Paradise Game II: Modern Warfare

At 4:15, a carriage suddenly appeared at the end of the avenue leading to Water Gazing Manor.

The gatekeepers noticed the carriage immediately and prepared to question them, but they soon realized something was wrong—there was no one driving the carriage, only two black horses galloping at high speed, seemingly with no intention of stopping!

Before they could sound the alarm, the carriage crashed into the manor's iron gate with a loud bang. The fragile gate fell to the ground, the carriage flew a considerable distance, and finally plunged into the courtyard pond.

"Damn it, whose carriage is this?"

"Hell, don't they know whose territory this is!"

Just as everyone's attention was fully drawn to the crash, Taylor, who had already infiltrated the manor's perimeter fence, launched the first attack!

Bang bang, bang bang bang—

The crisp sound of gunfire instantly tore through the night!

Short bursts of two to three shots were unerring at a distance of 100 meters. The kerosene lamps hanging from the enemies' waists became the best guides. In the blink of an eye, four people were hit and fell to the ground!

"It's an ambush!"

"Someone's attacking us!"

The alarm whistles at various checkpoints finally sounded, and the bodyguards in the manor were awakened from their slumber and began to return fire. However, the darkness concealed Taylor's movements, allowing them to only roughly determine the direction of the attacker's fire but not to pinpoint Taylor's location.

Just as they were attempting to surround the attacker, their unguarded flank was hit by a crossfire from another CQ-B.

Bullets flew through the crowd, leaving them with no chance to resist.

The guards realized that no matter where they ran, they couldn't escape the bullets that were like death itself.

"This is no good, we can't hold this place!"

"How many of them are there?!"

Everyone felt a strong sense of absurdity at that moment, as if they were still dreaming!

An ambush this suffocating would require at least forty to fifty people, yet they couldn't find the main force of the enemy anywhere. Moreover, there were always guards watching outside the manor at all times; how could such a large group sneak up to the gate without being noticed!?

At 4:20, the manor courtyard was breached. Apart from more than ten corpses lying on the ground, the few remaining survivors had all fled.

"This theater... it's beyond saving."

Woody looked at the raging fire before him, his eyes filled with indignation. The Second Prince's delegation had visited this place before, and now it was completely burned down in less than a week. This was an insult to the lord of Glorious Fortress! "Damn it, are the people at the North City Police Station dreaming? Why haven't they sent a single officer yet! Sir—"

"Shh." Sandella made a silencing gesture.

She closed her eyes slightly, tilted her head back, as if sensing something.

Then she asked in a low voice, "Do you hear anything?"

The adjutant paused, then calmed himself and listened intently, mimicking his superior. But all he could hear was the whistling of the night wind, the crackling of wood burning in the fire, and the murmuring of the onlookers, sounds that were impossible to ignore even without listening carefully.

"Sir, I don't hear anything..."

"It's gunfire," Sandella suddenly opened her eyes. "Continuous gunfire, with at least forty people armed, and they're in a fierce exchange!"

"Are you sure?" Woody asked in surprise. Firearms are controlled items in Glorious Fortress. Apart from the City Guard and the police, there are no organized armed forces. Gangs might have some smuggled goods, but they're generally not a significant threat. "Could it be the police cracking down on gang members?"

However, he knew this assumption was hard to justify, as the police usually inform the City Guard before launching a large-scale operation to avoid misunderstandings.

Sandella shook her head. "The sound is coming from the inner city, likely within a residential area."

"An inner city residential area?" Woody felt a prickle of fear. Those areas were home to the city's dignitaries, and the security level was top-notch. How could a gunfight suddenly break out there? But he didn't dare to easily dismiss his superior; the perception of a master-level martial artist indeed had its unique aspects.

"Notify everyone in Group One to head to the inner city immediately!"

"Yes!" Woody immediately accepted the order. "Then... what about the arsonist, are we still going to catch them?"

"Of course, we have to catch them," Sandella said without hesitation. "But I'm afraid they're not here."

The adjutant looked puzzled.

