Volume 1, Chapter 53: Defeat, Long Xiangtian Flees

At 9:30 AM, on the outskirts of the Cloud Villa.

Ten survivors, clutching automatic rifles, advanced tremblingly along the deserted street.

They wore tattered clothes, their eyes filled with fear and bewilderment.

"What on earth does Brother Biao want us to do?" a skinny man asked, his lips trembling, barely able to keep a steady grip on his gun.

"Shut up!" the burly leader lowered his voice. "As long as we get close to the villa gates, our mission is complete! We'll get ten days of rations and women to play with! Why ask so many questions?"

The others swallowed hard, gritting their teeth as they pressed forward.

Yet, what they did not know was that death awaited them.

......

Three hundred meters away, Long Tianxiang's troops were concealed behind the ruins.

"Brother Long, these guys look like trash at first glance; they're definitely not Hu Biao's elite," a subordinate wearing body armor scoffed.

Long Tianxiang sneered. "Hmph! I just need some cannon fodder to scout the way; who they are doesn't matter anymore."

He turned and gave the order, "Everyone stay alert! The moment any abnormality is detected, retreat immediately!"

Meanwhile.

On the outer perimeter of the villa.

The ten men crept stealthily toward the villa.

One hundred meters, eighty meters, sixty meters...

The villa was dreadfully quiet; not even a single shadow was visible.

"No, something's wrong, Brother Ming..." one of them stuttered, his legs shaking uncontrollably. "It's too quiet..."

The burly leader known as Ah Ming felt his heart pounding as if it were about to burst out of his chest. He, too, sensed that something was amiss.

This eerie silence was far more terrifying than a hail of bullets.

"Everyone be careful, find cover and advance individually."

The very second they stepped within the fifty-meter boundary—

"Bang!"

A sniper shot pierced the clear sky!

The man in the lead dropped to the ground instantly, a bloody hole newly formed between his brows.

"Ambush—!!"

Ah Ming threw himself into a roll, hiding behind an abandoned car, and roared at the top of his lungs, "Get down! Everyone get down!!"

"Da-da-da-da—!"

Tongues of fire suddenly erupted from every window of the villa!

The Snow Leopard Commando unit's QBZ-191s opened fire simultaneously, bullets pouring down like a torrential storm!

Hu Biao's subordinates screamed in succession, falling in rows instantly.

A few quick-witted ones hastily threw themselves flat on the ground to play dead, only to be blown to bloody smithereens by precise follow-up shots.

"Ah! Help!"

"We've been tricked! Run!"

The remaining men dropped their weapons and fled for their lives.

Three hundred meters away, Long Tianxiang's expression changed drastically:

"Fall back! Fall back immediately!"

He saw it all crystal clear!

The villa not only had heavy machine guns, but also well-trained special forces! What the hell kind of fat sheep was this? It was a beast armed to the teeth!

At the rear observation point.

Hu Biao held up his binoculars, watching Long Tianxiang's troops scramble away in a panicked retreat, a ferocious grin curling the corner of his mouth. "Trying to screw me over? Don't even think about getting off easy either!"

He had anticipated this outcome all along.

Those ten men could die for all he cared; they were just expendable survivors anyway.

The important thing was that now Long Tianxiang knew the terror of the villa and would not dare to provoke them again anytime soon.

And he, Hu Biao, could take this opportunity to grow his own forces.

As for revenge? He wasn't afraid at all!

If Long Tianxiang dared to come after him, he would simply take his men and defect to the villa!

Then, he would pin the blame for everything that had just happened entirely on Long Tianxiang.

That way, it would be killing two birds with one stone.

Though he would lose his freedom from then on, it was still better than losing his life.

Inside the villa.

Lin Ye looked at the fleeing enemies on the surveillance monitors, his eyes cold. "Find out the origins of these people."

He turned and walked toward the operations room, having already made up his mind.

Anyone who dared to target him had better be prepared to pay the price.

......

At 10:15 AM, on the eastern street.

Xie Jin led his infantry squad in a rapid weave through the ruins, their muzzles constantly pointed at suspicious corners.

