The silence in the living room was stifling.
Xia Lei was starting to feel nervous. He had tried to guilt Qian Jun into spilling his secrets, but it had also meant that Xia Lei was forcing him to betray Xia Changhe’s orders. Xia Lei had feared that the man would give up eventually and take his leave. Qian Jun was finally willing to reminisce about his first encounter with Xia Changhe but the man was starting to feel the urge to give up.
This was to be expected.
The deeper Qian Jun immersed himself into his memories, the more the man would be reminded of Xia Changhe’s generosity and kindness. The old man was one that had given him an opportunity to start a new life. His debt towards Xia Changhe would play a great role in his decision.
“Nevermind…” Qian Jun sighed.
In the end, he had arrived at a decision that Xia Lei did not desire.
Right at that moment, the high pitched screeches of vehicle brakes came from the back of the living room.
Xia Lei had a bad feeling about this. He could recall that this house was located in a comparatively secluded area. There was barely enough space to allow a fast-moving car. The urgent screeches of brakes could only be produced by a car moving at a rapid speed.
Who and why would anyone zoom their vehicle along a narrow road in a housing area without concern?
Xia Lei shifted around to look at the back walls of the living room. At that instance, his X-ray vision was activated. A Great Wall pickup truck entered his field of sight. Several armed men with black turbans and green cloth strips tied around their heads had emerged out of the car. The pickup truck had transported a famous Russian 12.7 mm ‘Curtain’ machine gun. The machine gunman started to adjust its aim, directing the muzzle towards the walls behind the living room!
Following this pickup truck, a few more vandalized armed pickup trucks were headed this way. Each of the trucks had carried more armed men that were equipped with heavy-duty machine guns.
The armed independent groups of the Gaza Strip had arrived and all of them seemed to be elites!
Crossing the Gaza Strip was a risky operation. After all, this was still the territory of Hamas.
The moment of realization was paired with the efficient management of information in Xia Lei’s mind. There was a large scale operation going on in Israel. How would Hamas not catch wind of it? Israel had locked their borders and the people they were after just so happened to be the few that they helped snuck over from Jerusalem. They had left behind a pile of bloodied corpses and fled the scene. Not to mention, it wasn’t difficult to identify their trucks parked in the middle of nowhere. It was just natural for them to piece together information that the bastards they were responsible for the mess were still in Gaza City. In this place, anyone with a radical mindset was an informant. The appearance of two Native Americans and a dishevelled Chinese man whose hair was grown to his waist was too prominent!
However, the only problem here was that they were faster than expected. Xia Lei had to admit that he had underestimated their capabilities. The armed groups of the Gaza Strip were able to defend themselves against Israel for years. How could they possibly be that easy to handle?
Qian Jun’s ears twitched ever so slightly. He couldn’t see what Xia Lei had seen and by the time he had a reaction, the noise had died down. Despite that, Xia Lei’s expression had piqued his alertness. “Is something wrong?”
Xia Lei abruptly stood and screamed in Chinese, “Take cover!”
Frantically, Xia Lei threw himself onto the ground.
Qian Jun’s response was one beat late but it was considered speedy. He copied Xia Lei’s motion as soon as the latter had hit the floor.
Just as they laid flat against the cool floor, the gunners began to open fire.
Thud thud thud! Thud thud thud…
The unique rapping of heavy machine-gun fire hammered their eardrums. The bullets had weighed about fifty grams each. At a speed of 1500m/s, it tore through the wall mercilessly. In nearly a second, the entire back wall of the house was reduced to rubble!
Thick soot filled the air and obstructed everyone’s view. No one had dared to lift their heads under the heavy assault of the machine guns. Even if the bullets had not hit their vitals, having it lodged into their limbs was lethal enough!
However, Xia Lei was an exception. The smoke had done nothing to block his sight. The momentary pause for slight aiming adjustments could not escape his left eye!
In that tiny time gap where the gunner had utilized to adjust the direction of aim, Xia Lei, who had laid flat on the floor, had already drawn his gun and pulled the trigger.
Poof!
A bullet escaped the Viper pistol and pierced in between the gunner’s forehead. His lifeless body slumped backwards and fell off the vehicle.
With the gunner wiped out, the remaining armed members immediately devoid of firearm support.
Xia Lei’s finger pulled the trigger a few more times, letting four bullets escape within a second. Four armed members had slumped to the ground at that instance, each of their foreheads sporting a similar hole.
Qian Jun was stunned.
The transformation process of Xia Lei’s alertness to retaliation had only taken not more than five seconds. But within that amount of time, he was able to destroy the opponent’s gunner and five armed members!
The terrifying power Xia Lei had demonstrated was enough to intimidate the strongest warrior of the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team. Qian Jun couldn’t brave himself to even lift his chin and take the chance to attack the gunner at the back among the suffocating smoke. On the other hand, Xia Lei had already ended the battle within two seconds!
“The contents of the amber…” Qian Jun’s mind was returned to the pyramid within the mountain.
