Hypocrisy War

Chapter 2: We Meet Again

Early Morning, February 11, 2031

The weather wasn't great today. A rare thick fog had fallen over GX, and the temperature had suddenly dropped 10 degrees Celsius. Yet, Liu Tao still managed to get Secretary Chen in a new bulletproof Red Flag sedan early and drive to a deserted area on the outskirts of GX City. It was at the edge of a forest, with a large expanse of grass just in front of a cliff facing the ocean.

"Commander Liu, who are we waiting for?" Secretary Chen sneezed from the cold.

"Waiting for reinforcements from the central government," Liu Tao replied casually.

"You must be joking, Commander Liu," Secretary Chen laughed. "Those ragtag Taiwanese troops aren't even worth calling for reinforcements. If you hadn't suddenly ordered a general holiday, we'd probably own half of Taiwan by now..."

"Stop bragging! You're not happy to take a break even when I tell you to. Do you think I don't want to conquer Taiwan soon? The question now isn't "when," but "whether."

"Commander, are you worried about those American mechas? Actually, I don't think there's anything to worry about. No matter how powerful they are, they can easily overwhelm an elephant," Secretary Chen said dismissively.

A hint of disgust flickered in Liu Tao's eyes. "That's a completely wrong idea. Back then, Country R didn't think the atomic bomb was anything special, but two from Country M silenced it. When faced with uncertainties on the battlefield, stability is paramount. I don't want to lose a winnable battle because of my own arrogance."

Secretary Chen's face suddenly turned red. At that moment, a military transport helicopter pierced through the thick fog and landed ten meters in front of Liu Tao. The cabin door was yanked open with such force that it felt like it was being torn apart. Liu Tao and Secretary Chen felt a chill run down their spines. To their disappointment, a boy about five feet tall jumped out of the plane, followed by a middle-aged man in his thirties. Then, a stunning young woman slowly walked towards Liu Tao.

Liu Tao sighed softly and muttered to himself, "Isn't he from Team 7?"

Secretary Chen, standing nearby, hadn't noticed Liu Tao's strange behavior. He had been watching the girl the entire time. He saw that the three men were wearing the same tight-fitting black combat uniform. But on the girl, the same uniform made her already slender figure even more charming. Paired with her angelic face, she was every man's dream.

The men from Team 7 quickly reached Liu Tao and Secretary Chen within a mere 10 meters. Liu Tao was about to speak when he noticed Secretary Chen's misstep. He pushed her hard, finally bringing her to her senses.

"NO 01, there's an ambush!" a voice suddenly rang out from the plane.

The girl didn't give Liu Tao a chance to speak. She pulled out a pistol from somewhere. The child responded by squatting and kicking Liu Tao, who inexplicably fell asleep on the ground. The girl also squatted at the same moment, the g*n pointed at Liu Tao's head. Compared to Liu Tao, Secretary Chen was in a far worse situation. The middle-aged man smiled and punched Secretary Chen, knocking him unconscious. He immediately crouched on the ground, the three of them using Liu Tao's Red Flag car as a shield.

"What are you doing?" Liu Tao was truly enraged. Although he didn't hold his own airs, being treated so roughly would have made even a Buddha angry!

"Shh..." the girl looked at Liu Tao and made a quiet gesture, then whispered, "Now I'm going to ask questions. Just shake your head or nod. Don't make any noises. Understand?"

Before Liu Tao could react, he nodded unconsciously.

"Good boy," the girl smiled. Liu Tao found himself blushing like a child in love. He cursed inwardly, "f**k you, you're already in your 40s, and you're still embarrassed by someone like that! You're a general after all, unafraid of even airplanes or artillery, yet you're completely dominated by this girl. If Zheng Yu finds out, he'll be dead."

"Are you Commander Liu Tao?" the girl whispered, leaning over to Liu Tao's ear.

Liu Tao blushed even more and nodded.

"Did anyone else know about this meeting?" the girl continued.

Liu Tao's heart finally calmed down. He shook his head.

