Joining Forces in Desperation

Lin Xiao's brain completed three calculations the instant Blood Axe counted "one." Fighting head-on meant certain death. Negotiation required leverage, and that leverage was in the pocket of his tactical vest—the three blue reagent vials that would self-destruct after forty-eight hours in an environment above 25 degrees Celsius. He slowly raised his left hand, signaling Su Ying not to move, then took half a step forward, exposing himself to the light at the passage entrance. His eyes behind the gas mask fixed on Blood Axe twenty meters away. His voice came through the mask, terrifyingly calm. "Captain Petrov, do you know the probability of the things you want self-destructing after being stored for over forty-eight hours above 25 degrees Celsius?"

The warehouse suddenly fell silent.

Blood Axe's finger stopped on the trigger. The muzzles of the seven men behind him dipped half an inch—that was the instinctive human response to unexpected information.

"What did you say?" Blood Axe's voice was suspicious, but Lin Xiao caught that trace of hesitation.

"A.I.M.'s assessment report." Lin Xiao slowly pulled open his tactical vest zipper with his left hand, moving as if he were dismantling a bomb. "Red Snow Project derivative sample RS-7, biological energy carrier. Since the lab's climate-control system failed, these samples have been exposed to room temperature for over twelve hours. According to the files, when the ambient temperature exceeds 25 degrees, the probability of self-destruction within forty-eight hours is... eighty-seven percent."

He drew out three blue reagent vials and held them in his left palm. The emergency lights shone through their translucent bodies, illuminating the viscous, faintly glowing liquid inside. Tiny bubbles slowly rose along the surface, as if some living thing were breathing.

Blood Axe's gas mask turned toward the vials.

Lin Xiao could imagine the expression behind that mask—greed, suspicion, anger, and fear of the unknown danger. Blood Axe was a soldier, not a scientist. He understood bullets and explosives, not biological energy carriers.

"You're stalling for time," Blood Axe said, but his gun did not rise again.

"I'm saving your life." Lin Xiao's voice remained calm. "If you forcefully take these things away, they'll explode on the road. The blast radius is fifteen meters, and the temperature will instantly reach three thousand degrees Celsius. You, your men, and half this warehouse will turn into charcoal. And how will Fletcher write his report? 'Blood Axe's squad destroyed vital materials through reckless action and was wiped out.'"

He paused, letting every word sink into the other man's ears.

"When you're dead, Fletcher will have one less problem. Hydra will lose a squad, but will the higher-ups care? They'll only say Captain Petrov was an idiot."

Blood Axe's breathing came through the mask's speaker, growing heavier.

Su Ying's body remained taut, but Lin Xiao saw the fingers around her dagger loosen by half an inch—that was her signal that she understood his tactical intent. She subtly turned sideways, sweeping her peripheral vision over the shadows on both sides of the warehouse, searching for possible cover and firing angles.

Wolf huddled deep in the passage, his trembling hands supporting Anna Koch. The female researcher leaned against him, her face pale as paper, but her eyes were fixed on the reagent vials in Lin Xiao's hand. Her lips moved, silently repeating something. Lin Xiao read them: temperature... pressure... don't shake them...

"Put them down." Blood Axe finally spoke, and his voice held something more now—not mere threat, but the beginning of a deal. "Put them down, and I'll let you go."

Lin Xiao smiled. The sound was soft, but clearly audible in the silent warehouse.

"Captain, do you take me for an idiot?" He slowly shook his head. "I put them down, and you shoot us. Then you leave with these 'explosive troubles,' gambling on that thirteen percent chance they won't blow up. If you win, you get credit. If you lose... you and your men die. What does that have to do with me?"

He took another half-step forward.

That movement made the men behind Blood Axe raise their guns at once.

"Don't move!" Blood Axe roared.

"I'm helping you." Lin Xiao stopped. His right hand still hung at his side, while his left held the reagent vials before his chest. "These things are a curse. Why did A.I.M. leave them here? Because they couldn't take them away. Why couldn't they? Because they're too dangerous. Their assessment report has seventeen pages. I only read three before I understood—this isn't loot. It's a coffin."

He tilted his head slightly and glanced toward Wolf from the corner of his eye.

The skinny man was crouched behind Anna Koch, quietly slipping his right hand into his jacket. The small communicator was there, preset with three emergency signal codes. Wolf's fingers felt for the button on its side—once, twice, three times. Hold it for five seconds to send the signal: "Firefight in warehouse. Target items dangerous."

