Chapter Fifty-Three: Rifle Plus Cannon

  In the early morning, a light rain fell, and the damp air rushing from the brick pile slightly cooled down the excited mood. Looking at the government building across the street occupied by the rebels, people came and went, but no one realized that they were shuttling under the enemy's gunpoint, and their lives were in someone else's hands.

  The sniper's eyes darted back and forth over the sea of heads, counting in his mind: one, two, three... In a short while, I had counted more than 40 people. As soon as the captain gave the order, the government compound would be empty within half a minute. He gently put down his gun, slowly exited the sniper's position, and came to the edge of the quicksand with him to check the fixed rope retreat route.

  After everything was ready, I entered the room and waited. There was no movement on the radio, indicating that everyone was waiting for the target to appear. I took a sip of water from the canteen on my chest, slowly sat down behind the wall, and observed the tower across the street through the bullet hole. I saw a black gun barrel sticking out of the broken clock in the collapsed bell tower. If I hadn't known beforehand that the assassin was there, I wouldn't have noticed that someone was hiding there. The assassin's concealment skills were indeed formidable.

  Just as I was sighing, the sound of motor vehicles came from the streets, and from the observation mirror, a large number of troops were seen entering the city from outside. The military vehicles rushed to the front of the government building and stopped abruptly. Those who ran down from the cars were many militiamen in plain clothes, all holding AKs and forming a circle to execute vigilance. A fat man came out of a jeep and entered the government building surrounded by everyone. Although I only took a glance, I immediately recognized that it was one of the eight rebel leaders provided by the government army, named Fei Ge, who had been active in the northern mountainous area. However, looking at this guy's fully armed entourage of over a hundred people, it seemed that he didn't trust the sincerity of General Taslan, who convened this meeting. It seems that these people are not on the same page, and maybe they will even dare to fight soon, which is interesting!

  After Fei Ge arrived, several batches of horses and men entered the government building one after another. For some reason, Taslan began to dispatch troops to search everywhere, with people from other forces following closely behind. It seems that several parties were uneasy about the safety around them, fearing that Taslan would secretly send troops to set up an ambush and devour their own people, so they sent troops out to investigate.

  Before long, footsteps and shouts came from downstairs. The enemy had searched to the floor below! I and Kuai Man Ji quickly surrounded a gap in the floorboard and looked down. More than ten soldiers of all colors arrived at the floor below, looking at the broken stairs. After a while, one of the guys who seemed to be the leader gestured to a small soldier beside him, letting him climb down to take a look. The little soldier put his AK on his back and climbed up along the exposed steel bars. A rolling sound of stones was followed by a scream. From our set reflective mirror, we could see that the guy who had just tried to climb up from the broken floor was knocked down by the mechanical device set up by me and Kuai Man Ji. He fell from the third floor, hitting his head on the cement platform, shattering his skull, and yellowish brain matter flowed all over the ground. After convulsing twice, he didn't move anymore. The people beside him were scared stiff, staring blankly at the corpse on the ground for a long time before shouting loudly. But there was no need to call a doctor, this person was dead beyond rescue...

  It took half a day to get the body down, only to have someone else try to climb up again. But before they even reached the third floor, another active trapdoor was triggered and they fell to their death. By the time the third person tried to climb up, no one dared to follow. Looking at the group of people below staring blankly upwards for half a day, I said: "We can't get up, others definitely can't either. You guys think so too, right?!"

  A group of people immediately responded: "Yes, yes, can't go up, can't go up!"

  I and the fast walker couldn't help but burst out laughing as we watched a group of people pretend to be brave, take a lap around, and then run away. Only two people had died so far, yet they didn't dare go up anymore. If it were me, the more people who die, the more I should go up there to check things out. To die in such a suspicious manner without investigating is truly deserving of death!

  Lower the muzzle, let out a breath. Although it's quite funny to see them busy running around down there, if they really charge up, we can only inform the captain to take action ahead of time and fight with them. Now all that's left is to pray that the assassin won't be discovered either.

