In an instant, the village lit up with glaring beams of light.

Those who were previously chatting and laughing outside the wooden huts immediately grabbed their weapons and started searching for signs of possible infiltrators.

Liang Qiuchi leaped down from the roof and, along with Xiang Bei and the group leader, rushed towards the nearby forest where they came from.

Someone spotted their figures and immediately opened fire, signaling their comrades to join in the pursuit.

By this time, dawn was breaking, and Liang Qiuchi’s group discarded unnecessary equipment like night vision goggles to lighten their load for escape.

However, the Lugo armed men patrolled these mountains daily and were extremely familiar with every inch of the area. Liang Qiuchi’s group couldn’t disguise themselves on the spot to evade the search.

They remained within the Lugo’s range and couldn’t shake them off.

“Damn it, am I going to die here today?” Xiang Bei cursed lowly, taking cover behind a sturdy tree and seizing the opportunity to shoot at the pursuers.

He couldn’t control his frustration, only able to vent by pounding the tree trunk twice.

“This mission is a joke!” he continued.

“Stop cursing and run,” Liang Qiuchi knocked down two pursuers and, while the others were still far away, he dragged Xiang Bei across a narrow ditch, continuing their escape.

The group leader, responsible for covering their rear, suddenly stopped in his tracks.

Xiang Bei turned back, urgently waving at him, “Hurry, run!”

The group leader looked down at his feet, then lifted his head, his face filled with resignation and sorrow. “Looks like my luck has run out.”

Liang Qiuchi furrowed his brow, “Landmine?”

The group leader nodded.

Xiang Bei couldn’t believe it, looking down at his feet.

“Don’t worry about me, just run. You can descend the mountain at ten o’clock,” the group leader took out the pocket watch from his chest and threw it to Xiang Bei, “Give it to my sister, her name is Wu Yahui, serving in the paratrooper headquarters.”

“Group leader…” Xiang Bei choked up, not knowing what to say.

The group leader looked at Liang Qiuchi, his throat rolled, his voice trembling, “Don’t tell my sister about what you heard today. Don’t destroy her faith.”

The footsteps behind them grew closer, and he urgently waved his hand, “You guys go! Don’t linger!”

Liang Qiuchi gritted his teeth, pulling Xiang Bei towards the mountainside.

The group leader raised his head, the dense branches and leaves covering his sight.

He could no longer see the blue sky.

He took a deep breath, then took out the last grenade from his body, removed the safety pin, and with all his strength, threw it towards his rear flank.

The two subsequent explosions startled the birds in the forest, and the entire mountain seemed to sway twice.

Xiang Bei stumbled underfoot, falling flat on his face.

“Are you okay?” Liang Qiuchi hurried to help him up.

Xiang Bei lay there, fiercely pounding his fists. He buried his face in his arms, his voice unusually muffled, “Qiuchi, what are we doing here?”

Liang Qiuchi stared at the small pit Xiang Bei had made on the ground, unable to speak.

“We’re risking our lives to rescue people here. Some got shot, some got their legs blown off, and the group leader even sacrificed his life. And yet, they’re just playing a game,” Xiang Bei crawled up, his face grimy, painfully pulling his hair, “It’s not worth it, damn it, it’s not worth it!”

“They won’t sacrifice in vain. Reinis will definitely pay for this farce,” Liang Qiuchi grasped Xiang Bei’s shoulder heavily, “I promise you.”

Xiang Bei looked at him with red eyes, and the determination in Liang Qiuchi’s eyes was like a shot of adrenaline to him.

“But we don’t have evidence…”

“The conversation in the cabin, I recorded it with my phone.”

Xiang Bei’s eyes lit up.

Liang Qiuchi helped him up and patted his shoulder. “So our top priority now is to get back alive.”

Although the sacrifice of the group leader temporarily slowed down the pursuit of the Lugo armed forces, the mountains were full of dangers, and they had to return quickly to the command center at the foot of the mountain.

Moreover, it was strange that now it was already broad daylight, yet there was no sign of any Federal reinforcements after a whole night, which made Liang Qiuchi faintly uneasy.

