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

Chapter 747 Crisis Temporarily Averted!

Inside the river valley cave, Zhang Jin and his three companions discovered Boss Lang's secret weapon—hundreds of barrels of toxic waste.

Faced with so much terrifying and dangerous waste, Zhang Jin was not deterred by the difficulties. He immediately assigned tasks to everyone and then carefully examined the surrounding cave walls and ground himself.

In fact, Zhang Jin was looking for the fuse that the enemy used to detonate the bomb.

He knew perfectly well that to blow up so many iron barrels at once, he would definitely need wires to connect them.

Using the powerful flashlight from his assault rifle, Zhang Jin carefully searched and finally found a thin wire of a similar color on the stone wall.

Zhang Jincheng's gaze slowly moved along the power lines, which stretched from the top of the wires to between two iron buckets. Then he saw a set of moisture-proof detonators placed under the iron buckets.

Zhang Jincheng's heart sank. He quickly pulled open his hazmat suit, pulled out a multi-functional military knife, and carefully cut the wire of the detonator.

Next, you need to reach in and pull out the detonator; this will temporarily prevent the enemy from destroying the toxic waste.

Sweat dripped down his temples, but his hands did not tremble at all, and he finally made contact with the explosive device.

"Xiao Lu, Da Peng, check the area between the two iron pipes. There's a detonator placed there," Zhang Jin then reminded the others.

"Reporting to the captain, we have located several sets of detonators."

Upon hearing Lu Da's reply, Zhang Jincheng smiled slightly.

This was the first time Zhang Jincheng had smiled in the past few days, perhaps because he sensed a hint of smugness in Lu Da's words.

A short while later, Lu Da and Ye Peng returned from the depths of the cave. Liu Xiaotao also inspected the three locations. The three of them gathered around Zhang Jincheng, waiting for him to assign them the next tasks.

"How is the situation?" Zhang Jin asked Lu Da calmly.

"We found a total of twenty sets of detonators, and the detonating wires have been cut and the detonators have been removed."

In addition, there are 215 metal drums containing toxic waste, some of which are heavily rusted and could easily leak if moved.

"Instructor, how were your test results?" Zhang Jin asked, then looked at Liu Xiaotao.

“I tested multiple locations and found no pollution in the air or water. However, it’s possible that the detector is not sensitive enough to this toxic substance. We should use a more professional detector to conduct a more thorough test for this toxic substance,” Liu Xiaotao said, frowning as he offered his opinion.

After listening, Zhang Jin did not immediately express his opinion, but only said, "Let's retreat to the cave entrance first." It seems that he already had some ideas.

The group quickly retreated to the cave entrance, and Zhang Jincheng gestured for everyone to gather around.

He removed his gas mask, revealing a resolute face soaked with sweat, and lowered his voice, saying, "The situation is more complicated than we thought. These detonators are all timed detonators, which means the enemy could activate them at any time."

Although we've temporarily cut the detonation wire, we can't move so many metal drums; leaving them here still poses a threat..."

"Do you have any ideas?" Liu Xiaotao nodded; that was also his thought.

Zhang Jin shook his head and said, "Let's bring 002 over first and explain the situation!"

Liu Xiaotao nodded and said into the miniature communicator, "Calling 002, please come to the cave entrance."

"002, received!"

In less than a minute, He Qiu quietly arrived at the cave.

Perhaps because they couldn't see clearly inside the cave, they paused briefly at the entrance before tentatively venturing inside.

Li Ming followed behind him, because Zhang Jincheng had arranged for him to carry the radio equipment with him at all times so that he could maintain constant contact with the command center.

Zhang Jincheng and the other three were standing about four or five meters away from the cave entrance. When Zhang Jincheng saw He Qiu come in, he hurriedly greeted him, "002, we're here."

"Comrade Zhang Jincheng, what's the situation inside?" He Qiu asked hurriedly.

“It’s very bad,” Zhang Jin replied truthfully. “There are more than two hundred iron barrels in this cave. We only removed the detonators that the enemy had placed, but we can’t remove the toxic waste.”

There are two very thorny problems to solve: first, we don't know the chemical composition of these toxic wastes, and we don't know how to dispose of these toxic substances;
Secondly, some of the metal drums are already rusty, and moving them could damage them and cause the toxic substances inside to leak out.
Another crucial point is that the sheer volume of this waste makes conventional disposal methods difficult to implement.

Upon hearing this, He Qiu frowned. This Boss Lang was truly heartless and insane. If so many highly toxic substances were destroyed, they would completely pollute the entire downstream river system along with the water source, and the consequences would be unimaginable.

At the same time, He Qiu was also a bit overwhelmed. How to deal with so much toxic waste was a big problem. Obviously, leaving it here was impossible, otherwise all their previous efforts would be in vain.

However, with only a few people, they can't move so many metal barrels. Moreover, some of the barrels are in a precarious condition, unable to be moved, and could easily leak if they're not careful.

"What's your idea?" He Qiu didn't have a good idea for the time being, so he asked Zhang Jincheng, who had raised the question.

