Wild Wolf, Octopus, There's No Time Left

There are quite a few people who dare to attack the police, but very few who actually plan to break into a police station to assassinate the chief.

Meng Hu stood on the street directly facing the police station, his gaze fixed on the office window of the chief, where a light was still on. The distance was no more than five hundred meters, yet Meng Hu was exceptionally cautious.

Alerting the enemy was by no means a wise course of action, and Meng Hu was certainly no fool. Meanwhile, Su Xiaodong, who had communicated via phone call, was positioned at a spot diametrically opposed to Meng Hu, located on another street behind the police station.

The location of the police station resembled a natural square brick dropped right in the center of Jinhai City's renowned, north-south running Fucheng Street. This allowed the police station a sweeping view of all directions, enabling them to handle emergencies occurring anywhere in the downtown area at a moment's notice. After all, the location was crisscrossed with roads, making it exceptionally convenient to respond even to urgent situations.

The autumn night darkened with extraordinary swiftness. A moment ago, the horizon was still a hazy gray tinged with twilight, but in the blink of an eye, the night swallowed the entire Jinhai City. Tonight's sky was different from usual; the moon was nearly full, casting a brilliant moonlight that illuminated Jinhai City thoroughly.

Assassinations—shady deeds best carried out in the dark of night—were made significantly more difficult by tonight's bright weather. Furthermore, for someone like Fang Muren, who regarded his own life with utmost importance, the number of on-duty police officers was far from small. Not only was the manpower denser than that in an average city, but the surveillance facilities were also terrifyingly advanced. A standardized deployment of infrared monitoring equipment meant that even a fly entering in the middle of the night could be easily detected. To call it an iron-clad fortress was hardly an exaggeration.

A four-meter-high concrete wall rose abruptly from the ground, standing like a giant in the night. Atop the wall was installed a high-voltage electric grid, over two meters tall, designed to kill without leaving a trace. Once touched by some unfortunate soul, that terrifying voltage would instantly reduce them to a pair of charred cinders.

With such all-encompassing security measures, even Meng Hu, who commanded his own independent assassination organization, felt a slight headache coming on. Fortunately, it was not entirely without a trace or an opening; it was just that executing this plan would require putting their comrades through some hardship.

Some missions were even more humiliating than being shot straight through the head. Wading through a sewer might seem somewhat undignified for elite assassins, but it wasn't the absolute worst of luck. However, for the five fellows whose senses of direction were completely scrambled by the stench of feces, urine, and a hodgepodge of foul odors, this was truly far less pleasant than taking a bullet to the brain.

Stinking—it was reeking to high heaven. The pungent stench penetrated even though all five had prepared in advance by wearing gas masks, yet the offensive odor still pierced their nostrils with relentless determination, as if sworn to suffocate them to death. Perhaps due to the chaotic nature of the underground drainage, the water also possessed a strong corrosive property, and faint prickling sensations reminded them that even their physical conditioning—far superior to that of ordinary people—could still feel the needle-like pain.

"Damn it, I'd rather fight to the death with crocodiles, jackals, lions, and tigers, getting torn to bloody shreds, than be choked to death by this stench! Damn it, it smells too awful, and it's completely humiliating!" Stimulated by the foul odor and corroded by the filthy water, the young man walking in the second position grumbled discontentedly. Although he was wearing a gas mask, the unique audio frequency of a young man's voice clearly proved he was a youth of no more than twenty-five.

Among the five, he had the most volatile temper, and he belonged to that kind of unfiltered, idiot sort who loved to whine when nothing was wrong. Yet, being able to become a member of the elite Special Assassination Team meant he naturally had extraordinary skills; otherwise, his lack of discretion with his mouth would have gotten him killed a million times over.

The young man's codename was Octopus. His Eight-Claw Technique was uncanny, specializing in soft style martial arts. In combat, he excelled in close-quarters fighting and loved grappling. Once he entangled an opponent at close range, it was almost a nine-to-one chance of death. If this fellow desired someone's life, he could always achieve his wish. Even a Burmese python, whose strength was legendary in the animal kingdom, would have to yield; after all, this fellow had the documented record of fighting a six-meter-long Burmese python bare-handed and strangling it to death.

"Octopus, cut the whining. This is a police station defended like an iron fortress, not some remote wilderness. Do you think we wanted to crawl through a sewer? We had no choice!"

The leader, walking at the very front and clearly the captain of the five-man squad, spoke up. Unlike other bosses who acted all high and mighty and started yelling at the drop of a hat, this leader's attitude was noticeably more amicable, and his tone carried the flavor of persuasion.

With the leader speaking, Octopus showed him considerable respect. His grumbles and discontent vanished like a magic trick, and in the blink of an eye, a smile crept onto his cheeks—though, covered by the gas mask, the changes in his facial expressions remained hidden.

Just as the five of them were advancing amid chatter and bickering, they reached the end of the line. The current slowed down significantly, and cascading black water poured down from overhead—as disgusting as it could possibly be. Fortunately, the five had undergone professional training; otherwise, they might have rushed to the side to vomit uncontrollably.

"This is it." Looking up at the filter-like manhole cover right above them, the leader at the front said in a deep voice. In his hand was a topographical map that anyone with a discerning eye could immediately decipher.

