Just as Xu Chuan slipped into the ventilation shaft, two armed men burst through the office door. Xu Chuan let out a breath, leaning against the thick pipe wall, not daring to move.
The two men looked around the room, casually picked up a few small, valuable items, put them in their pockets, and then exited. Xu Chuan shook his head, pulled out the item he had just picked up from his pocket, and looking at its familiar shape, Xu Chuan silently smiled. It was a tea knife, only sixteen centimeters long, with a leather sheath. The blade and handle were integrated, and the blade had a feather-like pattern. Xu Chuan had personally crafted it for Deng Mei a couple of years ago when he learned she liked to drink Pu-erh tea. He hadn't expected her to still be using it.
Xu Chuan lay in the ventilation duct, silently praying, “I hope its structure is the same as the blueprints, with no shoddy workmanship.” The entire ventilation system was designed to be very spacious. Unlike other regions, this area was in the desert with intense sunlight. Without a powerful air conditioning system, staying in a glass building like this would be no different from suicide. Therefore, the ventilation ducts here were large and wide, and made of integrated concrete. Although a person still couldn't stand up, crawling inside carefully produced almost no sound outside.
Now the entire building was controlled by the anti-government armed forces. It seemed these people were also divided into several factions. Some wore Government Army uniforms and used standard M16 rifles. Some wore unified black combat suits, tactical vests, and masks, equipped with HK Company's G3A4 and G36C. However, most people wore various clothes and used different types of AKs. It was clear that the group in black combat suits was the most well-trained among the armed personnel. They immediately took control of surveillance, shut down the elevators, and gathered everyone in the lobby on the first floor, while other armed personnel were still running around, searching for stragglers and looting various valuable items.
“Berkhoff, haven’t they caught William Boson yet?” Xu Chuan was lying at a ventilation opening, asking in a low Voice. From here, he could see the office building's main entrance through the floor-to-ceiling windows below. The search on various floors was gradually coming to an end. Most of the armed personnel had been dispersed outside the office building, and some Europeans were being led into cars, seemingly to be taken as hostages.
“Bell, there’s a bit of a problem now. William Boson’s signal has disappeared, and it seems the surveillance equipment was damaged when the terrorists broke into the monitoring room. I can’t see anything now. Be careful yourself.”
“Okay, got it,” Xu Chuan replied dejectedly.
“These idiots,” Xu Chuan cursed inwardly. After another ten minutes or so, no one else came up to the fourth-floor office area, leaving only one armed man to guard the stairs.
Xu Chuan gently opened the ventilation grille. To avoid making a sound, he even dabbed saliva on the connecting shaft. “Slowly, slowly,” Xu Chuan muttered to himself, slowly lowering the grille plate into place. He quickly peeked out first, then carefully climbed out.
He landed steadily, without making a sound, and quickly darted into a nearby office. Xu Chuan looked left and right, picked up a ballpoint pen from the desk, walked to the door, and forcefully threw it out. The ballpoint pen hit the hanging grille plate with a loud, clear sound that echoed through the quiet floor. If someone couldn’t hear that, they must be deaf.
Heavy footsteps sounded. The armed man on guard was drawn by the noise. Turning the corner, his gaze was drawn to the still swaying grille plate. He quickly raised his AKMS, aimed the muzzle at the ventilation opening, walked underneath, and looked inside. His right hand released the rifle grip, wanting to take out the walkie-talkie tucked at his waist. Xu Chuan, hidden in the shadows of the office to the side and rear, was waiting for this opportunity. Like a starving wolf, he pounced, his left hand forcefully covering the man’s mouth, and the tea knife in his right hand plunged fiercely into the right side of his neck, then twisted up and down to ensure the trachea and artery were severed.
Xu Chuan felt the body in his hands slowly go limp, warm blood flowing from the man's mouth and nose onto his own hands. But even so, he didn't let go of the man, only slowly lowering him to the ground, looking left and right, then quickly dragging the body into the office's shadows.
