219: Chapter 219 Thirty-Second Swarm

Gaza, ruins in the east of the city, eight meters underground.

This was a world apart from the bright and tidy Ministry of Defense building in Jerusalem. The air was damp and foul, a mix of dust, mold, and a faint, lingering smell of burning. Shadows flickered under the dim emergency lights.

Sinwar sat cross-legged on an ammo box, a hand-drawn map of the city area spread out before him, covered in dense symbols. The bandage on his left ribs had been changed, and the dust on his face wiped away, revealing a weather-beaten face that was exceptionally calm at this moment. Around him, dozens of Junior Death Soldiers and a dozen or so local youths—pre-screened, their eyes burning with the flames of hatred—sat or stood, listening quietly.

They had just finished watching a broadcast clip of Lavitz's speech via a heavily encrypted tablet with an intermittent signal. The picture was blurry and the sound noisy, but everyone felt the overwhelming arrogance emanating from it.

"A week? Total control?" a local youth gritted his teeth, his knuckles cracking. "These butchers treat this place like their own backyard!"

"They think that by flattening the houses and killing all the men, they can make this place submit," another middle-aged man said, a fresh burn scar on his face, his voice hoarse. "They forgot that beneath the ruins, there are still roots."

Sinwar didn't speak. He just quietly looked at the map, his fingers slowly moving across several key nodes—marked routes of the Squid Nation Defense Forces' recent patrols, temporary outposts, and streets frequently used by supply convoys, identified through system scans combined with local intelligence.

After a long while, he looked up, his gaze sweeping over everyone present.

"Anger is the spark," his voice wasn't loud, but it was exceptionally clear in the silent underground space. "But a spark alone cannot burn down steel. We need wind, we need oil, and we need to set the fire where it needs to burn."

He tapped a crossroads area on the map, heavily circled in red. "A reinforced battalion of the 'Givati' Brigade rotated here yesterday. They are equipped with the latest 'namell' heavy armored vehicles, which reportedly have new reactive armor on the sides, making them difficult for ordinary RPGs to penetrate. They are very confident, with fixed patrol routes and regular timing, as if they're strolling in their own garden."

Sinwar's finger drew a line on the map, then another crossing it. "This is the main road, wide enough for two 'namell' vehicles to pass side-by-side. On both sides are the ruins of six-to-eight-story buildings. Although the upper floors have collapsed, the first floors and underground structures are mostly intact. Moreover, the blasted-through walls and broken floor slabs have formed a natural maze and firing ports."

He paused and looked at the crowd. "Lavitz says we are rats, only capable of hiding. Then we will be rats, but rats that can bite through a cat's throat."

He pulled up a simple 3D model—generated by the system based on field scan data. It clearly showed an intricate, spiderweb-like network of tunnels beneath the crossroads. These tunnels weren't newly dug; most utilized the city's original sewers, cable trenches, underground garage passages, and the interconnected spaces at the base of buildings caused by the bombing. They had been secretly reinforced and expanded by Sinwar's team over the past ten days.

"Tunnel warfare is nothing new to them," Sinwar said. "But that was the old version. We're playing version 2.0."

He zoomed in on one of the key nodes. "Here, on the second floor of the ruins on the west side of the main road, was originally the outer wall of a cafe. After the wall collapsed, it exposed the internal steel structure, creating an excellent hidden sniping and observation point. We'll place two PKM machine guns here for crossfire coverage of the intersection. But this isn't the main attack."

His finger moved to the ground floors of the ruins on the north and south sides of the intersection. "Here, and here, we've pre-planted 'smart mines'."

A local youth asked curiously, "Smart mines? We only have ordinary IEDs..."

Sinwar didn't answer directly, only glancing at a Junior Death Soldier beside him. The soldier silently took out a palm-sized black metal box with a few simple buttons and a miniature antenna on its surface.

"Pressure sensing, vibration sensing, or," Sinwar took the box, "remote detonation. We've planted shaped-charge armor-piercing mines with tandem warheads, specifically targeting the 'namell's' chassis and side skirts. The remote is in my hand, or," he pointed at the ceiling, "controlled by them."

He signaled another soldier to take something out—it was a palm-sized, four-rotor black drone with an extremely simple design. Its rotors could be folded to fit into a tactical vest pocket. But unlike ordinary drones, it had a miniature mounting point underneath.

"Suicide drone Swarm," Sinwar said calmly. "Each carries a small warhead modified from a 40mm thermobaric grenade. When the armored convoy enters the ambush zone, machine gun fire will draw their attention, and smart mines will disable the lead and rear vehicles to create chaos. Then—"

He made a "swarming out" gesture.

"Thirty such drones will fly out simultaneously from the windows and holes in the ruins on both sides, swarming the vehicles in the middle of the convoy like wasps. Thermobaric rounds are very effective against infantry inside enclosed vehicles." His tone didn't fluctuate, as if he were stating tomorrow's weather. "The attack window is thirty seconds. After thirty seconds, regardless of the outcome, everyone will evacuate through pre-set tunnel exit points into the underground network and disperse. The drones will be the last to take off, responsible for crashing into remaining high-value targets after dropping their bombs, or self-destructing."

Silence filled the underground space. The local youths were dumbfounded; this precise, cold, and multi-layered ambush plan completely exceeded their previous simple "ambush-shoot-run" model. Meanwhile, the Junior Death Soldiers looked on indifferently, as if this were just a routine training exercise.

"We need precise intelligence to confirm the convoy's size and arrival time," Sinwar said finally. "Also, Abu."

A thin local youth looked up in response.

"You're in charge of using this," Sinwar handed him a GoPro action camera. It had been cleverly modified with a longer-lasting battery and a long-range wireless transmission module. "Film everything from the vantage point of that water tower ruin on the east side of the ambush site. Keep the shot steady; capture our attack, and more importantly, capture their humiliation. Understand?"

Abu nodded vigorously, clutching the camera tightly to his chest as if it were a weapon more important than a gun.

Sinwar looked around. "Any other questions?"

A Junior Death Soldier raised his hand. "Commander, what if the enemy discovers the tunnel entrances early or calls for air support?"