Chapter 200: Blackout
Yang Chen's words were like sparks igniting a pool of oil, reigniting Abbess Yun Miao's smoldering anger!
"I bet you won't shed a tear until you see the coffin!" Abbess Yun Miao gritted her teeth, rising once again and drawing her long sword, as if ready to pounce on Yang Chen.
But before Abbess Yun Miao could make a move, Hui Lin, who had been standing behind her all this while, tugged at the hem of her Daoist robe and weakly said, "Master, please stop this. Let's not bother with him. Let's finish the task first."
As if a bucket of water had been poured over her fiery rage, Abbess Yun Miao instantly relaxed, retracting her sword and smiling gently as she patted Hui Lin's smooth cheek, "Alright, I'll listen to you. Let's go to another tent and not stay with this stinky man."
"Okay," Hui Lin obediently stood up and looped her arm through Abbess Yun Miao's, walking out with her.
Just as they were about to leave the tent, Hui Lin turned back, stuck out her tongue at Yang Chen playfully, and made a cute face.
Yang Chen had planned another "escape", but he didn't expect the young Daoist's words to be more effective than a ton of ice, instantly extinguishing the old Daoist's anger. He couldn't help but chuckle bitterly.
After the Daoist pair left the tent, Yezi returned shortly after. Seeing Yang Chen's frustrated expression, she laughed and said, "Big Brother Yang, don't underestimate Hui Lin. She's the most esteemed closed-door disciple of Abbess Yun Miao. Despite her young age, she has already inherited about seventy to eighty percent of Abbess Yun Miao's swordsmanship. She's the future backbone of our Yanhuang Iron Troop. Even Tianlong Big Brother wouldn't dare to underestimate Master Hui Lin."
"No wonder she's so favored and protective," Yang Chen nodded in understanding. He had initially wondered if this young Daoist was just tagging along, but now he realized her martial prowess was quite high.
Yezi grinned mischievously, "Master Hui Lin has been under Abbess Yun Miao's guidance since childhood, never leaving her side. She has been practicing in Mount Shu for years and only recently started to venture into the world. So, Master is worried about her being bullied and keeps a close eye on her. Big Brother Yang, if you really have intentions, you'll have to pass Master's scrutiny first."
Yang Chen felt a bit vexed. This old Daoist was not easy to get along with. But wait, when did he ever say he wanted to flirt with a young Daoist?!
"Um, Yezi, you're not learning well. How could I, your Big Brother Yang, be the kind to love someone at first sight? I just see the young girl as tender as tofu, so innocent and lovely. I just want to care for her a bit more, no ulterior motives." Yang Chen said with righteousness.
"Really?" Yezi looked at him skeptically.
Yang Chen was furious. Wasn't it obvious?! He hadn't even had ten lovers in total!
"Smack!"
Yang Chen's big hand landed on Yezi's pert little butt.
"Yikes!" Yezi dodged to the side in embarrassment. "Big Brother Yang, why did you hit me?!"
"Who told you to be so naughty? First, you lied to me, and now you doubt my great and pure character?!" Yang Chen shoved the empty cup back to Yezi and then strode out of the tent.
Yezi stood there, stunned for a moment. Eventually, a hint of joy crept onto her face. Yang Chen hitting her actually made her feel relieved, knowing that he was telling her that he truly held no grudge against her.
As the distant sky began to lighten, the canyon finally reached the most crucial moment.
The Panlong Ancient Temple, the target of this mission, remained silent as ever. Danzuo and the other five people seemed to have no intention of leaving.
The battle plan deployed in the early morning allowed for no delay. Everyone was ready, and the command tent was relocated to the mouth of the canyon, along with all the equipment.
Under the command of Duanren, the artillery, led by several soldiers selected from the border defense force and armed with sufficient ammunition, began to advance towards the Panlong Ancient Temple below the valley.
The Night Wolves were on standby, lurking at the cliff edge above the valley, overlooking the surrounding area of the entire temple, ensuring no abnormal situations.
At the mouth of the canyon, other border defense forces had formed a blockade line. Abbess Yun Miao led Hui Lin, along with Haixiao and Yezi who were in charge of specific coordination work, in a newly erected tent at the valley mouth, monitoring various instruments.
Due to the terrain, land armored vehicles could not arrive in time, only a helicopter was available, but in such a battle situation, its use was limited as its protection measures were relatively weak. Therefore, individual combat became particularly important in this situation.
Inside the command tent, Yang Chen watched the surveillance screen. The artillery and a small team of soldiers had already rushed to the periphery of the Panlong Temple.
Several smoke grenades were thrown out from the artillery, and various colored gases instantly filled the entire screen.
Intense gunfire echoed through the valley. Carrying heavy machine guns and a large pack of ammunition on their backs, the artillery had skillfully begun their exploratory sweep to prevent any ambushes ahead.
