Multiverse: Deathstroke

Chapter 273: Ch.272 Blowing Up Fish in a Tank

The underground guerrilla fighters could probably use some cigarettes, so Su Ming decided to take a little gift back with him. He rifled through the young soldier\'s chest pocket. In German-occupied territory, cigarettes were a scarce and highly coveted commodity, almost as valuable as hard currency. Addicts would wave money in the air but still couldn\'t buy them.

All cigarette factories had been repurposed into ammunition factories or other war-related industries. Hitler himself didn\'t smoke and encouraged the German people to quit, which led to the cessation of cigarette production in Germany.

However, he also knew that the army needed cigarettes. Not everyone was a steel warrior. For soldiers, whether their stomachs were churning after killing someone or they were bleeding out from a wound, a cigarette always helped.

German soldiers could buy Davidoff cigarettes, imported from Switzerland, through military supply channels. This was now the only stable source of cigarettes in Paris.

Occasionally, there were smuggled American cigarettes, but they were even rarer.

Since both brands were considered imports, their prices were astronomical. In today\'s Paris, two packs of cigarettes could buy a night with a stunning beauty.

It didn\'t matter if you were German or French—if you had cigarettes, you were golden.

Apart from cigarettes, things Hitler didn\'t partake in, such as alcohol and meat, also served as hard currency.

Compared to the German soldiers, the guerrilla fighters, under much greater mental strain, needed these luxuries even more. Canned meat and these rolled paper sticks of tobacco were powerful tools for building relationships.

From the young soldier\'s pocket, Su Ming found most of a pack of cigarettes and a silver-plated lighter. He also found a Nazi Party ID card and a black-and-white photograph.

The photograph depicted a beautiful blonde woman, dressed in a white dress, smiling sweetly. Behind her was a swing and a large, sturdy tree.

The photograph was stained with blood.

Su Ming shook his head slowly, the night vision in his goggles flickering slightly. He wiped the photo clean with his hand, placed it on the corpse\'s chest, and folded the body\'s hand over it.

Then, he turned toward the anti-aircraft battery.

War has never been about right or wrong, and it never changes. This young man was just one of millions of senseless deaths. The road of a warrior often has no retreat, and the number of those who have fallen along this path is countless.

That\'s why Steve Rogers has such a strong desire to stop wars—because they only bring suffering to humanity.

Su Ming didn\'t want to get involved in any world war; he just wanted to take care of his own matters. But before he knew it, he realized he had been drawn in too deeply.

The gravel path crunched softly underfoot as he walked. Shadows moved faintly among the anti-aircraft guns scattered around, unhidden by any camouflage.

Su Ming slowly drew his knife. The owl blade had been specially treated to avoid any reflection, and now was the time to put it to use.

Minutes later, he had silently eliminated every German soldier in the area. Some of the sentries remained at their posts, but most of the soldiers had died peacefully in their sleep.

Su Ming stepped out of the tent, the heavy scent of blood clinging to his armor. Although he had dispatched them as quickly as possible, a hundred men\'s worth of blood still left him drenched.

Things had gone smoothly.

He approached one of the anti-aircraft guns, inspecting it. The ammunition was loaded, ready to fire at any moment. He adjusted the timed fuse, loaded a shell, aimed it at the sky, and pressed down on the foot pedal.

In the night, dark flashes bloomed like flowers, even darker than the surrounding blackness.

The flashes lasted only a moment before shrapnel, wrapped in darkness, filled the air.

The airships above immediately broke formation, dodging the shells while their powerful searchlights scoured the ground for the source of the attack. It wasn\'t hard to find—after all, the muzzle flashes were right there on the ground.

Soon enough, countless beams of light converged on Su Ming, as if he were standing center stage. Next came the applause, in the form of heavy naval artillery shells fired by the airships.

The deafening roar of the incoming fire really was the most enthusiastic applause.

Su Ming, however, remained calm, continuing to load and fire the anti-aircraft gun as if he didn\'t feel threatened at all.

With each shot from the airships, they slid backward, reminding Su Ming of crabs scuttling sideways.

A few seconds later, the entire anti-aircraft battery erupted in explosions. High-explosive shells created massive fireballs, flinging tons of earth into the air, and some hit the ammunition stores, triggering a chain reaction.

Su Ming felt the ground shift beneath him, almost like riding a wave as the blasts and tremors enveloped him.

Still, he calmly reloaded and fired the anti-aircraft gun.

By now, the symbiote had retreated back inside his body, as the noise and flames made it very uncomfortable. Su Ming, however, continued his task methodically, feeling the cool metal of his Sanctum Armor as he worked.

Eventually, one of the artillery shells landed directly on his anti-aircraft gun, reducing it to a small pile of scrap and blasting Su Ming far into the distance.

By this point, the entire anti-aircraft battery had become a massive crater.

Su Ming crawled out from the dirt, which now resembled a soft, tilled field. Looking at the distant German troops approaching from the streets, he quickly disappeared into the darkness.

His next target: the next anti-aircraft battery.

Being hit by artillery was inevitable, but the force was much weaker than Barbatos\' energy beams. His body would heal within minutes.

Sneaking through the darkness, Su Ming ran along the street gutters, using the cloak to help him leap onto nearby rooftops.

He was advancing toward his next objective.

Jumping from rooftop to rooftop, he crossed the streets below, occasionally looking up at the sky. But it was like gazing into a massive fish tank.

The airships swam around inside, constantly shifting formation, but none of them left the tank.

It seemed the next time he adjusted the timed fuse, he would need to set it for a longer delay so the shells would explode closer to the airships. Surely, the enemy commander wouldn\'t have the guts to stay this bold for long.

Once, twice, three times...

By midnight, Su Ming had visited nearly all of Paris\' anti-aircraft batteries. While he was continuously harassing the airships, Wade\'s three women were also causing chaos throughout the city.

Explosions and flames erupted everywhere in the city. The entire German army had mobilized, and Paris had descended into complete chaos.

Su Ming also noticed some French civilians dragging isolated German soldiers into dark alleys, from which they never emerged.

His series of actions had ignited the rebellious spirit of Paris\'s citizens, who had started taking action on their own.

The entire city was in turmoil.

By this time, Su Ming was calmly sitting atop Notre Dame, his legs dangling over the edge, smoking a cigarette and watching the sky.

A fish had started to flee.