Chapter 198: Using Many Knives to Kill Many People
In the deep of night, the Hongtian Entertainment Center was still brightly lit, but the atmosphere inside had shifted from the victorious excitement of the previous night to a dull oppression. Guo Hao locked himself in his room on the sixth floor, refusing even the well-meaning gesture from Jiang Yan, who had brought a satellite phone hoping he could communicate with Wan Yue again. Guo Hao initially thought this would be the last amicable breakup ritual, but he didn’t realize that from the moment he invited others to make their own choices, he had lost his authority—he was not Wan Yue, and he lacked the ability to navigate between strength, dignity, and human sentiment.
On the rooftop, under the night sky, Jiang Yan sat alone on a concrete block, finally getting through to Wan Yue’s phone after several days. “…Don’t expect everyone to be like Zhao Peng.” Guo Hao’s small stature and limited background meant he lacked the capability to lead a major scene. On the phone, Wan Yue’s voice was languid; she had seemingly already guessed most of the information Jiang Yan had to convey, showing no surprise.
“Old Feng and Deng Baoyi are actually quite timid; they’ve probably been incited by someone and started daydreaming… Interesting, do they really think that as outsiders, without the cooperation of a prominent family like the Luo family, they can succeed?”
“At first, Xiang Zuxing had nothing to lose when he acted. Old Feng and Deng Baoyi are messing around in their own territory instead of living their lives, risking being used by others. Sigh…”
“Man proposes, God disposes. Let Meng Huai do what he plans, have a bit of faith in him, just don’t let yourself get involved.”
“We will do our best with what we can manage, and if there’s nothing salvageable, we’ll fall back. I have already gone to B City with Zheng Shaolin and Liang Tai to meet you at the border.”
Once the call ended, Jiang Yan finally relaxed. Wan Jie always seemed to be able to catch the subtle cues and lead from the initial stages of events. Compared to her, Xiang Zuxing and most of the so-called big shots from the Hermit Alliance were far behind.
Setting aside the conspiracy behind the scenes, the Hermit Alliance had fallen to this level, and it wasn’t without reason. Level and intellect were, after all, completely different things.
But why did Wan Jie have so much confidence in Meng Huai? It seemed she believed he could play a more significant role than she imagined.
“I am ready,” Meng Huai said as he stood at the rooftop entrance with weapons in hand, speaking slowly to Jiang Yan, who was lost in thought in a corner. Behind him, the Ba Yu Knights, led by Xiao Hai, were fully armed and eager to try.
It was evident that those led by Xiao Hai had now become Jiang Yan and Meng Huai’s loyal subordinates.
“Do you really want a few people to raid Nava’s camp? Actually, we could wait another couple of days until I fully recover…” Jiang Yan still couldn’t figure out why Meng Huai would choose tonight for the surprise operation.
In truth, Jiang Yan didn’t know how long it would take for her to fully recover either; she simply thought Meng Huai was being too reckless this time. Previously, she had roughly altered her body’s hormonal secretion to change her physiological cycle, resulting in hormonal imbalances that left her state very unstable.
“Nava has suffered losses at our hands; retaliation is inevitable. We are in the open while he is in the dark; we can’t wait for him to prepare— we must strike first!”
At that moment, Meng Huai exuded an aura of lethal intent, his words devoid of any emotional tone.
“The local military is even more anxious than we are; he plans to gamble on reclaiming the strategic heights in the west, pushing out his fiercest rival. You took out Sha Chu, and now he has confidence in us—I’ll take advantage of his cover.”
Meng Huai was bold enough to plan to infiltrate the western heights, intending to provide fire support to the local security forces under the guise of assisting President Yin with a nighttime raid. In reality, they would leverage the opponent’s fire to launch an assault on the positions occupied by Nava.
Jiang Yan, who had already revealed her strength, only needed to stay at the Hongtian Entertainment Center brazenly, making it enough to mislead the enemy. Nava probably didn’t suspect that the people from the Hongtian Entertainment Center would suddenly counterattack while two of their high-level fighters remained indoors.
