The Red Era: Living in Seclusion in a Siheyuan as a Boss

Chapter 746 Hundreds of barrels of waste!!!

After listening to Zhuang Yan's report, Zhang Jin immediately spoke into the miniature microphone: "Stay hidden and await my orders."

"Understood, all done!"

Zhang Jin placed the box containing the biohazard suit on the ground and asked Lu Da and Ye Peng to wait. Then, he and Liu Xiaotao sneaked over under the cover of waist-high grass.

The two slowly moved to Zhuang Yan's side. He hid behind a low thicket of bushes. When they came over, he handed the far-infrared binoculars in his hand to Zhang Jincheng and whispered, "There is a fixed sentry post at the cave entrance and a guard on the watchtower. We haven't seen anyone else anywhere else."

"Has anyone been going in or out of the cave?" Zhang Jin asked as he observed.

“Not during the time I was monitoring,” Zhuang Yan replied in a low voice.

Zhang Jincheng squinted and carefully examined the watchtower in the distance.

The guard on the tower was leaning lazily against the railing, occasionally looking down and fiddling with his communication equipment.

"It seems their security isn't very tight," Liu Xiaotao said in a low voice, his fingers lightly tapping the tactical knife at his waist. "Should we take out the one on the watchtower first?"

Zhang Jin shook his head: "Don't act rashly. Our goal is to confirm the location of the biological weapon, not to alert them." He turned to Zhuang Yan, "Continue to observe and watch for any signs of a shift change."

The group was less than 100 meters from the cave entrance, so they could see clearly without binoculars.

The cave entrance is seven or eight meters high and two or three meters wide, located on the cliff on the right side of the mountain, like a crack.

Many plants grow around the entrance to the cave, making it difficult to spot unless you get close.

Because water flows out of the cave, the weeds in front of the cave entrance grow lushly.

Zhang Jincheng's gaze slowly moved along the edge of the hole, and he suddenly noticed several tire tracks of varying depths on the ground.

He gently touched Liu Xiaotao's shoulder, pointed to the marks, and whispered, "Look, vehicles have been coming and going here recently."

Liu Xiaotao squinted and observed carefully, discovering that the tire tracks extended all the way into the hole, leaving clear lines on the damp soil.

“Those are tire treads from military transport vehicles,” he whispered. “It seems they are indeed active here frequently. This is the cave where the highly toxic compounds are stored.”

Just then, Zhuang Yan suddenly tensed up: "Captain, there's movement!" The three of them immediately held their breath.

Suddenly, the guard on the watchtower stood up straight, spoke a few words into his communicator, and then quickly walked down the tower.

At the same time, the roar of an engine came from inside the cave, and two blinding headlights shone out from the darkness.

"Take cover!" Zhang Jin grabbed Liu Xiaotao's shoulder, and the three of them quickly ducked down.

A green-painted transport vehicle slowly drove out of the cave entrance, its rear compartment completely covered by a thick tarpaulin.

Two fully armed enemy soldiers were sitting in the driver's cab, one of whom was talking to the guard.

The transport vehicle made a brief stop at the cave entrance, and the guard jogged over to hand it a folder.

The people in the car got out, signed a document in a folder, and then the vehicle turned into the valley and drove away.

Zhang Jincheng frowned, his gaze following the departing transport vehicle.

He noticed that the canvas at the rear of the vehicle was lifted up by the bumps, revealing several metal containers with danger signs.

“It seems we’ve come to the right place,” he said in a low voice. “Those containers were likely originally filled with the highly toxic substance we’re looking for.”

Liu Xiaotao said, "Should we follow them and take a look at the factory?" He asked in a low voice, his fingers quickly swiping across the tablet to bring up a map of the surrounding area.

“No, our mission is to confirm the target's location and then destroy it, not to track the transport vehicle to the factory.” Zhang Jincheng shook his head decisively, his gaze returning to the cave. “We’ll continue to monitor the cave entrance and watch for any unusual activity.”

