Mercenary I am the king

Chapter 892 The City in Chaos

Song Heping noticed that the corporal's gun barrel was trembling slightly.

The young man was at most twenty years old, and he had a fresh abrasion on his forehead, clearly indicating that the explosion upstairs had frightened him.

"BBC?"

The corporal looked at the group of people suspiciously.

What are you doing here at a time like this?

Song Heping stepped forward slowly and replied in fluent English, "We were working on a special report about Seine's economic development when we heard the explosion and took shelter here."

He deliberately made his voice tremble slightly: "Thank God you've finally arrived. This place was terrifying."

The corporal's guard visibly relaxed somewhat, but he still didn't lower his gun: "Show me your identification."

Song Heping took out a forged BBC work ID from his vest pocket and handed it over.

The other team members also handed over their identification documents.

These documents were provided by MI6 and are absolutely genuine; they would even match if you called the BBC to verify them.

As the corporal was checking his identification documents over and over, a call suddenly came through the walkie-talkie.

"Sir, a body has been found inside the radio station!"

A soldier sent a message over a walkie-talkie.

"There are six corpses in the third-floor broadcasting studio; they were all executed!"

Clearly, someone has already entered the third floor!

Song Heping was slightly stunned.

He hadn't expected that the radio station guards would so quickly set up the ladder again and climb up to the third floor...

The corporal's eyes suddenly sharpened, and he raised his gun again: "You came down from the third floor?"

Song Heping felt a cold sweat break out on his back, but he remained calm: "We hid in the parking lot until the gunfire from upstairs stopped before we came out to find an exit."

"You've been in the parking lot the whole time?" The corporal's eyes were still full of suspicion.

Song Heping insisted, "That's right. We had just arrived to conduct an interview when we heard gunfire and explosions upstairs. We didn't even know what was happening, so we had to hide."

The corporal suddenly sniffed and sneered, "Then why do you guys smell of gunpowder?"

The air solidified instantly.

Song Heping's right hand moved subtly towards Glock inside the vest.

Just then, a series of explosions suddenly came from outside the parking lot, followed by a barrage of gunfire and screams from the crowd.

"what happened?"

The corporal turned his head to look in the direction of the exit.

The sudden situation left him somewhat at a loss.

The walkie-talkie crackled with the urgent conversations of other soldiers—

"Riots have broken out in the Eastern District! Thousands are storming government buildings!"

"There have been riots in the North District as well, the situation is terrible!"

Taking advantage of the corporal's momentary lapse in attention, Song Heping quickly stepped forward: "Listen, soldier. This city is about to descend into chaos. Are you sure you want to waste your time questioning a few reporters?"

He lowered his voice and asked, "Which district does your family live in? Are they safe now?"

Exploiting other people's psychological weaknesses.

Song Heping is very good at it.

When a country descends into chaos, everyone will worry about their family.

Furthermore, the soldier was wearing a ring on his ring finger, which, judging from his age, indicated that he had not been married for very long and must have elderly parents and young children to care for.

Sure enough, the corporal's expression clearly wavered.

Song Heping pressed his advantage: "Let us leave. We don't want to stay in this godforsaken place any longer. You can continue your mission. Otherwise..."

He glanced meaningfully at the growing sounds of commotion outside.

"Get out of here!" the corporal finally waved his hand. "Take the west exit and don't let me see you again!"

"Thank you!"

Song Heping thanked them repeatedly and led Jiang Feng and the others past the soldiers, quickly heading towards the interview vehicle.

After turning the corner, Ferrari asked in a low voice, "Boss, how did you know he'd fall for it?"

“Fear and worry,” Song Heping replied briefly. “Fear can make people make irrational decisions. He was more worried about whether the riots outside would endanger his family’s safety, and didn’t have the mind to check on us carefully.”

When they finally walked out of the radio station building, crossed the open space, left the national radio station, and onto the street, the scene before them made everyone stop in their tracks.

Butare is burning.

In the distance, at least three plumes of smoke shot straight into the sky, and the flickering flames dyed the night sky a sickly orange-red.

On the streets, crowds surged like a tide, some holding makeshift signs, while many more carried sticks, machetes, and even homemade Molotov cocktails.

A group of government soldiers were trying to establish a defensive line, but were quickly dispersed by an angry mob.

"Durr's speech worked."

Abdul's voice was tinged with fervor, "The people have finally stood up!"

Song Heping glanced at Abdul, who was already agitated, but did not respond.

Chaos is a tragedy for a nation.

Without exception.

Every coup brings bloodshed and slaughter.

Especially in a place like Africa.

He could almost foresee what the country would look like in the near future.