The two hastened their descent, but the closer they got to the foot of the mountain, the more intense the gunfire they heard became.

“What’s going on?” Xiang Bei looked around vigilantly. Near the valley, the gunfire echoed everywhere, making it difficult to determine the specific direction.

Liang Qiuchi speculated, “It’s highly likely that the reinforcements from both sides have encountered each other at the foot of the mountain.”

“Let them fight. The fiercer the battle, the more Reinis profits,” Xiang Bei loaded bullets into his gun, filled with resentment. “The upper echelons are busy colluding and profiting from war, who cares how many people die down here.”

Liang Qiuchi reminded him not to be too cynical and to pay attention to safety because the sound of gunfire was getting closer and closer.

Just as Xiang Bei was about to continue speaking, a bullet whizzed past his ear.

He involuntarily exclaimed, “Damn!” while Liang Qiuchi quickly pulled him down.

Bullets rained down like rain, cutting through the dense bushes. Liang Qiuchi rolled with Xiang Bei, holding onto him, and they rolled down a small slope, the bullets stirring up a layer of dirt on the slope.

They had exhausted their grenades and smoke bombs last night, and now they only had a rifle, two pistols, and a few magazines left.

Unable to replicate the tactics from the previous night, they could only break through with gritted teeth.

Luckily, there weren’t many enemies ahead; there were a few wounded soldiers who had scattered into the mountains due to the firepower.

Liang Qiuchi first determined their positions before acting with Xiang Bei.

The two of them fired relentlessly, their trigger fingers numb from the recoil, until the bullets were almost depleted, finally carving out a bloody path.

When they killed the last enemy, Xiang Bei’s eyes were bloodshot.

“That felt good,” he sighed deeply. “It would be even better if we could kill those two Reinis bastards.”

“First, let’s deal with the wounds.” Liang Qiuchi pulled him aside, bandaging the arm and thigh grazed by bullets.

“These are minor wounds, no big deal,” Xiang Bei grinned. “I actually want to keep some scars, so my future girlfriend will worship me!”

“Shouldn’t she be repulsed?” Liang Qiuchi tore off the hem of his vest, twisted it into a bandage to stop the bleeding for Xiang Bei, then stood up and kicked him. “Get up, let’s go.”

Xiang Bei gestured for him to help with a crooked finger.

Liang Qiuchi sighed and reluctantly extended his hand.

Xiang Bei grabbed his wrist, stood up with his help, grinned mischievously at Liang Qiuchi, looking like he was asking for a beating.

Then, with a bang, Xiang Bei’s smile froze on his face.

“Xiang Bei!”

The sudden turn of events left Liang Qiuchi’s mind blank. Holding Xiang Bei to avoid another shot was purely instinctive.

They rolled back under the slope again.

Xiang Bei collapsed in his arms, the high-velocity bullet piercing through his bulletproof vest from behind.

Blood gushed from the wound on his back, quickly staining Liang Qiuchi’s clothes and the soil beneath them red.

“Xiang Bei…” Liang Qiuchi’s lips trembled as he called his friend’s name over and over again.

He used his hand to cover the bullet hole on Xiang Bei’s back, trying to stop the bleeding.

But blood also started to gush from Xiang Bei’s mouth, making terrifying gurgling sounds in his throat.

Xiang Bei’s eyes were wide open, tears filling the red depths, staring straight at Liang Qiuchi.

“Don’t be afraid, don’t be afraid, I’m here, you’ll be fine, you’ll be fine…” Liang Qiuchi hugged him tightly, repeating the same words absent-mindedly.

He tried to wipe away the blood from Xiang Bei’s mouth, but the more he wiped, the more there was.

Soon his palm was stained crimson with blood, and Liang Qiuchi couldn’t help but cry.

Xiang Bei trembled as he grabbed Liang Qiuchi’s hand, exerting the last bit of strength to open his mouth.

Liang Qiuchi quickly leaned down, pressing his ear against Xiang Bei’s mouth.

He heard Xiang Bei say to him, “I want to go home.”