Rebirth in the Dragon Kingdom: The Strongest Blade

Lin Zhe rushed into the Blue Ocean Building, not choosing the elevator—at a time like this, elevators were either controlled by terrorists or shut down by the police. He went straight to the stairwell, sprinting upwards like a cheetah.

The emergency lights in the stairwell cast a stark white glow, illuminating his black combat uniform. Footsteps echoed in the empty stairwell, but were minimized by the soundproofing of his helmet and combat boots.

The watch vibrated, and the Dragon Head's voice came again: "Longyuan, intelligence update. The other side has been confirmed to be an affiliated organization of 'Grey Wolf,' a retaliatory operation following the last border incident. All eight are suicide bombers, possibly strapped with explosives. Their goal is not negotiation, but to create maximum casualties in front of the media, and then detonate themselves."

"Understood." Lin Zhe continued walking. "Which company is on the seventeenth floor?"

"A multinational trading company is having foreign guests visit today, so there are foreigners among the hostages. That's also why they chose this location—it has a greater international impact."

Lin Zhe's eyes grew even colder. Using foreign hostages to create an international incident—that's a ruthless tactic.

"The other team members will arrive in two minutes. Longyuan, if the situation is urgent, you can take action first."

"receive."

Lin Zhe had already reached the fifteenth floor. He stopped, adjusted his breathing, and checked his equipment. He switched his assault rifle to single-fire mode, cocked his pistol, holstered his dagger at his waist, and attached flashbangs and smoke grenades to his tactical vest.

He took a deep breath, pushed open the fire door on the fifteenth floor, and entered the office area.

The place was deserted; the employees must have already been evacuated. Lin Zhe silently moved through the office area and found the internal staircase leading to the sixteenth floor. From there, he could hear sounds coming from the seventeenth floor—someone shouting in broken English, and suppressed sobs.

He crept up to the sixteenth floor like a shadow, finding a gap through which he could see what was happening on the seventeenth floor. Through the glass partition, he saw eight masked terrorists, scattered throughout the office area, holding about twenty hostages. The hostages were crouching on the ground, their hands covering their heads, trembling.

The terrorists were indeed wearing suicide vests and carrying automatic rifles. A man who appeared to be the leader was talking excitedly into his phone.

Lin Zhe quickly surveyed his surroundings. The office area was large, with partitions, desks, filing cabinets... The complex terrain was conducive to concealment, but also to enemy hiding.

He needs to quickly eliminate eight people without letting them detonate the bomb.

It's very difficult, but not impossible.

Lin Zhe quietly retreated and found the central air conditioning vent. He removed the grille and crawled inside. The ventilation duct was narrow, forcing him to crawl forward, but it was the best way to approach the enemy undetected.

The pipe was pitch black, with only the faint light from the watch screen. Lin Zhe climbed slowly and carefully, without making a sound.

Suddenly, footsteps sounded below—someone was walking by. Lin Zhe stopped and held his breath.

The footsteps stopped below the ventilation duct. A terrorist said in a foreign language, "Boss, the police haven't agreed to our demands yet."

"Keep the pressure on!" came the leader's voice. "Tell them, every ten minutes, we'll kill one hostage! Start with the foreigners!"

Lin Zhe's eyes turned cold. They couldn't wait any longer.

He moved quietly, located the air vent, and looked down through the grille. Below was a small conference room with two terrorists inside: one standing guard at the door, and the other fiddling with a bomb vest.

Right now.

Lin Zhe removed the grille and swooped down like a falcon! The instant he landed, he covered the terrorist's mouth with his left hand, while his right hand stabbed the dagger precisely into the side of the terrorist's carotid artery. The terrorist's eyes widened, and before he could even utter a sound, he went limp.

Hearing the commotion, another terrorist turned around, only to be met by Lin Zhe's swift movement. A karate chop to the Adam's apple sent the man sprawling in agony, clutching his neck. Lin Zhe finished him off with a final blow, ensuring he was incapacitated.

The whole process took less than five seconds and was completely silent.

Lin Zhe checked the two men's bomb vests—they were remotely detonated, requiring the pressing of a button. He quickly removed the vests and tossed them aside.

There are six left.

He slipped out of the conference room silently, moving along the wall. In the office area, the terrorist leader was addressing the hostages, his emotions running high.

Lin Zhe saw an opportunity. The leader, with his back to him, was confronting a blonde foreign woman.

He approached like a ghost, five meters, three meters, one meter...

The leader seemed to sense something and was about to turn around when Lin Zhe made his move. With his left hand, he grabbed the wrist holding the gun and twisted it, sending the gun flying from the man's hand; at the same time, his right hand plunged a dagger into the back of the man's heart, precisely avoiding the ribs and aiming straight for his heart.

The leader stiffened and slowly collapsed. Lin Zhe caught him and gently placed him on the ground to avoid making a sound.

But this was still spotted by a terrorist.

"Enemy attack!" the man shouted, raising his gun to fire.

Lin Zhe reacted even faster, grabbing the leader's gun from the ground and firing a single shot. The bullet struck the terrorist squarely between the eyebrows, and he fell backward.

The gunshot rang out, and chaos erupted! The remaining four terrorists reacted and began firing in Lin Zhe's direction!

"Get down!" Lin Zhe shouted to the hostage, while rolling to avoid bullets.

Bullets struck the desk and partition, sending debris flying. Lin Zhe ducked behind a filing cabinet and quickly assessed the situation.

