Roadblock

This time, even Sister Hua felt a little embarrassed. She raised her arm, holding it a little farther away from her body.

That way, when Xiao Wang grabbed her arm, he would not touch anything else.

But whenever the truck jolted especially hard, Xiao Wang still ended up leaning fully against her, the back of his hand pressing firmly against her.

Feeling that softness and springiness.

Xiao Wang had wanted to apologize, but thinking of A Qiang driving beside them, he held it back.

Although they were in the same cab, A Qiang had spent the entire trip driving with intense focus and a trace of nervousness. His attention was completely fixed on the road, and he had not noticed the changes between them at all.

If Xiao Wang apologized now, it would definitely make A Qiang suspicious.

"Forget it. I'll find a chance to apologize after we stop."

As Xiao Wang thought this, he glanced at Sister Hua from the corner of his eye and discovered that her face was slightly flushed. She actually looked a little shy.

The convoy continued onward. Once the rain stopped, the road began to dry out, and their speed gradually increased.

But the jolting continued. Not only had it not eased, it grew even worse.

The roads farther from Mount Yuan City had gone unrepaired for years and were practically beyond ruined.

Another hour later, the convoy slowly entered a dense forest. The trees were tall enough to blot out the sky. Traveling beneath them, one could barely see a complete patch of sky overhead, only scattered glimpses of dark clouds.

"Stay alert. Be careful," Sister Hua reminded them.

From the moment they entered the forest, Xiao Wang had noticed the vehicles speeding up considerably. They wanted to get through this stretch of woods as quickly as possible.

A dense forest was both easy to hide in and ideal for setting an ambush. If anyone intended to intercept the convoy, this would be a perfect location.

As the convoy accelerated, the jolting became more violent. But neither Xiao Wang nor Sister Hua had any mind to care about their bodies brushing against each other now. Nearly everyone in the convoy had their attention fixed outside.

Their speed had risen from a little over twenty to more than forty. This was already the convoy's limit. Between the potholes and the trucks' performance limitations, going any faster was nearly impossible.

The roar of the engines echoed through the forest, trailing several thick plumes of black smoke.

After traveling through the woods for about five minutes, the first truck suddenly stopped.

A Qiang hit the brakes in time as well.

Xiao Wang and Sister Hua lurched forward. Then Sister Hua quickly rose, intending to open the door and get out to see what was going on.

Suddenly.

Bang!

Crash!

Along with a gunshot, the window shattered.

Xiao Wang reacted instantly, yanking Sister Hua into his arms. Then he turned his back toward the outside and crouched down.

A series of gunshots followed from outside.

Bang! Bang! Bang...

"A Qiang, get out!"

Sister Hua recovered quickly. After glancing at Xiao Wang, she immediately ordered A Qiang.

The three of them climbed out through the driver's side and moved to the other side of the truck.

When Xiao Wang looked to either side, he saw that Linghu Ke, Xiang Menqing, and the others had done the same, hiding behind their respective vehicles.

"Sister Hua, the road ahead is blocked by large rocks. We can't get through," Linghu Ke's voice came from up ahead.

"Can they be cleared easily?"

"There are a lot of them. It'll probably take quite a while to clear them, and that area is open ground. We'd be sitting ducks."

Sister Hua listened without replying. She stood where she was, pricking up her ears and quietly listening to the gunfire coming from the other side of the vehicles.

A moment later.

"They have five guns in total. The total number of people is unknown. Take out the armed ones first!" Sister Hua shouted, informing Linghu Ke, Xiang Menqing, and the others as well.

Hearing that, Xiao Wang looked at Sister Hua again, his understanding of her deepening.

He tried listening too. He could only tell that the gunshots were coming from more than one direction; he could not make out how many guns there were at all.

Only then did Xiao Wang realize that Sister Hua was probably far more capable than he had imagined.

Sure enough, the thought had barely formed when he saw Sister Hua return to the cab. She moved aside a seat cushion and pulled out a sniper rifle and two small bundles.

