Lìzhuī charged forward, his immense frame nearly blocking the entire passage. With a single, forceful strike, he sent another guard into a crumpled heap, reduced to nothing more than a cowardly shadow.
As he pursued the fleeing guards into the West Cave, the second squad had already begun to assemble, while the first squad had a unit stationed at the Heaven's Hollow.
With a mighty roar, Lìzhuī dove into the cluster of soldiers, instantly crushing one under his brutal charge. Then, he shifted tactics—his steel arms spread wide as his body twisted in a 360-degree spiral. With each turn, his sweeping attacks sent waves of destruction, cutting through the crowd, leaving a path of mangled bodies and shattered limbs.
This was no mere battle; it was a true massacre—no suspense, no hesitation. Every strike was a death sentence, an unstoppable force of nature.
At this moment, Lìzhuī, armored and hulking, weighed over 330 kilograms. In the face of such overwhelming strength, the guards' numbers, experience, technique, and courage were all but meaningless.
The only weapon the guards had left was their firepower, but even that proved utterly impotent against the indomitable armor.
Lìzhuī's armor was forged from bulletproof steel plates, the thickest of which measured 15mm, and the thinnest, 5mm. A 6mm small-caliber bullet striking his armor would only leave a mere mark, yet the ricocheted bullets remained capable of taking down his own men.
A 40mm grenade could cause harm, but once he plunged into his own ranks, the guards dared not use it.
The battle in the central cave was over in less than a minute. For those fortunate enough to escape death, thirty seconds were enough to flee. For the others, their fate was sealed—only decay awaited them.
The guards in the rear rushed towards the East Cave, but at that moment, another squad in the passage was jammed by the fleeing soldiers, effectively blocking the passage.
A few of the soldiers, sensing disaster, fled hastily into the South Cave. This cave was narrow, sloping inward, and naturally collected water in its depths.
While the soldiers in the middle cave were scattered, those stationed at Heaven's Hollow, perched high above, began a relentless attack on Lìzhuī, launching bullets, grenades, and hand grenades—everything they had.
"Seeking death!" Lìzhuī roared, charging towards the ladder, his body a whirlwind of destruction as he tore into Heaven's Hollow.
It was then that the guards realized what it truly meant to play with fire. They all screamed in unison and frantically rushed toward the tunnel entrance, shooting while pushing each other forward. This tunnel, only dug open earlier that morning, led to another cave system.
In their panic, two guards pushed against each other, sealing the exit. Neither would yield, and a vicious brawl broke out between them. Meanwhile, the soldiers behind shouted and tried to drag them apart.
On the other side of the tunnel, Wén Dàpéng ignited a bundle of earth bombs and hurled them down from above. As the two soldiers attempted to retreat, they were blocked by their comrades and gruesomely exploded into a pile of mangled flesh.
At the same moment, Lìzhuī, like a hurricane, tore through the remaining soldiers. With one sweeping motion, he wrapped his massive arms around three soldiers and, with a thunderous shout, crushed them in a grisly, bloody explosion.
Why this grisly description? Because all three soldiers, in their final moments, succumbed to the horrors of their own bodily functions.
Not long after, Fēng Sǔn'ér's dizziness began to subside. Struggling, she staggered toward the exit of the cave.
Her innate night vision allowed her to quickly spot her target. She dashed to the corpse of the grenade launcher operator, swiftly stripped off his tactical vest, and retrieved the rifle with its attached grenade launcher.
Fēng Sǔn'ér rushed to the East Cave's passage, firing relentlessly without hesitation, unloading an entire magazine and then launching grenades.
At that moment, Jiǎ Xiǎokāng, Léi Dàlì, and Hǔ Guǎngliáng emerged from the West Cave.
"You three, hold this position!" Before the words left her mouth, Fēng Sǔn'ér had already turned and dashed toward the South Cave. Léi Dàlì, determined not to stay behind, followed closely, ignoring her order to remain in the central cave.
At Heaven's Hollow, the remaining guards, devoid of any will to fight, discarded their weapons and surrendered.
Lìzhuī refused to accept their surrender. "Come at me all together, or one by one. If you can defeat me, you may live. Otherwise, you shall all remain here, forever condemned!"
"Great One, we surrender! We are prisoners of war, you cannot kill us!" the squad leader cried, his face a mask of despair.
