Ultimate Firepower
Chapter 652 - 626: Taking the Unconventional Path

Chapter 652: Chapter 626: Taking the Unconventional Path

There were few surveillances in the Compaq Building.

There were a few cameras on the first floor, but almost none on the second, and by the third floor, there were no cameras at all.

The reason is simple: a headquarters engaged in illegal business would never install too many cameras, even if they don’t consider what evidence the cameras might capture against them, there’s also the potential hacker intrusion to consider.

Illegal is illegal; even if it’s the FBI’s black operations, they wouldn’t be blatantly obvious about it.

Americans may not understand the Chinese idiom ’disaster within’, but they do understand the concept very well.

So, there wasn’t a monitoring room on the third floor that could see every corner; they had to rely on human eyes to know what was happening below.

But Gao Yi and his team didn’t know this, they overestimated the hardware facilities of the Compaq Building.

Sith and Dani were holding position at the stairway on the second floor, feeling a bit caught in a dilemma.

There were clearly people upstairs, but neither side could see each other, and no one had thrown a hand grenade down, which likely meant the people here didn’t have any grenades at all.

A headquarters that deals in fake IDs in a place like New York Broadway Street would indeed have many armed individuals, but filling it with bombs, machine guns, and rocket launchers would be pure madness.

The strongest firepower they might have would be automatic rifles.

Even though automatic rifles gave a considerable advantage over Gao Yi and his men, just two could effectively seal off a stairway, and with four to five people, they would be nearly invincible.

Sith cautiously probed the situation, a risk carried with life; he crept up a few steps on the staircase. Just at the limit where both sides could visually spot each other, he saw a gun barrel and immediately backed down. The rifle’s owner promptly fired, a bullet almost grazing Sith’s shoulder.

Sith didn’t dare go up again; he and Dani hoped the other side would attack, believing they had the numbers on their side.

But to their disappointment, the people upstairs had no intention of coming down.

Dani shook his head at Sith.

Sith sighed in frustration, placed two fingers in his mouth, and whistled loudly towards Gao Yi in the distance.

The passage was straight, so Sith could see Gao Yi, who was stationed behind the fire exit door.

Gao Yi couldn’t go up either; if he weren’t afraid of bullets, he might charge up in the midst of gunfire. Unfortunately, even though Gao Yi was a great fighter and unbeatable in close combat, he would still die from a single bullet.

He needed to think of something.

The simplest choice was to maneuver.

If a frontal attack wasn’t viable, then maneuvering to strike from behind was the simplest and most logical choice, but it was clear this terrain didn’t allow for maneuvering.

If maneuvering didn’t work, then only a tactic common in battles remained.

Psycho-warfare, or trash-talking; if a few words could disrupt the opponent’s mindset, ideally leading to surrender without a fight, it would be the best outcome.

Realizing that Dani and Sith couldn’t break the stalemate either, Gao Yi decided to give it a try.

"Listen up, people upstairs!"

Gao Yi suddenly called out without even having thought of what to say, so after telling those upstairs to listen, he didn’t speak for quite some time.

His mouth worked faster than his brain, a bit embarrassing.

After about ten seconds, someone upstairs couldn’t help but shout, "What do you want to say?"

Gao Yi paused for a moment, then immediately said, "Get your boss over here to talk to me, I am the Gardener!"

The words "I am the Gardener" seemed to have some magic. The people upstairs, after a moment of silence, replied in a steady tone, "Wait there."

Could it be, possibly, there’s a shot?

Gao Yi himself could hardly believe it. He looked at Lucy, made an inquisitive gesture, but Lucy shrugged, indicating not to ask her about such matters.

After about a minute, a voice filled with suspicion suddenly came from upstairs, "Who are you, and what do you guys want?"

"I am the Gardener. You should know what I’m doing here; you brought me here."

"The Gardener... heh, do you take me for an idiot!"

The voice from upstairs was gritting teeth in anger, shouting, "You’re dead, I guarantee it!"

Gao Yi paused for a moment and suddenly said, "My identity was made by you, so you should know if I am the Gardener. If you can’t confirm, then it means either your status is too low, or there’s something wrong with your eyes."

Gao Yi’s words truly left the person upstairs speechless.

Waiting quietly for a moment and finding there was no sound from upstairs, Gao Yi continued, "So I’m curious, what exactly are you trying to do? The Red and Blue Group and the Garden have never had any interest conflicts. Killing off the Andic Family, regardless of who takes over, wouldn’t affect the Red and Blue Group’s business. Yet you declare war on the Garden now? I’m curious, is your head filled with crap?"

Now the person upstairs began speaking seriously, stating in a low voice, "If you really are the Gardener, then you’d better worry about your own survival. The Red and Blue Group won’t declare war on the Garden, because we don’t need to declare war on a doomed man."

Gao Yi found it even stranger now, earnestly saying, "A doomed man, are you serious? Buddy, wanna bet? Before I die, the ones getting wiped out will be you and the Red and Blue Group. Oh, I misspoke, the Red and Blue Group will still exist, just under a different name, but you won’t. You’re guaranteed doomed because the Red and Blue Group will need someone to take all the blame, hmm, or is it that you have internal conflict, right? Another faction continues to work with me, while your faction gets wiped out."

After saying this, Gao Yi chuckled lightly, "I hope you’re mentally prepared, and best if your family is too. I’ve heard that you people who do dirt require hostages, is that right? Plenty of family members, huh? And you think we came just like this, without a big force behind? Buddy, give it up, none of you can escape, you’re surrounded."

The person upstairs fell silent again, and then viciously said, "Go to hell! You guys! Get rid of him! Now, do it!

That’s exactly the effect desired; if trash-talking couldn’t make the enemy abandon resistance, then losing their cool is enough.

Like when in a stalemate, if the enemy suddenly starts attacking proactively, that’s the perfect opportunity for Gao Yi.

"Sir! You can’t do this, please listen to me, I’m a professional, we know how to handle situations like this, and you’re a desk job, you can’t..."

The people upstairs began to argue, without avoiding being overheard by Gao Yi.

"Get rid of them! Or wait for others to finish us! If you’re not an idiot, then do it now, and then we leave this damn building! Can’t you see they’re stalling for time? They’re waiting for reinforcements, and you’re helping them stall! Fool! I may be desk-bound but I have a brain!"

The person upstairs was shouting. One must admit that what he said made a lot of sense. Normally, his fears were justified and the choice was correct.

But Gao Yi wasn’t normal, nor was anyone from the Garden he brought.

Those who use normal logic to predict what Gao Yi would do ended up dead.