Chapter 553 - The Emerging Crisis

The dark and gloomy day reflected the melancholic mood that was looming over Libya.

On the road through the dunes that stretched toward the horizon, three green military vehicles were speeding, leaving clouds of sand billowing behind them.

"It's weird. Why hasn't the Khun Sa Mercenary Corps made a move? Logically speaking, they would have caught up to us already!" Rice said.

Rice, the vice-captain, frowned as he spoke to Powell, who was beside him. Powell, Mina, and he were in the last vehicle while two SEALs were in the first vehicle, taking the lead. Xiao Luo and Sarah Michelle were in the middle.

Powell furrowed his brows in deep thought. He was ready to get into battle, but surprisingly the Khun Sa Mercenary Corps had not shown up. What was happening? Those desperados were capable of easily tracking Sarah Michelle down. Was what Sarah Michelle said true, then? Have they all been annihilated by that Hua Nation guy?

Did he take down the whole Khun Sa Mercenary Corps all on his own?

How could that be possible?

He had a hard time believing the story.

He calmed himself as he turned toward Rice. "Do not let your guard down. The men in the Khun Sa Mercenary Corps are very cunning and cruel. We have to be on high alert all the time," he said.

Rice nodded, indicating that he understood.

He turned around to look at Minna, who was riding shotgun. "Mina, are you feeling alright?" Rice enquired.

"I'm fine," she responded.

Mina glared viciously at the military truck in the middle, knowing that she would never find it in her heart to forgive Xiao Luo and would never stop hating him.

"That's great. How dare that goddamn Hua Nation man do such a thing to a woman, I am looking at Hua Nation from a whole new perspective now," Rice said.

"That's enough, don't disregard what I just said!" Powell interrupted.

"I can now see that this Mie is not an ordinary man. If we want to get back to the base by the coast safely without losing any more of our members, we need his help. So stop picking on him. This is an order that I expect you to obey at least until we reach the base by the coast," Powell warned them both.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, Captain. We will do as you say, and we'll stop picking on him."

Rice did not take it seriously. He thought that Captain Powell was giving that guy from Hua Nation far too much leeway. What was Powell thinking? That they couldn't complete the mission without Mie? Or get back to the military base on the coast on their own? Bullsh*t.

Mina humphed, as she also thought that Powell was overestimating Xiao Luo. That scumbag was just slightly better than her at Kungfu. Well, Kungfu from Hua Nation was world-famous. There was little doubt that he was better than her, but she would not lose to him if they were using thermal weapons.

Out of the blue, the driver, a member of the SEAL team, stepped on the emergency brakes. The moving vehicle that was traveling at a steady pace came to a sudden stop. Powell, Rice, and Mina lunged forward, reacting to the inertia created by the emergency stop. Rice hit his head on the headrest of the front passenger seat.

"Oh sh*t! Thomas, do you f*cking know how to drive a car?"

Rice screamed at the team member who was driving the car, spitting everywhere.

"Brother Rice, you can't blame me for this, it's the guy from Hua Nation who suddenly stopped his car," Thomas replied. He felt wronged and pointed at the jeep in front of them.

"That annoying guy from Hua Nation!"

Hearing that, Rice, who already resented Xiao Luo, became even more furious, and he forcefully opened the door and stepped out of the vehicle.

At that same time, Xiao Luo was also stepping out of his jeep. Rice stormed toward Xiao Luo in anger, intent on questioning him. "Mie, why did you stop the car suddenly? Didn't you know what you just did is very dangerous?" Rice yelled.

Xiao Luo completely ignored Rice as if he was invisible. He looked up and gazed off into the distant skyline.

Sarah also got out of the truck, and she looked in the same direction that Xiao Luo was looking at with squinted blue eyes. "It seems like a sandstorm, but the height of a sandstorm shouldn't be that low, right? It has already come so close to us, but I still don't feel the wind!" she said.

She sounded unsure as she bounced her thoughts off Xiao Luo.

"That's not a sandstorm!"

Xiao Luo disagreed with her right away. "It looks like the dust trail made by vehicles when they are speeding through the dunes," he said.

"Hey, I'm talking to you, didn't you hear me?" Rice screamed.

Rice was extremely angry, and he could no longer hide his fury as he did before. He reached out and grabbed Xiao Luo's shoulder.

The moment he put his hand on Xiao Luo's shoulder, Xiao Luo turned around and kicked him in the stomach.

THUMP!

Rice staggered backward, and he bent forward and held his abdomen. His face crumpled in pain, so much pain that it felt like his stomach was being pierced by an electric drill. The excruciating pain distorted his face.

Xiao Luo squinted at him coldly. "I hate it when someone grabs my shoulder from behind," he said.

"F*CK!" Rice cried.

Rice blew his top, as this felt as humiliating as taking a bad spill. However, when he looked up, a dozen military trucks came into sight over the horizon. The trucks formed a row and were speeding toward them like beasts, leaving a trail of billowing sand behind.

At that moment, with his pupils dilated and his countenance changed, he started shouting as he pointed to the front. "We've got a situation here!" he continued to scream back to his team.

The others also saw the trucks and did not need his warning. A dozen other trucks were moving at an insane speed towards them from the other direction. The enemy was not only closing in from the front but attacking from the back as well. The speeding trucks kicked up sand, creating what looked like a sandstorm.

"Goddamn it, it's the Libyan rebel fighters!" shouted Powell.

Powell had used his high-powered binoculars to assess the situation, and he couldn't help but cry out in dismay.

The rebel fighters?!With the thought that they would encounter the Libyan National Army, the commandos felt chills creeping down their spines.Powell reacted immediately. "Mr. Mie, we are counting on you to protect Miss Sarah now. You two should go first. We'll bring up the rear!" he said.Xiao Luo did not stand on ceremony. Before he could determine the number of Libyan rebel soldiers and what weapons they possessed, he was not about to act arrogantly and burn his bridges, especially with the enemy attacking from two directions. Together with Sarah, Xiao Luo fired up his jeep and pressed the accelerator pedal to the floor. He drove the vehicle off the road to make a right turn and accelerated toward the dunes.Rice had only contempt for Xiao Luo. "F*ck! That Hua Nation man has got no balls, he's only good at running away!" he scowled.Rice was left speechless by Xiao Luo's action. Xiao Luo's actions were so quick and precise that Rice felt jealous at the slick manner that he made his getaway."Shut up! You're still interested in quarreling in such a critical situation? Do you f*cking wanna die?"Enraged, Powell scolded him and then waved his hand urgently. "Get in the car, fall back!""Yes, sir."The other team members quickly responded.The two military trucks followed the jeep that Xiao Luo was driving. They drove as fast as they could to avoid being surrounded by the Libyan rebel fighters.The speeding trucks went over crushed stones that were everywhere on the dunes that stretched beyond the horizon, sending sand and dust flying up into the air. When Xiao Luo and his associates chose one direction to escape, the Libyan rebel trucks closing in from both directions also changed their course to pursue them, forming a fan-shaped convoy of vehicles.WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH!Several RPGs were launched toward them, landing close to the trucks and exploding with loud booms. Upon its impact, the ground shook, and the surge of energy waves that rippled through the air inflicted pain on their eardrums. Their vision was also affected, and they could not focus.