77: Chapter 77 Operation Claw Chopping: The Burning Night of the Golden Triangle

"Operation Claw-Chopping" officially begins.

Target One: Thai-Myanmar border, "Dalong Local Products Store".

It was an inconspicuous shop, with its entrance piled high with crates of durians and dried goods. In reality, however, this was the largest human trafficking transit point for "Blood Moon" on the border.

Two in the morning, and everything was deathly silent.

In the shop's backyard, a few dim light bulbs swayed. Several shirtless, heavily tattooed toughs were grumbling as they loaded long wooden crates onto a refrigerated truck.

"Hurry up! This batch of 'goods' is high quality; the big shots upstairs are in a rush to swap their hearts and livers!" a guy who looked like the foreman urged in a low voice, holding a beer bottle in his hand.

"Don't worry, Boss, the anesthesia is strong enough; they won't be waking up."

Just then, a breeze blew by, and the large tree in the yard rustled.

"Who?!" The foreman turned around vigilantly, his hand reaching for his waist.

"Puff!"

An extremely faint, muffled sound, like a ripe watermelon splitting open.

A red dot instantly appeared between the foreman's eyebrows. He widened his eyes, and before he could even let out a scream, his body fell straight backward, crashing onto a wooden crate.

Immediately after, countless black ghosts seemed to pour out from the darkness.

There was no wasted chatter, no unnecessary movements. The peripheral members of "Blood Moon" who were moving the crates all fell within a few seconds, like wheat being harvested.

The special operations team leader, S-09, stepped out from the shadows, holding a submachine gun fitted with a silencer. He coldly stepped over the corpses and waved his hand, signaling: "Check the crates!"

"Click!"

A Death Soldier pried open the wooden crate with a crowbar. The moment the lid was lifted, even these emotionless killing machines paused for a split second.

The crate wasn't filled with local products, but with people.

A girl in her early teens was curled up in the cramped space, her hands and feet bound, a cloth gag in her mouth, her face as pale as paper. A label was stuck to the inside wall of the crate: "Blood type B, kidney matching successful, urgent shipment."

"Target confirmed, this is undoubtedly a 'spare parts' transit point." S-09 pressed his headset, his voice as cold as if he were reporting the weather. "Just as the Master expected, these things are worse than animals."

"Clear the scene, collect evidence, rescue the personnel. Then... burn this place down."

A few minutes later, flames shooting into the sky illuminated the night sky over the border. The sinful shop turned to ashes in the raging fire, while the rescued children and young people had already been quickly transferred to the waiting vehicles.

Target Two: Deep in the Golden Triangle of Laos, an underground logging camp.

This was one of "Blood Moon's" primary training camps, and also a place for screening "expendables."

"Rat-tat-tat—"

Several black-painted "Black Hawk" helicopters hovered at treetop level. The Death Soldiers slid down the ropes, striking the camp like black lightning.

"Who's there?! Open fire!"

The instructors in the camp reacted quickly, raising their guns to try and fight back. But they were facing the fully armed, night-vision-equipped, infrared thermal imaging-supported elite special forces of the Death God Legion.

This was a one-sided slaughter.

Flashbangs and stun grenades exploded in the barracks, and screams rose one after another. Those devilish instructors who usually took pleasure in torturing children were as fragile as chickens in front of real special forces.

When the battle ended, only corpses remained all over the camp. Dozens of terrified, ragged children were brought out of the cellar. They looked at these men in black, trembling with fear.

Until one Death Soldier crouched down and said in stiff but gentle Mandarin: "Don't be afraid, we are Chinese, we've come to take you home."

At that moment, the sound of weeping shook the heavens.

Target Three: Yangon, a certain international trading company.

This was "Blood Moon's" money laundering center and intelligence hub.

A group of fully armed "unidentified personnel" blew open the main gate and stormed into this office building located in a bustling area. They moved quickly and used professional techniques; it was clear at a glance that they were a strictly trained military force.

All the computer hard drives were removed, the vault was violently broken open, and the cash and gold inside were looted clean.

The person in charge of the company, a well-dressed white man, was found hanged from the ceiling fan in his office, with a sign hanging from his chest that had four characters written in blood: "Blood debt paid in blood".

...

Overnight, the network that "Blood Moon" had operated in Southeast Asia for twenty years was uprooted and shattered. Seven strongholds were destroyed, over a hundred key members were killed, and hundreds of millions of US dollars in assets were looted.

The news spread like wildfire through the underground world, and it also reached Wan Hong in South Wa.

"Crash!"

The expensive purple clay teapot in Bao Youxiang's hand, said to be worth hundreds of thousands, became a victim once again, smashed to pieces.

"What did you say?! The stronghold in Thailand was wiped out? The training camp in Laos is gone too? Even Yangon has been hit?!" Bao Youxiang jumped up from his chair, the fat on his face trembling—he was terrified.

"Who did it?! Huh?! Who has the guts to do this?!"

Xiao Mingliang stood to the side, his face even uglier than Bao Youxiang's, clutching a few blurry photos in his hand: "Commander-in-Chief... although there is no concrete evidence, that tactical style, that level of ruthlessness... apart from that Zhang Cheng up north, I can't think of anyone else."

"And..." Xiao Mingliang swallowed hard, his voice trembling, "surviving informants said they saw the silhouette of a woman at the scene, with extremely high combat skills and a fierce killing style, very much like... very much like the 'Phantom' who went missing."

"Phantom?!" Bao Youxiang felt his head buzzing, a chill shooting from the soles of his feet straight to his scalp. "Are you saying that woman isn't dead? And she defected to Zhang Cheng? Now she's leading Zhang Cheng's men to turn around and bite her old employer?!"

Wei Xuegang hadn't spoken until now, and only then did he open his mouth with a gloomy face: "Commander-in-Chief, this is a big problem. Since Zhang Cheng dares to make a move against 'Blood Moon', it means he doesn't take this international assassin organization seriously at all. And the fact that he could turn 'Phantom'... this method... is too terrifying. We've provoked a madman."

Bao Youxiang slumped back into his chair, the rage from just a moment ago instantly turning into fear.

He had originally thought Zhang Cheng was just a lucky warlord who only rose to power with the support of the Dragon Kingdom. But now it seems this guy is a complete and utter bane! Even an organization like "Blood Moon" that gives governments around the world a headache—he just goes after them, and he does it so ruthlessly!

"Then... what do we do?" Bao Youxiang's voice trembled a little. "He even dares to touch 'Blood Moon', will he... one day on a whim, just send people to..."

He subconsciously touched his neck, feeling a chill, as if an invisible blade were hanging there.

"Strengthen security! Call in all the guards! Get all those body doubles arranged for me!" Bao Youxiang roared hysterically, his voice filled with unconcealable terror. "Tell Naypyidaw, tell the Americans, tell them to hurry up and send guns and artillery! This kid Zhang Cheng is crazy! He's truly crazy!"