The signal would be transmitted through the relay Wolf had secretly set up outside the warehouse. Five-hundred-meter range, encrypted channel, with the recipient being... Fletcher's command vehicle.

Lin Xiao had calculated the timing. From the moment the signal was sent to Fletcher's response, it would take at least two minutes. That was assuming Fletcher was still alive, still controlled the command vehicle, and still cared about the "important materials" in the warehouse.

Two minutes.

He needed to stall for two minutes.

"What do you want?" Blood Axe asked. The question itself was already a concession.

"A safe exit," Lin Xiao said. "You and your men retreat to the warehouse entrance and give us five minutes. We'll leave through the emergency passage on the other side. These samples..." He shook his left hand. "I'll leave them in the lab's climate-controlled cabinet. It can keep working for another twelve hours, enough time for you to call a professional disposal team."

"Impossible." Blood Axe's voice turned cold. "Put them down now, or die."

"Then we die together." Lin Xiao's voice went cold as well. "I let go, and these bottles hit the ground. They shatter, mix, and explode three seconds later. Take a guess—which is faster, your shot or the explosion?"

He made as if to loosen his fingers.

"Wait!" Blood Axe practically roared.

The seven men's gun muzzles all wavered. Someone took half a step back. Someone else instinctively searched for cover. Fear was contagious, especially when facing unknown, explosive, glowing blue liquid.

Lin Xiao tightened his grip again.

Sweat ran down his temple and slid beneath the edge of his gas mask, bringing an itchy sting. His clothes beneath the tactical vest were already soaked through, clinging to his skin. The warehouse air still carried the lingering scent of green gas—that sickly sweet, nauseating odor mixed with blood and gunpowder, forming a distinctive stench that belonged to the battlefield.

His ears were catching every sound.

There was still sporadic gunfire in the distance, but it was far away now. The remaining battle between Fletcher and Blood Axe's squad might have shifted outside the warehouse, or... it might have ended. If it was the latter, Fletcher's men could burst in at any moment.

Time.

He needed more time.

"Captain, let's make a deal." Lin Xiao changed his tone, sounding more like he was negotiating. "Let us go, and I'll tell you a secret. About this base, about what A.I.M. is really researching..."

He deliberately paused.

Blood Axe's gas mask tilted slightly forward.

"What?"

"Not biological weapons." Lin Xiao lowered his voice, making it sound more conspiratorial. "Energy. Clean, unlimited energy. These samples are only byproducts. The real core is on the third underground level of the base. There's a reactor there, a miniaturized tokamak system A.I.M. dug out of Soviet Union remnants."

It was a lie.

But it was a lie woven from real fragments. Lin Xiao had indeed known in his previous life that A.I.M. researched energy technology at certain secret bases, and the Soviet Union had indeed planned small fusion reactors. Only a mix of truth and lies could fool an old fox.

Blood Axe fell silent.

Lin Xiao could see the eyes behind his mask flickering—the light of thought, the light of greed being ignited. Energy. Unlimited energy. Blood Axe knew perfectly well what controlling such technology meant within Hydra's hierarchy.

"How do you know?" Blood Axe asked, his voice carrying something else now.

"The files." Lin Xiao pointed into the depths of the passage with his empty right hand. "The laboratory has complete documentation. I read it and memorized the coordinates, passwords, and security protocols. Kill me, and those files will stay there forever. If Fletcher's men come in, they'll be the first to find them."

He took another small step forward.

He was now only fifteen meters from Blood Axe.

At this range, an AK-74U's hit rate would increase drastically. But likewise, if the reagent vials exploded, Blood Axe would have no chance of escaping the blast radius.

"Back up," Blood Axe said, but his tone was no longer as firm.

"Give me a guarantee." Lin Xiao said, "You and your men retreat to the warehouse entrance with your backs to us. I count to one hundred, then we put the samples back in the climate-controlled cabinet and leave through the emergency passage. You get the coordinates and password. We get a chance to live. Everybody wins."

"How do I know you're telling the truth?"

"You can send one man with me to the lab to see the files," Lin Xiao replied quickly. "But only one, and unarmed. Su Ying stays here as a hostage. If I'm lying, you kill her."

"Lin Xiao!" Su Ying growled.

"Shut up." Lin Xiao did not turn around. "Listen to me."

