Chapter Thirty-Five: Life and Death in an Instant

  Jin Huang also knew that the other was just a sentry, and asking again would not get any valuable information. He raised his hand, and with one palm, he struck the sentry's neck. The sentry fell silently to the wet highway with a thud.

  Jin Huan pulled out the two pairs of handcuffs hanging from his waist, dragged the two sentries to the back of the tree and cuffed them to the trunk. He pulled out the combat knife stuck in the corpse, wiped off the bloodstains and inserted it into the outside of his left leg, tiptoeing towards the jeep where the officer was sitting. His left hand gently opened the car door, while his right hand reached from behind and struck a palm, knocking him down. The officer, who had been sleeping soundly, collapsed without any suspense beside Jin Huan's feet, and was dragged out of the car to be cuffed together with his sentries.

  In Lin Ruo Lan's feeling, the short five minutes seemed to have passed like a long century. It wasn't until she heard the sound of the car starting that she finally felt relieved. After a while, Jin Huang backed the car up in front of her and said in a low voice, "You get in first, I need to tie up the sentries more securely or they'll ruin our plan when they wake up."

  He took out a rope from his backpack and tied up the three living enemies, then tore off their clothes and stuffed them into their mouths to gag them. He threw the corpses on the road into the roadside drainage ditch to hide them, and the bloodstains on the highway would soon be washed away by the rainwater. After doing all this, he jumped onto the car and sped away from the checkpoint.

  "You didn't kill them?" Lin Ruolan asked in surprise.

  "They didn't resist, nor did they harm my comrades, so I won't kill them." Jin Huan's gaze was fixed on the road ahead, which was in poor condition. The car was also in bad shape and bounced along the road. "Hold tight, fasten your seatbelt, I'm going to take a shortcut."

  Lin Ruo Lan had just fastened her seatbelt when he suddenly turned the steering wheel sharply to the right, and the Jeep made a sudden turn to the right, charging into a barren field about one meter below the road surface.

  "Ah!" she instinctively cried out, grasping the steering wheel tightly, thinking that the car would get stuck in the mud and be unable to move. But this car just jolted once, and then immediately rushed forward, mowing down a path through the tall weeds that were higher than a person.

  The jeep sped rapidly across the fields, Lin Ruo Lan was dizzy and almost threw up, "Can't we just drive on the highway?"

  "Driving along the mountain road, there must be many checkpoints waiting for us ahead. By the time they discover us, we'll have run far away." The wind howled outside the car as the jeep trampled over countless wild grasses. Jin Huan drove the vehicle onto a narrow dirt path and then back into the fields with extremely high ridges.

  The violent jolts and vibrations shook her completely out of her seat. If she hadn't been wearing a seatbelt, the intense turbulence would have thrown her right out of the car.

  Jin Hao shifted gears constantly, accelerating at a terrifying speed, racing across the uneven wilderness. He steadily controlled the Jeep, no matter how big the shock or drop, the vehicle continued to charge forward crazily, never flipping over in the wilderness.

  At last the jeep climbed down a slope almost 60 degrees and drove onto level ground. The jungle was far behind them.

  The east showed a fish belly white, and the rain that had been raging all night stopped at some unknown time. There were gradually people and cattle on the road, Lin Ruolan let out a breath, rubbing her almost broken neck, and couldn't help but moan.

  Jin Huang's large hand reached over, taking over her task, massaging her sore neck, "Sorry, I have to use this method to shake off their pursuit as soon as possible."

  "Pursuit? You mean that checkpoint was set up for us?" His warm large hand relieved the pain in her neck, but the new information made her eyes widen involuntarily.

  "The sentinel's words were these. Be prepared for the possibility of danger still, before crossing the border line. Don't worry." His low voice echoed in her ear.

  "Mm." She responded softly, pulling down the large hand that was massaging her neck, tightly grasping the warm and rough palm, her heart slowly calming down.

  "Get the laptop out of the backpack, I'll teach you how to use a burst transmitter." Jin Huan gazed at the road surface, mentally calculating the route for a moment before giving her low-voiced instructions.

  Lin Ruolan took out the computer, followed Jin Huan's instructions step by step to set up the password, connected to the sudden radio station, and sent a telegram to the old nest: "The sheep will leave the doghouse at z time and return to the pen."

  Having driven less than fifteen kilometers on the highway, the sky was completely bright. Suddenly, a long dragon-like armored vehicle fleet came face to face on the winding road.

  "Damn it, they're coming too fast!" Jin Huan turned the steering wheel sharply to the right, and the Jeep rushed into the depths of the forest by the side of the road.

  Ten armored infantry fighting vehicles rumbled past on the highway, led by a jeep and a command vehicle. Two people sat quietly in the car, watching as the armored convoy drove by.

  "They will discover the checkpoint we took out in two hours," Jin Huan wiped his face clean with some toilet paper, restarted the jeep and drove onto the highway. "Let's get on the expressway, before they catch up to us, let's try to get as close to the border as possible."

  The government troops were still unclear that they had rushed past the checkpoint, taking advantage of the highway not being blocked, the jeep sped along, running northeast on the highway for 15 minutes before a toll station appeared in front.

