by <unknown>
Finally, with the cloaking device from Predator, this super-ghostlike combat unit would be a nightmare for any enemy.
The reason they would not be carrying weapons was also very simple. Chen Chen's forces were going to fight across borders and must travel on international flights. It was only with the help of Little X, who fabricated their identity data, that the Black Knights could move under the nose of various countries without being detected.
However, if they brought weapons onto the plane, as long as the security personnel were not blind, it was impossible that they would not be found.
At this time in Los Angeles of the North American Continent, late-night was descending.
After interrogating the sixth batch of suspects, Geraldson rubbed his temples a little tiredly. There was now a large pile of relevant transcripts in his hands.
"What sort of d*mn mission is this…"
Geraldson grumbled in a low voice. He turned his head and looked out the window, only to see that thousands of sculptures had been piled up in the parking lot outside. He even saw several sculptures that had been pried from the front of a church.
This was because someone had mentioned that those sculptures would move.
That person had said that in a joking tone, but had never expected that a single quip would cause the sculptures to be brought here. He must be feeling rather panicky by now…
At present, the parking lot of the entire FBI branch in Los Angeles had been filled with countless sculptures and more sculptures were being transported in by trucks.
As the head of the intelligence team in the Los Angeles branch of the FBI, Geraldson only knew as much as the masses did. He just knew that all the operations across the North American Continent at this time were due to orders issued by the Federation United Front.
This mysterious department had only issued a single command: to investigate all abnormal sculptures in the North American Continent and transport them to the New York headquarters of the Earth Federation!
Therefore, as the executive branch of the Earth Federation, the Federal Bureau of Investigation was immediately mobilized at full force whereas the North American Continent's government also worked tirelessly to cooperate with them.
The only thing was, could someone just f*cking tell him what this order meant? What was an "abnormal" sculpture?
Geraldson rubbed his hair rather grouchily, then took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket. He took out a cigarette and held it in his mouth, then took out a golden lighter from his jacket pocket and lit it patiently.
A pungent flavor filled his lungs at once and Geraldson was invigorated by the effects of the nicotine.
Now, he was looking after a set of sculptures that were transported from Holmby Hills.
There were three sculptures in this set, all of which were human faces. One had prominent ears and the other two had prominent mouth and eyes respectively. This set of sculptures was brought over because its owner claimed they were unearthed in a gold mine, so they were also defined as anomalous sculptures.
Thinking of all this, Geraldson looked at the corner of the room again. He stared at the three bumps covered by a white cloth and could not help shaking his head.
Yes, as the most important sculptures, these three sculptures were not placed in the parking lot like ordinary sculptures, but in his interrogation room instead. At the same time, his team must ensure the safety of the sculptures.
After all, the property of a citizen must be well protected.
The owner of this sculpture was an influential person. It must be said that privilege existed wherever people existed. The owner did not even have to come to the FBI. Rather, Geraldson's boss had made Geraldson himself go to the manor for intelligence gathering, at a time when the entire organization was extremely short on manpower.
If he had not wasted so much time at that manor, he would not be this much behind schedule…
As he secretly cursed his id*ot boss, Geraldson started to interrogate the next group of people who had seen the sculptures.
Time ticked by slowly, from late night to dawn, then from dawn to noon the next day.
They had not rested the entire night. It was not until the next afternoon that Geraldson's team finally interrogated the first group of people who had close contact with the sculptures.
Furthermore, they were approaching the arranged time. In a while, these sculptures would be sent to the airport to be shipped to the New York headquarters.
As soon as he uploaded the information he had into the computer, the door of the office was pushed open and one of Geraldson's men walked in. "Boss, Director George asked us to get ready to send the sculptures to the airport."
"Alright, I got it."
Geraldson frowned but did not say much. He knew that manpower was extremely lacking at the moment and it was within his duty to see his responsibilities through to the end.
With this in mind, he lightly blew out a puff of smoke and flicked away the cigarette butt. "In that case, let's start out earlier and send them to the airport, then we can rest."
As he spoke, he pulled off the white cloth behind him and immediately the three strangely shaped sculptures were revealed.
The artistic style of these three sculptures was a bit strange. No matter how one looked at them, one would get a peculiar sensation…
Geraldson did not think much about it after glancing at them. He directly picked up one of them, turned around, and walked out.
Seeing this, the others also picked up the remaining two sculptures and followed him.
A heavy red truck was already waiting on the ground floor of the building. When Geraldson went down, he noticed a large group of his colleagues packing the sculptures under their charge into a container, before they transported it to the truck with a forklift.
"Leader Geraldson, this is your container."
Seeing that Geraldson had come down, a federal investigator immediately pointed to a container in the corner that was half the height of a person.
Geraldson nodded and walked to the container. He picked up the cushion foam at the side and wrapped the sculptures snugly in multiple layers.
