167 It is her!!! (Double-sized chapter!)

Western border of Egypt.

The long expanse of sand stretched endlessly. The desert spilling over from Libyan territory occupied nearly the entire western landmass of Egypt and the entirety of Libya's border stretching east from Benghazi.

With the outbreak of the war, a massive influx of Libyan refugees surged toward the border.

Before the conflict erupted, Libya had a population of up to seven million. With the exception of a tiny fraction of armed militants and civilians who remained steadfastly inside the country, millions of refugees were now concentrated along the borders shared with Tunisia and Egypt.

As the belligerents and direct instigators of the war, whether it was the government forces led by Khamis or the armed factions controlled by the opposition, they tacitly permitted this exodus under the pressure of the United Nations. If not for the long barrier of steel and barbed wire marking the border, the entirety of western Egypt would likely have been overrun by an overwhelming wave of refugees.

Situated on the western border of Egypt and serving as the only refugee camp authorized by the Egyptian government and organized by United Nations relief workers, the camp at Anseris held over fifty thousand refugees scattered across the desert perimeters surrounding the city.

Inevitably, a multitude of security issues sprouted in its wake.

Theft!

Slaughter!

This was a concentration camp for refugees, yet simultaneously a paradise for criminals.

"Doctor Amanda!"

"Doctor Amanda! Come quickly, the patient is fading!"

Moments later, a white-clad figure hurried through the corridor, pushed past the curtain, and plunged directly into the surgical room.

The wounded individual was a very young black man.

A gunshot wound!

The bullet had completely pierced his abdomen without remaining lodged inside. After quickly inspecting the wounds and vital signs on the patient's body, Amanda's movements slowed down.

Finally, she let out a long sigh.

"Take him out."

No one spoke.

Two white men nearby calmly carried the young black man away. Everyone knew he was beyond hope; in Anseris, no one ever doubted the judgment of Dr. Amanda.

Amanda's reputation here was undoubtedly greater than that of those damned United Nations officials.

Amanda, the angel sent by the Lord to save the Libyan people!

This was the title bestowed upon her by all the Libyans.

Yet at this very moment, watching the young black man being carried out, the doctor known as an angel seemed to sink into a deeply painful internal struggle.

Often, Amanda would ask herself over and over why she had traveled thousands of miles across the ocean from the United States to this damned place. Every day here, people were injured, bleeding, or even losing their lives, and no one pitied these Libyans—not even their God.

The backward medical conditions!

She could not even find a proper operating table.

Standing outside the United Nations Red Cross medical tent, the gazes of reverence and gratitude managed to make Amanda forget those hardships.

"Amanda, you should return to America. This place is not for you."

"Is that so? Then why don't you go back, Dr. Kalipu?"

Standing behind Amanda was an American of Indian descent, who was also a new friend she had made in Anseris.

Kalipu Kari, a United Nations medical doctor.

"Look at them!"

Gesturing toward a dozen refugee children running and playing endlessly outside the tent, Kalipu wore a deeply relaxed expression.

Seeming to understand what he meant, Amanda could not help but smile.

The curve of her lips made it hard to believe that a woman more attractive than any movie star on television could actually exist in a refugee camp.

On the highway less than fifty kilometers from Anseris, the swirling sands and dust made the vehicle slow down increasingly. The windshield wipers swept back and forth unceasingly before finally coming to a halt.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Hitting the windshield with his fists a few times yielded no response.

"Damn it! I can't see a thing!"

"Boss, we have to stop."

Keyboard was driving. The vehicle quickly pulled over to the roadside, gravel rattling sharply against the glass. They were reasonably lucky; at least they had only run into a moderately harsh sandstorm.

Had it been one of those truly terrifying storms, they likely would have been swallowed whole by the sand.

Pushing open the car door, he barely created a gap the width of a palm when a blast of swirling sand swept in from outside, instantly leaving everyone in the car dumbfounded.

"Damn it! My eyes! Water! Give me water quickly!"

"!!!!"

Awkward!

Li Changjiang had been a bit too quick with his hands, but the victim was the Old Muzi sitting right beside him. After a long while, the Russian finally recovered, his eyes bloodshot.

"I'm sorry! Nicholas!"