After all, there were always people secretly monitoring Jiang Yan and Guo Hao’s movements in Old Street, and Nava’s people were surely among them.
This was another instance of leveraging the dynamics of conflict between the vampire clans, employing ordinary tactics to initiate an offensive against the vampires. Using others’ knives to kill, Meng Huai had grasped this intuitively after becoming a vampire.
“Li Huai, come here.”
In the darkness, Jiang Yan slightly turned her body to avoid Xiao Hai and the others’ gaze, concealing her expression.
Meng Huai paused, glanced at Xiao Hai and the others, then tossed his P90 submachine gun to Xiao Hai and strode over.
Jiang Yan peered at the entrance of the rooftop where Xiao Hai was, bit her lip, and pulled Meng Huai to a corner hidden from others’ sight, then wrapped her arms around his body.
For the past seven or eight months, Jiang Yan had continuously been teased by Wan Yue on certain topics, making her feel awkward yet, like desensitization therapy, gradually develop a self-suggestion of “it’s not such a big deal.”
Perhaps it had nothing directly to do with “Extreme Dependency,” but ever since she was thoroughly scanned by him, Jiang Yan found her “nerve” had also increased. In terms of speaking, eating, and physical contact, she was more proactive and natural than before.
Not daring to look up at Meng Huai’s face, she just pressed her forehead against his chest, murmured, “Don’t push yourself too hard; although the local security forces only have a few large-caliber mortars, being too close is also very dangerous…”
“Nava is a mid-tier viscount with strong perception; even with the injection of internal and external hormone suppressants, don’t go within three hundred meters of his lair.”
Listening to her endless nagging, Meng Huai smiled, patted the back of the black-haired girl, and said nothing.
At that moment, above the northern mountains of Myanmar, three heavy double-tailed scorpion military reconnaissance-strike drones were quietly circling in the pitch-black sky. Each drone was equipped with two hundred-kilogram and one fifty-kilogram glide-guided bombs, ready to strike beneath the faintly lit fuselages, poised for action.
In total, thirty-six ground-attack munitions were prepared, and even if calculated by size alone, the explosive power of the smallest fifty-kilogram glide-guided bomb would still be far more terrifying than several shells combined from army-caliber howitzers; once hit, even a viscount would find it hard to escape death.
These were the fearless warriors using their secret credentials to activate the aerial strike force from the specially confidential operational team. They would rain down enough firepower to destroy an armored battalion upon some unlucky souls on the ground.
The chaos in northern Myanmar was not only about the power struggles among various warlords on the surface but also the ruthless profit-seeking and deceit between underground vampire factions.
Yesterday, President Yin could follow the instructions of the Black Dragon Society’s Zhu Bixian. Today, as influential members of the Luo family emerged, he could collaborate in eliminating the remnants of the Black Dragon Society. If one day Zhu Bixian returned, President Yin could swiftly shift alliances again, becoming the protector and collaborator of the Black Dragon Society in Old Street.
This mutually dependent rogue ecosystem was shameful yet useful; at least in northern Myanmar, anyone who spoke of justice could no longer find even a grave.
Taking advantage of the infighting among the underground vampire factions, the various warlords in northern Myanmar, looking to share a piece of the pie from Old Street, were like hyenas, ready to pick at everything they could. This was President Yin’s greatest worry.
The Hermit Alliance’s one-night overturning and the mutual benefit and assistance profit structure still existed, leading President Yin to consider intervening against some of the hyenas.
After all, the publicly recognized security force of Old Street was legitimized by the Myanmar government, and restoring local order was only rightful— even if the forces entering northern Myanmar included regular troops of Myanmar, ready to seize the opportunity.
A dozen large-caliber mortars made up President Yin’s current strength; he intended to use Guo Hao’s people to kick out a fierce rival trying to undermine his rule, to kill the chicken to scare the monkey, proving his legitimacy in ruling Old Street.