  But God apparently didn't hear our whispers, and DJ's voice came over the radio: "Brothers! Two pieces of news, one bad and one good. Which one do you want to hear first?"

  "Right!" I reckon a group of people and I all furrowed our brows at the same time.

  "The good news is that the rebels who brushed past us last night were trying to raid our vanguard camp, although they didn't succeed but caught two government soldiers. After interrogation, we found out that you've arrived and have already entered their sphere of influence." DJ said with a self-mocking tone.

  "Bullshit!" A group of people cursed loudly on the wireless, this government army is really unreliable.

  "Is there worse news than this?" Big Bear asked over the radio.

  "Haha, worse news is that General Taslan is now deploying armored troops into the city, they'll arrive in twenty minutes!" DJ added insult to injury.

  Just as we were cursing the news brought by DJ, a voice came over the wireless: "Enemy troops approaching, enemy troops approaching!"

  I and the scout quickly moved into position, set up our guns and looked through the scope at the clock tower across from us. Sure enough, we could see eight or nine soldiers holding machine guns emerging from the broken walls, apparently trying to occupy the clock tower and seize a favorable position.

  "The enemy is approaching, the enemy is near, forty meters, thirty meters, twenty meters, fifteen meters..." The assassin's voice came from the wireless radio like a fuse about to ignite, foretelling an imminent outbreak of battle.

  "Ten meters, nine, eight..." The assassin's voice carried a hint of tension.

  "Action!" The captain's order was finally given.

  "Damn it!" The butcher's voice came from the wireless, and five or six smoke-trailing anti-personnel killing rockets with thick tails hit the defensive fortifications on the top of the building opposite the government army building. It was the butcher's M202 four-tube rocket launcher. This time they came to fight a fierce battle so they brought rocket tubes and other enhanced firepower!

  Butcher and Big Bear each held an M202 rocket launcher, firing rockets non-stop at the rooftops across from them and the government building's entrance, while Captain led Charge, Cowboy, Vanguard, and others in a charge out of their hiding place towards the government building. Explosions erupted everywhere, with flesh and blood flying through the air.

  I and the machine gunner aimed at the clock tower across from us, where a gunman had just climbed to the top of the building. We quickly pulled the trigger, and in the scope, the crowd burst out with countless blood flowers. Six enemy soldiers were knocked to the ground under our swift and sudden attack, two of whom were shot into the air and fell from the upper floor to the lower floor. The assassin and the devil also rushed out from their hiding place, holding spare G36C short-barreled assault rifles, and shot the remaining two or three guys who had just set up their machine guns but hadn't had time to shoot at us, turning them into a mess of flesh.

  I didn't have time to respond to the assassin and demon's thanks, I quickly aimed my gun at the government building below. Suddenly, 40 or 50 heavily armed rebels rushed out of the courtyard, firing a burst at the captain who had just charged into the gate. All I could hear was the captain cursing on the radio as he returned fire, sounding quite flustered. Scared, I quickly aimed my sights at the small team leader among them and nailed him to the pillar with a burst of fire from my rifle, while the slow machine gun took out two more machine gunners.

  Within thirty-four seconds, the two of us had taken out most of the rebels in the courtyard. The remaining snipers were also eliminated by the squad leaders. Our small team infiltrated the building relatively smoothly and from the window, we could see the squad leaders quickly searching upwards from the first floor. Meanwhile, I quietly took out the enemies hiding behind corners and furniture outside, helping the squad leaders. In no time, dozens of people were taken down. The heavy machine gun was mainly used to take out snipers on the ground who tried to rush into the government building, as well as help the assassins eliminate hidden enemies in blind spots nearby. The assassins and we worked together, forming a crossfire that sealed off all entrances to the government building, suppressing all reinforcements within a kilometer radius, preventing them from approaching. After Butcher's team took out the fortifications on the rooftop and the large group of rushing enemies, they also charged into the government building, occupying the destroyed bunkers, setting up machine guns, and establishing a defensive perimeter to prevent being attacked from behind.

