Planes at Point-Blank Range, Missiles Raining Down

At noon.

The Suicide Squad’s iconic amphibious aircraft began skimming across the sea. After building up enough speed, it let out a roar and shot into the air, flying toward their destination.

"Devil Sea."

Inside the cabin, Yin Yang looked at the coordinates displayed on the tablet and shook his head. "We’re heading right into the center of the Devil Sea. Wow, I wonder if this battered old plane of ours can take it."

"Shut your crow mouth, Yin Yang!"

Christmas’s unmistakable voice came through the cabin intercom. "Damn it, if we weren’t helping you pay off your mortgage, we wouldn’t have taken this job. Seriously, you bought more than a dozen houses and you still want to buy more? Don’t you have to pay property taxes every year?"

Yin Yang chuckled. "In the Eastern Nation, real estate is the industry with the greatest potential for appreciation. And I’m sorry, but we don’t have property taxes. Whenever I make money, I’ll be happy to throw it into real estate."

Christmas couldn’t help cursing. "So that’s why you said you wanted to practice hand-to-hand combat—because bullets cost money?"

Yin Yang: "…"

A loud thud rang out.

As they spoke, the plane hit turbulence and jolted.

Laura, who was sitting nearby and gripping her harness tightly, cried out in surprise, but it was nothing serious.

Sitting beside her with his arms folded and his eyes narrowed, Lake showed no intention of opening his eyes. "Relax. They’re professionals. Besides, aren’t you a fan of extreme activities?"

Laura looked at Lake in surprise. "You are…"

Lake said directly, "After I heard about you from Lake, I did a little investigation. After all, even when someone needs help, I prefer to assess whether they’re actually in need of it."

Laura froze for a moment. "The Crawford Family paid you."

Lake opened his eyes and looked at Laura. "I know. If I didn’t want to help you, you wouldn’t even have had the chance to pay me, would you?"

Laura opened and closed her mouth.

Devil Sea!

There were many legends about this so-called Devil Sea. The most famous was similar to the legend of the Bermuda Triangle. Cruise ships and vessels that entered it generally never returned.

But the Devil Sea differed from Bermuda in one respect. If you passed through it in good weather, you had a chance of making it through.

Clearly.

Lake had encountered good weather this time, avoiding the nights when thunderstorms crowded the sky.

The plane roared. With a boom, it burst through the clouds, and from the cockpit, they could see their destination in the distance—the island where Himiko, the Queen said in the legends of the Island Nation to have once ruled over it, lay eternally asleep.

"There are people."

"Yeah."

Barney and Christmas exchanged a glance. From afar, they confirmed signs of human activity on the beach of the island.

Just then.

Beep!

Beep!

Beep!

The plane’s alarms suddenly blared.

"Shit!"

Barney watched a rocket streak toward them from one side of the island, dragging a long tail behind it. He cursed and immediately pulled the nose upward.

Boom!

The rocket passed within inches beneath the cabin.

Barney drew a deep breath and looked at Christmas. "Now it’s personal."

Christmas immediately unfastened his safety belt. "Agreed."

Barney grabbed the intercom and spoke to the team members in the cabin and the two clients. "Gentlemen, get ready to work. It might get rough in a moment, so take care of our clients. We’re about to say hello to the people on that island."

With that, Barney hung up the intercom, locked the plane’s target onto the island again, and began diving.

Christmas opened the hatch, put on his goggles, and leaned out. With both hands, he operated the two rows of six-barreled Gatling guns mounted at the front of the aircraft, slowly spinning them up.

The next second.

The Gatling guns opened fire.

Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat!

A dense stream of bullets poured toward a camp on the island.

The mercenaries on the ground hurriedly dove to both sides.

"Try this, you bastards!"

Just as the plane was about to climb again, Christmas opened the weapons bay. With two heavy thuds, two barrels of homemade incendiary bombs dropped like shells and exploded upon hitting the ground.

Flames burst out at once. Like countless fire dragons, they spread in every direction the instant they erupted.

The information Lake had given Barney and the others wasn’t limited to the presence of mercenaries on the island. He had even provided them with information about the mercenary leader there.

After all, it was easy for Red Queen to find out who had once been active nine years ago and had since vanished for the same length of time.

Unfortunately.

The mercenary leader on the island was an old acquaintance of Barney and the others—or, more accurately, an enemy. As for what kind of grudge they had?

Lake glanced at the dog tags hanging and clinking against the cabin wall.

"Fuck!"

On the ground, Matthias Vogel, the archaeologist who had been trapped on this island for eight years, watched the Suicide Squad’s insignia aircraft appear above the island through a face covered in soot and grime. He cursed, "Get the RPG…"

Rumble!

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Matthias Vogel hadn’t finished speaking when, in the distance, the area ravaged by flames reached their weapons depot. An even more violent series of explosions erupted.

"Damn you, Barney!"

