Badge of the Death Game

Chapter 004

While Xander Carter was absorbing the new knowledge as quickly as a sponge soaking up water—

“Keep moving!”

Taking advantage of the gap while Team B cleared the rooms on the second floor, D-1 also ordered Team D to continue advancing upward.

When they reached the fire door on the third floor, D-1 gestured toward D-3.

D-3 nodded and moved to one side of the door. He placed one hand on the handle, confirmed that it was not locked, and prepared to open it.

As D-4, Xander raised his rifle and stood on the other side of the door, ready to enter.

Although his current Police CQB Tactics was only at LV1, Team B had just demonstrated the procedure in front of him. Now that it was his turn, he at least had some idea of what to do.

He glanced at D-3 across from him and slightly raised his muzzle, indicating that he was ready.

Clang!

The fire door opened.

Xander rushed inside, quickly sweeping the left corner with his weapon. After confirming there was no enemy there, he abruptly swung his muzzle toward the right corner.

Fortunately, there was no hidden ambusher lying in wait.

D-5 entered right after him, filling the gap in Xander’s frontal field of fire as he advanced down the corridor with his weapon raised.

Seeing this, Xander followed his example and moved after D-5. D-3 and D-6 followed behind them. The four men advanced slowly along both sides of the corridor, rifles raised.

When they passed one of the guest room doors, D-5 quickly moved in a U-shaped path and arrived on one side of the door.

D-6, who had been following behind D-5, raised his weapon and moved to the other side, preparing to enter.

D-3 also stepped forward. He glanced at Xander, and when he saw no reaction from him, D-3 took position behind D-5 instead. He raised his rifle toward the unsearched section of the corridor ahead, watching for any enemy who might suddenly appear.

D-5 looked at Xander and made a head-tilting motion toward the door.

Xander froze for a moment, not understanding what he meant.

Seeing that Xander had no reaction, D-5 frowned and whispered, “Kick the damn door!”

Only then did Xander realize what had happened.

Because he had failed to fill the forward security position just now, D-3, who should have been responsible for breaching, had mistakenly assumed that Xander wanted to kick the door himself. As a result, D-3 had given up his original role and switched to covering the corridor.

Once Xander understood the key point, he quickly stepped forward and kicked the guest room door hard.

Bang!

Under the heavy strike of his hard-soled combat boot, the wooden guest room door was easily kicked open.

The moment the door opened, D-5 shoved past Xander, who had not yet moved aside, and charged in with his weapon raised.

D-6 followed closely behind.

The two quickly checked under the bed, inside the closet, behind the curtains, and in the bathroom. Not a single shot was fired.

There was no one inside.

After confirming the room was clear, D-3 outside the door made a forward gesture. Xander understood and followed.

They arrived at the second room.

By this time, D-5 and D-6, who had finished searching the first room, had also caught up.

This time, D-6 kicked the door. D-5 provided security. Xander and D-3 entered to search.

Xander imitated the U-shaped door-crossing footwork D-5 had used earlier and moved to the other side of the room door. Then he gestured to D-6.

Bang!

The door was kicked open in an instant.

D-3 entered first, skipping past the bathroom and directly checking the entire room.

Xander followed behind him. Imitating what he had seen D-6 do earlier, he pushed open the bathroom door.

But the instant the bathroom door opened—

A dark, powerful hand suddenly shot out from the side and grabbed the suppressor of his AR-15.

Immediately after that, another hand reached from below, trying to snatch the pistol from Xander’s holster.

Although Xander still needed to learn proper CQB tactics, when it came to close-quarters fighting, he had been personally trained by his father. He had even won awards for it.

The instant his primary weapon was controlled, Xander pressed down firmly on the pistol holstered on the outside of his right thigh, locking the grip in place to make sure it could not be taken. At the same time, he kicked his right foot hard against the doorframe and used the force to drag the criminal out of the bathroom.