"How do you prove you're telling the truth?" The girl didn't believe Liu Tao.

Liu Tao thought for a moment and reached into his coat, trying to show her his military ID. The girl grabbed his hand and said, "Take it out slowly, carefully."

Liu Tao handed the ID to the girl, but she didn't even look at it, simply tossing it to the little boy beside her, still holding the g*n to Liu Tao's head.

The boy flipped through the ID and said, "It's real. It's confirmed to be General Liu Tao."

"13! Confirmed target. Now, eliminate the threat and prepare to 'go home.'" "The middle-aged man, leaning against the car, mouthed something in the direction of the helicopter.

Just as Liu Tao was about to remove the pistol from the girl's head, a dark figure suddenly rushed out of the helicopter. At the same time, countless gunshots rang out in the forest. Liu Tao knew from the sound that they were snipers. Thinking about how he had just been watched by so many snipers like a bird, his scalp tingled.

The dark figure sprinted swiftly in a zigzag pattern and reached the car.

The sight stunned even the battle-hardened Liu Tao. The dark figure kept running back and forth, his movements non-stop, while the ground around him was shredded by the large-caliber sniper rifles. In just five seconds, the dark figure leaned back against the middle-aged man and lowered a black military backpack.

"15 snipers, 20 sniper cover personnel. No large anti-material weapons were detected." "The shadowy figure reported calmly after stopping. The frantic rush just now seemed like an illusion.

Liu Tao looked toward the source of the voice, startled. "You're... you're a special agent!"

13 glanced back at Liu Tao lying on the ground and continued, "Give me five minutes."

The middle-aged man said sternly, "We don't have that much time. Evacuate in three minutes!"

"Understood!"

Later, Liu Tao led this unit in an exceptionally valiant assault on the Turkic base, eliminating the Turkish reinforcements one by one from the inside out. At the cost of 700 lives, they eliminated 20,000 Turkic terrorists. They never requested reinforcements. When their bullets ran out, they picked up enemy weapons and continued fighting. When their right hand was injured, they fired with their left. It was commonplace for everyone to see how they shielded their comrades. In the end, no one who survived had less than two bullet holes in their body, including Liu Tao. Their thoughts at the time were naive. They simply wanted to show the child, "See, we won't swallow our guns, because I'm going to use even that bullet to destroy the enemy!"

13 ignored Liu Tao on the ground and pulled a bunch of miscellaneous parts from his backpack. Liu Tao was about to say something, but his words were cut short. The girl moved the g*n, which was pointed at his head, to his lips. Still smiling, he gestured for silence. "Shh, now it's your turn to watch the show. Keep quiet."

13 sighed softly as he gazed at the parts before him. His hands seemed to vanish as he assembled them at a speed unimaginable to ordinary people. Before Liu Tao could react, a completely black sniper rifle resembling an AWP was firmly in 13's hand.

"Another 0.5 seconds faster! 13 is getting even better!" the child jokingly observed, sitting idly on the ground.

"Get down!" 13 said coldly. The child, unfazed by 13's ignoring him, naturally and obediently dropped to the ground. The girl and the middle-aged man beside him also naturally and obediently dropped to the ground.

"What are you trying to do?" Liu Tao watched as 13 pointed his sniper rifle at his new bulletproof "Red Flag" weapon. He finally understood why 13 was planning to shoot through the car to kill the enemy. "This is the latest bulletproof car, with steel plates stronger than 30mm. An AWP can't penetrate it!"

13 glanced at Liu Tao and finally said, "Who told you my g*n is an AWP from the 1980s? It's called COOL FIRE (a sniper rifle, shaped like the AWP in Counter-Strike).

Here, 13 is using a modified version, capable of burst fire, with a 20-round magazine capacity, and more powerful than a large anti-material weapon.)"

With a faint "puff," the car was shot through like a broken piece of wood.

"One," 13 said coldly, without lowering his g*n.

In the forest...

