Chapter 478: Airport

"The game enters its final 30 seconds! Titan's Johnson breaks through triple coverage and charges into the end zone! Titan wins 14-10!"

In the terminal on the island's eastern side, a bored air traffic controller lay back in his chair, legs propped on the desk, a baseball cap pulled over his face, listening to the radio replay of the football game.

Calling it a terminal was generous—it was merely a low, two-story building. With the game broadcast ending, the controller yawned, jumped off his chair, stretched his limbs, and walked downstairs.

Epstein's Boeing 727, registered as N908JE, sat at the end of the runway. The aircraft was over forty years old, originally belonging to Trans World Airlines, later purchased by Epstein and heavily refurbished at great expense.

Its interior was luxurious, equipped with padded seats, velvet recliners, couple's seating, and a grand bed; bedding was replaced after every flight.

Of course, no matter how extravagant, it had nothing to do with ordinary staff like the controller—they had signed extremely strict contracts and confidentiality agreements with management, earning only slightly higher wages than their counterparts outside.

As for the island's service personnel, they were off-limits to the likes of him.

"Huh? Why are you carrying guns?"

As the controller stepped downstairs, intending to buy a pack of cigarettes from the vending machine, he saw a group of security colleagues—unusually—wearing bulletproof vests and holding firearms.

"We just received orders to secure the airport and helicopter pad, and prohibit anyone from leaving the island."

The security personnel themselves sounded uncertain; their superiors had revealed nothing about what exactly had happened at the underground vineyard on the island's west side, but staff could communicate via walkie-talkies, and rumors spread like wildfire.

"Could it be a terrorist attack?"

"Impossible. There are so many powerful people here—who'd dare attack them? Bin Laden?"

"Don't say that—it's actually possible. The density of powerful people on this island might be second only to Al Shi Misi's charity gala."

As the group conversed in the terminal lobby,

"Shhh—shhh—"

A strange rustling came from the bushes; everyone instinctively raised their firearms and aimed toward the sound.

Seconds later, a square brown cardboard box slowly emerged from the shrubbery.

Made of corrugated cardboard, roughly one meter in length and width, it bore a fragile, moisture-proof label on top, a logistics company barcode on the side, and an open bottom—through which, as it moved, faintly visible were children's shoes hidden beneath.

Someone was clearly crouching inside the box, slowly crawling forward.

"Stop! Stay right there!"

The armed security, on edge, immediately ducked behind the vending machine, raised their guns, and shouted: "Don't move! Get down on the ground and slowly open the box!"

Stop, don't move, get down and open the box—these three commands contradicted each other; it was like left brain attacking right brain; Xianjian began to think.

But this was also a hallmark of U. S. military and police forces, especially in big cities—

Due to generally poor public security in urban ghettos, frontline officers remained under constant mental strain, and during emergencies, their adrenaline spiked, leading them to issue absurd commands to suspects.

For example, ordering suspects to lie face-down on the ground with hands raised, then crawl forward by rubbing their hips against the pavement to exit the house;

Or demanding suspects in the driver's seat to retrieve their ID from their pocket and exit the vehicle without using their hands.

After the shouting, the lobby fell deathly silent; the brown cardboard box remained motionless.

"I'll repeat it! Get down on the ground! Slowly open the box!"

The security personnel shouted again—still no response.

The air traffic controller hiding in the corner grew increasingly suspicious, muttering to himself: "This thing looks like a prop from Metal Gear Solid."

Before he could speak, the security personnel exchanged glances and simultaneously fired at the box.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

A dense hail of bullets struck the box's surface; not even a car door could withstand such firepower.

Yet.

After the gunfire, all bullets remained embedded on the box's surface—none penetrated.

"Hnnn hnnn hnnn hnnn."

From inside the box came the Joker's cunning, manic laughter.

【Item Name: INVISIBLE Cardboard Box】

【Type: Tech Item】

【Quality: Perfect】

【Effect 1: Stealth. Entering the box greatly reduces your presence, lowering the chance of detection by sentient beings and AI recognition systems.】

【Effect 2: Lure. Attaching specific posters (real or anime-style) to the box's surface attracts nearby sentient beings, drawing them to the vicinity.】

【Effect 3: Optical Camouflage. Entering the box renders it optically invisible; movement is impossible while active.】【Effect 4: Bulletproof. While inside, the box blocks all bullets and cannon fire under 23mm caliber for 15 seconds.】

【Cooldown: 10 minutes. Each effect has independent cooldown.】

【Cost: 100 Spirit Points】

【Requirement: Send a letter of abuse to Konami Game Company, no fewer than 1000 characters.】

【Note: "What? Soldier, you say you saw a moving cardboard box during patrol? You should see a psychiatrist. Seriously."】

Correct—this box was the iconic item from the classic video game series Metal Gear Solid (also known as Metal Gear), a serious tactical stealth game that pioneered cinematic storytelling, yet brimmed with absurd, parody-style props.

