readease Chapter 102 The Clown Who Jumps Over the Beams
Chapter 102 The Clown Who Jumps Over the Beams
"Command, execute."
The moment Lin Zhe uttered those words, dozens of surveillance feeds simultaneously started flashing on the large screen in the Qianlong Base command center.
Country X, a border city. Five young men from Country X walked out of a bar, arms around each other's shoulders. They had just participated in the vandalism of a shop owned by a Chinese businessman and were now excitedly discussing their "spoils"—a gold necklace that a Chinese businessman had hidden under the counter.
"That old bastard is quite good at hiding. If I hadn't kicked over the counter..." Before the blond-haired youth could finish speaking, a bloody hole suddenly appeared in his throat.
He stared wide-eyed, looked down in disbelief, and saw blood gushing from his neck before collapsing limply to the ground.
Before the remaining four could react, three more beams of cold light shot out from the shadows. The three men fell simultaneously, all killed instantly—by the throat, the brow, and the heart.
The last young man collapsed to the ground in terror, his crotch soaked. He saw a dark figure slowly emerge from the shadows at the alley entrance, wearing a black mask, revealing only a pair of cold eyes.
"No...don't kill me..." the young man pleaded in broken Chinese.
The member of the Qianlong team crouched down and patted his face with his dagger: "Remember, in your next life, don't mess with the people of China."
The dagger flashed, the young man's eyes widened, and he fell to the ground dead.
Meanwhile, elsewhere in this border city:
The power company's main transformer was blown up, plunging half the city into darkness.
The police chief's house was attacked with Molotov cocktails, and the family managed to escape in a raging fire.
The dozen or so thugs who participated most violently in the vandalism during the day were all found dead in the streets overnight.
In J country, four guards in the port's security room are playing cards. Behind them, in the monitoring room, five Chinese crew members are locked in iron cages, having gone without food and water for a day and a night.
"Those people are really patient; they haven't begged for mercy even after being hungry all day," a guard muttered.
"Begging for mercy is useless. The higher-ups said they'd be locked up for at least three days..."
Before he could finish speaking, the glass window of the guardhouse suddenly shattered. Four tranquilizer darts accurately struck the four men in the neck, rendering them all unconscious within five seconds.
Two figures in black slipped inside, quickly searched the guard, and found the key.
"Team B, checkpoints cleared. Team C, prepare for rescue." The team leader, Longci, whispered into a miniature microphone.
Three other guard posts at the port were attacked almost simultaneously. The six guards were taken out silently before they could even sound the alarm.
The iron cage holding the crew members was opened. The five crew members were startled when they saw the fully armed black figures, but when they saw the dragon emblem on the armbands, they were too excited to speak.
"Can we walk?" Dragon Thorn asked.
"I can!" Captain Chen gritted his teeth and stood up. "I'm just so hungry my legs are weak..."
Longci took out compressed biscuits and water from his tactical backpack: "Replenish your energy first, then we'll retreat in ten minutes."
Just then, sirens sounded outside the port—clearly, other sentries had sounded the alarm.
"Group D, create chaos," Dragon Thorn ordered.
A huge explosion suddenly erupted from the direction of the oil depot on the east side of the port. The towering flames illuminated half the sky, drawing all the police forces in the port to the scene.
"Walk!"
Escorted by four members of the Submarine Team, the five crew members quickly evacuated the port. They boarded a pre-arranged speedboat and disappeared into the night.
Before leaving, Dragon Thorn left a dragon-shaped badge on the iron cage where the crew members were imprisoned.
R Country, the residence of the Minister of Defense.
Taro Yamamoto had just finished a video conference with the United States and was happily soaking in the bathtub. In his view, the Chinese nation's 24-hour ultimatum was a joke—the deadline had already passed, and what could the Chinese nation do besides send special forces to cause some minor sabotage?
"Ding-dong—"
Doorbell rang.
Yamamoto frowned. Who would come so late? He put on a bathrobe and went to the living room.
Through the access control monitor, he saw a man in a delivery uniform standing at the door, wearing a mask and holding a package.
"Who is it?" Yamamoto asked.
"Mr. Yamamoto, your international express delivery." The person outside the door said in fluent Japanese.
Yamamoto remembered; he had indeed ordered a batch of cigars from a US website. He unlocked the door, just cracking it open a crack—
A silenced pistol was pressed against his forehead.
"you……"
"Yamamoto Taro," the deliveryman—actually a member of the Submarine Team, Dragon Claw—said coldly, "remember, don't be a dog of the US in your next life."
"Bang!"
The muffled gunshot was almost completely absorbed by the silencer. Yamamoto's eyes widened as he slowly fell to the ground, a clear bloody hole in his forehead.
The dragon claw stepped over him and entered the study. He quickly turned on the computer, inserted the USB drive, and began copying confidential files. Three minutes later, all the files were downloaded.
Before leaving, he also placed a dragon-shaped badge next to Yamamoto's body.
At the same time, the three R-country naval commanders who were involved in planning the provocation in the East China Sea were all assassinated overnight.
The base's radar station was blown up, and all radar equipment was destroyed.
A fire "accidentally" broke out at a naval base's ammunition depot, causing significant damage.
Wharton War Room, Country M.
The president looked at the urgent reports coming from all over the country, his face turning ashen.
"Seventeen rioters died in Country X; they were all involved in the vandalism and looting. The power system was damaged, and half the city lost power."
"The port of J country was attacked, five Chinese crew members were rescued, and the oil depot exploded, causing losses of at least 50 million."
"Country R fared even worse; three generals died, their radar station was bombed, and their ammunition depot caught fire..."
Defense Secretary James's voice trembled: "And... at every site, they left the same badge—a dragon emblem."