"Boss, you are simply a nightmare!"

The interior of the vehicle fell back into silence once more, save for the sound of breathing and the relentless clatter of gravel striking the glass. It took more than an hour for the outside world to gradually grow calm again.

"That damn sandstorm has finally stopped!"

Pushing the car door open with a shove, a considerable amount of fine sand cascaded down from above, leaving a thick layer on the roof. With no other choice, Li Changjiang had to clear the sand off the windshield and rearview mirrors before telling Keyboard to resume driving.

Standing by the roadside, he lifted his wrist to check the time. It was precisely four o'clock in the afternoon.

Li Changjiang gazed into the distance ahead and behind, a lingering unease resting in the depths of his heart, though he knew full well that no one was paying attention to them.

Perhaps it was merely an illusion.

The route, which he had expected to be extremely hazardous, had progressed with unexpected smoothness. The American base stationed in Carrera seemed completely oblivious to any movement.

"Keyboard! Move out immediately, we're running out of time!"

"Go! Go! Go! Get in the car!"

Starting the engine, he slammed his foot down on the accelerator. The small pickup truck, which already looked somewhat aged, sped directly toward Anseris.

Along the lengthy highway, aside from gravel, there was no sign of any living creature.

Once the swirling dust cleared entirely, revealing the sky above, more than ten seconds passed before a tiny black dot swept swiftly across the upper air.

The Carrera Military Base.

A young non-commissioned officer hurriedly knocked on the door of the office belonging to the commander of the US base in Egypt.

"Colonel!"

"Sergeant, what is it?"

"Sir, our drone has detected a vehicle that just passed through Highway 106, heading toward the Anseris refugee camp on the border."

Cooper Lawrence immediately furrowed his brow, swiftly flipping open a military terrain map of Egypt on his desk to locate Highway 106, the road leading directly from the coastal port of Alexandria to the Libyan border.

Alexandria?

"Have them check who entered through Alexandria recently. Confirm the target's identity immediately."

"Yes, sir!"

After the sergeant departed, Cooper Lawrence seemed to plunge into deep thought. As far as he knew, the British intelligence station in Libya had been uprooted by someone just last month.

Those damned British certainly knew something, but extracting that intelligence from their hands was no simple matter.

MI6 and the CIA had never enjoyed close cooperation; on the contrary, they had clashed on numerous occasions.

Moreover, the diplomatic corps currently had no way to acquire what that Chinese individual possessed. Who would be heading to Anseris at a time like this? Could it be...?!

A name flashed suddenly through his mind.

"Damn it! Hell! It has to be them!"

Pushing open his door, Cooper rushed toward the command center without a moment's hesitation. He shoved the door open with a bang, startling everyone inside.

"F*ck! Fast! Fast! Fast! Move immediately, our target has appeared!"

The entire command center dissolved into immediate chaos.

"Major, inform Hawkeye One immediately to continue reconnaissance!"

"Holly, put all the intelligence we have on that mysterious mercenary group up on the big screen, and find every record associated with them."

"Christina, I need all available data on Anseris, focusing specifically on foreigners connected to Libya. Beyond them, everyone else is to drop what they are doing. I want you to locate every single foreigner who entered or left Alexandria within the past five days. Go! Go! Go!"

"Sir!"

"Do you have a question?"

"Sir, do we need to locate Americans as well?"

"Damn it, didn't you hear what I said? All foreigners, all of them! What the hell!"

Clack, clack, clack!

The sound of hammering keyboards and shouting voices instantly filled the command center as everyone sprang into action to execute Cooper's orders.

Massive amounts of information transmitted from secure lines were fed into processing terminals, filtered, processed, and projected onto the central mega-screen.

Names!

Places of birth!

Backgrounds!

All movements over the past five days!

Highways!

Everything!

Just as the Americans were scrambling to track the Hunter Mercenary Group, an hour later, a van that had changed from white to dusty yellow successfully drove into Anseris following a perfunctory security check.

Li Changjiang's brow remained tightly knitted ever since entering this sprawling refugee camp.

This was no refugee camp; it was practically hell on earth.

Destitute refugees clothed in rags were everywhere, their vacant and despairing expressions truly terrifying. Even a graveyard would have more vitality than this place.

