Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The bullets nearly grazed their foreheads and impacted not far away, igniting an endlessly dusty sky. He Zhichu and Ye Xuan both laid motionless on the ground as if they had never even appeared. The soldiers chasing them waited for a while before gesturing to each other and raising their guns as they moved toward the area where He Zhichu and Ye Xuan had fallen with the intent of surrounded them.
He Zhichu laid on the ground with his ear pressed to the surface so he could hear the faint footsteps coming in from behind. From the quiet and careful footsteps, He Zhichu could tell there should be about seven soldiers, but they didn’t seem to be very tall because the sound of footsteps on the ground was proportional to body weight.
The pursuing soldiers pressed close enough for He Zhichu to hear them speaking quietly. Because there was no longer any functional radio communication equipment, these people had no choice but to raise their voices to communicate. Intermittently, He Zhichu was actually able to hear English spoken with a Japanese accent! These people can’t possibly be official US soldiers, he thought. The corners of He Zhichu’s eyes twitched uncontrollably. He turned his head and gestured for Ye Xuan to not move.
Then, when the pursuing soldiers were nearly on top of them, he suddenly jumped up and kicked a large rock beside him. Leveraging the force of the one kick, He Zhichu’s entire body flew up as quick as a bolt of lightning! He pressed his thin lips tightly together and squinted his sultry, shimmery eyes with his arms raised up. Holding the gun with one hand in mid-air, he aimed at the seven-man team that had pursued them and shot each person from left to right with a ratatatatat! The crisp sound of gunfire resounded in the valley.
“Ah–!” Those people screamed briefly before quickly collapsing to the ground, dead.
Ye Xuan remained lying on the ground motionless until He Zhichu gestured for him to get up. At that point, he finally crawled up while He Zhichu remained half-kneeling on one knee, squatting in front of the pursuing soldiers he had just shot. He Zhichu waved at Ye Xuan. “Come here and see what the people trying to murder you look like.” Pulling off their balaclavas, several Asian faces appeared under the moonlight. Or more specifically, these were Japanese faces. Japanese facial features were very recognizable, so they weren’t typically mistaken for people from other Asian countries.
Ye Xuan froze when he saw this, then finally asked, “Are there many Japanese Americans within the US military?”
“As many as there may be, it would be impossible to assign them to one small squad to execute a mission,” He Zhichu replied coldly as he took out his phone to take photos of the dead soldiers. If possible, he really wanted to get blood samples from the dead men, so perhaps he could even make an American admiral step down when the time came… He Zhichu considered it calmly, but unfortunately he had only brought one gun to flee with his life, so it was impossible to take blood samples.
Ye Xuan walked around those people several times and rubbed his nose with one hand. “These people aren’t US soldiers.”
“You’re finally noticing that now?” He Zhichu gave him a sarcastic look. “Would I have shot them, otherwise?”
Ye Xuan frowned. He was somewhat unhappy, but He Zhichu was his savior after all, and he was also in danger now because of him, so it was only right that He Zhichu ridicule him a bit.
He Zhichu put away his phone and turned around to continue walking. Soon after, he stopped again to stand and listen intently for a while before pointing in the direction of a fork in the road. “That way. Go in first.” Not long after they hid inside, a group of pursuing soldiers in the same uniforms as the soldiers He Zhichu had just killed ran past them in the fork in the road. These people weren’t very tall and were no comparison to most US soldiers. Ye Xuan suddenly realized that these people were probably Japanese as well. Using weapons on American soil and masquerading as US soldiers to commit a serious crime was truly in the fashion of Japanese people. The sunken aircraft carrier in Pearl Harbor was still there for people to pay respects to. He Zhichu had long seen them as eyesores.
After waiting on the road for a while, He Zhichu calculated the time to figure out how far the enemy had most likely run ahead before taking Ye Xuan back out on the road. Not too far away, lights flickered several times before diminishing. “They’re using flashlights to see at night. Could these people have night blindness?” He Zhichu grumbled quietly and ran up to them. This time they were behind, and the pursuing soldiers were actually in front of them. He Zhichu lifted up his gun and carefully counted before unloading a full clip into them! To shoot these people, He Zhichu used regular bullets instead of the bullets with magnetic storm effects. The pursuing soldiers who ran ahead never expected the people they were chasing to circle around behind them. A night of pursuit had tired these people out somewhat, and just when they wanted to put down their dozen kilograms of weapons to rest for a while, they felt a sharp pain in their backs and all collapsed to the ground. They were dead, courtesy of He Zhichu.
This time, Ye Xuan had also participated in the battle and personally fired shots himself. He killed at least two of the soldiers. He Zhichu patted his shoulder, and it was considered a silent compliment. At this time, the two men cooperated more tacitly and soon got rid of the rest of the pursuing soldiers. They used only two-thirds of the anticipated time required to quickly bypass the mountain and arrive at the side of Route 95. The phone positioning system indicated Little A was not too far away.Read more chapter on NovelFull
Little A also heard the alarm on his phone from inside the car, so he saw that the red dot representing He Zhichu was quickly approaching their car door. He quickly opened the door and got out. The cliff was steep, so in the end He Zhichu and Ye Xuan slid down together from the mountain peak. Little A quickly brought several men to where He Zhichu and Ye Xuan slid down and picked them up. “Mr. He, was the mountain trail hard to walk on?” Little A keenly observed He Zhichu.
He Zhichu nodded. “The mountain trail was hard to walk on, and there were also pursuing soldiers. It was difficult to block their electricity and internet so we could finally escape outside.” As the men spoke, the sky suddenly brightened. The red, round sun spurted out from the horizon with bright and dazzling sunshine suddenly spilling over the mountains and water in Utah.
“It’s another day.” Little A sighed as he quickly ushered He Zhichu and Ye Xuan inside the car so they could rush towards the international airport in Salt Lake City, the capital of Utah. Little A’s mission was to safely escort He Zhichu and Ye Xuan from Little Rock Canyon to the Salt Lake City International Airport.
When they got in the car, He Zhichu shook his head at Little A. “You failed to complete the first step properly.”
Little A knew he was in the wrong and mumbled to salvage his dignity, “Mr. He, we really didn’t know that the enemy would be that powerful this time around. They were somehow able to use the commander-in-chief of the US Pacific Fleet to conceal their plans!”
“I reminded you,” He Zhichu replied dryly. “In any case, you’re charging money for completed tasks. The task was not completed, so it’s only right that the payment is decreased proportionally.”
There was nothing wrong with those words, and Little A wasn’t even in the mood to argue. He quickly nodded. “That’s right, that’s right. It was our fault, so you deserve effective compensation.”
He Zhichu grunted. “Hurry up and drive.”
The fleet immediately set out, and there was a bulletproof car of the same model and color in the front to clear the path and eliminate obstacles. “What about the armored helicopter I asked you for?” He Zhichu propped his head against the edge of the window to glance at the newly brightened sky.
“Little Rock Canyon issued a flight ban, and the permit was invalidated,” Little A mumbled.
“No matter, have them fly over to shield us,” He Zhichu commanded expressionlessly. “The enemy’s airplanes will soon catch up to us.” Although his magnetic storm bullet had blocked the enemy’s electromagnetic communications system and also disabled the radar, the enemy should have recovered after a night of repairs. They realized that He Zhichu and Ye Xuan had already escaped from the mountain, so they would certainly chase after them with fighter jets. As soon as He Zhichu spoke, the sky rumbled with the sounds of fighter jet engines. Those people had arrived even sooner than he expected!
