An Apache helicopter gone, just like that. Dozens of elite soldiers armed to the teeth gone, too. Some breathed their last, some were burnt and some were blasted apart by the explosion. Gu Kewen had not in her wildest dreams imagined that the situation would change in this way.
“Give chase! We must capture him!” Gu Kewen got to her feet and screamed crazily.
She’d been so close to capturing Xia Lei; she had had him in the palm of her hand but he’d escaped in the next second. She could not accept this result. She wanted her revenge, and to gain rank within the CIA too!
The soldiers under Gu Kewen’s command charged out of the forest, after Xia Lei and his group.
Gunshots rang out and bullets went whistling past the tops of their heads. Xia Lei threw himself on Tang Yuyan and Long Bing, pushing them to the ground, and their bodies hugged the ground. Several bullets pierced the grass a few metres in from of them, sending dirt up into the air.
Xia Lei got up from Tang Yuyan and Long Bing’s bodies and turned around to return fire. The Gust assault rifle gave an angry roar as bullet shells danced, but there was no obvious recoil in the gun. Several Special Forces soldiers in the frontline were pushed back to the ground - all had been killed by headshots.
These Special Forces soldiers were wearing bulletproof clothing so Xia Lei did not shoot at their bodies. The Gust assault rifle in his hands was like a weaker version of the XL2500 sniper rifle. Even though the shooting range and power were smaller and weaker, the rate of firing was a whole lot faster. Add its feature of having practically no recoil and it was simply just the king of assault rifles!
Bang bang!
Tang Yuyan and Long Bing fired too.
Two bullets hit two targets. One was a headshot and another one was hit in the chest. Both died quite quickly. Those Special Forces soldiers were wearing bulletproof gear but the gear was no defence against sniper rifle bullets.
These Special Forces soldiers did not seem to have expected Xia Lei’s group to be brave enough to return fire, and for each shot to take a life too. They panicked a little. Some threw themselves flat on the ground, not daring to poke their heads up. Some turned back to get the bulletproof shields they had abandoned. There was no way for them to run quickly while carrying those bulletproof shields.
Bang bang bang…
Xia Lei fired a few more times but these shots were not aimed at targets, just suppressing fire. As he fired, he yelled, “Go!”
Tang Yuyan and Long Bing crawled to their feet on the grass and continued running towards the Israeli residential area.
Sirens wailed in the distance. Two Predator planes hovered in the air.
The enemy had reinforcements!
Xia Lei’s group had just escaped danger but they were instantly anxious again. There was no need to guess - Jerusalem right at this moment was likely under martial law, and roads had been closed. The net was closing in, just waiting to catch prey!
“Who helped us earlier?” asked Long Bing as they ran.
Xia Lei had actually been looking for the person who had secretly helped them, but not seen the person, unfortunately. Though he had not seen who had helped them, who else could help them in this sort of situation other than his father, Xia Changhe?
“Could it be the Hamas?” said Xia Lei.
“The Hamas?” Long Bing frowned. “Can the Hamas hide in the Israeli residential area?”
She obviously didn’t believe this.
Xia Lei bit the bullet and said, “Don’t underestimate the Hamas. It’s not the first time that they have attacked Israel. They could do anything.”
“Who cares? Are you going to write them a letter of appreciation after you find out their identity?” said Tang Yuyan.
This seemed to be aimed at Long Bing. She was squabbling with Long Bing even in this dire situation - this really was an ingrained habit.
Long Bing glared at Tang Yuyan but did not say anything. She threw the military bag she had over her shoulder to Xia Lei. “Take your sniper rifle. You can use it when we have some distance.”
Xia Lei reached out and grabbed the military bag without slowing down and continued running towards the Israeli residential area. Just then, his gaze suddenly went to the rooftop of a small building. A man in long black robes and a Jewish wide-brimmed hat appeared in his field of vision. That man was big and tall, and had a mask over his face so his face could not be seen.
However, Xia Lei still recognised him on sight. That man was his father, Xia Changhe.
Xia Changhe raised his right hand high, then pointed at the building below him. He then disappeared from Xia Lei’s sight.
Xia Lei could not help the wry smile in the corners of his lips. ‘My old man is probably the craziest old man in the world, huh?’
He guessed that Yelena was close by too, just that she didn’t show herself.
He also knew well what Xia Changhe’s gesture meant. He was pointing out an escape route to him.
“Go to that building!” Xia Lei pointed to the building after Xia Changhe disappeared.
Xia Changhe would definitely not meet with Tang Yuyan and Long Bing with his status.
“Why?” Long Bing ran with Xia Lei as she voiced her doubt.
“Don’t ask. I saw the person helping us. He’ll escape for sure too, so there must be a chance to escape there.” Xia Lei increased his pace.
This explanation made sense.
The trio entered the Israeli residential area. The situation they had been worried about did not happen. All the windows and doors were tightly shut in a fierce battle, and there was no one on the streets.
