I Choose You, Grenade!

A surprise?

When Chu Hang heard that word come out of Steve's mouth, he nearly stumbled. Come on, boss, could he not make it sound so casual? There were four fully armed Hydra soldiers up there, holed up in a power distribution room like an iron can. If they made any noise and set off the alarm, the three of them would not be infiltrating the base—they would be delivering themselves straight to every Hydra soldier in the facility.

But when he saw Steve's face brimming with confidence, his little worries were instantly suppressed.

What was there to be afraid of? If the sky fell, the tall ones would hold it up. And the man before him was undoubtedly the tallest and toughest one in this era.

Steve did not act immediately. He turned his gaze to Chu Hang again, his blue eyes seeming capable of seeing straight through people in the darkness. "Chu Hang, listen more carefully. Tell me the exact positions of those four men, the distance between them, and where the electrical hum is loudest."

Here it came! That feeling of being entrusted with an important task again!

Chu Hang felt wonderful. He immediately closed his eyes and poured all his focus into his ears. This time, he listened more intently than ever before.

Countless fragments of sound gathered and rearranged in his mind. Gradually, a three-dimensional map made of sound clearly emerged in his awareness.

"Two patrolmen. One's moving clockwise, the other counterclockwise, along the outer walkway around the room. They've just reached opposite corners, so they're farthest apart—about twenty meters."

"The one standing still is directly north of the stairwell, around fifteen meters away. I can hear him tapping keys and flipping switches. The main control console should be in front of him."

"The fourth one, the one wandering around, is in the southeast corner. He's closest to the stairwell, less than ten meters away. He seems to be cleaning his gun—I can hear metal parts rubbing together."

Chu Hang paused, then added a crucial detail. "The electrical hum is loudest in the center of the room. There are two huge transformers there. If we make some noise near them, it should cover the sound of us rushing in."

After speaking, he opened his eyes and looked nervously at Steve, unsure whether the information he had provided would be useful.

After listening, Steve showed an approving smile. He reached out and gave Chu Hang's shoulder a heavy pat. "Excellent work, Chu Hang! You're our best radar!"

Then he turned to Logan, his gaze sharpening. "Logan, your task is the simplest—and the most important."

Logan snorted through his nose in response.

"I'll give you a signal in a moment. I need you to hit the staircase beneath us with all your strength. Use your claws or your fists, whatever you want. The louder, the better. If you can tear the stairs apart, even better. Understand?"

Logan's eyes lit up, and his lips curled into a feral grin. Wrecking things? That was his favorite kind of work.

Steve turned back to Chu Hang, his expression becoming much more serious. "Chu Hang, your target is the one cleaning his gun—the one closest to us. Once we rush in, he'll be the first threat capable of reacting. You have to take him out immediately. Remember, don't hesitate. Use your fastest speed."

Chu Hang drew a deep breath and nodded heavily.

Finally, Steve removed a German stick grenade from his belt, one he had just taken from those two unlucky men. He weighed it in his hand, a cold curve appearing at the corner of his mouth.

"As for me," he said, shaking the grenade in his hand, "I'll go deliver them a 'surprise.'"

The plan was simple—and crazy.

Logan would use a massive noise to draw everyone's attention. At the same time, Steve would throw the grenade near the transformers in the center of the room, using the blast, flames, and smoke to create chaos and block their vision.

Then, at the instant of the explosion, the three of them would leap up from the stairwell like demons charging out of hell and finish the job before the enemy, stunned by the noise and blast, could recover.

"Chu Hang, keep time." Steve's voice was cold as ice. "I need the moment when those two patrolmen cross past opposite sides of the stairwell. That's when their attention is most divided and they'll be slowest to support each other."

"Understood!"

Chu Hang closed his eyes again. This time, four moving red dots appeared on the sound map in his mind. He could clearly "see" the two patrolmen's footsteps drawing closer and closer.

His heartbeat sped up in sync with those footsteps.

"Ten meters..."

"Five meters..."

"Three meters..."

"Crossing!"

The instant the two red dots overlapped and separated, Chu Hang snapped his eyes open and shouted, "Now!"

Almost the moment his voice rang out, Steve gestured to Logan.

"Roar!"

Logan let out a long-suppressed growl. His muscular body was like a fully drawn bow, erupting with terrifying force in an instant. He did not even use his claws. Instead, he swung his sandbag-sized fist straight into the metal support of the stairs beside him!

"Clang—!!!"

A deafening metallic crash exploded through the cramped underground space! It felt as though someone had smashed a battering ram beside Chu Hang's ear, making his eardrums ring and his head go blank.

The entire iron staircase shook violently. The rivets at the joints groaned under the strain, as though the whole structure might fall apart the next second.

At the same time, several panicked shouts in German came from upstairs. Clearly, the sudden crash had frightened them badly, drawing all their attention downstairs.

At that very moment, Steve moved!

With a sharp swing of his arm, the stick grenade shot out like a cannonball, shrieking through the air. It flew precisely through the narrow gap at the stairwell, tracing a perfect arc toward the center of the room.

"Boom—!!!"

