Although there were many vehicles queuing to get onto the highway, the efficiency of the inspection by Soldier M was quite high. In less than ten minutes, the long line of cars in front of them had gradually all entered the highway. Only a few vehicles that the soldiers deemed suspicious were temporarily detained to undergo a more detailed inspection before a decision could be made on how to proceed.
As it was about to be their bus's turn for inspection, Zhou Ziwei remained seated as steady as a mountain, happily chewing a piece of gum from the dashboard, while the lieutenant colonel and the other four agents were already sweating profusely with tension.
When the bus moved forward two more spaces, leaving only one car to be inspected, the lieutenant colonel was horrified to discover through the car window that the officer in charge of the inspection was holding a photo of the four of them.
Seeing this, the agents turned ashen-faced, and any remaining glimmer of hope they had was shattered.
If they had a choice, they would ignore Zhou Ziwei's obstruction and leave the car as soon as possible, or simply pretend to surrender, or stage an escape to throw the checkpoint into chaos and create an opportunity for Zhou Ziwei and his group to escape.
But... it's too late now. They're already right in front of the checkpoint, so close that if they jump off the bus now, the M soldiers will find out they got off and won't let the bus go either.
So... leaving now is pointless. Now they can only pin their hopes on Zhou Ziwei, hoping that Zhou Ziwei really has a way to escape this calamity!
There were only three people in the car in front, but because one of them looked like an Asian, he was immediately identified as a prime suspect. A squad of heavily armed M soldiers rushed up and forced them to drive onto a side road for a more thorough inspection.
The American driver protested a few words, but several cold gun barrels were immediately pointed at his neck. The old American turned pale with fright and dared not say another word. He had no choice but to obediently drive onto the side road.
Don't be fooled by the fact that the US always touts itself as a democratic country. When it comes to the interests of the military, those soldiers don't know the meaning of "politeness" at all. When they really get ruthless, they don't care who you are. They can just shoot you dead without a second thought. At worst, they can plant some small "evidence" on the person afterward. As long as it proves that the person is suspected of treason, killing them is no big deal.
Finally, it was Zhou Ziwei's turn to drive the bus. After the car in front drove away, Zhou Ziwei immediately started the bus and moved it forward a little. Then, at the signal of two soldiers raising their hands, he stopped the bus.
As soon as the car stopped, several soldiers surrounded it. Two of them gestured for Zhou Ziwei to open the driver's side window, while the others gestured for him to open the car door so they could come in and inspect it.
Without a second thought, Zhou Ziwei readily opened the car door and window and let the person in.
When the two soldiers standing by the roadside saw the car window open and that the person sitting inside was just a five or six-year-old child, their expressions immediately froze strangely. They stopped their earlier order to the driver to hand over his ID card and driver's license.
This guy... he's barely a kid, how could he possibly have a driver's license? But... without a license, his family actually let him drive himself, and God... he's driving a bus! Isn't this world a bit too crazy?
On the other side, the people who got out of the car immediately saw the four agents sitting upright in the front row. Their expressions changed slightly, and they hurriedly looked down at the stack of photos in their hands.
"Hey—" Zhou Ziwei turned around at the right moment and shouted to the soldiers. Some of the soldiers were about to reach for their guns, while others were about to report to their superiors via walkie-talkie. However, when they heard Zhou Ziwei's "Hey," they all stopped moving.
They all looked up blankly at Zhou Ziwei in front of them.
Zhou Ziwei seemed quite happy, made a face at them, and then asked with a grin, "How is it? Are there any problems in our car?"
"No...no problem, how could...how could there be a problem..." Several soldiers immediately echoed, as if the people in the car were their own fathers, and if anyone dared to say there was a problem with the car, they would be the first to rush up and fight that person to the death.
Zhou Ziwei nodded, then waved his hand like he was coaxing ducks, and said, "Since there's no problem, then you all better get out of here right now!"
The four men were both excited and puzzled when they heard that the M soldiers had clearly seen through their identities, but for some reason, they all showed such strange expressions when Zhou Ziwei asked them questions.
But then, when they heard Zhou Ziwei tell these M soldiers to get out of there, they couldn't help but feel their hearts pounding with fear.
