Hu Hao advanced cautiously. There was still a considerable distance between him and the command center’s location. After moving forward about twenty meters, he stopped and signaled for the others to halt. The Special Operations soldiers saw the gesture, alerted each other, and the entire advance came to an immediate stop.
Crouching down, Hu Hao crept carefully along the edge of the subway tracks. There was a noticeable height difference between the tracks and the pedestrian inspection walkway above—roughly waist-high on a person.
This provided excellent cover for Hu Hao’s team. Combined with the natural darkness of the subway tunnel and the fact that the guard units were just standing around smoking and chatting, it was clear the enemy wasn’t taking security here seriously, assuming the blocked path made this route impassable.
In their minds, it was impossible for the enemy to launch an assault from this direction. Hu Hao moved slowly along the tracks.
“Damn it, we have to win this time! Listen to that! All those explosions above us! The Eastern Spirit Empire’s troops have almost reached our command center!” a guard remarked.
Indeed, the muffled boom boom boom of explosions could be heard from above. The sound wasn’t loud, but it was distinct, accompanied by slight tremors. This provided the perfect cover for Hu Hao’s movements; the faint sound of his footsteps was entirely masked by the vibrations and noise.
“Our opponent this time is too formidable! To think they actually dare to attack us! When we fought elsewhere, the Eastern Spirit Empire’s troops ran faster than anyone else. Catching them was actually a challenge!” another guard chimed in!
“Haha!” The other soldiers burst into laughter!
“Still, the Eastern Spirit Empire’s women are quite something. Much better looking than the women in our country. They actually have some meat on their bones! Women simply grow differently in places with plenty of food!” the first guard continued!
“That’s for sure! But things are strict now, so we can’t go out. If there wasn’t a battle going on, we’d definitely head out and have some fun later!” the other guards agreed.
Hearing this, Hu Hao was furious. He instantly drew his combat knife.
Placing one hand on the pedestrian walkway, he vaulted up and sprinted forward rapidly. The guards were completely oblivious to the lethal danger rapidly approaching them!
“Ugh—” A soldier who was in the middle of laughing suddenly choked!
“Hello!” Hu Hao sneered in the language of the Eastern Spirit Empire through gritted teeth. Instantly, the men tasted something sweet in their throats. They tried to speak but found themselves unable to utter a sound.
Another soldier’s vision abruptly went black, losing all consciousness as Hu Hao cleanly snapped his neck!
Four men. In less than ten seconds, they all crumpled to the ground, twitching. They tried to scream but couldn’t make a sound; they tried to reach for their guns lying nearby but no longer had the strength!
“Come over!” Hu Hao whispered into his headset before jumping back down to the tracks and continuing his advance. The Allied forces had hardly deployed any guards here.
These guards were supposed to be stationed 50 meters apart, yet they had gathered together. Consequently, the next few hundred meters ahead of Hu Hao were completely clear of enemies!
Hu Hao advanced for over 200 meters before spotting another guard leaning against the wall. The man was motionless, emitting faint snoring sounds. Hu Hao approached quietly, grabbed his head, and gave a sharp twist. The man went limp instantly.
Hu Hao dropped back down to the tracks. The area ahead was now brightly lit, and he could see a massive contingent of guard troops about 500 meters away. The closer he got to the station platform, the denser the guard presence became! Hu Hao crouched there, assessing the situation ahead!
“There’s a Lieutenant General!” Hu Hao spotted a Lieutenant General entering a large tent. Based on its size, Hu Hao guessed it housed the command center. He estimated he could advance another 200 meters. Within those 200 meters, there were roughly twelve Allied soldiers. As long as he moved quickly, he could take them out. After that, there would be a 300-meter gap that they would have to assault across!
Crouching there, Hu Hao counted the guard troops. He estimated there were about 200 men present. Wiping them out wouldn’t be difficult. The real difficulty lay above.
He knew that within two minutes of the assault commencing, a massive influx of guard troops would pour in from above. A corps-level command center usually had at least a division-sized guard unit stationed nearby, not to mention over a thousand non-combat personnel who were still soldiers capable of firing weapons!
“Two minutes!” Hu Hao calculated in his head!
“If I just wanted to kill the Allied commanders, there’d be no problem. But capturing them alive… that’s going to be difficult!” Hu Hao pondered. He wanted to capture them alive. Killing them significantly diminished their value, both practically and in terms of propaganda effect!
“Hmm!” Hu Hao heard the hum of engines not far away. Scanning the area carefully, he spotted a small opening about 100 meters ahead. It was the subway’s backup generator room.
