Action Amidst the Chaos

With a deafening roar, the entire city of Kismayo seemed to leap into the air. Centered at the point of impact on the B-82, a colossal ring-shaped wall of high-temperature flame expanded across a 5,600-meter diameter within a fraction of a millisecond.

Within this blast zone, the bodies of the coalition soldiers instantly turned to ash and charred remains. Armed pickup trucks close to ground zero were instantly pulverized into tiny fragments, while those further away—and even armored vehicles—were entirely flipped into the air, tumbling before embedding themselves into the exterior walls of neighboring townhouses.

As for the buildings within the blast radius, they either collapsed completely or were pierced by massive tongues of flame shooting through windows on both sides, transforming into raging infernos burning from the inside out. Looking down from the sky, one could see that this single B-82 had carved out a massive crater twenty-five meters wide, an ash zone over five hundred meters in diameter, and a burning perimeter ring roughly six hundred meters across.

Three minutes after the AC-130 departed, Hou Rui crawled out from the basement, his body violently shaken and his gait as unsteady as a drunkard's. Staring at the distant crater, he felt profound gratitude from the bottom of his heart for his choice to escape. Otherwise, Hou Rui would right now be just like the coalition soldiers on the street—either reduced to ash or bleeding from all seven orifices, struck dead on the spot by the concussive force.

Ever since the joint forces' airstrike began, the entire situation had accelerated in directions far beyond Hou Rui's control. Now, only two choices lay before him: either take the present opportunity and escape this burning city by any means necessary, or take advantage of the chaos while the alliance's troop deployments and security arrangements were thoroughly disrupted, and directly hunt down General Garcia. By snatching victory from the jaws of chaos and claiming Garcia's life, he could complete the organization's mission and leave this place forever.

What should he do? What on earth should he do?

Leaning against an overturned pickup truck, Hou Rui bought time to rest so his body could recover as quickly as possible from the concussion, while simultaneously pondering General Garcia's probable current location.

As for the general's convoy at the movie theater gathering, that Garcia was as thoroughly dead as anyone could possibly be; furthermore, Hou Rui had personally peeled off his face, so that option was ruled out.

Regarding the general's convoy at the shopping mall gathering—the very one just obliterated by the AC-130 using the B-82—if General Garcia had unluckily hidden within that convoy, Hou Rui likely wouldn't even find his corpse.

That left Hou Rui with only one remaining choice: the general's convoy gathered at the Civic Plaza. Judging by the current situation, that was the only convoy still fully intact. If General Garcia planned to escape the city, he would undoubtedly choose that convoy to protect himself.

Since his analysis was complete, Hou Rui prepared to hurry over. But just as he started to move, a hand reached out from the truck bed of the pickup behind him. A guard officer who had miraculously survived the massive B-82 blast was desperately calling out to Hou Rui for help.

Gazing at those pleading eyes and the blood-stained face, Hou Rui could have easily turned a blind eye. However, just as he tried to pull free and make a swift departure, he discovered that his trouser leg was gripped in a tight, unyielding grasp, refusing to let go.

Without a second thought, Hou Rui drew his Type 92 automatic pistol and fired a single round straight through the pleading alliance officer's head. He then yanked his pant leg free from the dead man's grip and began sprinting along the littered street toward the Civic Plaza.

"Whoosh-bang! Tat-tat-tat..."

The massive AC-130 gunship swept across Hou Rui's head once more. By this time, the gunship had depleted the majority of its ammunition reserves, so it no longer casually opened fire on isolated alliance soldiers like Hou Rui; its remaining limited ammunition needed to be reserved for higher-value targets.

For instance, supporting the joint forces' advance and clearing out stubborn alliance firepoints within sturdy buildings. Yet, no matter how sparingly it fired, within a dozen minutes the AC-130 expended the last of its 105mm shells. Enduring for two more minutes, it exhausted its 40mm autocannon and Gatling gun ammunition as well. Only then did the gunship—having harvested thousands of lives—reluctantly bank its tail and depart the semi-occupied city of Kismayo.

By now, following an hour of fierce skirmishing, the joint forces that had penetrated the urban center had secured several key defensive points. Relying on these strongpoints, they quickly established fortified positions and began infiltrating other areas of the city. However, the moment the AC-130 left, the Liberation Alliance troops launched another encirclement counterattack from all directions, intending to drive out the invaders through sheer human-wave tactics.

Thus, along the contested streets, wave after wave of alliance soldiers charged forward and fell, followed immediately by more waves charging forward and falling. Fearless and undeterred, these alliance soldiers, led by child-soldiers treated like disposable commodities, gradually began to suppress the joint forces' expansion momentum.

Just as the reciprocal assaults reached a stalemate, Hou Rui happened to pass by a battle zone.

The wide, two-way, four-lane avenue was flanked by fiercely burning buildings whose flames served as the illumination for the battlefield. At both ends of the street, joint forces and alliance soldiers engaged in intense firefights amidst crumbling ruins.

"Rat-a-tat-tat, thud-thud-thud..."

The firing sounds of AK-47s and M16As echoed endlessly. Hiding behind a pile of bricks in the middle of the street, Hou Rui saw that the joint forces occupying the left side of the avenue were slowly pushing forward, while the alliance soldiers defending the right side were putting up a desperate defense. However, under the sweeping fire of a heavy machine gun deployed by their adversaries, the alliance side had already lost two of their primary firepoints along with numerous personnel, and looked on the verge of collapsing.

Anxious and impatient, Hou Rui stared at the alleyway on the opposite side of the street, just dozens of meters away. Once he crossed the open street and entered that alley, the remaining linear distance to the Civic Plaza would be short indeed. In fifteen minutes at most, Hou Rui could reach the general's last intact convoy. A powerful premonition gripped him: Garcia must be right there! Yet, at this critical juncture, a fierce battle blocked his path.

Given the situation unfolding before him, what else could Hou Rui say? He simply picked up a discarded M16A4 and quietly took aim at the joint forces soldiers advancing toward his position.

Soon, three joint forces soldiers crept forward, bounding through the street ruins, and reached Hou Rui's location in the blink of an eye. Poising himself behind the stack of bricks, Hou Rui thrust his upper body out and fired a rapid string of precision shots from his M16A4, dropping all three soldiers right onto the avenue.

Immediately after Hou Rui pulled his head back, the enemy heavy machine gun opened up, completely raking the area near his hiding spot with lead. Piles of brick debris and the ruined walls of street-front shops were instantly riddled with bullet holes. Frightened, Hou Rui bolted thirty meters away, inadvertently bringing himself even closer to the alliance soldiers' position.

"Sub-lieutenant! Over here, over here!"

Suddenly, observing the situation from a storefront window, Hou Rui heard a childish voice calling out from behind him. Glancing back hurriedly, he spotted Little Camel, Judy, and several others. Together with other alliance soldiers, they were holding the right side of the street, firing continuously to cover themselves.

How on earth did they end up here?

The very moment this baffled question arose in Hou Rui's mind, a rocket-propelled grenade flew over from the joint forces' position. Although it missed Hou Rui, the flying bricks kicked up by the blast struck him mercilessly across his body and head.

On a battlefield of life and death, there was no luxury for wandering thoughts. Hou Rui quickly reined in his focus, dedicating all his mental energy to the immediate firefight.

Soon enough, the joint forces soldiers closed in once again. This time, they drove an armed pickup truck mounted with a heavy machine gun straight into the middle of the street, sweeping back and forth across Hou Rui's side and pinning every alliance fighter down so they couldn't raise their heads. To make matters worse, several alliance soldiers hiding behind brick walls had their bodies pierced right through by the devastatingly powerful bullets.

"Use an RPG! Blow it up, quickly!" Hou Rui shouted anxiously toward the rear.

"We're out of RPGs!" Stone yelled back during a lull in the shooting. But the very second he popped his head up, a stray round from the joint forces struck Stone, dropping him dead atop a small pile of rubble.

Seeing this, Hou Rui felt a sharp pang in his heart. Although his time with the kid hadn't been long, they had lived together for over two months. For such a half-grown child to die so simply and abruptly left Hou Rui feeling profoundly unsettled.

"Tat-tat-tat..."

The heavy machine gun bullets swept past Hou Rui once again. Peering through the pulverized brick dust, Hou Rui saw that the joint forces' armed pickup and a large group of soldiers had closed in to within thirty or forty meters. In a matter of minutes, they would reach his position and the remaining alliance soldiers.

There was no other choice. It seemed he would have to flank and eliminate them!