  "Ghouls, slowpokes, assassins, demons! The target has escaped to the rooftop!" The captain's voice had just come from the wireless radio when dozens of people rushed out of the rooftop, divided into several groups, shouting at each other as they ran towards the edge of the building trying to escape down the safety ladder.

  We four snipers were supposed to block the intersection and deal with reinforcements, while also helping to clear out hidden enemies outside. Suddenly, a large number of people jumped out, startling me. Without thinking, I relied on my instincts and fired a burst at the crowd. Several people were hit by my powerful bullets and fell down in a row. The enemy on the upper floor also realized that there was a sniper nearby and everyone took cover behind nearby objects, shouting and firing in my direction. Dozens of bullets hit the wall of the building I was hiding in, unlike fighting in a forest where bullets would be absorbed by trees, they ricocheted off the concrete walls, causing a loud noise everywhere. Two bullets even hit the brick pile I was lying on, one hit a brick just 30 centimeters from my face and bounced off with a "whoosh" sound, grazing past my ear. I was so scared that I ducked my head and almost jumped up from the floor, my heart racing wildly, causing my brain to feel swollen, and I broke out in a cold sweat.

  My heart was racing with fear, and I didn't dare to take my eyes off the scope for a moment. After taking out two rebel scouts, an RPG rocket shot from downstairs hit the ceiling of our hiding floor. The massive explosion made everything in front of me go black, and the falling concrete blocks felt like iron hammers pounding on my body, I could even hear the bones in my body cracking "crack, crack".

  "Ah!" The sudden hum of the machine on the side startled me, and I quickly glanced at him, only to see a bullet grazing his eyebrow bone, cutting open his eye socket, exposing the white forest of his skull, with blood gushing down his chin like a waterfall.

  No one dared to move, any action that exposed the specific location of the two people was extremely dangerous. I could only hit the bastard carrying the rocket launcher on the head and ask: "Slow machine, how is it?"

  "Uh-uh! Uh-uh!" The slow-witted machine painfully couldn't speak, could only use its hands to cover its face but didn't dare touch the wound, shrinking into a corner and humming.

  "What's wrong with the excavator? Is it dead or alive?" The captain's anxious voice came from the wireless.

  "I was hit by shrapnel in the face, but I didn't die!" I kept firing while turning to look at the machine gunner.

  "Hmm...hmm..." The slow machine hummed as it took out a first-aid kit from its body. It hastily pulled out gauze to cover the wound on its face, but as soon as it touched the wound, it let out a pained cry and started banging its head against the floor with great force. Watching this made me feel uncomfortable, my face felt like it was hurting for him. Despite being injured so badly, he hadn't made a sound until now, only humming to himself.

  I really want to rush over and drag him to a safe place to treat his wounds, but I desperately suppress this impulse, because now there are two or three hundred people downstairs staring at us here, as long as they notice any movement, they will discover the damaged floorboards and bring endless cannon fire that will blow us both into minced meat. All I can do is stare blankly, watching him groaning in pain behind the machine gun, unable to do anything! My hands are sweating with anxiety!

  I suppressed the pain in my heart and focused on shooting at the enemy downstairs, rapidly firing for several minutes until I had killed over thirty people. As I was reloading, countless grenades were thrown from below, although they couldn't reach the sixth floor, the massive explosion and shockwave still shook the building, covering me in a mouthful of cement dust. After spitting out the debris, I turned to look at the elevator again, it had stopped moving and was quietly nestled in the corner, motionless, as rocks continued to fall on it, almost burying it.

  "Medic! Medic!" His appearance scared me to death, I felt my breathing stopped, my heart jumped up to my throat, without caring if the enemy would find me, I yelled loudly and rushed out of the sniper's position, hugged his body tightly and dragged him out from behind the pile of stones.

  "You've broken the first rule of sniping: never reveal your position under any circumstances!" The words were squeezed out through gritted teeth in a low, trembling voice.

  "Damn you! Shut the hell up! The assassin is watching the frontline for me, I'll take a look at this sniper rifle!" I cursed as I put away my sniper rifle and pulled open the canvas to take a glance.