Some Israeli residents peeked out from behind their curtains. Xia Lei looked back at them and they hid right away, not daring to meet his eyes, much less shoot at them.
Thumpa thumpa thumpa…
Yet another Apache helicopter came flying over from the other side of the residential area. It started firing at a distance of two kilometres.
The gun barrel of the machine turned towards them and bullets the size of missiles came zooming out. Two deep trenches were carved in the surface of the cement road. The green belt by the road was also torn like wilted grass in a hurricane, and they danced up into the air.
Xia Lei took a few leaping steps and jumped off the ground to hide behind a wall.
Tang Yuyan and Long Bing reacted lightning-quick too. They, too, got off the ground and hid next to Xia Lei before the bullets got close. The trio had only just left the road when the perfectly functional road was turned into rubble.
The Apache helicopter had lost its target. It gained altitude, going up higher to monitor the area.
“It wants to contain us!” Long Bing’s face was filled with anxiousness.
“Can we go around?” Tang Yuyan was anxious too. A large number of Israeli soldiers were already approaching.
“No, that’s too slow! They want to hold us here.” Xia Lei slung the Gust assault rifle over his back and opened the large military bag to take out his XL2500 sniper rifle.
“You… can’t be thinking of using the sniper rifle to have a showdown with the Apache helicopter, are you?” Long Bing said incredulously.
Xia Lei had already dashed out of the cover of the wall and raised his gun muzzle to aim at the Apache helicopter in the sky.
The people in the Apache helicopter saw Xia Lei too. The helicopter tilted downwards, preparing to shoot at Xia Lei.
Bang! The sniper rifle in Xia Lei’s hands roared, and a bullet shot from its barrel. Two seconds later, a hole appeared in the cockpit of the Apache helicopter. The pilot who had been readying the guns had his head blasted away. Blood stained the cockpit of the helicopter.
Xia Lei rolled, dodging. Dozens of bullets sprayed on the road, tearing it up into countless little pieces of cement.
The Apache helicopter in the sky suddenly plunged towards the ground. Seconds later, a great fire spanning three kilometres bloomed on the ground. The intense explosion rattled all the windows in the Israeli residential area, and some windows even cracked.
Meanwhile, Xia Lei was on the move again, dashing towards that small building.
“He really did it… Incredible!” Long Bing pursed her lips and sprinted in Xia Lei’s direction, after him.
Tang Yuyan was shoulder to shoulder with Long Bing but she was not looking at buildings, nor the American Special Forces and Israeli soldiers hot on their tail. She was looking at Xia Lei’s buttocks. She abruptly felt that Xia Lei’s buttocks were the sexiest male buttocks in the world.
A man did not necessarily need money to win a woman’s heart. It could also be won like this - in the chaos of a hail of bullets!
Two minutes later, the trio got to the small building Xia Changhe had appeared on.
The door was wide open but there was no one inside. Xia Lei discovered military-grade blasting equipment hidden in a dark corner after running in. The amount of explosives there was enough to level an entire cinema, much less this little building it sat in!
Other than the blasting equipment, Xia Lei also spotted an underground entrance. It was hidden under the carpet of the living room. The carpet was pulled aside and the wooden floorboards to the entrance were open and just waiting for him to go in.
“This…” said Long Bing in surprise, “Why are they helping us like this?”
“The enemy’s enemy is a friend. Probably. Whatever, you two get in first. I’ll follow,” said Xia Lei.
“No! If we’re leaving then we all leave together!” said Tang Yuyan.
Bang bang bang! Gunshots came from outside and some windows were shattered.
Xia Lei immediately gave Tang Yuyan’s butt a kick. “Get in!”
This kick landed right in the centre of her butt, in the fleshiest spot. There was some bounce-back but Xia Lei had used quite a bit of strength and Tang Yuyan tumbled into the entrance of the passage before she could react.
Xia Lei looked at Long Bing.
“I’ll get in by myself,” said Long Bing. She bent and jumped into the underground passage.
Xia Lei glanced at the blasting equipment hidden under the coffee table. There was a an electronic timer display on it; there were still five minutes left.
This was why Xia Lei had wanted to stay behind. If the three of them had entered the passageway together, the soldiers would continue their pursuit if they discovered the entrance. But if he was ‘blasted dead’ during battle then this could be a trap to confuse the enemy. Even if those soldiers discovered the passageway in the end, he and Tang Yuyan and Long Bing would already have moved to a safe place.
“Why aren’t you coming down?” urged Long Bing.
“Four minutes. You wait. Wait four minutes for me,” said Xia Lei.
“You…” Long Bing started to say something, then stopped. She was anxious.
Xia Lei moved to the windows. He raised his gun and aimed at a Special Forces soldier.
Behind that Special Forces soldier was a black mass of Israeli soldiers and American Special Forces. They were coming not just from head-on but from another direction too. This place was totally surrounded!