072 The Strategy is Off-Target-3

Although the special operations team and the armed civilians were no strangers to the sight of zombies feasting on corpses, and were neither overly shocked nor frightened, the atmosphere within the convoy was nonetheless affected. The communication channel fell into a chilling silence; everyone was consumed by a suppressed, smoldering rage. That bastard Boss Tian was truly a piece of filth!

Upon reaching the intersection, the convoy split into two. Fang Qiang led the way in an armored vehicle followed by three off-roaders to confront the enemy head-on, while Wang Chen took two off-roaders to flank the rear of the factory. By occupying the high ground behind the facility, their heavy machine guns could easily cover the entire compound, including parts of the riverbank. If Boss Tian tried to scale the walls, he would be allowed to leave; after all, he couldn't carry supplies or hostages while climbing. However, if the man was foolish enough to engage Fang Qiang in a standoff, Wang Chen would infiltrate from the rear to launch a surprise attack, putting a gun to his head and seeing what excuses he had left. With anti-personnel radar and drone reconnaissance working in tandem, such simple, brutal, and direct tactics were often the most effective.

Coordinated by Yang Xiaohua and Dai Jian, the timing of the pincer movement was precise. Just as Fang Qiang pulled up to the main gate—a mere thirty meters from the food processing plant's sign—Wang Chen and his team arrived at their designated positions.

"Boss Tian, this is Fang Qiang, captain of the MSS task force. I know you’ve rounded up a group of civilians as hostages. Why don't you come out and talk?"

The silence before the factory, contrasted against the roar of the vehicles, made Fang Qiang’s voice ring out starkly. It was broad daylight by now. Even if these hardened criminals spent their nights in drunken revelry, they should at least have sent someone to the gate to investigate the commotion.

Something seemed off. Had they run away overnight? Was there another mole besides Tian Maocai leaking information? Or was this a trap to lure them deep inside for a pincer attack? Thoughts raced through Wang Chen’s mind. He pressed his headset and called out, "Xiaohua, Dai Jian, are you certain no vehicles have left the factory since ten last night?"

"The drone patrol passes every half hour," Dai Jian replied, his tone technically precise. "The four campfire outposts were extinguished by dawn, and no personnel were detected. In the past week, these spots were manned until midnight, with people retreating to the workshops before dawn. The drone sensors are limited, so I can't see clearly inside, but the human body temperature is over twenty degrees higher than the environment. Even if they covered themselves in foil to confuse infrared, a vehicle engine’s external temperature would be at least fifty or sixty degrees—it would show up like a torch on the infrared display! I am certain no one left that factory. At the very least, no one left by vehicle."

"Because of the southern cold front and heavy cloud cover, satellite communications are affected," Yang Xiaohua added. "The last satellite remote sensing image was ten hours ago. I cross-referenced last night's night-vision imagery with the current feed; the vehicle positions remain unchanged. No vehicles have moved. Captain Wang, unless they left on foot or via the waterway, they couldn't have evacuated in large numbers."

With a second confirmation that the camp remained deathly quiet, with no signs of life, everyone—from Wang Chen down to Da Hei, the dog still nursing its wounds in a cage back at the base—felt utterly bewildered. Fang Qiang couldn't help but shout a couple more times, feeling the comical and awkward sensation of someone posturing to crush an opponent, only to realize the house was empty.

When the armed civilians sent to check the side gate reported that it was left ajar and not locked at all, the eccentric youth Chen Chong couldn't help but voice everyone’s thoughts: "Boss Tian, what the hell are you playing at?"

The special ops team hadn't anticipated a situation where the opponent wouldn't react or even bother locking the side gate. If not for Dai Jian’s insistence that faint heat signatures remained in the workshop, Wang Chen would have assumed Boss Tian had dug an escape tunnel or fled by water. Regardless, a man holding hardened criminals and over two hundred human shields should have had enough leverage to negotiate, not act like such a coward.

"No more waiting. Fang, hold the front. Have Ma Tian send someone to open the main gate and drive an off-roader inside. Keep your guns loaded. If anything living moves in front of the vehicle, whether it’s a criminal or a civilian, blast it first! I’m going to blow the back wall and drive in from there."

There were many ways to breach a wall, and Wang Chen happened to have a GBP-130 bunker buster he’d scavenged from the warehouse. Using it on a brick wall was overkill, but since he had the new toy, he didn't mind putting it to use.

Half a minute later, a gap wide enough for two off-roaders to pass through had been blasted into the rear wall. Despite the massive noise, the compound remained silent. Wang Chen had a civilian drive while he manned the machine gun, finger on the trigger, ready for any contingency. Ma Tian did the same. Their vehicles drove through the compound in a circuit, finding nothing unusual. Just as Dai Jian had said, the embers of the four campfires were still emitting thin wisps of smoke, clearly having burned out naturally. Eventually, both vehicles stopped in front of the factory’s largest and only processing workshop.

For defense and warmth, Boss Tian had sealed the windows with wooden planks and scrap metal, stuffing rags and cotton into the larger gaps to block the wind. From the outside, the workshop looked ragged and splotchy—much like the head of a middle-aged man with a receding hairline waking up in the morning.

The two teams dismounted and met up. Without a word, they left Chen Chong to oversee the civilians while Wang Chen, Ma Tian, Shu Chang, and Pablo prepared to enter the workshop to investigate.

Wang Chen took the lead, the others trailing behind, creeping toward the door. Just as he confirmed the door was unlocked and reached out to push it open, Chen Chong’s voice crackled through the headset: "Captain Wang! Captain Wang! Wait!"

Stopping in his tracks, Wang Chen raised his muzzle slightly and asked in a low voice, "What is it?"

Chen Chong stood by an off-roader clutching a shotgun. Sensing Wang Chen’s irritation, he swallowed hard and added, "Why don't we just smash the windows? Or, I mean, fire a few rounds into them. Let’s just break the windows so it’s bright inside before we go in."

Smash the windows? You’re not the one going in, why are you so worried?

Seeing Wang Chen waiting for an explanation, Chen Chong blurted out, "Isn't that how it always happens in the movies? A group goes into a dark place and gets ambushed and wiped out... ah, I don't mean we’ll definitely be attacked, I just have a loose mouth. I mean, what if we get hurt because of the poor lighting..."

The eccentric youth’s thought process was different from ordinary people, forcing movie tropes into reality. Wang Chen thought about it for a moment. His suggestion wasn't entirely wrong. The workshop, wrapped in scrap metal and corrugated steel, wasn't worth preserving. In fact, he could have just called in ground support to level the whole building, and no one could have faulted the team. If there were traps inside, maybe this would trigger them?

Safety first; survival was paramount.

"Everyone, back off ten meters. Aim for the top of the windows and fire a magazine!"