Chapter Fifty-Five: The Delta of Instant Annihilation

Half an hour later, Mo Long arrived with his men. Upon seeing the mutilated corpses strewn across the ground, his brows furrowed in displeasure.

“Captain, it’s Blackbeard!” someone exclaimed.

Mo Long was shocked and hurried forward to inspect the body. Though much of it had been devoured by monsters, the face remained intact enough to identify the infamous mercenary. Confirming it was indeed Blackbeard, Mo Long was astounded. “Damn it, damn those mercenaries!”

Blackbeard was a world-renowned mercenary, whose skills rivaled the elite special forces of several nations.

“Wait, this was a single sword to the throat, not a death by monster,” Mo Jiao quickly noticed the distinction in the manner of death.

Hearing this, Mo Long immediately examined the corpses and found that, indeed, they had died by cold weapons, not at the jaws of monstrous beasts.

“Cold weapons? Could those people be after this place as well?”

“Those people? Impossible, isn’t it? This place is a military priority, no matter how bold they are, they wouldn’t dare target it,” Mo Xie said incredulously.

Mo Long shook his head. “Hard to say! What do you make of this cold weapon?”

Mo Xie fell silent, saying nothing more.

“All right, everyone, stay alert. After all, we are China’s top special forces. We won’t be brought down by such minor troubles!”

While Mo Long was encountering this, Zhu Lan had already arrived at a new location, utterly unaware of the developments behind him.

Along the way, Zhu Lan had not encountered any more monsters—a curious detail, but even stranger was the cleanliness of this area. Previously, the corridors and rooms had been left in ruins by the monsters, but here everything was impeccably tidy, not even a speck of dust could be found.

Kong Yan had scanned the area; it was not a dust-free zone.

Walking down the empty corridor, Zhu Lan glanced at the contents of the rooms on either side, frowning.

Inside, each room was filled with enormous glass cylinders containing the corpses of various animals, all of them split open.

It was an experimental zone. Zhu Lan did not linger, but pressed onward.

Once through the experimental area, he reached the control center.

“Don’t move!” Suddenly, as he exited the lab, several men appeared ahead, weapons drawn and pointed at Zhu Lan.

Zhu Lan and Kong Yan stopped, raising their heads to look at the newcomers.

“Who are you?” The men demanded in Japanese, but thanks to Kong Yan’s translation, Zhu Lan understood perfectly.

“Japanese?”

Kong Yan translated Zhu Lan’s words smoothly.

“Chinese?” The leader was momentarily stunned.

Zhu Lan’s face turned grim. “Chinese?” They were courting death!

“Damn Chinese, kill them!”

Bullets erupted in a storm, sweeping toward Zhu Lan.

Zhu Lan was not afraid in the slightest, nor did he bother to dodge.

Kong Yan stepped forward, placing herself between Zhu Lan and the bullets.

The rounds struck Kong Yan’s body, leaving visible marks.

One, two, hundreds of bullet holes appeared on her body.

The Japanese men were stupefied.

Then, the surface of Kong Yan’s body rippled, and the bullet holes slowly closed and healed.

“Ghost!”

Kong Yan raised her hand, which transformed into a massive cannon barrel, its muzzle glowing with flickering firelight.

“Monster, die!” One of them, unable to withstand the bizarre sight, fired wildly at Kong Yan.

But the bullets had no effect whatsoever.

Boom—

The cannon unleashed a blaze, exploding violently among them.

“Ah, my hand! Someone help me! Mother, I want to go home!”

“Amaterasu, have you abandoned your people?”

With a single blast, they were all gravely injured, the lightest suffering broken bones.

Kong Yan typically used cold weapons, never firearms, but that did not mean she lacked other means. She could deploy energy cannons, though they consumed vast amounts of power and were rarely used.

Zhu Lan picked up a rifle from the ground and approached one of the Japanese men.

“No, no, please, let me go!” the man begged.

Zhu Lan’s face was icy. From the moment they uttered that slur, their fate was sealed.

Bang!

Bang bang bang bang—

Zhu Lan dispatched them one after another. Each pleaded for mercy, but Zhu Lan showed not the slightest emotion.

Was Zhu Lan a hot-blooded nationalist? Perhaps, yet not entirely.

He tossed the rifle aside, ignoring the blood on his shoes, and continued onward. Kong Yan followed naturally.

After Zhu Lan left, a figure struggled up from among the corpses, gazing at Zhu Lan’s receding form with a flash of viciousness in his eyes. He rummaged through a body and found a bottle of bright blue liquid, drank it in one desperate gulp.

