Chapter 421 Harvesting

The searchlight beams had completely locked onto the platform.

The militants were already heading their way.

Rainwater poured down from the edges of the abandoned building like a waterfall.

Below, the chaotic glow of flashlights and the intense glare of searchlights intertwined, illuminating the muddy path leading to the high platform as bright as day.

A group of dark-skinned militants, clad in various mismatched raincoats, were sprinting through the puddles.

These men were cursing loudly in the local dialect, holding automatic rifles with their muzzles all pointed toward the high platform.

They were getting closer and closer.

One could even hear the "squelch" of their worn-out military boots stepping into the mud and water.

A few of them had already reached the rusty iron stairs below the high platform.

The leader stepped heavily onto the first step.

For the Decapitation Squad on the platform, the crisis had reached a critical moment.

And in mid-air,

above that dusty Firefighting Parent-Child Pistol,

a holographic projection emitted a faint blue glow, appearing exceptionally clear in the dim environment.

The miniature bullets that had just finished splitting did not fall under the influence of gravity.

Instead, they hovered steadily in mid-air.

Through the high-speed calculations of their internal micro-modules, they had already locked onto the targets below who were preparing to charge up.

In the next second,

there was no deafening crack of gunpowder burning,

nor were there any tongues of flame spitting from a muzzle.

The miniature projectiles suspended in mid-air vanished from their spots instantly.

Leaving only a faint whistling sound as they sliced through the dense curtain of rain.

In the faint blue holographic projection above the pistol, this incredible scene was clearly recorded in a manner similar to a slow-motion movie.

Below the stairs,

the militant leading the charge had a long scar on his cheek.

He opened his mouth wide, preparing to shout the charge to his companions behind him.

But that shout was forever stuck in his throat.

A tiny projectile, carrying kinetic energy, drilled directly into the center of the militant's forehead.

It was as smooth as a hot knife through butter.

The projectile pierced the hard skull and then flew out from the back of his head,

bringing out a wisp of blood that was instantly washed away by the torrential rain.

The scarred man's body instantly lost all its strength.

He collapsed onto the iron stairs like a pile of mud, sliding down with the flowing water.

The projectile that flew out from the back of his head did not exhaust its kinetic energy by penetrating the human body.

It drew a zigzag line in mid-air that defied aerodynamics,

immediately heading toward the next closest target.

Pfft!

Another soft sound.

The other militant following behind the scarred man hadn't even figured out why his companion in front had suddenly fallen.

A small hole appeared in the center of his forehead as well.

Before he could even let out a cry of alarm, he fell headlong to the ground.

The entire process was overwhelming and unstoppable.

This wasn't just the performance of this one projectile; all the projectiles scattered in the sky were executing the same logic.

There was no extra noise, no earth-shattering firelight.

Only absolute precision and speed.

...

Meanwhile, on Yan Poyue's side,

the holographic projection floating in mid-air underwent a change.

The screen that had been recording optical images flickered.

Then, the entire screen was covered by a layer of red and green color blocks.

At this moment, the holographic projection had switched to a thermal imaging map.

On this map,

the outlines of the surrounding terrain were displayed in dark green, while humans with vital signs appeared as bright red spots.

Then,

under the gaze of Yan Poyue and the others, they witnessed a scene they would never forget.

Below the screen, the area of red spots that had originally appeared dense and even eyesore-like due to the gathering of enemies

was now changing at a speed visible to the naked eye.

They saw red dots extinguishing one by one without any warning.

The speed was so fast it was dizzying.

Like harvesting chives.

There was no fierce exchange of fire, nor a long war of attrition.

The heat sources representing the militants' vital signs, under this relentless tracking,

were being directly erased from the map in large swaths.

The encirclement that had been crowded just a second ago developed large areas of emptiness after only a few breaths.

This one-sided dimensional reduction harvest brought a tremor to the depths of the souls of these battle-hardened agents on the platform.

Looking at the dark green areas rapidly spreading on the thermal map, they even felt a sense of unreality.

...

Shifting the gaze across the wind and rain, back to the Imperial Capital of the Eastern Country.

Inside the main hall of the Logistics Center under the General Armament Department,

cold air was continuously pumped in from the overhead vents, but it could not dispel the sense of anxiety here.

They were all nervously monitoring the situation over there.

On the large electronic screen at the front of the hall, a thermal imaging satellite map of Sanbianpo was being displayed in real-time.

The staff officers sitting at their computer terminals

were all filled with worry a moment ago.

Some even clenched their fists, their brows deeply furrowed.

They were rapidly calculating in their minds whether there were still any forces that could be deployed in Sanbianpo.

For instance, whether there were any peripheral intelligence personnel nearby performing other missions who could rush there to create some chaos.

Even at the risk of causing an international dispute, they could not stand by and watch this blade of the nation be broken there.

The Old General sat upright in a large command chair.

This Old Chief, who had been through many vicissitudes, still appeared steady on the surface.

But when his emotions fluctuated, he had a habitual action: stroking his beard with his fingers.

He was still worried about the Decapitation Squad.

But,

when the thermal imaging map on the large screen underwent a startling change,

the red spots that had been in an encirclement began to scatter over a large area.

Then, witnessing this scene,

the Old General's pupils constricted sharply, and his breath hitched for an instant.

His hand, which had been stroking his beard, suddenly tightened in extreme shock.

His fingers pulled downward with force due to inertia.

Several strands of his beard were pulled out.

A sharp pain came from his chin, but the Old Chief acted as if nothing had happened, ignoring it completely.

His eyes stared unblinkingly at the large screen.

And behind him,

the others who had been struggling to come up with a rescue plan

were also dumbfounded the next moment.

Looking at the red dots on the map being wiped away like they were being erased by an eraser,

the eyes of these high-ranking staff officers almost popped out.

Their mouths hung wide open, enough to fit a ripe goose egg, and they couldn't close them for a long time.

This exceeded all their tactical simulation models.

There was no heavy artillery barrage, no air strike cover.

In just a few breaths, more than half of the red dots in the encirclement had vanished.

And the subordinate, Xiao Wang, who had been hiding at the edge of the hall,

had been in a state of panic and self-reproach because he had mixed a toy gun into the equipment box, feeling like the sky was falling.

Now, watching the dimensional reduction strike on the large screen,

that subordinate, Xiao Wang, was also dumbfounded.

He felt that his cognitive system had completely collapsed.

His mind was left completely blank.

His throat felt like it was stuffed with cotton, dry and raspy.

He could only make clicking sounds from his throat out of instinct.

The entire Logistics Center hall fell into silence.

Only the flickering images on the large screen proved that all of this was actually happening.

Meanwhile, the harvesting at the Industrial Park was still ongoing...