150 Hurry! Get to Work! (Third Update!)

(Here are the promised three guaranteed chapters. From here on, Rice is going all out. Yesterday I owed one guaranteed chapter and one extra chapter for monthly votes; the day before yesterday I owed two guaranteed chapters and one extra chapter for monthly votes. That makes five chapters in total. I cannot promise to repay them all, but I will certainly give it my all today! Please subscribe and vote! Since subscriptions are not working, Rice can only shamelessly promise one extra chapter for every fifty monthly votes!)

“Miss, are you really my brother’s girlfriend?”

The warm southern breeze brushed against their faces, soft and pleasant.

Stone Plum Village was the westernmost village in South River Province. Lying beside the Yangtze, it was tightly embraced by the river’s rushing eastward waters, though the little village itself was far from prosperous.

Meng Yao stood on the raised ridge between the terraced fields, not far from the riverbank. Behind her stretched a dense forest of bamboo and pine.

The thought that she had spent the entire previous night sleeping in Li Changjiang’s bed made Meng Yao feel deeply embarrassed.

When she heard Li Ke’s question, her face quickly flushed crimson. Even so, she nodded and answered with a soft hum, so faint it was scarcely louder than a mosquito’s buzz.

“You’re so beautiful, Miss!”

Children spoke without guile.

And, of course, they did not lie.

Her silvery laughter carried a long way. Even Liu Bo and Xu Xiaofeng, who were strolling along the riverbank, heard it clearly.

They both turned to glance in the girl’s direction.

“It seems this trip was worthwhile after all. At least Meng Yao has finally let go of what was troubling her.”

Liu Bo said nothing. Instead, his expression was clouded with worry.

“I’m talking to you. Why are you spacing out?”

Xu Xiaofeng clenched her fist and thumped him. A sudden gust lifted the short hair beside her ear, and Liu Bo found himself staring blankly at her girlish expression.

Her face reddened.

Then he pulled her into his arms. Xu Xiaofeng seemed to sense the unease in the man holding her, along with the nerves that had just been stirred.

“Don’t worry. Changjiang will be fine. If he was able to rescue you and Yao Yao from a place like Benghazi, he will certainly return safely.”

The two of them stood locked in an embrace.

In the distance, Meng Yao watched, somewhat dazed.

The breeze was light and gentle. Unlike the air in Benghazi or Tripoli, it was not dry as a knife, slicing into the skin and sucking away every drop of moisture in the body until the throat grew hoarse and felt as though it were about to catch fire.

“Fuck!”

“Damn it, bring us some water! We need water, you bastards!”

The Russian slammed his fist against the vehicle door with a bang, his expression twisted viciously.

The plastic cord had rubbed his wrists raw and red. Beside him, Elisa’s lips were so dry they had cracked open. When she ran her tongue over them, she immediately tasted blood.

They had been locked in more than ten separate vehicles. Since Li Changjiang had been unconscious, he had been laid flat at the rear of the truck. As the vehicle rocked incessantly, he gradually began to wake.

“Shut up!”

The convoy suddenly came to a halt.

Since their vehicle was the last one, the trucks ahead had not actually stopped. That was precisely the effect the Russian had wanted.

Two Tunisian soldiers roughly yanked open the door and dragged him out, beating him viciously. Everyone inside the truck cried out in alarm, but several soldiers rushed over and kicked them one after another, quickly forcing them into silence.

“Damn it! Do you want to die?”

Bang!

The Tunisian officer in charge punched the Russian in the face.

The Russian spat a mouthful of bloody saliva into his face.

The surrounding soldiers immediately rushed forward and kicked him to the ground again. They kept beating him until he was barely conscious, then dragged him back into the truck.

“Keep still, all of you!”

Bang!

The door was slammed shut, and the vehicle started moving again.

“Fuck!”

While everyone else stared in stunned disbelief, the Russian suddenly struggled upright. His face was streaked with blood, making him look frightening, but Tank and the others soon understood what he had been doing.

With eerie dexterity, he pulled the cord from behind his back. His hands were free and moving easily.

“Fuck, Moneybags—you’re a genius!”

The Russian raised a finger to his lips and gave a quiet hiss. The truck fell silent at once.

Li Changjiang was also gradually regaining consciousness. The vehicle continued forward. Peering through the canvas covering, he saw that the convoy had entered a wooded mountain pass, where the light had begun to thin.

A moment later, everyone inside the truck had freed their hands from the plastic cords, though the Tunisian soldiers had taken all their weapons.

“Go! Go! Go!”

The Russian swiftly made a cutting motion across his throat.

“There are three soldiers in the cab. Angel, you take the one on the left. I’ll take the one on the right. Tank, deal with the gunman in the back.”

After assigning their targets, a savage look appeared on the Russian’s face. He and Angel then moved silently toward the roof, one on either side.

The Tunisian soldiers had no idea that anyone was behind them. The man sitting in the rear was even nodding off.

This was their chance.

As the truck rounded a bend, Angel and the Russian exchanged ready signals, then simultaneously slid diagonally down from the roof and dove through the windows.

The vehicle immediately lurched and swayed violently from side to side.

“Fuck! Tank, now!”

Bang!

Tank smashed through the rear window with one punch. He clamped both hands around the neck of the soldier in the back seat and twisted hard.

Crack!

The man’s neck snapped.

On the other side, the two Tunisian soldiers were no match for the Russian and Angel. Even trained commandos would have struggled against them. Compared with Western special forces, these men were inferior by a wide margin in both mental resilience and physical ability.

The fight was over in less than two minutes.

“Quickly. Put on their uniforms!”

Before long, the Russian, Angel, and Killer had changed into the Tunisian soldiers’ clothes. By then, the vehicle ahead seemed to have noticed that something was wrong and had stopped by the roadside.

“Keep your heads down!”

The two of them lowered their heads and continued driving. When they saw the two men by the roadside raise their hands, they brought the truck to a stop and slowly pulled over.

Williams, Bob, and the others were all in the other vehicle.

The Russian’s plan was simple: seize both vehicles and escape. As for whether the British survived, that was not their concern.

“What are you doing? Stop! Stop!”

Tunisian’s official language was Arabic. Quite a few people in the vehicles understood it. The Russian and Elisa both spoke Arabic, while the Israeli Killer and Kane—code-named Keyboard—were also fluent in the language.

After pulling over, the Russian did not get out. Instead, he shouted toward the roadside:

“There’s a dead man in the back. Go take a look.”

Inside the truck, Elisa quickly relayed his meaning to the others. The compartment instantly fell silent.

Li Changjiang lay motionless on the floor, holding his breath, though his hands were already clenched with power.

Clang!

The door was pulled open.

The other vehicle also contained three Tunisian soldiers. Apart from the driver, the other two climbed out.

The moment the door opened, the Russian suddenly pushed it wider and stepped down, keeping his head lowered as he walked toward the other vehicle. A cigarette dangled from his hand.

“Have one.”

The tense atmosphere in the air abruptly froze.

Blinding white light flooded into the compartment. Everyone kept their weapons hidden behind them, their expressions showing no sign of disturbance.

“You go up and take a look.”

One of the soldiers spoke to the other. The AK rifle in his hands was aimed into the compartment, and his expression was taut with nervousness. Clearly, they knew what kind of people were being transported inside.

Those damned mercenaries were all killers who never blinked before taking a life.

The soldier hesitated, then lowered his rifle.

Just as he raised a leg to climb aboard—

“Now! Move!”

With a thunderous shout, Tank, who was nearest, immediately stamped down on the head of the soldier climbing into the vehicle.