Chapter 3342: Meat Grinder

As the first wave to arrive and not surrender, the Yamaguchi-gumi were now in extreme distress.

What they wanted most now was not to escape, but to prove their innocence, because this feeling of being unable to defend themselves no matter how many mouths they had was truly unbearable.

The Inokawa-kai were also feeling very depressed at this moment, having thought they had caught the turtle in the urn, but when they rushed in to catch the turtle, they themselves became the turtle.

Someone outside had blocked their retreat, but the enemy clearly held the advantage, with a encirclement of cars and fortifications, making them virtually invincible.

As for their own side, aside from the dozen or so corpses dumped at the door, there was nothing they could use for cover.

Crucially, using corpses as cover would not help them break out, because the moment they exposed themselves, the enemy would launch an attack.

Since the encirclement was fairly large, there were a few vehicles outside the exit; if they all rushed out at once, perhaps they could use these vehicles as cover, but the distance from the exit to the vehicles was at least twenty or thirty meters, and that stretch was entirely within the enemy's firing range—probably only a few could make it out, and even if they did, they would still be inside the enemy's encirclement.

With no way out front or back, this meant they could only shrink back here for now.

Under these circumstances, cooperating with the Yamaguchi-gumi sounded like a decent proposal, but the Inokawa-kai were more worried that the Yamaguchi-gumi had already obtained the dark flower, and if they teamed up to break out, it would effectively be helping the Yamaguchi-gumi escape.

To them, everyone working together to escape was fine, but working together to escape while also wishing you success? That was absolutely out of the question.

Meanwhile, the eleven hidden assassins of the Qinglian Alliance outside were also in a dilemma, because the Yoshikawa-kai's encirclement radius was large enough that they could temporarily hide behind and under a few vehicles; though they had not yet been discovered, they were now completely unable to move.

The newly arrived Yoshikawa-kai had already set up an encirclement outside the entrances and exits, and with their superior numbers, if they acted rashly and were discovered, they would inevitably become the enemy's targets.

Even the Yoshikawa-kai's minor leader felt he had the advantage guarding the outside, and to further expand it, he told his subordinates: "Get a few high-powered off-road vehicles ready; later I'll open a gap in the encirclement, you drive in and push the other vehicles inside to the sides, clearing them completely—if they break out, using these outside vehicles as cover would be somewhat troublesome for us."

Several underlings immediately selected three high-powered off-road vehicles from their own fleet, preparing to drive into the encirclement to clear the vehicles.

This move pushed the eleven Qinglian Alliance assassins into a desperate situation—they now relied only on these scattered vehicles for concealment, but if the enemy cleared the vehicles, they would surely discover those hiding here; yet in this situation, retreating inward or charging outward was unrealistic, and though they were top-tier assassins, they had almost no chance of winning.

One assassin immediately whispered via walkie-talkie to the captain who had already infiltrated: "Captain, these outsiders want to clear the vehicles at the entrance—we're about to be exposed, what should we do..."

Hearing the voice through the earpiece and feeling the tense Inokawa-kai members nearby, the captain silently cursed: "You damn fool, are you stupid to the core? Can I even reply to you now? If I do, won't I expose myself?"

When the assassin saw the captain not replying for a long time while the enemy's vehicles drew closer, taking advantage of the noisy engine, he quickly raised his voice slightly and blurted: "Captain! Say something already!"

Hearing the harsh voice through the earpiece, the captain immediately turned off the communicator in fright, but the sound was still heard by the Inokawa-kai members, one of whom quietly shouted: "Who the hell is still on the phone at a time like this?"

That captain dared not make a sound; anyway, it was pitch dark around them, so being overheard on the comms wasn't a big deal—as long as the audio was cut, they just couldn't be found.

More than one Inokawa-kai member had heard the comms chatter, but inside it was pitch black and chaotic, so they couldn't even see who was beside them, let alone know who the voice came from.

At this moment, someone said: "Big brother! I feel like we've let a traitor sneak in here! Earlier I heard the walkie-talkie say something about 'captain,' but I didn't catch the rest!"

"A traitor?!" The Inokawa-kai captain immediately became alert.

In this situation of wolves ahead and tigers behind, with everything around pitch dark, it was quite possible the enemy had already infiltrated.

So he suddenly had an idea and immediately said: "Brothers, lie down immediately, pull out your phones and check if there are any unfamiliar faces nearby!"

"Damn it!" The Qinglian Alliance captain cursed inwardly, furious: "If these beasts really do this, I'm afraid I'll be caught the moment I show my face—I may be well-trained, but two fists can't fight four hands, and with so many of them swarming up at once, I really can't hold them off..."

