Rebirth in the Dragon Kingdom: The Strongest Blade

The gunshots came from the southeast, about two kilometers away.

Lin Zhe immediately crouched low, using the dense trees as cover to quickly approach. He didn't need to deliberately conceal his tracks—in the primeval forest, any rapid movement would leave a trace. What he needed was speed.

One kilometer, eight hundred meters, five hundred meters... The gunshots became clearer and clearer, mixed with shouts.

"Split up! Run separately!"

"We can't leave him behind! Take him with us!"

It was English, with a heavy accent. Lin Zhe's eyes narrowed—it was indeed a foreign intelligence agent.

He slipped behind a huge banyan tree and slowly peeked out.

A fierce firefight is taking place in a clearing in the woods ahead.

On one side were six well-equipped armed men dressed in jungle camouflage. They all appeared to be Asian, but their movements and tactics clearly showed they had received Western training. They were using several rocks and fallen logs as cover to fire in another direction.

On the other hand... Lin Zhe narrowed his eyes.

There were seven or eight natives dressed in animal skins, their faces painted with colorful patterns. Their weapons were rudimentary—wooden bows, poisoned arrows, and stone axes—but they thrived in this dense forest environment. They leaped among the trees like monkeys, shooting poisoned arrows from incredible angles.

An armed man screamed, an arrow lodged in his neck, and he staggered to the ground. The arrowhead was coated with black poison; the man twitched a few times and then remained still.

"Damn it! It's a tribe from the Savage Mountain!" a bald, burly man roared. "Use smoke grenades! Charge!"

Two smoke grenades rolled out, and thick smoke quickly filled the air. The armed men took the opportunity to advance, firing bullets into the bushes.

The natives nimbly dodged, but one young native was a beat too slow and was grazed in the thigh by a bullet, falling from the tree.

"Amu!" an old man exclaimed.

The wounded native struggled to his feet, but the bald, burly man had already rushed in front of him and raised his gun—

"Bang!"

A shot rang out.

But it wasn't the indigenous person who fell, but the bald, burly man. He had a bloody hole in the center of his forehead, his eyes wide open, and he slowly collapsed to the ground.

Everyone was stunned.

Lin Zhe emerged from behind the tree, the silencer of his assault rifle still emitting wisps of smoke. He glanced at the indigenous youth on the ground, then looked at the remaining five armed men.

"Put down your weapons," Lin Zhe said in English. "You're under arrest."

The five men exchanged a glance, and suddenly opened fire at the same time!

Bullets rained down. Lin Zhe rolled behind a tree, bullets hitting the trunk and sending splinters flying.

"Kill him! He's a soldier from the Dragon Kingdom!" a scarred-faced man roared.

The five men split up, attempting to flank them from different directions. But Lin Zhe was faster than them.

He moved like a ghost among the trees, each appearance accompanied by a gunshot. In less than ten seconds, two more people fell—one shot in the chest, the other through the throat.

"Retreat! Retreat quickly!" Scarface panicked.

The remaining three turned and ran, one of them dragging a middle-aged man wearing glasses—Engineer Li! Engineer Li's hands were tied, his mouth was taped shut, his glasses were broken, and his face was covered in abrasions.

Lin Zhe immediately gave chase.

"You take him and go first! I'll cover the rear!" A tall, thin man stopped, turned around, and opened fire.

Lin Zhe dove to the side and rolled, a bullet whizzing past his shoulder. He raised his hand and fired a shot while rolling.

"Bang!"

The tall, thin man collapsed to the ground, blood gushing from his chest.

Two people remained—the scarred man dragged Li Gong along, while the blond youth led the way. They had already run a hundred meters and were about to disappear into the dense forest.

Lin Zhe didn't give chase. He raised his gun, aimed, and held his breath.

"Bang! Bang!"

The two gunshots rang out almost simultaneously.

The scarred man and the blond youth both fell forward at the same time. The scarred man was shot in the back, while the blond youth was shot in the calf, screaming as he collapsed to the ground.

Lin Zhe strode forward, first confirming that the scarred man was dead, then pointed his gun at the blond youth: "Don't move."

The blond youth clutched his bleeding leg, his face deathly pale, staring intently at Lin Zhe.

Lin Zhe ignored him, walked over to Engineer Li, tore off the tape from his mouth, and untied the rope.

"You...you are..." Li Gong's voice was hoarse, and his whole body was trembling.

"Qianlong, Lin Zhe. I've been ordered to rescue you." Lin Zhe quickly checked his injuries. "Can you walk?"

"Yes...yes..." Engineer Li struggled to stand up, but his legs went weak and he almost fell.

Lin Zhe helped him up and turned to look at the locals. The old local had already surrounded them with his men, watching Lin Zhe warily.

"Thank you," Lin Zhe said in the few local phrases he had just learned. "We are friends."

The old man squinted and said in broken Chinese, "You...killed them...to save our people?"

"They're bad guys, they kidnapped our people." Lin Zhe pointed at Engineer Li. "I'm here to rescue them."