Zhu Lan knew nothing of those events behind him, nor how the man had managed to evade Kong Yan’s detection system. He simply trusted her abilities too much.

Passing through a winding corridor, Zhu Lan arrived at the next level, where a massive steel door confronted him.

Without waiting for instructions, Kong Yan stepped forward, her hand inserted into the input panel.

Click—

The steel door slowly rose.

As long as it was electronic, Kong Yan could unlock it. Even doors managed by intelligent systems were easily breached by her intrusion; this ordinary steel door posed no challenge.

The door rose fully, revealing a vast chamber to Zhu Lan.

The space was about the size of a basketball court, entirely empty except for a special computer at the center—a computer, no, a supercomputer.

Zhu Lan walked inside.

Instantly, the door closed behind him automatically.

He glanced at it, unconcerned, and approached the supercomputer.

No defensive systems appeared, whether they had been disabled or simply never existed; Zhu Lan proceeded smoothly to the supercomputer.

He sat down, and Kong Yan did likewise, extending several cables from her hand to connect to the supercomputer.

Zhu Lan watched Kong Yan, awaiting her successful breach.

Boom—

An explosion rang out. Zhu Lan looked up.

A passage had been blasted open, and several brightly dressed figures leapt out, rolling to the side and raising their weapons.

They quickly spotted Zhu Lan and Kong Yan. With a series of hand signals, they moved to close in.

Zhu Lan narrowed his eyes—these people must have entered through the ventilation ducts, though how they found the control center was a mystery.

Click—

The door opened again, and a group rushed in from outside.

The group advancing on Zhu Lan noticed the newcomers and redirected half their guns toward them.

“Don’t move!” The newcomers saw the armed group, but the room was barren; aside from the supercomputer, there was no cover, as everything else had been stored deep underground rather than in this chamber.

Helpless, they trained their guns on the other group, wary of making any sudden moves.

“Damn, they got here fast!”

The ones from the air ducts were foreigners; those from the main door were Mo Long and his men.

Neither group was in good shape—some wounded, Mo Long’s side even had several unconscious members, their bodies marked with terrifying wounds.

“Delta Force?” Mo Long frowned, observing their gear.

Delta Force—America’s most elite special operations unit.

Put simply, even the President’s bodyguards have served in Delta Force; that alone illustrates the unit’s fearsome reputation.

“Oh? Chinese, you’re impressive!” The white leader, seeing the situation, lowered his weapon and looked approvingly at Mo Long.

“You’ve set foot on Chinese soil. I demand you surrender your weapons, or we are authorized to kill you. You are guilty of trespassing, but I will grant you an honorable exit!”

“Hmph, do you really think you’re our match?”

There were fifteen members of Delta, while Mo Long’s group numbered fourteen. It seemed only one less, but four of Mo Long’s team were unconscious, leaving less than ten combat-ready, two of whom were badly wounded and possibly unable to fight.

Mo Long’s face darkened, then he noticed Zhu Lan and his secretary beside the supercomputer.

“Hmph, you think you’ve won? My people are already at the control center and can activate the mechanisms at any time. We’ll see who dies first—you or us!”

The white leader turned to the supercomputer and Zhu Lan.

Zhu Lan remained silent, simply watching the two groups, unmoved.

“Chinese, I advise you to leave that spot. I can’t guarantee that a bullet won’t pass through your head in the next second.”

“Are you speaking to me?” Zhu Lan looked innocently at the white man.

“Of course. Leave now!” The leader pointed his gun at Zhu Lan, finger ready on the trigger.

Zhu Lan shook his head in resignation. “If you don’t court death, you won’t die.”

“Huh?” The Americans were baffled.

Slowly, Zhu Lan raised his hand.

With a flick of his finger—

Zap zap zap—

A dozen beams of laser light appeared out of nowhere. The world-famous Delta Force had no time to react; they were pierced through and killed instantly, many dying without even realizing what happened.

Mo Long and his men were startled by the sudden turn of events. Looking up, they saw strange devices mounted on the ceiling—laser emitters.

Laser weapons—a terror mastered by only a handful of nations. Most laser weapons are fixed installations, concentrating heat to destructive effect. If the energy supply is sufficient, they are not difficult to manufacture.

The world’s research into laser weaponry focuses on energy sources and materials. Firing lasers generates enormous heat, which ordinary materials cannot withstand—not even aerospace-grade alloys. Without breakthroughs in thermally stable materials and new energy sources, mature deployment of laser weapons remains a distant goal.