After all, according to Gross, the owner of the sculptures, these three sculptures were treasured antiques. If they were damaged, Gross would never let the matter rest.
He packed all three sculptures into the container. After they were labeled, a forklift came over and carried the container into the truck.
Geraldson waited for the container to be safely loaded onto the truck before he turned away and said to the three people behind him, "Let's go. Wait in the car."
With that, they went on ahead and boarded the agency's vehicles, waiting for everything to be loaded onto the truck.
Ten minutes later, as the truck slowly started out, Geraldson also started the car. Besides Geraldson, there were seven or eight vehicles marked with the logo of the FBI. These vehicles trailed behind the truck, moving off like one long dragon.
Chapter 249: Shot |
On the ring road in Los Angeles.
Geraldson's eyes were closing as he leaned back in the passenger seat.
The soft rocking of the vehicle, in addition to the fact that he had not slept all night, caused him to feel that his upper and lower eyelids were constantly fighting back a heavyweight, while fatigue was hitting him like a series of shockwaves...
According to the existing procedure, as long as his subordinates drove the cars and followed the truck to the airport, his task would be considered completed. Geraldson did not even have to wake up. He could just enjoy sweet dreams throughout the journey.
His subordinates would even send him to his door before waking him up.
Unfortunately, things were not destined to go so smoothly…
In a murky stupor, Geraldson seemed to hear a muffled explosion, followed by a violent screech of friction as if someone was scratching the floor with metal!
At the same time, Geraldson was thrown forward qu
ickly by inertia. Still, he was held back by the seat belt, so he did not directly crash into the front windshield.
After he opened his eyes instinctively, Geraldson found that the car he was in had stopped. Not only that but also less than thirty meters ahead, the truck carrying the sculptures had flipped over in the middle of the road.
In addition, dozens of containers had been flung out, blocking the entire highway.
"What happened?"
Geraldson asked reflexively.
"It seems that the truck suffered a puncture while driving and rolled over," one of the men in the back seat explained, "Boss, shall we get off and take a look?"
"Yes."
Geraldson frowned, swiftly got out of the car, and walked toward the overturned truck.
In a similar reaction to Geraldson's, the other teams that were following the truck also got out of their vehicles and came over to check the situation.
"Geraldson, what happened?"
A large man with a bushy beard rushed up from behind and asked loudly.
"I don't know. Let's take a look."
Of course, Geraldson knew the man. This heavily-bearded man was called Sean, a team leader of another division in the FBI. Both of them also had a competitive relationship.
Currently, a large number of containers were strewn across the road, completely blocking the way. The scene seemed like an ominous premonition to Geraldson.
Why did the tire have to get a puncture now, of all times?
However, when Geraldson saw that the truck's tire had completely exploded, his pupils suddenly contracted!
He noticed that both the outer tread and inner tube of the tire had been fully stripped away from the wheel. At this point, only a bare steel rim was left on the left front wheel of the truck.
"This isn't a natural puncture…"
Geraldson drew his pistol instinctively and shouted at everyone, "This is caused by a shooting. Everyone, take cover!"
As he yelled, he rolled over and swiftly hid behind a fallen container.
Everyone was taken aback and hastened to hide behind some cover.
Nonetheless, unlike what they expected, everyone simply kept hiding for a few minutes. Even the road behind was starting to get congested with vehicles and no one was attacked.
"Geraldson, do you see the enemy?"
Sean was hiding behind a container and he spoke grimly.
"I don't. You?"
"Me neither," Sean replied.
"We can't go on like this. More and more cars will get stuck behind!"
Someone warned them.
"D*mn it!"
Geraldson steeled his nerves and walked out again. "Everyone, clear up the congestion first while protecting the sculptures we're transporting. Don't miss anything."
"Got it."
Everyone replied. The FBI's excellent training was immediately apparent. As they requested backup from the branch office, they began to unclog the traffic congestion. The driver of the truck was also rescued from the truck cabin at this time. Fortunately, he was not injured.
Even after the blocked road had been cleared of congestion, nothing had happened.
"Was it really just an accident?"
Geraldson could not help feeling bewildered. He turned back to look at the overturned truck again and suddenly noticed a gentle distortion before a container that was half the height of a person.
It looked like a transparent human figure…
What the h*ll?
Geraldson quickly rubbed his eyes and looked again with greater focus, only to find that there was nothing there.
"Is it because I'm just too tired?"
Geraldson murmured. Even so, he seemed to abruptly realize something and rushed to the container that was half a person's height.
This was because he remembered that this container was the container that held the three sculptures!
However, when he ran to the container, he was astonished to find that a circular hole with a diameter of half a meter had been cut out in the container at some point!
Within this hole, the three sculptures he was in charge of had vanished without a trace!
How could this be!
Geraldson exclaimed in shock.
