*Crack—*
Chen Jinzhao crushed the walkie-talkie, startling Han Chengping once more.
Realizing Chen Jinzhao had cut off communication, Han Chengping said to Captain Ji Junliang beside him, "Chen Jinzhao has some skill. No more accidents can happen from now on. You must chop off Chen Jinzhao's head."
Ji Junliang felt the pressure on his shoulders but still responded, "Please rest assured, sir. We guarantee the mission will be completed."
"At worst..."
"We'll blow up the entire building and let Chen Jinzhao perish in the flames."
Han Chengping was startled by Ji Junliang's suggestion. After a moment of hesitation, he said, "We'll discuss it later. There's no need to escalate things this much now. I believe you can kill Chen Jinzhao."
Ji Junliang nodded and proceeded with further deployment.
This time, he dispatched another ten-person squad into the villa. The caliber of these ten individuals was superior to the previous group, with their individual combat capabilities comparable to elite special forces operatives in the army.
Gunfire erupted again, causing Han Chengping's palms to sweat.
Before long, the gunshots gradually subsided. Before Ji Junliang could say anything, he heard piercing roars echo through the sky. This meant that the second ten-person squad had also been completely annihilated.
The ferocity of the screams sent shivers down their spines.
Inside the villa.
Chen Jinzhao had personally dispatched formidable enemies, killing twenty people with his exquisite marksmanship and agile movements! It also helped that Han Chengping had cut off the power supply; otherwise, he wouldn't have succeeded so easily.
At this moment, his face was splattered with blood, and bloodstains hung from his hair.
From afar, he truly looked like an Asura.
Su Hao and Han Shangwen had been so frightened that they fainted during the first exchange of fire. They were only awakened after the second round of gunfire. When they saw Chen Jinzhao, covered in blood, resting in front of them, they were so shocked they couldn't speak. They finally realized what a terrifying existence they had provoked. If time could be turned back, they would never have done this.
"You, you're not injured?" Su Hao managed to ask with difficulty.
Chen Jinzhao glanced sideways at Su Hao, whose heart instantly stopped beating as if he were being stared at by a demon!
"Do you wish for me to be injured so badly?" Chen Jinzhao retorted.
Su Hao quickly shook his head, "No, that's not what I meant. I was just concerned about you. Please don't misunderstand."
Chen Jinzhao grinned, revealing his pearly white teeth, which made him look even more unsettling.
He said nonchalantly, "I won't die anytime soon. But it's not impossible that Han Chengping, in a fit of rage, might resort to weapons of mass destruction. Then, the three of us will die together."
Han Shangwen's face turned ashen, and he didn't dare to respond.
"Hey."
"Got any cigarettes?" Chen Jinzhao looked at Han Shangwen.
Han Shangwen trembled before stammering, "Yes, under the coffee table. There's a lighter too."
Chen Jinzhao stood up and retrieved a pack of cigarettes. "Tsk, Yellow Crane Tower special supply? I haven't tried it before."
*Click.*
The lighter ignited, lighting the cigarette in Chen Jinzhao's mouth.
Su Hao asked tremblingly, "Can I have one?"
Chen Jinzhao didn't reply. Han Shangwen also said, "I'm about to die too. It's not too much to ask for a cigarette, is it? Perhaps, the three of us will meet on the road to the underworld."
Chen Jinzhao tossed the cigarette pack in front of Su Hao, telling him to light one for Han Shangwen as well.
The three smoked in silence, the living room becoming eerily quiet. Even more unnerving was the unsettling silence outside.
Everyone understood that this was the calm before the storm.
After finishing their cigarettes, all three felt their emotions soothed, no longer as tense as before.
Chen Jinzhao stood up, brushed off the bloodstains on his body, and said to the two, "You were blessed but didn't know it, and you committed such a heinous act. I hope you'll be good people in your next lives."
The two men's mouths tasted bitter, and they lowered their heads in silence.
Su Hao suddenly looked up at Chen Jinzhao, "Chen Jinzhao, I have a question I want to ask you. I hope you can answer truthfully."
