novelraw Chapter 158 : Deep Infiltration
Chapter 158 : Deep Infiltration
At 2 AM.
Employees unaware of the Zhou K Group's criminal activities in the park had long since entered dreamland.
A burst of intense gunfire broke the night's silence.
A small group of employees were startled awake.
They didn't know what was happening outside; some even thought a boiler had exploded.
As they were feeling anxious, the supervisor, sweating profusely, opened the door to the employees' dormitory.
"Everyone quickly get dressed and follow me. No electronic devices allowed!"
"Move it! Don't just stand there! Government officials said we must assemble in 3 minutes. Hurry up!"
This supervisor didn't understand the military ranks within the army group, only knowing that something big had happened in the park tonight.
Seeing people still lingering in their beds, he stomped his foot and started physically pulling people up.
Due to the clandestine nature of Wang Qiang and his associates' activities, the access privileges of the criminal elements and ordinary personnel were drastically different.
This inadvertently facilitated the soldiers' strike action.
If not for the sudden burst of gunfire earlier, perhaps the ordinary employees wouldn't have known about the night's events until daybreak.
After running out of the monitoring room alone, Shen Han immediately tore off the black hood from her head.
In her current attire resembling a terrorist, she risked being shot by her own people in a terrible mistake.
She considered it, but ultimately didn't discard the hood.
She hastily stuffed it into her clothes, then quickly rendezvoused with the tactical squad she had requested, guided by phone instructions.
"Captain Shen!"
On a bumpy dirt road outside a greenhouse complex, Shen Han successfully met up with her team.
This was the standard tactical squad configuration in the army group.
One captain, two firepower teams, one sniper, plus three assault team members.
The captain's position was vacant, now perfectly filled by Shen Han.
After receiving communication earpieces, weapons, ammunition, and military knives from her team members, she immediately began assigning tasks.
Wang Qiang and Yan Ni's exact location had been found, not too far from their current position. Fighting their way there, they could arrive within 5 minutes.
"According to intelligence, Wang Qiang has gathered over ten armed criminals and is exchanging fire with our people. They currently have two hostages, making it difficult for the assault team to act rashly."
"They're hiding in a lush cultivation field, preventing the sniper from finding a suitable shooting position."
As Shen Han led her team closer to the cultivation field, she took out the black hood from inside her clothes and put it back on her head.
"Here's the plan: you'll shoot at me, chasing me into the field, allowing me to infiltrate Wang Qiang's group."
"Coordinate with the other soldiers on the communication channel, making sure to identify your target before firing."
Hearing this arrangement, not only were the surrounding tactical team members shocked, but even those in the Peace Palace command center were stunned by Shen Han's bold plan.
Deep infiltration, though a clever move, was also a major taboo in military strategy.
The most difficult aspect of the current situation was the hostages in the criminals' possession. Even if Shen Han managed to mix in with them, she would still be fatally constrained by this.
If the criminals discovered any issue with her identity, they would undoubtedly open fire on her without hesitation.
Even if Shen Han was a top-tier S-class Alpha, she couldn't dodge a network of firepower from hot weapons.
In the command center, Gu Junwan's golden phoenix eyes showed dilating pupils.
This was a physiological response when facing fear or extreme tension.
In that instant, she wanted to rise and walk to the control panel, press the communication key connecting to Shen Han's earpiece, and order her to cancel the plan she had just mentioned.
No matter how strong the Empress's psychological resilience was, she was far from being able to completely separate emotion from reason.
Seeing her partner in danger, she too would tremble slightly from fear, her spine chilling with dread.
The person arranging the mission on the projection screen was her only love in this life!
Gu Junwan dared not imagine what she would do if something happened to Shen Han during the operation.
Seconds ticked by, and even as Shen Han removed her earpiece, discarded excess weapons, and began to act according to plan, Gu Junwan ultimately couldn't take that step to stop her.
Her Alpha was an exceptional soldier with her own responsibilities and mission.
If she couldn't change the situation on the battlefield, the only thing she could do was trust her.
Shen Han, of course, couldn't know Gu Junwan's thoughts.
At present, she was being 'pursued' by several army group soldiers, entering the cultivation field at a clever angle from the side.
The breakthrough point she chose wasn't the central area where Wang Qiang and his group were, but aimed at a small group of criminals who had just taken refuge in the lush field.
Shen Han, carrying an enemy weapon she had picked up along the way in one hand, ran haphazardly through the field while shooting back.
As she ran, her foot slipped, and she fell sideways to the ground.
A burst of bullets hit the field ridge, kicking up dust half a meter high.
'Coincidentally', it was this fall that caused the close pursuit's shots to miss.
Judging by the bullet trajectories, they should have hit her chest, but now they only grazed her clothes.
Nearby, several masked criminals watched this scene, secretly thinking how lucky that person was to have brushed with death.
But soon, they started cursing under their breath.
Because they saw that 'brother' who had fallen now running towards them in a crouch.
"Get lost! Go somewhere else!"
"Damn it! I really want to shoot him!"
Of course, this small group of criminals didn't actually shoot at Shen Han.
They carried their weapons and ran towards the central area of the field with their heads down.
They knew their boss had hostages, and only by joining him would they have a chance of survival.