  The toll collector lazily glanced at Jin Huan, who was wearing a military uniform that wasn't from the D country government army. There was also a woman in the car, which caught his attention. He asked in the local dialect: "Bogang (the respectful term used by ordinary people of D country to address officers), do you know Ding Wu from the 128th Infantry Brigade?"

  "There is no 128th Infantry Brigade, you got it wrong." Jin Huan's native accent was very authentic, the toll collector immediately put on a smiling face and let them pass without saying another word. The jeep drove onto the highway.

  "What did he just say to you?" Lin Ruolan turned her body to look at the toll booth that was gradually moving away, there were not many vehicles on the road, and the toll collector was still staring at their car.

  "I'm not wearing the local military uniform, he's a bit suspicious, making up a 128th Infantry Brigade to deceive me." Jin Huan glanced at the rearview mirror and stepped on the accelerator, the engine roaring in a changed tone, the speedometer needle pointing to 80 kilometers per hour.

  Lin Ruo Lan imitated Jin Huang's actions, raising the binoculars to observe both sides of the highway. "Jin Huang, when can we reach the border?" The military binoculars were quite heavy, and her arm ached from holding it up for so long, so she finally put them down.

  "Didn't you send a telegram to Lao Chao saying you'd arrive at Z time?" Jin Huan smiled wryly.

  "What time? What time is it? You didn't say." Lin Ruolan looked at him discontentedly, at such a tense moment, he could still smile so lightly.

  "Z is the last of the twenty-six letters, silly, think about it." He sighed and wanted to stop the car, pull her into his arms and hold her tight.

  Lin Ruo Lan glared at him: "You're calling me an idiot again... the last one... the last..." Her face suddenly showed a look of realization, "Is it twenty-four points, right?"

  "I was wrong, you're not a fool, you're extremely intelligent." Looking at the little woman beside him through the rearview mirror, he saw that her pretty face was filled with adorable blushes due to his praise. Jin Huan's mouth curved into a smile, and his large palm had already grasped her hand, placing it on his thigh. The scenery outside the car window flew by continuously, she could feel her heartbeat synchronizing with his, again and again.

  A military off-road vehicle drove onto the highway from an entrance less than 700 meters in front of the Jeep, and Jin Huan's muscles suddenly tensed up all over his body. "It's here!" He slightly straightened his body, calmly staring forward, the off-road vehicle seemed to be not heading towards the Jeep, its speed remained above 80 miles per hour, without any unusual movements.

  It was already past one in the afternoon, and the number of cars coming and going on the highway was increasing, with traffic gradually becoming congested. Jin Huan began to worry a little, if both sides were to start fighting now, it was very likely that civilians would be injured, which was something he did not want to see.

  The off-road vehicle in front maintained its speed, keeping a distance of 300 meters from the Jeep.

  Another off-road vehicle drove onto the highway, quietly following behind the Jeep at a certain distance, exactly like the previous one, their timing of cutting in was very precise.

  Jin Hwang shifted his car to the central lane, and the off-road vehicle in front suddenly drove into Jin Hwang's lane, blocking him from overtaking. Jin Hwang lightly tapped the brakes, reducing the distance with the off-road vehicle behind.

  Now, the three cars are on the same lane, with only 100 meters between each other. Jin Huan turns to the leftmost lane, and the two off-road vehicles also change lanes together.

  Jin Huan suddenly turned the steering wheel sharply to the right, and the Jeep changed lanes twice under his control. As he sped away on the far-right passing lane, Jin Huan floored it, honking the horn nonstop as he overtook a dozen cars in quick succession, causing chaos on the highway. The cacophony of angry shouts and incessant honking was almost deafening.

  Two off-road vehicles apparently had wireless communication, but after hesitating for a minute, they shifted to the right lane one after another. Jin Huan understood that they were going to take action, he glanced at the road surface and shouted in a low voice: "Hold on!" He picked up the loaded G3SG from the back seat and placed it horizontally on his legs.

  The jeep suddenly accelerated forward, Jin Huan held up the G3SG with one hand, and the barrel extended out of the car window by an inch. With a loud "bang", a burst of white smoke erupted from the muzzle. The driver of the first off-road vehicle was shot in the head, slumping over the steering wheel, the vehicle lost control, rapidly decelerating, and crashed into the guardrail at an angle.

  "Screech——" accompanied by the ear-piercing sound of emergency braking, the off-road vehicle's tires rubbed against the hard road surface, producing bursts of black smoke, but still failed to stop in time. A loud crash followed, and the two vehicles collided. They flipped and bounced through the air, crashing into the guardrail, breaking four or five guardrail pillars, and landing on their side, blocking nearly half of the highway.

  In the midst of continuous screeching tires, the highway was in chaos. Jin Huan scanned his surroundings and fortunately did not see any civilians injured. He accelerated, and the jeep roared as it sped away, leaving the commotion behind.

  After such a big chaos, there were only a few cars on the road. Jin Huan breathed a sigh of relief, he didn't want to sacrifice the lives of ordinary people to achieve his own escape. He glanced at Lin Ruolan beside him, her pale face tightly grasping the handle in front of the seat, still not waking up from the huge chain reaction caused by the car overturning.

  The jeep had been running wildly for twenty or thirty kilometers when a shrill police siren sounded from behind. Looking back through the rearview mirror, four German police cars were lined up in a column and chasing after the jeep at high speed.