Rebirth in the Dragon Kingdom: The Strongest Blade

Chapter 68 Nighttime Assassination

At 2:55 a.m., in a valley on the border of Country C.

The night was as dark as ink, obscuring even the starlight. Inside the makeshift military base, only a few dim searchlights slowly rotated, casting beams of light along the edge of the camp.

At a sentry post on the outskirts of the base, two soldiers from Country C were dozing. They were dressed in ordinary uniforms, their weapons casually leaning against one side—this temporary deployment was, in their view, merely a formality. Who would attack a base manned by a joint force of four nations?

One of the soldiers lit a cigarette, took a puff, and mumbled to his comrade, "What are those foreigners doing in the middle of the night? They couldn't catch anyone during the day, and now they're causing trouble at night."

His companion yawned: "Who cares? We're just standing guard, changing shifts when it's time. Let those foreigners do whatever they want."

Unbeknownst to them, three pairs of eyes were watching them from the bushes just twenty meters away.

Lin Zhe, Long Lin, and Long Qing stood motionless, like three rocks. They had been lying in wait for ten minutes, observing the changing of the guard and the patrol routes.

"Two sentries, changing positions every ten minutes, but they won't leave their posts," Long Qing whispered through the encrypted communication channel on her watch. "The patrol passes by every fifteen minutes, four people each time."

"That's enough." Lin Zhe glanced at the time. "Long Qing, you're in charge of the two sentry posts on the east side. Long Lin, the west side is yours. I'll take care of the patrol team. We'll move in simultaneously in three minutes."

"clear."

The three of them dispersed silently, like cheetahs stalking the night.

Long Qing circled around to the rear of the eastern sentry post and drew a dagger from her waist. Her movements were as light as a cat's, and she made no sound as she stepped on the withered branches and leaves.

On the sentry post, two soldiers were still chatting idly.

"I heard the person we arrested during the day was one of China's top special forces soldiers?"

"Even if they were incredibly skilled, they still managed to escape. Over three hundred people couldn't catch a single one, it's laughable..."

Before she could finish speaking, Long Qing had already crept up behind them. Her left hand covered the mouth of the soldier on the left, while her right hand pierced the carotid artery with precision. The soldier's body stiffened, and he went limp without uttering a sound.

Hearing the commotion, the soldier on the right turned his head, but Long Qing's left hand had already released the corpse and covered its mouth—the same action, the same spot. Two seconds, two men, both gone.

On the west side, Longlin had also completed his task. He didn't use a dagger, but a thin steel wire—to strangle the neck, severing the trachea and carotid artery, without making a sound.

Lin Zhe was waiting for the patrol team to arrive.

The four-man patrol walked slowly, guns slung over their shoulders, completely unguarded. When they reached a shadowy spot, Lin Zhe made his move.

He lunged out of the shadows, the first soldier's mouth was covered and his neck was snapped; before the second soldier could react, he was punched in the temple and his skull shattered; the third soldier was about to grab his gun when Lin Zhe's dagger was already piercing his heart; the fourth soldier tried to shout, but Lin Zhe's hand covered his mouth and the dagger pierced his jaw and went straight to his brain.

The whole process took less than five seconds. The four-man patrol team was wiped out.

The three met again, nodded to each other, and continued their exploration.

Inside the base, an eerie silence reigned. The special forces soldiers from four countries, exhausted from the day's manhunt and the night's arguments, were now fast asleep in their barracks. They never dreamed that their target, whom they had surrounded during the day, would return with a surprise attack.

The barracks were simple prefabricated houses provided by Country C, a row of more than thirty rooms, each housing eight people. Based on the daytime reconnaissance, there were approximately 250 special forces soldiers from the four countries living together.

Lin Zhe and his two companions stood outside the first barracks, peering through the window. Inside, eight cots held eight people of different skin colors, all fast asleep, their snores rising and falling.

"How do we do it?" Dragon Scale asked in a low voice.

Lin Zhe made a gesture—two people go in, one person guards.

Long Lin nodded and took out a silenced pistol from his backpack. Lin Zhe also took out the same equipment. Long Qing stayed outside the door to keep watch, her pistol cocked, ready to deal with any emergencies.

The door wasn't locked. Lin Zhe gently pushed it open, and the two slipped inside.

The barracks reeked of sweat and foot odor. The eight men slept soundly, completely unaware of death's approach.

Lin Zhe and Long Lin had a clear division of labor. Lin Zhe was in charge of the four beds on the left, and Long Lin was in charge of the four beds on the right. They walked to each bed, pressed their pistols against each other's temples or between their eyebrows, and pulled the triggers.