He noticed that at the street corner, several young people were dragging a middle-aged man in a suit.

The man's face was covered in blood, and he kept begging for mercy, but he was met with a blow from an iron rod. The sound of his skull shattering could be heard clearly even dozens of meters away.

The man quickly collapsed to the ground, and several young men, like hyenas spotting a corpse, pounced on him, ransacking his body and quickly taking all his valuables before laughing and swaggering away.

“That wasn’t an uprising,” Jiang Feng said coldly to Abdul. “That was a riot.”

“That was a just trial!” Abdul retorted. “They were all Noel’s lackeys!”

Song Heping interrupted their argument: "There's no time to discuss this; we need to get to the safe house immediately."

“The safe house is to the east, at least two blocks away.” Abdul looked east, where flames were shooting into the sky.

"But now..."

Song Heping quickly assessed the situation.

The original plan was to go to a safe house provided by the opposition, but now it seems that the entire city has fallen into anarchy.

Government troops, rioters, and opportunistic bandits—every street is fraught with danger.

“Change course, head north,” Song Heping decided. “Leave the city center first, then figure out a way to get to the safe house.”

No one objected to his opinion.

Because there is no other choice now.

The squad moved quickly along the shadows of buildings, avoiding the main street. As they rounded a street corner, they witnessed a small-scale battle.

Approximately twenty government soldiers established a defensive line using two armored vehicles and fired tear gas at the onrushing mob.

But the mob was too numerous and quickly flanked them from the flank.

A soldier was dragged out of the armored vehicle and instantly beaten to death with sticks.

“They’re out of bullets,” Jiang Feng pointed out astutely. “The fact that they’re only firing tear gas indicates a shortage of ammunition.”

Abdul excitedly pulled out his phone to take pictures: "This is a historic moment! Noel's rule is collapsing!"

Song Heping snatched the phone away, angrily saying, "Are you crazy? If they find out we're filming, no matter which side it is, they'll stop at nothing to kill us and destroy the evidence!"

He deleted the video and threw the phone back to Abdul.

“Remember, we are now ‘terrified journalists,’ not war photographers.”

A sharp whistling sound suddenly ripped through the sky.

Song Heping instinctively threw himself to the ground: "Mortar! Take cover!"

The shell exploded 100 meters away, and the shockwave shattered the windows of nearby buildings.

Then came the second shot, the third shot...

Government forces have apparently begun using heavy weapons to suppress the riots.

They no longer cared whether this was an urban area or a residential area, and directly used mortars to bombard this place.

Clearly, the riots in the city have become very serious, and the situation is certainly in dire straits for the current president, Noel.

"They're bombarding civilian areas!" Ferrari stared incredulously at the impact points of the shells. "There were no military targets there!"

Abdul's face turned pale: "That's...that's the neighborhood where my sister lives."

Song Heping grabbed his shoulders: "Now is not the time to be distracted!" He pointed to a small alley: "Over there! Quickly!"

As soon as the squad rushed into the alley, the roar of engines came from behind them.

Two pickup trucks mounted with heavy machine guns sped past, the soldiers inside wearing the red berets of the Presidential Guard.

They fired without mercy at any moving target, whether it was a mob or an innocent passerby.

Jiang Feng said in a low voice, "This is simply a massacre."

"Never mind all that, let's just focus on getting out of here alive."

Song Heping took the lead and strode quickly towards the other end of the alley.

Nobody knows where it's safe and where it's not; even locals like Abdul are unsure of the situation.

The only way is to take it one step at a time.

To survive in a riotous city, you have to be more violent than the rioters.

Just as they were about to leave the alley, three young men wielding knives suddenly rushed out from the end and blocked their way.

"Hand over the money and your phone!"

The leader roared, his eyes flashing with madness and greed.

Song Heping raised his hands to indicate peace: "We're just reporters, we don't have anything valuable."

"A reporter?" The young man grinned maliciously as he stepped forward. "That's a foreign spy!"

He raised the machete and waved it in the air.

The sharp blade gleamed coldly in the faint moonlight.

"President Noel said there will be a hefty reward for capturing spies!"

Having said that, he swung his knife at Song Heping.

Song Heping sighed, dodged to the side the instant the machete fell, and at the same time drew his Glock and fired three shots.

Puff puff--

A beautiful defensive rapid-fire was completed in just over a second.

The three robbers fell to the ground immediately.

“Now we’re murderers.” Ferrari examined the body with a wry smile: “A BBC reporter wouldn’t be so skilled at firing a gun.”

"Let's keep going."

Song Heping gave a brief order, his face expressionless.

"This godforsaken place is hell now."

(End of this chapter)