Mercenaries, I Will Be King Chapter 267 - 225 Stirring up Trouble

"What's going on?"

Mist couldn't see what was happening ahead, but from the tone of Song Heping's voice, it was clearly not good news.

"I want to hear so good news."

"There's still a way forward."

"And the bad news?"

"We can't go up the passage; we have to crawl down."

"Doesn't that an we have to go back inside the cave?"

"Exactly." Song Heping said with a smile: "That's why I'm telling you it's bad news."

"Down is down! It's better than no way at all!"

"Great minds think alike."

Song Heping went to the downward passage and looked down.

It was another fan, but it wasn't spinning.

That ant there was no one in the cave room below.

Song Heping ripped off its wires, then placed both hands on the fan, pushing down like doing push-ups.

Sand and soil particles rustled down.

It seed that the installation of the exhausting fan had been shoddy, with no anchors such as expansion screws drilled into the wall.

After making sure the fan could be removed, Song Heping observed the room below one more ti, confirming no one was there before placing his hands again on the fra of the fan and pushing his body up.

Since the hole was only a ter in diater, Song Heping's back soon braced against the passage edge, resting against the rock wall.

"Hey!"

With a strong effort, Song Heping popped the fan out of the hole.

He fell solidly to the ground, forced to land face first.

It was a necessary move; looking good didn't matter, solving the problem did.

Song Heping gently released his hands, and the fan fell to the ground with a clang.

The sound echoed up from the room below, reverberating in the passage, hair-raising, sweat-inducing.

Song Heping didn't linger to surveil from above the hole; instead, he wriggled through the entrance like a snake, quickly descending.

As his body fell, his legs spread out to hook onto both sides of the hole. Then, bending his body upward, his hands grabbed the edge of the hole to support himself in place of his feet, before he let his legs go...

A few seconds later, he landed steadily on the ground.

The reason he was eager to enter the room so quickly was that lingering above to observe was utterly aningless.

Even if soone heard the noise and ca to check, it was better to seize the initiative rather than wait above the exhaust tunnel, inviting death.

Right after Song Heping landed, footsteps could already be heard from outside the door.

Clearly soone had heard the noise here.

Song Heping quickly ducked behind the door, where he dared not fire his gun.

After all, firing could likely attract a wave of enemies.

It was most prudent to operate silently.

Clang—

Soone outside unlocked the padlock and slid the tal bolt, producing a grating noise.

Song Heping flexed his ten fingers, making them more powerful.

It was a pity he didn't have his combat knife.

That thing would be perfect for killings here.

The tal door creaked open.

An ard individual peeked cautiously into the room.

Song Heping held his breath, making no sound.

He didn't make a move.

He was waiting.

Because he didn't know if others were following.

The room was pitch black; the ard man outside peered in, couldn't seem to locate the source of the noise, then stepped inside, walking a few steps to the left, and flicked on the light switch with a click.

At the sa mont, Song Heping had silently moved behind him.

Without waiting for him to turn around, Song Heping's right hand chopped down hard on the man's neck.

In training, Song Heping could break four real red bricks with a single hand chop; the imnse force he could deliver with his hands was quite astonishing.

The human neck has many blood vessels, such as the carotid sinus on the side of the neck, which, when compressed, can cause unconsciousness.

Behind the neck is the top of the spine, a sensitive area where the vagus nerve of the wind mansion is close to the occipital bone and also controls the body's nerve center. An external impact or strong stimulus to this part can cause short-term fainting.

The guy didn't even know what had happened; the world went black, and he slumped to the ground.

Song Heping quickly closed the door, pulled the man aside, and began to undress him, taking his weapons and quickly arming himself.

Rabbani had also crawled out of the vent by then, like a baby silkworm breaking free from its cocoon, ready to jump into the room.

But the very next second, he fell straight from the hole, crashing onto the table with a clang, then bouncing to the floor.

"Shit!"

Song Heping frowned and looked up at Rabbani.

After that fall, Rabbani was already seeing stars, disoriented.

Song Heping reacted swiftly, going over to turn off the light, and then hid again behind the door.

Soon enough, indeed, soone ca to open the door.

This ti two people entered, one after the other.

Rabbani had also co to by now, diving under a nearby table.

The two ard n, just as confused, couldn't see clearly in the room, and they went to turn on the light.

The mont they turned around, one of them got hit on the neck.

This ti Song Heping didn't use his hand, but the butt of a gun.

The gun butt was much more useful than the hand chop.

One of the ard n had his spine shattered by the blow, not just knocked unconscious, but paralyzed.

After closing the door again, Mist had also crawled out from the vent.

Song Heping wanted to kick the man.

He had positioned him behind Rabbani to look after him.

But the guy had let Rabbani fall.

Though Rabbani was of little use now.

Still, there was such a thing as integrity.

Having promised to cooperate for his survival, he would uphold that promise.

If Rabbani was killed by the Revolutionary Brigade, there was no guilt on one's conscience, but causing death by abandonnt, no matter what, would be unacceptable.

The situation seed to be improving.

There were three ard individuals lying on the ground.

Three sets of equipnt, three sets of clothing.

Song Heping whispered, "One body each, take the stuff and—"

He made a slashing motion across his neck, signaling the necessity of killing the witnesses.