Indeed, as the leader of the five-man squad, who also held the codename Wild Wolf—a moniker that made people break out in a cold sweat just hearing it—he naturally possessed extraordinary qualities. Observing in all directions and thinking with agility, he could react swiftly in any environment. He was truly an exceptionally rare leadership talent, which was why Wild Wolf had become the captain of the five-man team.

Because no one used their real names within the team, all operations were conducted using codenames. This was partly for ease of memory, but more importantly, to protect their safety and conceal their secrets—this was the primary reason. After all, once their identities were exposed, the fallout would reach far beyond themselves; their families and friends would also be implicated.

"Captain, the position is a bit high. The surrounding walls have degraded somewhat due to sewage erosion. They're too smooth, lacking any purchase points, making it quite difficult to cut through manually."

The speaker was carrying a specialized three-foot-long, bifurcated steel-reinforcement cutter on his back. At that moment, he was gesturing toward the steel bars overhead. However, the three-meter-high steel manhole cover left him somewhat at a loss, and the intermittent dripping of sewage from above made his demolition work even more difficult.

Wild Wolf did not answer. His eyes, sharp as a falcon's, stared fixedly at the surrounding environment to find a breakthrough, occasionally lowering his head to examine the topographical map in his hand.

The map was relatively detailed and accurate, matching what they had seen along their entire journey. However, the environment they were currently in was somewhat unexpected. After all, no one had anticipated that the walls would suffer such severe erosion, nor had they expected such a massive volume of sewage discharge. These factors had not been accounted for in their initial calculations.

Thus, after trying several times to no avail, the steel manhole cover overhead remained firmly welded to its interface. Aside from one steel bar that a few of them had severed after exerting every ounce of strength, the remaining bars were completely undamaged.

With a gap of only a single fist's width, let alone passing an entire body, even getting half a head through was wishful thinking. Looking at the narrow crack, the same thought flashed through all of their minds: *A long and arduous road lies ahead!*

Indeed, a single steel bar had consumed five minutes of their time. Given the density of the steel bars overhead, dreaming of getting a person through without cutting at least six of them was pure fantasy. Calculating it back and forth, that would take half an hour, and they knew very well that the leader had only given them a quarter of an hour at most.

Taking more than double their allotted time... they knew the leader's temper all too well. It would be a miracle if he didn't skin them alive.

Just as the five of them were anxious about what to do, a faint calling sound rang out. Because it was a specially encrypted signal, it was completely normal for the police station's information department to remain undetected.

"Wild Wolf, how is it? Have you infiltrated?"

It was Meng Hu's voice—always carrying a low, gravelly tone. At that moment, Meng Hu was still standing in his original position on the street, his gaze fixed on Chief Fang Muren's office. If anything moved, it was merely his eyelids blinking every now and then, along with periodically lowering his head to glance at the watch on his left wrist.

Ten minutes, in ordinary times, might just be the time it takes for a brief nap, but for someone killing time with nothing to do, it felt agonizingly long.

Su Xiaodong had already arranged his end, so everything now depended on Meng Hu's side. Meng Hu was naturally anxious. He knew that if tonight's operation suffered even a slight oversight, even though he was the most renowned big boss in Jinhai, he would undoubtedly suffer severe consequences. He might find a scapegoat to take the legal fall, but if the Fang family managed to seize concrete dirt on him, he would be in deep trouble.

"We ran into a little trouble and need a bit more time. It's likely to take a quarter of an hour longer than expected."

Wild Wolf was being honest; he did not lie or deceive to shirk responsibility. He understood the severity of the situation; once an error occurred, the unlucky ones would be far more than just the five of them.

Su Xiaodong's main task was actually somewhat unexpected: he had to prevent startling Secretary Zhu, the heavyweight figure sitting at the top of the hierarchy in Jinhai City. For no other reason than the fact that Secretary Zhu abhorred evil like a personal enemy—if he discovered that certain individuals were overstepping boundaries and daring to challenge the law without conclusive evidence, he naturally wouldn't let them off easily. Someone who hated evil with a passion was the most troublesome person to deal with.

As for Su Xiaodong, throwing him into real combat with genuine blades and guns to kill the enemy was pure fantasy. The only things this kid's sycophantic, worthless mouth was good for were buttering people up and utilizing the social network he had built up through long days of whoring and socializing at critical moments. Other than that, the kid was nothing more than a genuine second-generation prodigal and a waste of family wealth.

"Hmph, Wild Wolf, you know the seriousness of the matter as well as I do. If anything goes wrong, you know the consequences. No matter what method you use, you must finish it within a quarter of an hour. That's it."

Meng Hu was not someone hesitant or easily swayed. Once a matter was decided, no unexpected event would make him change his mind. With a cold snort, he abruptly hung up the phone.

The call ended. The outcome was within expectations, and Wild Wolf's expression did not change much, though his brows inevitably furrowed a bit tighter due to the rapidly slipping time. Turning his head to look at the four pairs of eyes fixed on him, he hardened his heart and said in a deep voice:

"Use it! We're out of time."

Indeed! While they were talking, another two minutes had passed, leaving a mere five minutes of the quarter of an hour Meng Hu had specified.