104: Chapter 104 Dimensional Reduction Attack: The Steel Grim Reaper in the Night

At night, the Blue Sea International Building in the center of Tachileik remained brightly lit, standing like an island in the darkness.

Zhao Zilong—also known as the arrogant Brother Long—was currently sitting in his executive chair, watching the countdown on his watch. There were forty minutes left until his "final ultimatum."

"Boss, do you think that Zhang Cheng will really chicken out?" a lackey asked nervously as he swapped magazines for the AK in his hand. "I heard that he wiped out one of Yang Maoliang's regiments at Gunlong Gorge. That firepower was terrifyingly intense."

"Fear my ass!" Brother Long spat disdainfully. "Gunlong Gorge was a field battle; Zhang Cheng had heavy artillery and aircraft. But what is this? This is urban warfare! And urban warfare with hostages! Does he dare to open fire? Does he dare to bomb the building? As long as he doesn't dare use heavy weaponry, our three hundred brothers can hold this building for ten days to half a month without any problem! Besides, didn't the Americans say that as long as we make a big enough scene, the international community will intervene? When that happens, Zhang Cheng will have to withdraw even if he doesn't want to!"

Just then, the tide of the comments in the live stream suddenly shifted.

The screen, which had been full of curses and worries, was suddenly covered by a large, uniform wave of comments:

[The Reaper has arrived! Stand aside, bystanders!] [Countdown begins: 10, 9, 8...] [Hey Brother Long, look out the window; that's your final view.]

"What is this nonsense?" Brother Long frowned and instinctively looked out the floor-to-ceiling window.

Outside the window was the pitch-black night sky; except for the occasional flash of a searchlight in the distance, there was nothing.

"Playing tricks!" Brother Long snorted coldly, about to turn his head back to continue his mockery.

Suddenly, a strange sound drifted in.

"Buzz... buzz... buzz..."

It didn't sound like the roar of a helicopter, nor the scream of a jet engine, but rather like countless bees vibrating their wings.

Immediately after, the office lights flickered and went out completely!

The entire building instantly plunged into a deathly darkness!

"What's going on?! A power outage? Where's the backup power? Go check it out!" Brother Long roared, an inexplicable chill rising in his heart.

"Boss! Something's wrong! The phones have no signal! The walkie-talkies are silent too!" his subordinate shouted in panic.

In that moment where darkness and chaos intertwined, the glass outside the window shattered without warning.

"Crash!"

It wasn't the crisp sound of being shattered by bullets, but rather the entire pane of tempered glass turning to powder instantly, as if vibrated by some high-frequency sound wave!

As the glass powder drifted, dozens of black figures rushed in like ghosts.

By the faint moonlight from outside, Brother Long saw a scene he would never forget for the rest of his life.

Those intruders didn't look human at all!

They were encased head-to-toe in pitch-black metal armor with sleek yet menacing lines, exuding a sci-fi feel, with faint blue lights flickering at the joints. They wore full-face tactical masks, and the red "V" shaped electronic eyes on the masks trailed blood-colored afterimages in the darkness.

This was exactly the Individual Exoskeleton Armor that Zhang Cheng had spent a fortune to exchange!

In front of this system, Brother Long's thugs—carrying AK-47s and wearing bulletproof vests—were like primitive men with stones facing a modern army in tanks.

"Fire! Open fire, now!" Brother Long was so terrified he rolled off his chair and shouted from under the desk.

"Rat-tat-tat-tat!"

A few bodyguards with quick reactions raised their guns and fired. The bullets hit the black-armored warriors, sparking a series of glints and making crisp "clanging" sounds, yet they couldn't even make them flinch.

"Target confirmed. Threat level: Low. Executing clearance protocol."

The leading black-armored soldier—Special Operations Squadron Leader T-101—spoke in a cold, electronically synthesized voice.

In the next second, the slaughter began.

T-101 raised his right hand, and the rotary machine gun on the exoskeleton arm instantly preheated and spun.

"Zzzzt—"

It wasn't the explosion of gunpowder weapons, but the shriek of electromagnetically driven projectiles tearing through the air.

A rate of fire of three thousand rounds per minute!

Those bodyguards who were trying to resist just now were instantly torn to shreds by the metal storm. Walls, desks, chairs, and human bodies—there was no difference in the face of this terrifying firepower; everything was turned into a honeycomb.

"Ah—! Ghosts! What kind of monsters are these!"

The remaining thugs completely collapsed, throwing down their guns and turning to run.

But the black-armored soldiers were faster. The exoskeletons granted them explosive power beyond human limits. A black shadow flashed, and a thug who had just reached the door was grabbed by the neck by a massive steel hand.

"Crack."

With a casual twist, the neck snapped, and the corpse was tossed aside like trash.

This wasn't a battle at all; it was a slaughter of dimensional reduction strike proportions.

Meanwhile, the same scene was playing out on the other floors of the building.

"Ghost" Nano-Swarm Drones drifted into every room through the ventilation ducts. They were only the size of flies, yet they carried minute but lethal amounts of neurotoxin.

Those die-hard loyalists hiding in the shadows, attempting to detonate the bombs on the hostages, didn't even have time to press their remotes before feeling a sting in their necks, then rolling their eyes and collapsing to the ground, foaming at the mouth.

"Reporting to Sovereign: Hostage area controlled. All detonation devices disabled. Threat cleared."

"Reporting to Sovereign: Perimeter defenses dismantled. Enemy armed personnel are fleeing in a rout."

Victory reports kept coming through the earpiece.

Meanwhile, in the top-floor office, Brother Long had already wet his pants in fear. He huddled under the desk, clutching a Desert Eagle tightly, his whole body shaking like a leaf.

"Stay away... stay away... I'm a friend of the Americans... I'm Zhao Yaoshi's brother..."

"Boom!"

The thick mahogany executive desk was kicked away by T-101, slamming into the wall and shattering into pieces.

Brother Long was exposed under the red electronic eyes like a rat stripped of its fur.

T-101 didn't kill him immediately. He reached out with his massive, steel-covered hand and hoisted Brother Long up like a chick, suspending him in mid-air.

"The Americans can't save you."

T-101's voice was cold, coming through the mask with a metallic texture.

"Zhao Yaoshi can't save you either."

"The Sovereign has ordered that your performance time isn't over yet. Since you like live streaming so much, we'll let you stream to your heart's content."

After saying that, T-101 dragged the dog-like Brother Long toward the floor-to-ceiling window. There, the previously destroyed live-streaming equipment had been repaired by a technician at some point, its lens flashing red and in an active state.

And this time, the owner of the live stream was no longer Brother Long.

But rather, the one before the screen with tens of millions of online viewers—'Dawn'."}],