49 The Flames of War (1/2)
Chapter 49: The Flames of War
Translator: _Min_Editor: Rundi
”I have a company in the UA, a massive one. I like what you do. If you want, you can come drive for me. Don’t worry about the green card either; the Senate is really close to me.” Robert was passionately bullsh*ting in the passenger seat, happily chatting with the driver who was wearing a red headscarf and holding a cigarette in his mouth.
Bang!
Spider web cracks had swept across the window pane before it shattered, scattering in like snowflakes.
”Sh*t!”
Robert quickly rolled underneath the seat and grabbed the steering wheel, resisting the pain from the cuts on his head as he pulled the truck to a stop.
The driver who previously had a bright smile on his face now had a gaping, bloody hole in his head.
－
The truck shook violently, the intense vibrations jostling the unprepared refugees to the ground. At the same time Jiang Chen grabbed the metal handle behind him, he grabbed onto Ayesha who was about to fall out and dragged her back into the truck.
The truck swung left and right on the desert sands before it came to a gradual stop without tipping over.
The back of the truck was chaos.
Women trembled and sobbed with their hands over their heads while the men who managed to regain their balance held onto their luggage with uncertainty, they had an overwhelming expression of fear on their faces.
Without question, it was IS.
This was the death sentence.
”What happened, d*mmit... Are you okay?” Jiang Chen caught his breath as he dragged Ayesha up.
Looking at Jiang Chen, Ayesha emotionlessly shook her head. Blood dripped out from the corner of her mouth, most likely from biting herself during the fall. Fortunately, she hadn’t been thrown out from the truck.
”IS' slave catchers. They’re active in the desert and occasionally visit villages. Women will be forced to become sex slaves and men will either be killed or forced to join their group. Could you give me a bullet? If I save my virginity, I can go to heaven.”
”No.” Jiang Chen smiled.
That smile made Ayesha blank out for a moment.
”Then I’ll pray for you.” The girl looked down, hiding her eyes behind her greasy, black hair strands.
”Prepare to engage.” Nick leaned against the truck with his M27 already loaded and locked.
”I wonder how Robert is doing,” Jiang Chen murmured under his breath as he took out the 11 Tactical Pistol. Following Nick’s signal, he quickly leaned against the other side of the door.
The refugees in the truck stared at them with stark desperation. They moved out of the way and covered their heads as they prayed for safety and victory for the two strangers.
The sound of a machine gun firing rang out from a distance, but none of the bullets hit the truck.
A Toyota pickup truck equipped with a heavy machine gun slammed to stop beside the truck before several masked soldiers jumped out.
”I surrender!” Robert crawled out of the passenger seat with his hands on his head. He knew that with his ability, the best he could do was not hold the others back.
The IS soldier was ecstatic when he saw it was a white man. He turned around and spoke with his commander before he struck Robert in the face with his gun barrel, knocking him to the ground.
”Search the back, quick!” The commander stood before Robert with his AK, his face twisted into a grimace that flashed his white teeth.
With a face that seemed close to crying, Robert looked up and forced a smile, only to receive a boot in the face.
”Drag him to the car for ransom!” the commander ordered as the soldiers dragged him towards the Toyota pickup.
When he heard these words, Robert let out a sigh of relief. These people were likely from Hadithah. If these devils knew that he was an escapee, perhaps his limbs would have already been chopped off and the video uploaded online.
As long as he did not die, there were always opportunities.
Two soldiers with AK’s leisurely walked towards the back with smiles on their faces. They chatted as they lifted the blinds up.
It was a sweet job. Although the slaves they captured didn't belong to them, they had the liberty to pick out one or two to ”enjoy” first, and no one would punish them.
They fired two bullets into the air and grinned with satisfaction as they heard the screeching from inside the truck. The two men glanced at each other before the man on the right climbed into the truck first.
There was no better way to unleash his interest in brutality than taking in the frightened looks.
A grim smile appeared on the terrorist’s face.
Suddenly from the shadows, a giant hand reached out with polar bear-like strength and snapped the fragile neck. Jiang Chen straightforwardly swung his arm like a hammer and smashed the other terrorist’s head into the ground with his superhuman power.
”I’ll go to the front to save Robert. You try to catch their attention from here, and be careful of the machinegun.” Finished explaining, Nick quickly jumped out of the car.
Jiang Chen shook his slightly numb right hand. He was planning on using the pistol to smash the terrorist’s skull, but he accidentally hammered with his arm instead.
The result was the same regardless.
[Looks like I need to study some combat technique. Relying on pure strength is cutting it too close.]
Jiang Chen sighed as he grabbed the AK off the floor and lightly jumped out.
He turned the corner and opened fire at the pickup truck, catching the terrorists by surprise. Robert had yet to be dragged onto the pickup truck when the gunshots made the terrorist drop him and began firing back.
Without hesitation, a terrorist spun the machine gun to face Jiang Chen before unleashing a storm of bullets at Jiang Chen. In response, an explosive amount of nitrogen burst out from Jiang Chen’s right arm, blocking all of the bullets mid-air.
”What is that thing?!” The commander ducked behind the truck and craned his head around the corner to look at Jiang Chen with a look of horror.
”I don’t know! The bullets can’t penetrate it!” The machine gunner fired ferociously, but his desire to rip Jiang Chen apart with the bullets was futile.
Clank!
The bullets ran out.
The soldiers grabbed their AK’s to shoot at Jiang Chen, hoping to gain time for the machine gunner to reload. Despite their efforts, however, bullets from the other side began to accurately take all of them down.
It was Nick, who had begun his attack with the M27.
Since Jiang Chen’s nitrogen armor was reaching its limit, he started shooting under the cover of Nick’s surprise attack. Whether he hit anyone was another question entirely, but at least the recoil was nothing for his muscle strength.
”D*mn it! Use the white man as a hostage. Get up!” the commander yelled at a soldier. He could not leave cover with so many bullets suppressing his movements.
The soldier by the hill was also nervous. He couldn’t hit Nick who was hiding behind the truck’s engine, and his two companions were killed instead. But as he turned and reached for Robert, a gun was already pressed against his head.
”Fu*k you.” Robert pulled the trigger without hesitation. The gun was from a soldier who died from Nick’s bullets.
The commander saw Robert move and aimed his AK towards him. A sudden impact against his side, however, blew him ten meters away, breaking almost every single one of his ribs.
Jiang Chen retracted the overheated nitrogen armor and then looked at the half-dead machine gunner before he finished the deed with one more bullet.
”Boss, are you okay?” Nick walked up and helped Robert up.
”Sh*t, this fu*king hurts.” Robert covered his bruised face as he stood up cursing. He then turned to Jiang Chen and asked, ”Is that guy dead?”
”His ribs are broken, so as good as dead.” Jiang Chen shrugged.
”Good job.” Robert raised his pistol and shot two more bullets. The commander on the ground didn’t even have the strength to scream.
”What do we do now?” Nick checked the pickup truck in the front. ”The fuel is good for 200 kilometers, and we can head to Baghdad by ourselves.”
”Let’s do that.” Robert limped past the truck and grabbed the backup fuel tank and water tank that previously belonged to their old car.