"Pfft, pfft, pfft..."

There was only a slight thud, like the sound of a gun being fired with a pillow over its muzzle. The bullet pierced the skull, exploding into a small spray of blood on the pillow, but it didn't even disturb the person sleeping in the next bed.

Thirty seconds, eight people, all died in their sleep.

The two left the room, and Long Qing nodded to indicate that it was safe outside. They then headed to the next room.

The second room, the third room, the fourth room...

Everything went so smoothly it was alarming. These special forces elites, who were so arrogant during the day, were now like lambs to the slaughter, being harvested without any power to resist.

But an accident still happened.

When they were cleaning the twelfth barracks, one of the men inside suddenly woke up—perhaps he wasn't used to the bed, or perhaps he was woken up by the urge to urinate. He sat up groggily and saw Lin Zhe standing in front of his bed.

Eyes facing each other.

The man paused for a moment, then his eyes widened suddenly, and he opened his mouth to shout.

Lin Zhe reacted even faster, covering his mouth with his left hand in a flash, and pressing a pistol against his forehead with his right hand.

"puff!"

Blood splattered on the wall. The man's body convulsed a few times before collapsing onto the bed.

Although the gunshot was faint, it still woke up the other two people in the room.

"What's that sound?" someone muttered as they sat up.

Dragon Scale had already rushed to his bedside and shot him in the head with the same move.

But the third person was fully awake. He saw the situation in the room, instinctively rolled off the bed, and reached for the rifle placed on the bedside table.

"Bang!"

Long Qing, who was guarding the door, fired. The bullet pierced the man's wrist, and the rifle slipped from his hand. Before he could even scream, Long Qing's second shot struck him between the eyebrows.

The barracks fell silent again, leaving only the heavy smell of blood.

"Check to see if anyone else is awake," Lin Zhe said in a low voice.

The three quickly checked the remaining five beds and confirmed that all the patients were dead.

Leaving the room, Lin Zhe glanced at the time—3:40 AM. They had already cleared twelve barracks and dealt with ninety-six people.

"Continue," Lin Zhe said.

They were even more cautious with the remaining barracks. Each time they entered a room, they would first check if anyone was awake, and only proceed after confirming it was safe.

At 4:20 a.m., the thirtieth barracks were cleaned up.

In the last few barracks, the occupants were clearly officers—single beds with communication equipment at the head of the beds and maps hanging on the walls.

In a barracks, Lin Zhe saw a document spread out on the table. He picked it up and glanced at it, his eyes growing even colder.

The document, written in English, is titled "Feasibility Study Report on Capturing Members of the 'Hidden Dragon' Unit of the Dragon Kingdom." It provides a detailed analysis of the "Hidden Dragon" unit's combat characteristics and equipment level, and even lists several possible plans for capturing them alive.

Turning to the last page, the signature is—Advanced Research Projects Agency of the US Department of Defense.

"As expected, it was the US pulling the strings behind the scenes." Lin Zhe put the documents into his backpack. "Evidence."

By 4:50 a.m., all barracks had been cleared.

The three men stood in the center of the camp, looking at the thirty-odd prefab houses. Inside lay two hundred and fifty-six corpses from four countries, including advisors and commanders from Country M.

Everything is over, quietly.

"Install the probe," Lin Zhe said.

Long Qing took out several miniature cameras, each the size of a button, from her backpack and installed them in several key locations in the camp—outside the command tent, in the parking lot, and on the helicopter landing pad.

These cameras are disguised as pebbles or dead branches, making them virtually undetectable without close inspection. They can operate continuously for 72 hours, transmitting the captured footage in real time to a receiver in the safe house.

After doing all this, the three of them did a final check to make sure no traces were left behind, and then quickly left.

At 5:20 a.m., the sky began to lighten with the first hint of dawn.

The three returned to the safe house, took off their blood-stained combat uniforms, and disposed of all equipment that could potentially reveal their identities.

Lin Zhe contacted the Dragon Head: "Mission accomplished. All 256 special operations teams from four countries have been eliminated. No survivors, no trace left."

On the other end of the communication, Longshou remained silent for a full half minute.

Then his voice came, calm but with a barely perceptible tremor: "Well done. You evacuate immediately. At eight o'clock tonight, at border marker number three, there will be a rendezvous."

"clear."

After hanging up the call, Lin Zhe looked at Long Lin and Long Qing: "Rest for eight hours. Evacuate tonight."

The three took turns washing up, eating compressed food, and then finding their own places to sleep. Although physically exhausted, they were all on high alert—this was behind enemy lines, and anything could happen at any moment.

