More than two hours later.
When Song Heping and his group finally crossed the most dangerous area in the city center and arrived at the relatively quiet north district, it was already half past midnight.
But the distant firelight still illuminated half the sky, and the intermittent sounds of explosions reminded them that danger wasn't far off.
"Head south now, two more blocks and we'll reach the safe house."
Collins checked the GPS.
Ferrari stared ahead and warned, "There seems to be a checkpoint up ahead."
"You guys hide here, I'll go take a look."
Song Heping motioned for the team to conceal themselves, while he carefully approached to observe.
A makeshift barricade blocked the center of the street, with five or six soldiers inspecting passing vehicles.
But to his surprise, these soldiers weren't wearing governnt army uniforms, but rather so kind of mixed attire.
"They're not governnt soldiers." He returned to Jiang Feng and the others, giving his assessnt: "Looks like local militia."
Abdul's eyes lit up: "They might be our people! The opposition has supporters in the northern part of the city!"
"Or they could be bandits taking advantage of the chaos." Song Heping poured cold water, "Either way, we can't take risks. Let's choose another route."
Just then, a burst of intense gunfire erupted from the direction of the checkpoint.
Everyone swiftly drew their pistols and imdiately prepared for battle, but soon realized the gunfire wasn't aiming at them.
A squad of governnt soldiers had flanked and attacked the checkpoint, igniting fierce fighting between the two sides.
"Opportunity!" Song Heping whispered, "Seize the chance, while they're engaged, we'll circle around from the rear!"
He didn't want to get entangled here.
After all, they only had Glock pistols.
Facing off against either militia or governnt soldiers ard with assault rifles wouldn't end well.
Everyone quickly moved along buildings, successfully bypassing the combat zone.
When they finally reached the neighborhood where the safe house was located, the sight before them made everyone gasp— the entire area had been reduced to rubble.
A raging fire was burning intensely.
Amid the flas, heart-wrenching cries for help could be heard.
"The safe house isn't safe anymore..."
Ferrari sighed.
Jiang Feng asked, "Should we go over and take a look?"
Before Song Heping could answer, a dull rotor noise sounded from above.
"Find cover and hide!"
Song Heping shouted, diving into a nearby ruin.
The others quickly took cover as well.
The sky was thunderous with the roar of helicopter rotors, as two Mi-24 Hind attack helicopters swept across the sky like giant birds, their GSH-23-1 cannons installed on the weapon mounts under the fuselage indiscriminately strafing the nearby area.
The scene was brutal, like a cleansing fire from heaven.
The crowds who were running and shouting monts ago were shattered under the barrage of the large-caliber cannons.
A few opposition militia mbers holding weapons futilely raised their AK47s to shoot at the sky.
Their weak firepower couldn't even scratch the Mi-24, yet effectively revealed their position.
The Hind helicopters turned their heads, targeting the position of these individuals with another round of strafing.
The whole world fell silent.
Song Heping and the others lay in the debris, not daring to move an inch, fearing discovery by the governnt helicopters.
In the face of martial force, humans were as insignificant as dust.
"They're not suppressing a riot." Jiang Feng murmured, "They're cleansing the entire neighborhood!"
"There are pro-opposition militia here..." Ferrari said, unable to help glancing at Abdul, leaving the rest unspoken.
Because the safe house was set up here, it was evident that many people among the locals supported the opposition, and there must have been people Abdul knew inside.
Abdul knelt on the ground, dazedly staring at the destroyed safe house: "It's over... all over..."
Song Heping quickly contemplated alternative options.
The original plan was no longer feasible, they needed a new hiding place and escape route.
Now the entire capital was engulfed in turmoil, and no one could distinguish which ard personnel belonged to whom.
One mistake could lead to the complete annihilation of the team.
Song Heping dared not take risks.
"What do we do?" Ferrari asked him, "The safe house is gone. Where do we go?"
Song Heping thought for a mont and said, "It's not safe to go anywhere right now. Finding a safe place to hide is the safest option."
At that mont, he noticed a bizarre glint reflecting off the top floor window of an apartnt building two hundred ters away—it was the reflection from a night vision telescope.
"Hmm?"
Song Heping quickly reached out to Collins, "Give the reconnaissance device from your backpack, let take a look."
