18: Chapter 18 Stealing Tanks from a Military Base

The off-road vehicle sped along the highway on the outskirts of Los Santos, its tires rolling over the wet road surface and splashing up large sprays of water.

In the back seat, Lin Fan gripped the note left behind by Ghost, his fingertips turning white from the force.

Michael leaned against the passenger seat, the wound on his shoulder having split open again, blood seeping through the bandage, but he was completely unaware of it, simply staring at the shadows of trees flying backward outside the window, his brows tightly locked.

Veins bulged on Franklin's hands as he gripped the steering wheel, and he was still cursing: "Damn Victor! Damn the gang coalition! If Ghost hadn't suddenly turned against us, we would have definitely been finished at Wings of Heaven today!"

"Why would Ghost help us?" Lin Fan suddenly spoke up, breaking the silence in the car. "He is Victor's most trusted assassin; logically, he should be the first one wanting us dead."

"Ghost knows," Michael snorted, his voice hoarse. "No one in Los Santos is easy to deal with. Maybe he wants to use our hands to get rid of Victor and take his place."

"Whatever he wants to do," Lin Fan tucked the note into his chest pocket, his gaze sharpening, "at least for now, we have an extra ally. But that's not enough; Victor's influence is too great, and the foundations of the Snake Fang Gang are deeply entrenched. Our meager resources aren't even enough to whet his appetite."

"Then what do you want to do?" Franklin slammed on the brakes, stopping the off-road vehicle on a desolate Gobi desert. He turned back to look at Lin Fan. "Open another nightclub? Or go steal a few cars? Those things are just a pile of scrap metal in front of Victor's army!"

Lin Fan didn't speak. He opened the system panel, his fingers sliding quickly across the screen, finally stopping at a map coordinate marked as a "high-risk area"—the Los Santos military base.

On the map, a conspicuous tank icon was flashing with red light.

"We need to get some heavy hardware." Lin Fan raised his head, his gaze sweeping over Michael and Franklin, and said word by word, "Steal a tank."

"Are you crazy?!" Franklin's roar nearly blew the roof off the car. He widened his eyes, looking at Lin Fan as if he were a monster. "That's a military base! It's full of heavily armed soldiers! And anti-aircraft missiles! We're going to steal a tank? Isn't that just going to our deaths?"

Michael was also stunned. He stared at Lin Fan for a long time, then suddenly grinned, laughing until the wound on his shoulder hurt. "I like it! This is exciting enough! To play with Victor, you have to play big!"

"Are you crazy too?" Franklin turned to look at Michael, his face full of disbelief. "Stealing a tank, just thinking about it sounds absurd!"

"Absurd?" Michael patted Franklin on the shoulder. "We've survived from a five-star wanted level until now; what hasn't been absurd? Lin Fan's ideas are never wrong!"

Lin Fan looked at the two arguing, a smile curling at the corner of his mouth. "Don't worry, I have a plan. The system recently unlocked a new skill—a basic stealth buff, lasting ten minutes. Although it can't make us truly disappear, it can interfere with surveillance and thermal imaging, which is enough for us to sneak in."

"Stealth buff?" Franklin's eyes lit up, but then he frowned again. "Ten minutes? What's that enough for?"

"It's enough." Lin Fan opened his backpack and took out three sets of camouflage uniforms bought from the black market. "We'll split into three paths: I'll use the stealth buff to infiltrate the base and find the tank parking point; Michael, you provide support on the perimeter, responsible for taking out patrolling soldiers; Franklin, you wait at the base gate in the car. As soon as I drive the tank out, you immediately lead the pursuers away!"

The three of them reached an agreement and set off on their separate tasks.

Night fell, and the searchlights of the Los Santos military base cut through the pitch-black night sky like swords. The barbed wire fence around the base was charged with high-voltage electricity, heavily armed soldiers stood at the gate, and armored vehicles slowly patrolled outside the walls; the security was as tight as an iron barrel.

Lin Fan changed into the camouflage uniform, hid in the bushes outside the base, took a deep breath, and activated the stealth buff.

[Ding! Basic stealth buff activated, lasting ten minutes. Please use it wisely, Host!]

A faint light enveloped Lin Fan's body, and his figure became blurry in the night. He carefully bypassed a gap in the barbed wire fence and crept toward the interior of the base.

Surveillance cameras swept over his head, but there was no display on the screens. Patrolling soldiers walked past him, scanning the surroundings vigilantly, yet they were blind to him, even though he was right next to them.

"This buff is really useful!" Lin Fan thought to himself with delight, accelerating his pace.

The tank parking point was in the deepest part of the base, where there was a huge warehouse with two fully armed guards standing at the door.

Lin Fan held his breath and was just preparing to circle behind the warehouse when his foot suddenly slipped, and he fell into a trash can.

The trash can was piled high with moldy food scraps and discarded military supplies, and a foul stench hit his face, choking Lin Fan so much he almost threw up. He struggled to climb out, but heard a burst of footsteps approaching.

"Captain, today's trash needs to be hauled away." A soldier's voice rang out.

"Yeah, dump it directly into the truck and take it to the landfill to be processed," another gruff voice replied.

Lin Fan's heart sank abruptly. He wanted to shout, but was afraid of exposing his position, so he could only cover his mouth tightly.

The two soldiers walked to the trash can, one on each side, lifted it, and walked toward a military truck not far away.

Lin Fan was shaken up in the trash can. He could feel the bin being tilted, and his body sliding toward the truck bed.