"Prisoners of war?" Lìzhuī laughed cruelly. "Only soldiers of the same army may be prisoners of war! We've kept you beasts alive while you slaughtered our brothers and defiled our sisters. You want to be prisoners? Bah!"
"Great One, please, spare us! We are mere soldiers; it's the officers who are to blame!" another soldier pleaded, immediately dropping to his knees.
The rest of the soldiers followed suit, crying and begging for mercy.
"Silence! Whoever mutters another word, I will tear them into pieces slowly, one by one! Now, you, pick up your weapon!" he pointed to the squad leader.
The squad leader, realizing his doom was inevitable, suddenly cried out and rolled toward the lower cave hall, plummeting from a nearly ten-meter-high ledge.
The remaining soldiers, clutching to the faintest hope, followed suit, leaping from the Heaven's Hollow. Naturally, there was no suspense—those who did not die from the fall were swiftly finished off by Jiǎ Xiǎokāng and his companions.
Among the fallen soldiers, four were still alive, though not from Lìzhuī's mercy—no, they were injured by friendly fire.
"Xiǎokāng, is that a surveillance device on that dead guard's chest?" Hǔ Guǎngliáng pointed to a corpse and asked.
"Yes." Jiǎ Xiǎokāng crouched down to retrieve the surveillance device. "It's still transmitting a signal. I'll turn it off."
"Don't turn it off!" Hǔ Guǎngliáng drew his dagger, crouched beside the injured soldier, and said, "Focus the camera on me!"
Jiǎ Xiǎokāng, vaguely understanding his intent, complied without protest.
Hǔ Guǎngliáng yanked off the soldier's helmet and grabbed his hair, lifting his head. Then, with his dagger, he slowly circled the soldier's neck, cutting deeply before jerking it with a violent pull, holding the severed head in his hand.
Jiǎ Xiǎokāng, overwhelmed by disgust, vomited uncontrollably. He tossed the surveillance device aside, his rage erupting as he pointed at Hǔ Guǎngliáng, shouting, "You pervert! Madman! Maniac!"
Hǔ Guǎngliáng, looking rather innocent, replied, "Brother, I'm only killing the enemies! The enemies killed our brothers!"
"I know you're killing the enemies! But please, don't be so twisted! Kill, but why the beheading?" Jiǎ Xiǎokāng screamed, his voice cracking. Now, he truly understood what terror and revulsion felt like!
"Alright, alright, I'm sorry, brother!" Hǔ Guǎngliáng quickly apologized, feeling genuinely remorseful. He had intended to intimidate the enemy commander, but instead, he had frightened his own men.
As a result, the remaining three soldiers met their end with their throats sl*t, but Hǔ Guǎngliáng refrained from decapitating them further.
The last thing Ōngǎki Bāngxióng saw was the severed heads of his subordinates flying from Hǔ Guǎngliáng's hands. Moments later, Jiǎ Xiǎokāng disconnected the device, and the live footage from the cave was lost to him forever.
At this very moment, no one could compare to Ōngǎki Bāngxióng's internal torment.
Had it not been for Lìzhuī, the battle would have ended in under 60 minutes. In a few days, he would have been awarded a medal, and his name would be forever etched into the glorious history of the armed guards.
But now, his dream had been shattered within the span of 60 seconds!
Had the modern surveillance equipment not been in place, or had the lines not been connected in time, he would have remained oblivious to the unfolding carnage. He would have ordered a full-scale attack, unaware of the massacre that was transpiring.
But he saw it. Under the crushing might of the armored giant, his soldiers were smashed to pulp, their bodies crumpling like overripe melons! This overwhelming force, as it shattered the lives of his enemies, also crushed the spirits of all who bore witness!
Had he ordered the assault to continue, he would not have been the one to die, but the humiliation he would have suffered would have been unbearable, far worse than death for someone of his honorable lineage!
"Order the guards to retreat from battle, seal the cave entrance tightly, and shoot any living being on sight!" he commanded, his face expressionless, though his voice carried a faint sense of helplessness.
Meanwhile, in the South Cave, among the few members of the Green Alliance, there were over fifty mountain dwellers, who had only come to sell their labor. Hearing the intense gunfire outside, they quickly retreated to the flooded recesses of the cave.