  "Ah!" I took a deep breath of cold air, because a wound nearly an inch deep extended from the middle of my forehead to my temple, with the skin on both sides rolled back and the bone exposed in the air. There was also a deep scratch on the bone, which had scraped off a piece of flesh. The wound still contained some dark, murky substances.

  Suddenly, several rocket shells came from below and I quickly leaned forward to hug the head of the gearbox with my body to block the exposed wound. In the huge shockwave, I felt two shrapnel hit my back, but fortunately, my bulletproof vest and clothes had anti-ballistic functions, so the shrapnel only scratched through the fabric and into my skin at a few corners, although it hurt, it was not serious.

  "Thank God, thank goodness!" I muttered to myself as I reopened the wound on the accelerator and cleaned it with clean water. "Don't move! Don't move!" I pressed the accelerator's face firmly while quickly picking out a few small gravel stones with tweezers.

  "Hurry up! Hurry up!" The slowpoke gritted its teeth and grasped my thigh tightly.

  "Hold on! Hold on!" I applied medicine while taking out a simple medical adhesive tape to pull and bandage his wound. Then, I handed him a gauze for him to wrap around his face himself, before picking up the gun again and rushing back to the sniper position.

  "Captain! Captain! Has the package arrived?" I anxiously shouted into the wireless radio: "The firepower is too strong, the slow machine is heavily injured! I can't hold on here!"

  "Received! But there are only five packages, and Taslan's rookie is not here. Two leaders have not arrived yet! Everyone be careful! Reinforcements may be ambushed and won't arrive so quickly." The intense gunfire from the wireless radio almost drowned out the captain's voice.

  "Received!" I replied while firing, and just as I finished speaking, a tank turned out from the distant street through my scope.

  "9 o'clock direction. Tank!" I yelled into the radio. As soon as my voice fell, a loud explosion shook the building where I was hiding, and the wall of the 5th or 6th floor collapsed. The shattered concrete flew towards me like giant shotgun pellets. I was knocked off balance and fell to the ground, large chunks of concrete hitting my helmet and sending my head flying back like a baseball bat, slamming into the wall.

  The second loud noise, the sixth floor was reduced by half. I and the machine gun were lying on the edge of the collapsed floor slab, my feet suddenly fell into the air, I grabbed a crack and half of my body hung in the air, bullets rained down around me like a storm, several shots hit my back, it felt like someone was stabbing me with an iron rod, the shock made my chest feel sweet, blood seeped from the corner of my mouth, the severe pain gave me strength to desperately climb up the exposed steel bars and scramble onto the floor slab. As soon as I stood up, a bullet grazed my thigh, tearing through my clothes and taking away a piece of flesh, my leg went weak and I knelt on the ground, rolling around the wound until I reached the machine gunner's side, dragging him to retreat into the wall.

  "Captain, no good! I'm going down!" I shouted over the radio.

  "Fall back and regroup at the government building!" the captain yelled over the radio.

  Looking at the distant black muzzle, I got up with the quick loader and struggled to walk towards the fixed rope. We had fifteen seconds to reload the tank, and I finally understood why we were asked to learn how to drive a tank before.

  He quickly ran to the window and handed the rope to the winch operator. Looking at his blood-stained face, I asked: "Are you okay?"

  "Go!" The swollen left eye, which was all blood and water, looked down for a moment before taking the rope and jumping down without hesitation. Perhaps due to blurred vision from the blood, he didn't realize he hadn't reached the ground yet and let go of the rope, heavily crashing onto the ground, even his sniper rifle flew far away.

  A shout came from behind my ear, "Hurry up, hurry up! It's about to adjust the angle again!" I didn't dare look back and grabbed the rope, jumping out in a hurry. To speed up the descent, I didn't even grip the rope tightly, just slid down with an empty sleeve, only when I was about to crash into something did I force myself to squeeze the rope to stop the descent. The intense friction between the glove and the rope emitted a burst of white smoke and a pungent smell of burnt rubber.