"Main base, periphery secured, over!" Haixiao received the message from the artillery and sent a message to Duanren, who led the other assault team members, "Duanren, no ambushes detected on the periphery, over!"
"Roger that," Duanren nodded to the people around him and waved his hand. Kuangfeng, Dajiao, and Tianlong quickly advanced from behind the ancient temple.
Unlike the artillery, who were dressed in camouflage and equipped with advanced high-tech devices, carrying heavy firearms, they were only wearing lightweight combat suits. Although they couldn't disregard the rain of bullets like Yang Chen, for top agents, ordinary firearms and ammunition had lost their effectiveness because the process of bullet firing gave them enough time to evade. In small-scale combat, conventional weapons were completely overshadowed by cold weapons.
The entire Panlong Ancient Temple was shrouded in hazy smoke. The artillery commanded several soldiers to continuously block and probe the perimeter with firepower. When Duanren led Tianlong and the others to arrive, the artillery ordered the other soldiers to retreat a few feet from the temple and monitor the situation.
"They're holed up inside, beware of trickery," the artillery said before charging into the temple gates. With a wave of Duanren's hand, the four of them followed closely behind.
Inside the command tent at the mouth of the canyon, the monitor could no longer show the situation inside the temple. Yezi took off her headphones and asked Haixiao beside her, "Any movement from the Blue Storm people?"
"None, and there are no instructions from headquarters either. Previously, it was directly through contact with Duanren. If there were any movements, Duanren should have known in advance," Haixiao replied.
"Do you think they find it too risky, so the Blue Storm people aren't coming?" Yezi frowned, puzzled.
Haixiao was also puzzled and shook his head indicating he didn't know.
Outside the command tent, Yang Chen continuously tried to light a cigarette with a lighter. Due to the high altitude, the flame couldn't catch, and it took a while before the cigarette lit.
After taking a drag and exhaling smoke, Yang Chen sighed, "In my opinion, it's useless to stay here. We might as well go inside the temple and see what's happening."
"No, we need to control the overall situation outside from here. If the Blue Storm people come, we must stop them from joining Danzuo and the others," Haixiao said solemnly.
Yang Chen chuckled, "Can you really control it? If the Blue Storm comes charging in, either by airdrop or armed helicopter, can you stop them?"
"Stopping them is Lord Ming's task!" Haixiao insisted stubbornly.
Yang Chen flicked off some ash from his cigarette, "My task? Alright, let's just say that for now. But don't you find it strange? Why did Danzuo choose to stay in that Panlong Temple instead of leaving during the night?"
"They're intimidated by us and dare not move recklessly, so they can only wait for reinforcements," Abbess Yun Miao suddenly spoke up.
"That's just your speculation," Yang Chen chuckled helplessly. "The only reason you dare not use heavy firepower to directly wipe them out is that the Law Body of Tathagata is more important than their lives. There's no room for error. They must know that too. If it were me, being so close to the border, I would forcefully rely on the protection of the Law Body and break out to the outside at night. Even if you have the ability to intercept, you wouldn't dare to act rashly. It would be much more effective than shrinking inside the temple waiting for you to catch them."
Abbess Yun Miao snorted coldly, "Nonsense. As soon as they leave the temple, the sniper will have the opportunity to kill them at any time. Since they have contacted the Blue Storm, they naturally believe that waiting for the Blue Storm would be safer."
"Abbess," Yang Chen sighed in exasperation, "You may not have fought battles or fired guns before, so you don't know how snipers operate. The sniper's aim depends on a lot of parameters and calculations. This canyon, from top to bottom, not to mention distance and height differences, besides considering instant data such as climate, wind speed, wind direction, and light conditions, they also need cooperation from the other side to move with a predictable trajectory to ensure accuracy.
The Night Wolves don't have any assistants to help with calculations. Depending solely on him, wanting to hit those highly cultivated and well-prepared lamas, the success rate isn't high, not to mention that Night Wolves also need to consider not damaging the Law Body of Tathagata. As for waiting for reinforcements, that's even more unreasonable. Before I arrived, you could only have blocked them in the temple. Do they not know that you could also bring reinforcements? Whether they wait for the Blue Storm or not, the result is almost the same."
After Yang Chen finished speaking, Abbess Yun Miao, Haixiao, and Yezi all wore pensive expressions. Upon thinking about it, the behavior of those five lamas did seem peculiar, especially now, when there was no sign of movement.
The young Daoist Hui Lin watched everyone curiously from the side, seeming not to fully understand what was going on.
"The analysis of Lord Ming does make sense, but the plan has already been executed, and we cannot adjust it at will," Haixiao frowned.
Suddenly, the screen of the monitoring equipment began to flicker and turned into a blackout!
Everyone was startled. Yezi immediately reached out and rapidly tapped on the keyboard, but to no avail. Her face turned grim as she said, "This is bad. It's strong electromagnetic interference. All our communication equipment is down!"