As for Nava and his faction, since they could not change the current state of the underground world in Old Street, they could not alter President Yin’s stance either.
On March 18th, at 1:30 AM, President Yin’s security forces launched an attack on a significant height in the western part of the city, targeting a regional warlord with medium strength.
The gunfire, along with shouts and the sporadic movements of armed personnel slipping through the mountains and forests, formed a grotesque and bloody scene that had been playing out in the past few decades, monotone and unchanging.
Deep in the remote mountains about seven or eight kilometers southwest of Old Street, within a small village that had already scattered, black figures of varying sizes continued to converge from all directions.
In a small villa, Nava sat relaxed on the sofa, his long hair down, a cigar in hand.
“Chief, the people of Old Street have started fighting again; it has nothing to do with us.”
“Our people have withdrawn,”
“What about the others? Have they all arrived?” Nava puffed out smoke, a strange smile gracing his face. “There’s been no movement at the Hongtian Entertainment Center, right?”
“Um, they’re still on their way… Everyone in the city is keeping a watch; Guo Hao and that woman are still inside.”
Mentioning the Hongtian Entertainment Center made Maoban’s teeth clench tightly; his twin brother Sha was almost killed without any resistance at the hands of that mysterious woman, bringing him both fear and rage.
“Boss, we have a lot of people this time, but it doesn’t necessarily mean we can force our way in; they’ve received ammunition resupply…”
Maoban recalled a battle where over twenty people had been consumed in mere minutes and was somewhat worried about Nava’s plan for a full-frontal assault later in the night.
“That woman has taken drugs; she hasn’t recovered yet. I’ll handle it; all you have to do is unleash yourselves and kill all resistance at the Hongtian Entertainment Center! Miss Deng has already convinced several people at the Hongtian Entertainment Center, and they have already had internal strife.”
After saying this, Nava clapped his hands, and two knights, clad in strange equipment, strode into the living room.
Flame throwers… Maoban only took a glance at the two’s gear and his pupils constricted.
Nava’s expression twisted into a grotesque grin as he envisioned the Hongtian Entertainment Center engulfed in flames, its occupants either fleeing in panic or being consumed by the fire.
“President Yin still thinks that with that woman backing him, he can drive us and the nearby Kenmeng out… Just wait, tomorrow by this time he’ll come running to me in apology.”
In his ears, the sounds of gunfire and cannon fire echoed from two to three kilometers away. But for Nava, these mortal battles were merely a farce, affirming who was qualified to remain as his dog in the end.
Maoban grinned wickedly, peeking at the door to a bedroom behind the boss, then bowed his head and exited quietly.
He felt there was a woman inside, exuding an unknown chaotic aura.
Once the room fell silent, the bedroom door opened, and Deng Baoyi emerged in a sexy, semi-transparent nightgown, swaying her hips as she sat directly on Nava’s lap.
In a moment, everyone was gathered; time was too tight, and I couldn’t pull more from the south, so I’ll go personally.
Nava hugged Deng Baoyi, holding a cigar in one hand while squeezing her plump backside, grinning wickedly.
“It’s fine; Huzi and the others are the nephews of old Feng; I’ll have them disguise themselves as your people… You’re strong; I like that. Once we take Old Street, I’ll give you an extra share of the business. From now on, you’ll be my best friend.”
Deng Baoyi’s fingers traced over Nava’s robust physique, her eyes sparkling with satisfaction. The Huzi and others in her mouth were the unfamiliar knights carrying flamethrowers, loyal to Deng Baoyi.
When faced with Deng Baoyi’s seduction, Nava remained silent, lifting her effortlessly, kicking aside the troublesome coffee table, and headed toward the bedroom.
There was still time left; there were two hours before the surprise attack on the Hongtian Entertainment Center, ample for him and Deng Baoyi to indulge multiple times.
