Chapter 463: Might As Well Die Fighting
In a building, several armed soldiers rushed toward the broadcast room to stop whoever had taken control of it.
Halfway there, they came to an abrupt halt.
"What the fuck...?" the man at the front muttered, his breath catching in his throat. "Fucking hell."
The hallway was littered with blood and bodies.
Even with the hallway plunged into darkness, save for a single flickering fluorescent light, the brutality of the attack was unmistakable.
It hadn’t been a series of clean, precise kills.
Some bodies were riddled with bullets from head to toe. Others had their faces and necks torn apart by repeated gunfire, leaving behind a grotesque scene that was enough to make even seasoned soldiers hesitate.
For a brief moment, everyone held their breath. They had seen enough to paint a clear picture of the infiltrator — a mad, sadistic, and terrifyingly violent person was somewhere within the compound.
Fury flashed across every soldier’s face.
"She probably has an accomplice," the leader barked as he looked over his shoulder. "Search every floor! Take down anyone acting suspicious!"
"Yes, sir!"
The men at the rear immediately split off to sweep the other floors, while the rest charged forward, stepping over the corpses of their fallen comrades.
None of them slowed down.
Ashley’s voice continued echoing through the speakers, delivering her final warning to the people she had mockingly called Baldy and Addict.
It sounded like childish name-calling, but everyone knew exactly who she meant.
The moment they reached the communications room, the lead soldier kicked the door open and stormed inside with his rifle raised.
Sure enough...
Someone was waiting.
Bodies lay scattered across the room. One slumped over the panel, others just limp on the floor.
And among them stood a lone woman.
Ashley.
She leaned casually against the control panel, looking as relaxed as if she had all the time in the world.
One of her fingers was raised, and looped around it was a small metal ring.
It looked almost like the pin attached to a keychain or... from a grenade.
"Hello," Ashley greeted with a pleasant smile. "And... so long."
Then she tossed a grenade with her left hand.
It rolled slowly, its sound faint but somehow very clear in their ears as it stopped at their feet. The soldiers’ pupils shrank as realization dawned on them.
None of them had time to wonder whether Ashley intended to blow herself up alongside them. People willing to die for a mission certainly existed.
But the instant every pair of eyes dropped toward the grenade, Ashley drew the pistol hidden at her side.
BANG!
BANG!
BANG!
Each shot struck a forehead.
One after another, the soldiers collapsed before anyone managed to react, their bodies piling up in the doorway.
"What kind of training does this place even have?" Ashley muttered, scrunching her nose. "Falling for such a trick — amateurs."
She pushed herself away from the control panel and walked over to the nearest corpse.
Taking her time, she stripped away two rifles, two pistols, extra magazines, and even the shoulder slings before fastening everything onto herself.
Behind her, the grenade never exploded.
Of course it was fake. There was no way she would blow herself up with them.
"Okay, okay!" She clapped her hands together before hopping over the pile of bodies blocking the entrance.
Stepping into the hallway, she stretched her shoulders.
"I am ready."
A grin spread across her face. Then she heard footsteps approaching.
Her smile widened. Without hesitation, Ashley raised both rifles.
The instant the first soldier entered her line of sight—
BANG!
BANG!
The gunfire thundered through the hallway.
The lead soldiers dropped before they could even squeeze their triggers. A few managed to fire in panic, but their bullets flew wide as they collapsed.
The second wave wasn’t nearly as large.
Apparently, the others had split up to search the remaining floors.
Ashley lowered one rifle and checked it briefly. She tapped the magazine, only for it to go off.
BANG!
She flinched as a stray bullet struck the wall.
"That surprised m—" She stopped as her eyes shifted toward the shattered window beside the bullet hole.
A slow smile spread across her lips as an idea had just crossed her mind.
"There she is!"
Suddenly, a shout suddenly echoed from the opposite end of the hallway.
Ashley turned just as another soldier skidded to a stop.
He hesitated for only a split second after taking in the massacre before him. Then he raised his rifle.
"Shit—"
Ashley dove behind the corner as a hail of bullets tore into the wall.
Chunks of concrete exploded around her. She instinctively tucked in her shoulder while waiting for the barrage to ease.
"Calm down!" she called out during a brief lull. "I’m actually innocent. I was forced into this—"
BANG! BANG! BANG!
Ashley frowned. "Well... I tried."
The soldiers continued firing, though their bursts became shorter as they conserved ammunition.
At the same time, Ashley caught another set of footsteps approaching from behind. They were closing in from both directions, cornering her.
But she didn’t panic.
Not because she underestimated the situation, but because it felt painfully familiar. She had found herself trapped like this countless times before.
The first few times, Scott had arrived just in time to pull her out.
Eventually, he stopped rescuing her. Instead, he taught her how to survive.
Ashley slowly scanned the bodies scattered around the hallway. Then her eyes landed on one of the fallen soldiers.
A smile tugged at her lips, and then she crouched and reached toward the man’s side pocket.
His body was pinned beneath another corpse, making it awkward to reach inside.
Still, her fingers found what she was looking for.
When she pulled her hand back out, her eyes lit up.
Another grenade.
This one was real.
"Stop shooting!" Ashley shouted again, this time toward the soldiers advancing from behind. "I surrender!"
"Please! Don’t kill me!" She watched the floor instead of the hallway.
The instant a soldier’s shadow stretched across the ground toward her position, she bit the safety pin free.
Clink.
Then, she casually rolled the grenade around the corner until it stopped right at the soldiers’ feet.
"Psyche!"
The lead soldier froze; his eyes widened.
"Grenade!"
They barely managed to turn around when everything went —
BOOM!