"Hidden Dragon..." the president gritted his teeth, "It's that damned unit again!"
The Secretary of State said, "Our allies are demanding immediate action from us; they cannot afford such a blow."
"Operation? How can we operate?" the president roared. "That unit is elusive; we don't even know where they are!"
Just then, news footage from China suddenly popped up—it was a live broadcast.
On the screen, Lin Zhe's young but cold face reappeared.
"Dear viewers across the country, we now have a special report." Lin Zhe's voice was eerily calm. "In the past hour, our special forces, which have been stationed in the relevant countries, have carried out precise strikes against the thugs and masterminds who have violated our rights."
Screen switch.
An edited video begins to play:
Footage of the X country thugs being shot dead (key parts blurred).
The towering flames of the port explosion in country J;
Bloodstains at the entrance of the R country general's residence;
There are also close-ups of the dragon-shaped badges that remained at the scene.
The video ends, and the camera cuts back to Lin Zhe.
"This is just the beginning." He looked at the camera. "Any act that infringes upon our sovereignty or harms our citizens will pay the price."
"Don't say you weren't warned."
The live stream has ended.
The whole country was in an uproar.
A huge cheer erupted in the conference room of the internet company in Jinghua City.
"That was so satisfying!"
"Well done!"
"This is the true demeanor of a great nation!"
The retired programmer slammed his fist on the table excitedly: "See that?! This is our army! They can fight whenever they want, and kill whenever they want!"
On the Bund in Shanghai, a thunderous applause erupted from the crowd beneath a large outdoor screen.
"Good! Well done!"
"Those bastards deserved this fate!"
"The nation has finally stood up!"
In a small town on the southwestern border, people excitedly embraced each other in the square.
"My brother's revenge has been achieved!" The middle-aged woman knelt on the ground, kowtowing to the screen. "Thank you, country! Thank you, soldiers of the Dragon Kingdom!"
The town mayor, holding a loudspeaker, shouted: "Fellow villagers! Do you see this? This is what happens when you bully people from China!"
However, the international response was quite different.
An hour later, country M held an emergency press conference.
The spokesperson stood on the stage, his face grim: "We strongly condemn this act of state terrorism by China! Sending special forces to infiltrate another country to carry out assassinations and sabotage is blatant aggression!"
"We demand that China immediately cease all illegal actions, issue a formal apology to the victim country for this incident, and compensate for all losses!"
"At the same time, we warn the Dragon Nation—if the operation does not cease within one hour, countries M, R, J, and X will form a joint force to take military action against the Dragon Nation!"
"The Dragon Kingdom must carefully consider the consequences! This is not a threat, this is an ultimatum!"
At the press conference, reporters from various countries took photos frantically. After the spokesperson finished speaking, he paused for a few seconds and gave the camera a "everything is under control" smile.
This image was transmitted around the world via satellite signal.
Jinghua, Qianlong Base Command Center.
Lin Zhe looked at the face of the US spokesperson on the screen, a cold smile appearing on his lips.
"Sir, the US has given us one hour," Long Qing reported. "How should we respond?"
"A response?" Lin Zhe stood up, walked to the live camera, and said, "Turn it on."
One minute later, the Dragon Kingdom's national television station resumed its live broadcast.
The nation's nerves, which had just begun to relax, tightened again. Everyone stared at the screen, waiting for Lin Zhe's response.
In the studio, Lin Zhe remained standing in front of the camera. He didn't look at the script, nor did he make any preparations, as if he were talking about something completely ordinary.
"Just now, the spokesperson for Country M gave us an hour." He paused, then slowly uttered four words:
"A clown jumping around like a tree trunk."
After saying that, he turned and left the camera's view.
The live stream has ended.
The whole thing took less than ten seconds.
The whole country was initially stunned, but then a more intense reaction erupted.
"Awesome! Absolutely awesome!"
"A clown jumping around! Hahahaha! That's such a perfect description!"
"General Lin Zhe is mighty!"
At that internet company, the programmers were pounding their keyboards with excitement: "See that! That's confidence! That's strength!"
On a military forum, a popular post was pushed to the top:
"Brothers, let me analyze this. What does it mean that General Lin Zhe dares to be so tough? It means we have absolute confidence! It means our military strength is no longer afraid of the four countries joining forces!"
"Think about those new fighter jets, think about those aircraft carriers, think about those missiles... I bet the US is more panicked than we are right now!"
"An hour? Let them wait! Let's see if they dare to actually start a war!"
However, behind the excitement, some concerns have begun to emerge.
In a residential community in Beijing, an elderly couple sat in front of the television.
The old woman held her husband's hand, her voice trembling slightly: "Old man...you really won't fight, will you?"
The old man patted her hand: "Don't worry, a fight won't break out. If they were going to fight, they would have done it already. Why wait until now?"
"But what about those four countries..."
"So what if there are four countries?" The old man straightened his back. "Now that we're strong, we're not afraid of them!"
Despite saying that, the old lady's hands were still trembling.
The same situation is occurring across the country.
Parents worry about their children on the front lines, wives worry about their husbands in the army, and children worry about their fathers in the military camp.
War, in the end, will kill people.
No one is without fear.
This time, however, fewer people were afraid, more were angry, and even more were expectant.
Because this time, they believe that their country has the ability to protect them.
We have the ability to make those who bully the Chinese pay the price.
The one-hour countdown has begun.
The whole world held its breath once again.
Waiting for that one hour that could change the world order.
Waiting for the next move of the awakened dragon.
Lin Zhe stood in the command center, staring at the clock on the wall with a cold gaze.
A clown jumping around?
No.
Next, he will let those people know—
What is meant by "Thunder's Fury"?
What is meant by "the dragon's reverse scale, touching it means certain death"?