In the bedroom, Nava tore open Deng Baoyi’s thin semi-transparent silk gown, staring at her with blood-red eyes, breathing heavily while responding to her dripping seductive gaze, pressing down on her.
One had to admit, this woman was utterly irresistible.
At two o’clock, the Xiao family was caught off guard and forced to retreat to several main strongholds in the mountains, planning to hold their ground.
With Xiao Hai and the others taking their positions, all the disguised mountain strongholds would reveal their true forms, and President Yin finally displayed his sinister smile.
In one of the permanent defensive structures on the outskirts of Old Street, a canvas was lifted to reveal a dozen large-caliber mortars ranging from 82mm to 120mm.
With this tacit cooperation with the Hongtian Entertainment Center ongoing, President Yin felt that he had basically won; as for any “errors” the other side hoped for, he did not care.
After all, whatever coordinates they provided, he would strike where they indicated, as long as he could eliminate the Xiao family; all misunderstandings could be smoothed over during the division of spoils.
From a few kilograms to over a dozen kilograms of mortar shells began bombarding the distant mountains, constantly receiving landing corrections from Xiao Hai and others. The gunners at the firing positions shouted loudly, and President Yin, present at the scene, was exceptionally proud.
The Xiao family had essentially been eliminated, and the support for them from Myanmar’s government troops would inevitably retreat as well.
Xiao Hai and the others were now busy; the most recent observation point was even close enough that the bombardment zone was merely twenty to thirty meters away, with the scorching heatwave, the terrifying shockwave, and the searing shrapnel reminding the Ba Fu Knights of the irrefutable gap between vampires and ordinary people.
In northern Myanmar, the ruthless vampire clans and the superficially opportunistic warlord rulers coexisted merely because it was beneficial for them to choose the current mode of interaction.
The defensive stronghold ahead had already been shattered by President Yin’s artillery barrage, and the Xiao family’s armed forces were suffering heavy losses, with survivors scattering in all directions, many surrendering their weapons to President Yin’s troops.
“Brother Hai, where’s Li Ge? He just instructed us via the communicator to pass on a few more coordinates to President Yin… I checked the map; it’s not here, seems to be that southwest valley, at least a kilometer or two away! The mortars shouldn’t reach, right?”
A shadow slipped into the back of Xiao Hai, lowering his voice amid the thinning gunfire.
“Who cares, if Li Ge says to hit there, then hit there. Are you saving munitions for that group? Give me the coordinates; I’ll send it!”
Only Xiao Hai knew what Li Huai intended to do tonight, and he quickly shifted his gaze, raising the military communicator.
……
In the distance, amid the rumbling of artillery, Nava had just finished a round and was now sitting naked against the headboard, smoking a cigar. The enchanting Deng Baoyi sprawled like an octopus on his chest, breathing heavily.
Suddenly, he felt a nearby explosion that was much closer than before, probably no more than three hundred meters from where he slept.
Soon, countless cries of alarm echoed inside and outside the small village, as members of the vampire factions, whether coerced or hired by Nava, became panicked by the inexplicable artillery fire that had strangely “missed.”
“Maobao, call the city; if they don’t want to die…”
Nava frowned, walking over to the window and yanking the curtains aside. Before he could finish his threatening statement, his eyes widened.
Less than thirty meters away, an explosion occurred at a storage area piled with their supplies, a blast clearly far beyond what an ordinary mortar could produce.
In just half a second, a wave of scorching shock hit Nava through the window, shaking the entire small villa and causing countless fragments to fall throughout.
Nava clumsily dove backward, clutching his head tightly. As for Deng Baoyi, who had just enjoyed herself, she was utterly petrified, rolling off the bed, completely naked.
“Nava, we’re under attack! Get me out of here!”
Deng Baoyi screamed, yanking off the bedsheets to wrap around her body while scrambling up.
