Chapter 529 - Slaughter, Slaughter (1/2)

In the close confines of the manhole, Tang Wantian was overcome by claustrophobia, feeling suffocated and having extreme tightness in her chest. She felt like she was being buried alive and was in agony. The only light she got was the one that shone through a little hole in the manhole cover, which was also her only source of clean air. As the minutes ticked by, it became unbearable, and she felt an overwhelming urge to scream out for Xiao Luo and ask him to lift the manhole cover.

But, suddenly, she heard the disorderly sound of countless heavy boots marching right over her in the streets above. It frightened her, and she held her breath. Then, she heard vehicles rumbling nearby, and she knew that the Libyan rebel fighters had arrived.

***

“Lieutenant Colonel!”

A Libyan rebel captain saluted Hamis.

“Where is he?” Hamis asked in an anxious, husky voice.

“Over there, atop the public residential building,” the captain answered as he pointed at the seven or eight-story building in the distance.

Hamis pushed him aside aggressively and scowled, “Sh*t! If you know that he is there, why haven’t you taken him down?”

Hamis glared at the captain, then stormed out and was ready to take matters into his own hands.

The captain stopped him and said, “No, Lieutenant Colonel, the man is a crack shot. Dozens of our men were already shot dead by him, all with one shot to the head.”

“All with one shot to the head?”

Hamis was so shocked that his eyes opened wide. A captain had already reported to him a similar incident that occurred in a nearby factory. He was sure that the shooter hiding in the factory was also this Mie, and his marksmanship was not to be underestimated.

“Yes, Lieutenant Colonel,” the captain said, nodding his head affirmatively, “they have all taken cover, and we are awaiting your command. Please give us your orders!”

Hamis was furious and glared at the captain. “F*ck the orders! I want the men to storm the building, and I’ll give whoever captures him alive a hundred thousand dollars!” he roared. He had more than 800 men; why should he be afraid of a sniper whose location was known? There was no way that a lone shooter could stop an entire contingent of men converging into his spot in unending waves of fearless fighters.

“Yes, Sir.”

The captain answered solemnly and passed down Hamis’s order.

Huge sums of money would turn any man into a hero. After hearing of the hundred thousand dollars reward, the Libyan rebel fighters rushed frantically toward the residential building from all directions.

“Come on then. No matter how many of you there are, I’ll kill you all!”

In the building, Xiao Luo’s eyes glowered murderously, and the beast in him had awakened. An evil essence manifested within him and a strange emanated from his body.

A force of two hundred Libyan rebels surged into the residential building’s ground floor, with the intent of overpowering Xiao Luo with the sheer number of their men. But, without any warning, the ceiling above them came crashing down at precisely that instant. And dozens of them died on the spot. Massive blocks of concrete blocks with jagged edges and exposed rebars smashed into the rebels, cutting through flesh and bone and causing internal organs and intestines to spill out of their bodies. The scene was unspeakably gruesome.

The other rebel fighters were momentarily startled before they regrouped and scrambled up the stairs to the upper floors.

When they set foot on the third floor, a black object was thrown from a corner of the space. It sailed through the air, bounced off several steps before rolling down the staircase into the crowd of rebels.

“It’s a hand grenade!!!”

One of the rebel fighters screamed with his eyes bulging in horror.

Immediately, the hand grenade blew up, sending shrapnel and a wave of heated gas rippling through the stairway. Piercing cries of anguish could be heard as smoke billowed and limbs were flung into the air. Dozens of the rebels died, and their badly burnt bodies were strewn all over the stairway.

“Hiss…”

They had been persuaded by the offer of a large reward, but the gruesome sight made the rebel fighters gasp, and many of them started to retreat in panic. Their opponent had the advantage of high ground, and if they continued to ascend the building without a plan, they would all be killed by grenades before even reaching the top floor.

“Hey, what are you thinking?”

Taking cover, the rebels heard a voice mock them from the above.