This little guy is so reckless.
These people, for some reason, had done them a tremendous favor by not exposing them, for which they were already deeply grateful. Yet Zhou Ziwei had told them to get lost. Wasn't this forcing these soldiers to turn hostile? These American soldiers were known for their arrogance; even if you were polite to them, they might still cause trouble. And now, they were openly insulting them—wasn't this just adding fuel to the fire?
Startled and frightened, the four agents didn't hesitate. They each reached into their pockets and pulled out their personal pistols, all ready for battle, some even pulling the safety off their guns.
However, to their utter surprise... the soldiers who had been scolded by Zhou Ziwei showed no displeasure whatsoever. They even watched as the four men pulled out their pistols, yet none of them reacted in the slightest. It was as if they were just watching a group of children playing with toy guns. They even had a kind smile on their faces, and then... they turned around and got out of the car.
The last person even reached out and patted the lieutenant colonel's head twice with a kind smile, then stroked another agent's chin before getting out of the car with a chuckle.
The four agents, guns in hand, were stunned by the scene and speechless. The two agents who had been teased by the last M soldier were particularly frozen in place, sitting there dumbfounded until the bus drove onto the highway and sped away before they came to their senses.
The two looked at each other, and for a moment they both felt as if they were possessed by a ghost, and they both shivered.
Little did they know that the moment Zhou Ziwei shouted "Hey!", both the soldiers who got into the car and the two standing outside were completely controlled by Zhou Ziwei's hypnotic techniques.
Zhou Ziwei's hypnosis is not a panacea, and it is not very effective against people with particularly strong willpower.
However, dealing with ordinary people is still a piece of cake, and it is even more terrifying that it can hypnotize many people at once.
Otherwise, if they hadn't been able to hypnotize everyone involved in the inspection, and if even one person had remained conscious enough to issue a warning cry, they would have had to fight another bloody battle.
Under Zhou Ziwei's hypnosis, those people naturally experienced the illusions he created for them. In their eyes, the four agents were just a group of innocent and adorable children, all with blond hair and blue eyes, and quite cute in appearance. So... how could such cute children possibly have any problems? The soldiers naturally felt there was no need for a detailed check and let them pass directly.
Moreover... these children were just too cute. The soldier who got off the bus last had a child of only three years old, whom he hadn't seen for a long time. When he suddenly saw such a large group of "children" who were "about the same age" as his own child, he couldn't help but affectionately pat the two agents on the head and face a few times.
If he knew that he was actually touching two grown men, I wonder what he would think?
Once on the highway, the car's speed increased significantly. Zhou Ziwei hadn't expected to pass through so easily this time. He had thought that since the M Army had deployed such a large force, the checks would be extremely strict, with multiple checkpoints and perhaps even police electronic surveillance and fingerprint identification.
If that were the case, Zhou Ziwei would have no way to fool them. After all, if it were just some people examining him with their eyes, Zhou Ziwei could hypnotize their will, interfere with their thinking, and make them hallucinate.
However... if the equipment being inspected is a machine, Zhou Ziwei has no way to hypnotize all of them.
It's possible that Xiaoxin could influence these electronic devices, but the chances aren't very high.
In that case, they really would have no choice but to force their way through and fight their way through.
If the fight got too fierce, Zhou Ziwei had no choice but to take everyone and burrow underground.
However, Zhou Ziwei was naturally even more overjoyed to be able to pass the test so easily.
It seems that the deception Xiaoxin created when the plane crashed has had some effect. Most of the high-ranking military officials probably already believe that everyone on board died in the explosion! Otherwise... the investigation here wouldn't be so easy!
Anyway, it's good that everything is alright. It saved Zhou Ziwei from wasting his energy and effort digging underground. He drove for more than 100 kilometers in one go and finally reached the end of the highway... After exiting the highway, the seaside pier is just ahead.
The checks here were obviously stricter than those over there, but they still didn't use electronic equipment. As long as electronic equipment wasn't used, Zhou Ziwei was fearless. He simply coughed lightly and easily hypnotized everyone, slipped through the checkpoint, got off the highway, and headed straight for the customs dock ahead.
