Act.15 Street Fighting Man

Foreword:

Birds with similar feathers will naturally flock together.

[Part 1: Mercury Flowing Across the Ground]

In early spring, the moisture seeped into the house through the gaps in the wooden door frame. It left frost on the gun barrels, which was then wiped clean with bandages by the soldiers from Guangling Zhixi, lest their newly acquired lovers become rusty.

In the hotel's conference room, Uncle Liu Zhicheng, the leader of the Canglang Battle Group, sat in the main seat, speaking in fluent Cantonese with the leaders of various combat squads.

"Please have some tea!"

The regimental commander was advanced in years, with graying temples and scars on his chin and forehead—horrific wounds that no Universal Elixir could heal. They were like gaping wounds so deep that bone was visible. Years of hardship had allowed them to heal naturally, but the healed wounds could not be restored by medicine.

As soon as the words "please have some tea" were uttered, the centurion, who had been waiting at the door for a long time, rushed to the kitchen counter. As he passed the hotel lobby, he glanced at it again—the lobby manager and staff were obediently squatting under the guns of the defense soldiers, tied together with the corpses of the Little Brotherhood's spies and informants.

Once the teacups were placed on the table, Uncle Liu Zhicheng put the guns and daggers, along with all the other weapons, onto the conference table.

"Gongxiang!"

Six squad leaders lined up on either side of the main seat, each presenting a porcelain bowl of rice and three sticks of cigarette as offerings to the god of firearms, thus beginning the pre-battle ceremony.

"I bow to the Patriarch Sun Simiao."

The men, with their hands clasped in a gesture of respect, bowed their heads in response.

"I bow to my revered teacher Zhao Shizhen."

People took out dog tags from their weapon pouches, attached their unit numbers and enemy/friend identification insignia, and then solemnly saluted.

"I pay my respects three times to my renowned teacher Dai Zi."

Cigarette smoke mingled with the heavy breathing of the group, and the smoke also clung to the dark, deadly weapons.

Liu Zhicheng: "Let's eat."

The cooks brought nearly fifty kilograms of raw beef from the kitchen counter as their staple food. It was simply salted and sterilized at a low temperature, and they didn't plan to cook it. They couldn't afford to have carbohydrate dizziness during the upcoming street battle, as raw beef is difficult to digest and can stay in the stomach for a very long time.

The leader took up a knife and cut the meat, and the team members followed suit. The sounds of chewing food and swallowing raw meat broke the solemnity of the incense-burning ritual.

The brothers in the battle group came from all over the country, so Liu Zhicheng switched to Mandarin.

"I'm furious that I didn't have a chance to act sooner—"

"--Go to the house at the end of the street, there are two daughters. The father was terminally ill. Others get injections in their arms, but he had already been given an injection in his femoral artery. Finally, it was given in his neck, and he passed away yesterday."

"I kindly went to help lift the door panel, only to discover that this old dog had also given his daughter injections—intending them to become prostitutes to earn money to support his drug habit."

At this point, the warriors of the Canglang Battle Group almost simultaneously raised their heads, their mouths still stained with the blood from improperly prepared beef.

Liu Zhicheng just kept eating and talking.

"The people selling their syringes and drugs are two drug dealers from the Golden Eagle Logistics Point in the East Third District. One does retail, and the other does wholesale; they're both here."

A yellow paper bag was tossed into the center of the large table; it contained a tactical map and categorized notes brought by the Big Sister.

"Brothers, think about it, think it over carefully. What are we doing serving in Guangling Zhixi?"

Someone immediately said--

"--Protect people."

The sound was very soft, almost inaudible.

Liu Zhicheng immediately cursed, "Protect me? What a load of rubbish!"

The old regimental commander pointed at the noses of the squad leaders and swept his gaze over them one by one.

"Speaking so softly!? Let's be realistic! When they took the MOLLE epaulettes from the Legion, weren't they all thinking about getting ahead? Weren't they all thinking about themselves!"

He looked like an enraged old wolf, his eyes suddenly filled with bloodshot veins.

"Money! Power! Find a beautiful woman to keep you company! Get married and have kids! Right?"

The centurion, who had been identified, stood up. "Yes!"

"There's no bounty system for this operation," Liu Zhicheng emphasized. "The tactical deployment and attack routes are different from before. The equipment is standardized, but the ammunition isn't—read the Big Sister's orders carefully, understand them before asking questions."

The attack routes targeting the Golden Eagle Logistics point on the tactical map have been divided into three major areas.

Area A is a main road with frequent vehicle traffic. The enemy deployment along both sides of the residential buildings has been clearly marked, and even the enemy's shift change time and patrol routes have been marked with red and blue lines.

