The map appeared in his soul. The barracks were pitch-black, but the map in his soul was completely different. Five moving green dots represented Mifeng and the other four. Wu Renbao and the other hostages were white dots, while the enemy troops were red dots. Even just distinguishing friend from foe made all the difference.
With a gunshot, Zhang Hao and Zhang Yihu sprinted forward, firing as they ran. Their targets were clear: any red dot nearby was immediately taken down.
Zhang Yihu was a master at throwing grenades. He hurled them one after another, and could even send them flying over a kilometer or smash them straight through walls.
Flashlights flicked on. Screams, cries of pain, gunfire, and explosions filled the barracks, which had already descended into chaos.
Zhang Hao and Zhang Yihu pushed straight ahead. Anyone or any vehicle that got in their way was taken out.
A wall blocked their path. Zhang Yihu rushed ahead and slammed into it. With a thunderous crash, he smashed a hole through the wall and charged inside, firing wildly. There were more than thirty people on the other side. Zhang Hao followed him through the opening and immediately began firing controlled bursts.
"Papapa, papapa..."
He fired three shots at a time, quickly killing the enemy before continuing forward.
In the night, gunfire streaked across the sky in lines of light. Explosions occasionally flashed, lighting up the darkness.
The entire barracks had fallen into chaos. Mifeng and the other two had joined the fighting, their objective clear: sow confusion in the enemy camp and reap souls.
Zhang Hao and Zhang Yihu moved at incredible speed. They had chosen a route that led straight to the courtyard where the hostages were held. Several barracks stood in their way, but the two attacked fast and fiercely, smashing straight through any walls they encountered. They soon fought their way into the courtyard.
"Clear the area first!" Zhang Hao said.
The two moved through the darkness like ghosts. Any light that came on was immediately shot out. The rebel troops had no night-vision equipment, so they could only fire blindly, run around in a panic, or cower in corners. To them, it felt as if an army of thousands had stormed the camp.
A short while later, not a single rebel remained alive in the courtyard.
The entire barracks had collapsed into chaos. Some people drove tanks desperately toward the exits, while a large number of pickup trucks raced around wildly.
"Stay here and guard the place," Zhang Hao told Zhang Yihu. "Kill anyone who comes in."
Zhang Yihu immediately blocked the entrance with an armored vehicle, then leaped onto the roof. Anyone who came near became his target. He made a machine gun perform like a sniper rifle.
Zhang Hao went to the spot marked for Wu Renbao. With his Nano-machine, he could pinpoint locations across several thousand meters. He grabbed the iron grille and ripped off the welded bars.
Clanks and cracks rang out. The people below could actually see the grille. Flashes from bullets streaking through the sky, explosions, and fires from burning vehicles gave them enough light to make out a person tearing the grille open with his bare hands. They all stared in stunned terror.
Wu Renbao was in a cell by himself, barely large enough for someone to curl up in, let alone lie down.
"Wu?" Zhang Hao asked. He didn't want to reveal that he was Zhang Hao, or he would have a hard time explaining himself. On top of that, he looked like a robot now, and his appearance had changed drastically. Explaining all that would be no easy task.
"I... I... I'm Wu!"
Wu Renbao was on the verge of tears. Someone had finally come to rescue him. He had been here for less than three days, but it felt like several lifetimes. It had been unbearable.
"Why are you the only one here? Where are the others?"
When he had asked for help, Wu Renbao had said there were five of them. Now Zhang Hao had found only Wu Renbao, so he needed to know what had happened.
Wu Renbao's face was deathly pale. Tears spilled from his eyes as he said, "They were killed. They all had their heads cut off. They said that once they received the ransom, they'd kill me too. The people who bring the ransom will have their heads cut off as well, and offered to..." He didn't know what they were to be offered to. It was obvious he had been badly traumatized.
For the first time, Zhang Hao felt an uncontrollable urge to kill. With no physical body to hold him back, only a robot form and a soul, he could no longer let this go after what he had heard.
"Don't worry. I'll avenge them."
Someone nearby shouted, "Help us!"
"Please!"
They begged for help in English, French, and all kinds of languages. It was easy to see that the rebels had been utterly lawless, kidnapping anyone they could get their hands on.
"Quiet!" Zhang Hao shouted. "We'll get you out, but you can't leave yet. Wait a little longer!" He turned to Wu Renbao. "We were hired specifically to rescue you. You'll have to wait here too."
"All right, all right. I'll wait. I'll wait. Just... just hurry!"
"Don't worry!"
Zhang Hao climbed up and went over to Zhang Yihu. "I'll guard this place. You go kill them!" He felt not a trace of pity for the rebels. They weren't even human—more like beasts.
Huh, there's a basement under this building!
Zhang Hao's overall scanning and detection abilities were far superior to Zhang Yihu's system. There was another group of people imprisoned in a basement beneath the room. After a quick scan, he counted about eight people. But he couldn't do anything about them right now. He picked up a machine gun and began searching for targets.
Then Zhang Hao clearly saw a tank coming toward him. It lurched from side to side as it drove, smashing into things. It was probably trying to escape the barracks. Zhang Hao quickly assessed the situation: the tank likely had neither low-light nor infrared equipment. Its crew was nearly blind, relying on the tank's thick armor to plow wildly through the camp.
They were also firing the cannon at random, occasionally shooting straight ahead. Zhang Hao realized this wouldn't do. If they blindly fired and drove around, a single high-explosive shell landing in the courtyard would be disastrous.
He dropped the machine gun, drew his dagger, and darted out like a shadow.
Within seconds, Zhang Hao reached the tank. Only then did he notice a dozen or so people following behind it. He ignored them, climbed onto the tank, grabbed the hatch, and yanked hard. With a teeth-grating clank, the hatch gave way. He slid his dagger into the gap and cut through the hinge connecting the hatch. The force was so great that even the tank's steel armor couldn't withstand it.
Just then, the rebel soldiers following the tank spotted Zhang Hao. Someone immediately opened fire, and the flashes revealed his figure.
Cursing, Zhang Hao drew his pistol and fired repeatedly, so fast that no one could react.
The magazine of his Desert Eagle had been extended to hold twenty rounds. He emptied it in ten seconds, killing all the rebels behind the tank. He put away the pistol, took two grenades from his pocket, and flicked out their pins. Then he slipped them under the tank's hatch and held it down firmly with his hand.
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