It was clear that passing through the previous checkpoints would no longer be so easy, a fact Zhou Ziwei was well aware of. However… it didn’t matter. Only the final checkpoint remained. Even if he forced his way through, what did it matter? Once he entered the sea… hehe… then it would truly be a place where birds could fly freely and fish could leap across the vast ocean.
Although he knew it would be difficult to get past this hurdle again, Zhou Ziwei decided to give it a try. He followed the other vehicles preparing to declare customs and drove into the dock, trying to blend in. However, at that moment, he suddenly heard a loud rumbling sound.
Zhou Ziwei looked up and immediately saw a vast expanse of airplanes swarming over like locusts.
At the dock, several armored vehicles drove out, their gleaming cannons pointed directly at the bus where Zhou Ziwei and his group were...
Volume 3, King of the City, Chapter 558: Condensing Water into Ice
Seeing such a large setup in front of the dock, Zhou Ziwei couldn't help but curl his lip.
It seems we've finally been exposed, but... how did they find out, and how did they know we were in this car?
Zhou Ziwei believed that those who had been hypnotized by him would never leak his information, because those who had been treated by his hypnosis would take the illusory scenes that Zhou Ziwei created in their minds as if they had seen them with their own eyes, and completely forget the real situation they saw.
As for the city and road surveillance systems... there was absolutely no way they could have recorded any images of this group, because at least before they left the city, the entire city's surveillance system was being subtly controlled by Xiao Xin. Wherever they went, the surveillance equipment in those places would immediately and temporarily stop working, and would only resume normal operation after they left.
Therefore, Zhou Ziwei was quite curious as to how the military had determined their whereabouts.
Zhou Ziwei was unaware that although Xiao Xin had hacked into the city's surveillance system, he hadn't noticed that there was a bank right across from where they parked their bus. The bank's surveillance system had inadvertently recorded the entire scene of them getting on and off the bus on the opposite street.
After Zhou Ziwei and his group left the city, General Clavel flew there personally and investigated the scene. He saw the horribly burned corpses that had been burned along with the plane in the explosion. After frowning for a long time, he insisted that he could not believe that the people on the plane had really died there so inexplicably.
At the time, the transport plane didn't look like it had any malfunctions in the air, so how could it suddenly crash for no reason? And even if the transport plane was damaged in the previous battle, why didn't it crash earlier or later, but just when we dispatched thousands of fighter jets to begin a large-scale interception in the air? If this is a coincidence, then... it seems too coincidental, doesn't it?
General Clavel then immediately ordered the retrieval and review of surveillance footage from all streets surrounding the police station.
However, after checking, no suspicious persons were found.
General Clavel still didn't believe that everyone on the plane was really dead, so he simply expanded the scope of the investigation, especially having all the surveillance footage on the main streets leading to the seaside docks or other coastal areas carefully reviewed.
This detailed investigation revealed the problem: a camera that would normally not have any issues for one or two years was malfunctioning frequently today. And after malfunctioning, the camera would resolve itself without a repairman coming to fix it, and it would return to normal operation.
Another suspicious point is that... all these malfunctioning cameras occurred on the same line, and... each camera malfunctioned one after another along this line.
These things seem rather strange, but unless someone specifically investigates them, they will probably just be forgotten and no one will care.
The person in charge reported this strange incident to General Clavel, who immediately had a bright idea. He then had someone draw a route map of all the malfunctioning cameras in chronological order, and naturally determined that it led to the highway, and the other end of the highway was most likely the route to the dock.
General Clavel immediately and without hesitation issued an order to move all available support forces to the seaside docks.
Meanwhile, General Clavel continued his on-site investigation. He discovered that the first malfunctioning camera had been out of service for the longest time, so he specifically inspected the area that the camera could monitor. Finally, he identified the most suspicious location and found that there was a bank right across from that location. His eyes lit up, and he ordered that all the camera footage from that bank that could capture the street from that angle be retrieved.
Upon investigation, they actually found a scene of Zhou Ziwei and his group arriving in a bus and boarding the bus one after another.
Since the four agents had been completely exposed, and General Clavel had seen all their photos, he recognized them at a glance.
