Chapter 3: The Latent Ones

  Ten days later.

  Team leader... Meng Zi... Old Xu... Big Head!

  "Roar!......" Zhao Ziyang let out a loud roar, using all his strength to open his eyes.

  His forehead was covered with sweat, and the scene of Robo's death flashed through his mind once again: top-secret mission, dead comrades...

  "Huff...huff..." Zhao Ziyang panted heavily, trying to calm himself down, only to discover that he was tightly bound to the bed.

  The room was still the same one as last time I woke up, filled with white and cold machinery, a sickroom? A laboratory?

  "Awake? How are you feeling?" A gentle and smooth-haired spirit fox walked over, smiling as she looked at the awakened Zhao Ziyang.

  Zhao Ziyang didn't say a word, staring fixedly at the spirit fox with an icy gaze.

  Two people stared at each other for a long time, Zhao Ziyang slightly moved his body and used physical movements to remind Ling Hu.

  "Oh, sorry, I'll untie you." The cunning fox lightly stuck out her small tongue and said to Zhao Ziyang while untying him, "Little white mouse, oh no, you can't smash my lab again. These instruments were made by me personally, and even with money, they can't be bought."

  Zhao Ziyang's body got free, he jumped down from the bed, gently stretched his arms to adapt, using this action to cover up his thoughts at this time. He didn't know what kind of people these were, but he knew how terrifying the woman in front of him was.

  The vigilance in her heart grew stronger, and she breathed cautiously, fearing that she would smell something unusual from this woman again.

  However, Ling Hu seemed to ignore Zhao Ziyang's movements and expressions. She looked at him with a smile, seemingly full of interest in him.

  "What's your name?" Ling Hu asked Zhao Ziyang.

  "My name is..." Zhao Ziyang's vigilant heart paused for a moment, then stared into the other person's eyes and said in a deep voice: "Special Forces!"

  "Special forces?" Ling Huo pouted, looking somewhat adorable as she said to Zhao Ziyang: "My name is Ling Huo. I'm not good at fighting. I hold a dual Ph.D. in biochemistry and geology from Oxford University, and I'm also moonlighting as a military doctor."

  Zhao Ziyang nodded, carefully observing the surroundings. He knew he was not in immediate danger of losing his life. If they wanted to kill him, they would not have gone to the trouble of rescuing him.

  "Did you save me?" Zhao Ziyang asked, his eyes falling on Ling Hu's beautiful face.

  "That's right, we saved you." The spirit fox smiled and said to him: "We happened to be going to snipe at our old opponent, and then rescued you along the way."

  A flicker of barely perceptible doubt flashed across Zhao Ziyang's eyes, and he thought to himself what could be behind this matter, not believing that it was just a coincidence.

  "Who ambushed us?" Zhao Ziyang continued to ask Ling Hu.

  Ling Hu threw him an armband with a flick of her wrist.

  Zhao Ziyang took over the armband and recognized at a glance that the emblem on it was the same as the enemy's emblem he had seen: a rhombus inlaid with an inverted V.

  Zhao Ziyang, who had been pinching his arm and looking at it for a while, saw the eagle head emblem on Ling Hu's body, and nodded slightly. The hostility in his heart dissipated somewhat, but this did not lower his vigilance; instead, it increased. He didn't think that such a mercenary would save him out of kindness, and must have had their own purpose.

  "Heh heh." The spirit fox revealed a lovely smile, pointing in one direction to Zhao Zi Yang and saying: "You can go take a good bath and change your clothes over there, then enjoy a delicious meal of Golden Coast's specialty caviar and small bread, and afterwards I'll bring you to meet our captain."

  "Hmm." Zhao Ziyang broke off his train of thought and strode in the direction that Ling Hu pointed.

  Watching Zhao Ziyang go in to take a bath, the spirit fox pouted and muttered: "Am I not good-looking? Humph, actually looking at someone with cold eyes"

  "Eastern people are really strange, don't they like charming blonde girls?"

  Zhao Ziyang went in to take a bath, letting the hot water wash over his body, staring at himself in the mirror, trying to force out a smile, and said to himself: Zhao Ziyang, no matter what, you have to survive, you must survive! Only by living can there be hope, the hope of revenge.

  After taking a bath, Zhao Ziyang put on a camouflage uniform and followed Ling Hu to the outside, arriving at a spacious hall.