These generators would activate immediately in the event of a power outage. The Allied forces were currently relying on these very generators for electricity.
“Zhao Yang, do you see that opening about 100 meters ahead of me?” Hu Hao whispered while crouching.
“The opening?” Zhao Yang asked!
“Where the engine noise is coming from!” Hu Hao clarified.
“I see it!” Zhao Yang confirmed.
“I’m going to continue advancing. You lead the brothers and deploy at that location. The moment I take out the twelfth man ahead, you destroy the generators! Use the darkness to charge forward rapidly! The Allied forces will definitely turn on their flashlights, but I estimate it will take them about ten seconds.
Furthermore, they won’t shine them our way immediately. Brothers, keep charging! The moment I open fire, snipers, find your vantage points! Riflemen, keep pushing forward and secure the Allied command center as fast as possible so we can deal with them!
Once you reach the command center, the riflemen must lock down the exits leading from above! Shoot anyone who comes down! Buy me five minutes! Once we’ve captured the targets, we retreat immediately! When we near the collapsed section, order our brothers to blow the gap wider, and we continue our retreat!” Hu Hao laid out the plan to Zhao Yang!
“Yes, sir!” “Yes, sir!” Zhao Yang and the Platoon Leaders acknowledged. The soldiers below them couldn’t speak, but they heard Hu Hao’s orders clearly through their earpieces!
“Alright, I’m moving. Follow me!” With that, Hu Hao began moving cautiously forward, intending to silently eliminate as many of the sparse guards ahead as possible.
Meanwhile, at the command center ahead, Schliemann stood watching the screens, realizing that the Eastern Spirit Empire’s troops had already reached Zhanqian Park!
“General Schliemann, I estimate there won’t be a major issue here. Our reinforcements have arrived. We’ve brought up two divisions from the rear; holding the line shouldn’t be a problem!” a Lieutenant General corps commander stated, standing beside Schliemann.
“What exactly is Hu Hao trying to achieve?” Schliemann asked, his hands clasped behind his back.
“I suspect he’s still targeting our railways. If he completely destroys the rail infrastructure here, it will take us a very long time to repair it once the rainy season ends. This way, they can protect the defensive lines near their Emperor’s location!” Kesma explained.
“That’s easy to say, but look: Hu Hao has committed a significant number of troops to this sector, at least five divisions! Firefights have erupted everywhere in this area, and we are clearly at a disadvantage! His troops are fresh recruits, yet we are the ones suffering losses!” Schliemann turned and addressed the other corps commanders.
“Hu Hao has an incredibly formidable unit at his disposal. We still don’t know what kind of weapons they are equipped with. Their marksmanship is deadly accurate, and they can shoot from incredibly far away. Any of our commanders who show their faces are guaranteed to be shot!
Based on the firing angles, they are at least 500 meters away from our commanders. In urban combat, a distance of 500 meters encompasses a massive number of our troops, which is why we’ve consistently been at a disadvantage!” another corps commander explained.
“Exactly. We have no idea what kind of unit this is. However, General Schliemann, the advance of Hu Hao’s troops has slowed down significantly. Firstly, because our reinforcements have arrived.
Secondly, his troops have been fighting all night; they must be exhausted. With such a sustained offensive, I refuse to believe their casualties are light!” Kesma added.
“Take a look at the streets illuminated by gunfire. How many of those corpses belong to Eastern Spirit soldiers, and how many belong to our men?” Schliemann pointed at the large screens.
The corps commanders fell silent. Judging from the footage, there truly weren’t many Eastern Spirit corpses!
“It baffles me. Why is it that when our Allied forces encounter other Eastern Spirit units, we face no problems whatsoever? Even if they resist stubbornly, we only suffer minor losses. Yet against Hu Hao’s forces, we are clearly suffering devastating losses!” Schliemann frowned.
Meanwhile, over in Xingqiao City, Zhang Debiao also noticed that the advance of his troops had slowed down considerably, while the Allied forces’ firepower and troop numbers had strengthened significantly.
“Notify Er Lengzi. Tell him capturing the station tonight will be quite difficult. Ask him if we should halt the offensive,” Zhang Debiao instructed Dong Qipeng. Dong Qipeng nodded and immediately prepared to dial Zhao Yang’s satellite phone.
“Biao-ge, you can’t just order them directly?” Mo Qin asked Zhang Debiao.
He had assumed Zhang Debiao would simply issue a direct order to halt the attack. He hadn’t expected Zhang Debiao to actually ask for Hu Hao’s opinion.
(End of Chapter)