Area B is a commercial street outside the logistics point, where armed personnel from retailers are stationed. Two restaurants and tea stalls selling White Lady's products are marked in bright red ink, making it an important tactical resource point. The soldiers of Guangling Zhixi carry very few of the Universal Elixir with them.

Zone C is the core area of the logistics point. The sorting warehouse has a complex environment, but the two three-view drawings of the buildings clearly show all the internal parts of the main building and the annex.

In the past, to boost the morale of the rapid reaction force, the Canglang Battle Group used a bounty system for rewards and punishments. Whoever got more kills, shed more blood, or suffered more serious injuries would receive more rewards. This was a very primitive and simple management method.

Criminals in the underworld are ruthless and vicious, and soldiers lacking courage often need strong desires to fuel their fighting spirit. However, the Big Sister's deployment chart forced Canglang Group to forcibly change his command methods.

Different war zones require coordinated infiltration and penetration by teams to dismantle enemy forces and weaken their combat effectiveness by using different firepower specifications within enemy-held areas. Ammunition must not be wasted; teams must operate lightly equipped and swiftly, like a storm, to achieve annihilation.

Therefore, Liu Zhicheng said that the ammunition was different, the combat environment was different, and the number of enemies to be faced was different, so he directly canceled the bounty system for combat rewards and punishments.

"Before, life and death were predestined, and wealth and honor were determined by fate. The mission briefings for rapid reaction forces were like used toilet paper. Even a dog wouldn't want to look at them." Liu Zhicheng finished his food, picked up the tactical map, and waved it gently. "This document that the Big Sister gave us treats us like babies, practically shoving a bottle into their mouths to feed them—I don't want you to embarrass me in front of the War King, who is favored by Ming De."

Liu Zhicheng tapped the table and picked up the enchanted and blessed weapon.

"Imagine one day, you and your wife have two beautiful daughters. They want to become prostitutes! They want to work as hostesses, sleep with older men, and ask for money to pay for your drugs! You won't even know who harmed you, and you won't be able to seek revenge—you'll be damned."

A group of nearly a hundred people slowly walked out of the inn. With just a few simple commands, the warriors of Canglang were already fully prepared for battle, and the captain, carrying FOB, awaited new orders.

"To B, the Cantonese have an iron staircase leading to a three-story dance hall. That'll be the command post. To A, Dai Wen, are three thousand rounds enough?"

Dai Wen: "Enough. Old Wolf, you're going to the Vanguard?"

Liu Zhicheng: "Wait for my signal. How can a commander who doesn't go to the front lines know when to close the fire net? Team Three, Tian Bowen, Team Three, Tian Bowen —Frog, to C in eight minutes."

A response came through the radio.

"Receive."

The leaders of the remaining Third Squad and six teams asked questions one after the other.

What about me?

"What about me, Commander?"

"Me too!"

Liu Zhicheng rolled his eyes. "Reading a book?! Are you crazy?!"

The tactical deployment chart clearly outlines the attack routes. In addition to points A, B, and C, more fire support is needed between the outer roads and streets. The complex, spiderweb-like attack routes clearly show the specific functions of each combat group.

The remaining task is to form fire support teams of at least three people each, working in coordination with the main force of the Azure Wolf.

Eight minutes was the time set by the Big Sister.

--Starting from the outer roads, without evacuating the public, the troops will split up at the front and back entrances of the Baijiali Hotel, move to the Golden Eagle Logistics distribution center, and then engage in the final battle. The whole process will be very quick.

The soldiers wore standard level 3 armor and helmets, and carried HK MP5 submachine guns with ammunition compatible with their secondary weapon, the G17L.

When the leader, Old Wolf, saw the scattered members of the battle group running towards various buildings, he felt a sense of unreality. He still didn't quite believe the information about the enemy on the tactical map and found it hard to understand how the Big Sister had investigated all of this.

Following the map's directions, he rushed up the iron ladder on the second floor of the building, positioned at the vanguard's vantage point, and kicked open the dance hall's fire door, timing it perfectly!

Immediately afterwards, he saw the dance hall manager and six henchmen squatting by the corridor, smoking and chatting. The manager's smile froze on his face, and he didn't react at all.

[At 6:50 PM, the downstairs dining hall opens for dinner. Twelve minutes before that is when the dance hall manager distributes pay. They gather in the smoking room on the third floor to divide their drug money. They get paid daily; for these desperate [Outlaw] living for a living only a day, they wouldn't even glance at a job that isn't paid daily. Remember to avoid Yingying's clothing store on the main street; one of the saleswomen there is the manager's mistress. If she sees you heading towards the dance hall armed with guns, she'll inform the dance hall's cousin beforehand, and then you'll be in trouble.]

