Starting from South America, speeding through the world

Chapter 222 Have they always been this brave?

At first, the raindrops only fell sporadically on the tin roof, but soon they came down in a deluge.

Lightning flashed across the sky, and the drainage ditch gurgled as it became clogged.

The French stronghold was in a residential building.

Inside the room were two worn-out sofas, a desk, and several military protective cases.

The window was a cracked open, but the air was still unbearably hot and humid, filled with a mixture of musty smells and gunpowder residue that made one's scalp tingle.

Louis stood against the wall, inspecting the Glock, ejecting the magazine, pulling the slide, checking the chamber, and then resetting it—his movements were practiced and skillful.

His eyes never left the road outside.

Behind them, five other people sat or leaned against something, idly waiting for their companion to return.

Just then, Louis's cell phone vibrated twice in his pocket.

He took it out and looked at it, and his expression changed drastically.

On the screen, there were only a few words, a warning from Pierre—

"One person, armed, threatening."

There was no title, no ending, like a half-written will.

boom--!
Thunder exploded.

The old mango tree across the street swayed back and forth in the wind.

Louis suddenly looked up and gripped the gun handle tightly.

“Something happened to Pierre and Emily,” he said.

After he finished speaking, the room fell into a brief silence, but it was immediately broken by urgent questions.

"what?"

"Enemies? Where are they?"

"We were exposed."

"Is he American?!"

The noise abruptly ceased as the last few words were uttered.

The crowd's expressions were somewhat stiff, and as they looked at each other, a hint of panic appeared in their eyes.

Louis stared at his phone, his eyelids twitching uncontrollably.

After a moment, he shook his head slightly. "Pierre said 'one person is threatening with a gun.' According to the location, they are on their way, about three kilometers away."

Silence again.

Rainwater poured down from the eaves.

"One person?" someone frowned. "Are you kidding me? How could one person possibly handle Pierre and Emily?"

"Can Pierre be trusted?" another person chimed in. "What if that guy betrayed us? Was he bribed? Or was the message not even sent by him?"

"Damn it, what are we still sitting here for?" A young man jumped up. "Mission failed, we must retreat!"

Snapped--!
A bolt of lightning tore through the sky.

The thunder roared, startling the two people near the door, who instinctively ducked down.

"Calm down, everyone," Louis said, his mind racing with thoughts.

"How to calm down?"

“Emily might be dead, Pierre has betrayed us, and we’re sitting here with an unknown enemy coming to our door.” The man on the sofa twitched his lips. “What kind of stupid way is this to die?”

“Pierre won’t betray us,” the first person to speak retorted through gritted teeth. “He won’t.”

"No? You slept with him? He had a gun pointed at his head, what's there to hide?"

"Even if the news is false, how can you guarantee there aren't dozens of gunmen outside ready to pounce?"

"Damn it, when you recruited me you said it was a clerical position, an intelligence post." The young man's voice trembled.

“You want me to die here now? Fuck you liar!” he said, bending down to grab the equipment scattered on the table and stuffing it all into his backpack.

"You're crazy-"

"Let him go. There's no need for him to die with us."

"If he exposes us, are you willing to take responsibility?"

"Wait, if what Pierre said is true, how strong can one person's firepower be?"

The dispute escalated, leaving the hastily assembled team teetering on the brink of collapse.

The sound of rain outside the window grew increasingly chaotic, wave after wave, leaving no room for respite.

Finally, Louis couldn't hold back any longer.

"Enough!" he suddenly raised his voice, almost roaring, "All of you shut the fuck up!"

"And you! Get the hell back here! Don't make me shoot!"

The young man instinctively shuddered, his steps froze on the spot, his face flushed red, but he dared not move again.

Louis took two deep breaths before speaking again:
“If Pierre were to betray us, he wouldn’t need to warn us beforehand.” “Moreover,” he paused, coldly surveying the various expressions on their faces, “we have documents; we’re conducting a semi-public information gathering mission, not a secret infiltration.”

"Even Americans, if they want to take action over this, must consider the political consequences."

The room returned to quiet.

Even the thunder seemed to be farther away.

Louis looked down and checked his phone again.

"Two kilometers, all personnel on high alert," he said.

This time, everyone acted hesitantly.

The sound of metal being cocked rang out one after another.

Adjust their positions according to the training they remembered.

Louis leaned against the wall, pressed against the window, and cocked his rifle.

"One kilometer," he said. "Prepare to engage the enemy."

Half a minute later, the familiar SUV appeared at the street corner.

They were driving incredibly fast.

A pair of halogen lamps were faintly visible in the rain.

Five hundred meters.

Suddenly, it stopped.

"What's wrong?" someone asked anxiously.

ten seconds.

The car still didn't move.

Louis gave up waiting, squinted his left eye, and decisively raised his hand to aim.

"Fire at will in three seconds," he said.

Muscles were taut under the butt of the rifle, knuckles were slightly clenched, and breathing was slowed to its lowest point.

next moment--

--boom! ! !

The whole world suddenly exploded.

It didn't come from an off-road vehicle.

Before Louis could react, he felt a hot breeze sweep past his ear.

Immediately afterwards, he staggered backward and fell, the rifle slipping from his hand.

He lost consciousness for half a second, and when he regained it, he was lying on the ground, unable to hear anything.

Louis struggled to turn over, but could not feel his limbs, and his mouth was full of the taste of rust.

There was a hole in the roof, and rainwater poured in through the cracks, hitting my face.

The man behind the sofa had half his head missing; blood and bits of flesh were stuck to the wall, like a watermelon that had been crushed.

Louis's mind went blank; he could barely comprehend what had happened.

Soon, he won't need to understand anymore.

Because the second explosion occurred as expected.

boom--!
Then, everything was gone.

Colin lowered the rocket launcher from his shoulder and spat on the ground. "Have the French always been this brave?"

He leaned against the fence, raising his chin at the building that had been half-bombed:

"Or is it that in the world of spies, the concept of heavy firepower simply doesn't exist, and a pistol is enough to handle any encounter?"

Bard sighed. "Don't change the subject. You missed the target at the beginning."

Upon hearing this, Colin immediately became displeased: "Anyway, everyone's dead, so the details don't matter."

“John said not to spread the impact too much,” Bud shook his head, “you almost blew up the drone too.”

Colin rolled his eyes. "From the time he sent the message to when I arrived, it was only fifteen minutes. It's not like it's the Olympics, why are the expectations so high?"

Just as Bader was about to say something, he heard two short gunshots from an SUV not far away.

The two of them turned their heads to look at each other simultaneously.

The car door was opened, and Zhou Yi got out of the back seat, clutching a cell phone.

The rain stopped, but the air was still filled with the lingering smell of gunpowder.

The next second, a new message notification sounded.

Colin clicked on it and saw a text message:
"Gentlemen, please allow me to introduce you to a cutting-edge method of warfare."

　The chapter title paid homage to [the author].
　　
　
(End of this chapter)