This was the cleanest thod.

Tying them up was not the first choice, dead n are the surest keepers of secrets.

It was a life-or-death situation, allowing no room for error.

Once Song Heping finished disguising himself, he didn't hesitate to twist the neck of the ard militant.

Mist did it with equal efficiency and decisiveness.

The only exception was Rabbani, who clearly couldn't bring himself to do it.

No wonder, they were all Afghans and from the sa organization.

Although he had betrayed them, psychologically he still felt guilty.

Mist gave him a disdainful look, went over to take care of the last militant, and then said to Rabbani, "If you can't do it, what makes you think he would have hesitated to do the sa to you?"

One good thing about Afghan militants was that they all wore long robes and had scarves covering their heads, which could conceal their hair and mask their faces.

Their disguises took almost no effort at all.

After checking each other over, at least outwardly, there seed to be no glaring issues.

"Rabbani, you'll be in charge of leading the way out. If there's trouble, you handle it,"

Song Heping gave Rabbani his instructions.

After all, he was the least likely to slip up and reveal anything.

Neither himself nor Mist could do it.

"Okay."

Rabbani looked a bit nervous.

"Don't be nervous. The plan is just to walk out boldly and then see if we can find a vehicle or sothing to escape in."

"Alright..."

Rabbani felt his body heating up, sweat pouring out, his forehead dotted with beads of it.

Song Heping pulled him up and pushed him forward.

"Check your weapons, we're leaving."

Under Song Heping's command, the trio moved with swift precision, heading straight for the exit through the tunnel in the cave.

"You rember the way, right?"

Song Heping asked quietly.

"I roughly rember."

Rabbani answered, trying to appear calm.

Chaos had broken out in the cave.

Boom boom boom—

Boom boom boom—

Muffled gunshots echoed from the direction of the arsenal room.

Clearly, the militants had finally brought in a large-caliber machine gun.

They had taken it off an ard pickup without care and brought it inside.

Song Heping imdiately felt that sothing was very wrong.

This ant they'd soon discover that the three of them weren't inside anymore.

If they had any brains, they would notice the trick with the ventilation duct and track it to the other room, to the three bodies hidden under the table in the corner.

They would conclude they had disguised themselves.

At that ti, the area would certainly be locked down, and their three-person team would find it nearly impossible to take flight.

"Move fast."

Song Heping estimated the militants would take about ten minutes to discover their secret.

Ten minutes should be enough ti to leave.

He wasn't worried about that part.

Inside the cave, people were running toward the interior while the trio went in the opposite direction, becoming very conspicuous.

With each step, their hearts pounded furiously.

Fortunately, at that mont, the situation was chaotic.

The "big boss" and the "second boss" were dead.

It was like a dragon without a head.

It was now the lower-level leaders who were trying to take charge.

Orders were starting to beco disorganized.

It was the perfect opportunity to escape in the confusion.

Along the way, they brushed shoulders face to face with many people, but no one questioned why they were going in the opposite direction; at most, they gave them a couple of extra glances.

The distance from the room to the exit wasn't far, only about three hundred ters, and despite so delays from detours and turns, Song Heping and his two companions still managed to reach the entrance within five minutes.

Once outside the cave entrance, there were many vehicles hidden down the slope.

Finding any one of them would serve as an escape tool, allowing them to head straight toward Kandahar, and more importantly, to see if they could find a radio or phone of so kind.

They had all the frequencies for the backup channels and the contact numbers.

All they lacked was a ans of communication.

It was now 8:40 at night.

The three of them, approaching the cave entrance, could even see the stars in the sky outside.

Just when they were less than five ters from the entrance, suddenly four or five people walked in from outside, coming face to face with them.

Rabbani recognized them as the captain of the Revolutionary Brigade's assault team, Kawasi. The assault team was the most elite force in the Revolutionary Brigade. They normally escorted drug shipnts, and since today was a delivery day, it was not surprising for him to be on standby nearby.

What made Rabbani even more frightened was that Kawasi was an extrely violent man, nicknad "The Freak of Helmand."

Enemies of the organization or traitors who fell into his hands suffered a fate worse than death.

Rabbani once saw him deal with a traitor who sold the Revolutionary Brigade's drug transportation routes to other organizations by cutting off the traitor's genitals, stuffing them into the victim's mouth, and hanging them on a tree to dry for two days, until they died screaming in excruciating pain.

Watching that execution had shrunk Rabbani's manhood by two inches.

Luckily, Kawasi didn't seem to pay any attention to the three of them; they walked past each other.

Rabbani finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Wiping away his sweat, he quickened his pace.

They soon reached the cave entrance.

"Wait!"

Kawasi's voice suddenly ca from behind.

Rabbani's body involuntarily shuddered.

Seeing this from behind, Song Heping inwardly cursed their bad luck.

Anyone with sharp eyes would notice that Rabbani was off.

Trembling over what!

Idiot!

He couldn't help but curse Rabbani silently.

Lack of composure often spelled the difference between life and death.

Just like when Qin Wuyang and Jing Ke attempted to assassinate the Emperor of Qin.

The difference between a real warrior and the rest lay just there.

In that instant, Song Heping's intent to kill erupted.

He turned abruptly, the AK47 already loaded in his hand, and he let off a burst of fire.

Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat—