Chapter 557 - Large-Scale Explosion

Chapter 557: Large-Scale Explosion

Plunder and kill, all the way!

Xiao Luo had turned into the God of Death harvesting the souls of the Libyan rebels in this small town. Powell and the other three soldiers fought beside him as they kept Sarah Michelle safe.

"I… I can't run anymore. You go ahead, just leave me here…" Sarah muttered while trying to catch her breath.

After a long strenuous run, Sarah was panting and sweating profusely. Fatigue swept over her, so intense that she felt her heart pounding rapidly, and it felt like it was about to burst out of her chest. The strain was just too overwhelming. "I…I can't run any longer, not even if that means the Libyan soldiers kill me," she pleaded.

Xiao Luo took in the surroundings before his gaze fell on a low damaged house beside them with its four walls still intact. "You guys head in there. I'll distract the soldiers who are on our tail!"

These were desperate times, and every second was too precious to waste.

Powell did not object to Xiao Luo's suggestion. Besides, their mission was to protect Sarah Michelle. Since Sarah Michelle would be with them, he had no issue with that suggestion. "You take care of yourself, Mr. Mie!" he said, giving Xiao Luo a stiff nod.

Then the four of them helped Sarah to get up and swiftly headed toward the house.

Just as they ducked in, a dozen or so Libyan rebels appeared from the street behind.

Xiao Luo fired a hail of bullets that immediately took down half the squad. He had intentionally left a few of them alive-to let the remaining soldiers return to base and report their coordinates to their boss. After firing that one burst, Xiao Luo stopped firing. Like a wolf, he bounded forward, disappearing into the end of the street in a blink of an eye.

The Libyan soldiers scrambled to give chase. The gang of five who hid in the house heard a rush of footsteps approaching them, and then the footsteps moved away quickly. There was also the sound of military vehicles roaring as they flew across the road. Even though they had undergone rigorous military training, the four SEALs felt their hearts rise to their throats as they held their breaths in anticipation.

"What do we do, Captain?" Rice asked Powell, immediately after everything had quietened down. Beads of sweat formed on his forehead, but it was difficult to know whether it was cold sweat due to nervousness or just perspiration brought on by the vigorous exercise during their escape.

"We wait," came the whispered response.

Powell heaved a long sigh. "When night falls, this small town will be crawling with Libyan rebels. There could be a way the five of us can break through their ranks in the day. And even if we manage to make it out of this small town, it doesn't change the fact that we're in the Gobi Desert. There is not a single bunker in sight, not as far as I can see. It's going to be easy for the rebels to catch up with us. I have no desire to be a sitting duck," he continued.

Rice, Mina, and Thomas all nodded as they listened. They knew that Powell was making the right assumptions. They had better chances of staying alive in this town. If the Libyan rebels went after them when they were in the middle of the Gobi Desert, they had little chance of holding them off.

"I'm sorry, this is all because of me. I'm the reason why so many of you have lost your lives!" Sarah muttered.

In her anguish, Sarah Michelle went into a state of self-reproach. She had seen far too much death on this journey-first, her family's bodyguards, and now, the SEALs, whose lives were lost, one by one, and it was all because they were here in Libya to protect her. If she were not here, then all those people would not have had to sacrifice their lives.

"Miss Sarah, this is our mission, and it's also our duty. As a soldier, we have to be prepared to bleed and sacrifice our lives at any moment. Any one of us can die, but it is imperative that you return to our shore base safely," Powell said.

Tears started to roll down Sarah's face. She was deeply moved by what Powell had said. These soldiers were just as human as she was. Who was she that her life was more valuable than theirs? Who was she that these people had to lay down their lives for hers? This was not fair, not in the least bit!

"Will that Hua Nation guy return?" Mina remarked indifferently.

Everyone was slightly stunned. "Mr. Mie will definitely return. Nothing will happen to him. Even the Khun Sa Mercenary Corps could not handle him, and there's no way the Libyan rebels are any more powerful than them!" Sarah replied with a resolute gaze.

"I'll admit that Mie is extremely powerful. He's like a one-man army. But this is one of the Libyan rebel's strongholds. He's drawn all the firepower to himself, and even if he were Superman, there's no way he would be able to survive such intense firepower," Mina said.

Silence. Everyone chose to remain quiet!

It was just as Mina said—the chances of Xiao Luo's survival were dismally slim.

"Damn it, why did I always insist on opposing that Hua Nation guy? In a moment as crucial as this one, he stepped forward and volunteered to draw all the enemy fire to himself. It shows the indomitable will of the Hua Nation. I owe that man an apology!" Rice said. He deeply regretted his past words and actions.

"The people of Hua Nation have this Buddhist saying, 'who will enter hell if not me?' Mr. Mie is the very embodiment of this saying!" Thomas pitched in.

He was already quite impressed by how honorable Xiao Luo was, and all his misgivings and prejudices towards the man had faded away.

Powell said in his low drawl, "Personally, I hope he doesn't die, but on a national level, I hope he does."

Upon hearing this, everyone stared at him, wide-eyed and with a look of shock.

Powell ignored their change of expression. He continued, "We've all seen how powerful of a fighter he is. I can say with no hesitation at all that, even if we were to comb through the whole of the SEAL squad and pick the best of our soldiers, they would undoubtedly lose to him. If our two countries were to go to war with each other, this sort of person would be a nightmare. I don't know how the Hua Nation managed to train such a war machine, but they definitely won't have too many of them there. So if he dies, this would be something worth celebrating for us, and not—"

"Enough!" Sarah broke in resentfully. She glared at Powell. "Captain Powell, you once said that we're all brothers-in-arms, that we're all comrades, and this is how you treat your brothers-in-arms, your comrades? If I were Mr. Mie, I would definitely be disappointed, and it would affect my impression of the Mei Nation."

Powell did not refute her statement. He knew that, no matter what he said, nothing would change Sarah Michelle's view. After all, the Michelles had always been friendly with the Hua Nation. But they were different. They were soldiers, and the things they considered were naturally not something a civilian like Sarah would understand.

BOOM!

At that moment, a deafening explosion rang out from the center of the small town.

The entire town shook. Scarlet flames were flickering from within the thick billowing smoke that was rising high up into the sky. Even from such a distance away, the party could feel the shockwave of the impact from the blast.

"What happened? Why was there such a large-scale explosion?" Thomas asked, looking in shock at the smoke billowing from the center of the small town. Powell and the other four got up to observe immediately.

"You don't think the rebels' ammunition depot blew up, do you?" Rice volunteered a guess.

As soon as he spoke, there was another explosion. The small town shook violently again.

Powell furrowed his eyebrows. There was no doubt that this was Xiao Luo's doing. Did the guy perish along with the soldiers?

With such a massive explosion like this one, it was difficult for one to escape from the blast radius on their two feet. They could feel their faces heating up even from such a distance, and that was enough evidence of the size of that explosion.