This is the Big Sister's written instruction, complex yet effective.

Divided into three firing points (upper, middle, and lower), the barrage of bullets instantly killed the enemy.

Liu Zhicheng didn't stop. Having tasted a bit of success, he immediately followed the attack route planned by the Big Sister and continued forward. Following the markings, he fought his way to the electrical room. His men then split into three groups and went to other rooms and corridors, like invisible streams of water, scattered throughout the intricate area.

The sound of bullets exploding rang out, and the guests erupted in chaos and screams as they rushed toward the door.

The moment the dance hall was cleared, the troops outside had been waiting with guns at the ready. People ran and fled into the streets like wheat seedlings in a storm. Scattered targets fell dead. Most of these people looked like criminals from Hedland, with feathered serpent tattoos of the Little Brotherhood, making them very easy to identify.

The bullets came from a squad that had been lying in wait in the streets and alleys for a long time. Following their Big Sister's orders, they killed at least twenty-six people and then immediately ran to the hardware store. They quickly climbed up to the fourth floor of the drug retail store. While breaking down the door and killing the enemy, two agile squad members jumped out of the window—crossing the three-meter alley and crashing into the emergency room corridor of the medical center across the street to support their comrades in the firefight.

The attending physician who made desserts and candies for the Golden Eagle Logistics Point was a psychic. He didn't even know who he was fighting. When his bodyguards and the soldiers in the corridor were fighting, these sudden divine soldiers took several lives.

In just a few seconds, he felt his legs go light as bullets sliced off his knees, and he lost his grip on his weapon. In the instant a blade flashed and his neck went cold, he saw the soldiers of Guangling Zhixi gradually disappearing into the distance.

[Part ②·The Unseen Strike]

The building outside the logistics point was divided into four rappelling points, where they joined up with their teammates who were rushing out of the streets and alleys. The sluggish alarm finally sounded.

More than a hundred fully armed men rushed out of the four-lane gate of the distribution center. The elite members of the Little Brotherhood led the way, with their underlings carrying MG42 machine guns close behind, ready for a head-on firefight with the enemy. When they saw the weak and ineffective submachine guns in the enemy's hands, these ruthless thugs almost burst into laughter.

Before the machine gun crew could find a suitable position to mount their guns, four trucks rushed out from the central road and headed towards the logistics point.

Liu Zhicheng and his two team members jumped onto the vehicle immediately, grabbed the rope net tightly, and quickly climbed onto the roof.

In the blink of an eye, the truck's steel wheels crossed the hundred-meter-long line of fire, almost crushing the enemy's first reaction firing zone. The barrage of fire from the blind spot on the roof was as simple and natural as an adult beating a baby—no, beating a fertilized egg.

The eight soldiers in the driver's and passenger's seats of the truck were seriously wounded, clinging to sheet metal as makeshift armor. They didn't even have heavy bulletproof shields; the shields used to protect them from machine gun fire were the refrigerator doors of a restaurant's cold storage. They collapsed weakly to the ground, following their Big Sister's orders to risk their lives to drive and conduct the simplest form of infantry-tank coordination with their comrades.

The team quickly entered the picking warehouse of the logistics point. In just over ten seconds, the teammates who had retrieved White Lady's products from the tea stall had already caught up. The medics only needed a minute to heal these soldiers.

There was an eerie silence on FOB radio.

Aside from simple reports of enemy location, house searches, and actual battle results, along with the sounds of gunfire, there were no other sentences.

When Liu Zhicheng opened the container of the high-value unit according to the final objective on the tactical map, he found more than 180 night vision devices and more than 20 one-liter bottles of Universal Elixir, all packaged in milk tea bottles. However, they still couldn't escape inspection—these were items that the boss of Golden Eagle Logistics had seized from the arms purchases made by the "Big Sister" earlier.

The battle is not over yet.

--When Dai Wen, as the assault soldier, had already fought four skirmishes and entered the second floor of the annex to search the rooms, the team reported that they had very little ammunition left. At that moment, the magazines and White Lady's bottles on the sorting belt were delivered to them by the machine wheel, almost at the perfect time, injecting new vitality into the elite team.

Liu Zhicheng's team had completed their mission, but one group was struggling, unable to breach the finance office's treasury.

The most secure part of the logistics point is its vault, an area inaccessible to the Big Sister. It's like an isolated iron turtle, with its power system connected separately to the railway station. Once the vault door is closed, the 20-centimeter-thick steel can stop any bullet.

"Damn it"

The enemy could survive for a very long time in this warm vault. The area behind the vault, based on the size of the annex, was at least two hundred square meters, making it a huge refuge.

