Chapter 653: When a Single Victory Costs Infinite Lives

Chapter 653 – When One General Triumphs, Countless Bones Crumble (Update 1)

Speaking of playing the underdog, Xiao Yu wouldn’t claim to be the best, but he was far from trailing behind. Lin

Triggered the Compact Cannon as gunfire erupted in a dazzling burst.

He saw three faces twisted in confusion.

How could one describe the expressions on these special forces soldiers now?

It was as if they were pitied men realizing that the woman they loved turned out to be their long-lost sister.

Trying to ambush someone, only to have it backfire on you.

Unexpected, isn’t it?

Pfft, pfft, pfft… Three special forces soldiers were knocked down.

Yet no blood was spilled.

Damn it, Xiao Yu retreated into the stairwell.

He hadn’t expected that the enemy was wearing a rather unusual type of bulletproof vest.

Rat-a-tat-tat.

The fierce barrage of gunfire turned the wall at the stairwell entrance into a cloud of smoke.

Concrete shards exploded everywhere as dust and debris filled the air.

Hiding in the stairwell, Xiao Yu licked his dry lips.

All that energy spent makes you thirsty – that’s common sense.

Amidst the rising dust, bullets whistled by.

Staring calmly at the bullet holes etched in the wall before him, Xiao Yu detected the scent of something burnt.

Years of experience pitting cops against criminals filled him with a premonition of danger, every cell and nerve screaming caution.

For a moment, Xiao Yu reverted to his school days when his eyes never left the blackboard.

On a battlefield, a blink could cost you your life!

Wait a minute…

Wasn’t his life-long dream to be a cop?

To step onto a battlefield had belonged to his past life’s desires!

Xiao Yu felt utterly tearful but could only sigh.

Suddenly.

A spherical, dark green object zipped past his eyes.

In an instant, every hair on Xiao Yu’s body stood on end, his scalp prickling.

What was that?

A hand grenade!

In that split second, Xiao Yu’s mind slipped into an uncanny state.

His thoughts raced at a pace ten, a hundred, even a thousand times faster than normal.

Most people don’t know this.

When your mind spins faster, your perception of time slows down.

Often, people feel like their hands can’t keep up with their brain.

That’s exactly what happens.

It’s an overload – your brain is working too fast.

When your thoughts outrun your actions, your body simply can’t keep up with your commands.

That was exactly Xiao Yu’s situation now.

Only, this state had never occurred in his current life.

Nothing he’d encountered before required his brain to operate at such a frantic pace.

And in moments of mortal peril,

it’s the time you’re most likely to lose control.

So… Xiao Yu let his mind run wild, pushing his cognitive abilities to the limit.

The world itself seemed to change.

Because his thoughts raced so fast, everything around him appeared to slow down.

That grenade drifted slowly through the air as it began its descent.

Every moment was captured by Xiao Yu’s keen vision.

Had he lived his past life, he would have been helpless.

Back then, his body would have lagged behind his mind.

But not this life…

Cheetah Speed, Spirit of the Raccoon Cat, Water Strider Float, Squid’s Touch… Activated.

In the blink of an eye, Xiao Yu moved.

His form blurred as he stepped away just as the grenade was about to hit the ground.

Gently, he grasped it – with a tenderness akin to a mother cradling her newborn.

Using that delicate touch, he nullified all the grenade’s impact.

This release allowed him to twist his body and sweep his arm in a smooth motion.

He then tossed the grenade gently out of the stairwell…

Movies often show scenes of a grenade being kicked or slapped away with panache.

They look cool, wild, and explosive.

But in reality,

today’s grenades have two triggering methods.

One uses a fuse with a timed delay.

The other detonates upon impact with a striker.

The first one is widely known by most Earthlings.

The second is simple too – think of a firecracker.

Throw it on the ground, let the impact work.

Snap – it goes off.

Now, if you kick or slap such a grenade,

what do you think will happen?

So sometimes, you can’t judge things by how they’re portrayed in movies.

Otherwise, you might end up with your head pinned to the floor.

Boom!

The grenade exploded outside the stairwell, mixed with anguished screams.

As the blast rang out, all the power stored in Xiao Yu’s body erupted, channeling through his legs into his combat boots, radiating from the soles.

No one could fathom the sheer force behind it.

That inhuman strength catapulted Xiao Yu like a bolt of lightning out of the stairwell.

In that split second, his speed was beyond human comprehension – too fast for the naked eye to follow.

In the midst of his sprint, Xiao Yu’s eyes remained cold and indifferent.

Within his sights, he clearly saw one special forces soldier lying in a pool of blood.

He also saw the other two, momentarily stunned with anger and shock at their comrade’s fall.

On the battlefield, even a split second of hesitation is fatal – that’s basic knowledge.

So, as the two recovered from their stupor,

Xiao Yu stood before them like a demonic figure, staring them down.

Crack!

With one hand, he crushed a soldier’s throat.

Bang!

A bullet tore through another soldier’s brow.

Striding forward, Xiao Yu positioned himself before the soldier flattened by the grenade.

Snap!

His combat boot snapped the soldier’s neck.

“Can’t a man just leave in peace?”

Xiao Yu muttered coldly as he stepped back into the stairwell. “What’s the point?”

As the saying goes, countless lives are sacrificed for one great victory.

He now understood the phrase more viscerally than ever.

To reach the pinnacle,

either enemies’ corpses or the lives of your own are stacked to form a throne.

Under that throne, nothing exists but lost lives and scattered bones.

Merit is measured in human lives.

If it’s not someone else’s, it’s your own!

Don’t want to leave?

No – Xiao Yu wasn’t ready to die yet.

He knew too well the dangers awaiting him outside the building.

Just imagine: how many soldiers or security personnel would be outside?

If he stepped out, he’d immediately become a walking beehive of hostility.

Xiao Yu could only retrace his steps.

From the first floor, he ascended to the top floor…

“We’ve delayed long enough.”

At the entrance to the rooftop, he noticed two helicopters circling overhead with searchlights oscillating. A smirk tugged at his lips. “Not sure if they’re ready yet. Before that, let’s pick up Song Jiaxi!”

In an instant,

as the searchlights left the rooftop and darkness briefly shrouded it,

Flea Bullet… Boom! The ground trembled beneath his feet.

Xiao Yu shot out like an arrow, blasting off the rooftop and diving toward one of the helicopters.

In the moment his foot landed, he appeared inside the helicopter with its door open.

Bang, bang, bang…

The roar of the rotor blades perfectly masked the sound of heavy gunfire.

Numb-faced, Xiao Yu dispatched two soldiers and the pilot seated in the cockpit.

Skill: Expert Driver.

The helicopter then soared away from the Security Bureau, heading off into the distance…

Wen

Xue