The old man looked at the bodies of the armed men on the ground, then at the wounded young man, Amu, and nodded: "You... are a good person."

He crouched down, took out a bamboo tube from his waist, poured out some green ointment, and applied it to Amu's wound. The ointment worked wonders, and the bleeding stopped quickly.

Lin Zhe breathed a sigh of relief, walked over to the blond youth, and squatted down: "Name? What country are you from?"

The blond youth gritted his teeth and remained silent.

Lin Zhe didn't press for details, but quickly searched the person. He found a passport, identification documents, a satellite phone, a map, and a small encrypted communicator on the person.

The passport was fake, but the photo was of him. The documents showed he was a member of an international adventure association. The last few communication records on the satellite phone had been deleted, but that didn't stop Lin Zhe—he connected using his personal device and began data recovery.

"Useless..." the blond youth sneered, "It's all encrypted."

Lin Zhe ignored him. Three minutes later, the device screen displayed that the recovery was successful.

"John Carter, CIA field agent, codename 'Falcon'." Lin Zhe read the information on the screen. "Mission: Assist the 'Viper' team in smuggling target Li Jianjun out of the country. Contact person... ah, an old acquaintance."

He looked at the blond youth: "Is this what your 'Viper' squad is, sitting on the ground?"

The blond youth's expression changed: "What are you doing...?"

"How would I know?" Lin Zhe smiled. "Your encryption technology is like a child's toy to us."

At this moment, Engineer Li walked over, pointed at the blond youth, and said, "That's him! He's the leader! He's been in charge all along!"

"I'm not the leader!" the blond youth retorted. "The leader is..."

He suddenly shut up, realizing he had let something slip.

Lin Zhe's eyes narrowed: "Who is the leader? Where is he?"

The blond youth turned his head away and remained silent.

Lin Zhe wasn't in a hurry. He opened his communicator and contacted the leader: "Target number one has been located. Engineer Li is safe. Five people were killed and one was captured. He has been confirmed as an intelligence agent from the United States."

"Roger that!" the dragon leader's voice rang with excitement. "How are the other teams doing?"

"No contact yet. I just finished a firefight here." Lin Zhe glanced at the time. "The prisoners said that this 'Viper' team wasn't the real escort team. The real leader and main force are probably still somewhere else."

"Understood. You take Engineer Li and the prisoners back to the safe point first, and I'll have the others move closer to you."

"No," Lin Zhe refused. "Li Gong can be cared for by these natives; they know medicine. I need to continue investigating. Since there's a 'Viper' team, there might be 'Venomous Snake' and 'Cobra' teams as well. If we don't completely dismantle the net, they'll send more people."

The dragon head was silent for a few seconds: "It's too dangerous for you to be alone."

“I’m actually more agile on my own,” Lin Zhe said. “Besides… I have a feeling the real leader isn’t far from here. The ‘Viper’ group clashed with the natives here and exposed their location. If I were the leader, I would definitely come to check the situation, or… silence them.”

He looked at the blond youth, whose face had become even paler.

A sigh came from the communicator: "Approved. But be careful and stay in touch at all times."

"clear."

After ending the call, Lin Zhe looked at the old man and said, "Sir, this man," he pointed to Engineer Li, "is an important friend of ours. Could you please take care of him for a while? I will send someone to pick him up."

The old man looked at Engineer Li and nodded: "Okay. But you... need to hurry. It's... dangerous here."

"I know." Lin Zhe took out some compressed biscuits, medicine, and a military knife from his backpack and handed them to the old man. "These are for you as a thank you gift."

The old man took the military knife, his eyes lighting up. To them, a good knife was more precious than anything else.

After settling Li Gong in, Lin Zhe walked up to the blond youth and tied him to a tree with a vine: "You wait here. If my men arrive first, you live. If your men arrive first... let's see if they silence you."

"Where...where are you going?" the blond youth asked, his voice trembling.

Lin Zhe didn't answer. He picked up the scarred man's backpack from the ground and rummaged through it for useful items. Map, compass, food, ammunition... and a small tracker.

On the tracker screen, a red dot is moving slowly, about three kilometers away.

"As expected..." Lin Zhe laughed, "You all have tracking devices on you, making it convenient for the boss to monitor you. It's a pity that you've become my guides now."

He packed his things, nodded to the old man, and turned to walk into the dense forest.

Three kilometers away, there is a hidden cave.

Three people were sitting in the cave. One was an elderly white man in his fifties with gray hair, dressed in mountaineering gear, who looked like a scholar. But his eyes were sharp, and his fingers had calluses from years of holding guns.

The other two were bodyguards, one in black and one in white, both burly men with bulging waistbands, clearly concealing weapons.

"The signal has disappeared." The elderly white man looked at the screen of the tracker in his hand. "'Viper' team, all six signals have stopped moving. They're either dead or captured."

The Black bodyguard frowned: "A local?"

"The natives don't have that ability," the old man shook his head. "They're from the Dragon Kingdom. And... they're experts."

"What about the target? Engineer Li's signal has also disappeared."