Only then was General Clavel able to confirm the vehicle they were traveling in, as well as the exact number of people, which allowed him to accurately intercept their vehicle at the dock.
Upon seeing this scene, Zhou Ziwei immediately slammed on the brakes and brought the car to a stop.
Then he looked up at the rows of airplanes circling in the sky, and then looked around at the armored vehicles that were constantly approaching him. A cold, icy look gradually appeared on his face.
Is this never going to end? What... do you think I'm easy to bully?
To be honest, even though Old M is bored and wants to meddle in everything around the world, positioning himself as the world's policeman, don't be fooled.
However, Zhou Ziwei didn't really take this domineering country seriously. If he were really pushed too far, he was absolutely confident that he could make all the high-ranking officials in the M country's government above the ministerial level disappear within a day, and force them to hold presidential elections three times a year.
Although Zhou Ziwei knew that the true leaders of major countries would definitely have bodyguards whose strength was almost comparable to the world's top ten assassins, Zhou Ziwei had already surpassed the level of ordinary top ten assassins. Dealing with that level of expert would be effortless for him.
Even after he kills someone, he can make sure that his bodyguards can't even see his shadow.
However, Zhou Ziwei had no grudge against them, so it was impossible for him to kill the head of a country just because he disliked their style of doing things!
However, seeing the M army mobilizing so many troops to hunt down just a few of them, acting so ostentatiously, making a mountain out of a molehill, and using their power to intimidate others, Zhou Ziwei was truly enraged.
Even if you have a thousand troops, what can you do? Watch me learn from Zhao Zilong of Changshan in the Three Kingdoms today, and I'll fight my way in and out of your army three times over.
"Ye and drive, listen to my instructions, keep driving in, no matter what, just keep driving in. You can't stop unless I tell you to, understand?"
Zhou Ziwei pointed at the lieutenant colonel, giving him the driver's seat. Then, without waiting for a response, he leaped up, opened the sunroof of the bus, and stood directly on the roof.
The lieutenant colonel was slightly stunned. He first sat in the driver's seat as Zhou Ziwei instructed, but... looking at the armored vehicles with their cannons pointed at them, he felt a chill run down his spine, but he dared not drive forward into the face of those cannons.
The lieutenant colonel was not afraid of death. He had long known that by choosing to be a dangerous special agent, he had anticipated that one day his identity would be exposed and he would die far from home. Moreover, he had long been prepared to sacrifice himself.
However, not being afraid of death does not mean daring to charge into the enemy's guns. These are two completely different concepts. Moreover, he was not the only one in the vehicle. He was not risking his own life, so he naturally had some fear in his heart.
"Drive! Drive!" Zhou Ziwei stood on the roof of the bus, but found that the bus had not started. He was so angry that he kicked the roof of the bus hard.
With a loud crash, Zhou Ziwei's kick sent the entire bus shaking violently. The lieutenant colonel, who had been sitting in the driver's seat looking somewhat dazed, was jolted awake. He gritted his teeth, steeled himself, and slammed his foot on the accelerator, pulling the handbrake...
The bus wheels slowly began to turn, and then it drove slowly toward the customs checkpoint at the dock at a moderate speed.
At the customs checkpoint, twelve heavy armored vehicles were lined up, their cannons and machine guns pointing towards the bus. Inside the checkpoint, more heavily armed soldiers jumped out of the troop carriers and rushed to take up ideal hiding spots, setting up their weapons and pointing them at the strange bus.
Under such immense pressure, no one expected that the bus would still have the courage to drive forward, and even head straight towards those armored vehicles.
"The car in front stopped for inspection, and then we opened fire."
The armored vehicles in front of the checkpoint were all taken aback when they saw the bus come to meet them like this. After a moment, a slightly threatening sentence finally came from the loudspeaker of one of the armored vehicles.
The voice sounded somewhat shrill, giving the impression of being neither male nor female.
Inspection... you're still inspecting my sister?!
Zhou Ziwei curled his lip in disdain. What kind of time is this to try and fool me into listening to you? Stopping for inspection is practically asking us to give up and surrender!
Sensing that the bus seemed to pause slightly, Zhou Ziwei immediately frowned and kicked the roof of the bus again.