The mountain peaks had blocked out the sunlight, making the valley very dark. The temperature inside the valley dropped to just over ten degrees Celsius, and a cold wind whistled through, creating a gloomy and somewhat terrifying atmosphere throughout the valley.

The assault team members' clothes were soaked through when they crossed the forest, and now they are cold and sticky to their bodies, making them feel uncomfortable.

In another half hour, the valley will be completely submerged. Zhang Jin said into the miniature communicator, "Attention everyone, retreat two hundred meters."

The team members retreated to the woods on one side of the valley. Li Ming tied Li Wencai to a tree, saying as he tied him, "You'll have to suffer for now. We'll let you go after we're done."

Li Wencai pleaded repeatedly, "Brother, if you tie me up here, a wolf might come and eat me alive. Please let me go..."

"Letting the wolf eat you means you've committed many evils and deserve to die," Li Ming said fiercely.

"How can you break your promise? You said you'd let me go once you found the cave..."

Before Li Wencai could finish speaking, Li Ming stuffed his mouth into his mouth. "Damn it, I'll let you go after you're done talking. If you keep arguing, I'll just leave you here."

Li Wencai shook his head desperately, only able to make muffled sounds, his eyes filled with fear.

Li Ming ignored him and turned to walk over to the other team members.

Seeing that everyone had arrived, Zhang Jin began to redeploy the tasks: "In another half hour, it will be completely dark in the valley, and then we will begin our operation."

Monkey and Wang Tao, you two are responsible for taking out the two guards at the cave entrance;
Then the four of us went into the cave to eliminate the danger, while the others stayed outside to keep watch. "Li Ming, you take the radio and follow 002, maintain constant contact with command, and report the situation here to headquarters..."

After Zhang Jin said that the arrangements were complete, the four people immediately opened the box, took out protective suits, and put them on.

The silver-gray protective suit included a helmet, a transparent face mask, waterproof shoes, and gloves, covering the entire body very tightly. With a respirator hanging from his waist and an assault rifle slung over his shoulder, he looked like a space warrior.

Liu Xiaotao had an extra small box compared to the others. He hung it around his neck, and when he opened it, he revealed an LCD screen and two rows of buttons.

This is a miniature detector that can detect many toxic substances and check whether the surrounding environment is polluted.

After Zhang Jin and others finished putting on their protective suits, he gestured for the team members to check their equipment.

Liu Xiaotao skillfully adjusted the night vision goggles, the green fluorescence flashing on the lenses.

Zhuang Yan squatted on the ground and slowly screwed the silencer onto the pistol. The subtle sound of the metal threads meshing was particularly clear in the silent woods.

A few hoots of owls echoed in the distance, and the shadows of trees stretched out distorted outlines in the darkening sky.

Wang Tao suddenly lowered his voice: "Captain, there's movement at three o'clock." Everyone froze instantly, and a wild rabbit darted out of the bushes and quickly disappeared into the twilight.

It was a false alarm. Zhang Jin glanced at his watch; the second hand was pointing to the time of the operation.

Everything was ready, and the operation began.

"Prepare for action." He gave the order through the built-in communicator, his voice echoing slightly inside the protective helmet.

The team members immediately split into two groups. Zhuang Yan and Wang Tao stealthily made their way to the cave entrance like ghosts, their camouflage uniforms blending perfectly into the night.

Zhang Jin said that he saw through a night vision telescope that the guard at the cave entrance was smoking, and the sparks were flickering in the darkness.

The two guards at the cave entrance were smoking and chatting, with their AKA submachine guns lying upright beside them.

Because it was just getting dark, the two guys were still full of energy and were talking animatedly, unaware that death was approaching them.

When the two approached within twenty meters, the monkey suddenly stopped and made a gesture—the guard on the watchtower was yawning and turning around.