  The hall is very spacious, estimated to be over a thousand square meters. Several large chandeliers hang from the ceiling nearly twenty meters above the ground, and the walls decorated in European style emit soft light all around. In addition, there are floor lamps under the floor that illuminate the hall with brilliant lights.

  In the center is a pond with artificial hills, looking just like the lobby of some luxury hotel. The only difference being that nobody goes fishing in the hotel's pool, while on the edge of this pond squats a big man dressed in cowboy attire holding a fishing rod to go fishing.

  Raising his head and scanning around, Zhao Ziyang saw that the several people in the hall were all busy with their own affairs, without making any commotion due to his arrival.

  "Have you seen that woman?" Ling Hu pointed to a person wearing combat uniform, fiddling with firearms, and introduced to Zhao Ziyang: "Pandora, a killing machine from the US Women's Special Forces, former chief firearms consultant of Remington USA, Northrop Grumman Corporation's cutting-edge laboratory director, but now our firearms modification master."

  Zhao Ziyang's gaze was drawn over, and he walked towards Pandora, quietly watching as she picked up a gun barrel in her hand.

  "Carbon-16 titanium alloy barrel, pursuing its excellent lethality to the extreme. The pure handmade single-point hook cutting rifling increases accuracy. Then, the tungsten carbide non-pointed bullet head is used to compress the barrel, making the inner diameter slightly larger, increasing the metal density of the inner wall surface, and increasing the hardness, extending the barrel life by several times. The rifling setting 1:7 twist distance, 5.72 twist degree, maximizes the stability of the bullet head, but the firing speed will be reduced to some extent. However, it doesn't matter, as the firing speed can be increased through modifications to the sear and trigger. Pandora narrowed her eyes and carefully examined the rifling on the barrel in her hand, then quickly assembled an M4A1."

  "It's yours." Pandora raised her head and threw the modified rifle to Zhao Ziyang with a sunny smile.

  Zhao Ziyang took the rifle, his eyes fell on Pandora's neck, he saw a ferocious red line at her throat, which was caused by being cut off with a military knife.

  "Does it look good?" Pandora smiled brightly at Zhao Ziyang again, reached out to touch the wound on her neck and said: "I think this is my most beautiful decoration."

  。”

  Suddenly, a chill rose from Zhao Ziyang's feet, and he felt that this Pandora was not as sunny as she seemed on the surface, but a woman with a heart full of coldness. Although her eyes were smiling, the smile deep down was an unshakeable loneliness.

  "Thanks." Zhao Ziyang waved the gun in his hand and gave Pan Dora a friendly smile, sincerely saying to her: "I think you should stand under the sun, this place doesn't quite suit you."

  "Thank you." Pandora smiled at Zhao Ziyang and stood up, walking towards the outside of the hall.

  Looking at Pandora's back, Zhao Ziyang asked Ling Hu: "What is she going to do? Sunbathe?"

  "No." The spirit fox's eyes revealed a complex expression as he whispered to Zhao Zi Yang, "You've provoked her, she's going to go kill someone."

  Zhao Ziyang was stunned for a moment, but before he could think it through, the spirit fox pulled him along to continue walking forward.

  "Chinese?" The cowboy in overalls squatting by the pond to fish cast a sideways glance, and hummed out a sentence with great disdain.

  Zhao Ziyang ignored the other person's disdain and saw the tattoo of the American flag on his arm.

  He is an American and a patriotic one at that, just very unfriendly.

  "This is Swartz, a former member of the US Los Angeles Counter-Terrorism Special Forces, who was on vacation in a US federal prison before coming here." Ling Hu said to Zhao Ziyang as he pulled him forward, reminding him: "Actually, this American guy Swartz isn't bad, but he likes to snoop into people's minds and make them public, a bit mischievous."

  As the spirit fox pulled Zhao Ziyang away, seemingly avoiding a plague, Swarte shifted his disdainful gaze from Zhao Ziyang and muttered: "Chinese? It seems anything can get in here."

  A girl with fiery red hair, she didn't have the disdainful gaze of Swort, but instead looked at Zhao Ziyang with great interest.

  "Hey handsome, I'm so glad to see you. I think we can have a candlelit dinner together and then sit on the rooftop counting stars and chatting. What do you think of this idea?" The girl was playing with a thin knife in her hand, the blade rotating agilely between her fingers, emitting a cold gleam.