"Boss, what's wrong?"
Three of his men, noticing his odd behavior, hurried over.
"Someone has stolen our sculptures!"
Geraldson's face was extremely sour. He kicked the container open, exposing the huge round hole in it.
Everyone saw that the iron shell of the container had been cut open by something. The cut was extremely smooth.
Everyone was stunned by this. "Impossible, I've kept watch since just now. No one approached this place. Who could have cut this container under our noses?"
"If it didn't just happen, was it cut on the truck?"
"That's even more impossible. From the time these sculptures were loaded onto the truck, we were watching the truck the entire way. It was impossible for anyone to enter the truck!"
"Even if someone sneaked in at the start, what about when the truck rolled over? If someone was flung out as well, we'd definitely have seen them!"
All at once, everyone debated and refuted each other, trying to shirk responsibility.
Only Geraldson stared at the container, completely silent.
"Sean, why did you step on my foot?"
"I didn't!"
Just then, a squabble between two men broke out. Geraldson looked up instantly. At this moment, he could see a distortion twisting slowly in the air just behind the two of them!
"Freeze!"
Geraldson quickly raised his pistol and aimed at the two of them. "Raise your hands right now and get down on all fours!"
"Geraldson, have you lost your mind?"
Sean yelped and quickly raised his hands. "Calm down, man! I definitely didn't steal them!"
Everyone turned toward Geraldson in puzzlement and shock.
"I don't mean you, Sean, but behind you!"
Geraldson gritted his teeth and said, "Freeze! If you don't stop, I'm going to shoot!"
"What are you on about…"
"Bang!"
Before Sean could finish speaking, a sharp gunshot rang out. The bullet directly grazed past Sean's face and zipped forward!
Instantly, the preserved order of the highway broke out into chaos again!
At this moment, Geraldson and the others were utterly flabbergasted — in the air where the bullet had passed, a splatter of blood had blossomed.
It was as if an invisible figure had been wounded by the bullet…
Chapter 250: Leave No One Alive |
When everyone saw this, their eyes bulged in sheer disbelief.
Someone was there!
At this instant, everyone understood that there was someone right before them!
"Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!"
However, before these FBI investigators could come to their senses, gunfire tore the air apart. Seven or eight people were immediately shot and they collapsed, screaming in agony!
"Duck!"
Geraldson intuitively rolled over and avoided the bullets. Then, he realized in horror that the bullets were coming from more than one direction, which meant that there were enemies in every direction!
There was more than just one of those invisible monsters!
As soon as he realized this, Geraldson felt a chill run down his spine.
There was a container in front of him and a truck behind him, so he could stay hidden for a while, but the others were not so lucky. These FBI members kept shooting in the direction where the gunfire came from, but after all, they could not see their opponents. In no time, they were shot, one after another, and they fell to the ground, wailing.
"The gunshots all sound like ordinary NP27 pistols and the directions they're coming from — one, two, three… Four… Five!"
Counting the numbers silently in his head, Geraldson quickly calculated, based on the direction of the gunfire, that there we
re five people on the opposing team.
Although this was a small number, within dozens of seconds of contact, more than half of his team had fallen. Geraldson even saw a colleague, who had worked under him for a long time, get shot in the forehead and tip over into a pool of blood…
Just when Geraldson and the others were caught in the hail of bullets, like rats in a trap, the sound of helicopter propellers could be heard in the distance. It was reinforcements from the FBI!
Upon hearing the arrival of the helicopter, everyone was revitalized. Meanwhile, the gunfire from beyond the containers had also ceased. The distorted figures seemed to understand that it was impossible to kill everyone before the helicopter arrived, so they fled at once, disappearing into both sides of the highway.
When the helicopters finally hovered above their heads, Geraldson and the other survivors were flooded with relief. They dropped onto their knees.
"Rescue them!"
"Quick, save them…"
When he came back to his senses, the three helicopters had already landed. More than a dozen heavily armed special forces quickly rushed out of the helicopters and began to treat the wounded lying on the ground.
Geraldson first walked to his subordinate that had been shot in the forehead and gently closed the man's eyes. After that, he thought of something and looked at the location of his first shot again, but only saw a still pool of blood on the ground. Besides that, there was nothing else.
"That shot didn't kill whoever it was?" Geraldson murmured.
These three helicopters were all dispatched by the FBI forces nearby. As they had made a report to their superiors back when the truck flipped over, the FBI immediately sent helicopters as reinforcements to prevent further mishaps.
Now, it appeared that these helicopters had come at the right time. After all, if they had been a few minutes later, everyone there might have already been killed in action.
They counted that, in this attack, there were eight groups of four, which meant a total of thirty-two federal investigators. Fifteen people were killed on the spot. Their opponents were well-trained with astounding marksmanship. Every bullet was a death sentence.