76: Chapter 76 Catching a Turtle in a Jar

3:42 AM · Perimeter of the Farm Villa

Hank lay prone at an observation point three hundred meters from the villa; through his night vision binoculars, two black SUVs were turning off their lights and slowly stopping at the edge of the woods.

"Target acquired, two vehicles, estimated six to eight people," he whispered into the encrypted communication channel. "Matches the intel."

Alex's calm voice came through the earpiece: "Execute as planned. Let them in, close the door and catch the dogs."

Seven minutes ago, the encrypted warning from "Front Row Audience" arrived on time: "The Northrop board rejected the settlement proposal by one vote. Montero has been granted operational authorization. Time window: Before sunrise. Method: Home invasion and assassination. Disguise: Drug gang shootout. Number of people: Seven, including two former Eastern European special forces."

When Alex received the warning, he was in a meeting with his team at the safe house. They were not panicked; instead, they laughed.

"They finally couldn't hold back," Rex said while checking his firearms. "And they've given us the perfect opportunity for a counterattack."

Over the past three weeks, the villa had been transformed into a three-dimensional tactical maze. But more importantly, Alex had redeemed enough abilities to ensure home-field advantage.

[Current Popularity: 7,314,000 points]

He looked at the redemption list.

"System, redeem [Tactical Terrain Prediction (Intermediate)]."

[Redemption successful! Consumed 180,000 points]

[Remaining Popularity: 7,134,000 points]

[Obtained ability: Tactical Terrain Prediction (Intermediate)]

The villa's three-dimensional structure unfolded clearly in his mind. But it wasn't enough.

"Merge Spider-Sense, Environmental Perception Enhancement, and Tactical Terrain Prediction into Battlefield Perception ability."

[Detected three perception abilities that can be merged into [Global Battlefield Perception (Primary)]]

[Cost: 400,000 Popularity points]

[Effect: 360-degree blind-spot-free environmental perception, can predict threat movements within 1 second, home-field combat efficiency increased by 200%]

"Merge."

[Fusion successful! Consumed 400,000 points]

[Remaining Popularity: 6,734,000 points]

[Obtained new ability: [Global Battlefield Perception (Primary)]]

Now, the entire villa was like a transparent model in Alex's perception. He could "see" the thickness of every wall, the blind spots of every room, and the path of every pipe.

"Hank, Rex, deploy according to Plan C," Alex instructed. "I want them to get in, but not get out."

The core of Plan C was not defense, but luring and annihilation.

---

Inside the Villa · 3:51 AM

Alex stood in the second-floor control room, monitoring every move of the killers through [Global Battlefield Perception].

The seven people were divided into two groups: four at the front door, three at the back door. Professional, silent, and lethal.

But they were in the light, and he was in the dark.

"Switch the power system," Alex pressed a button.

The villa plunged into semi-darkness. The backup batteries only maintained dim lighting in key areas, just enough to interfere with the effect of night vision goggles without over-exposing their own positions.

When the front door team cracked the second lock, Alex made a gesture.

The trap on the stairs activated, and two killers fell into the buffer compartment — captured alive, no serious injuries.

In the communication channel, Marcus reported: "Back door group has entered Zone B. Rex is in position."

"Jam communications, send fake signals," Alex said. "Make them think everything is going smoothly."

[Global Battlefield Perception] showed that the two killers in the living room were becoming alert. They were back-to-back, their gun barrels scanning the surroundings, but they did not retreat.

Professional stubbornness would become their grave.

Alex did not act immediately. He was waiting.

Waiting for the back door group to enter the trap zone.

Rex's voice came through: "The three at the back door are controlled. Clean and quick."

Now only two were left in the living room.

But these two were clearly the most elite, and they did not retreat. Alex "saw" one of them take plastic explosives out of a backpack — they were going to blow up the load-bearing structure and collapse the entire villa.

Plan change.

Alex slid down a hidden passage from the control room and arrived at the mezzanine of the first-floor kitchen. He didn't need weapons; he only needed to create chaos.

He picked up a gardening slingshot from the tool rack — it had been modified to fire high-strength rubber balls.

Aim, fire.

The rubber ball hit the living room chandelier, the shade shattered, and fragments fell like rain.

The two killers fired toward the kitchen simultaneously!

Rat-tat-tat-tat —

Bullets penetrated the cabinets, but Alex was no longer there. He went down through a floor hatch to the basement and came out behind the living room through another passage.

This was home-field advantage: he knew every passage, every exit, and every corner where one could hide.

The second killer was sticking explosives onto a load-bearing column. Alex did not use the slingshot this time.

