Chapter 84: The Birth of the Police Insect Pack

That day, the mess hall of the Special Warfare Brigade base was filled with the aroma of braised pork.

Wang Hao was still boasting loudly to a few electronic warfare soldiers about his latest optimized "Peregrine" algorithm, when Feng Yan's encrypted communicator vibrated inopportunely.

The caller ID showed Yun Chuan Municipal Public Security Bureau Chief Zhou Weimin.

Feng Yan wiped his mouth, walked to a relatively quiet corner, and answered: "Chief Zhou, are you looking for me?"

"Chief Feng, didn't disturb you, did I?" Chief Zhou's voice carried a hint of fatigue.

"There's a thorny case; I'd like your expert team to help consult."

Half an hour later, two black SUVs with local license plates drove into the base.

Chief Zhou arrived dusty, accompanied by Lei Meng, captain of the Municipal SWAT Detachment.

Lei Meng lived up to his name: not tall, but his whole body was knotted with muscle, his eyes like knives—obviously a tough character forged in real combat.

After exchanging brief pleasantries with Brigade Commander Gao, his gaze locked onto Li Yang and Chen Guang standing behind Feng Yan.

Precisely, he was staring at the boxes of "insect" robots at their feet.

In the meeting room, Chief Zhou got straight to the point, pulling up a surveillance video.

The footage showed the corridor of an old residential building, lighting dim.

Several SWAT team members attempted to forcefully breach a door, but the criminals were extremely cunning, using the complex interior layout and hostage positions.

This forced the SWAT to hesitate, fearing harm to hostages; several assaults failed and almost caused casualties.

"It's this bastard," Lei Meng pointed at a blurry criminal silhouette on the screen.

"He has a homemade gunpowder gun, has taken a little girl hostage, and is hiding in a structurally complex old unit on the fourth floor."

"Doors and windows are blocked from inside; we lack effective reconnaissance means, and a forced assault is too risky."

He slammed his fist on the table:

"Damn, if only we had something that could silently slip in and see the situation inside."

"Even just confirming the exact positions of the hostages and criminals would have wrapped this case up long ago!"

Chief Zhou took over, his tone heavy:

"Chief Feng, we know you've been working on some cutting-edge tech equipment."

"We came over uninvited today just to ask about those… 'little gadgets' of yours."

"Can they help in urban counter-terrorism, especially reconnaissance in cramped indoor spaces?"

Everyone's eyes turned to Chen Guang.

Chen Guang pushed up his glasses, walked to the center of the meeting room, and opened one of the equipment boxes.

Inside, several palm-sized metal objects of various shapes were neatly fixed.

They were the miniaturized improved versions of the "Mechanical Spider" and "Mechanical Butterfly".

"Mechanical Spider: weight 350 grams, maximum speed 0.8 meters per second, can climb vertical rough walls and pass through gaps over 5 centimeters in diameter."

"Equipped with a high-definition wide-angle camera, micro thermal imaging sensor, and a microphone."

Chen Guang's voice was calm and flat, as if introducing an ordinary tool.

He then pointed to the smaller "Mechanical Butterfly" beside him:

"Mechanical Butterfly: weight 150 grams, silent flight, capable of continuous hover operation for 15 minutes."

"Equipped with a high-definition camera and real-time video transmission system."

He paused, then added:

"Both can be controlled via the 'Firefly' laser communication system, achieving anti-interference, low-latency control and data transmission in complex building environments."

Captain Lei Meng's eyes instantly widened; he jumped to his feet and leaned over the box.

Staring at those cold little "bugs" like they were priceless treasures, his breathing grew noticeably heavier:

"Just… just this thing? Can it slip through door cracks? Can it climb walls?"

"Can it see clearly inside and hear conversations clearly?"

"Yes." Chen Guang nodded.

"Damn!" Lei Meng couldn't help but blurt out a curse, excitedly rubbing his hands.

Looking at Chief Zhou and Chief Feng, he exclaimed: "Chief Zhou! Chief Feng! This… this is practically tailor-made for our SWAT!"

"If we had this earlier…"

Chief Zhou was also shocked, he suppressed his excitement and asked:

"Engineer Chen, can this equipment be trialed now? Our situation is urgent…"

Chen Guang looked at Feng Yan.

Feng Yan immediately responded: "No problem! How should we cooperate?"

The matter was quickly settled.

The Dragon Chant Team carried part of the "insect" equipment and immediately returned to the municipal bureau with Chief Zhou and Lei Meng.

To ensure technical confidentiality and efficient use, Feng Yan personally led the team, bringing Chen Guang, Li Yang, and Wang Hao along to provide technical support.

At that moment, in the municipal bureau command center, the on-site atmosphere remained very tense.