Groans!

Plea-filled voices!

Interspersed even with sporadic gunshots.

"Damn it! What kind of hellhole is this?"

The Russian spat on the ground.

"Too many people, boss. What do we do now?"

"Don't rush. We wait for nightfall. Look, there are UN people over there."

Following the direction of Li Changjiang's finger, the group soon spotted several white men wearing armbands bearing the United Nations emblem, unloading supplies—presumably medicine.

"Keyboard, go and ask."

"F*ck! Boss, why me?"

Meeting Li Changjiang's fierce glare, the kid known as Keyboard instantly lost his nerve. There was method to Li Changjiang's madness in sending him: among the six remaining members of the Hunter Mercenary Group, Keyboard was the most likely to elicit trust from strangers.

The reason was simple!

Aside from his marksmanship, this fellow looked more like a pretty boy than a mercenary from head to toe.

Sure enough, within two minutes, Keyboard walked back.

"How did it go?"

"Boss, we're in luck. Amanda! Amanda Anderson is the most famous doctor here. If we follow this road for about half an hour, we'll find her."

A look of joy instantly crossed Li Changjiang's face.

"Boss, we can make our move right now!"

"No! There are too many of us; it will arouse suspicion. Old Muzi, take the others and provide support along the route. The doctor and I will go locate the target items, and we'll act after nightfall."

Having agreed upon the timing of the operation, the team immediately dispersed around the camp to observe and plan their withdrawal routes.

All their weapons were buried by the roadside further back, though barring unforeseen circumstances, they might not even need to use them.

Barely two hours after the Hunter Mercenary Group entered Anseris, a UN convoy of over ten vehicles drove along that same highway directly into the refugee camp, the massive red cross emblem emblazoned clearly on their sides.

The sky had already grown dim. Without the faint residual daylight, it would have been impossible to tell how many people were inside the vehicles.

Four Egyptian soldiers stationed at the checkpoint stopped the convoy and immediately began inspecting the vehicles with equipment—checking the chassis, the undercarriages, and the cargo inside.

Thud!

A muffled sound suddenly echoed from the rear.

"Hey, what's wrong?"

Puff!

Before he could react, a silver flash vanished in an instant, while the night deepened gradually around them.

"Quickly, change into their uniforms!"

Moments later, several soldiers clad in Egyptian uniforms reappeared at the checkpoint, and the cleared vehicles drove unhindered into the center of Anseris two kilometers away, as if nothing had happened at all.

The desert night fell silently, without a single ripple!

Just as the convoy finished driving along the road, several dark figures rapidly crawled out from the ground, each carrying a backpack on their shoulders.

"Damn it, this is a big problem. Someone has infiltrated the place!"

"What do we do now?"

The speaker was clearly Old Muzi.

Just as night fell, he had led Keyboard and Killer out from the city to the roadside near the highway to retrieve the weapons they had buried earlier. Relying on the cover of darkness, they had marched rapidly for over an hour to reach this spot, witnessing the previous scene with crystal clarity.

"Hey, Garcia! Did you see clearly what kind of people they were?"

Killer hesitated for a moment, uncertain.

"They looked somewhat like Russians!"

"Hell, how could they be Russians? Russians wouldn't..."

Old Muzi suddenly stopped, as if someone had choked him by the throat, because a potential candidate had just flashed through his mind.

Polika!

Damn it! It had to be Polika's men. These bastards would definitely mess everything up.

"Let's go, get back and notify the boss immediately!"

Taking advantage of the moment when those disguised soldiers turned away, the three men lunged forward, crossed the highway, and rapidly moved along the roadside route back toward the refugee camp.

Meanwhile, inside the UN temporary relief center on the western side of Anseris, beneath the yellowish glow of lights, Li Changjiang stared at the white woman standing not far away, her arms folded as she spoke with a man beside her.

His heart gave a violent leap.

It was her!

Amanda Anderson.

The American female doctor he was searching for. Within his line of sight, Amanda suddenly smiled, raised a hand to scratch the back of her head, and a silver-white wristwatch on her wrist flashed momentarily in the light.

That watch!

Outside the tent diagonally across, Changjiang suddenly narrowed his eyes sharply.