The leader of the armed group heard a strange sound coming from the sky.
At first, he was curious about what it could be.
A helicopter?
That should not be possible. If it were a helicopter, the sound would not be so quiet.
The leader suddenly thought of something. His expression changed and he rushed out of his hiding place, looking up at the sky.
Sure enough, he saw drones in the sky.
Not one or two, but dozens of drones packed densely together.
Such large scale drone deployment usually only appeared in drone light shows.
Even on the front lines of modern warfare, it was almost impossible to deploy such a large number of drones at once.
In normal combat, if the battlefield was in the wilderness, large numbers of drones would search for enemies and drop bombs once they located them.
But in a city, the terrain was too complicated.
Enemies could hide in basements, inside buildings, or behind walls. Using drones to find and attack targets in a city was extremely difficult.
Furthermore, how many drone operators would be needed to control such a huge number of drones simultaneously?
The leader understood all of this.
The moment he saw the swarm, his first thought was that they must belong to America.
Japan did not have such capabilities.
"Damn it. Do these Japanese think we're idiots? They dare to send drones to bomb us. They're asking for death."
"Notify the people in the Auditorium."
"Tell them to pick a few hostages who are children of high ranking officials and vent their anger on them. Post it online."
"Let Japan know we are not joking."
The one eyed man sneered coldly.
Professional kidnappers had to be ruthless.
Only by showing cruelty would the other side fear them and avoid reckless action.
There were so many hostages anyway. Killing a few did not matter.
"Understood, Boss."
A subordinate used the radio to make contact, then suddenly exclaimed.
"...Boss, we cannot reach the people in the Auditorium."
The leader immediately made a judgment.
"These drones must be causing electronic interference."
"It's fine."
"Our plan is to contact them once every ten minutes."
"If the people in the Auditorium do not receive contact after ten minutes, they will automatically execute several hostages and upload the video."
"Then we'll see how the Japanese officials react."
"If they still launch a full assault regardless of the hostages' safety, I will truly admire their cruelty."
"Everyone hide immediately."
"If anyone gets blown up by a drone, that's just your bad luck."
The armed men were already hiding inside houses, behind walls, and in corners around the campus.
It was more than enough to avoid drone bombardment.
Even if a few died accidentally, it did not matter.
They were already desperadoes. Several had already been killed by Toru earlier.
As long as some survived, the hostages would still be their bargaining chip.
All the armed men obeyed the order and hid.
But they were wrong.
Completely wrong.
Technically speaking, the drones themselves did not exceed the technology of this era.
But they were not manually controlled.
They were operated by an Advanced Technology intelligent AI system.
This system had completely overcome the weaknesses of drone warfare in cities.
No drone pilots were required.
Electronic interference was useless.
The AI system automatically identified friend and foe and launched lethal attacks.
And before this moment, Toru had already spent an entire day and night letting the drones identify every enemy signal.
No one could have imagined that these terrorists would become the first people in the world to experience a new era of unmanned warfare.
What they were about to face was a swarm.
The densely packed drones surged forward.
They rushed through narrow streets and complex terrain at speeds of hundreds of kilometers per hour.
Countless drones whistled through the air.
The sound was not deafening, but it made people's scalps tingle.
They required no human control.
The intelligent AI automatically avoided obstacles.
Even autonomous driving systems would feel ashamed in comparison.
An armed man leaned casually in a building stairwell while smoking.
The stairwell was completely enclosed with no windows.
He believed the drones could not enter.
Even if they did, he believed he could hide in time.
But the next moment, a drone suddenly appeared a few meters in front of him.
Before he could react, the drone fired.
Human sharpshooters could be precise.
But machine targeting was accurate to the millimeter.
The armed man had no chance to respond.
The next instant, his head exploded.
Brains splattered everywhere.
The drone swarm began its massacre.
Some militants hid inside rooms and locked the doors.
But thermal imaging had already located them.
The drones acted as if they had intelligence.
One drone carrying explosives rushed directly toward the main door and detonated itself.
The door exploded open.
The drones behind it immediately rushed into the room and opened fire through the smoke.
These drones were less like machines and more like the alien creatures from movies.
They would even sacrifice themselves to break through defenses.
Screams rose everywhere.
Explosions echoed continuously.
Machine gun fire never stopped.
"Help!"
"Boss, something is wrong with these drones!"
"They aren't drones. They act like intelligent humans!"
"Boss, running is useless. We must fight!"
"..."
The drone assault happened simultaneously.