The radio suddenly crackled with an urgent warning from the scout: "Platoon leader! A second armed squad has been spotted at the eleven o'clock position! About fifteen people, moving toward the villa's flank!"

"Take cover! Prepare for an ambush!" Xie Jin immediately gave a tactical hand signal, and the entire squad instantly dispersed into cover.

A cacophony of disorganized footsteps and low murmurs drifted over from a distance.

"Brother Long said as long as we figure out the villa's firepower points, everyone gets a double ration reward!"

"Damn it, what was up with the gunfire over there just now?"

"Forget about it, hurry up..."

Xie Jin sneered. This rabble couldn't even manage basic tactical silence.

He slowly raised three fingers, retracting them one by one under the gaze of his entire squad—

"Open fire!"

"Da-da-da—!"

Six QBZ-191 rifles spat fire simultaneously, crossing their streams of fire to blanket the entire street in an instant! Before the enemy could even react, seven or eight men dropped into pools of blood.

"There's an ambush! Fall bac—ah!"

A burly man attempting to raise his gun and return fire was headshot with pinpoint precision by a designated marksman.

The survivors fled in terror, only for their retreat to be sealed off by a barrage from the machine gunners who had been lying in wait.

Five minutes later, the gunfire ceased, and fifteen corpses lay haphazardly among the ruins.

"Leave one alive." Xie Jin kicked away a corpse, revealing a tall, thin man underneath who had been shot in the thigh and was shivering violently.

"D-don't kill me..." The tall, thin man's trousers were already soaked.

Xie Jin grabbed him by the collar with a blank expression: "Take him away."

......

The villa operations room.

"Marshal, Platoon Leader Xie Jin has concluded the engagement, captured one prisoner, and is currently escorting him back," Chen Feng reported.

Lin Ye stood before the surveillance monitors, his eyes cold. "Very well. I'd like to see who is courting death so boldly."

The interrogation room.

Inside the dimly lit interrogation room, the captive was bound to an iron chair. His leg wound had been roughly bandaged, but blood continued to seep out, staining his trouser leg.

His face was deathly pale, his entire body trembling, and his eyes were filled with terror.

Lin Ye sat across from him, tapping his fingers lightly on the tabletop. His voice was calm yet carried an unquestionable oppressive weight: "Name."

"W-Wang Tie-zhu..." the man stammered in reply.

"Who sent you?"

"L-Long Tianxiang... He's the leader of the Aurora Sanctuary..."

Lin Ye narrowed his eyes. "Aurora Sanctuary? What kind of background do they have?"

Wang Tie-zhu swallowed hard. "Brother Long... no, Long Tianxiang, after the outbreak of the apocalypse, led his men to raid the police station for weapons and built an armed force. Now he has dozens of men under him, and thousands of survivors following him..."

"Why did he attack my base?"

"H-He said there are countless supplies here... As long as we take it, the brothers will live the high life..." Wang Tie-zhu's voice grew softer and softer. "I-I really don't know anything! I'm just an ordinary survivor, forcibly conscripted by them!"

Lin Ye stared into his eyes, confirming he wasn't lying: "Who else has Long Tianxiang allied with?"

"A-Allied?" Wang Tie-zhu looked bewildered. "I don't know... Long Tianxiang just told us to follow him and said taking this place would lead to a good life..."

Lin Ye frowned slightly.

It seemed this man was merely a low-level grunt who knew nothing of any deeper secrets.

"Take him away." He waved a hand.

Soldiers immediately stepped forward and dragged Wang Tie-zhu out.

The operations room.

"Marshal, based on the prisoner's confession, this 'Aurora Sanctuary' should be a local survivor militia here in Donghai City."

Chen Feng analyzed, "But they don't seem to know our true strength, otherwise they wouldn't have sent just this handful of people to their deaths."

Lin Ye sneered. "Regardless of whether they know or not, since they dared to come and provoke me, they must pay the price."

He turned and looked at the map, pointing a finger at the approximate location of the Aurora Sanctuary mentioned by the captive: "Reinforce our defenses first and hold position for now. Once we figure out their background, we'll wipe out this so-called 'Sanctuary' in one fell swoop."

"Understood!"