Jason set off with Trent and Brock, preparing to take up a sniper position at the alley intersection to intercept the approaching Lionheart King's army. Meanwhile, Sunny and Long Zhan had already arrived outside the house.
"Breaching hammer!"
Sunny reached for Long Zhan, habitually wanting to grab the breaching hammer, only to momentarily forget that everyone was traveling light for this mission.
"I do have breaching rounds, but for the hammer, you'll have to head back to base to get it," Long Zhan smiled, responding.
"Alright!"
Sunny finally came to his senses, awkwardly but composedly tilting his head, pretending to reach for the breaching rifle slung behind him.
It was a shortened Remington M870, specially modified with a custom ammunition load for door breaching.
"Wait."
Long Zhan stopped Sunny just in time, raising an eyebrow and saying, "No need for all that. I've got a quicker method. Step aside two paces."
"Oh?"
With time pressing and no room for hesitation, Sunny trusted Long Zhan without question, stepping aside with keen interest.
Long Zhan didn't make a show of it, taking decisive action. He stepped back three paces, then sprinted forward with two strides, using his momentum to raise his leg and deliver a powerful kick to the door latch.
"Crash!"
The loud bang echoed.
Having never seen Long Zhan send someone flying, Sunny now watched in awe as a solid wooden door, 3 cm thick, was shattered into pieces with a single kick.
The entire door flew out of the frame, breaking into several chunks that crashed into the room.
Such power!
Such force!
It was like a rampaging bull!
Inside, a woman who seemed to have just woken up was so startled by the dramatic scene that she instinctively wanted to scream, but before she could, Long Zhan, having rushed in with the momentum from the door kick, swiftly knocked her out with a chop to the neck. She fell unconscious to the floor.
It was Long Zhan!
Using the momentum from the door kick, Long Zhan rushed in and immediately spotted the woman. He swiftly subdued her.
Sunny had missed the earlier part of Long Zhan's test and didn't know his true abilities.
Still reeling from the shocking force of Long Zhan's kick, Sunny was further impressed by his agility. His eyes practically lit up.
He couldn't help but silently commend himself for repeatedly recommending Long Zhan to Jason.
"Nice job, partner."
Talented people always earn more admiration, and Sunny gave Long Zhan a thumbs-up in praise.
Then, with a gesture toward the stairs, the two of them quickly moved upstairs in a standard CQB formation, cautious yet swift.
In this small town under the control of the Lionheart King, no one could guarantee that the civilians wouldn't have weapons.
No matter how urgent the mission was, they had to remain vigilant and cautious to avoid being caught off guard and shot by civilians.
Though the building had two stories, it was just an ordinary residential house.
The space wasn't large at all. By domestic standards, it was more or less equivalent to a two-bedroom apartment, with a kitchen and storage room.
Long Zhan and Sunny, both armed with machine guns, showed great teamwork despite it being their first time working together.
They cleared the rooms on the second floor in less than a minute and found another young man hiding in a bedroom.
This guy, likely alerted by a call, was holding an old Nokia phone and guarding the window.
Since the man wasn't armed and was merely relaying information, Long Zhan didn't kill him. Instead, he knocked him out as well.
While there was a small chance that knocking him out could be fatal, Long Zhan didn't have time to worry about that.
If Jason had been there, he would have probably stopped Long Zhan from using knockout blows so frequently.
Instead, Jason would have opted for more conventional methods, such as temporarily tying up these people to neutralize them in a safer manner.
But unfortunately, Sunny was working with Long Zhan.
Sunny, known for his bold ideas and as B Team's infamous "violent explosives enthusiast," was often kept in check by Jason.
Now, seeing Long Zhan use force without hesitation, ignoring all the usual rules and regulations, Sunny couldn't help but feel even more drawn to him.
To put it simply:
They were kindred spirits—ruthless and perfectly in sync. The more Sunny saw of Long Zhan, the more he liked him.
The two of them cleared the rooms efficiently and quickly made their way to the roof, finding a good vantage point to observe the situation below.
At that moment, the Lionheart King's army had arrived and blocked the alley entrance.
First up was the armed pickup truck, its 12.7mm gun barrel aimed menacingly at the alley entrance, serving as a strong deterrent.
Around forty to fifty infantrymen, likely with some military training, had split into two groups.
One group stormed nearby homes, aggressively clearing out the locals and taking positions in the windows and doorways to set up fire support.
The other group surrounded the armed pickup, listening as a military officer gave them orders.
Clearly, they were preparing to attack the alley, using the coordinated force of the armed pickup and infantry to wipe out B Team in the narrow space.
During this time, Long Zhan had been observing closely, and the Lionheart King's infantry had completed their deployment.
"Charge in and take them all out, move fast!"
With the officer's loud command, about twenty soldiers near the pickup started moving, charging forward with weapons raised.
Some headed directly for the alley entrance.
Others ran toward the nearby houses, preparing to go through them and enter the rear alley.
Long Zhan and Sunny's target was the armed pickup, and they needed to ensure that one shot would disable it completely, without drawing attention by firing prematurely and losing the chance for a precise strike.
Therefore, neither of them fired yet, staying hidden behind the rooftop wall.
Jason, Brock, and Trent's main task was to draw the enemy's fire in the alley and prevent them from getting any closer.
The Lionheart King's army launched their assault, and the firefight erupted in an instant.