By then, Xiang Menqing, Ding Hanlin, and A Qiang—the three people with firearms—had already begun returning fire.

Sister Hua moved swiftly. She opened one bundle first, took out the scope inside, and quickly attached it. Then she opened the other bundle. Xiao Wang saw that its innermost layer was oil paper. After Sister Hua unwrapped it, well-maintained sniper rounds were revealed inside.

Sister Hua lifted the sniper rifle and said to Xiao Wang, "Take the ammunition and stay close behind me."

Xiao Wang was still nervous. After all, this was his first time experiencing a gunfight. But after hearing Sister Hua's words, he reacted quickly, grabbed the ammunition, and followed closely behind her toward the front of the truck.

"Rough location," Sister Hua directly asked A Qiang, who was still firing back.

"There's one behind that big pine tree."

Hearing that, Sister Hua crouched halfway down and rested the sniper rifle on the vehicle's bumper. "Bullet."

Xiao Wang stepped forward, took out a round, and handed it to her. Sister Hua took it and quickly loaded it into the chamber. Then she put the tip of her right index finger into her mouth and breathed warm air on it. After taking a deep breath and letting it out, she raised the rifle, aimed, and fired.

Bang!

The bullet shot out.

The immense recoil sent Sister Hua's body jerking backward at an angle.

Her chest shook violently.

But moments later, she immediately returned to her firing position.

The entire process took barely two seconds.

"Hit," A Qiang observed and replied.

The moment that shot landed, all of the enemy's gunfire suddenly stopped. They had likely realized there was a sniper rifle on this side and wanted to avoid exposing their positions.

But after only a few seconds of silence, the gunfire resumed, even more fiercely than before. This time, however, their firing method was different.

Nearly all the remaining guns were aimed at Sister Hua's position.

That left Sister Hua with no opportunity to fire, even if she could determine where they were shooting from.

Meanwhile, taking advantage of Sister Hua drawing their fire, Xiang Menqing and Ding Hanlin fired back fiercely.

"Sister Hua, do you see now that bringing these martial artists was useless? I just want to ask—are they getting paid the same as us for cowering behind cover? Or are they worth that price just for handing you bullets? When it comes to fighting the enemy, you still need guns."

Xiang Menqing shouted as he returned fire.

Everyone heard those words. Threads of killing intent appeared in Zhang Jian's eyes.

Xiao Wang and Linghu Ke, however, did not react much.

Sister Hua's eyes were cold as well.

She wanted to maintain a proper level of tension within the group, but someone who still could not tell when to stop in a situation like this was not what she wanted.

Xiao Wang listened to the exchange of fire from both sides.

Perhaps because handguns lacked both range and accuracy.

Even after both sides fired dozens, perhaps over a hundred rounds at each other, there were almost no real casualties.

Just then, Zhang Jian shouted.

"Sister Hua, watch out!"

Only after hearing that did Xiao Wang, who had been beside Sister Hua the whole time, notice that one enemy had used the gunfire as cover to sneak up to the front of Sister Hua's truck. He was raising a knife and bringing it down.

Sister Hua froze at the sight, perhaps because it was too sudden and unexpected. Just as the blade was about to fall onto her head, she felt a figure flash beside her. The figure yanked her backward, then rushed in front of her.

It was Xiao Wang.

Just as the knife came down, Xiao Wang grabbed Sister Hua's leather jacket and gave it a hard tug, pulling her behind him. Then he lunged forward, drawing the dagger from his waist as he moved and driving it straight toward the man's heart.

He was fast.

The man's eyes widened, clearly not expecting it.

But he reacted quickly as well, immediately pulling back and raising his knife to block.

The knife and dagger collided.

Clang!

A crisp metallic ring sounded.

At that moment, Xiao Wang saw that more than one person had crept over. Seven or eight men were already standing behind him, launching a direct assault.