"What did you see, boss?" Collins unloaded his backpack, took out a small reconnaissance device buried in the bottom, and handed it over.
"Soone seems to be watching us from the building over there, maybe it's an observation post. It could be the opposition forces, or it could be the governnt troops. Either way, we need to check it out." Song Heping pointed at the building.
He picked up the reconnaissance device and switched it to infrared thermal mode, looking toward the building.
Sure enough, he saw two sneaky thermal points moving behind the window, poking their heads around.
For soone to have military-grade binoculars in an undamaged building, it was clear these two were no ordinary people.
Definitely not ordinary civilians.
"It's confird that there are people inside. If it's an observation post for the governnt troops, we can take them out and acquire weapons and intel. If they're ard militia, it depends on which side they favor. That building has already been bombed, so it's definitely safer than here."
He put away the reconnaissance device and took out a Glock 17 pistol, checking the ammunition.
"We'll flank them to avoid being discovered."
Ten minutes later, the team cautiously approached the target building.
It was a four-story building, with the stairwell full of smoke and the sll of blood, several bodies lying haphazardly on the steps.
Upon reaching the top floor, Song Heping signaled the others to remain alert, and then patted Abdul's shoulder, gesturing toward the door.
Abdul quickly understood.
Song Heping was asking him to verify their identity.
He cautiously pressed himself against the wall, ca to the side of the door, and spoke in the local language into the room, "The people will be free."
There was silence behind the door for a few seconds, then a hoarse voice responded, "But before dawn, the darkest."
"It's our own people!"
Abdul imdiately beca excited.
After the code matched, the door opened a crack.
A middle-aged man with a stubbly face scrutinized them warily; upon seeing Abdul, he visibly relaxed, "Major Abdul! Thank heavens, you're alive! The safe house was attacked, so we had to move here temporarily. Communications went down, we couldn't contact you to update you on the situation, we've just been watching the safe house hoping to see you!"
"I saw the safe house over there completely collapsed, I thought you all..."
Abdul stepped forward and embraced the man, forcefully patting his back.
Everyone finally relaxed and followed the man into this new safe hideout.
Inside the safe house, more than a dozen opposition mbers were tensely monitoring radio transmissions and compiling intelligence.
The walls were covered with maps of Butare, marking the control areas of various forces.
"The situation is worse than we expected."
Just now, the man who opened the door—he introduced himself as Hassan—pointed at the map, "The Presidential Guard has deployed heavy weaponry and is systematically wiping out opposition strongholds. They no longer care about civilian casualties."
Abdul urgently asked, "What about the West Line forces? Where have General Lumar's troops reached?"
Hassan shook his head, "They're blocked. Noel brought in the French Foreign Legion, using ard helicopters to halt our forces' advance."
He added with a wry smile, "Also... Mr. Du Er's broadcast might have been too effective. Now there's unrest all over the country, whether they're militia loyal to our faction, or civilians, and even those who were already ill-intentioned, they've all co out... Our militia groups have to split their forces to maintain order, or the rioters will attack our supporters too."
Song Heping coldly observed the briefing.
The coup was like Pandora's box; once opened, the outco beca unpredictable. He noticed a young female communications officer in the corner secretly staring at him, her eyes a mix of curiosity and fear.
"What evacuation plans do we have?" he asked Hassan bluntly.
Hassan hesitated, "All routes out of the city are currently blocked. The Presidential Guard has set up checkpoints, they're looking for..."
He glanced at Song Heping and the others, "...you."
Song Heping exchanged a look with his team mbers.
Now it seed Lumar's forces were stalled, and the major cities had fallen into chaos due to Du Er's speech.
Evidently, even the opposition hadn't anticipated this situation—they couldn't control the chaos, and the governnt troops also seed unable to manage the overall situation.
You could say the Sen Republic was in complete chaos right now.
This was Song Heping's first involvent in such a coup, and even he lacked experience.
He's aware that any country experiencing a coup falls into a hellish chaos, the start can be decided by the opposition, but the end cannot be controlled by them.
It seed the French don't want Noel to fall, hence they've dispatched rcenaries to help him fend off the opposition forces.
The situation has taken a fatal turn.
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