"002, I just thought about it inside the cave. Given that the amount of these toxic wastes is too large and they are not easy to move, the most feasible method is to permanently seal the entire cave."

Whether this method is feasible can only be determined after on-site investigation by biochemical experts and engineering troops. Therefore, the situation needs to be reported to the command immediately and 001 should make the decision.

Regardless of the subsequent handling methods, this area must be controlled.

We'll first eliminate all the guards on the outer perimeter, then establish a defensive position to prevent the factory guards ten kilometers away from coming to retake the cave.

In addition, we should inform Boss Kang to immediately resume the attack on the old city, so that Boss Lang will be unable to attend to both ends.

"If we can hold out here for just three or four hours, reinforcements will arrive, and then the problem will be much easier to solve."

After Zhang Jin finished speaking, He Qiu pondered for a moment and felt that his idea was very feasible. Besides, there was no other way at the moment, so he said, "Okay, I agree with your opinion." He then asked Liu Xiaotao, "Comrade Liu, what is your opinion?"

"Report 002, I have no other opinions and I fully agree with Captain Zhang's idea."

"Alright, let's split up and go our separate ways."

I reported the situation to headquarters and made contact with Chief Kang. Comrade Zhang Jincheng was in charge of leading the assault team to annihilate the enemy's outer defenses, and then establishing a defensive position nearby.

"Yes!" Zhang Jin replied firmly with a salute.

After giving the instructions, He Qiu took the radio from Li Ming's back and said to him, "Xiao Li, you assist them in their operation. Many hands make light work. I'll stay here alone."

"Yes, 002!" Li Ming nodded and immediately followed Zhang Jincheng to carry out the mission.

Zhang Jin said that several people began to take off their hazmat suits in preparation for battle. While taking off his hazmat suit, Zhang Jin called out to Zhuang Yan: "Calling Monkey, please respond if you hear me."

"I am a monkey, please speak!"

"You two go and take out the guards on duty in the nearby watchtower. Over!"

"Understood, all done!"

Zhuang Yan and his partner quickly disappeared into the night, like two agile cheetahs.

Zhang Jin folded his hazmat suit and stuffed it into his backpack, then examined the assault rifle in his hand; the metal parts gleamed coldly in the moonlight.
He turned and winked at Lu Da and Ye Peng, and the three of them followed him tacitly toward the guard camp.

After Zhuang Yan and Wang Tao dealt with the guards at the gate, they lay in ambush outside the enemy's barracks to keep watch.

The two lay prone in the waist-high grass, and soon their exposed skin was bitten by unknown insects, leaving large, itchy welts that made them afraid to move.

Because there were two guard towers just ten meters away from them, equipped with searchlights, and guards were patrolling the area, the enemy troops here were still very vigilant.

The wait felt incredibly long to the two men, until finally Zhang Jincheng gave them the order to act—a truly heavenly response. Ten meters away, a searchlight swept rhythmically across the ground from the guard tower.

Taking advantage of the intermittent darkness from the lamplight, Zhuang Yan silently climbed up the wooden guard tower.

He held his breath, and the moment the guard turned around, he darted forward, covered the man's mouth and nose with his left hand, and precisely sliced ​​his throat with his right military knife.

The whole process took less than three seconds, clean and efficient.

Meanwhile, Wang Tao on the other side was equally impressive. He appeared silently on another guard tower like a ghost and slit the throat of an enemy guard.

After dealing with the guards at this watchtower, they quietly moved on to another one, but unfortunately, this watchtower was inside the barbed wire fence, making it impossible to climb up quietly.

Zhuang Yan had no choice but to raise his silenced pistol and aim at the enemy soldier pacing back and forth on the watchtower. With a "thud," the enemy guard on the watchtower fell headfirst from the ten-meter-high tower.

Unexpectedly, there were several oil drums placed under the guard tower. The enemy guard and his gun fell onto the empty oil drums together, making a loud "clang".

Such a sound travels exceptionally far in the quiet of the night, and sounds particularly astonishing.

Zhuang Yan and Wang Tao were startled by the noise. A series of commotions followed from the wooden cabin in the watchtower, clearly indicating that the loud noise had awakened the enemy guards inside.

With things having come to this point, there was no other way but to turn the sneak attack into a full-scale assault.

Without hesitation, Zhuang Yan and Wang Tao leaped up, picked up their assault rifles, and charged toward the enemy's barracks.

"Damn it, why are you making such a commotion?" an enemy soldier cursed as he came out of the wooden house.

Wang Tao, who was at the forefront, raised his hand and fired a shot, sending the guy to meet the King of Hell. The guy collapsed to the ground as soon as he stepped out the door, and the sharp gunshot shattered the quiet night sky.

Zhuang Yan, who followed behind, reacted quickly, took a grenade from his body, pulled the pin, and threw it through the newly opened doorway.

With a deafening "BOOM!", a series of wails echoed from inside the wooden house following the violent explosion.

There were seven or eight doors to this row of wooden houses. Shortly after the gunshots rang out, the other doors opened one after another, and enemy soldiers rushed out with guns at their ready.

