Special forces soldier demobilization: Starting from the county government compound, a meteoric rise

"Da da da da da!"

Automatic rifles spat fire, a dense barrage of bullets weaving a deadly web in the narrow underground passage. Light bulbs on the walls shattered, sparks flying everywhere.

The remnants of the "Blood Wolf" mercenary group, or rather, the armed guards on the outskirts of Aegis, were indeed well-trained. But against the Dragon Fang squad, who were completely unleashing their full potential and moving like wolves among sheep, their so-called tactical coordination was simply a joke.

Liu Ming took the lead.

He didn't seek cover at all, but instead weaved through the hail of bullets with an "S"-shaped movement that almost defied the laws of physics. His movements were so fast that he was just a blurry afterimage, and every time he raised his gun, a sentry hidden in the shadows would fall to the ground.

"Bang!"

Liu Ming kicked open a reinforced security door and fired three shots with his HK416. The three guards behind the door, who were preparing to throw grenades, instantly had their foreheads split open and collapsed limply into pools of blood.

"Left lane cleared!" Lone Wolf's voice crackled in the headset, cold and mechanical. "Right side done! These bastards are too weak!" Tank's gruff laughter followed.

"Ghost Hand, how much longer?" Liu Ming stepped over a corpse, changing a magazine as he walked toward the core area of ​​the base—the central server room.

"Boss, those bastards have built a 36-layer dynamic encryption shell!" Ghost Hand's voice was laced with excitement and madness. "Give me two minutes! I'm not only going to burn down their servers, but I'm going to strip those bastards naked!"

……

Outside the central server room, the most heavily guarded area of ​​the entire base, was a dozen of Aegis's most elite modified bio-soldiers. They felt no pain, like a silent wall of flesh.

"Vulture, Poison Doctor."

Liu Ming's eyes darkened, his killing intent as deep as the ocean. "Give them something extra."

"Alright!" The Poison Doctor sneered, took out two specially made smoke bombs that emitted a ghostly green light from his waist, and threw them into the ventilation duct.

Less than ten seconds.

The bio-soldiers inside, who were supposedly immune to pain, suddenly erupted in pig-like screams. They rolled wildly on the ground, scratching their throats, unable to alleviate the extreme pain caused by the neurotoxins that had penetrated deep into their bones, even as they tore their flesh apart.

"Break down the door."

The tank roared, hoisted a man-portable rocket launcher captured from the guard, and with a "boom," blasted a large hole in the alloy door that was strong enough to withstand armor-piercing rounds.

Liu Ming was the first to rush in. Inside the server room, countless server racks with red and blue indicator lights flashing alternately resembled a steel forest.

Deep within this forest, the leader of the Aegis organization—"The Earl"—was holding a golden Desert Eagle with a look of terror on his face, his hands trembling violently.

He just couldn't understand it. How could this overseas fortress, which was said to be impregnable and even the Navy SEALs dared not easily set foot in, be completely breached by these six ghost-like Easterners in less than fifteen minutes?

"You... what kind of monsters are you?" The count roared desperately, staring at the man who looked as if he'd been pulled from a pool of blood. "Liu Ming! You're insane! This is an act of war! The country behind you can't protect you!"

Liu Ming looked at him coldly, as if he were a bedbug struggling to its death on a chopping board.

He approached slowly, each step pressing on the count's taut nerves.

"War?" Liu Ming's lips curled into a cruel smile. "When you sent people to infiltrate the capital and plant bombs under my car, didn't you think of that as war?"

"When you joined forces with multinational corporations to try and strangle the technological lifeline of China's 1.4 billion people, didn't you think of this as war?"

He stopped less than two meters from the count.

At this moment, the ghostly hand beside him had already connected his terminal to the central server's interface. His ten fingers moved like phantoms, and lines of blood-red code frantically popped up on the screen.

"Boss! The bottom-level defenses have been breached!" Ghost Hand laughed, a laugh like that of a wanton madman. "I've downloaded all the dirt on them over the past ten years—their bribery of officials and attempts to subvert regimes around the world! Now, implant the 'Dragon Flame' virus!"

"bite--!"

As soon as the Enter key was pressed, the indicator lights on hundreds, even thousands, of servers throughout the server room instantly turned a glaring red! Then, "Bang bang bang!"

The server's motherboard began to frantically report errors due to overload, and a burnt smell filled the air.

The data that contained countless shady secrets of the Western world was completely erased in just a few seconds, turning into a bunch of meaningless gibberish.

Aegis's global command center is paralyzed.

"No! No!"

The count stared at the server racks billowing black smoke, screaming in despair. He knew he was finished. Without this data, his master would skin him alive. He abruptly raised his gun and pointed it at Liu Ming's head!

"I kill you!"

"Bang!"

A shot rang out.

But it wasn't Liu Ming who fell.

Liu Ming drew his gun twice as fast as him. The black pistol didn't even need to be aimed; relying solely on his honed muscle memory, a single bullet precisely shattered the count's forehead.

Blood splattered, and the golden Desert Eagle fell to the ground with a crisp sound. The count's eyes, filled with resentment and fear, stared fixedly at the ceiling as he collapsed heavily to the ground.

Liu Ming put away his gun. He looked at the gradually cooling corpse on the ground, and then glanced around the burning machine room. There was no joy of victory in his eyes, only a kind of calm and relief as if he had finally put an obsession behind him.

"With interest."

Liu Ming murmured softly, "I've figured it out."

He turned around and looked at the group of brothers fighting bloody battles behind him.

"Fall back."

"go home."

……

As Liu Ming led the Dragon Fang Squad away from the area silently aboard a nuclear submarine, the base on the isolated island had already been reduced to a massive fireball rising into the sky by the C4 explosives they had planted.

The firelight illuminated half the sky, completely burning away the darkest hand that Western powers had tried to use to control China.

Two days later, in the capital, at the council chamber.

Sunlight streamed through the mahogany window frames, falling on the long table that symbolized power.

Liu Ming changed into a sharp black Zhongshan suit.

He stood there, reporting all the details of this "overseas fugitive pursuit" operation. There was no exaggeration, no boasting; he simply described, in the most understated tone, a storm that was poised to change the dark landscape of the world.

After listening, the leaders remained silent for a long time. They looked at the young man, at the sharp yet unassuming brilliance between his brows, their eyes filled with undisguised admiration and awe.

"Okay." He broke the silence first. He stood up, walked to Liu Ming, and patted him heavily on the shoulder.

"A single punch can ward off a hundred more."

"You lad, not only did you stage a brilliant economic comeback, but you also saved face for our Dragon Kingdom on the edge of a knife!"

He looked around at everyone present.

"Comrades, with the breakthrough in semiconductors, the elimination of internal traitors, and this triumph overseas, Comrade Liu Ming's achievements deserve no reward whatsoever, right?"

"I propose it."

His gaze became more solemn than ever before.

"Comrade Liu Ming has been promoted exceptionally and has officially joined the council."

These words shocked everyone present, but after the initial shock came a deathly agreement.

Entering the council means that this 31-year-old will become one of the youngest and most truly influential leaders on this land.

Looking at the red flag fluttering in the wind outside the window, Liu Ming thought of the old farmer who brought him hard-boiled eggs, his father's instructions, and his comrades who fell in the hail of bullets.

He stood at attention and saluted.

"I would risk my life for the benefit of my country."

Liu Ming's voice was deep, yet it resonated throughout the hall like a grand bell.

"The word 'elite'."

"I, Liu Ming, will take it."