It was an understatement to say that the afternoon sun was just hot. It was positively scorching!

A lizard preyed on the vulnerable ants by the side of the road. Its flexible tongue darted out at intervals, each strike serving the reptile a mouthful of food. Behind its scaly body was a desert that seemed to stretch on forever. The barren land was like a sizzling frying pan thanks to the hellish sun rays. Right ahead of this cold-blooded animal was a densely forested valley that would offer the lizard shelter from the heat but it clearly did not belong there. The predator of the sandy dunes was fully aware that it’d become prey to others if it enters the lush valley.

At some point, the lizard abruptly lifted its head and stared away from the valley. A convoy of cars was zooming over and closing in onto it fast. As it prepared to dodge the incoming object, a silver glint came flying towards it without warning. Before it could even make clear of what it was, it had been decapitated.

The lizard’s head left the neck, turned around twice mid-air before finally plopping down onto the ground.

Whoosh! Fuma Kotaro recollected his iron chain with a blade from outside the car window. It was he who sliced off the lizard’s head with terrifying precision.

“Fuma Kotaro, was that necessary?” Hatano Naoka was unamused.

Fuma Kotaro merely snorted at that remark. “Our plan to kill Xia Lei got delayed and you’re not going to let me have some fun with a tiny lizard?”

Hatano Naoka huffed. “There’ll be plenty of chances to do that soon. Even if Xia Lei is dead, we still have his offsprings to take care of. Mei has explicitly stated that his children are equal if not greater threats to the country. We must not let them loose. We’re bound to visit China sooner or later to kill off his wives and children.”

Fuma Kotaro nodded. “I used to have some kind of prejudice against Hattori Mei but now I must admit that she is very impressive. She is the leader we need. While the age of the samurai is a bygone era, she is working hard to bring back our glory days.”

The only thing Hatano Naoka could think about now was the ways she’d spend her freshly-acquired one million USD. The woman had her eyes on a certain Ferrari sports car for a very long time now and Hattori Mei was about to help her realize her dream.

In another car, Hattori Mei watched the valley ahead with an unwavering gaze. The complexity of the terrain and dense foliage felt eerie. Inexplicably, her insecurities had resurfaced from the depths of her heart once again. Hattori Mei hesitated for a moment but brought her communicator up to her lips anyway. “Attention everyone, the valley ahead has a complex terrain. Please slow the vehicles down and pass through with caution.”

A few responses were heard over the device.

The convoy slowed down and ventured deeper into the valley.

Suddenly, a truck appeared on the opposite road. It too was travelling at a slow speed.

The truck driver honked at them rudely.

Instinctively, Hattori Mei drew her pistol and placed it against the outer side of her thigh. She rolled the windows down, ready to open fire. She wasn’t the only one on edge though, the entire convoy too was equally tensed.

The truck went past the convoy without a pause in its journey to Las Vegas city.

Hattori Mei watched the retreating vehicle through the rearview mirror until it went out of sight. It was only then that she sighed and kept her pistol. She mocked herself internally, “I’m too paranoid for my own good. There’s no way Xia Lei would be here. He must be hiding somewhere in the east awaiting my presence. Sadly, he’d have to make do with American intelligence officers and Special Force members. I’m pretty sure the American Army has already blocked off all exits in the one hundred kilometre radius at the area now, right? Xia Lei, your luck has run out this time!”

Suddenly, she thought of her mother. The dull ache in her heart prompted her expression to darken as she solemnly grieved over her dear mother’s demise.

The convoy moved forward.

Five kilometres later, the roads have gotten narrower due to the terrain. Lined along the road were dense forests and steep hills. It was difficult to study the situation in the woods. However, there was something eerie about the odd tranquillity of this place. There was no whistle of the wind and there were no sounds of life.

“Why is it so quiet in here?” Hattori Mei’s insecurity was growing stronger by the minute.

Yagyu Yuichi, who was seated in the same car tensed up. “It’s too quiet here. Something’s not right.”

Hattori Mei yelled into the communicator abruptly, “Stop!”

Ka-boom!

The explosion took place right at the moment Hattori Mei had barked out instructions. The violent impact had overshadowed her feminine voice as the frontmost off-road vehicle was utterly destroyed by a single TM83 anti-tank side armour mine. The car frame was torn apart and its passengers were mercilessly reduced to nothing more than chunks of meat!

There was no need to question the effects TM83 had on civilian vehicles. It was a lethal weapon capable of destroying a military tank. A civilian off-road vehicle was merely a plastic toddler electric car toy when faced with the TM83 mine.

Ka-boom!

Ka-boom!

Ka-boom!

Another three explosions rang out, its flames racing for the clouds. Another three vehicles in the convoy were damned. None of its passengers had managed to survive it. No one had seen this coming. Half of the convoy was gone, and so was their human resources!

Two blasts had happened at the front while another two had happened at the tail end of the convoy. The path ahead and behind were blocked off by the burnt vehicle debris. In less than two seconds, Hattori Mei and her convoy were trapped in a sticky situation!

