Chapter 134: Reclaim

After Mitai and Juan left with some gang members, they got into the armored vehicle. Since they were not sure what kind of ambush lay ahead of them, they had the SUV take the lead.

The back route was a downhill path. Once a car got out of the base, it could accelerate while going down. They wanted to use this to break out.

The sky was getting lighter, but their vision was still limited. By the time the SUV driver noticed something odd on the path, it was too late. The SUV ran through the spike strips, and its tires instantly punctured. The car slid dozens of meters forward before falling on the side.

Juan had been driving the armored vehicle behind the SUV and noticed the problem right away. He stopped the armored vehicle as cold sweat broke out on his back. Thank goodness they had not taken the lead, or they would have been the ones fallen off the path.

Just then, they heard gunshots from the sides of the slope. The bullets hit the armored vehicle’s steel plating but could not pierce through it. Even so, Juan and Mitai didn’t dare to linger around. They retreated back into the base.

“Damn it!” Mitai cursed, smacking his palms against his seat.

With the spikes on the road, their tires would get punctured if they tried to force their way through, and walking in the wilderness without a car was a Herculean task, even if they could escape.

“Boss, looks like we can only leave through that place,” Juan said.

Mitai knew what he was referring to. They had made a narrow path out while digging the trenches. They could use it to get out of the base. Mitai brought his gun up and said, “We’ll have to launch a pincer attack after we get out. Okay then, we’ll fight them to the very end!”

Juan grabbed his hand and said, “Boss, I’m sure that the enemies drove here. They look like people from the city. There’s only one place to hide the cars around here, and it’s nearby. Even if they have someone guarding them, I don’t think they would’ve left many people. Let’s go there. The moment we steal their cars, we’ll have a chance of running away!”

Mitai was stunned, then hope started burning in his chest again. He thought about it for a bit and said savagely, “We’ll do that!”

They had taken six people along with them earlier, but four of them were in the overturned SUV. Aside from Juan and Mitai, the other two were the Merkarian students who came with the oak leaf. Now that Qisel went missing, these two were their only contact with the exchange group. They might even speak on their behalf after they went back to Merka, so they had to bring them along.

The four of them went to a corner of the base and climbed down using a rope.

The shootout continued.

Chen Chuan noticed that the gunfire from the gang’s side had become much weaker. Shortly after this discovery, he heard gunshots at the back of the base. Some gang members had to have tried to run, but Ren Xiaotian’s team stopped them.

The gunshots went away soon, which could only mean that no one managed to make it out. Even so, Chen Chuan remained ill at ease. He checked his watch. It was almost 5 a.m. The sky was already quite bright. After some careful thinking, he said, “Changan, I’m going to check the back of the base. I’m leaving this place to you.”

Wei Changan pointed at Ding Liao and said, “Go, and don’t worry about us. With my friend watching, they won’t be able to make it out, not with the guns they have.”

Chen Chuan gave one last look at the place and nodded before he left the base and headed to the back. If there was nothing wrong there, he could try to break and launch a pincer attack to end the fight as soon as possible.

Once he arrived at the back of the base, he saw the overturned SUV. Ren Xiaotian’s team had already killed the gang members who crawled out. After a brief discussion with Ren Xiaotian, they decided to attack from the back.

Meanwhile, Mitai, Juan, and the two Merkarian students crawled out of the trenches. They cast one look at the base, where the shootout was still going on. Their enemies did not seem to have noticed their escape yet.

Juan waved Mitai over and whispered, “Over here, Boss.”

Mitai nodded and crouched down as he ran. The two Merkarian students also came after him.

Soon after, Ding Liao noticed something amiss from his position on the guard post. He looked out at the wilderness. The sky had yet to turn bright, but he could see some figures moving around despite Chen Chuan having gone to the back.

He turned his rifle toward them and let his instincts guide his shots.

Bang!

A Merkarian student’s arm was blasted apart. He screamed in pain and collapsed on the ground.

Surprised, Juan shouted, “Run! Spread out and run!”

There was nowhere to run in the wilderness. If their enemies had a sniper, they could only gamble on the possibility that the enemy sniper wouldn’t go for them next. After a little over twenty meters, there was another shot, and the Merkarian student running ahead of them fell face first on the ground.

Chen Chuan had just taken a few steps through the back entrance when Ren Xiaotian looked away and called out to him. “One moment, Chen Chuan.”

He stopped and turned around. “What’s wrong, Senior Brother Ren?”

“Some gunshots have been aimed into the wilderness,” Ren Xiaotian said sternly.

Chen Chuan immediately understood why he stopped. If gunshots were being directed into the wilderness, someone was coming from the outside, or someone from within had gotten out via some secret passage. If someone had come over, they would have given some sort of signal to those inside. The second option was more likely then, and whoever would run off at this point in time would definitely be someone important.

Ren Xiaotian reached the same conclusion and said, “We’ll go after them in my SUV.”

Chen Chuan nodded. The other two would stay back to continue guarding the back entrance. The tire spike strip was still on the path, so even if someone did try to escape, they would not be able to make it far in the wilderness.

They got into Ren Xiaotian’s SUV, and its engine roared to life. They sped to the front.

***

Mitai and Juan ran desperately with the half-lit sky as their only cover. Luckily for them, neither of them were shot. After covering hundreds of meters, they saw a few SUVs parked ahead of them, just as Juan thought they would. Their hearts sang with joy.

All criminals in the wilderness knew how to hot-wire cars. As long as they got to them, they could get them started even without the keys.