Su Ying's breathing quickened, but she said nothing more. Lin Xiao knew what she was thinking—this plan was too risky, putting her life on Blood Axe's integrity. But Lin Xiao knew even better that Blood Axe would not kill her. At least, not immediately. Because if the coordinates and password were real, Su Ying was the insurance that would keep Lin Xiao from trying anything.

And if the coordinates and password were fake...

Lin Xiao had never intended to let Blood Axe's men enter the laboratory.

"Wolf." Lin Xiao tilted his head slightly. "Take the doctor back to the lab. Get the black folder from the top shelf of the third row of filing cabinets. Move."

Wolf froze for a moment, then immediately understood. Supporting Anna Koch, he staggered back into the passage. The female researcher glanced back at Lin Xiao, her expression complicated—gratitude, concern, and something else Lin Xiao could not understand.

Time passed second by second.

Lin Xiao silently counted: forty-seven seconds, forty-eight seconds...

Blood Axe was still hesitating. His muzzle moved between Lin Xiao and the reagent vials, his finger lightly rubbing against the trigger. It was a dangerous habit—an unconscious movement when nervous that could cause an accidental discharge.

"Captain." Lin Xiao spoke again, his voice slower and gentler. "Think about your future. What will you get if you return to headquarters with energy technology? Promotion? Resources? Or... real power? Greater power than Fletcher's?"

Blood Axe's breathing grew heavier again.

Fifty-three seconds, fifty-four seconds...

Footsteps sounded from deep in the passage. Wolf returned with a black folder in hand. He walked to Lin Xiao and handed it over. Lin Xiao accepted it with his right hand and opened the first page—it was blank, except for the Russian words written on the cover: "Red Snow Project: Final Report."

"Look." Lin Xiao turned the folder toward Blood Axe, flipping through the blank pages. "The complete files. The coordinates are here..." He pointed at a blank spot. "The password is here... The security protocol requires Level Three clearance, but you have a way around that, right?"

Blood Axe's gas mask leaned closer.

At that exact moment—

A roar came from outside the warehouse.

Not one roar, but many. Dense footsteps surged like a tide, accompanied by the metallic clatter of weapons, the scrape of combat boots over gravel, and Fletcher's distinctive, hoarse bellow:

"Secure every exit! Don't let a single one escape!"

Blood Axe spun around.

The seven men behind him also swung their weapons toward the warehouse entrance.

But it was too late.

Fletcher's men stormed in from three directions.

Six from the left, five from the right, eight from the front—nineteen soldiers in total, fully armed, gas masks intact, all their muzzles aimed at Blood Axe's squad. They quickly spread out, taking crates, pillars, and abandoned equipment as cover, forming a perfect crossfire net.

Fletcher came in last.

His gas mask was already off, revealing a face smeared with blood and sweat. A fresh cut ran across his left cheek, blood dripping from his chin onto his combat uniform. But his eyes were bright, like a hungry wolf spotting prey.

His gaze swept across the warehouse.

He saw Blood Axe's squad, Lin Xiao, Su Ying, Wolf and Anna Koch, then finally settled on the blue reagent vials in Lin Xiao's left hand.

His expression froze for half a second.

Then Fletcher smiled.

It was an ugly smile—the pull of his mouth tugged at the wound on his face, making him twitch in pain, but the smile remained.

"Captain Petrov." Fletcher's voice echoed through the warehouse. "Looks like you found something valuable."

Blood Axe slowly turned around, his muzzle moving between Fletcher and Lin Xiao. His seven men stood back-to-back in a circle, their weapons aimed outward, but everyone could see it—they were surrounded.

"Fletcher." Blood Axe forced the name through clenched teeth. "Those things are mine."

"Yours?" Fletcher walked forward several steps and stopped behind a crate ten meters from Blood Axe. "As I recall, wasn't the cleanup mission for this base assigned to me? You and your men... acted without authorization, didn't you?"

"Headquarters will understand," Blood Axe said. "I found important materials."

"And planned to keep them for yourself?" Fletcher raised an eyebrow. "Captain, have you forgotten Hydra's rules? All spoils must be reported and distributed centrally. Concealing them privately... is a capital offense."

The soldiers behind him all worked their bolts at once.

Click. Click. Click.

The metallic impacts echoed through the warehouse like Death's footsteps.

Lin Xiao slowly backed away until he stood beside Su Ying. She shielded half of him with her body, holding her dagger in a reverse grip before her chest, eyes locked on Fletcher and Blood Axe.

Wolf curled in tighter, as if he wanted to stuff himself into a crack in the wall. Anna Koch leaned against him, breathing weakly, but her eyes remained open as she watched the standoff unfold.