Two squads from the second platoon, under their leader's command, tossed tear gas and flashbangs before advancing, but found no trace of the enemy.
It turned out the mountain dwellers, each holding a bamboo pipe, had submerged themselves underwater. Should the guards wade through the water to search, they would be easy prey, each one pulled under and silenced with a swift snap of the neck. It was a scene that could have been ripped straight from a horror film.
The problem was, these guards had been raised watching such films!
"Two flashbangs, target the water pool!" commanded the squad leader. With a swift motion, two flashbangs were thrown into the water, and explosions followed.
Water, being an excellent conductor of sound waves, caused the majority of the mountain dwellers to sink into unconsciousness, their bodies drifting downward in a haze of stunned disorientation.
The guards, however, had no intention of retrieving the bodies. After all, it was considered a victory for them when the joint patrols came to collect the corpses.
At that moment, six soldiers from the third squad, fleeing in a panic, rushed into the second platoon's ranks, only to cower behind them like frightened children.
"You idiots! What's happening? Report at once!" the platoon leader barked.
Although he heard the wails of agony from the central cave, he assumed they were merely the cries of the Green Alliance soldiers.
Before the fleeing soldiers could respond, a voice crackled over the radio: "It's the robots! It's the robots!" A moment later, the sounds of three gut-wrenching screams echoed, followed by the desperate cries for help.
The platoon leader shuddered involuntarily. D*mn it! The third squad had been wiped out! And his own platoon, stationed at Heaven's Hollow, was under attack as well!
"Prepare for combat! Machine gunners, seal the cave entrance!" the platoon leader ordered decisively.
The two squads immediately took up combat positions. The sounds of gunfire from outside quickly ceased, leaving only the distant, chilling screams. Then, silence.
Suddenly, a muffled "boom" echoed from the cave entrance. A grenade exploded at the passage's opening, sending two soldiers lying in wait on either side flying through the air.
"Withdraw the entire team!" the platoon leader commanded without hesitation. There was no saving face now; survival was the priority.
The only path available to them was the Southeast Water Cave. Yet, to them, it was nothing more than a dead end.
When the guards discovered that the passage led to a deep, perilous pit, panic swept through their ranks.
After charging into the Southwest Cave, Fēng Sǔn'ér and the others found that some of their own comrades had already survived. It turned out that four of the mountain dwellers, who had fallen into the water, had managed to revive after sinking to the bottom.
Once they surfaced and caught their breath, they began to rescue the others. Among the rescued, some of the stronger individuals, after resting for a while, were able to continue saving others.
In the end, everyone was hauled out of the water, but thirteen of them would never awaken again.
"It was the Eastern Guards who knocked us unconscious with explosions! Let them pay with their lives!"
"Bind them up and throw them into the water! Let them drown slowly!"
Without the need for Fēng Sǔn'ér to rally them, the mountain dwellers eagerly seized the abandoned weapons of the guards and charged toward the water cave.
The Southeast Water Cave lay at the lowest point of the terrain. The passage leading down from the South Cave sloped steeply at nearly 40 degrees, and the bottom was a water-filled creek.
The squad leader had neglected to post sentries at the passage entrance!
Fēng Sǔn'ér, her face resolute, drew a flashbang grenade from her tactical vest, pulled the safety pin, and tossed it down the slope with force. To be thorough, she followed up with two more fragmentation grenades.
The Southeast Water Cave itself resembled a large teapot—its area was confined, and the only place to stand was the steep creek bed. If they didn't leap into the water, they would be left waiting to be blasted.
The guards, realizing their fate, let out a unified shout and dove into the water.
"Alright, they're all yours now," Fēng Sǔn'ér remarked, clapping her hands.
A few brave mountain dwellers jumped into the creek, leading the way down the slope. Soon, more of them found the courage to follow, sliding down one after another.
Unknown to them, six divers had been lurking beneath the water's surface from the start. Now, they sprang into action, quickly rising to the surface, each one grabbing a guard and plunging a dagger deep into their flesh.
"I surrender! I surrender!"
"Fellow villagers, please! Spare me!"
Just a quarter of an hour ago, these same men had looked down upon others' lives with disdain. Now, they were begging for mercy—perhaps they had been influenced by too many melodramatic shows.
But, as expected, there was no mercy—only death without reprieve!