In that fleeting moment, Wang Tao's pistol fired silently, striking the guard squarely in the forehead.

Then Zhuang Yan and Wang Tao stealthily approached the cave entrance in the darkness like two raccoon dogs, quietly coming up behind the two guards.

Just as one of them seemed to realize something, Zhuang Yan suddenly covered his mouth from behind and then precisely plunged a dagger into the guard's back. At the same time, Wang Tao also slit the throat of another guard from behind.

The whole process took less than three seconds, and the two guards fell down like puppets with broken strings.

Zhuang Yan and Wang Tao quickly dragged the two enemy guards into the bushes.

"Clearance complete," Zhuang Yan calmly reported over the communicator.

Upon hearing Zhuang Yan's voice, Zhang Jin said that the four of them, dressed in bulky protective suits, emerged one by one from the bushes.

Zhang Jin immediately led his team forward, his protective boots making a slight crunching sound as they stepped on the damp mud.

Because I was wearing a helmet and mask, I could only see what was in front of me and couldn't hear what was happening around me, which made me feel very depressed.

Liu Xiaotao was the first to enter the cave. It was pitch black inside, so dark you couldn't see your hand in front of your face, but once inside, you could clearly feel that the ground was very spacious.

As I approached the cave entrance, a cold wind carrying the smell of chemicals hit me, and a thin layer of mist immediately condensed on my mask.

Zhang Jin was the last to enter the cave. After entering, he was worried that light might leak out of the cave, so he only turned on the laser emitter on his assault rifle.

He crouched down, took out a miniature detector from his tactical bag, and scanned the ground at the cave entrance with a red laser beam.

“There is no trigger alarm device.” Zhang Jin made a reassuring gesture.

Liu Xiaotao nodded and stepped into the cave first.

The temperature inside the cave dropped sharply, so there was no need to worry about light leaks as we went further in.

The four men turned on the lights on their helmets, piercing the darkness and illuminating the man-made carving marks and dense network of cables on the rock face.

As they went deeper, they began to see scattered gas masks and empty containers on the ground, and at one corner there were even several abandoned metal barrels marked with a skull and crossbones symbol.

Liu Xiaotao only had a pistol in his hand because he needed to operate the detector.

At this moment, he followed behind Zhang Jincheng, his eyes fixed on the display screen of the detector, occasionally touching the ground with one of the probes in his hand.

After walking a short distance, I suddenly felt water under my feet.

Liu Xiaotao then inserted the detector into the water, and the detector showed that everything was normal.

"Everything is normal, and no toxic substance leaks have been detected so far," Liu Xiaotao said softly, his words audible to everyone else via portable radio.

"Understood, continue the inspection." Zhang Jin said as he walked deeper into the cave.

With no toxic substance leak detected, Liu Xiaotao relaxed slightly and looked around.

They entered the cave about forty or fifty meters away. The cave ceiling was at least ten meters high, and water dripped down from above from time to time, gathering on one side of the cave to form a stream.

If you walk a little further, the cave varies in width, and every few meters or tens of meters there is a protruding boulder blocking the way.

Because they were wearing protective suits, the four of them couldn't feel the outside temperature, but guessed it must be very cold and damp, since they had to wipe the fog off their masks every now and then.

Perhaps because he couldn't see clearly, Zhang Jincheng simply took off his hood, and seeing him do so, others followed suit.

A sudden blast of cold air hit me, and I couldn't help but shiver.

After rounding a stone wall, the four of them were suddenly stunned by the sight before them and stopped in their tracks.

Along the cave wall on one side, hundreds of large iron barrels filled with oil were densely packed together, stretching as far as the eye could see along the winding cave.

Like ticking time bombs ready to explode at any moment, these were terrifying objects in the dark cave; these must have been the toxic waste.

The bottom of the cave is sloping, and these iron barrels are placed at a high position. The water flows about seven or eight meters away. Although the flow rate is not large, several cubic meters of water flow out every minute.