“No guns, no cannons, the enemy makes them for us,” Xu Chuan softly hummed, rummaging through the corpse for useful equipment. First, he picked up the AKMS rifle, removed the magazine, weighed it in his hand, pulled back the bolt to check, then reinserted the magazine and set it aside. Next, he unhooked the magazine pouch from the corpse. Combined with the dim light, the chaotic environment, and his slightly off-key singing, he looked exactly like a psychopathic killer from a movie.
A moment later, Xu Chuan, having changed, walked out. He wore an old M65 windbreaker, baggy German flecktarn camouflage military pants, a black headscarf covering half his face, and a DIY Type 56 chest rig on his chest, holding 3 magazines. His walkie-talkie was in the leftmost utility pouch. The AKMS, with its folding stock unopened, was slung diagonally at his side. A Ka-Bar 1217 military knife hung from his waist, and he even snagged a backpack from the office.
Various Voices came from the walkie-talkie: Arabic, local dialects, Russian, English, and seemingly even a language he had never heard before. “Damn it, language is the bridge of human communication, but your bridge here has definitely collapsed.”
Although the Voices were chaotic, Xu Chuan still heard that these people had indeed not found William Boson yet. Xu Chuan pressed his forehead in exasperation. If only they had been more competent, he wouldn't have had to kill anyone. Thinking of the two women who had been squatting in the utility room for nearly an hour, Xu Chuan felt a hint of anxiety. “I hope they didn’t drink water before this.” He took out his smart terminal and opened a certain function. The signal from the tracker previously placed on William Boson was indeed gone.
William Boson was very agitated now. He felt like he had been in this underground passage for a very long time, so long that it seemed like a century had passed. “Doctor, they haven’t left yet.” This was one of his bodyguards, who had just risked going out to scout.
“They won’t give up until they find me. Think of a way. If this continues, they will find us sooner or later.” William Boson deeply regretted why he had insisted on waiting for the Government Army convoy.
“Bell, I’ve analyzed it here. The tracker was working normally before the signal disappeared. The target should now be in an underground facility. I’ll send you the location where the signal disappeared; that should be the entrance. As for the surveillance equipment, it has been restarted, but without a password, we can’t review the surveillance records. These people are still trying to crack the password.”
“Fuck, I really can’t count on these idiots.” Xu Chuan cursed under his breath. “Berkhoff, give them a hand, but don’t let these idiots find out.”
“Understood, don’t worry.”
The monitoring room was in chaos. Two security guards' bodies lay in a corner. Another local man in a security uniform sat sweating profusely in front of the monitoring system, frantically operating it, saying in a Voice on the verge of tears, “I’m just a doorman, I really don’t know the password!”
A terrorist stood behind him, holding a pistol to the back of his head, impatiently saying, “You have 10 seconds. If you can’t do it, I’ll get someone else. 10, 9, 8…”
The security guard desperately hammered on the keyboard. The countdown in his ear had reached “3, 2.” Just as the security guard had given up, he pressed Enter one last time, and the “Access Denied” prompt that had been flashing on the screen suddenly changed to “Verification Successful.”
Xu Chuan unlocked the utility room door but didn't push it open immediately. First, he whispered, “It’s me, don’t make a sound,” then quickly opened the door and entered the room, gently closing the door behind him. While observing outside through the crack in the door, he said, “Stand up and stretch a bit, but don’t make too much noise. I’ll take you out first.”
The two women, who had been there for over an hour, could not hide their joy. Li Fei even took a step forward, clutching Xu Chuan’s arm tightly, her face flushed, “I need to use the restroom!”
“Put your hands on my back,” Xu Chuan said, walking at the front with his AKMS. Deng Mei and the other woman carefully followed behind him. They stopped when they reached a corner. Xu Chuan quickly peeked out first to confirm there was no one else, then led the two around the corner. They stopped in front of Deng Mei’s office. He held the rifle in his right hand, gently pushed the door open with his left, then quickly slipped inside and swiftly checked every corner of the room for safety.
He let the two women into the room, closed the door, and stopped Li Fei, who was about to rush to the restroom. “Don’t flush.”