Chapter Forty-Four: "Ice and Fire" 301
"...Now, the prey has walked straight into our... cage."
As Lin Feng’s declaration, brimming with a sense of command, echoed through the command vehicle, an invisible hunt—more thrilling than any battlefield—formally began.
Pujiang International Art Center, third floor.
"Ding—"
The doors of the VIP elevator slid open slowly.
Shavit, escorted by three "cleaners" codenamed "Viper," entered the corridor. The thick Turkish handmade carpet beneath their feet absorbed every sound, and the opulent décor rivaled that of Versailles.
At the end of the corridor stood the door to the A-1 Premium VIP Lounge, crafted from heavy African mahogany.
Everything seemed so quiet, so... normal.
Yet "Viper," a top mercenary who had fought his way in and out of African diamond mines and South American drug lord compounds, instinctively sensed a trace of extreme danger.
Too quiet.
As quiet as a meticulously arranged... tomb.
He stopped abruptly and raised his hand!
The two assassins behind him immediately drew the weapons hidden beneath their suits, pressing back to back to form a textbook triangular defensive formation.
Shavit was yanked behind him, gripped tight.
At that instant—
"Bang—!"
"Bang—!"
Two deafening crashes thundered from both ends of the corridor!
Two heavy emergency fire doors, usually concealed within the walls, crashed down like steel mountains from above, instantly sealing off the fifty-meter stretch of ornate hallway into a dead-end...
A corridor of death.
"Ambush!" Viper’s pupils shrank to pinpoints as he let out a beast-like roar.
But his warning came too late.
First wave: Information Suppression
"Snap!"
In the command vehicle, Lin Feng tapped the enter key.
All the lights in the corridor went out at once!
Immediately, the fire sprinklers in the ceiling and the smoke alarms on the wall activated simultaneously!
Icy water, mixed with choking smoke, poured down like a torrential rain.
A piercing alarm, sharp enough to rupture eardrums, instantly stripped away their sight and hearing.
Second wave: Tactical Assault
As chaos erupted—
"Move!"
The icy, decisive voice of Deputy Team Leader Zhao Yi rang in every team member’s earpiece!
On both sides of the corridor, the walls that had displayed priceless oil paintings and the disguised doors to hidden compartments were blasted open by overwhelming force.
Dozens of National Security Special Operations agents, clad in pitch-black tactical gear and equipped with advanced four-lens night vision and infrared thermal imaging devices impervious to smoke and darkness, surged forward like specters from hell, launching their attack from all sides.
"Rat-a-tat-tat—!"
Silenced assault rifles spat streams of deadly fire.
This was a textbook, violently aesthetic, three-dimensional CQB hunt.
...
"Fuck!"
Viper cursed in fury!
He and his men, after a brief shock, immediately displayed the terrifying combat instincts of elite mercenaries.
They didn’t even try to locate their enemies.
Instead, relying on muscle memory, they dove for the nearest cover—marble columns and sturdy sofas.
"Thud! Thud! Thud!"
Bullets, like the scythe of death, swept past them, sending chips of marble flying from the walls.
"Return fire! Return fire!" Viper howled from behind a massive Roman pillar.
His two assassins began firing back desperately, aiming at the vague flashes of muzzle fire.
This was the most primal and bloody struggle of cornered beasts, unfolding in a jungle of steel.
Meanwhile, Zhao Yi was as calm and emotionless as a hunter.
He and his assault team didn’t rush to attack.
Under Lin Feng and Xiao Ran’s "God’s-eye" command, they constantly maneuvered and suppressed the enemy with precise tactics and fire.
"Team A, clear the left sofa area with flashbangs!"
"Team B, crossfire on that Roman pillar! Pin him down—don’t let him move an inch!"
"Team C! With me! We’ll flank them through Room Two!"
Each of his commands was efficient, precise, and deadly.
...
After a brief but brutal firefight—
"Ah—!"
One of the "cleaners" took a bullet to the thigh, screaming in agony.
He was exposed!
"Target locked."
Zhao Yi’s voice was cold as iron.
Three agents, already lying in wait on his flank, emerged from the shadows at once!
Three black muzzles from three different angles leveled at him.
The assassin raised both hands in despair.
The other, however, was even more ferocious—after being shot in the abdomen, he pulled the pin from a grenade at his chest.
But before he could throw it—"Bang!"
A muffled shot.
Zhao Yi casually blew the wisp of smoke from his gun.
A neat, bleeding bullet hole appeared between the assassin’s brows.
...
Viper was utterly cornered.
Looking at his two comrades—one captured, the other killed—those eyes, always cold and cruel, now flashed with a trace of... fear.
He realized he’d encountered the real professionals.
And not just any professionals—the elite of the elite.
Driven by a desperate will to survive, he made one last, beast-like gamble.
Seizing the terrified, limp Shavit behind him, he dragged him forward as a human shield. A bullet grazed his right hand, blood streaming down his arm. Summoning the last of his strength, he kicked open the heavy mahogany door of the A-1 VIP lounge!
He dove inside!
"Bang!"
He locked the door from within.
He had trapped himself and his last "hostage" inside the newly relocated "Seastorm"... escape room.
The corridor returned to a deathly calm.
Only the shrill fire alarm and the relentless downpour of water remained.
Zhao Yi, staring at the shut door, gave a hand signal to "cease attack, hold position."
His team had surrounded the VIP lounge so tightly not even a drop of water could escape.
...
Inside the mobile command vehicle.
Lin Feng’s holographic projection whistled as he watched the surveillance feed of the "rat" now locked in its cage.
"Nicely done. Captain Zhao’s marksmanship is almost as good as my own in games."
He turned to Xiao Ran.
"Now this viper has become a mouse in a cage. Are we preparing for a forced assault?"
Xiao Ran gazed at the tightly closed door on the screen and slowly shook her head.
A smile, even more devilish and commanding than Lin Feng’s, spread across her face.
"A forced assault?"
"No."
"The game has only just begun."
She spoke into her communicator, issuing an order so stunning and unexpected that it left everyone present astonished.
"Lin Feng."
"Pull up all the surveillance feeds from inside that room for me. Then, with highest priority, connect to... Anderson’s ‘Ghost’ channel."
"I want our Mr. Anderson to witness a good show with his own eyes."
"A show about ‘betrayal’ and ‘loyalty’..."
"A very good show indeed."