The old residential building had been completely surrounded, but the order to assault had not yet been given.

Chen Guang quickly set up the control terminal in the temporarily designated technical area.

Lei Meng personally selected two of the most agile SWAT members to cooperate with Chen Guang in deploying the equipment.

"Target: the fourth-floor target house. Suspected ventilation gaps or window seams may allow entry."

Chen Guang projected the building's structural diagram onto the screen.

The first "Mechanical Spider" was quietly delivered to the outer edge of the fourth-floor kitchen window by a SWAT member using an extendable rod.

The window was shut tight, but the aged frame had a sizable gap.

Spider-01 is in position. Begin infiltration.

Chen Guang controlled the spider; its eight legs moved flexibly, like a true arthropod.

It silently slipped through the gap and disappeared into the dim room.

On the command center's large screen, the first-person view from Spider-01 immediately appeared!

The image shook, giving a strange sense of the microscopic world.

It was crawling along the greasy kitchen wall, avoiding scattered debris.

"Continue forward, toward the living room." Lei Meng lowered his voice, eyes fixed on the screen.

Spider-01 climbed over the kitchen doorframe and entered the living room.

The view showed cluttered furniture, with scattered liquor bottles and food wrappers on the floor.

"Switch to thermal imaging." Chen Guang ordered.

The image turned into patches of color representing different temperatures.

Soon, clear heat-source signals were detected in the two adjacent bedrooms!

"There are two people in the bedroom direction!"

"One heat signal is smaller, curled up, likely a hostage!"

"The other heat signal is larger, moving within the room, holding a long, rod-like object, likely a bandit!" Lei Meng quickly analyzed.

"Spider-02, infiltrate via the bathroom vent to check the other bedroom." Chen Guang deployed the second spider.

At the same time, a "Mechanical Butterfly" was silently delivered to the outside of the target house's living-room window by a special police officer using a custom launch device.

Hovering in the shadows, it used its high-definition camera to provide a macroscopic view from another angle.

The two feeds corroborated each other, quickly clarifying the house's internal structure, the bandits' activity patterns, and the hostage's exact location!

"Confirmed! The hostage is beside the master bedroom bed, gagged and bound with tape!"

"The bandit is moving between the secondary bedroom and living room, agitated, and is confirmed to be holding a homemade long-barreled powder gun!"

Lei Meng's voice trembled with uncontainable excitement: "Great! Now we know exactly what's inside!"

After grasping the absolutely precise intelligence, the plan of action was immediately optimized.

The Special Police Assault Team redeployed, setting the main attack direction at the secondary bedroom window (according to spider reconnaissance, the obstruction there is relatively weak).

At the same time, another unit was stationed outside the living-room door to feint, drawing the bandit's attention.

"Can Spider-01 infiltrate the master bedroom for close monitoring of the hostage?" Lei Meng asked.

"Yes." Chen Guang controlled Spider-01, slipping again through the gap between the living room and master bedroom door.

It silently climbed to the top of a wardrobe less than three meters from the hostage, the camera locking onto the trembling little girl.

"Good! Keep monitoring!" Lei Meng took a deep breath and issued the final operation order via the communicator:

"All teams, attention, execute according to the plan!"

Accompanied by a muffled crash of breaking glass and the assault team's roar, the battle began and ended in an instant.

The special police officers, guided by precise intelligence, descended like heavenly soldiers.

Before the bandit could react, they stormed in through the secondary bedroom window and precisely subdued the bandit who had just been drawn to the secondary bedroom door by the commotion outside the living-room door!

Another team almost simultaneously broke open the master bedroom door and successfully rescued the hostage!

The entire operation took less than twenty seconds, no shots fired, and the hostage was safe and sound!

When the little girl was held by the special police officers and cried as she rushed out of the hallway,

Outside, the onlookers and police burst into heartfelt applause and cheers.

In the command center, Chief Zhou let out a long sigh and vigorously rubbed his reddened eyes.

He turned, firmly gripping Feng Yan and Chen Guang's hands, his voice somewhat choked:

"Section Chief Feng, Engineer Chen... Thank you! Thank you so much!"

"You've... saved a life, and also saved many of our comrades!"

Lei Meng, even more excited, his face flushed red, looked at the screen at those few "little bugs" still performing follow-up scanning tasks inside the house.

As if beholding an unparalleled beauty, he rubbed his hands, speaking incoherently:

"Engineer Chen! Section Chief Feng! This thing..."

"This 'Insect Pack'! We must have it equipped! No matter the cost!"

"No, I'll file a report! I'll apply for funding!"

Feng Yan watched the two excited police leaders.

And then glanced at Chen Guang, still calmly packing up equipment, as a great weight lifted from his heart.