  "Mandala, this is my person"

  The spirit fox glared at the red-haired girl, issuing her a warning.

  "Ling Hu, why so excited? Don't worry, I won't touch your treasure." Mandala smiled at Ling Hu and flipped her wrist, using two slender fingers to hold a small knife as she said to Zhao Ziyang: "Handsome guy, I'm waiting for you."

  Zhao Ziyang stared at the small knife in his opponent's hand, and his heart skipped a beat. If he wasn't mistaken, the knife in his opponent's hand should be made according to the ancient method of lingchi punishment, with a blade length of three inches, thin as a cicada's wing, cutting flesh without seeing blood.

  "Mandala, her hobby is..."

  "Punishment." Zhao Ziyang said with a straight face, his eyes filled with thick vigilance as he looked at Mandala.

  Women who play with men's emotions are not just crazy, they're also perverted.

  "Asshole!" From a distant corner, Ao Mo stood up and stretched out his right hand middle finger to Zhao Zi Yang, making an extremely insulting gesture.

  "Hmph!" Zhao Ziyang snorted coldly and shifted his gaze away.

  Insults to oneself must always be avenged, but not now.

  "How's your body recovering?" A middle-aged European man walked over with a smile and asked Zhao Ziyang.

  Zhao Ziyang nodded, his eyes falling on the European man's half-weathered face: his right cheek was pockmarked with scars left by a shotgun blast.

  "This is Captain Black Eagle." Ling Hu introduced Zhao Ziyang and then pointed at Zhao Ziyang to Black Eagle, saying: "Special Forces."

  "Hello." Hei Ying stretched out his right hand in a friendly gesture towards Zhao Ziyang.

  "Hello." Zhao Ziyang shook hands with Heiying, feeling the calluses on his palms.

  It's obvious that this is a result of holding guns frequently and consistently for decades.

  "You two chat, I still have things to do, hehe......" Ling Hu smiled at the two of them and turned around to head towards her own laboratory.

  "What would you like to drink?" Hei Ying pointed at the wine and water on the table in front of him, inviting Zhao Zi Yang.

  。

  "Thanks, no need." Zhao Ziyang declined.

  "Haha, it's not a good phenomenon that men don't drink. However, your English is very good and has an American flavor."

  "Compulsory course for troops." Zhao Ziyang said simply and walked shoulder-to-shoulder with Heiying to sit down in front of the table.

  He waits for the other party to speak out, in this case, he should not show too much anxiety, the more anxious, his thoughts are easily controlled by the other party. None of these people are good, they are all bloodthirsty guys.

  "My name is Black Hawk, originally part of the US 'Op' special operations group. Now I'm a mercenary, making a living with these guys. To be honest, we're just doing business with guns, and the term businessman seems more fitting." Black Hawk raised his glass of red wine, gave a distant toast to Zhao Ziyang, and downed it in one gulp.

  Mercenary, battlefield butcher, blood slaughterer.

  As soon as he heard the three words "mercenary", Zhao Ziyang's heart immediately sprouted infinite killing intent. However, he didn't show it, clenching his fist to hide this killing intent deep within him.

  "You are mercenaries from the western shore of Robo Lake." Zhao Ziyang's eyes stared at Heiying's eyes, capturing his eye movements.

  However, he didn't see anything out of the ordinary. The other person's eyes were very calm and didn't show any unusual color. But the more this was the case, the more cautious Zhao Ziyang became. He used the corner of his eye to glance at the military knife at the other person's waist and calculated the probability of snatching the knife to take him hostage.

  This mercenary will never cross the border to Robb's Lake for no reason, their purpose is the same as ambushing their own mercenaries, for the items of the top-secret mission.

  "That's right." Hei Ying nodded.

  "The item for the mission is gone." Zhao Ziyang continued staring into Black Eagle's eyes.

  "Hahaha..." The black eagle burst out laughing, pulled out a piece of chewing gum and tossed it to Zhao Ziyang, saying: "No need to be so tense, maybe eating a piece of gum will make you feel more relaxed."

  He took a piece of chewing gum and started chewing it. He had to survive, and in order to do so, he couldn't easily trust anyone, even if they had saved his life. They might have seen him swallow the object, perhaps they wanted to use him for something. Every word from the other party couldn't be trusted, what he needed to do was analyze the authenticity of their words.

  。

  "What kind of person kills their own comrade?" Zhao Ziyang asked the Black Hawk, his teeth clenched as he chewed on the gum in his mouth.