"Go ahead."
Chen Jinzhao's expression was calm.
"Over the past year, you've faced countless life-or-death crises. Haven't you ever felt even a shred of fear? If so, why do you still engage in foolish acts of a mantis trying to stop a chariot? You should know better than us that the closer one gets to power, the more greedy it makes people. The existence of aristocratic families is inevitable; no matter how many you kill, you cannot change it."
"Moreover, even if you wipe out this batch of aristocratic families, new ones will emerge."
"The aristocratic families of the next era might come from people close to you."
"Everything you've done is in vain."
Su Hao didn't believe Chen Jinzhao hadn't considered these issues. Chen Jinzhao heard this and said, "What you've said is not impossible; in fact, it's highly probable. But so what?"
"Every era needs someone to step forward. Why can't that person be me?"
Han Shangwen said, "But, you will die."
Seizing the lull in the enemy's attack, Chen Jinzhao was also interested in chatting with the two. He smiled and said, "No matter how brilliant you are, in a hundred years, you'll be nothing but dust, a mere speck of history. Since you'll die anyway, why not do something meaningful within your limited lifespan?"
The two were speechless.
Even as Chen Jinzhao's opponents, a sliver of admiration arose in their hearts.
Su Hao said with a wry smile, "I understand. So, this is the meaning of ideals. I truly concede defeat to you."
Regardless of whether they were having a moment of clarity before death or had truly seen through the vanities of the world, the two of them finally shed some of their spoiled rich-kid demeanor.
"You understand too late," Chen Jinzhao said.
Silence fell upon the living room once more.
After an unknown amount of time, a dark object flew in from the balcony and landed on the ground with a crisp sound. Without a word, Chen Jinzhao threw the corpse beside him over to cover the dark object. Two seconds later, flames erupted, accompanied by a deafening explosion that sent the corpse flying.
Limbs and debris lay scattered, a gruesome sight.
Han Shangwen and Su Hao's ears rang, and they were numb by the sight.
Only now did they finally realize that the Han family had truly abandoned them. Han Shangwen reacted and said, "Chen Jinzhao, I have more secrets about the Han family to tell you. If you survive, you'll be able to uproot the Han family completely!"
By now, Han Shangwen no longer hoped to survive.
Perhaps touched by Chen Jinzhao's words, he decided to do something meaningful before his death, to become a force pushing the wheels of history forward.
"Speak, I'm listening," Chen Jinzhao said.
Han Shangwen poured out all the secrets he knew in one breath, astonishing Su Hao beside him.
It had to be said.
The information Han Shangwen possessed was indeed very useful, including the Han family's involvement in insider trading and certain major criminal cases. It even included the fact that Han Sanli had monitored Xu Hanchen and other important figures through various means.
Chen Jinzhao's heart grew heavy upon hearing this. The Han family was truly rotten to the core.
"As a reward, I can give you a quick end," he said to Han Shangwen. Han Shangwen didn't say anything else this time; he knew he wouldn't survive anyway, so a swift end was preferable.
*Bang!*
A gunshot rang out, and Han Shangwen fell into a pool of blood.
Su Hao's heart skipped a beat. It wasn't until Chen Jinzhao turned to look at him that he understood Chen Jinzhao's intention.
"I'll talk, I'll tell you everything," Su Hao said.
Not long after.
Another gunshot echoed, and Su Hao also breathed his last.
Outside Building Five.
Han Chengping heard the two gunshots and guessed most of what had happened. He closed his eyes and said painfully to Ji Junliang, "I order you to capture Chen Jinzhao immediately, or we will all die!"
"Understood!"
Ji Junliang's expression was grim. Chen Jinzhao had pushed the Han family to this point. It seemed unavoidable to use weapons of mass destruction!
This was all Chen Jinzhao's doing!
At the same time.
The sound of helicopters could be heard from the sky. Han Chengping and Ji Junliang looked up, and they understood that people from the Su family had arrived.
A small-scale war had officially entered its most intense phase.