In this situation, he was momentarily torn—staying meant risking discovery, but fleeing meant the outside situation wasn't optimistic either; his ten or so subordinates still didn't know how to respond, and if he fled and got exposed, it would be like being attacked from both inside and outside.

Just as he hesitated, unsure what to do, gunfire suddenly erupted outside!

One of his subordinates hiding at the front of a Toyota Alphard was approached by a Yoshikawa-kai member driving an off-road vehicle straight toward him; the vehicle sped fast with no sign of slowing, and with a boom, it slammed into the rear side of the Alphard, violently throwing it sideways.

The assassin hiding at the front of the vehicle, fearing being run over, could only roll with the impact, trying to get under the adjacent vehicle—but as he did, the headlights shone directly on him, leaving him completely exposed.

A Yoshikawa-kai member on guard outside saw someone hiding here, and without waiting for the boss to speak, the armed ones immediately drew and fired; after the assassin dove under the vehicle, he quickly rolled out from underneath to the other side, then drew his gun and fired back sideways.

But how could one man stand against so many Yoshikawa-kai members? Though he did kill one, his left shoulder was pierced by a bullet when he leaned out to shoot.

When others saw the fight had started and their comrade was wounded, knowing they couldn't hide, they simply began firing from their hiding spots at the Yoshikawa-kai members.

The area outside instantly became a battlefield, gunfire continuous and chaotic, extremely lively.

Although the Yoshikawa-kai had lost many brothers, their numerical and firepower advantage meant that after a few rounds of shooting, they had also killed three Qinglian Alliance assassins and wounded two others.

The Yoshikawa-kai officer on site fully exploited the advantage of the outermost encirclement, immediately ordering his subordinates to start the vehicles, preparing to use them to shrink the encirclement; at the same time, he loudly said: "Brothers, grab some bottles from the vehicles, siphon some gasoline from the fuel tanks, make incendiary bombs, and burn these dog scum to death inside the encirclement!"

"Damn it!" One Qinglian Alliance member, leaning against a vehicle, shouted: "If you've got the guts, compare whose gun is faster, whose is more accurate—throwing incendiary bombs, what kind of hero is that?"

The Yoshikawa-kai officer sneered: "I just want to see who dies first!"

Having said that, he immediately shouted at his subordinates: "Brothers, get ready to set fire! Burn these bastards to death for me!"

Seeing the Yoshikawa-kai so utterly devoid of martial virtue, several Qinglian Alliance members communicated via gestures, then immediately turned and ran toward the entrance.

Going inside still offered a sliver of hope for survival; if they stayed outside, once the enemy really threw incendiary bombs, they would have only a dead end—when they wanted to live, they could only run inward.

The Inokawa-kai leader heard someone running in, and without even checking if there were traitors nearby, immediately shouted: "Brothers, no matter who comes in, beat them to death!"

For a moment, gunfire echoed back and forth in the passageway.

The surviving Qinglian Alliance members, upon entering, were immediately attacked by the Inokawa-kai, and their mentality completely shattered.

In daily life, they were international-level assassins who had taken down many heavyweight figures, and many self-proclaimed extremely difficult missions had been completed by them one by one—but they had never suffered such humiliation; a moment's carelessness and they were caught in a crossfire from two sides, and worse, being beaten to death.

The Inokawa-kai fought with great determination and vigor, because they had just been caught in a crossfire themselves, and the subordinates preparing to go out and drive had been killed by the outside enemy—ten or so of them—leaving them with a belly full of resentment they had nowhere to vent, so they simply took it out on these assassins.

The Qinglian Alliance assassins, upon entering, were immediately knocked down by random gunfire—two fell; the surviving few lay on the ground, returning fire while shouting: "Don't shoot! There are still enemies outside! Your people were just killed by them! We were also chased in by them!"

The Qinglian Alliance's return fire also hit several Inokawa-kai members; worst of all, the Qinglian Alliance captain's thigh was struck by a bullet from somewhere, blood flowing nonstop.

He knew the bullet in his leg must have been fired by his own subordinate.

But he couldn't draw his gun to retaliate against them, after all, they were firing out of necessity.

He also knew he couldn't shoot at those nearby right now, because if he fired in this pitch-black environment, the muzzle flash would be very noticeable—everyone else's muzzles were pointed at the outside enemy, but his would be aimed at his "own people" beside him, which would surely be noticed by the enemy; added to that, the enemy already suspected a traitor, so he might well be shot down by random fire.

At this moment, his heart was already despairing—given this situation, he likely wouldn't escape tonight.

He never imagined that this several-hundred-meter-long backstage passage would actually become a cruel meat grinder, and that he himself would be leading the Qinglian Alliance's elite assassins, step by step, into the interior of this meat grinder……