  As soon as I landed, I heard a gunshot behind me and was startled. Turning around, I saw the slow machine holding a gun in his left hand, taking aim with difficulty to cover me with his left eye. In an instant, a hot mist rose from my eyes, and I held back tears, running towards the government building not far away with the slow machine. Just a few steps later, accompanied by a loud explosion, the entire building collapsed, countless dust, stones, and bricks hitting our buttocks and thighs. Fortunately, we two ran fast, otherwise, we would have been buried alive in the ruins.

  The two of us supported each other as we made our way through the streets where bullets were flying everywhere, heading straight for the government building right in front of us. As soon as we reached the entrance, a crisp and clear sound of a gun being cocked came from behind, standing out amidst the intense gunfire. I instinctively pushed open the safety catch, turned my head to look back, and was met with a burst of gunfire, with multiple bullets hitting the ground beside us. One of them hit me in the chest, feeling like a powerful punch that sent me tumbling to the ground. A militiaman wearing a floral shirt was hiding behind a doorway, firing his AK at us. The bullets hitting the ground beside my face sent rocks flying into my skin. I had never wanted to die so badly.

  "Gunman! 5 o'clock direction, in the doorway!" I shouted. As soon as my voice fell, the gunman's M249 blasted the opposite doorway to pieces, and that guy inside was screaming "Ah ah". I took advantage of this opportunity to pull out a hand grenade, grip the safety lever tightly, pull out the safety pin, and throw it into the doorway. Unexpectedly, it was kicked out by that little brat, and didn't explode on him. I pulled out another one, repeated the above actions, but this time after opening the safety lever, I didn't immediately throw it out, instead counting to three before throwing it over. The hand grenade flew over the doorway just as it exploded, blowing the entire doorway to smithereens, and in the midst of blood and water everywhere, an arm fell right in front of me. Damn! Upon closer inspection, it was still a six-fingered one.

  The ambulance was taken into the government compound under my cover, at this time the assassin and the devil also retreated from the bell tower, and the bell tower where they were located was also blown to pieces.

  "Aren't you supposed to have bullets that can pierce tanks? Why aren't you using them?" the captain shouted while firing.

  "It's too far away, I didn't bring an anti-material sniper rifle, PSG can't shoot three kilometers." I also shouted loudly.

  After withdrawing to the building, everyone was blocking the rebels from rushing in on the second floor platform of the government compound wall, but we lost our two important high points for sniping positions. The infantry that had been suppressed at a distance and could not be reinforced all rushed over, rocket shells, mortar shells and bullet rain pressed us down so much that we couldn't lift our heads, it seemed like we were about to lose our defense...

  At this moment, several missiles suddenly landed in the densely populated area of the city. Looking up, two Su-24 tactical bombers of the government forces flew over from the sky.

  "Oh! My baby! I love you! You came just in the nick of time. Turn around one more time and I'll kiss your black ass!" The devil shouted to the sky, waving his hand.

  Two shells landed in the government compound, blowing two big holes in the main building.

  "Their leader is in our hands, how dare they do this? Don't they care about their own boss's life?" I covered my head to block the scattered bricks from the sky.

  "This must be the reason!" The captain said, pointing ahead. "I reckon we won't have to wait for them to turn back now!"

  Everyone looked in the direction he pointed, and their hearts sank. Taslan! The son of a bitch was sitting in a tank directing his men to fire at the government building.

  "This little guy wants to take advantage of the opportunity to wipe out us and several leaders here, so he can unify the entire rebel force. Once victorious, he'll be the founding emperor!" Even Lao Da Xiong has figured it out.

  Just after finishing, two shells hit the courtyard again, shrapnel flying everywhere, and everyone was more or less injured. If it weren't for the bulletproof vests given to us by Tiancai, this time would have been a disaster.

  "We're not going to die with this bunch of guys, are we?!" DJ wailed on the side: "Damn it! I hate politicians the most!"

