Night falls.
For ordinary humans, the night is a breeding ground for fear and a dead end of limited vision; but for the well-equipped Black Watch forces, the night is merely a battlefield of a different color.
On every Black Watch Soldier's helmet, dual-eye night vision goggles have been activated. In their field of vision, the world appears in a ghostly green fluorescent hue. Any organism emitting heat is exposed under thermal imaging mode, turning into bright red targets.
"Sizzle— Sizzle—"
Inside the airport's forward command post, the tactical communication channel carried the voice of the Commander, calm to the point of coldness.
"This is the airport assault force, code name 'Falcon.' Calling Area F General Headquarters."
A Black Watch Commander looked at a tactical tablet displaying a 3D scan just sent back by a drone. He looked up, peering through his night vision goggles at a four-story concrete building to the north and south of the runway—originally the airport's administrative office building, it now showed dense high-heat reaction points in thermal imaging, like a giant anthill.
"To the north and south, coordinates Grid 45-82, there is a four-story office building. Virus detection drones have completed a deep scan, confirming a large number of highly active Infected are hiding inside. They aren't moving and seem to be waiting to ambush, posing a great threat to our flanks. I propose we proceed directly with demolition to level it. Over."
The other end of the communicator was silent for half a second, followed by a series of electronic "beeps" from data transmission. Then came Lin Xuan's emotionless voice, transmitted clearly through the encrypted channel:
"Your proposal is excellent. Authorized. Pull that tumor out for me."
"Copy that. Falcon out."
After cutting the communication, the Commander stood up abruptly and gestured to the demolition team behind him.
"Demolition team! Bring your big guns and blow that building to smithereens! Assault team, cover them! Don't let anything interfere with the demolition work!"
As the order was given, a well-trained Black Watch squad quickly detached from the main force.
Twenty heavy soldiers carrying anti-tank rocket launchers quickly lined up behind cover, disengaging the safeties in unison and hoisting the dark launch tubes onto their shoulders.
On their flanks, thirty cover soldiers armed with assault rifles and rotary grenade launchers kept a vigilant watch on every dark corner, their muzzles moving rapidly with their gaze.
"Target locked! Distance 150 meters! Windage correction complete!"
"Three, two, one... Fire!!"
"Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh—!!!"
Twenty high-explosive rockets left their tubes almost simultaneously, trailing long plumes of flame like twenty angry fire dragons as they roared toward the lifeless office building.
"Boom, boom, boom, boom—!!!"
Violent explosions instantly tore through the night sky.
Flames shot up as the entire office building was swallowed by a sea of fire in an instant. Under the dual assault of high heat and shockwaves, the load-bearing pillars snapped like brittle crackers, concrete walls disintegrated, and the glass curtain walls turned into a rain of shimmering shards.
The building let out a groan of agony before collapsing with a crash. Billowing dust spread outward like a tsunami, shrouding everything in a grayish-white powder.
"Confirm kills! Fire at will!"
In the ruins, some mutants that hadn't died yet tried to crawl out from the rubble. Their bodies were charred black, and they let out shrill roars.
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
The soldiers of the cover group gave them no chance to breathe. Precise shots rang out one after another, each accompanied by the explosion of a head. Their rule for finishing off enemies was: if you're not sure it's dead, blow its head off again.
However, just when everyone thought this was just another routine cleanup mission, an anomaly occurred.
"Whoosh—!!"
A heart-stopping sound of something slicing through the air suddenly came from deep within the ruins.
"Scatter!!"
Before the Commander's roar could even fade, several chunks of concrete the size of millstones shot out from the dust, hurtling toward the rocket squad's position with terrifying kinetic energy.
Fortunately, the reaction speed of Black Watch Soldiers far exceeded that of normal people. The moment they heard the sound, they instinctively rolled to the sides or quickly ducked back behind cover.
"Thump!!!"
The giant stones slammed into the ground, smashing deep pits into the cement. Shards of stone flew everywhere, clattering against the soldiers' ballistic armor.
Immediately after, several soldiers armed with grenade launchers reacted quickly, pulling their triggers at the stones still flying through the air.
"Bang! Bang!"