"Let's get there first," she didn't offer further explanation. After all, the more you explain intuition, the more confusing it becomes—the burning of the theater and the sudden intense gunfire in the inner city seemed unrelated, but they shared a commonality: they both came without warning and were inexplicably abnormal.

Just like that fortune teller who suddenly disappeared.

She had a vague feeling that she might find answers at the place where the gunfire erupted.

"Yes! Control the body of your rifle, don't let your eyes stray too far from the sights, and be ready to pull the trigger at any moment!" Zhang Zhiyuan shouted in Zhou Zhi's mind. "Indoor combat is different from outside; no corner can be overlooked! It's best to annihilate the enemy completely!"

"Brother, don't get too excited, I can hear you." Zhou Zhi said with a wry smile. When he learned that the other "fallen" were still concerned about the game's progress, he became very energetic. He didn't expect Zhang Zhiyuan to be even more energetic, giving him comprehensive and detailed guidance with such a loud voice. "Back at the theater, weren't you very resistant to this kind of private judgment? Why have you changed your tune now?"

"Are you stupid? You're the one shooting now, not me!" Zhang Zhiyuan retorted. "And you saw the mission description, what right do they have to call themselves police? They wear the guise of law enforcers but commit atrocities worse than beasts. Eliminating scum like them is no problem."

He even gritted his teeth a little as he said the last part.

"Alright, alright, I'll do my best, that's enough!" Zhou Zhi agreed helplessly. "But speaking of which... I don't feel like the gun is that hard to use, it's pretty much like playing a shooting game... except there's no bounty reward."

"Nonsense!" Zhang Zhiyuan rolled his eyes silently. "You haven't even looked at what the other side is holding." Although they were both guns, the performance gap between them was enough to compensate for the lack of novice skills. At a distance of 100 meters, it was difficult for the enemy's bullets to guarantee a first hit, but for the CQ-B, it was point-and-shoot. And during the time it took for the enemy to wait for the next shot after missing, the powerful firepower of the assault rifle would have already turned the target into a sieve.

If this were an equal fight, in Zhang Zhiyuan's view, Zhou Zhi would have died ten times over and it wouldn't have been a lot.

It was precisely because of the absolute advantage in weapons that Taylor and Zhou Zhi chose a frontal assault, which was also the fastest way to end the battle.

The strategy proved to be quite effective. In less than five minutes, they had already charged into the villa from the left and right sides and engaged in a firefight with the bodyguards inside.

And these bodyguards weren't even armed with guns; they still relied on bladed weapons like swords.

Despite their stronger will to fight, they fell faster than the guards outside. Especially when they tried to charge desperately during the pauses in gunfire, the relentless, storm-like volleys of shots filled their faces with disbelief even as they died.

The two of them rushed straight up to the master bedroom on the second floor.

This was also where the villa's owner spent most of his time.

They saw a stout figure sitting at a mahogany long table. Judging by his attire, he was clearly different from the guards and bodyguards, and he had a golden badge pinned to his shoulder.

Without a word, Zhou Zhi unleashed a barrage of shots at the man!

A spray of blood mist erupted from behind him as bullets hit.

"Is that Kuiqi?"

"Who knows? You should have asked questions before shooting."

Seeing the target fall, Taylor stepped forward and turned the man's face over. His expression suddenly changed—the deceased's face was completely swollen, his eye sockets a dark purple, clearly having been dead for quite some time!

This was a corpse that had been deliberately placed!

"Careful, there might be a trap in the room—" Taylor had only gotten halfway through his sentence when a mirrored wardrobe in the room exploded. A figure, accompanied by a shower of glass shards, lunged at Zhou Zhi. Zhou Zhi redirected his gun to try and defend himself, but the attacker's speed was utterly incredible. Before Zhou Zhi could even pull the trigger, the person's fist smashed into his face!

With a deafening BOOM, Zhou Zhi was sent flying, soaring across the entire bedroom before crashing heavily against the wall. The blood that sprayed out painted a spiderweb-like shape on the wall!