Chapter 903: Confrontation

Li Huowang was breathing heavily, his white breath continuously fogging up the bulletproof glass before quickly vanishing, only to reappear again and again.

The stagnant air in the culvert made Li Huowang feel increasingly irritable, especially since they had walked for so long without finding anything. "The smell in the air is getting more and more pungent," he said. "Qing Wanglai, what was that benzene you just mentioned?"

Qing Wanglai didn't answer Li Huowang's question. He stood behind Li Huowang, holding his gun, seemingly using him as a shield.

"Shhh, we're almost there," Zhao Shuangdian whispered as she walked past Li Huowang.

Her fingers moved like a piano player, rapidly typing on her laptop. The information displayed on the screen was likely only understandable to her.

After walking for another twenty minutes or so in the cold, dark tunnel, Zhao Shuangdian, in the pitch black, suddenly reached out and took the crossbow from Zhao Lei's hand, aiming it into the darkness ahead.

With a whoosh, the familiar sound of tearing metal echoed. Although there was no further movement, Li Huowang knew that something in the darkness had died.

As they slowly approached and shined their flashlights, a man lay by the culvert with a crossbow bolt in his neck. Next to him, a large iron door abruptly appeared on the rock wall.

Evidently, this man was a guard whom Zhao Shuangdian had killed in advance, before he could raise any alarm.

"Shhh," Li Huowang stepped forward to the large iron door and pulled it open just enough to create a crack.

The white light streaming from within immediately made Li Huowang, who was in the darkness, unable to open his eyes. After his eyes adjusted slightly, he gazed in utter shock at the vast, empty factory behind the door.

There was actually a factory beneath the barren Gobi Desert, something he had never expected.

The interior was hollowed out, appearing to be half the size of a football field. Various items were scattered haphazardly, mostly raw materials in bags, along with bottles, jars, and freezers.

More notably, there was a railway track in the distance with several mining carts stopped on it. They seemed to be using this tunnel to transport goods.

Li Huowang couldn't immediately guess what this factory was for, but he felt a strange sense of familiarity, as if he had seen such a scene on television before.

Soon, Li Huowang realized this place was used for drug production and that these were drug lords. No wonder the outermost sentries were armed with anti-material sniper rifles.

The factory was currently shut down. Some masked black-clad figures were rapidly loading items onto the mining carts, while others, armed with firearms, anxiously shouted orders nearby.

Clearly, the earlier commotion had startled them.

After quickly estimating the number of people, Li Huowang couldn't help but feel alarmed. This factory had at least one to two hundred people, by a conservative estimate. His group was clearly outnumbered.

At this moment, the others also saw everything inside through the door crack. Zhao Shuangdian immediately issued an order: "See the generator over there? That's their power source. I'll count to one, then we all fire simultaneously."

Her tone was remarkably calm, as if she was long accustomed to everything happening behind the door, even if the enemy outnumbered their group by more than ten to one.

"What are we doing rushing in? Are we going to our deaths? Don't you see their arsenal?" Li Huowang said in a low voice. His side had no advantage whatsoever.

He had originally thought that when Zhao Shuangdian spoke of a counterattack, it meant the two sides were evenly matched, but he hadn't expected such a vast disparity in strength.

Against such a large number of enemies, relying solely on their current group was probably hopeless. Their only chance of success was to return and bring the forces from Baiyujing to act together.

"Do you remember what I said before? Let me confirm again, Li Huowang, are you refusing my order?" A wave of murderous intent emanated from behind him.

Li Huowang stared intently at Zhao Shuangdian, observing the subtle expressions on her face. She wasn't joking; she was speaking the truth.

"Does she have some hidden move she's not telling me about?" This thought suddenly popped into Li Huowang's mind. It was understandable if she didn't care about her own life, but it was impossible for her not to care about her life.

Moreover, with such an outrageous order, Qing Wanglai hadn't objected at all.

"Alright, if you're ready to die, then so am I," Li Huowang said, moving aside to allow more gun barrels to emerge from the crack in the door.

"Four, three, two, one!" Intense gunfire erupted instantly. As the white light behind the door rapidly dimmed, Li Huowang kicked open the large iron door and charged inside.

It was pitch black. Li Huowang couldn't distinguish anyone; since his own people were behind him, everything in front of him had to be the enemy.

If he touched anyone in the darkness, Li Huowang had only one move: to decisively stab a knife into their heart.

Gunfire suddenly erupted from his left, bullets hitting Li Huowang's clothes, causing him intense pain.

"Fight back! Are you all just watching, goddammit?!" Li Huowang roared. The gunfire grew denser, coming from all directions, and Li Huowang felt as though he was in a storm of bullets.

At this moment, the darkness became Li Huowang's shield, preventing most of the bullets from hitting him.

As Li Huowang was massacring his enemies, a sudden sharp pain struck his back, causing him to stumble and fall.

He struggled to get back on his feet, looking at the chaotic scene before him. However, just as the darkness protected Li Huowang, it also protected his enemies, and Li Huowang had no idea what had attacked him.

He reached back and painstakingly felt his back. It felt as if it had caved in slightly; he seemed to have been struck by some blunt object. His bulletproof vest was useless in this situation.

Since he couldn't see anything at all, Li Huowang simply stopped trying. If he couldn't see them, they certainly couldn't see him either.

He immediately crouched down, raising his two knives and slashing at the feet around him. Whenever an opponent screamed and fell, Li Huowang would thrust a knife in the direction of the sound to silence them.

This method seemed to work. The specific blunt force injuries finally stopped appearing.

In the absolute darkness, the battle intensified into a frenzy. No one could see anyone else, and no one knew whom they had killed.

Just as Li Huowang was fighting desperately, a crisp sound of shattering glass suddenly rang out. Within a few seconds, he immediately felt his mind become muddled.

He wasn't the only one; hearing the sounds of others falling around him, everyone else was also affected. Li Huowang was barely protected by his helmet, allowing him to be affected a little later than them.

When he reached out and touched the broken test tube, Li Huowang immediately knew this was the anesthetic Qing Wanglai had kept in the test tube.

To incapacitate more people, he had thrown the substance directly, without waiting for Li Huowang to get away.

"Damn it!" Li Huowang clung to his last shred of consciousness, tore off his helmet, and plunged his military knife into his collarbone.