Three factions.

Fletcher had nineteen men. Blood Axe had eight. Lin Xiao's side had four—if the severely wounded Anna Koch counted.

But Lin Xiao held the leverage.

Those glowing blue vials.

"Captain Fletcher." Lin Xiao spoke, not loudly, but enough for everyone to hear. "These samples are extremely unstable. If the temperature exceeds 25 degrees, the chance of self-destruction within forty-eight hours is eighty-seven percent. I suggest... everyone step back and let professionals handle them."

Fletcher's gaze shifted to Lin Xiao.

Something flickered in those eyes—scrutiny, assessment, and a trace of... appreciation?

"You're Lin Xiao," Fletcher said. "The rookie from the perimeter reconnaissance team. The report said you went missing during the gas attack."

"I found the laboratory," Lin Xiao answered calmly. "I rescued a researcher and protected important samples and files. According to procedure, I should report to you."

He emphasized the words "according to procedure."

Fletcher understood.

It was a declaration—I follow the rules. I recognize your authority. I'm not a traitor like Blood Axe.

"Very good." Fletcher nodded. "Then hand over the samples and files. I'll record your contribution."

Blood Axe suddenly raised his gun.

The muzzle was not pointed at Fletcher, but at Lin Xiao.

"You dare!" he roared. "Give me the things! Otherwise, I'll kill every one of you!"

"Try it." Fletcher's voice was as cold as Siberia's ice. "Fire, and my men will turn you into a sieve in point three seconds. Then those 'explosive treasures'... boom." He made an exploding gesture. "We all die together. Captain, do you want to gamble?"

Blood Axe's finger trembled on the trigger.

Sweat ran down his neck and into his collar. Behind the gas mask lenses, his eyes were bloodshot, struggling between madness and reason.

Time seemed to freeze.

Only breathing remained in the warehouse—heavy, rapid, suppressed breathing. Nineteen guns aimed at eight men. Eight guns aimed at four people. Four people held a bottle of blue liquid that might kill them all.

Lin Xiao could hear his own heartbeat.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

Slow and powerful, like war drums.

His left hand held steady, the reagent vials faintly warm in his palm—it was an illusion, he knew, heightened skin sensitivity from the adrenaline. But that warmth felt real, like he was holding a piece of slowly burning charcoal.

His right hand hung at his side, his fingers gently curling.

That was the signal to Su Ying: prepare to break out. The direction was the emergency passage on the right. The moment was...

"Captain." Fletcher spoke again, breaking the silence. "Put down your weapon. As mission commander, I order you to put down your weapon and take your men to the east side of the warehouse. This is your final warning."

A low growl came from Blood Axe's throat.

Like the roar of a trapped beast.

Then he made a move—

Slowly, extremely slowly, he lowered the AK-74U's muzzle until it pointed at the ground.

The seven men behind him exchanged looks, but ultimately followed suit. Their muzzles lowered and their fingers left the triggers, though their hands still gripped their weapons—that was the posture of surrender, but also one ready to strike back at any moment.

Fletcher smiled.

A genuine smile this time, one not twisted by his wound.

"Wise choice," he said, then looked at Lin Xiao. "Now, hand over the—"

Before he could finish.

An explosion suddenly erupted outside the warehouse.

Not gunfire, but a real explosion—a dull, heavy boom accompanied by violent tremors through the ground. Dust and gravel rained from the ceiling, emergency lights swayed wildly, and beams of light swept frantically across the warehouse.

Everyone froze.

Fletcher whipped his head toward the warehouse entrance. "What the hell is going on?!"

One of his men pressed a hand to his earpiece. After listening for two seconds, his face changed dramatically. "Captain! Heavy equipment! Three BTR-80 armored vehicles are breaking through the outer perimeter! They... they're using their autocannons to bombard the warehouse doors!"

"Whose men?!" Fletcher roared.

"Don't know! But the vehicles are marked with... marked with headquarters' insignia!"

Headquarters.

The word was like a bucket of ice water dumped over everyone's head.

Blood Axe suddenly laughed. The sound came through his gas mask, twisted and crazed.

"Fletcher," he said. "Did you think you were the only one waiting for reinforcements?"

He raised his left hand and pressed it to his earpiece.

"Operation codename 'Red Snow.' Target location confirmed. Requesting fire support, coordinates—"

"No!" Fletcher roared. "Stop him!"

Gunfire erupted.