Invasion of America

Chapter 87: Trap
When Hammer's "normal performance" fell into Alzheimer's disease, Zhou Qingfeng and Lucy faced an extremely difficult problem.

No one knows who the old man contacted or what text messages he sent when he was lucid. The old man himself can't remember clearly.

To make matters worse, Hammer's cell phone is specially made. In order to prevent confidential information from being leaked if it is lost or stolen, the phone's calls and text messages will not be automatically saved.

All records must be manually selected and entered into the "Memo" in order to be saved.

Hammer usually relies on this "memo" to recall what he has done and who he has contacted. And now...

"Grandpa, you really can't remember anything? You didn't even make a memo?" Lucy stared at her grandfather.

She had just seen Hammer about to punish Diaz in a rage, but in the blink of an eye, the old man seemed like a different person, with a confused look on his face.

Hammer frowned and hesitated for a long time, finally spreading his hands helplessly. "How about... I call again? Ask who I've contacted? What arrangements have been made?"

"Forget it." Lucy shook her head, "Your performance just now was indeed good, full of momentum, very inspiring and able to unite everyone's strength.

But if you immediately expose your biggest weakness - amnesia, the people you inspire will feel that they have been fooled and will abandon you without hesitation and turn to Diaz.

After all, Diaz is not an old fool.

Then we’re really screwed!”

Hammer lowered his head and said to himself, "Maybe I really should die. I can't do anything well. I can't even remember such a small thing..."

Lucy sighed and turned her gaze to Zhou Qingfeng. She took a deep breath and said slowly:
"Luckily, I have some knowledge of the 'Tree of Justice' and have been preparing for this day for ten years. Now I can only guide this kid to take the stage and replace you, Grandpa."

Zhou Qingfeng was stunned and looked at Lucy in surprise. "What do you mean? Replace Mr. Hammer? Me?"

Lucy nodded. "Yes, you need to play the role of the legendary CIA agent, the founder of the 'Tree of Justice', and the 'Lord of Shadows' who has been successful for decades."

"But I can't even impersonate an FBI agent, let alone a legendary agent?" Zhou Qingfeng widened his eyes, not knowing how to respond for a moment.

"That's because you're too stupid and inexperienced. But you're not without advantages either. At least you're physically strong enough. As long as you don't use your brain, you'll be fine."

Thinking about the feeling of being held by this boy and soaring on the roof, Lucy felt her heart flutter. It was truly a rare life experience.

"Let me do the brainwork." Lucy turned and walked into the room, opened a hidden cabinet, and took out a tablet computer.

She handed these things to Zhou Qingfeng and said seriously: "Here is the core information of the 'Tree of Justice' and grandpa's personal notes.

You can take a look and just remember some key information, such as the names and backgrounds of the people in the organization.

"With these, can you impersonate your grandfather?" Zhou Qingfeng didn't believe it. The size difference between him and old man Hammer was too great; there was no way he could replace him.

Lucy smiled and said, "You don't need to pretend to be my grandfather. You just need to demonstrate his power. Just like you have never met Dias, but you are forced by his power to be unable to participate in public activities."

Zhou Qingfeng understood immediately, "You just need me to cause trouble, right?"
-
At this moment, Dias had already felt Zhou Qingfeng's "power" - the two "cleaners" he sent to track Lucy sent back dozens of on-site investigation photos of "leaping from the rooftop".

In the photo, the rooftop railing was obviously bent due to external force, and there were several clear footprints left on the floor.

These details made Diaz frown, but also extremely excited.

With just a simple mechanical calculation, we can reversely calculate the force Zhou Qingfeng exerted when pedaling.

The results showed that Zhou Qingfeng's thigh strength was far beyond that of ordinary people, reaching 1.5 times that of professional athletes, especially his explosive power, which was simply astonishing.

What shocked Diaz even more was that, judging from the existing data, Zhou Qingfeng's physical fitness still had room for improvement.

The two "cleaners'" reports also mentioned that no traces consistent with Lucy's jump were found at the scene.

Lucy was not an athletic woman, and her body was obviously not capable of completing such a difficult leap.

Therefore, the only explanation was that Zhou Qingfeng carried her, who weighed about 150 pounds, across the gap between the two apartment buildings.

