"Commander, ventilation ducts are fully cleared and ready for a test run," a crew member, clearly a technician, reported loudly into his comms.
The submarine, floating silently on the surface, rumbled to life. A blast of hot air surged from the vents, followed by a stern voice over the comms: "Test run complete. All systems nominal. All personnel, return to the cabin immediately. Submerge in three minutes. Repeat, submerge in three minutes."
The crew around the vents stood, their faces relaxing into smiles. But a stern officer strode over, spotting Lei Zhengyang—still posing as the smoking soldier. Without warning, he aimed a kick at him. Lei's hand twitched toward his gun, but the officer barked, "You again, you lazy bastard? Next time, I'm shipping you to logistics. Get inside, now!"
Lei let the kick land, using its force to tumble through the hatch. Behind him, mocking laughter erupted. Evidently, the soldier he was impersonating wasn't well-liked.
Only the officer paused, puzzled. Since when was my kick that strong?
As the crew filed into the submarine, the hatch sealed shut. The intercom crackled with the commander's voice: "Prepare to dive. Depth, one meter… two meters…"
Before this mission, Lei had undergone virtual 3D training on the submarine's layout, memorizing every detail. The vessel had six decks: ventilation and comms, main control and command, crew quarters, and the functional deck housing the generator and weapons bay—the submarine's heart.
Weapons were useless to Lei. His goal was simple: pilot the submarine to the designated coordinates. To do that, he needed one place—the main control room, or the captain's command center. Seize it, and the entire vessel was his.
"Lazy idiot, what are you skulking around for? Patrol, now! Move!" The officer grabbed Lei, who'd been scanning his surroundings, yanking him by the collar. The man's arrogance was palpable, his white skin marking him as non-Eastern, his demeanor that of a haughty superior with zero respect for subordinates.
Lei's hat fell off. Turning, he flashed a grin. The officer froze, startled.
"Who the hell are you?" he demanded. He knew his men, and Lei wasn't one of them.
His shocked cry alerted nearby soldiers, but Lei was faster. His machine gun's barrel jammed into the officer's crotch, while his pistol barked five shots. Five soldiers, five bullets—all dead.
"Who I am doesn't matter," Lei said coolly. "What matters is you're taking me to the control room. Sound good?"
The officer raised his hands, sweat beading on his face. "You know where you are? This submarine has over two thousand crew. You think one man can take it? If I were you, I'd drop the gun and surrender. Might give you a shot at surviving."
Lei's lips curled into a wicked smirk. His pistol fired again, blowing through the skull of a cowering crew member, blood and brains splattering.
"All you need to do is lead me to the control room," Lei said, his smile chilling. "Anything else isn't your concern, got it, Lieutenant?"
The officer's eyes widened in terror, Lei's white teeth gleaming like a demon's. He knew Lei wouldn't hesitate to kill again—his life hung on a trigger's pull.
"Fine," he stammered. "If you insist, I'll take you."
The gunshots had already alerted the captain, and cameras had caught Lei's presence.
Lei knew the submarine's layout cold. Taking a guide wasn't about navigation—it was about making the enemy hesitate to fire recklessly.
Sure enough, within twenty meters, a squad of armed soldiers charged in, shouting, "Freeze! Don't move!" But Lei did move. His gun roared, five bullets tearing into the officer's arm, blood soaking his sleeve.
"If you don't care about his life, I'm happy to have a shootout," Lei taunted, shifting his gun to the officer's head. "Step back, or the next shot blows his brains out." Sweat poured from the officer's brow.
Two soldiers tried to flank from behind, but Lei, as if with eyes in the back of his head, fired twice. Bang! Bang! Both dropped dead. His death-honed marksmanship was surgical.
A middle-aged man with a colonel's insignia stepped forward. "Sir, I admire your guts, but you're out of luck. As soldiers, we prioritize the safety of our nation and comrades. He's expendable. You have two choices: surrender, or kill the lieutenant and we'll gun you down."
"Commander!" the officer wailed, trembling. He was a soldier, sure, but no one wants to die if they can live.
The commander stepped back, raising a hand. "I'll count to three. Choose, or I order them to fire."
This commander was ruthless, willing to sacrifice his own man without blinking—an iron-willed leader.
Lei knew stealth was no longer an option. The mission's name, Submarine Assault, was now literal. A frontal attack was his only path.
"I respect your soldier's spirit, Commander," Lei said coldly. "Let me honor the lieutenant's sacrifice." His gun fired, shattering the officer's skull. The raw brutality stunned the room.
No one expected Lei to discard his only shield. Is he suicidal?
The commander's face darkened, his threat rendered useless, a subordinate lost. "Open fire! Shred him!" he roared.
Bullets rained like meteors, the ventilation deck's corridor echoing with their shrieking whine, walls riddled with holes.
Lei yanked open a door and dove through, lightning-fast. The soldiers surged forward, finding only corpses. Lei had vanished into an exhaust vent.
"Alert the control room!" the commander bellowed. "Track the intruder! Order the guard team to secure all ventilation duct exits—now!"
The ventilation system was the submarine's lifeline. Without water or food, you could survive days; without air, minutes. The ducts connected every part of the vessel, a highway to anywhere.
When studying the submarine's schematics, Lei had zeroed in on the fastest route to the command center: the ventilation ducts.
The ducts were spacious, and Lei moved like a specter, the clamor of soldiers' boots and the commander's barked orders echoing through his earpiece. The vents had become their primary defense line.
Slipping into a side circulation channel, the air grew heavy and stale. Peering through a vent fan, he spotted a brightly lit room with three technicians—two men, one woman—checking instruments.
With a swift kick, he dropped through the vent, landing in a compact machine room. Flashing indicator lights showed the submarine had dived over 300 meters.
Bang! Bang! Two shots, and the men crumpled. Lei pinned the woman against a console, his gun pressed to her chest.
"You're gorgeous, miss," he said, voice low. "But don't resist, or I'll pop those balloons of yours."
Her face drained of color, tears streaming. "No, please don't kill me! I've only been on this sub a few days—I don't know anything, I swear!"