  “。。。。。。”

  After the third round of shelling, everyone really couldn't take it anymore. Among the twelve people, five were seriously injured. DJ's calf was crushed by a stone brought up by the shockwave, Xiao Ming's little finger was cut off by shrapnel, and his arm was pierced by a wooden splinter. Cowboy's three ribs were broken, and everyone else was hit by shrapnel.

  "Ow, I'm dying!!!” The demon yanked out a bloody iron bar from his leg: “Where the hell did this iron bar come from?! I'm really lucky.”

  "This won't do! If we keep going like this, we'll be overwhelmed!" The butcher shouted while firing.

  Looking at the various rebel troops swarming below, our thin firepower couldn't hold up immediately. Suddenly a very sinister idea flashed through my mind: they are so united we absolutely can't support them, must divide them.

  "Captain, bring up those leaders from downstairs and put them on the roof!" I shouted as I shot down several enemies who were rushing up.

  The captain was stunned for a moment, then understood my intention, nodded and let the vanguard go downstairs to pull out those leaders and bring them to the rooftop. Those leaders cried and screamed like pigs about to be slaughtered, lying on the ground and refusing to move. In the end, they were forced by the vanguard to throw them onto the rooftop like a bundle of packages.

  I heard a "thud" from behind, turned my head to see that it was Fei Ge's big fat guy. Although he had fallen into a mess, he wasn't dizzy and rolled around on the ground before scrambling up to jump back into the courtyard. I chased after him, pinned him down in a conspicuous spot, exposing his upper body, and said: "Tell your people to stop firing, or else I'll take you out!"

  Figg frantically shouted: "Don't shoot, don't shoot, Liberation Front!" A few bullets whizzed past his head, scaring the fat man so much that he wet his pants.

  The DJ was below, and I connected the wireless radio to the broadcasting system in the government building. I put the microphone to his mouth and let him shout again. This time, the rebels below heard his words clearly and saw who it was. The firepower decreased a lot, and the butcher realized what was going on. He pushed the vanguard who had been thrown onto the roof to the edge of the house, making them stand in a row and shout. As expected, their troops below stopped firing, and the Taslan army's gunfire from the side was also blocked by them. The scene suddenly calmed down, leaving only the government army's cannons outside the city still firing.

  "Tell them to retreat!" I commanded as I tied them to the stone pedestal on the rooftop.

  "Fall back! Fall back!" The group of leaders cried out in unison.

  The soldier below looked at the government gate in front of him and retreated helplessly, seeing the soldier below being so obedient, I also had a bottom line for my plan.

  "This trick is quite effective! You're quite sinister!" The doctor said while bandaging the wounded.

  "This can't last much longer, if the government troops attack and come in, this group of people will still rush up to loot us, we need to think of a way to escape." The captain said, panting heavily beside him.

  I smiled silently with a smirk on my face without saying anything. In fact, this was just the first step in my plan, and there's more exciting content to come later.

  "Was Taslan here when you arrived?" I asked Figg, loading rounds into the magazine.

  "Ah, or else we wouldn't be here!" Fig's words were all jumbled: "We were all sitting in the conference room, and he vanished in the blink of an eye!"

  "Scout, go take a look! There must be a secret passage there," the captain ordered.

  "YES SIR!" The vanguard received the command and quickly ran towards the conference room.

  "I'm telling you, Taslan. He must be trying to get rid of you and take over your power. You saw the intense bombardment just now, he's actually trying to blow you all up too! He didn't invite you here with good intentions! We were invited by him to take care of you, but I never thought he would deceive us as well!" I said indignantly while quietly turning up the volume on the receiver.

  "I knew that bastard Taslan was up to no good, and it's true!"

  "He has deceived all anti-government militia and people!"

  "He is a traitor of the righteous army, I must kill him!" Fang Ge and others' voices spread throughout the city through the loudspeaker.

  Suddenly, the rebels below began to clamor and shout. Taslan in the tank did not expect us to bite him out of nowhere and for a moment could not think of a good counterattack method, so he could only try his best to explain. The futile explanation only led to more controversy! For a while, the scene below became uncontrollable as the rebels wearing different military uniforms turned from former comrades-in-arms into mutually suspicious enemies.

