For the Special Operation Forces, foreign territories were their main battlefield! With his order, the groups of autopiloted drones pursued them closely, flying straight into the air directly above Japan’s exclusive economic zone.
Moments before, there had been more than 100 of the so-called elite SAT Special Task Force agents before them. After being struck down by Huo Shaoheng’s army of autopilot drones, only a few dozen remained.
Ito, Colonel Naganobu Sada, and a few of their confidants were encircling Hong Kangquan, guarding him with their bodies and anxiously speeding towards the territorial waters of Japan.
The drones were now engaged in a single-sided slaughter!
Colonel Naganobu Sada resentfully glanced at the drones that were still chasing them in the sky. He couldn’t suppress the urge to fire a shot up into the air at the drones!
As soon as he fired his shot, he exposed his position and immediately became the target of the drone strikes.
Since the infrared imaging and targeting precision of the drones at night required a thermal source, the more intense the heat of the thermal source, the easier it was to focus and aim.
As soon as he fired, his position was exposed. Since the speedboat was narrow and confined, he could not move around freely to conceal himself. He was forced to stay put.
Within mere seconds, a bullet pierced through his body from behind. Naganobu Sada’s body stiffened and fell forward.
“Sada-kun!” his comrades called out together, starting to cry as they raised their guns to fire at the drones in the sky.
The drones aimed precisely again, firing another shower of bullets at them!
Bodies collapsed all over the deck. Before long, this started to affect the stability and speed of the speedboat. With tears in his eyes, Ito threw the corpses of the dead Special Task Force agents into the sea.
As soon as he raised his head, another round of bullets fired at him from behind, forcing him to sprawl across the deck of the speedboat. He still didn’t forget to shield Hong Kangquan beneath him.
Hong Kangquan knew of Huo Shaoheng’s military prowess. However, he’d never expected Huo Shaoheng’s military prowess to have increased this much over the years!
Watching the Japanese SAT Special Task Force soldiers drop dead one by one, Hong Kangquan was trembling inside. His previous sorrow and ambivalence towards leaving his homeland forever were now gone completely. All he could do was press himself to the deck and pray that they would soon arrive at the territorial waters of Japan.
The wind started blowing over the sea’s surface. Mist was rising from the surface as well.
Huo Shaoheng and his team of speedboats had nearly arrived at the border of Japan’s exclusive economic zone.
“Follow me at full speed! I will take five of you to the sea, and six of you will cover us,” Huo Shaoheng said as he took off his military uniform and revealed the diving suit underneath.
The members of the Special Operations Forces around him did the same thing. They swapped their weapons for underwater sniper rifles. They wore water spurs at their waists, and they carried their scuba equipment on their backs. When ready, they stealthily swam towards the nearby speedboat.
…
Hong Kangquan and Ito pressed themselves flat on their speed boat’s deck, covering their heads with a steel plate shield. The drone still hovered overhead but had ceased firing.
Because Hong Kangquan and Ito were almost completely on top of each other, the operator of the drone didn’t dare to take another shot. He didn’t want to kill Hong Kangquan by accident.
The two of them waited for a while, eventually realizing that the sky had suddenly grown quiet. Even the drone’s buzzing and roaring had suddenly disappeared.
Ito looked up first and observed the dark night sky. The murderous drones had disappeared…
He took a big sigh of relief. Did that mean they were gone for good? Had they already arrived at the territorial waters of Japan? Did the drones of the Huaxia Empire dare not to continue pursuing them!?
After all, if drones from the Huaxia Empire dared to shoot them while in the territorial waters of Japan, it would not only mean declaring war on Japan, but it would also mean declaring war on the United States!
Since there was a military alliance between the United States and Japan, there were U.S. troops stationed in Japan. However, their base was a little far from here…
Ito waited for a while. After confirming that the sound of the drones hovering above them had disappeared, he felt emboldened enough to get up and sit cross-legged on the speedboat.
The Special Task Force member who had been driving the speedboat was slumped over beside the rudder, dead. The speedboat was set to autopilot and was still moving forward toward its preset destination.
Ito glanced back at the sea behind him and discovered that the three speedboats from the Huaxia Empire had disappeared as well.
Did they retreat? Did something go wrong?
Ito had been pursued by the Huaxia Empire nonstop for one day and one night. After such an ordeal, he was physically and mentally exhausted. He leaned on the deck, swaying as he stood up.