He drew two Glocks from his waist — not to shoot, but because he needed to test a new idea.

"System, how much is needed to deeply fuse Gun-Fu: Ballistic Calculation with Dynamic Vision to form the [Fatal Precision] ability?"

[Deep fusion cost: 250,000 Popularity points]

[Effect: Shooting accuracy increased by 300%, can calculate bullet ricochet trajectories in complex environments]

"Redeem."

[Redemption successful! Consumed 250,000 points]

[Remaining Popularity: 6,484,000 points]

[Obtained ability: [Fatal Precision (Primary)]]

Now, what he "saw" was not just bullet trajectories, but also the ricochet angles, velocity decay, and secondary damage probability after the bullets hit different materials.

He didn't need to shoot in a straight line.

Alex raised his gun, aiming not at the killers, but at the metal chandelier chain on the ceiling.

The first shot broke the left chain link.

The chandelier tilted but didn't fall completely. The killer looked up instinctively.

The second shot broke the right chain link.

The thirty-pound metal chandelier crashed down, not onto the killers, but onto the explosives they were setting up!

The explosives were knocked away by the impact and rolled under the sofa.

The two killers reacted quickly; one lunged for the explosives, and one raised a gun to search for Alex's position.

But Alex had already moved. He rushed out from the side door of the living room, not to escape, but to lure.

"Come and chase me," he said softly, ensuring the sound could be heard by the killers.

The two killers chased after him as expected. This was their instinct — target appears, eliminate target, and clearing the bomb would take more time.

Alex ran toward the garage. The garage door was open, and three cars were parked inside.

The killers chased into the garage and immediately noticed something was wrong — it was too quiet, and... the garage door was closing automatically.

"Trap!" the lead killer roared.

But it was too late.

Hidden grilles in the four corners of the garage opened, releasing high-intensity tear gas. At the same time, the sprinkler system on the floor activated, and the water flow mixed with the gas, creating a stinging fog.

The two killers coughed, teared up, and their vision blurred.

Alex didn't need to see. Through [Global Battlefield Perception], he could "see" their every move.

He put on a pre-prepared gas mask and stepped out from behind the tool rack.

The first killer was fumbling for the car door, trying to leave. Alex approached from the side, and a precise hand chop struck the carotid sinus — not lethal, but stunning.

The second killer heard the movement and turned to fire blindly.

Bullets flew wildly in the fog. Alex crouched low, slid under a car, and emerged from the other side.

The moment the killer changed magazines, he rushed out, engaged in close combat, disarmed him, and delivered an elbow strike to the back of his head.

The second one fell.

The entire operation, from the killers entering the villa to all seven being controlled, took nine minutes and forty-seven seconds.

Zero deaths, zero serious injuries, all captured alive.

---

4:15 AM · Villa Living Room

When Rex and Hank brought people to clean up the scene, they almost couldn't believe their eyes.

"Seven people... just like that?" Hank checked the killers handcuffed to the radiator. "Their equipment is better than ours."

"But they don't have our home-field advantage," Alex was wiping the dust off his hands with a disinfectant wipe. "And they didn't have advance warning."

[Global Battlefield Perception] gradually subsided. Alex felt a slight dizziness — the new ability consumed a lot, but the effect was astonishing.

Marcus ran up from the basement, holding a tablet: "The surveillance footage is all saved. Five hidden cameras, seven different angles, clearly recorded their invasion and our... counterattack."

"Edit three versions," Alex said. "A one-minute highlight version for social media, a five-minute tactical commentary version for military forums, and archive the full version."

"What about the police..."

"Let Lawyer Lawson handle it," Alex checked the time. "He should be on his way here. We need to complete the preliminary interrogation before the police arrive."

Rex shook his head: "These people have undergone counter-interrogation training and won't talk."

"I don't need them to talk," Alex squatted down and checked a tattoo on a killer's neck — the insignia of the former Soviet special forces, although faded by laser, it was still visible.

"I just need them to be 'professional assassins,' well-equipped, and with a clear target." He stood up. "As for the rest, let the public imagine it for themselves."

Hank understood: "Northrop just suffered a crushing defeat in public opinion, and six hours later, professional assassins show up... the timing is too coincidental."

"It's not just the timing." Alex took a piece of plastic explosive out of the killer's backpack. "C4 military explosive, the serial number hasn't been completely worn off. Rex, check the source of this serial number."

"It will take time."

"We have time." Alex looked at the brightening sky outside the window. "We have at least two hours before the police and media arrive."

---

8:00 AM · Temporary Interrogation Room

The five killers were detained separately. The medical team treated their minor injuries — Alex had deliberately controlled the force of his strikes to ensure there were no serious injuries, but enough to incapacitate them for several hours.