“This is not the time to talk about this! There’s more of them on the way, we need to leave this place immediately!” Xia Lei clambered from the messy floor and grabbed his backpack. He quickly made way to the door. He was certain that Qian Jun had realized something about his body but this was not the right time for closures and explanations.
Tsukino Kyoko, Yelena, Anjum Khan exited one of the rooms. Following that, Sa’im and Yaada had emerged from another room. Sa’im’s upper body was naked and his woman was no better. It was evident that they were dressed in the midst of chaos. It also wasn’t hard to guess what they were up to moments earlier.
“Fucking hell! I’m so going to kill them!” Sa’im jeered angrily.
Everyone ignored him because there were more important things to do. Tsukino Kyoko, Yelena and Anjum Khan zipped their bags open to retrieve explosives and weapons. They braced themselves for battle. In Tsukino Kyoko and Yelena’s grip was the gust assault rifle. Meanwhile, Anjum Khan assembled his XL2500 sniper rifle in a jiffy.
Xia Lei had lost his gust assault rifle in the tunnel that led to the pyramid so all he was left with was the Viper pistol.
“Here, you can have mine.” Tsukino Kyoko tossed her gust assault rifle over to Xia Lei.
The man returned a smile. Tsukino Kyoko’s forte was never guns but blades and discreet weapons. She had her own style of fighting and it didn’t make a difference if she had a gust assault rifle or not.
Receiving the rifle, Xia Lei threw his Viper pistol to Qian Jun. “It’s yours now.”
While everyone was busy equipping themselves, Sa’im had also made quick work to do the same. His current weapon of choice was also the gust assault rifle. With his thick chest hair exposed, the combination of the gust assault rifle with it had created a fiery image. His woman ogled at him excitedly while the man had earned a mocking pout from Tsukino Kyoko instead.
After everyone was ready, Xia Lei took the lead and ran straight for the front door. He had noticed that the supporting trucks were dispersed in an attempt to surround the house.
“In the twelve o’clock direction, armed pickup truck, five targets. Ten o’clock direction, armed pickup truck, five targets…” In the process, Xia Lei recited all details eloquently like a spy satellite.
Bam! Xia Lei stomped the door open and fired his gust assault rifle before he could aim.
Bang bang bang bang bang!
Five shots. A standard burst that hit the spot. The machine gunner and four-armed members that had barely got off the armed pickup truck in the twelve o’clock direction fell to the ground.
Each of them had lost their lives to a headshot!
Effortlessly, the enemy in the twelve o’clock direction was cleared.
Bang bang bang…
The Chinese Zodiac Battle Team members began their retaliation after stepping out of the door.
Qian Jun was the only one who did not fire. In fact, his gaze was not set on any of their opponents but Xia Lei himself. Qian Jun was different from the other members as he had never once worked with Xia Lei in the past. He did not know anything about Xia Lei’s abilities. But now, Xia Lei had already established himself as someone unbeatable. He was essentially… God!
The armed members seemed to increase due to the number of pickup trucks that came to their aid. But the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team was not one to back down when backed into a corner. After Xia Lei had set an example with the enemies in the twelve o’clock direction, the members applied the same tactic. To snipe the biggest threat, the machine gunners, and then take out the AK-47 wielders. Though AK-47 and the gust assault rifle were members of the same family, the latter was king. The AK-47 literally could not pose a good fight against the gust assault rifle!
They were weak. Their weapons were weaker too. At this point, the battle was honestly a one-sided massacre. Amid the rapid gunfire, more armed men succumbed to death. They were experts of fighting in the streets but they had no idea who they were up against.
As the battle was drawing to a close, Xia Lei suddenly exclaimed, “11 o’clock direction, a sniper in the wall!”
All of the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team members immediately scrambled apart and found their respective bunkers.
With the sniper hiding in the wall, they had no choice but to seek shelter despite being stronger!
Qian Jun had instead begun to take action now. With a stomp against the ground, his body lunged forward like an arrow escaping an immensely tensed bow.
Bang! A bullet was shot from one hundred metres away.
Before the gunshot had even rung out, a bullet had already brushed against Qian Jun’s body and hit an electric pole on the roadside instead. A fiery spark was triggered and the cement pole collapsed almost instantly!
Despite that, Qian Jun did not stop. He sped up even faster.
Another bullet flew towards Qian Jun. But before the bullet could even come close to his body, the man had changed the trajectory of his sprint and avoided the bullet!
This was merely reflexes on his part. There was no way Qian Jun could make out the direction of the whizzing bullets!
“That man…” Sa’im gaped. “Is pretty good.”
Everyone was an expert of some trade in the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team. It was rare for them to be impressed by someone else. For Sa’im to be able to give praise was already a great feat.
Covering a distance of a hundred metres within five seconds, Qian Jun made it into the building that hid the sniper.
Bolt’s hundred-meter sprint world record was 9.58 seconds but Qian Jun had only needed 5 seconds to achieve that.
Despite the lack of resonating gunshots, Xia Lei was certain that Qian Jun had already killed the sniper.
The strongest warrior of the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team?
Yeah, Qian Jun definitely was it.