Like the cardboard box you crawl into to sneak past enemies undetected, the chicken hat that lowers game difficulty but gets you mocked by NPCs, or the balloons that tie up enemies and launch them into the sky.

The 【INVISIBLE Cardboard Box】 was not particularly powerful among Perfect-quality items, but its effects were well-rounded.

Yet in this current debuff-heavy Special Roleplay Mode, its advantages emerged:

An added debuff: "All effects share a single cooldown."

Effect 4's bulletproof property was reduced to "Consumes 40 Spirit Points to block all bullets under 7.62mm caliber"—and conveniently, the rifles issued on the island fired 5.56mm rounds.

None of the armed personnel expected a cardboard box to withstand rifle fire; some froze, others frantically reloaded.

Swish—

The Joker suddenly flung open the box, each hand gripping an MP7 submachine gun, and opened fire forward.

Bullets did not weaken because the shooter was a child; several armed personnel were struck in head and abdomen, killed instantly; others scrambled for cover, firing blindly in an attempt to suppress.

"Airport under attack! Repeat, airport under attack!"

The controller trembled as he pulled out his walkie-talkie and shouted—but the earpiece emitted only static; communications in this area had been fully jammed.

Joker stomped the ground and slid sideways, ducking behind an airport pillar to dodge the bullets. While swapping out the magazine on his submachine gun, he shouted into the Bluetooth earpiece in his ear, "Oracle! Help me!"

The answer came in the form of a 7.62mm sniper round fired from a hillside on the other side of the airport.

Whizz!

The copper bullet spun through the air, shattered the hall's glass window, and buried itself in the skull of one of the armed personnel.

The man didn't even grunt before dropping off to sleep.

More than eight hundred meters away on the hillside, Oracle was lying on the ground in a standard prone position, an SVD sniper rifle of Soviet manufacture gripped in his hands.

Compared to the other sniper rifles in Li Cheng's warehouse, this one was a bit old-fashioned in design, but it was light enough, reliable, and stable—quite suited to the current situation.

Oracle became the Grim Reaper, harvesting the security personnel exposed behind the terminal's floor-to-ceiling windows one by one like calling roll, coordinating with Joker to clear the area.

By the time two 10-round magazines were spent, the airport had returned to silence.

"Airport secured."

Oracle said into the earpiece, calmly shouldering the SVD sniper rifle. Gripping the armrests with both hands, he settled back into his wheelchair. "I need to relocate. From the drone footage, the other security forces on the island are already closing in."

Li Cheng's steady voice came through the earpiece, "Copy that. Continue executing the next phase of the plan."

"Understood."

Joker whistled as he walked out through the gap in the terminal's floor-to-ceiling window. Looking left and right, he spotted an empty passenger shuttle bus, promptly stole it, started the engine, drove it over, and parked it sideways in the middle of the airport runway.

The script world's Little Saint James Island was only marginally larger than the real-world Epstein Island. The airport runway was short and narrow—all it took was parking the long shuttle bus right in the middle and blowing up the vehicle to seal off the runway, preventing any medium or large aircraft from taking off or landing.

The player squad split into two groups: Oracle and Joker took the airport,

As for Li Cheng and Zhongtian Beiji, they were currently at a helipad over a thousand meters from the runway, having taken out the guards and seized an S-76 helicopter developed by the American company Sikorsky.

"Buckle up!"

Zhongtian Beiji in the pilot's seat loudly reminded Li Cheng in the back row. As the head of GOC's Southeast Asia region, he had gone to Xia Weiyi for company training and was proficient in piloting aircraft.

Besides, he had once been a Kobe fan, so he had an especially deep impression of this Sikorsky S-76—the very model that had killed his idol.

The helicopter's takeoff phase was deafeningly loud. Li Cheng gestured for Zhongtian Beiji to head north.

The northern part of the island was densely forested and had no surveillance system. To track down those SVIPs, the fastest method really was only aerial insertion by helicopter.

Watching the vegetation below gradually shrink, Li Cheng, with Slime Gray Rain slung over his shoulder, muttered to himself, "Now that the 【Death Note】 is sealed, I can't see potential future ways to die for once. And I'm riding a Sikorsky S-76.

Maybe, probably, should not crash, right?"

(End of chapter)