Night Raid

Of course, seven soldiers were still far too few.

Li Qingye wasn't satisfied with that. He had to keep expanding his forces.

And his targets were crystal clear: gang members, especially those scum dealing in powder, who were like rats crossing the street.

Using intelligence from the internet and information provided by Chen Jianxiong, he quickly identified several targets.

One of them was the Sea Serpent Gang, which had previously occupied Manila's southeastern district.

This small gang had more than two hundred members. After Old Du's thunderous crackdown, their leader had been executed by firing squad, and more than half of the members had been thrown in jail. The forty-odd who remained had fled to Darte Port to lie low.

Gang members who came from elsewhere were easier to deal with than local gangs. They didn't have the same deeply rooted web of connections.

After a week of analyzing the situation with those targets, Li Qingye finally decided to go after the Sea Serpent Gang.

Under cover of night.

Inside an abandoned wood-processing plant north of Darte Port.

Torrential rain poured outside.

The remnants of the Sea Serpent Gang were inside, gathered in groups of three or five around a bonfire, warming themselves and eating instant noodles and sausages.

"Big Brother Fili, this can't go on!" A young man with a sharp chin and shifty eyes slurped his noodles as he spoke to the bald man roasting chicken wings.

Another man, who was missing an eye, mocked him. "You're lucky there's anything to eat. Don't you know what things are like out there? Idiot..."

The bald man took a bite of chicken wing. "One-Eye's right. Just hang in there for now! We've still got some money, anyway. Once that bastard's term is up, I refuse to believe the next guy will keep doing this."

Hearing that, the scum sitting in groups of three or five around the bonfire immediately started cursing and grumbling.

Some of them horsed around, others kept their heads down and ate, while still others didn't seem to care.

Far down the narrow road outside the abandoned wood-processing plant,

a van quietly pulled over beneath a breadfruit tree, hidden by the roar of the storm. Dense trees all around it blocked the light from its headlights.

They quickly turned off the lights and engine. Using the headlamps on their foreheads, the three soldiers meticulously checked their equipment inside the van.

Once they had finished, they put on raincoats and low-light goggles, then switched off their headlamps.

They crept toward the abandoned wood-processing plant, but stopped more than two hundred meters away.

Those powder-dealing scum were extremely alert. Even in the rain, they were sure to have set up some kind of alarm system.

Getting too close might set it off.

Li Qingye had programmed the soldiers, and his cautious approach to things had naturally been built into them.

The three wore black raincoats and crouched behind a pile of deadwood, making no sound at all. That was one of the soldiers' strengths. Even if a snake slithered right past their feet, they wouldn't react.

They waited.

They waited for the rain to stop.

More than five hours passed. Around two in the morning, the rain finally stopped, and most of the people inside the abandoned wood-processing plant were fast asleep.

Soldier No. 5 moved. He opened a case and released the frozen Coma Poison Mosquitoes inside.

The other two kept watch on their surroundings.

Time ticked by. Half an hour later, they quickly put on gas masks and ran toward the abandoned wood-processing plant, carrying pistols and grenades.

Snap!

Soldier No. 6 snapped a fishing line with his foot. A device like a bird trap went off at once, flinging more than a dozen cans into the air with a clatter.

Someone inside heard the noise.

"Who's there!"

"Get up..."

"Are the cops here?"

"Wake up!"

"Something's wrong..."

"Kev, what's the matter with you?"

A burst of noisy babbling came from inside the abandoned wood-processing plant.

The soldiers closed in quickly, pulled the pins on their grenades, and tossed them into the building. Soon, thick clouds of smoke billowed out.

"Damn it! Tear gas..."

"Cough, cough..."

Soldier No. 5 stopped again and released a jar of mosquitoes he had thawed earlier.

Before long, the sound of heavy bodies hitting the ground came one after another. Ten more minutes passed, and the inside fell completely silent.

The tear gas had nearly dispersed, and there still wasn't any movement inside the abandoned wood-processing plant.

But the three soldiers didn't rush in. Their programming wouldn't allow them to enter just yet.

Soldier No. 7 took out a small thermal-imaging camera and carefully circled the abandoned wood-processing plant. Through several gaps and windows, he saw that the people inside were all lying on the floor.

Inside the abandoned wood-processing plant, two men lay beneath mosquito nets with a shotgun and a pistol. Their palms were sweating, and they were extremely tense as they listened carefully for any sounds outside.

The two were the bald gang boss and the shifty-eyed young man. Since they were sleeping under mosquito nets, they hadn't been bitten by the poison mosquitoes.

When they saw that everyone outside their nets had passed out, and that those who had run out from under their nets after the tear gas attack were also dropping one after another, they reacted quickly and hid back under the nets. That was the only reason they hadn't been bitten.

At first, they had planned to lie on the floor and launch a desperate counterattack against the attackers. But the attackers outside were taking their time coming in, and the two didn't dare leave the nets. All they could do was wait anxiously.

Soldier No. 7 returned to the rally point.

"All targets are on the ground, but we can't confirm whether they're completely incapacitated."

"Execute Plan 19," Soldier No. 5 ordered.

"Agreed."

"Agreed."

A few minutes later, another dozen objects resembling grenades were thrown into the abandoned wood-processing plant.

Hiss, hiss, hiss...

Another thick cloud of smoke spread through the building.

"Son of a bitch..." The bald man and Skinny Monkey cursed inwardly at the same time. They wanted to rush outside and fight the attackers, but their bodies felt heavier and heavier. In the end, they closed their eyes in defeat.

Another twenty minutes passed.

"The Sleeping Agent has dissipated."

"Execute Plan 20."

Soldier No. 5 entered first, carrying a riot shield and a pistol as he approached cautiously.

Soldier No. 6 held a thermal-imaging camera and a sniper rifle. He lay beside a window with a view of the interior, ready to open fire at any moment.

The last soldier, No. 7, also carried a thermal-imaging camera. But his weapon was an air gun designed specifically to fire anesthetic needles.

Pfft, pfft, pfft...

One anesthetic needle after another sank into the Sea Serpent Gang members lying on the floor.

If they'd still been conscious, they probably would've roared, "Is this really necessary? Just how cautious are you people?"

But that was how the soldiers were programmed. To make absolutely sure nothing went wrong, they naturally needed several backup plans.

Besides, the laboratory had produced piles of Coma Poison Mosquitoes, tear gas, Sleeping Agent, anesthetic needles, and the like. The soldiers had no intention of saving Li Qingye's money. They would only use the most cautious and safest methods to complete their mission.

Li Qingye was also worried that the soldiers, who had certain limitations of their own, might run into trouble. So he had given them particularly cautious operating protocols.

Those unlucky Sea Serpent Gang members had been put through the wringer with poison mosquitoes, tear gas, Sleeping Agent, and anesthetic needles. By now, they couldn't have been any more out of commission.

After confirming that none of them could fight back, the soldiers quickly bound them hand and foot, even gagging them.

Then, through a series of tightly coordinated operations, they secretly transported all forty-three Sea Serpent Gang members to the Research Base on Calagua Island over the course of five days.

Thank you all for your support! (ω｀) And thanks to the readers "Old Daoist of Yunjian," "Heart of Haohao," "Yu Ming Dao Ren," and "Sunny Day One" for the tips.