  A wireless message came through: "I've found a secret passage! It leads to the outskirts of the city, everyone come quickly!"

  The doctor and the captain first carried those who were injured into the building, preparing to retreat through a secret passage. I, Butcher, and Big Bear remained here to hold down the fort, unable to let anyone see that we had already escaped.

  "To all the righteous warriors, do not listen to the rumors of those outsiders. They are eagerly hoping to see us in internal strife so that they can take advantage of it." Taslan also broadcast through a loudspeaker: "This group of cold-blooded killers has nothing to do with me. Many of my people have died at their hands. They are enemies of Liberia, don't listen to their lies. Your leader was threatened by them and had no choice but to say what he said. Let's not fight among ourselves, we should unite against outsiders."

  The captain had the most seriously injured people carried into the hidden passage and then notified us to withdraw quickly via radio. The butcher told them to retreat first because they were not convenient to move and needed more time, and we would drag on for a while here. The captain thought about it and agreed, letting us know that we must also withdraw within twenty minutes at most, because the other two forces had defeated the government army outside the city and were now rushing back to defend the city, estimating that they would arrive soon, and by then it would be too late to escape.

  "Let's pull out!" The big bear threw away the captured machine gun and shouldered his M134 with ammo box.

  "Wait a bit longer!" I gripped the gun and kept moving: "This way they'll catch up with us soon."

  I pulled out my pistol and pointed it at Fig's head, saying: "Taslan, you're the one who brought us here to take care of these people, but now you're going back on your word and trying to get rid of us too. If you really don't want your comrades to die, then have your men put down their guns and retreat to five streets away as a show of good faith. That way, I'll let your friend go!"

  "The Liberation Front troops have all retreated beyond the Fifth Street!" Figaro hastened to issue a withdrawal order upon receiving my instructions. The other leaders also issued withdrawal orders, and the armed forces belonging to them in the rebel army quickly retreated beyond the Fifth Street, and our front line became a single color of Taslan's soldiers.

  Taslan's tanks and armored vehicles are slowly approaching, seemingly preparing for a strong assault at any moment.

  "Champions of justice do not negotiate with evil, government lapdogs. If you release my friend now, I will give you a way out and let you leave Bukhnan safely, how about that?" Taslan's war chariot was getting closer to the government building.

  As I watched the prey getting closer and closer, I slowly took out the magazine loaded with frozen bullets and high-energy armor-piercing bullets that I had prepared yesterday from the cartridge bag.

  "Butcher, Big Bear, prepare to retreat!" I said lightly.

  After finishing, he raised his gun and aimed at Taslan who was within the shooting range. The first bullet in the magazine was an armor-piercing bullet used to break through tank reactive armor. I didn't expect him to be driving such an old-fashioned tank, which didn't even have reactive armor, so the first bullet ended up being used on Taslan's exposed head.

  Due to the urgency of time and not having had a chance to aim, my shot did not hit him, but it scared Taslan into retreating back into the tank. I aimed at the tank's side armor plate and pulled the trigger, the first frozen bullet with a silver line hit the tank's side armor, instantly I saw the spot where the tank was hit turn silver-white, I pulled the trigger again, high-energy piercing armor bullet followed closely and hit that silver-white spot on the side armor, I didn't have confidence in using 7.62mm caliber rifle to penetrate the tank's side armor, because this bullet is for use against armored vehicles not tanks, for tanks I still have TAC-50 large-caliber anti-material rifle.

  I didn't expect that the high-energy armor-piercing bullet would actually create a small black dot on that silver-white surface, and from the scope, I could see that it had indeed created a hole. The advancing tank suddenly stopped, while the soldiers next to it saw me shooting at their leader and quickly returned fire with a burst of shots, another tank also opened fire. I threw out several hand grenades that I had prepared in advance, which landed right in front of the leaders. Then, through the loudspeaker, I shouted: "Taslan, didn't expect you to...".

  Then he turned his head, hugged the gun and jumped down from the floor, following the big bear and the butcher to rush to the conference room.