Just then, he heard a tiny squeak coming from the stern of the boat. Ito and Hong Kangquan both turned around together.
At that moment, a dark figure holding a gun suddenly stealthily leaped from the stern. Raising his hand, he shot Ito in the face at point-blank range without any hesitation!
Ito’s face burst open as blood splattered everywhere. He fell to the deck with a loud bang.
Even at the moment of his death, Ito probably never imagined that, after spending one day and one night trying to evade the net of the Huaxia Empire as a fugitive, he would be killed right when it appeared that he was on the verge of escaping its grasp.
Hong Kangquan quivered with fear.
As soon as he saw the figure’s swift and deft movements, especially how he’d shot Ito at point-blank range without even batting an eye, Hong Kangquan knew that this man was none other than Huo Shaoheng himself!
He backed away fearfully, watching the man approach him, a gun in one hand and a rope in the other.
“Huo… Huo Shaoheng! Don’t you dare! If you dare come any closer, I will jump!” Hong Kangquan moved to the side of the ship and tried to jump over the railing.
Huo Shaoheng stopped in his tracks and said calmly, “Jump then, I’ll collect your body.”
Hong Kangquan was stunned.
“Why aren’t you jumping?” Huo Shaoheng took another step forward. Hong Kangquan stared at him and his eyes gleamed with greed as he covetously eyed the weapons on Huo Shaoheng’s suit, anxious to grab them for himself.
He was in dire need of a life-saving weapon!
“Stop right there!” Hong Kangquan was hysterical now, seeing that Huo Shaoheng was moving the rope in his hand.
As he screeched, he suddenly rolled aside, revealed a small pistol, and fired a shot directly at Huo Shaoheng’s chest!
Since he had fired so close, Huo Shaoheng didn’t have time to dodge the shot. The bullet hit him in the chest. The force of the impact almost knocked the wind out of him.
Surprisingly, he wasn’t wounded in any way. Hee was wearing the latest polymer material bulletproof vest developed by the army. It was not only thin and lightweight, but it was also very strong and sturdy. Nevermind mere bullets, it could block the impact of a submachine gun.
Seeing Huo Shaoheng fall to the ground as the shot rang out, Hong Kangquan felt joy and relief. He thought that as long as Huo Shaoheng was dead, he still had a chance of returning to his own country without bearing the crime of treason. Heck, he could even place the blame on Huo Shaoheng…
Unfortunately for his plans, despite the fact that Huo Shaoheng had been shot, he suddenly seemed to be in perfect condition. Hong Kangquan suddenly remembered that Huaxia agents all wore bulletproof vests. At this realization, his expression changed to one of fear and alarm.
Huo Shaoheng didn’t walk towards him again. He took a step back as five more soldiers jumped onto the speedboat. Those five soldiers despised Hong Kangquan deeply. They immediately cuffed him, then tied him up and dropped him in the corner of the deck.
Huo Shaoheng cleared the boat and headed back towards the helm.
They had not only captured Hong Kangquan alive, but they’d also wiped out half of their enemy’s elite squad. Everyone was proud and in high spirits. Despite not sleeping in more than a day, none of them felt tired or sleepy at all.
Huo Shaoheng stood next to the rudder of the speedboat, contemplating whether or not he should just pilot the speedboat back or call for a helicopter.
While he was thinking, a large destroyer and a number of small ships appeared on the near horizon, blocking Huo Shaoheng’s way.
They couldn’t go that way!
Seeing that they were on the brink of being surrounded, Huo Shaoheng knew that he had to act decisively. He ordered, “Jump into the sea and swim back to our speedboat.”
The members of the six Special Operations Divisions behind them were not aware of them, but Huo Shaoheng knew that they were positioned behind him. The Japanese destroyer was ahead, so they would see it later than Huo Shaoheng.
The five Special Operation Forces members he’d brought into the sea with him leaped into the ocean without any questions.
Huo Shaoheng grabbed Hong Kangquan’s arm with one hand and jumped into the sea with him. Hong Kangquan opened his mouth to protest that he did not have a diving suit. Before he could even utter the words, Huo Shaoheng blocked his mouth and placed a scuba apparatus on his back, saying, “We’re not diving, we’re swimming, and we have to swim fast!”
Hong Kangquan was overwhelmed with anger, but he was unable to free himself from Huo Shaoheng’s grasp.
Huo Shaoheng quickly pulled on the rope, dragging Hong Kangquan into the water as he dove into the sea.
