105: Chapter 105 A Desperate Howl: When the Demon Meets the King of Hell

On the top floor of the Blue Ocean International Building, the wind was strong, carrying the characteristic humidity and fishy smell of the Mekong River. It rushed through the broken floor-to-ceiling windows, making Brother Long's floral shirt flap loudly.

However, "Brother Long," who just moments ago was arrogant and clamoring to turn Tachileik into a dead city, was now kneeling on the ground like a pile of limp mud. His nose was broken, his face was covered in blood, and his hands were tied behind his back with zip ties by T-101. Under his knees were glass shards scattered everywhere, piercing into his flesh and making him gasp in pain.

But he didn't dare move.

Because surrounding him stood a full circle of black-armored warriors who looked like demonic gods. Those cold gun barrels and the terrifying red electronic eyes on their masks all told him one fact: he was now meat on a chopping block.

"Accessing the global network... Signal enhancement complete."

A technician nearby was operating a terminal.

The livestream, which had gone black due to the power outage, suddenly flickered back to life.

At that moment, tens of millions of netizens around the world who were following the situation had crystal-clear images pop up on their phone screens.

In the center of the screen was Brother Long, who had been overbearing just a moment ago but now looked utterly miserable. Behind him were rows of black-armored Death Soldiers resembling futuristic warriors, and outside the window, the night sky was turned red by the fires of war.

[Holy crap! What is this? A movie?] [Is that an exoskeleton?! It's really Exoskeleton Armor! Am I seeing this right? Our country is still in the experimental stage, yet this bunch in Northern Myanmar has already mass-produced them?!] [The person above missed the point! Look at that Brother Long! Hahaha, wasn't he acting tough just now? Didn't he want to make 'dumplings' out of them? Why is he kneeling like a dog now?] [This is karma! Zhang Cheng is awesome! Dawn Base is awesome!] [Kill him! Scum like this is a waste of air!]

The bullet comments scrolled frantically, almost covering the entire screen.

"Speak."

T-101 stood outside the camera's view, poking the back of Brother Long's head with a gun barrel, his voice low.

Brother Long trembled all over and lifted his face, which was swollen like a pig's head. Facing the camera, his eyes were vacant; there wasn't a trace of his former "big boss" persona left.

"I... I am Zhao Zilong..." he rasped, his voice carrying a sob. "I was wrong... I was really wrong... I shouldn't have provoked Chairman Zhang... I shouldn't have kidnapped my fellow countrymen..."

"Louder! Haven't you eaten?"

"Thud!"

T-101 kicked him in the back, stomping his face directly into the glass shards.

"Aaaaah!!" Brother Long let out a blood-curdling howl as blood flowed down from his forehead, blurring his vision.

"I'll talk! I'll talk! I'm a beast! I'm scum!" Brother Long broke down, crying while desperately kowtowing. "Please... don't kill me... I have money... I have five hundred million US dollars... it's all in a Swiss Bank... I'll give it all to you... just spare my miserable life..."

At that moment, a cold voice came through the on-site loudspeakers from Pangkham, thousands of miles away.

It was Zhang Cheng's voice.

"Zhao Zilong, do you think your life is worth five hundred million dollars?"

The voice wasn't loud, yet it carried an unquestionable authority. Through the livestream signal, it reached the ears of every viewer in the world.

Hearing this voice, Brother Long jerked his head up as if he had been electrocuted, crying out to the air: "Chairman Zhang! Grandpa Zhang! I really know I was wrong! I was forced into this! It was the Americans! It was that CIA guy named William! And Zhao Yaoshi! They forced me to do it! They said if I caused a stir, they could put pressure on you... I'm just a lackey!"

To save his life, Brother Long sold out all his notions of underworld honor and his allies and brothers, spilling everything like beans from a bamboo tube.

"William gave me twenty million dollars and those weapons... He also said that after it was done, he'd get me a green card and send me to Hawaii to retire... Sob... I was blinded by greed... I deserve to die..."

This revelation dropped like a nuclear bomb on the field of international public opinion!

The Western media outlets that had been condemning Zhang Cheng's "violent law enforcement" on Twitter were instantly silenced. Hard evidence of the CIA funding terrorists and plotting the kidnapping of civilians was thus broadcast to the whole world through the mouth of a telecom fraud boss!

In the White House, the President watched the livestream and was so angry that he slammed the can of Diet Coke in his hand into the TV screen.

"Idiot! William is such an idiot! Who told him to find such a useless piece of trash! I want him fired! Immediately! Now!"

At the scene, Zhang Cheng's voice remained calm, but it carried the weight of a judgment.

"Very well. Since you've confessed, we can settle the accounts clearly."

"For twenty million dollars and a green card, you dared to use the lives of three thousand of your fellow countrymen as chips. When you tortured and killed that young man who wanted to call the police, did you think about giving him a way out? When you sold those girls to the red-light districts, did you think about giving them a way out?"

"Zhao Zilong, I do not accept your apology. Your money will be used to compensate the victims; your life will be used as an offering to the souls of the deceased."

"Now, face the camera and kowtow three times to everyone you've harmed in your life. This is your last chance."

Brother Long was in utter despair. He knew that he was doomed today.

After extreme fear, people often become hysterical.

"Zhang Cheng! You can't kill me!" Brother Long suddenly jumped up and roared with a distorted face, "I am a US citizen! I have a passport! Killing me would be an international incident! The USA won't let you get away with this!"

"Bang!"

A dull gunshot interrupted his barking.

It wasn't an ordinary pistol, but a large-caliber sniper rifle.

A bullet fired from a tall building a kilometer away accurately pierced the floor-to-ceiling window and directly blew apart half of Brother Long's head.

Red and white matter splattered onto the camera lens, and the image instantly became incredibly bloody.

Brother Long's headless corpse swayed and fell to the ground with a thud, his hand still tightly clutching that so-called "passport."

There was dead silence in the livestream room, followed by an explosion of even more frantic bullet comments.

[Holy crap! He's really dead?!] [So ruthless! So satisfying!] [This is a real man! This is 'those who offend my mighty nation shall be punished, no matter how far away they are'!] [Wait, who fired that shot just now?]

Zhang Cheng's voice rang out again, tinged with a hint of mockery:

"My apologies, everyone. That shot wasn't fired by my people. It seems your American masters and allies wanted you silenced even more than I did."

"T-101, clean up the scene. Bring out all the hostages."

"This Blue Ocean International is too filthy. Blow it up."