Unexpected Exposure

After swiftly organizing their combat formation, Captain Alpha of Team Alpha led the remaining three Special Police officers, stepping cautiously and quietly, ascending the staircase connecting the second and third floors.

They had just informed via radio that Team Bravo in the right half of the residential building had encountered enemies, and the Special Police officers from Team Bravo were currently on their way to provide support.

They refused to believe that Lu Ting could eliminate all of them when all the Special Police officers were prepared for combat. Did he really think they were pushovers?

Just recalling the gruesome deaths of their comrades at the staircase earlier made the expressions on these Special Police officers' faces involuntarily more fierce, their murderous intent growing stronger.

If it weren't for the Colonel's order to capture him alive, these Special Police officers would have wanted to shoot Lu Ting dead the moment they spotted him!

At the same time, they had to remain cautious. After all, no one understood better than these Special Police officers the military strength of their comrades.

Although their combat capabilities might not match those of some special forces in other countries, they were more than sufficient to deal with ruthless criminals and terrorist elements.

Lu Ting might be the most formidable opponent they had encountered in their careers as Special Police officers.

However, when it came to apprehending him, these Special Police officers were still confident. After all, there was only one enemy, but their numbers outnumbered him a hundredfold!

Even if Lu Ting's individual combat capability was outstanding, it was impossible for him to single-handedly overcome so many of their brothers, right?

As these Special Police officers pondered, they had already completed the short staircase between the second and third floors and arrived at the third-floor location.

The overall structure and room layout on this third floor were identical to those on the second floor. Before them were two open corridors extending in different directions: one open and one gallery-style corridor!

After the experience of losing their brothers to a surprise attack earlier, Captain Alpha did not choose to disperse the team again to search for the enemy's traces. Instead, they moved together.

Without wasting time, Captain Alpha, after a brief half-second of consideration, immediately decided to start searching from the more complex gallery-style corridor on the left side.

He raised his hand and made a silent gesture to the Special Police officers beside him, indicating to move forward to the left.

Seeing this, the other three Special Police officers immediately understood.

Subsequently, the four of them maintained their original formation and advanced towards the left gallery-style corridor.

However, at this moment,

What these four Special Police officers didn't know was that Lu Ting, whom they were so determined to capture, was standing behind the load-bearing pillar on the right open corridor!

Although these four Special Police officers tried to minimize the sound of their footsteps as they advanced, Lu Ting's exceptional hearing allowed him to analyze their positions based on the subtle movements and noises they made.

When he heard all four sets of footsteps moving towards the left side of the corridor, Lu Ting cautiously peeked out from behind the load-bearing pillar to observe the situation.

At that moment, he happened to see the last Special Police officer slowly entering the gallery-style corridor.

Seeing this, Lu Ting began to move as well. His current position was behind the second load-bearing pillar on the right corridor. To launch a more effective attack from behind these Special Police officers, he needed to move to the first load-bearing pillar.

Without wasting any time, Lu Ting immediately took action. His footsteps made virtually no sound at all. However, the slight noise from his steps would have been imperceptible to those Special Police officers.

After all, not everyone had undergone the bodily enhancements from the Super Serum like he had.

The physical fitness of these Special Police officers was slightly superior to ordinary people, but to compare with Lu Ting was clearly impossible.

But at this moment,

Even though Lu Ting had lightened his steps to the utmost, as he arrived behind the first load-bearing pillar, a layer of wall plaster above the corridor ceiling still 'clattered' down!

This might have been influenced by the intense explosion earlier from the SOHG grenade, causing even more neglected and dilapidated structures on the third floor of the residential building to sporadically shed bits of plaster and similar debris from the ceiling.

When Lu Ting had arrived earlier, this was already the situation on the third floor of the residential building. Now that this had happened again, Lu Ting was somewhat used to it, but he couldn't help but inwardly sigh, "Damn, talk about bad luck."

He said this because Lu Ting was well aware that in a state of heightened alertness, any slight movement in the environment would be amplified infinitely by their senses.

And those Special Police officers were probably treating every little sound as a major threat!

After all, the noise caused by this falling plaster wasn't insignificant at all!

Sure enough,

The next moment, Lu Ting clearly heard the footsteps in the left gallery-style corridor abruptly stop the moment the plaster fell.

Evidently, the Special Police officers in that gallery-style corridor had heard the commotion from Lu Ting's side!

Almost as if after a brief second of consideration, Lu Ting immediately heard them retracing their steps and moving towards him.

Upon hearing this, Lu Ting took a deep breath and immediately raised his Glock 17 pistol. At the same time, he closed his eyes and carefully listened to the footsteps of the Special Police officers and calculated the distance between them and his position.

Shh.

Shh.

Shh-shh.

The sound of shoes stepping on dusty gravel echoed distinctly in the otherwise silent environment, reaching Lu Ting's ears with stark clarity.

At the same time,

The team leader of Team Alpha, who should have been at the rear position, had now changed his position to the front because of their altered direction of movement, holding an AK47 assault rifle in both hands, cautiously advancing towards the open corridor where the sound had originated.

Unbeknownst to him,

Every step he took was being monitored in real-time by Lu Ting's ears!

(End of the Chapter)