"Either he was rescued, or..." The old man paused, "...he died. But it doesn't matter if he's dead. Our mission isn't necessarily to bring someone out alive. As long as we confirm he's dead, or remains permanently within the Dragon Kingdom, we've achieved part of our objective—the Dragon Kingdom losing a technician will affect our research and development progress."

The white bodyguard spoke up: "Doctor, we should leave. It's no longer safe here."

The elderly man, referred to as the "Doctor," nodded: "Notify the 'Viper' and 'Cobra' teams that the plan has been changed. Implement Plan B—disperse and regroup overseas."

"Yes."

The white bodyguard took out a satellite phone and began dialing. But just as the call connected, a muffled thud suddenly came from outside the cave—

"puff!"

The white bodyguard's body stiffened, and he looked down at his chest. There was a bloody hole there.

His eyes widened, and he slowly fell to the ground.

"Enemy attack!" The black bodyguard immediately drew his gun and stood in front of the doctor.

The doctor reacted extremely quickly, rolling behind a rock and simultaneously pulling out a finely crafted pistol.

Outside the cave, Lin Zhe, holding a gun, slowly walked in.

"Good evening, Doctor," Lin Zhe said in English, "or rather... Dr. Robert Miller, Senior Operations Advisor at the CIA?"

Dr. Miller's face darkened: "You're 'Hidden Dragon'?"

"You guessed right." Lin Zhe pointed his gun at the black bodyguard. "Tell your men to lay down their weapons. I don't want to kill any more people."

The black bodyguard looked at Dr. Miller. Dr. Miller was silent for a few seconds, then nodded.

"Clang!" The pistol fell to the ground.

Lin Zhe stepped forward, handcuffed the black bodyguard with plastic handcuffs, and then walked toward Dr. Miller.

"Li Gong is safe now," Lin Zhe said. "Your 'Viper' team is completely wiped out, and the 'Viper' and 'Cobra' teams... will soon be dealt with by our people as well. Doctor, you've lost this time."

Dr. Miller sneered: "Lose? Young man, you're too naive. This was just a test. We lost a few peripheral agents, but we figured out your reaction speed, combat style, tracking capabilities... This intelligence is more valuable than ten Engineers Li."

"Oh?" Lin Zhe raised an eyebrow. "So, do you think I'd let you take this information back?"

"Killing me won't do you any good," Dr. Miller said calmly. "My brain is the best storage device. As long as I leave alive, even if I'm the only one left, the mission will be a success."

Lin Zhe laughed: "Who said I was going to kill you?"

He walked up to Dr. Miller, and suddenly struck with lightning speed, delivering a blow to the side of the man's neck. Dr. Miller's vision went black, and he collapsed limply to the ground.

Lin Zhe searched him for all the equipment and documents, then turned on the communicator: "Dragon Head, we've caught a big fish. Robert Miller from the CIA should be in charge of this operation."

"Miller?" Dragon Head's voice jolted. "That 'Shadow Doctor'? He worked in the CIA's infiltration and sabotage department for thirty years, planning dozens of intelligence operations against our country!"

"It's him," Lin Zhe said. "I knocked him out and took him back for interrogation. We should be able to get a lot out of him."

"Great! Excellent!" Dragon Head exclaimed excitedly. "News has also come from the other routes—Dragon Fang wiped out a six-man squad, confirmed to be R country intelligence agents. Dragon Claw captured four in the snowy mountains, and two froze to death; they were from Y country. Dragon Shadow's operation was even more ruthless—he disguised himself as a smuggler and lured the squad directly to the border checkpoint, wiping them out in one fell swoop."

"Where's Dragon Thorn?"

"The team he was tracking was a real mercenary group. They fought a tough battle, killing three and capturing four. Two of them were former Navy SEALs." Dragon Head paused. "Lin Zhe, this operation... was a resounding success."

Lin Zhe breathed a sigh of relief: "That's good. I'm preparing to evacuate. Send a helicopter to pick me up. I'll send you the location."

"It's all arranged. We'll arrive in thirty minutes."

After ending the communication, Lin Zhe sat in the cave, looking at the unconscious Dr. Miller, and fell into deep thought.

Miller is right. Although they captured a lot of people this time, the other side also obtained intelligence—the combat capabilities, reaction speed, and technical means of "Hidden Dragon"... all of which will be analyzed and used to plan the next operation.

That's how intelligence warfare works; there are no absolute victories, only temporary leads.

But Lin Zhe wasn't worried. Because he possessed far more technologies, tactics, and strategies that didn't exist in this world. Dr. Miller thought he had the bottom line, but in reality, he had only seen the tip of the iceberg.

The real contest has only just begun.

The roar of a helicopter could be heard outside the cave. Lin Zhe stood up and dragged Dr. Miller out of the cave.

Two armed helicopters were landing in the sky. The wind whipped up by their rotors made the trees sway wildly.

Lin Zhe looked up at the plane, a slight smile appearing on his lips.

In this round, the Dragon Kingdom won.

But in the next game... he will make his opponent lose even more miserably.