The captain in charge of this part of the attack could only watch helplessly.

--Everyone was taken aback when they saw the commander return.

Uncle Zhicheng was covered in blood, his features almost unrecognizable. He looked at the thick iron door and the vault built according to the mountain's rocky terrain, opened the tactical deployment documents, and flipped through the three-view drawings of the building again.

The main battle in the building area was over. When some team members returned, they saw the team leader carrying a sledgehammer, smashing open the pipes above the vault. Inside the thick Pom hose were several different pipes, representing the various pipelines for water, electricity, gas, and ventilation.

The leader ordered everyone to put out their cigarettes. The old smoker in the group wanted to have a smoke right after the battle, but had to give up in disappointment.

The team members worked together to connect the gas pipe to the air circulation duct. Within minutes, cries for help and shouts of cursing came from inside the gate.

It was the Little Brotherhood's accountant who loudly ordered his men not to open the door and escape.

Then came the sound of gunfire.

--There was also an explosion.

In that instant, Liu Zhicheng had already prepared for the worst. The soldiers who were clinging to the gas pipes were almost blown back more than a meter by the blast, falling all over the warehouse and howling in pain.

The medical team members ran around, helping the disoriented old commander to his feet and patting his face.

Liu Zhicheng cried out in terror, "Am I dead? Dead?! Dead?"

The medic shouted, "No! Commander!"

[Gas is lighter than air. The main building is four stories high. If you choose to attack the vault using gas pipe replacement, you don't need to worry about your safety. The vault in the annex is completely enclosed, designed as a fortress built into the mountainside. The leaking natural gas from the pipes will be drawn into the rooms by the vault's blowers. The explosion in the enclosed environment will create a powerful shockwave, but it will be absorbed by the mountain rocks at the pipe end. You might feel some pain and heat, but it won't be fatal.]

Mission objective has been achieved.

"Report battle damage!"

Liu Zhicheng, with fresh wounds on his face, showed no intention of lingering. He ordered all team members to withdraw from the logistics point, taking with them the Universal Elixir and night vision goggles. They were not to linger in the vault any longer. The cleanup of the battlefield was to be handled by another combat unit. The executioners from the First Transportation Department were planning an ambush around the money, a scheme devised by the Big Sister to surround the point and strike reinforcements. The Canglang warriors, skilled in urban warfare, had more important matters to attend to.

The statistical report was transmitted back from the temporary command station in the dance hall. Each team counted the personnel and reported the number back to the command station channel.

The answer from FOB shocked Liu Zhicheng, making his scalp tingle.

"Commander, no casualties, all the brothers are here."

The team members withdrew from the battlefield via the road on the west side of the logistics station, without turning back to clean up the battlefield or eliminate the cowardly and feigning-death remnants.

As was their custom, the group counted their heads. However, due to the performance-based bounty system, they couldn't help but recall the battle they had just fought, finding it hard to understand why this was not their usual combat efficiency.

The Canglang Battle Group has a total of 155 men. The command post's FOB radio station has one telephone communications officer, one auditor, and one rapid response tactical simulation sergeant.

The remaining 152 people killed 480 enemies, including 120 members of the Little Brotherhood's Telephone Gang, 321 thugs who followed the Little Brotherhood, and 38 suspects who remained in the housing area despite the threat of gunfire. They were considered enemy informants and whistleblowers.

One person was accidentally killed. The unlucky guy in the dance hall had diarrhea in the restroom and didn't have time to escape. He was shot sixteen times and died on the spot during the first round of firefight to clear out the smoking room.

The reason why the Wolf Warriors could unleash such amazing combat power was due to the bag of documents belonging to the Big Sister.

Following the instructions in the opinion letter, Liu Zhicheng walked to the Clearwater Bay Bridge. Soldiers entered the wartime air-raid shelter one after another to remove their armor and rest. Uncovering the waterproof and moisture-proof plastic sheeting, one could see more than thirty boxes of canned meat placed there. A power line was connected to the city's road administration power supply, and ten microwave ovens were available so that the soldiers could have a hot meal.

At this point--

--The leader of the Canglang Battle Group went from surprise to respect, and the image of the Big Sister in his mind became increasingly blurred, eventually turning into a terrifying shadow.

Another yellow paper bag lay motionless on the rust-proof aluminum platform of the bridge's foundation.

There was a note on the paper package, outlining the next mission objective and the deployment for the next battle.

[I believe that these past few days, the brothers of the Azure Wolf Warriors have witnessed the horrors of Clearwater Bay; this city devours people. It's regrettable that I cannot fight alongside you—but birds of a feather flock together.]