"Holy crap! No way!" Ten thousand grass mud horses galloped through Lin Fan's mind.

His original plan was to infiltrate the warehouse and steal a tank, but now, he was actually going to be treated as trash and hauled out of the military base?

What kind of situation is this!

Just as the trash can was about to be completely emptied, Lin Fan seized the moment, jumped out of the trash can, rolled, and hid under the truck's chassis.

The two soldiers paused, looked at the empty trash can, and scratched their heads. "Strange, it clearly felt quite heavy just now, how is it empty?"

"Maybe it was our imagination," the other soldier said. "Forget it, let's load the truck quickly and get off work early."

Lin Fan, hiding under the truck chassis, listened to their conversation and breathed a sigh of relief. He looked up toward the warehouse; the countdown for the stealth buff had three minutes left.

"No time left!" Lin Fan gritted his teeth, crawled out from under the truck chassis, and like an arrow released from a bow, rushed toward the warehouse.

The two guards at the warehouse door were still chatting about daily life and didn't notice a blurry figure that had already silently slipped in.

Inside the warehouse, over a dozen brand-new tanks were neatly arranged, their barrels pointing straight at the ceiling, emitting a cold metallic luster.

Lin Fan's eyes went straight; he rushed to the tank in the very middle, pulled open the hatch, and climbed inside.

Inside the tank's cockpit, the various buttons and instrument panels dazzled him. In his past life, when he played "GTA5," he had driven tanks countless times, but that was all in the game; this was his first time operating one in reality.

"Whatever! Just wing it!" Lin Fan took a deep breath and pressed a few buttons randomly.

The tank's engine let out a huge roar, and the tracks began to slowly turn.

The guards at the warehouse entrance heard the sound, their expressions changed drastically, and they quickly raised their guns and rushed in: "Who's there?!"

Lin Fan completely ignored them, controlled the tank, and slammed into the warehouse's iron door.

"Boom—"

The sturdy iron door, under the impact of the tank, was like paper, instantly smashed to pieces.

The tank rushed out of the warehouse, its massive tracks rolling over the ground, emitting a deafening sound. The alarm in the base instantly rang through the night sky.

"Enemy attack! Enemy attack! Someone is stealing a tank!"

The soldiers' roars rose and fell one after another. Bullets hit the tank's armor like raindrops, making "ding-ding-dang-dang" sounds, but they couldn't penetrate it at all.

"Franklin! Do it!" Lin Fan yelled into the walkie-talkie.

At the base gate, Franklin had long been waiting impatiently. Hearing Lin Fan's voice, he slammed his foot on the accelerator, and the off-road vehicle, like a bolt of lightning, rushed into the base and rammed straight into a patrolling armored vehicle.

"Michael! Cover me!" Lin Fan yelled again.

On the hillside outside the base, Michael set up his sniper rifle, aiming at the soldiers chasing out, and every shot accurately hit a vital spot.

The tank rampaged through the base, flipping over armored vehicles and flattening guard posts; wherever it went, it left a trail of chaos.

Lin Fan controlled the tank, rushing toward the exit of the base. Just then, a cold voice suddenly came through his walkie-talkie.

"Lin Fan, you really didn't disappoint me."

It was Victor!

Lin Fan's heart sank abruptly. He opened the tank's observation window, and saw that on a distant hillside, Victor was standing next to a black sedan, holding a walkie-talkie, a cold smile curling at the corner of his mouth.

"Stealing a tank? Interesting." Victor's voice was full of mockery. "But do you think that with just one tank, you can defeat me?"

"Victor!" Lin Fan gritted his teeth. "The score for Wings of Heaven, we haven't settled it yet!"

"Settling the score?" Victor chuckled lightly. "Alright! I'll be waiting for you at the Snake Fang Gang's stronghold! I'd like to see if your tank can withstand my rockets!"

After speaking, Victor hung up the walkie-talkie, got into the sedan, and drove away.

Lin Fan watched the direction where the sedan disappeared, his eyes becoming incomparably firm. He controlled the tank and rushed out of the military base gate.

Behind him, countless police cars and military vehicles chased up, and the sounds of sirens and gunfire rang through the entire night sky of Los Santos.

On Lin Fan's system panel, the stars of the wanted level were flashing frantically, from three stars, to four stars, and finally, fixed at a glaring five-star wanted level!

"So what if it's a five-star wanted level?" Lin Fan gripped the steering wheel tightly. "Victor, I'm coming!"

Franklin drove the off-road vehicle, leading the way in front, while Michael sat on the tank's turret, firing wildly at the pursuers chasing them.

The tank rampaged all the way, driving toward the Snake Fang Gang's stronghold.

Meanwhile, in another part of Los Santos, inside the FBI office building, Kate was watching the tank on the surveillance screen, a cold smile curling at the corner of her mouth. In her hand, she held a file, and on the file, clearly visible, was a clear photo of Lin Fan stealing the tank.

"A tank..." Kate whispered, "Lin Fan, you are really becoming more and more interesting."

She picked up the phone and dialed a number: "Hello, prepare for action. Target: Lin Fan, and the tank in his possession. This will be the best evidence for us to arrest him."

The night grew darker, and on the streets of Los Santos, an unprecedented battle was about to begin.

The roar of the tank echoed in the night sky like an impassioned battle song.

Lin Fan knew that this time, he had no way back.

Either use the tank to crush Victor's ambition.

Or be blown into a pile of scrap metal by Victor's rockets!