Chapter 5

Leo's marksmanship was beyond question — every shot hit its mark.

He blew the man's head clean off with a single bullet, killing him instantly.

But Leo, the man, and the wall column were all lined up in a straight row.

The force of the bullet sent the body slamming hard into the wall column, and it landed right on the alarm trigger.

In an instant, sirens blared across the entire estate.

Red and blue lights flashed everywhere.

The patrol teams heard the alarm and scrambled into action.

"Where did the alarm go off?"

"The wall column next to the underground lab!"

"Everyone, move to the main entrance of the underground research facility — now!"

At the same time.

Outside the underground research facility.

Natasha's face went pale.

"We're dead, we're so dead!"

"Leo, why didn't you take him out cleanly?"

"Petro Estate has over a hundred armed men — we're both going to die here tonight."

"God, I never should have come!"

"What are you standing there for? Run!"

But running was no longer an option.

Every exit on the estate was probably already locked down.

The only way out was to fight through.

Or grow wings and fly.

The second option wasn't happening.

Leo was completely calm.

He dropped the magazine, reloaded, then picked up two guns the patrol guards had dropped. He handed one to Natasha.

"Natasha, get inside the underground facility and hide."

Natasha's eyes narrowed.

"Leo, what are you going to do?"

She already had a feeling, but could barely believe it. "You're not seriously going to take on a hundred armed men by yourself, are you? Don't be an idiot, Leo! We should both hide — that's the smart move!"

Leo shook his head. "No. We're already out of options. And besides..."

He pulled out the antidote and pressed it into Natasha's hands. "This matters more to me than my own life. Keep it safe."

"Leo! No — you can't do this! You'll get yourself killed!"

Leo, in a rare moment of humor, said: "Then you'd better pray. Because if I die, there's no one left to get you out of here."

"You think God actually listens to me?"

"Worth a shot."

"Fine, you absolute lunatic!"

Natasha tucked the antidote away and gave Leo one long, hard look. "Be careful."

Then she swiped open the heavy steel door to the underground facility and slipped inside.

The facility was full of researchers with no weapons — and even if they had weapons, they wouldn't have the guts to use them. Natasha would be safe.

Not far away, the patrol team's voices were closing in.

"Over there! Move!"

Leo's eyes went cold. He slipped behind a wall column.

Seconds later, the first patrol unit arrived.

"Where is he?"

The patrol leader scanned the area, on high alert.

Then —

A bullet cut through the silence and dropped one of the patrol members where he stood. The man let out a muffled grunt and hit the ground.

The patrol hadn't even seen where the shot came from.

"Damn it! Where is he?"

Another patrol member went down.

This was the silenced Glock doing what it did best.

Silent. Deadly.

Combined with Leo's ghost-like movement, he was like a viper lurking in the shadows — you never saw him until it was too late.

"Damn it!"

"Where the hell is he?"

"He's here somewhere — fan out and search every inch!"

More and more patrol members poured in.

Within minutes, over fifty men had gathered outside the underground facility entrance.

The entire patrol force of Petro Estate.

But they were nowhere near enough for Leo. They hadn't even located him yet, and they'd already lost more than twenty men.

Leo fired two shots, moved, fired again. The patrol members started to feel like they were up against a whole squad hiding in the dark — at least thirty people, maybe more.

"There! I see him!"

Finally, one patrol member caught a glimpse of a figure darting through the trees.

He pointed and shouted: "I've got eyes on him!"

The words barely left his mouth.

A burst of shots rang out from the trees.

Six men dropped at once.

Of the fifty-plus patrol members, more than half were already down by the time they'd gotten a look at Leo.

"Watch out — he's got backup!"

Two more men were shot dead before the sentence was finished.

Leo dropped a rope from the tree and swung to another like it was nothing.

The patrol members opened fire, spraying bullets in every direction — but all they hit was empty air where Leo had just been.

He was too fast.

In that moment, the skills of Delta Force's top solo operator were on full display.

Leo owned the entire battlefield by himself.

"These guys are a highly trained mercenary unit — we can't handle this. Get on the radio and call for the elite squad, now!"

The patrol leader was pinned behind a wall column, not daring to move.

Leo wasn't just fast — his aim was terrifying. One man holding down a dozen, and the moment anyone showed themselves, they got hit.

Watching his men drop one by one, the patrol leader had no choice but to call for backup.

The Petro Crime Family's elite hundred-man unit was their highest-level fighting force.

In over ten years, they had only been deployed twice — both times when the family was fighting for its survival.

And tonight, that elite unit, armed with top-tier equipment, was being deployed again.

From his position in the trees, Leo spotted several military vehicles rolling out from the underground garage, heading his way fast.

His Glock was almost dry. Leo ditched it without hesitation and grabbed one of the patrol unit's AK rifles.

"The elite squad is here!"

The patrol leader heard the engines, turned toward the sound, and felt a wave of relief wash over him.

But before the words were even out of his mouth, a figure dropped from above and landed right in front of him.

Leo.

The moment his feet hit the ground, Leo's muzzle was already spitting fire.

The patrol leader didn't have time to react before he was down.

The remaining dozen or so patrol members were terrified, hugging their cover and refusing to move.

Leo grabbed the patrol leader's AK, tucked one under each arm, and opened fire with both guns at once.

Like a god of war, he walked straight toward the military vehicles, both AKs blazing — the bullets streaking through the dark like shooting stars, bright and relentless.

Under that wall of fire, the lead vehicle exploded. Flames shot into the sky, thick black smoke rolling upward, and the dozen elite soldiers inside were torn apart on the spot.

Nobody had expected Leo to be this insane — charging a full vehicle of elite troops all by himself.

One patrol member hiding in the bushes saw Leo's back turned, his focus locked on the vehicles. He raised his gun and moved to shoot Leo from behind.

But Leo seemed to have eyes in the back of his head. Without even turning around, he snapped off a single shot in that direction.

The patrol member had barely risen from cover before he collapsed into a pool of blood.