The mercenary leader also ground his teeth as he stared at the Suicide Squad aircraft turning around overhead. "How did he find us?"

No one answered him.

The Suicide Squad’s second wave of attacks was already closing in.

Rat-tat-tat!

The bullets fired by the Gatling guns punched hole after hole in the ground. Christmas, wearing goggles, laughed wildly as he spun the Gatling gun, the muscles in both his arms flexing.

A mercenary who failed to dodge in time was blasted into a rag doll.

In the cockpit.

Barney said, "Christmas, come down. We’re landing."

"Wait!"

Christmas took both hands off the Gatling controls, bit the pins out of two grenades, and threw them toward the ground.

Bang!

Bang!

The two grenades landed squarely among several mercenaries. They instantly sent the men sprawling and filled the air with their screams.

Inside the cabin.

Lake sat with his eyes closed, completely unconcerned by what was happening outside. If they still found themselves at a disadvantage after gaining air superiority, it could only mean one thing.

The Suicide Squad had been bought off by the people on the ground.

Lake had deliberately stayed on Hong Kong Island for two days to hire the Suicide Squad at the cost of ten million, all so he could end this in one decisive stroke. If he still had to fight back and forth with the enemy on this little island, Lake felt he might as well gouge out his own eyes.

After a while.

The instant the plane touched down on the water, Laura screamed and pitched forward. Lake extended his left hand and stopped her.

Laura clung tightly to Lake’s arm as well. When the plane steadied, she still sat there in shock, unable to recover.

Barney and Christmas came from the cockpit into the cabin.

The constant clicks of weapons being loaded rang out.

Barney said to Lake and Laura, "Please don’t come out until we’ve cleared the ground."

Lake nodded and looked at Barney. "Professionals should handle professional work."

"I agree with your point, Professor Xavier."

Barney nodded, then turned to his team. "Leave Doom to me. I’m going to use him to throw a barbecue party!"

Doom.

He was the mercenary leader on the island. During one of the Suicide Squad’s missions, they had belonged to opposing factions, and that mission had nearly wiped the Suicide Squad out entirely.

The cabin door opened.

Gunnar Jensen, whose physique was immensely powerful, carried a Gatling gun on both shoulders and was the first to wade out of the cabin.

Rat-tat-tat-tat!

The six barrels of the Gatling gun spun, pouring countless bullets toward the mercenaries on the shore who were preparing to fight back. Alongside Gunnar Jensen’s slightly manic laughter came the precise gunfire of the other Suicide Squad members.

In an instant.

A landing battle that was practically a one-sided massacre began.

Screams.

The roar of artillery.

The crack of various firearms.

Inside the cabin, Lake took two cotton balls from his pocket and handed them to Laura. "Want some?"

Laura shook her head, forcing herself not to think about what was happening outside. She looked at Lake. "This… won’t hurt my father, will it?"

Lake shrugged. "It’s fine. Since these mercenaries are on this side, your father should be on the other."

Richard Crawford had played cat and mouse with a group of mercenaries on this island for nine consecutive years without being caught. It had to be said that he possessed a certain amount of ability.

Perhaps it had something to do with the Crawford Family having a woman whose maiden name before marriage was Clayton. After all, the first Clayton also had another name: Tarzan.

Maybe after that, the children of the Crawford Family had all inherited, to one degree or another, some jungle instincts etched into their blood. Who could say?

"The other side?"

Laura frowned. "Then why didn’t we land on the other side?"

Lake wanted to laugh, but considering Laura’s age and experience—and the fact that they had nothing else to do at the moment—he said to her, "Do you know what people mean when they say the early bird catches the worm?"

Why hadn’t they landed on the other side first?

Heh.

Landing on the other side first would have worked too. But the price would have been facing a group of mercenaries who were fully prepared, rather than the unprepared mercenaries they were dealing with now, who had merely fired a rocket to drive them away.

Setting aside the casualties they might have suffered.

It definitely would have slowed them down.

Lake was hoping to finish the battle before tonight. At the very least, they had to finish in time for a late-night snack. If they didn’t hurry, who knew what would happen once the Holy Trinity realized what was going on?

Half an hour later.

The gunfire along the coastline gradually faded.

Yin Yang, holding an assault rifle, opened the cabin door again and looked at Lake and Laura inside. "Some of the mercenaries escaped into the depths of the jungle. Be careful when you come down, and don’t run around. I’m counting on buying that villa near the Third Ring Road in the Imperial Capital in cash once this job is over."

Laura: "…"

You people really aren’t helping. I only made you go through nine updates in a row for two or three days, and then you went all out. When I checked my stockpiled chapters, wow, what a surprise—not only had the number not decreased, it had actually increased to 210 chapters.

I want to laugh.

Look into my sincere eyes. I promise I’m not laughing at you~~~ Pfft~~~~ Hahahaha~~~~~~~