"Eagle! Eagle! Sparrow's dead! Sparrow's dead!"

"Stop talking nonsense, Gopher! We didn't even notice the target was exposed outside the 'steel plate' (the car). The infrared device can't penetrate it, so the target can't return fire. Keep waiting for the 'hunt.'"

"Eagle! Eagle! It's true! Sparrow's head's been blown off... Aaaah!"

"Gopher! Gopher! What's wrong? Answer me!" The special forces soldier, codenamed Eagle, shouted weakly to Mai. He kept saying to himself, "Impossible! Impossible! He didn't have any angle to shoot from? And he didn't even know our position? Wait! Did he run from the plane to the car just to deliberately draw our fire and expose his position? Even if he had a weapon that could penetrate the 'steel plate,' he didn't have a scope that could." A terrifying thought suddenly occurred to the special forces soldier: This guy had memorized everyone's position and was sniping blindly through the car! He shouted into the microphone again, "Everyone, switch positions..."

"Three." A third shell casing dove onto the ground next to 13.

Liu Tao didn't consider whether 13 would hit the enemy; he simply stared blankly at the bullet holes in the car.

Liu Tao's eyes blurred as he watched the 17-year-old boy unpacking his backpack. He knew this boy; he had saved his life. He remembered that four years ago, when he was surrounded by Turkic troops, it was this child who had appeared before him, breaking through the encirclement and allowing him and the soldiers around him to escape. And when everyone thought they were safe and relaxed, the child had blocked a bullet with his body. Liu Tao will always remember what he said before he left, wounded and wounded, "If you let your guard down on the battlefield, you'd better all swallow your guns. At least then you'll know who shot you."

"Puff... puff... puff..." 13 fired 17 rounds without stopping, taking 0.5 seconds to change the magazine and firing 15 more rounds before quickly lowering the g*n. A total of two minutes.

"The threat has been eliminated. We can 'go home.'" Everyone stood up. Liu Tao, pulled to his feet by the girl, felt his heart pounding, but there was no sniper fire as he had expected.

The middle-aged man glanced at the car in front of him and said helplessly, "Looks like we'll have to walk 'home.'"

"It's okay. I specifically avoided the engine and major components. That's why four people weren't killed by headshots, but all were hit in the heart," 13 said as he opened the car door.

"You're so thoughtful, 13." The girl smiled and patted 13 on the back.

"Now go get your gear. We're going 'home,'" the middle-aged man said.

"Understood, Captain!"

Ten minutes later, in a car on a suburban highway near GX City, Liu Tao quietly looked at 13, who had fallen asleep beside him, and said serenely, "You've grown up!" He slowly raised his hand to stroke 13's hair.

"I advise you not to do that. He'll kill you," the child in the front seat said, turning back. "Uncle, do you know 13?"

Liu Tao lowered his hand and said to the child, "Yes, he saved me four years ago. He was only your age then."

"Uncle, do you know what kind of person 13 was back then?" The girl became excited.

"Him!" Liu Tao glanced at 13 again and said, "He's a cold-hearted person with a warm heart. He doesn't talk much, and only speaks a few words to give orders when action is needed. Thinking about how hundreds of us men obeyed this kid's orders back then makes me want to laugh."

"How powerful was 13 back then?" the child suddenly asked seriously.

"He was invincible," Liu Tao replied solemnly without hesitation.

"We're 'home,'" the middle-aged man whispered.

13 opened his eyes.

The fog in GX dissipated, revealing a dazzling sun. Liu Tao looked forward and saw the base looming before him. He thought to himself, "It's begun! Now it depends on who's stronger?"

At the same time, in the underground base of TB City,

"Are we there yet? The 'Divine Punishment' mecha team?"

"Yes, sir! All four of us, four mechas, have arrived and are arranged. Please give the orders!"

"Liu Tao, Liu Tao, it's my turn now. Be careful! Ha... ha... ha," a blonde, blue-eyed girl said with a smile.

The reporting officer broke out in a cold sweat...