It was a tall Black man, around six-foot-three. At first glance, he looked at least one full size larger than Xander.

“f**k!”

The man roared and tried to rush forward to knock Xander down.

But Xander had already reacted.

He released the rifle grip with his left hand and smashed a punch straight into the man’s Adam’s apple.

No matter how strong someone was, a strike to a weak point would cause at least a moment of powerlessness.

And in that brief instant, Xander surged forward. His elbow slammed into the man’s chest and abdomen like a heavy cannon shell.

Bang!

The man was knocked back four or five steps on the spot and fell onto the bathroom floor.

Almost at the same moment, Xander quickly drew the Glock 17 from his waist, pulled through the trigger safety, and fired twice at him.

Bang! Bang!

Because the pistol was not fitted with a suppressor, the gunshots sounded especially loud across the entire third floor.

After that, Xander put one final shot into the man’s head.

“Down!”

As he spoke, Xander slid the Glock back into the quick-draw holster and switched back to his primary weapon.

The entire exchange had happened so quickly that D-3, who was responsible for checking the room, had not even had time to provide support.

“Nice moves, Carter,” D-3 praised.

“Not bad,” Xander replied with a casual smile.

The two walked out of the room. Outside, the other two team members were already waiting by the next room.

The process was the same as before.

Only this time, it was D-3’s turn to breach, while Xander handled security.

Just as they broke open the door and D-5 and D-6 entered to search, a hand suddenly reached out from the seventh room not far away.

It was gripping an M1911 pistol.

The hand fired several blind shots in their direction.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

“Contact!”

Xander abruptly retreated and crouched, using the room’s doorframe as cover. He immediately returned fire at Room Seven with controlled shots.

D-3 outside also withdrew into the room. He stood above and behind Xander, returning fire from a higher angle.

The enemy seemed extremely afraid of dying. He did not dare show his head at all. Even the hand that had fired several shots quickly pulled back the moment Xander and D-3 responded.

“Cover me!”

D-3 dropped those words, then stepped out of the doorway and pressed forward from the outside.

Xander kept his rifle up and continued firing controlled shots to suppress the target. He did not stop until D-3 had reached the edge of the next room’s doorway and taken cover.

Behind him, D-5 also walked out of the room. He moved around Xander, raised his weapon toward the enemy’s position, and advanced.

D-6 stepped out of the room as well. He reached over and squeezed Xander’s shoulder as a signal, then followed D-5 out.

The three men coordinated in order and quickly closed in on the target door.

“Should I move forward now?”

Xander thought for a moment, then stood and stepped forward.

As he passed the doors of several rooms that had not yet been checked, he learned from the earlier lesson and deliberately moved around them, keeping as much distance from the doorways as possible.

When he reached D-6’s rear, Xander reached out and squeezed D-6’s shoulder, signaling that he was in position. Then he raised his rifle and aimed back toward the rooms behind them, guarding against any enemy ambush.

After receiving the signal, D-6 removed a stun grenade and pulled the pin.

Standing beside D-6, D-5 suddenly stepped forward, kicked open the half-closed door, and immediately retreated.

The instant the door opened, another burst of gunfire came from inside.

But at the same time—

Clink!

The stun grenade rolled into the room.

Boom!

After the explosion sounded, D-3 charged straight in.

Several gunshots rang out in succession.

“Target down!”

“Continue clearing the floor!”

Soon, all the remaining rooms on the third floor had been checked.

The four men returned to the stairwell.

Coincidentally, Team B had also completed its sweep of the second floor and was moving up toward the fourth.

“Move.”

With a wave of D-1’s hand, Team D began moving again.

After that, with a certain amount of experience under his belt and with his teammates guiding the pace, Xander gradually began to get into the rhythm.

His still-unpolished CQB techniques also started to become smoother through repeated coordination.

[Congratulations. Through relentless effort, your skill “Police CQB Tactics” has been upgraded. Current level: LV2.]