Shen Han discarded the empty gun, drew a knife from her leg holster and hid it in her sleeve, quickly catching up behind the five fleeing men.
Gunfire came from behind, bullets raining like hailstones on the surrounding plant stems and leaves.
A strong grassy smell permeated the air.
Submachine guns had a high rate of fire but weren't suited for long-range combat.
Therefore, the main purpose of this round of attacks by the army group soldiers was to provide cover for Shen Han.
Shen Han caught up with the enemy at the rear, raising her hand to stab his left carotid artery with the knife.
As he groaned and slowed, she raised her knee, delivering a whip kick that completely felled him.
After dealing with one person, Shen Han briefly oriented herself, put away the knife, took out her silenced handgun, and quickly moved towards two others huddled together.
Earlier in the warehouse and monitoring room, Shen Han had intentionally left survivors for interrogation.
But at this life-or-death moment, there was no need to spare these desperate criminals.
After a period of running through the hail of bullets, Shen Han finally approached the central position where Wang Qiang and his group were located.
Of the five people who had fled here together earlier, only two remained.
"It's all because of you! If you hadn't run aimlessly, we wouldn't have been discovered!"
A man whose arm had been grazed by a stray bullet during the escape, seeing the bespectacled accomplice who had caused their pursuit also fleeing here, immediately wanted to strike him with his gun stock.
"Enough!"
A man's low shout came from several meters away: "At a time like this, whoever starts infighting, I'll blow their brains out!"
Shen Han recognized this voice; it was Zhang Lei, who had just taken the Vice President position at the entertainment city not long ago!
They had first met during Shen Han's interview, and hadn't had much interaction since, so she wasn't worried about him recognizing her now.
With Zhang Lei's intervention, Shen Han was able to squeeze through the gaps between the planting frames with the other two, joining the main group of leaders.
The number of criminals who had fled to the field with Wang Qiang was now less than ten.
Yan Ni and another woman had their hands tied behind their backs, their lips split, with blood staining their chins.
Wang Qiang and Zhang Lei, the two leaders, each held one, using their bodies as human shields.
Shen Han noticed that Zhang Lei's foot was injured, and he wasn't wearing a hood, only having roughly smeared blood and mud on his face, looking like a monster covered in filth.
The two hostages didn't appear to have suffered serious injuries like gunshot wounds, but their mental state seemed quite poor.
Yan Ni was trembling all over, while the other woman, her hair gripped by Zhang Lei, could barely stand steady.
Just as Shen Han was secretly observing those around her, Yan Ni's body began to shake more violently.
She was struggling to breathe, feeling as if her heart might jump out of her throat.
She had recognized Shen Han!
Although the other was now completely disheveled and in a state similar to the surrounding criminals.
She still firmly believed that Manager Shen, who always brought hope to people, had come to rescue her!
At the same time, the people in the Peace Palace command center were also on tenterhooks.
Through the images transmitted back by the detection glasses, they could clearly capture the astonished expression on Yan Ni's face, and the sudden light that burst in her eyes.
Everyone guessed that the hostage must have recognized Shen Han's identity.
They all worried that Captain Shen might be exposed because of this.
Fortunately, Yan Ni didn't continue to stare at Shen Han.
She pleaded with Wang Qiang as she had tried many times before: "Please let us go, I beg you."
Wang Qiang shouted "Shut up!" and then ignored her.
He looked towards Zhang Lei: "From this position, retreat diagonally 45 degrees on both sides, about 1 kilometer away, there are entrances to underground passages. You and I will each take a hostage and go separately."
"As long as we can escape this crisis tonight, the boss will take care of everything else for us afterwards."
After speaking, he tossed something that looked like a key to the other.
He pointed out three people to follow him, then pushed Yan Ni towards the right diagonal.
In this situation, Zhang Lei had no other choice.
He immediately yanked the other hostage and led the remaining people straight towards the left diagonal.
Regarding the hidden passage in this industrial park, he had heard about it before, but he didn't know that the escape route was in this cultivation field.
Shen Han was assigned to Zhang Lei's group, and now her heart was filled with anxiety.
She hadn't expected this place to have pre-planned escape tunnels for the enemy.
If Yan Ni was taken into the tunnel, her chances would be slim!
On the surface battlefield, the criminals needed her as a human shield, which provided some guarantee for the hostage's safety for the time being.
But once the criminals escaped pursuit and felt the hostage had become a burden, they might choose to kill her.
Shen Han was stretched thin, and no matter how anxious she felt, she could only focus on rescuing the hostage before her eyes first.
As for Yan Ni's side, she hoped the command center would come up with a solution after learning about the underground passages.
At the same moment.
The holographic sand table in the command center had already pulled up the park's construction planning map, including the layout of the tunnels.
Gu Junwan multitasked, paying attention to Shen Han's actions while quickly comparing in her mind the endpoints of the tunnel layout with the corresponding geographical locations of the park area.
Half a minute later, she circled three points.
A cold, stern voice emerged from the Empress's red lips: "Points 1 and 2, have nearby soldiers go there immediately to lie in wait!"
"Point 3 requires crossing the cultivation field. After Shen Han successfully rescues the hostage, have her lead the tactical squad there to make the arrest. Depending on the situation, all criminals can be directly eliminated."