Lin Zhe lay in bed, but didn't fall asleep immediately. He recalled the actions he had just taken, every detail replaying in his mind.

Two hundred and fifty-six people were killed in their sleep. It's cruel, but that's war—if you don't kill the enemy, the enemy will kill you; if you're not ruthless, your comrades will die.

He thought of the soldiers who sacrificed their lives on the southwestern border, of Xiao Li at Eagle's Beak Cliff, and of how, if they hadn't arrived in time, Dragon Scale might have really fallen into enemy hands and been used as an experimental subject.

So, I have no regrets.

He closed his eyes, forcing himself to rest.

At 10:00 AM, at the temporary military base of Country C.

The soldiers from Country C, who were changing shifts, noticed something unusual—it was too quiet. Normally, by this time, the foreign special forces would have already been up and training, but today there wasn't a sound.

A lieutenant, accompanied by several soldiers, cautiously approached the barracks. He knocked on the door of the first barracks, but there was no response.

"Something's not right." The lieutenant frowned and pushed open the door.

A strong smell of blood hit the air.

The sight in the room made even this veteran, who had experienced real combat, take a step back—eight beds, eight corpses, each with a bloody hole in their forehead or temple, the sheets soaked in blood.

"Alert!" the lieutenant shouted.

The soldiers rushed into the other barracks, one after another, and they found them all the same—corpses, blood, and death.

The news was quickly reported. Half an hour later, high-ranking military officials from Country C arrived at the scene, and upon seeing the rows of corpses, everyone turned pale.

Two hundred and fifty-six special forces soldiers from four countries were all killed in their sleep. There was no gunfight, no hand-to-hand combat; it was as if death had silently passed by, taking away all their lives.

"Who...who did this?" A general from Country C asked, his voice trembling.

No one can answer that.

They retrieved the base's surveillance footage, but the footage showed that everything was normal last night. Guards were on duty, patrols were on patrol, and there were no abnormalities.

But the bodies of the sentries and patrolmen were found just outside the base—they too had been killed instantly.

A perfect alibi, a perfect murder method.

The news quickly spread to four countries. An emergency meeting was held in Country M in the early hours of the morning.

"Gentlemen, our joint task force in Country C... has been completely wiped out." The general presiding over the meeting was ashen-faced. "Two hundred and fifty-six men, including twelve Delta Force members and eight Navy SEALs, all dead. Cause of death—close-range gunshot wounds, all killed in their sleep."

The conference room was deathly silent.

"Who did it?" someone asked.

"Who else could it be?" The general threw a stack of photos on the table. "Besides that 'Ghost Unit' from China, who else could have done something like this? Silently infiltrating a military base, killing over two hundred special forces soldiers, and then disappearing without a trace?"

"They're declaring war!" A hawkish general slammed his fist on the table and stood up.

"Declare war?" the general sneered. "What evidence do you have? There were no clues left at the scene, no shell casings, no fingerprints, not even footprints. We don't even have the right to make public accusations."

He paused, his voice heavy: "And... gentlemen, think about what this means. That Chinese military unit was able to penetrate deep behind enemy lines and accomplish such an operation without our knowledge. If one day they come to our country, come to this building..."

He didn't finish speaking, but everyone understood.

A chill ran down everyone's spine.

Inside the safe house, Lin Zhe and his two companions witnessed the chaos within the base through a miniature camera. They saw the terror of the C country soldiers and the shock and anger of the four-nation investigation team that arrived later.

"They must be cursing right now." Long Lin grinned, which aggravated the wound on his shoulder, causing him to wince in pain.

As Long Qing changed his bandages, she said, "Serves you right. Those who want to capture us should be prepared to pay the price."

Lin Zhe stared at the screen, his eyes calm.

He knew that this operation would make the name "Hidden Dragon" a nightmare for certain countries forever.

But this is not enough.

He wants the whole world to know where China's bottom line is and how sharp China's blade is.

8 PM, border marker number three.

A helicopter without any markings landed silently. Lin Zhe and his two companions boarded, and the helicopter quickly took off, flying towards China.

Inside the cabin, the three of them were finally able to relax.

Lin Zhe leaned back in his seat, watching the border line recede into the distance outside the window, a complex mix of emotions welling up inside him.

In this life, he became the "Hidden Dragon," the sharpest blade in the nation.

And this road is still very long.

But he will continue on this path until the country is strong enough that no one dares to provoke it or covet it.

Because that is the meaning of his second life.

The helicopter flew across the border and entered the airspace of China.

In the distance, the lights of the motherland twinkle in the night, warm and peaceful.

Lin Zhe closed his eyes.

Go home.