  "The Guardian." Black Eagle replied to Zhao Ziyang's question.

  Who the Guardians were Zhao Ziyang did not know, but he knew it was a mercenary organization and Black Hawk would not deceive him about that.

  "Who is the guardian?" Zhao Ziyang asked.

  However, Hei Ying did not answer his question. He drew the military sword from his waist and placed it on the table, smiled at Zhao Zi Yang and said: "What is the Guardian organization I will tell you later, first we need to solve the problem of mutual trust."

  The black eagle's bright eyes seemed to be able to penetrate people's hearts.

  "You are of no use to us, and we will not choose to be enemies with your country. We do not care about the tasks you are carrying out, our task is simply to carry out a sniper attack on the defenders. As for who hired us, that's something I cannot tell you."

  Zhao Ziyang nodded, analyzing Heiying's words in his heart.

  "This principle you should be clear about." General Hei Ying pushed his knife towards Zhao Zi Yang's position and said to him in a nonchalant tone, "One lie requires a hundred lies to cover it up. I don't think I can tell you a hundred lies without being discovered. So what can be said, I will say to you. What cannot be said, I won't say to you."

  Looking at the military knife near at hand, Zhao Ziyang sighed lightly in his heart. He knew that Black Eagle's approach had two meanings: one was to show his sincerity; the other was to show his strength, and he didn't care about him suddenly taking control.

  Maybe he is sincere, maybe now I can only believe that he is sincere.

  "Slap slap", Black Eagle clapped his palms twice and said loudly: "Seth, photos."

  As the sound of the black eagle, a large wall in front of the hall appeared with a projected image. The photo on it made Zhao Ziyang instantly petrified: the wall showed a naked and fiery woman, and there was an obvious red line around her neck, which was clearly Pandora who had given him a gun...

  "Shit!" The Black Hawk covered his head and cursed, then raised his head and shouted loudly: "Damn you, Seth! You've put Pandora's head on Yan Xing's body again. I want those Guardian photos!"

  ！”

  "Oh no, wrong one!" A flustered voice came from the loudspeaker, and then the photo was switched over.

  "Head, whatever you do, don't tell Pandora, or I'll be completely hopeless." The loudspeaker emitted a pleading voice, then viciously warned Zhao Ziyang: "Special forces, you'd better forget what you saw, otherwise I'll crush you and throw you into the toilet!"

  "Haha... Seth, you'd better transfer a few hundred thousand into my bank account, or else I won't be able to keep my mouth shut."

  "Xie Si, just install your new operating system on my computer and I'll consider it a spring dream."

  “……”

  The other mercenaries in the hall burst out laughing and began to take advantage of the situation.

  "Shut up!" The voice from the loudspeaker sounded flustered and angry, bellowing: "This is not a threat, I dare not guarantee that your bank account balances will become a string of zeros!"

  "Hahaha..." Another burst of laughter erupted, as if threats from this Seth had become all too familiar.

  Suddenly, a feeling arose in Zhao Ziyang's heart, he thought these guys were quite lovely too.

  “Cough, cough...” Hei Ying lightly coughed twice and smiled at Zhao Zi Yang saying: “Special forces, this is just a small interlude. The players of this small interlude are our eyes and mouths. Seth, originally a member of the British Royal Air Force Special Duty Electronic Countermeasures Center, can instantly hack into any country's military satellite. He's a great guy, romantic and humorous.”

  Zhao Ziyang nodded, he knew that this Sai was absolutely not just able to instantly cut into military satellites, but should be a true genius-level figure among sleeper mercenaries.

  "Alright." The Black Eagle clapped his hands and pointed at the three mercenaries on the wall, saying to Zhao Ziyang: "Look, these are the defenders of Robo Port that day. Maybe you can recognize them."

  Zhao Ziyang's eyes narrowed instantly, his fists clenched with a crackling sound. He took a closer look and found that one of the mercenaries' facial features matched the ones in his mind, especially their arm badges.

  A flame of hatred burst out from Zhao Ziyang's body, and the chill of murderous intent made the black shadow beside him feel a wave of astonishment.

  "You need to drink a glass of red wine"

  "Hei Ying patted Zhao Ziyang's shoulder and handed him a glass of red wine."

  Taking the red wine from Hei Ying's hand, Zhao Zi Yang drank it all in one gulp, his eyes gleaming with a vengeful light, squeezing out a few words from between his teeth: "I will take revenge!"

