The Ambush in the Manor
There were no lights in the manor. In the pitch-black environment, only stifled breaths could occasionally be heard.
Cody gestured, and two of his men climbed through a first-floor window. Soldiers from the other two directions also closed in. The team cautiously and quickly advanced to the upper floors. As they passed the stairwell, they saw three strangely shaped corpses.
The heads of the corpses were twisted one hundred and eighty degrees, their faces contorted in agony, clearly having suffered immense pain before death.
At that moment, a low voice came through the earpiece.
"Target sighted, target sighted."
"Target is in the third-floor living room, no signs of movement."
Cody placed a hand on his neck and made a quick swipe gesture. His men nodded in unison and quickly moved to the third floor. One soldier took out a flashbang, gently pulled the pin, and two seconds later, tossed it through the gap in the door into the living room.
Bang!
A brief, blinding flash passed.
The four men kicked open the door like ferocious tigers and rushed into the living room. Simultaneously, soldiers from other directions also initiated their attack. In an instant, the muzzle flashes lit up the living room like daylight.
More than a dozen soldiers fired simultaneously at the sofa in the center of the room. Specialized armor-piercing bullets poured down like a storm. Under such dense suppressing fire, let alone a person, even a tank would be riddled with holes.
But the scene that followed left everyone stunned.
Time had paused!
Yes, in Cody's vision, the time progression had slowed down countless times. He could clearly see the air turbulence created by the bullets leaving the barrel.
The air in the living room turned into some kind of indescribably viscous substance, both soft and resilient. The bullets traveling through it moved slower and slower. After flying about seven or eight meters, they stopped, suspended eerily in mid-air.
Cody felt his mind stagnate, and his proud physique became incredibly sluggish. He tried to drop his gun and pull out the grenade on his belt, but his arm refused to obey, unable to exert any force. The others were the same, as if they had fallen into a quagmire—the more they struggled, the deeper they sank.
Time entered an uncanny state of suspension.
Everyone could see and think, but they couldn't move, except for the person sitting on the sofa.
Hector stood up and gently snapped his fingers.
Snap!
The living room lights brightened. In the clear light, everyone finally saw the target's appearance: a large head was perched atop a dwarf-like body. The head, completely bald, was grotesquely swollen, like a massive balloon, covered in dense, blue-green blood vessels that looked like countless writhing earthworms.
This was not a person; it was a monster!
Cody gasped. He had met Hector before. Though he looked a bit strange, he was within the range of a normal person. Now, his head was wider than his shoulders, and those dark-yellow eyes were like a cold-blooded reptile's—cruel, merciless, and devoid of any human emotion.
Everyone felt a chilling dread, but they couldn't move. Several soldiers outside the living room looked on in desperation. Bullets were useless, and a grenade would hurt their own people. Was hand-to-hand combat the only option?
Hector clasped his hands behind his back, looking satisfied at the bullet casings suspended around his body. His dark-yellow eyes, like a venomous snake's, made no one dare to meet his gaze wherever he looked.
"Excellent!"
"You did very well. It's a shame there are too few of you, and the firepower is insufficient. It's nowhere near my limit."
Hector extended his fingers and gently snapped them. The viscous air vanished, and the soldiers regained control of their bodies. He spread his arms wide, like a poet preparing to embrace the world, saying sincerely and earnestly,
"Come, keep shooting. Don't stop. Empty all your bullets."
Cody's face was extremely ugly. He was a soldier, and a soldier's honor wouldn't tolerate this insult, but his logic led him to a different choice.
"Listen to my command: Retreat!"
"This freak is beyond our capability."
Cody practically bit off the words. Once spoken, he ran toward the stairs without looking back. Though the others were furious, they chose to follow their captain's instruction.
The men scattered like startled birds, some taking the stairs, others climbing out the windows, disappearing in an instant.
Hector's cheeks quickly flushed with blood, as if he had been profoundly humiliated. He bit down and growled in a voice only he could hear,
"Why won't you let me feel the sensation of being the center of attention?"
"Disobedient... then die."
Hector clenched his fist.
The air suddenly twisted, creating visible ripples like boiling water. An invisible force, centered on his palm, transformed into a powerful, horizontal shockwave that swept outward like a tsunami.
Boom!
Furniture, floorboards, walls, roof... everything in its path was squeezed and shattered. Several slower soldiers were slammed against the wall by the impact, internal cracking sounds followed, and they were instantly crushed into a bloody pulp.
A massive explosion erupted in the manor.
From a distance, the shockwave was clearly visible, spreading outwards. Everything in its path vanished.
Amanda's mouth hung open, her face filled with disbelief. Senator Hammond involuntarily took a few steps back. His eyesight was good enough to clearly see that the large-headed monster floating in the air was his cowardly, incompetent son.
He... he... how could he have become like this?
The shockwave spread for nearly a hundred meters before stopping. The manor was gone, leaving behind only a crater over twenty meters wide. Furniture, stones, and wood were carried far away by the blast, along with a dozen members of the Elimination Squad, whose fate was unknown.
Hector hovered above the massive pit, his enormous head pointing toward the sky, appearing somewhat ridiculous and laughable, yet instilling a deep, bone-chilling terror.
He scanned his surroundings, a satisfied expression on his face.
This is power!
This is what a man should pursue.
Senator Hammond asked in a hoarse voice, "W-What do we do now?"
Amanda replied, "What is your relationship with him like?"
Hammond lowered his head and remained silent. Amanda understood. She no longer held onto any delusions, instead saying in a half-joking tone,
"A quick, off-topic question: did you write your will before coming here?"
Hammond's facial muscles twitched, but he didn't answer.
"I did," Amanda murmured to herself. She braced the silver metal gun, aiming it at the large-headed monster in the distance. The red liquid in the glass container began to glow, converting into energy that flowed into the gun chamber.
As the energy poured in, the gun body grew increasingly hot, even beginning to smoke. A red dot appeared at the muzzle, as countless free-floating photons converged inward like birds returning to their nest.
Hector sensed something and turned to look. A beam of red light appeared on the distant hillside, rapidly expanding to fill his entire vision.
A laser beam, as thick as a man's thigh, shot across the sky, dyeing the earth a deep crimson.
The dazzling red light illuminated his face, which was etched with surprise. Hector instinctively raised his hands, setting up layers of telekinetic shields in front of him.
Bang!
The laser collided with the telekinetic shields. Accompanied by terrifying high heat and repulsive force, a sizzling sound filled the air. The main light beam was stopped by the shields and fragmented into countless scattered rays.
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