The high-explosive grenades detonated precisely mid-air, blasting the remaining stones into powder.
"Over there! Behind the ruins!"
As the dust gradually settled, the broken chain-link fence behind the ruined building was brutally torn open.
Ten extremely eerie figures slowly walked out.
They were ten giant mutants over two and a half meters tall. Their upper bodies were extremely bloated, with muscles knotted like granite. Their massive arms almost reached their knees, and every muscle was filled with explosive power. However, their lower bodies still maintained human proportions, even wearing shredded jeans. This highly mismatched physical proportion made them look both comical and terrifying.
Special Infected—"Tank."
Their bloodshot eyes stared fixedly at the Black Watch Soldiers before them, their throats emitting low, thunderous growls.
"Maintain safety distance! Heavy mutants! Everyone, open fire!!"
The Commander didn't hesitate, his assault rifle being the first to fire.
Dozens of rocket soldiers who were just in the middle of reloading immediately dropped their empty tubes, pulled out spare launchers or switched to armor-piercing rounds, and knelt on the ground to aim at the behemoths.
"Taste this! Big guy!"
"Pshh— Boom!!"
Several rockets, carrying the whistle of death, accurately blanketed the Tanks in the front.
The fire from the explosions instantly swallowed their figures. Flesh flew and severed limbs scattered everywhere. In a head-on clash, even a thick-skinned monster like a Tank couldn't withstand direct hits from anti-tank weaponry.
However, a few Tanks displayed surprising intelligence.
They didn't charge brainlessly like ordinary zombies. Instead, the moment their companions were blown apart, they immediately used the surrounding collapsed walls and abandoned vehicles as cover, moving rapidly on all fours.
They were like a pack of agile gorillas, leaping and weaving through the ruins, instantly escaping the lock-on range of the rockets.
"Damn it! They're evading fire! These beasts have brains!" a soldier cursed, his rifle only able to strike a series of sparks off the cover in vain.
"Cease pursuit."
Lin Xuan's voice rang out in the communication channel again, carrying a calm that suggested total control of the situation. "Let them run. They are bait. Your mission is to hold the line. The Super Soldiers will be there shortly."
The Commander raised his hand to signal the troops to stop. "All units, halt! Hold your ground! Establish a defensive perimeter!"
Before his voice could fade, the familiar, low, and powerful roar of helicopter rotors came from above the airport.
A pitch-black helicopter hovered about a hundred meters above the ruins. Searchlight beams shot down, illuminating the debris as bright as day.
"Watch your fire. Do not hit friendly forces."
The helicopter pilot's voice sounded over the channel.
Then, two tall figures leapt directly from the open cabin door!
No fast-roping, no parachutes.
It was pure freefall.
A height of one hundred meters would be certain death for an ordinary person, but for Super Soldiers enhanced by the blacklight virus, it was merely a ceremonial way to enter the scene.
"Whoosh— Boom!!!"
Two loud crashes rang out almost simultaneously.
The ground shook violently as if two heavy bombs had landed. Dust rose everywhere, and the cement ground was forced into two spiderweb-like cracked pits.
The dust slowly cleared, revealing the two standing figures at the bottom of the pits.
The Commander immediately jogged forward. Even as a veteran, he couldn't help but feel a wave of instinctive dread when facing these "non-human" colleagues.
"According to the drone's last thermal imaging, those fleeing Tanks headed toward Terminal T3. They seem very familiar with the terrain."
Super Soldier No. 1 turned his head slightly, his mask making a faint mechanical clicking sound. He didn't speak, only nodding slightly. His indifference made it seem as if he were listening to a report about the movements of a few rats.
He looked at his companion beside him—Super Soldier No. 2. His voice, filtered through the mask, became deep and metallic:
"Brother, it's time to go. Don't let them escape. The Commander is watching us."
Super Soldier No. 2 cracked his neck with a crisp "snap."
The two didn't waste words. They bent their legs slightly and then suddenly exerted force.
"Bang!"
The ground cracked again. Two black and red figures, like arrows shot from a bow, vanished into the night with terrifying explosive power, heading straight for that silent and massive terminal building.