  Hei Ying shook his head, took a sip of red wine and said to Zhao Ziyang: "You want to avenge and prove that the friendship is in your heart occupies a great position, but can you really avenge?"

  "Do you know what organization The Guardian is?" Black Hawk continued to ask Zhao Ziyang.

  Zhao Ziyang was stunned for a moment, indeed, he didn't even know what the Guardian organization was, how could he go and take revenge?

  "Do you know what's behind the Guardian Mercenaries?" Black Hawk asked again.

  Zhao Ziyang shook his head, he was completely in the dark.

  "Calm down, you must restrain the angry devil in your heart, or it will make you lose your life in irrationality." Black Hawk comforted Zhao Ziyang's emotions and snapped his fingers to say: "Seth, play some soothing music."

  "Damn it, boss, I'm not your exclusive sound engineer, I'm busy! But very pleased to dedicate theberries' never grow old to you, wishing you forever young, haha."

  The music started, and Zhao Ziyang followed Hei Ying to a corner of the hall and quietly listened to his introduction to the Guardian's origin.

  "Mercenaries of the Guardian are a product of the new war economy, recruiting retired soldiers from world-renowned special forces in the name of maintaining peace, serving powerful nations. They claim to have the most just stance, and fighting for weak countries goes against their will, not even tempted by more money."

  Until now, no one knows whether the Guardians are a product of the new war economy or a creation of a powerful nation, but one thing is certain: their combat power is astonishing, and even the old foreign legions and Blackwater pale in comparison before them." The Black Hawk took a sip of red wine and nodded at Zhao Ziyang.

  Upon hearing this, a bitter taste arose in Zhao Zi Yang's mouth. He could imagine how powerful the Guardian was.

  "By the way, you may not know about our lurkers." The black eagle, who had taken in Zhao Ziyang's expression, smiled and said: "Our lurkers are mercenaries serving third-world countries. We love peace and never serve powerful nations. We have our own beliefs, we have a creed of victory or destruction, we fear no power, we do not fight for money, but only for the justice in our hearts."

  Because justice always needs to be defended with struggle and we are the weapons of third world countries defending justice and fairness.

  "Our bodies are filled with wild and bloody vigor, strong, arrogant, and bloodthirsty! Most importantly - we are sworn enemies of the Guardians to the death!"

  When Zhao Ziyang heard the last words of Heiying, his heart skipped a beat. He didn't care what kind of organization the hidden one was or what kind of justice their justice was, he just wanted to know if they could contend with the guardian.

  "By the way, your injuries have healed, and you can return to China at any time." Hei Ying seemed to want to end this conversation, stood up and took two steps forward, turned around and confidently said to Zhao Zi Yang: "Finally, I want to tell you a fact, maybe you don't want to hear it."

  "Speak!" Zhao Ziyang clenched his fist.

  "Can you still come out after returning to your country?" Hei Ying asked lightly.

  This sentence hit Zhao Ziyang's heart heavily, and after returning to the country, he will inevitably be investigated by relevant departments, but he can't explain what happened. The investigation is like an arrest, the investigation is easy, and the cancellation is far away. From then on, he may not be able to leave the country for half a step, maybe he will be locked in a secret prison, maybe he will mysteriously disappear, or maybe he will become a small white mouse in the laboratory...

  If I go back, there will be no chance to find the answer forever, and it will never be possible to avenge my comrades...

  Zhao Ziyang slowly stood up, the scene of his comrades' tragic death once again floated before his eyes, and his gaze became increasingly resolute.

  "I want to join you!" Zhao Ziyang said firmly, his back straight and his eyes gleaming with a wild light as he gazed at the silhouette of the Black Eagle.

  The black eagle didn't stop its pace, it just stretched out a finger and gently shook it before disappearing into the hall.

  Zhao Ziyang understood the meaning of that finger: wanting to join the lurkers, your current strength is not even qualified!

  A boxing ring slowly rose from the center of the hall, on which stood a Russian strongman like a polar bear. He looked at Zhao Ziyang with disdain, hooking his thumb at Zhao Ziyang: "Want to stay in the lurker? First knock me down, otherwise get out!"

  In an instant, the wild blood that had been flowing in Zhao Ziyang's body was ignited, and he jumped onto the boxing ring like a beast, arrogant, bloody, and invincible...