Rex's team conducted a professional interrogation, and the result was as expected: no one talked.

But the technical team had a discovery.

"The serial number of the explosives has been checked," Marcus said, holding a printed report. "It belongs to the US military inventory, 'scrapped' three years ago. But there are problems with the scrapping records — the actual quantity destroyed was two hundred kilograms less than what was recorded."

"The flow?"

"It changed hands through three shell companies, and the final buyer was a 'Security Consulting Company' registered in the Bahamas. The holding party of that company... is Northrop's offshore fund."

Alex nodded: "The indirect evidence chain has been formed."

"In addition," Rex added, "we extracted soil samples from the sole of one killer's shoe; analysis shows it contains residues of special industrial chemicals, which matches the soil at an abandoned testing ground owned by Northrop in Tennessee."

"So they scouted the location before the operation, and it was on Northrop's turf."

Alex smiled. This was even more perfect than he had expected.

"Prepare for the press conference. In one hour."

---

9:00 AM · Villa Front Yard

The temporarily set-up media area was crowded with reporters. When Alex stepped onto the podium, his left hand was in a sling — that was a minor injury he had intentionally caused last night for visual effect.

"At 3:55 AM today, seven armed personnel invaded my residence," his voice carried through the speakers across the yard. "Their goal was very clear: to kill me."

Cameras flashed frantically.

Alex held up an enlarged photo of the evidence: "This is the equipment they used. Military-grade weapons, professional explosives, satellite communication equipment. The background of these people —" he switched pictures, showing a close-up of the former Soviet special forces tattoo, "Former Eastern European special forces personnel."

There was an uproar at the scene.

"I don't have direct evidence to prove that Northrop hired them," Alex paused, letting the sentence hang. "But I would like to ask everyone to think about a few facts."

He held up his finger: "First, last night I just publicly accused Northrop of covering up fatal material defects. Second, six hours later, professional assassins showed up. Third, the equipment of these assassins can be traced back to channels related to Northrop."

He looked at the camera, his eyes sharp: "Is this a coincidence? You judge for yourselves."

The press conference only lasted twelve minutes, but the effect was explosive.

Within an hour, #AssassinsAtSunrise trended at number one on Twitter globally. Military experts analyzed the equipment photos on major TV stations, and former intelligence officials talked about "typical corporate elimination operations" on the radio.

Northrop's stock price plummeted 17% in pre-market trading.

---

12:00 PM · Safe House

Alex checked the system interface.

[Popularity gained from the attack incident: +1,860,000 points]

[Current Popularity: 8,344,000 points]

A perfect counter-kill, 1.86 million popularity.

"System, how much is needed to redeem [Comprehensive Physical Enhancement (Stage 3)]?"

[Redeeming Stage 3 cost: 1,200,000 Popularity points]

[Effect: Base physical fitness increased by 400%, recovery speed increased by 300%, endurance limit breaks human peak]

"Redeem."

[Redemption successful! Consumed 1,200,000 points]

[Remaining Popularity: 7,144,000 points]

[Obtained ability: [Comprehensive Physical Enhancement (Stage 3)]]

A warm current surged through his whole body. Alex felt his muscle fibers restructuring, his bone density increasing, and his cardiopulmonary function soaring. His base physical fitness was now equivalent to top human levels in all aspects.

But this was not enough. He needed to be extraordinary.

Marcus rushed into the room, his face full of excitement: "Taylor Swift just released a teaser for her new song! 《Seven Shadows at Dawn》, explicitly stating that it is dedicated to last night's counter-kill. Her fans are crazy, our YouTube channel gained one million subscribers in an hour!"

"Proceed as planned," Alex said calmly. "Release the 《Rebirth》 single at five o'clock this afternoon. Tomorrow morning at eight, launch the first phase of the 'Renaissance Project'."

"As for Northrop..."

Alex pulled up the news page. The headline was: "Northrop CEO Howard announces 'temporary leave,' security chief Montero suspended for investigation."

"They don't have the energy to fight back for the time being," he said. "So we must take this opportunity to push our influence to the peak."

He opened his laptop and began to write the lyrics for 《Rebirth》.

First verse:

"They came before dawn, with guns and silence... They thought darkness was cover, but they didn't know I had long learned to see in the dark..."

The system interface flickered:

[Creation triggers deep resonance...]

[Popularity pre-growth: Expected to gain 300,000-500,000 points after the single is released...]

Alex smiled.

The path to the extraordinary was already within reach.

And every person who tried to stop him only made him walk faster and further.