“He’s here! Get out of the car! Fight!” Hattori Mei roared with all her might as fear and humiliation bared its ugly fangs over her heart. Her mind was a panicked mess!

Yagyu Yuichi kicked one of the backdoors open and rolled over to the ground. At that split second, a sniper bullet was shot through the gaps between the car door and the frame. A Japanese samurai who was sitting beside Yagyu Yuichi was taken out with a quick headshot.

His blood and brains were splattered all around the windows and roof.

Hattori Mei quickly pushed her door open and rolled out of the vehicle. The driver beside her was not as lucky as her. A bullet was shot from somewhere above the hill and found its way into his skull the moment he left the vehicle’s walls! One-third of his brain was gone!

Yagyu Yuichi sped up his actions. As soon as his limbs were out of the vehicle’s confinement, he stomped his feet hard against the group and tossed himself into the woods on the right side of the road like an angry arrow. Behind him, a few slower samurais were brought to their ends by a sniper.

Fuma Kotaro made it into the woods on the right almost at the same time as Yagyu Yuichi. He was extremely agile despite having a large build.

On the other end, Hatano Naoka and Sanada Saruo had darted for the woods on the left instead.

Those samurais who managed to survive the hit had eventually dispersed off into the woods on either side of the road. After all, they were acting as a group of thirty skilful samurais. They were all more agile than most of the elite Special Force members. A few snipers would be insufficient to take the whole of them out in mere seconds.

Silence immediately returned to the path. There were no gunshots and no one screaming before their untimely death.

Hattori Mei carefully raised her head from between two corpses, her gaze snapping into the direction of where they came from. The ambush was short. That was more than enough for her to deduce that Xia Lei only had three to four people with him this time. If not, there would’ve been more bodies wasted on the road.

Her attention was immediately caught by a Toyota off-road vehicle behind. She studied the roadside terrain carefully. It seemed that the car was miraculously spared by the attacks. As long as she could get into it, Hattori Mei would be granted an escape route after she rams it through the burning wreckage at the end.

But just as her mind was sorting through her plan, a Japanese samurai clambered up from between piles of corpses and dashed for the Toyota off-road vehicle.

“Fucking hell!” Hattori Mei cursed under her breath and raised her pistol. She wanted to shoot the man who had robbed her of an escape route.

The Japanese samurai climbed into the vehicle and ignited its engine before slamming the pedals down hard. With a violent twist of the steering wheel, the car was forced into a U-turn. It threw Hattori Mei’s aim off. The adrenaline rush was flooding her with the urge to stand up and shoot that cowardly motherfucker. But as soon as Hattori Mei was reminded of the presence of snipers on either side, she quickly controlled her fury and desire.

All she could do now was to watch the Japanese samurai drive the vehicle into the burning vehicles and dash for the valley’s exit.

Bang!

A gunshot rang out from that direction.

A bullet whistled past and broke the Toyota off-road vehicle’s windshield. The Japanese samurai’s head was split open as red blossomed across the reinforced glass like a red spider lily. The dead man slumped onto the steering wheel and the vehicle lost control. It swayed around before finally crashing itself into a boulder at the bottom of the hill.

Boom!

The vehicle was now a smoking deformed wreck. Any route for escape was gone.

Someone was at the entrance of the valley!

That was more than enough for Hattori Mei to forget about escaping with the car. She stealthily dug her satellite phone out in an attempt to call for help. Two seconds had passed when she realized something. There was no signal coverage in the area! Hattori Mei wanted to laugh at herself. She was a fool. Xia Lei was a meticulous strategist. How was he not going to have certain measures to interfere with phone signals if he was going to set up an ambush point? The shielding measure must’ve been activated since the first bomb was triggered.

Hattori Mei carefully pried away from the limp bodies. She got onto her knees and crawled forward with her elbows, keeping in mind to lie flat against the road. The burning wreckage and the destroyed Toyota off-road vehicle had formed a blindspot at the valley’s mouth. This was the sole reason she was still miraculously alive. She needed to leave this place before the sniper came. It was now or never!

The tar road surface was coarse. The skin over her knees and elbows were about to break apart. Her body had no way of avoiding the tormenting burning friction against the rough ground. Hattori Mei’s skin felt as if it was filed down by coarse grade sandpaper. But even so, her drive to survive and the spike of adrenaline that accompanied it had willed her to ignore her agony.

Crawl… Crawl… Crawl…

It was near the wood’s fringe that Hattori Mei finally stood up and threw herself headfirst into the vegetation. It was not by random that she had entered the right woods. This was currently the best choice because the stronger Fuma Kotaro and Yagyu Yuichi were there.

At the same time at a distance away, Qian Jun exited from between the trees and dashed for the left woods like the wind.

This was based on Xia Lei’s strategic arrangement.

Xia Lei might not require backup but Sa’im and Anjum Khan sure did need some assistance.