Zhuang Yan and Wang Tao hurriedly grabbed their guns and opened fire on the enemy troops rushing out, but unfortunately they had stirred up a hornet's nest. There were too many enemy troops pouring out of these wooden houses, and the two of them could not eliminate them all at once.

At this critical moment, Zhuang Yan suddenly heard gunshots rang out not far from him.

Zhuang Yan glanced at him out of the corner of his eye and realized that it was Bale who had come to his rescue with a gun in hand.

Bale's marksmanship was also extremely accurate; he took down four or five enemy soldiers with just a few bursts of fire.

He fired while rapidly moving to new positions, shouting, "Zhuang Yan, Wang Tao, find cover!"

Zhuang Yan and Wang Tao quickly rolled behind nearby oil drums, the bullets striking the metal drums with a clanging sound.

Zhuang Yan, panting heavily, pulled a grenade from his waist, bit the pin, silently counted to two, and then threw it at the enemy group.

"Boom—" The explosion lit up half the sky, and the shockwave knocked over several enemy soldiers.

"Da da da..." Taking advantage of the brief chaos, Zhuang Yan and his men opened fire fiercely on the enemy, leaving them covered in dust and dirt.

After the three of them fired back with crossfire, they were forced back into the cabin.

Upon hearing the gunshots, Zhang Jincheng immediately led his team members to provide reinforcements.

Zhang Jin, along with Lu Da and Ye Peng, flanked them from the flank. The three advanced in a triangular formation, taking turns providing cover as they charged forward.

"Rat-a-tat-tat—" Ye Peng's machine gun spat out flames, suppressing the enemy troops so they couldn't raise their heads.

Ruda, meanwhile, precisely sniped the enemy who was trying to shoot from the window.

Zhang Jin suddenly noticed a dark figure crouching and running towards the communications room. He immediately turned his gun around and fired three shots, knocking the person down on the steps.

The entire camp was now in complete chaos.

Some enemy soldiers rushed out with their guns in hand, not even having properly put on their pants, only to be riddled with bullets by crossfire as soon as they stepped outside.

A man who looked like an officer was waving a pistol and shouting. Wang Tao narrowed his eyes and shot him through the throat.

"Watch out at three o'clock!" Zhuang Yan suddenly shouted. They saw five or six enemy soldiers setting up a heavy machine gun, its dark muzzle already pointed in their direction.

Bale reacted extremely quickly, grabbing the captured rocket launcher and kneeling on one knee. With a "whoosh," the rocket, trailing a plume of flame, hurtled straight towards the target.

The violent explosion sent the heavy machine gun position flying into the air, and the flying debris knocked down several enemy soldiers nearby.

Taking advantage of this opening, Zhang Jincheng decisively ordered: "Attention everyone, advance under alternating cover! Ye Peng, provide suppressive fire; Lu Da, eliminate the remaining enemy!"

Amidst the thick smoke, the assault team charged towards the enemy camp like tigers unleashed from their cages.

Zhuang Yan rolled to dodge the stray bullets, picked up the submachine gun dropped by the enemy soldiers, and fired both guns simultaneously, killing two enemies hiding behind cover.

Lu Da quickly seized the high ground, set up his sniper rifle, and began calling out names.

"Watch out for the barracks on the left!" Bale suddenly shouted.

More than ten enemy soldiers were seen pouring out from the side gate, attempting to outflank them.

Zhang Jincheng sneered, took the last two grenades from his tactical vest, and threw them precisely at the enemy group.

Amid the explosions, he picked up his assault rifle and led the charge, bullets tracing deadly paths through the night sky.

The enemy camp's wooden huts were set ablaze by a grenade explosion, and the raging fire quickly engulfed all the huts.

The enemy soldiers who managed to escape were all killed by the assault team, while those who did not escape perished in the flames.

The battle was over in less than ten minutes.

After the battle, Zhuang Yan walked up to Bale and sincerely said to him, "Thank you, Bale. Without your help, we would have been in danger."

Bale smiled gently and said, "You not only saved me, but also my family. It is only right that I do this."

"It's been less than a year since we first met at Longzui Cliff. I never imagined you would change so much. We've gone from enemies to friends."

"To be honest, sometimes I am surprised by my own changes, and I feel that all of this is due to the forces of justice."

"I've found that you all uphold justice, and it's an honor to fight alongside you tonight," Bale said emotionally.

As they were talking, He Qiu came over and said to Zhang Jincheng, "The command has adopted your suggestion. After dawn, some chemical defense troops will be airdropped here by helicopter. At the same time, we have been ordered to ensure the safety of the toxic waste inside the cave before the troops behind take over."

Furthermore, Kang's troops resumed a full-scale attack on the old city two hours later.

Zhang Jin glanced at his watch and realized there were still six or seven hours until dawn. He immediately gathered his team and said to everyone, "Our team will be airdropped here after dawn. Until then, we must guard the cave at all costs."

The enemy forces guarding the factory are only ten kilometers away; the battle just now must have alerted them.

I estimate that this entire enemy company will arrive here in about two hours, and we must prepare for battle immediately.

(End of this chapter)