat, from where he could clearly see the gunfire erupting from the third-floor mountain cave in the building and the police and assassins battling each other at both ends of the street.

Just as Qiao Guorui had heard, as America’s top assassin, John Amir was even more obsessed with military knowledge. It wasn’t necessary to evaluate his talent in this area, but there was no doubt that becoming a general had been his youthful dream. Fate had led him to become an assassin, and that dream had been relegated to the realm of fantasy.

Assassins are a solitary and secretive profession. They select a target, plan a strategy, strike a decisive blow, and then disappear quickly. Militarily speaking, this could be categorized as using strategy, deception, and winning with a small force. However, he had done this so many times in his life as an assassin. Military actions that involve a small force defeating a larger one are undoubtedly exciting, but as Qiao Guorui said, the true way of *The Art of War* is to defeat the strong with the strong, the many with the many. Sitting in the car, he finally felt like a general.

Of course, he wasn’t an irrational person. The reason for this arrangement was not to satisfy his small military desires, but rather because after analysis, this plan had the highest probability of success. However, there was one unforeseen event. The plan to deploy all available assassins to kill Yujinxiang was originally supposed to take place on the road as Zhang Yahán and her group were traveling to the airport. That would have been the best way to catch them off guard, but they had received news beforehand that the Mafia was going to attack the research institute. They had to advance the plan.

If the Mafia attacked the research institute, with Yan Huang Jue Xing protecting them, Zhang Yahán would definitely be safe. But the police would inevitably be called in. If the New York police, or even the FBI or national security agencies, were allowed to intervene beforehand, the variables would increase significantly. Therefore, the location of the attack had to be changed to here. Since this was where Zhang Yahán was staying temporarily, Yujinxiang might have left some kind of setup. However…

Even with some preparation, they would definitely not be able to handle such an overwhelming human wave attack. When Zhang Yahán’s life was in danger, she would have no choice but to appear.

“Has Yujinxiang shown up yet?”

“Not yet, the target is now on the second floor. They seem to be trying to escape to the parking garage on the ground floor. Swordtooth and Blade’s people have already blocked them…”

“It’s been seventeen minutes, no more holding back. Give them real pressure, force Yujinxiang out!”

“What if we accidentally kill the target?”

“We have to make it look like we’re trying to kill her. If we accidentally kill her, there’s nothing we can do about it. I think Yujinxiang will realize how serious this is, no matter where she is!” He put away the walkie-talkie, his gaze fixed on the building where the gunfire was raging. “Unless she’s not there…”

If she’s not there…

Where could she be?

His mind raced, trying to answer the question. His fingers tapped rhythmically on the steering wheel. The sound echoed faintly in the car. A few minutes later, the phone rang, providing the answer to his question.

“Hello… Yes, I’m here… What did you say!?”

Suddenly, his fingers froze in mid-air. After a moment, the person on the other end of the line repeated the news in a panicked voice:

“Mr. Castro is dead…”.

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