In less than thirty seconds, more than half of the terrorists were eliminated.
Only those hiding deep inside buildings survived the first attack.
But surviving the first wave did not mean survival.
A second wave followed.
Then a third.
Unless the terrorists destroyed all one hundred drones in an extremely short time, the attacks would never end.
The signal was blocked.
The militant leader now felt like a blind and deaf man.
He could only hear the buzzing of drones, the screams of his subordinates, frantic gunfire, and endless explosions.
He felt drones everywhere.
He felt completely surrounded.
"How is this possible? How can drones strike with such precision?"
As an educated man who had become the commander of this group, he simply could not believe it.
This level of efficiency only appeared in movies.
It reminded him of Skynet from Terminator.
Had America's technology really reached this level?
He refused to believe it.
Just as he stood there in shock, the subordinate guarding outside his room screamed.
Gunfire erupted.
Within seconds, silence returned.
Only the buzzing of drone propellers remained.
The leader swallowed nervously.
He raised his rifle and aimed at the doorway.
All his attention was focused there.
The moment a drone flew inside, he fired.
The bullet instantly destroyed the drone.
"Hahaha! So this is all they have!"
The one eyed man laughed loudly.
But the laughter froze on his face.
Several drones rushed into the room at even greater speed.
"Get out of here!"
The militant leader roared.
Those were his last words.
Boom.
One drone exploded instantly.
The militant leader was blown apart, reduced to a mangled corpse.
The moment Toru activated the AI intelligent attack system, he ran out of the Student Council office building and headed toward the Auditorium.
All the militants were busy fighting the drones.
They were either dying or fleeing.
No one noticed him leaving.
"I only have ten minutes."
Toru calculated calmly.
It took him less than two minutes to leave the building, circle around the Auditorium, and reach the back.
There was a long ladder there leading directly to the roof.
He climbed to the top of the Auditorium and moved forward quickly while staying low.
From the corner of his eye he occasionally saw endless drones carrying out their massacre.
Taking out his silenced pistol, he used the noise of the explosions outside to break a window and slip inside.
Once inside, Toru gained a clear view of the entire Auditorium from the ceiling.
The first floor held all the teachers and students.
The second floor had eight terrorists patrolling slowly, guarding the hostages below.
For a full day and night, Toru had observed the Auditorium through hidden cameras.
He had already confirmed that only eight men were guarding it.
"All targets confirmed."
"Time remaining, two minutes."
He crawled along the ceiling toward the center of the hall.
Then he took out plastic explosives that looked like chewing gum and attached them to the ceiling.
At the same time, he used the thin metal wire from his watch to create a fast descent rope connected to the roof.
"Time remaining, thirty seconds."
"Everything proceeding according to plan."
He took a deep breath.
Every ounce of his concentration gathered.
He switched the assault rifle to single shot mode.
He had to kill all eight militants within two seconds.
Only that would guarantee the hostages' safety.
Inside the Auditorium, the terrorists were chatting and laughing in Spanish.
They ignored the explosions outside.
Yesterday the armed men outside had poured countless bullets into Toru's hiding place.
To them, it felt like a battlefield.
So the terrorists guarding the hostages assumed their Boss had simply launched another attack.
"They even used explosives. Adam must be finished."
"Haha, Boss hates dangerous tactics. He must have blown up the entire building."
They laughed and waited for good news.
But as time passed, the sounds outside gradually faded.
When the ten minute mark approached, one of them tried contacting the Boss.
Then they realized the signal was blocked.
"What happened?"
"We can't contact Boss!"
The terrorists began to panic.
One of them spoke calmly.
"Forget that."
"According to the Boss's plan, if we lose contact we execute several hostages as a warning to Japan."
They immediately dragged several people out from the crowd.
The students realized what was happening.
The entire hall erupted in chaos.
People cried, screamed, and begged for help.
Some teachers stepped forward bravely to protect the students.
But a terrorist knocked them unconscious with a rifle butt.
"Mutsumi!"
Soyo screamed in terror as she saw her friend Mutsumi chosen.
Twenty people including teachers and students were dragged to the center of the Auditorium in front of the camera.
They were forced to kneel.
An execution was about to begin.
The students screamed in fear.
Everyone believed they were about to witness a massacre.
But at that moment, the ceiling exploded with a loud bang.
(To be continued.)
◇◇◇
◇ One bonus chapter will be released for every 200 Power Stones.
◇ You can read the ahead chapter on Pat if you're interested: p-atreon.c-om/Blownleaves (Just remove the hyphen to access normally.)