"Amazing man..." The two "cleaners" did not know him, nor did they know his specific identity, but their intuition told them that this man was no ordinary person.

Dias, however, knew of Zhou Qingfeng's existence. He quickly connected the "rooftop leap" with the previous "hunting the governor" and came to an accurate conclusion: "Victor found Lucy."

His eyes fell on a document at hand, which was the "X" project report provided by the military biochemical laboratory.

Compared with the conservative domestic research of the University of Tokyo, the US military researchers are much bolder.

Not only do they use illegal immigrants to conduct cheap experiments in the United States, they also use more than 400 overseas military bases around the world and take advantage of the large number of refugees created by war and famine to conduct secret research.

According to the report, among the first generation of "X" virus infected people, most of the elderly, weak and sick will die quickly, while young and middle-aged people will experience an acute phase similar to a cold and then gain immunity.

However, a very small number of young and middle-aged people will show significant enhancement phenomena - their strength, speed and endurance will be greatly improved, almost identical to Zhou Qingfeng's performance.

The US military is extremely excited about the results of this experiment, but they have not yet conducted experiments on their own personnel. The reason is simple: they cannot determine whether this enhancement has long-term side effects.

For example, will the enhanced individuals have shorter lives? Will they develop other diseases? After all, evolution is never smooth sailing.

The vast majority of evolution is harmful, and even the few beneficial ones are often accompanied by terrible side effects or are unstable.

"Survival of the fittest, the price behind it is countless corpses." Diaz murmured in a low voice, a hint of coldness flashed in his eyes.

However, Zhou Qingfeng appeared
Dias was certain that this kid had obtained all the information about the "X" project through "Apocalypse Biology" and might even have become the first stable beneficiary of the "X" project.

If this is true, then Zhou Qingfeng's value will be far beyond imagination.

"A stable enhanced individual...cannot be a non-American." Diaz was accustomed to 'American exceptionalism' and could not accept Zhou Qingfeng's existence.

"We need to use greater force to deal with this kid." Diaz looked at several experimental reports submitted by the US military. Several "overseas" experimental subjects performed well and were brought back to the United States.

"Is it possible to let these monsters kill each other?"

When Dias's attention was focused on Zhou Qingfeng, he naturally ignored some insignificant descriptions in the military report - the X virus had escaped from the laboratory.

Because two 'cleaners' called, "We found Hammer Lee's hiding place, and unexpectedly discovered another target, Victor."
-
Old Man Hammer's secluded villa is located on the edge of a remote forest, surrounded by tall hedges, as if isolated from the world. The nearest neighbor is hundreds of meters away, and the silence is so quiet that only the rustling of the wind through the treetops can be heard.

After confirming the need to launch a counterattack against Diaz, Lucy quickly took action. While packing her luggage, she directed Zhou Qingfeng to load the necessary items into the car.

She was already accustomed to this kind of emergency evacuation. Before leaving, she activated the villa's surveillance system, then turned to Zhou Qingfeng and asked, "Are you sure you want to stay?"

"Sure." Zhou Qingfeng's answer was brief and firm. He dragged a heavy toolbox out of the villa's basement.

The box was opened, revealing several firearms of varying lengths and thousands of rounds of ammunition neatly arranged inside. "I want to see who will be arriving later."

Lucy looks ordinary, but she has an almost intuitive sense of tracking and anti-tracking.

When she hid in the middle-aged father's house, she tried to confirm who brought the police to investigate her.

Her method was simple - when the middle-aged father's daughter asked for a photo, Zhou Qingfeng originally planned to take the girl's phone and return it after it was safe, but Lucy stopped him.

"Let her post it." Lucy said coldly afterwards, "That little girl won't listen. She will be eager to post the photos online in exchange for attention.

She needs to learn a lesson so she can understand that life can’t be too capricious.”

As it turned out, Lucy's judgment was completely correct. As they circled the city in a taxi, the rebellious girl posted a photo on social media.

Within half an hour, her classmates discovered the photo, became envied, and immediately called the police.

The police immediately found the little girl's home, broke down the door like wolves and tigers, dragged the panicked girl out of the bed with guns pointed, and started interrogating her immediately.

The police will then quickly locate the taxi because it is equipped with a GPS signal transmitter, making tracking it effortless.