……
In the night sky, approximately four thousand meters high, a black double-tailed reconnaissance-strike military drone was furiously circling. The hooks under its wings emitted a faint unhooking sound, releasing two fifty-kilogram glide-guided bombs down towards the earth.
The same sequence of operations occurred on the other two drones, totaling thirty-six ground-attack munitions dropped in less than five minutes.
Through the lens equipped with visible light radar and thermal imaging equipment, the narrow little valley had already turned into a sea of fire.
Guided by someone’s military laser pointer on the ground, the six more powerful hundred-kilogram glide-guided bombs precisely struck their targets, transforming a rural building a hundred meters away into a flaming ruin.
At night, flames soared, waves of heat swept through, and under the shifting shadows, Meng Huai’s icy demeanor seemed to melt away.
In his sight, at least over thirty vampires had perished in the first wave of bombings, and the destroyed rural buildings buried an equal number of vampires.
Outside the valley, one could even catch the eerie scent of cooked and charred flesh.
Meng Huai turned his head, tossed the military laser pointer into a burning ruin, holding his P90 submachine gun, and began to walk slowly into the valley as if on a stroll, completely ignoring the hurricane-like heatwaves coming toward him.
A minute later, Xiao Hai and the other three elite Ba Fu Knights arrived as well, each displaying expressions of shock; they gazed at the hellish valley as they silently followed Meng Huai’s footsteps.
Occasionally, a burning figure escaping from the ruins would be swiftly shot down by Xiao Hai and the others, writhing in death, gradually turning to ash.
“Li Ge, this… this doesn’t seem like a mortar strike…”
Xiao Hai, apart from Jiang Yan, was the only one privy to Meng Huai’s plans for tonight. However, what he was witnessing completely subverted all his understanding of mortars—President Yin’s security forces simply could not possess this kind of firepower; this was far from ordinary mortars, more akin to rocket artillery!
“This isn’t important… Stay alert; I don’t know if Nava is still alive.”
Meng Huai lowered his gun, firing twice more to eliminate a wandering vampire engulfed in flames, ending their suffering.
“There’s no aura of any viscount or above; he must have died long ago, right?”
From a hundred meters away, a burning little villa had dramatically collapsed, and as he viewed the ashes floating through the air alongside the scent of roasted flesh in the nostrils, Xiao Hai couldn’t help but shudder.
Before he could finish speaking, a slim figure wreathed in flames jumped out from a burning wreck, landing before Meng Huai and the others.
At that moment, Maoban, a supremely elite viscount of the Ganges clan, was enveloped in red flames, barely a shreds of clothing remaining on him, and with his flesh charred, it kept flaking off with each shuddering step.
With one eye glaring fiercely, Maoban slowly extended his hand, mumbling incomprehensible Siamese words, staggering toward Meng Huai and his companions.
The aura of a viscount wrapped around him thunderously. However, while these ferocious energies were overwhelming, they were also fragile, like a precariously built tower about to collapse.
Faced with the returning aura of Maoban, Xiao Hai and the others turned pale, retreating in fear as their weapons felt heavier in their hands.
Meng Huai, struggling against the overwhelming pressure coursing through his body, gritted his teeth, shakily raised his gun, and closely focused on the approaching Maoban ten meters away, a hint of fierce killing intent gradually emerging on his face.
As Maoban leapt into the air, his coal-black body ablaze, gunfire erupted in a rapid succession; four P90 submachine guns spat fire, unleashing a torrent of silver bullets.
The body, long burned to a crisp due to the extreme heat, disintegrated amidst the hail of bullets, ultimately being torn into more than ten burning charred chunks, scattered before Meng Huai and the others.
A high-ranking viscount just met his end in such a sordid manner, his body left unrecognizable.
“Call President Yin; have someone come to clean this up at dawn. I heard the bodies of vampires are valuable; I wonder if they will depreciate after being cremated…”
Seemingly uninterested in furthering the situation, Meng Huai turned and strode out, not looking back.