An explosion several times louder than the noise Logan had made erupted upstairs!

Blinding firelight instantly illuminated the entire stairwell. Then thick black smoke came pouring back through the opening.

"Go!"

Steve let out a low shout, grabbed the edge of the stairs with one hand, and flexed his arm muscles. As though he weighed nothing, he shot straight up through the stairwell.

Logan followed close behind. His beastlike body burst forth with astonishing jumping power. He stomped hard on the swaying stairs with both feet and launched himself up.

Chu Hang gritted his teeth and charged up after them.

The instant he rushed out of the stairwell, the sight before him stunned him.

The entire power distribution room was filled with billowing smoke, and the pungent smell of gunpowder made people cough. Several ceiling lights had shattered from the blast. Only a few still flickered stubbornly, casting the room in shifting light and darkness like a ghostly domain.

The alarm had not gone off. The grenade's force had been just right: it had only damaged the transformers' outer casings, creating enough chaos without harming the core power system.

Chu Hang spotted his target at once. The soldier who had been cleaning his gun was crouched on the ground with his hands over his ears, his face dazed from the blast. He had been closest to the explosion and had taken the worst of it.

There was no time to hesitate!

Steve's instructions flashed through Chu Hang's mind, and the blood in his body seemed to ignite at that instant. The immense strength brought by the Super-Soldier Serum surged through every limb and bone.

His body shot forward, moving so fast that it even left a faint afterimage in the air!

The distance of less than ten meters vanished in an instant!

The soldier seemed to sense the danger. He abruptly looked up, and his terrified eyes met Chu Hang's icy gaze. Instinctively, he tried to raise his gun.

But it was too late.

Chu Hang's movement was faster than his thoughts!

He used neither gun nor knife. In that instant, he chose the most primitive—and most direct—method.

A punch!

He gathered all his strength into his right fist and hurled it at the man's chest with unstoppable force!

"Bang!"

The dull impact even drowned out the electrical hum around them.

Chu Hang felt as though his fist had struck a steel plate wrapped in leather. The powerful recoil made his entire arm go numb.

The Hydra soldier's expression froze at once. His chest caved inward in a clearly visible curve, and his body bent backward like a cooked shrimp. Then his feet left the ground, and he flew backward, slamming heavily into the metal wall behind him with a loud crash before sliding down like a heap of mud, completely motionless.

One punch... and he was down?

Chu Hang stared at his fist, somewhat dazed. He knew he had become stronger, but he had not expected to have become this strong.

But on a battlefield, even one second of distraction could be fatal.

Just as he took down his target, the corner of his eye caught sight of the patrolman who had originally been at the opposite corner. He had already reacted. The explosion had not completely stunned him, and now he was raising his gun, its black muzzle aimed right at Chu Hang's back!

"Watch out!"

Chu Hang's pupils contracted sharply, and every hair on his body stood on end! He wanted to dodge, but his body seemed frozen in place. He had no time to react at all.

It was over!

At that critical moment, a black shadow flashed past from the side like a ghost.

"Squelch!"

A muffled sound of sharp metal piercing flesh.

Chu Hang saw three claws suddenly burst through the soldier's back, their tips still stained with warm blood.

It was Logan!

At some point, Logan had already taken care of his own target and appeared here at the most critical moment. Expressionless, he pulled back his claws and let the body collapse limply to the ground.

"Don't space out on the battlefield, rookie!" Logan shot him a glance and said hoarsely.

Chu Hang's heart was still pounding wildly. He nodded heavily at Logan, swallowing the words of thanks that had risen to his lips.

He turned to look in the other direction.

Steve's fight was already over.

The soldier standing before the main control console and the other patrolman had both collapsed soundlessly onto the floor. Steve stood in front of the console, his hands moving over it like phantoms.

From the moment they rushed in to the moment all four guards were dealt with, the whole process had taken less than ten seconds.

This was the peak combat strength of the Howling Commandos!

"Done!" Steve pressed the final button, and the constant electrical hum in the power distribution room instantly weakened by more than half.

He turned around and looked at the unharmed Chu Hang and Logan with a relaxed smile. "Good. Now the factory's external defense systems, alarm systems, and the lighting in most areas are under our control."

He walked to the communications equipment, picked up the transmitter, and tuned it to a specific frequency.

"Dugan, can you hear me? I've turned off the lights in the Kitchen. Time for you to serve the meal."

After doing all this, he was about to cut off the factory's power completely, creating the best opportunity for the prisoners who were about to rush in.

But at that moment, Chu Hang, who had been keeping watch on their surroundings with his ears, suddenly changed expression.

"Wait!" He abruptly raised a hand, his face grave.

Steve and Logan immediately focused their gazes on him.

"What is it?"

Chu Hang did not answer at once. He frowned and tilted his head, as though trying to make something out.

"Below us... directly beneath this floor..." There was confusion and unease in his voice. "There's something."

"What is it? A patrol?" Steve asked.

"No..." Chu Hang shook his head, his expression turning strange. "It's not footsteps. It's a... very heavy, rhythmic sound. Thump... thump... thump... like a gigantic heart beating."