After arriving at Hammer's villa, Lucy specifically asked the taxi driver not to leave for the time being. This move directly exposed them to the police.

After entering the villa, Lucy began to count down - she knew that the police helicopter would appear in the area in half an hour at the earliest.

"But the police won't come right away." Old man Hammer sat on the sofa, his tone calm but with a hint of sarcasm.

He was very familiar with this situation. "If Dias really wanted to attack me, the first people to come would definitely be his 'cleaners'."

"Cleaners" is jargon in the intelligence community, referring to non-staff members who do dirty work, similar to "labor dispatch."

Every senior intelligence analyst has several "cleaners" under him who specialize in handling some shady chores.

Hammer knew this all too well. He sneered, "There won't be too many 'cleaners' under Diaz. Killing one or two would be enough to make him feel bad."

Zhou Qingfeng grabbed an old M700 sniper rifle from the weapons box, weighed it, then shook his head and chose a short-barreled M4 assault rifle.

He chuckled self-deprecatingly, "Sniping is a technical skill, not everyone can pull it off. It's easier for me to just 'splash water' with an assault rifle."

He grabbed a few magazines and stuffed them into the pockets of his tactical vest before waving to Lucy and Hammer, "You guys go, I'll leave on my own later."

Lucy didn't object anymore. She dismissed the nanny, let the middle-aged driver leave alone, and then helped Hammer walk towards the garage.

When old man Hammer reached the door, he suddenly stopped and looked back at Zhou Qingfeng, "Victor, don't be so stubborn."

"You may not even remember me in a few hours." Zhou Qingfeng smiled and stood at the window of the villa, watching Lucy and Hammer's car disappear at the end of the forest trail.

Time passed minute by minute, and the villa was so quiet that only the ticking of the clock could be heard.

Zhou Qingfeng wasn't inside the villa, but was squatting near a nearby hedge. He had a tablet computer in his hand, which allowed him to view the surveillance footage from inside and outside the villa.

Just over ten minutes later, bright car lights lit up in the darkness in the distance, and the low roar of car engines was heard.

But the car stopped about a hundred meters away and did not move any closer, turning off the lights and engine.

Although Zhou Qingfeng couldn't see the person coming, he quickly picked up the M4, checked the magazine, turned on the bolt safety, and moved slightly quietly.

After a few minutes, a slight 'buzzing' sound could be heard in the air. If it were not late at night and there was no one around, the sound would have been drowned out by the ambient noise.

"They used a drone. It turns out they're the 'cleaners'."

Infrared rays have strong penetrating power, and will be very conspicuous even if you hide in the woods. You must have a cover to avoid them.

Zhou Qingfeng didn't dare to move anymore. He chose to stay in a small hut near the villa where miscellaneous items were stored, waiting quietly for his opponent to approach.
-
At the end of the road, three black SUVs drove slowly, their tires rolling over the gravel road, making a slight squeaking sound.

The car stopped about a hundred meters away from the villa. The doors opened almost at the same time, and six "cleaners" in plain clothes quickly got out of the car.

Among this group of people was an "old acquaintance" of Zhou Qingfeng - Luxor, the former CIA agent with an annual salary of 300,000.

The guy was wearing a heavy bulletproof vest, holding an assault rifle in his hand, and after getting out of the car, he did not forget to put on a tactical helmet.

He flipped the night vision device on top of his helmet over his eyes, adjusted it, and then whispered into the intercom:
"Everyone, pay attention. The target, Victor, might be in that villa. He's not easy to deal with, so don't take him lightly. Shoot him if you see him. Don't talk nonsense. We don't need him alive."

A "cleaner" walked up to Luxor and asked in a low voice, "Who is that guy? Where did he receive his training?"

"I don't know." Luxor did not reveal Zhou Qingfeng's real age - he was only nineteen years old. No one would believe this fact.

He recalled the many times when he was playing paintball at the test farm and was fooled by Zhou Qingfeng.

That guy always appears in the most unlikely places and wins in the most incredible ways.

Luxor added simply to his companions, "Don't treat Victor as an ordinary target. He's far more dangerous than you think."

The "cleaner" shrugged. "Understood. We will never underestimate the enemy, even if they are just a rookie."

Luxor didn't refute, but just shouted coldly: "I hope you can still be so confident later."

(End of this chapter)