The two people left behind to guard the cars were from Wei Changan’s team. While they were technicians, Wei Changan would have never brought them into the wilderness if they were not pretty capable fighters as well.

When two shadowy figures dashed out of the treeline, they remained calm and still. They waited for the two to enter a shooting range they were confident in and brought their guns up. Juan got hit in the chest and immediately collapsed. Mitai was shocked, but he did not have the time to think. He kept moving while drawing his gun to return fire.

Mitai was known as the Desert Eagle because he had great eyesight. Even while moving, he managed to almost hit the two technicians, so they fell back to avoid gunfire.

During the shootout, Mitai was hit, but he wore a bulletproof vest, which absorbed the damage. However, he suddenly heard a car charging over, and he lost his composure.

He kept firing to keep the two technicians in check while he ran forward to hide behind one of the SUVs. Then, he took out the box he had brought with him and held up the oak leaf high above his head to show it to all of them.

“You came here for this, didn’t you?! If you don’t let me go now, I will crush it! Don’t even think about lying to me! If you do, I’ll rip it to pieces!”

He grabbed the leaf with both of his hands, as if he was about to tear it apart. He wasn’t sure that the attackers had come for the oak leaf, but it was his only leverage. When the two technicians stopped shooting at him, he knew that he had bet right.

Ren Xiaotian’s SUV stopped a distance away, and Chen Chuan got out. With the saber in hand, he walked a little closer to Mitai before stopping. “You won’t be able to run away.”

Mitai brought the leaf to his face and hissed savagely, “I’d rather destroy this leaf than let you have it.”

“Tell me. What do you want?” Chen Chuan asked calmly.

Mitai relaxed a little, but he still hissed viciously, “Give me one of your SUVs and let me go. Then, I’ll send this leaf wherever or to whoever you want. After that, we’ll have nothing to do with each other. I won’t try to figure out who you are, and you should not think about coming to find me either.”

“You’re not from Merka, are you? I don’t think you’ve ever touched that leaf before, so you might not know this, but the Merkarians offered the leaf to the Great Shun Republic as a tribute. Not only does it stay green forever, but it’s also really tough. You can’t destroy it through usual means.”

Mitai was shocked and turned to the leaf. Right then, a bang tore through the air, and his forehead was blasted open. He fell face first on the ground.

Behind Chen Chuan, Ren Xiaotian twirled his revolver and put it back into the gun holster on his waist. He then gave Chen Chuan a nod.

Chen Chuan nodded back at him before walking forward. When he passed by Juan’s body, the man suddenly shot up to grab hold of him and use him as a hostage. The saber flashed, and Juan’s head flew.

Chen Chuan continued walking without a pause in his steps. He flung the saber to clear the blood, and the headless corpse crashed on the ground. He did not spare it a glance and went straight to the oak leaf that had fallen on the ground.

He hadn’t lied to Mitai. The people from the Foreign Affairs Department had told him that the oak leaf was really tough and could not be destroyed via normal means. Even if it was damaged a little, it could repair itself, so Chen Chuan had no need to hold back.

He bent down to pick up the oak leaf.

The moment he touched it, his second self blurred out a little, but it only lasted for a moment.

Chen Chuan stared at the oak leaf, then picked up the box and put it into it.

Now that they had found the oak leaf, all they needed to do was bring it back, and the mission would be completed. However, there were still some gang members in the base, and practically all of them had bounties on their heads. Since they were already here, they might as well get rid of all of them.

When they drove back to the base, the shootout was still going on. The remaining gang members’ morale was low due to no reinforcements coming from the entrance to launch a pincer attack, but even so, they continued fighting.

Shootouts in the wilderness usually ended in the winning side making sure no one from the losing side survived. Only a small handful, who managed to escape, would live. So, even if the enemy said that they would be willing to let them go, no one would believe them. The gang members would fight to the very last man.

The sky was getting brighter. After Chen Chuan got out of the SUV, he crossed the trenches with a few jumps and landed before the base. The only place where he could land was a narrow one, but he made it seem like he landed on a wide, flat expanse of land.

As he got closer to the back entrance, he sensed someone behind a screen. Without a doubt, a gang member was standing guard there. Chen Chuan grabbed his saber with a backhand grip, twisted his waist, and stabbed into the screen. It went straight through and skewered the gang member’s head clean through. Then, Chen Chuan crouched down and started running forward.

Gunshots rang out, and a few bullet holes appeared on the screen behind him. He drew the saber with a backhand grip when he reached the entrance, only to come to a screeching halt when he met two gang members’ terrified eyes. Chen Chuan stepped forward, and with an upward sweep and a downward slash, the two gang members were beheaded.

Chen Chuan then charged in and saw three gang members inside the base. They were standing apart and did not seem to have noticed Chen Chuan behind them. He drew his Halberd Pistol and fired at them a few times. Two of them died in an instant.

He turned his attention to the last person. The man was almost two heads taller than Chen Chuan and wore a helmet as well as a metal mask. Slabs of protective gear plated his bulky body. When he saw Chen Chuan, he roared in anger and charged toward him.

The man was so large that when he ran, the ground itself seemed to be trembling. Chen Chuan gripped his saber with one hand and stared at him calmly.

Halfway through his charge, a gunshot echoed through the area. The man’s helmet flew off, and half of his head was blown apart. He took another few staggering steps forward before he lost his balance, and his heavy body fell on the ground.

Chen Chuan looked over and saw Ding Liao turning his rifle upward in the guard post while giving him a thumbs up. Chen Chuan gave him a nod. Then, he waited for the rest of his team to approach him.

“We need to clean up the base, guys. Let’s try to leave before noon,” he said.