Four terrorists were hiding behind different bunkers. They were very cautious, not showing their faces, and only firing blindly to suppress the enemy.

Lin Zhe took a flashbang from his waist, pulled the pin, counted to two silently, and threw it!

A blinding white light and a deafening roar erupted in the office area! Caught off guard, the terrorists screamed in terror, temporarily blinded and deafened.

It's now!

Lin Zhe rushed out, his movements as swift as lightning. The first terrorist was still rubbing his eyes when his throat was slit with a dagger. The second one had just raised his gun when Lin Zhe kicked the weapon away, followed by a powerful punch to the temple, and he collapsed to the ground.

The third and fourth regained some of their vision and simultaneously raised their guns to fire. Lin Zhe rolled behind the desk, and the bullets struck the spot where he had just been standing.

He calmly changed the magazine, then peeked out from the other side of the desk and fired two bursts. The two terrorists fell to the ground—one shot between the eyebrows, the other in the heart.

The gunfire stopped, and the office area fell silent.

Lin Zhe quickly checked each terrorist to make sure they were all incapacitated. Then he began dismantling the bomb vests—these were remotely detonated, but could also be timed. He had to make sure everything went perfectly.

As they were dismantling the fifth structure, they heard footsteps downstairs. Lin Zhe raised his gun and aimed at the stairwell, but what he saw were equally armed "Hidden Dragon" team members—Dragon Fang and Dragon Claw.

"Is it over?" Longya glanced at the scene and raised an eyebrow.

"Okay." Lin Zhe nodded and continued defusing the bomb.

Dragon Claw examined the terrorists' bodies and whistled, "Clean and efficient. Eight, all taken down in close combat, only two shots were used."

"They're wearing suicide vests, we can't give them a chance." Lin Zhe removed the last suicide vest. "The hostages are all safe, just traumatized."

"Okay, leave the rest to the police," Longya said. "Let's go."

Lin Zhe glanced at the still-shaken hostages and said in English, "The terrorists have all been killed. You are safe. Go down the elevator; the police are downstairs."

The hostages then realized what had happened, cried their thanks, and helped each other run towards the elevator.

Lin Zhe, Longya, and Longzhao retreated down the stairs. When they reached the first floor, Liu Zhigang and the others were already waiting there.

"It's resolved?" Liu Zhigang asked incredulously. Only a dozen minutes had passed since he saw Lin Zhe rush in!

"It's resolved." Lin Zhe nodded. "All eight terrorists have been killed, and the bomb has been defused. The hostages are safe; you can go up and handle the situation now."

After saying that, the three walked to their respective SUVs, preparing to leave.

Liu Zhigang wanted to ask something more, but seeing the three men's indifferent expressions, he swallowed his words. He waved for the SWAT officers to go upstairs, and followed them up to investigate.

The sight on the seventeenth floor sent chills down the spines of all the police officers. Eight terrorists, each with a different manner of death—some had their throats slit, some had been stabbed in the heart, some were shot dead... but what they had in common was that they were all killed with a single, clean blow.

Even more chilling was the sight of the dismantled bomb vests neatly piled to one side. If they exploded, the entire floor could be destroyed.

"Chief Liu, this..." A young policeman's face turned pale. "Who on earth did this?"

Liu Zhigang surveyed the scene, remaining silent for a long time: "Don't ask what you shouldn't ask, and don't say what you shouldn't say. Handle today's matter according to procedure, but don't discuss the identities of those who carried it out."

He knew those people were the nation's sharpest blades. They lived in the shadows, yet their deeds illuminated the darkness.

Two streets outside the building, Zhang Xueying and Zhao Keke sat in a taxi, watching from afar. They saw the police rush into the building, the hostages emerge one by one, and finally Lin Zhe and two other people walk out of the building, get into a car, and drive away.

The whole process felt unreal, like something out of a movie.

"Xueying..." Zhao Keke's voice trembled, "Lin Zhe... what exactly does he do?"

Zhang Xueying shook her head, her eyes reddening: "I don't know... I only know that he is dangerous."

Just then, Zhang Xueying's phone rang; it was Lin Zhe calling.

"Xueying, I'm fine, the mission is complete." Lin Zhe's voice was calm. "I need to return to the team early. Please tell my aunt and uncle for me. Thank you for these past few days..."

"Lin Zhe..." Zhang Xueying choked back tears, "You have to be careful..."

"I will. I'll wait until I come back next time." Lin Zhe paused, "I love you."

The call ended. Zhang Xueying gripped her phone, and tears finally streamed down her face.

Zhao Keke put her arm around her shoulder: "Don't cry, he's perfectly fine, isn't he? And... he's amazing. He took care of so many terrorists all by himself..."

"I wish he weren't so powerful," Zhang Xueying said, wiping away her tears. "I just want him to be safe."

The taxi drove away from the scene. The two girls remained deeply moved. They had grown up in a military compound, seen soldiers and training, but had never experienced real combat so closely.

Lin Zhe was driving towards the base. Through his watch, the Dragon Head's voice came through: "Mission accomplished very well. Long Yuan, your performance today proves you are fully qualified to become 'Hidden Dragon'."

"Thank you, Captain."

"Go back and get some rest. New training starts tomorrow."

"Yes."

Lin Zhe looked ahead at the road. In this battle, he had proven himself. But he knew this was just the beginning. The road ahead was long and fraught with danger.