The consequences would be unimaginable if toxic compounds were to come into contact with water.

Upon seeing this, Zhang Jincheng's Adam's apple involuntarily bobbed, and cold sweat seeped from his palms beneath his protective gloves.

The mottled rust on the iron barrels gleamed an eerie dark red under the headlamp. Several barrels were slightly deformed, but there was no leakage.

"Keep your distance!" Zhang Jin warned in a low voice, while making a gesture to disperse.

Liu Xiaotao's detector suddenly emitted a sharp beep, and the value representing the toxic substance on the LCD screen skyrocketed.

Looking at the hundreds of iron barrels, one feels helpless; how to deal with such a large amount of highly toxic substance is indeed a difficult problem.

Everyone instinctively turned their attention to Zhang Jincheng, waiting for him to give orders.

Zhang Jin calmly considered the matter for a moment, then quickly issued an order: "Instructor, immediately test the air and water quality inside the cave to see if it is contaminated."

Xiao Lu, you two check along the rows of iron barrels. First, look for any explosives placed around the barrels. Second, count the number of barrels so we can calculate the amount of toxic waste later.

Let's get started immediately.

Liu Xiaotao immediately crouched down, submerged the probe in the water, and adjusted the parameters. The data on the LCD screen kept fluctuating, and his brow furrowed deeper and deeper.

"Fortunately, the water quality has been slightly polluted, but the concentration is not high enough to cause immediate harm."

The levels of toxins in the air are within safe limits, but we must dispose of these metal drums as soon as possible.

Just as the commando team entered the cave where the toxic substances were hidden, Boss Lang was also celebrating his temporary victory in his old lair in the old city.

Because he received a report that Kang Laoda's attack had stopped.

When Boss Kang first launched Operation Sword Storm, Boss Lang didn't have too many concerns.

He was also well aware that Kang Laoda's men numbered only a few thousand, less than a quarter of his own, and posed no threat to the old city.

Although the government army and Kang Youwei jointly sent troops, people bribed by Kang Youwei revealed to him that the government army was only sending troops but not providing any real support, and would not lay a single soldier against him.

The subsequent battle unfolded largely as predicted by Lang Laoda. Kang Laoda's forces were blocked south of Laoyaling, while the government army remained inactive after crossing the Sawen River, allowing him to rest easy.

Lang Laoda never dreamed that a sudden accident a few days later would cause the situation to take a sharp turn for the worse. His nephew, Lang Kan, who was in charge of the western front, was assassinated by men sent by Aung San, because Lang Kan was hiding evidence of bribery among these people in the government army.

This sudden event not only left Lang Lao Er paralyzed in bed, but also threw Lang Lao Da into a panic, prompting him to hastily mobilize troops from the "Laoya Ridge" area to reinforce the western front.

Since Aung San had assassinated Lang Khan, he would attack the Old City. Although Lang Khan was making a last-ditch effort, he also sensed that the end was coming.

Taking advantage of the troop movement in the old city, Kang Laoda's troops broke through the "Laoya Ridge" defense line and soon arrived at the city gates.

With the end of the world fast approaching, Boss Lang had no choice but to use his trump card. He knew that only "over there" could stop the war, and the only one who could make them submit was Lao Baisheng.

They won't ignore anything that poses a threat to the local elites; they'll definitely step in to stop the government army and Kang's men.

Sure enough, two days after Boss Lang issued his threat, Boss Kang's troops stopped their attack.

Upon receiving the report from the front lines, Boss Lang was overjoyed. He guessed that his threat had succeeded. In his excitement, he immediately adjusted his troop deployment, believing that victory was just a matter of surviving these few days.

After readjusting the deployment, Boss Lang opened a bottle of Bordeaux wine in his office to celebrate. He needed to relax his tense emotions, but he never expected that his last trump card would be taken out by the assault team.

(End of this chapter)