Chapter 158: Pursuit and Interception

Chapter 158: Pursuit and Interception

In a large building in Amsterdam, Netherlands, a display system consisting of six monitors broadcasted live footage of the firefight on the streets to everyone present.

Upon seeing a grenade thrown from the bulletproof vehicle, causing all the pursuing riders to wipe out and crash, an old man with a gloomy expression heavily struck the floor with his cane.

"Incompetent fools, all of them. They couldn't even keep him from escaping the port."

Hearing the old man's roar, the others in the room remained silent, either continuing to watch the monitors or furiously clicking away on their keyboards.

"How much longer until they reach headquarters?"

"Reported. Approximately thirty minutes away. With our blockades on several major traffic arteries, we should be able to buy about another ten minutes."

"Notify Team B to catch up quickly. Do not let them enter the city center."

"Teams B and C have already been dispatched."

"Hmph."

The old man struck the ground with his cane once more and said nothing further. He stood quietly behind the crowd, watching the icons representing Teams B and C on the monitor as they converged on the moving red dot.

Beside him, a slightly plump middle-aged white man wearing gold-rimmed glasses asked in a low voice, "What you're doing is bound to cause severe fallout. The contract was already outsourced to a third-party organization; why mobilize our own people for this? Once exposed, it will deal a heavy blow to our nation's reputation."

The gloomy old man glanced sideways at the man beside him and replied in a raspy voice, "The Netherlands won't make a sound. At the very least, the authorities won't step forward. They will simply write it off as a gang turf war.

"As for Floyd Hekmatyar, this is the only chance we have to properly eliminate him. Otherwise, he will forever drift on the high seas or roam across the world. His existence is simply too dangerous. Relying on his massive maritime transportation empire, he has been selling weapons on a scale that poses a grave threat to global security.

"Besides, what do you think his so-called handover is? Retirement?

"Do you really think he would simply abandon the weapons sales empire he built with his own hands? No. He isn't retiring, nor is he giving up his power.

"He is taking it a step further. His influence and authority will be massively enhanced. The Round Table management has already approved his entry; he is about to ascend to the Round Table."

Hearing the old man's words, the white man with gold-rimmed glasses made no reply. He merely lowered his head slightly, the glare reflecting off his glasses obscuring his eyes and making it impossible to read his thoughts through his expression.

Seeing the white man's silence, the old man said nothing more. He simply tightened his grip on his cane, holding it with a deathly white knuckle, and stared fixedly at the monitors.

***

"How much longer until we arrive?"

"Who knows? Maybe a little under twenty minutes. There's quite a bit of traffic during the day. Boss, why didn't you choose to handle the handover at night?"

"At night? Because the department responsible for night handovers gets off work, you see. Isn't that hilarious?"

"Pfft, hahahaha! Off work? Boss, shouldn't a company and department like that be running on a 007 schedule?"

"007? The codename of that legendary British agent?"

"No, I mean working twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week without a rest."

"Oh, you're overthinking it. Even arms companies have to abide by labor laws, especially in a place like the Netherlands. Although it's a Western European country, its welfare system is practically like that of Northern Europe.

"So the intelligence department is basically the only one that works around the clock like you described. Putting it that way, the intelligence department sounds utterly miserable, hahahahahahaha.

"Still, you don't need to worry. You belong to our sales department. A sales department like ours gets to travel the world on company expenses and experience local customs and cultures everywhere. Doesn't it feel like our company has fantastic benefits and perks?"

"Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat..."

Before the boss could finish speaking, a convoy suddenly surged out from a side street—three black SUVs with blank license plates and sunroofs wide open. Heavy machine guns protruded from within, unleashing a relentless barrage of gunfire directly at the bulletproof vehicle.

Countless spent casings rained down onto the asphalt from the rooftops. Meanwhile, the side windows of the bulletproof car in the middle turned completely opaque white, and its metal body became dented and warped.

Li Hongshen sat in the front passenger seat with an extraordinary calmness, watching Rem who was driving with intense focus.

"Let me tell you, I used to think scenes like this only happened back in my hometown. I never expected to encounter something this absurd upon entering civilized society.

"Speaking of which, Boss, won't the government here do something about this? What they're doing is illegal, right? Doesn't the law enforcement system step in?"

"Hahahaha, the government will handle it. As for the law enforcement system—well, they might be delayed by something. Once we're finished, they'll come out to help clean up. Rest assured, the law enforcement system here is extremely professional. When it comes to sweeping away traces, they're at a professional level."

"So what do we now? Just let them keep shooting?"

"Don't rush, stay calm. Chigira."

"Understood."

Sitting in the back seat alongside the boss, Chigira heard the order, knelt up from her seat, and pulled open the backrest.

A trigger mechanism was revealed within. As the mechanism was pulled outward, the rear trunk of the bulletproof car popped open, exposing a grenade launcher mounted inside.

"Hahaha, taste this!"

"Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang~~!"

"Boom! Boom! Splash~!"

Following the volley of grenade launches, two of the three following vehicles instantly exploded, while the third had its front end blown to smithereens before veering off and plunging directly into the water.

"Done."

Li Hongshen's mouth twitched slightly at the violent spectacle. To be fair, scenes like this were something he had genuinely only ever seen in movies and cartoons in his past life.

And now, through this transmigration experience, not only had he spent years on the front lines of the Empire's graveyard, but he had also successfully become the protagonist of a blockbuster action film. By now, they had already blown up a couple of streets and multiple roadways. As for civilian casualties and injuries, nobody had even bothered to tally them yet.

Having shaken off the pursuing convoy, Rem continued driving the battle-scarred bulletproof car down the highway, weaving past one vehicle after another.

Just as they approached another residential block, Li Hongshen suddenly sensed something. He quickly turned his head to scan the surrounding area, then spotted a glint of light atop the roof of a nearby building.

"Watch out! Sniper! It's an anti-material weapon."

"Bang~!"

"Damn it, a tire blew."

Rem rapidly spun the steering wheel, bringing the swaying bulletproof vehicle back under control. But before he could even steady the car, Li Hongshen's voice rang in his ears once more.

"RPG!"

"Boom~~~!"