This could not go on. The bearded man picked out another relatively quick-witted terrorist.
"You, drive around to the east. Keep your head down, pick your direction, and step on the gas. You don't need to watch the road!"
Once the unlucky fellow had climbed into the vehicle and gotten ready, the bearded man summoned another subordinate, who climbed straight into another vehicle to prepare.
At the bearded man's command, the first fellow floored the accelerator, and the vehicle sped east.
Meanwhile, after all that commotion, everyone else on Qin Xiao's side had already left.
Only Qin Xiao remained behind to cover their retreat.
He watched an off-road vehicle race out to his right.
He had not expected them to probe again so soon. Qin Xiao silently cursed.
Resigned, he picked up the sniper rifle and aimed at the vehicle.
"If I can't hit the man, I refuse to believe I can't hit a tire!"
Muttering, Qin Xiao aimed at the vehicle's front tire.
Bang!
A shot rang out.
Although the driver was driving with his head down, Qin Xiao still saw a cloud of blood burst from the back of his neck through the scope.
The vehicle went out of control and toppled over.
"That worked too?"
Qin Xiao stared, dumbfounded. His shot at the tire had killed the driver instead. He had to marvel at his luck.
His delight lasted less than a second before he thought, Oh, no.
While he had been aiming and firing, another vehicle had charged out in the opposite direction.
Qin Xiao did not think he could get lucky twice in a row.
He tossed the sniper rifle aside and actually grabbed both Gatling guns mounted on the ground, one in each hand.
Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat!
Two furious tongues of flame spat out, the bullets forming almost unbroken lines.
The two streams of fire crossed in midair and caught up with the off-road vehicle.
Under such absurd firepower, the vehicle did not even last two seconds.
It was torn to pieces, then exploded into a huge fireball.
Qin Xiao immediately swung the muzzles around and fired a burst straight at their temporary position.
This was Qin Xiao's warning: stay still, or he would gun them down.
Of course, the main reason was that Qin Xiao had realized he was running low on ammunition. All he could do now was hold them off for as long as possible.
The bearded man's side naturally received the warning. This time, they remained silent for a good ten minutes.
In fact, if the bearded man had spread out his vehicles to pursue and intercept them from the start, Qin Xiao and the others would have been in serious trouble.
Things might have gone wrong, and even if they ultimately won the fight, there was no guarantee they would avoid casualties.
But the Ten Rings had a complicated web of internal factions. This had originally been a private job the bald man had taken, and the bearded man had only acted after receiving his call for help.
From the start, he had never intended to lose many of his own men over this.
He had only planned to pursue and intercept them for a while. If he caught them, fine; if not, he would let it go.
But never in his wildest dreams had he expected Qin Xiao and the others to dare stop and counterattack, let alone with such fierce firepower.
Quite a few of his men had died, and the fighting had begun to stoke the bearded man's anger.
Just as the bearded man was privately beginning to regret coming out on this trip, his satellite phone rang.
"Damn it, you never told me these people were so vicious! Who exactly did you send me after? I've lost quite a few men. You have to compensate me."
The moment he opened his mouth, the bearded man began complaining, emphasizing his losses.
He knew the bald man had private dealings with some major arms dealers in the United States. By stressing his losses, he could ask the bald man for more supplies and other compensation afterward.
But the bald man's next words sent the bearded man into a rage.
"What? Tony Stark? I should have realized it! Damn it! Damn it! You should have told me from the start!"
"Attack! Everyone, get in the vehicles! Spread out and surround that dune up ahead! Everyone in! Move, move, move!!!"
The bearded man hung up immediately and finally launched an all-out attack.
Once they got serious, Qin Xiao could no longer hold them off alone.
As more than a dozen vehicles scattered in every direction, Qin Xiao was instantly dumbstruck.
He could only turn his two Gatling guns, his most powerful weapons, on the two vehicles directly ahead and fire fiercely.
He finally managed to wreck both vehicles, but one of the Gatling guns stopped firing too. It was out of ammunition.
The other had very little ammunition left either.
Looking back at the Ten Rings' off-road vehicles, most had already driven onto the surrounding dunes. Some had even disappeared from view.
Qin Xiao aimed straight at the nearest off-road vehicle within his reach and emptied the remaining Gatling gun into it.
Without even looking to see what damage he had done, he tossed the gun onto the ground.
He moved a few steps to the side and positioned himself in a blind spot, wary that someone might still be hiding below.
Using his tremendous strength, he dug a small pit in the sand.
He buried his entire body inside it.
Pulling the scarf from his neck, he draped it over his face. This would keep sand out of his mouth and nose while also concealing the reflection from his sunglasses.
He covered his face with a thin layer of sand, then forced both arms down beneath the sand.
He shook the yellow sand above him, burying himself as completely as he could.
The surface might look a little uneven this way, but it was all he could do now. He only hoped they would not notice him right away.
He had only just finished when he heard vehicle engines.
Judging by the sound, two vehicles had arrived at the same time.
And they were only two or three meters away from him.
Just as Qin Xiao had imagined, the first place they would notice was definitely where he and the others had abandoned their weapons.
Sure enough, once they stopped, he heard them jabbering away. They were probably reporting over their radios that no one was here or something like that.
Qin Xiao patiently waited for the enemies to finish speaking, then waited another ten seconds or so before leaping out of the pit.
A great spray of yellow sand rose with him. While still airborne, he flicked his right hand, sending a black blade flashing across like a broad ribbon.
The head of the terrorist nearest Qin Xiao flew into the air.
I must not give them a chance to fire.
With that thought, Qin Xiao repeatedly fired the suppressed pistol in his left hand while still in midair.
From his sudden leap to his landing, before the enemies could even react,
one slash and three shots killed four enemies in one go.
Two remained. To save time, just as Qin Xiao landed,
another shot rang out, and he hurled his Tang saber at an enemy with his other hand.
The shot went slightly wide, striking the enemy in the neck.
Fortunately, it still killed him instantly. Meanwhile, hurled with Qin Xiao's tremendous strength, the Tang saber plunged into the last man's forehead, sinking in all the way to the hilt.
"Phew!"
Qin Xiao let out a heavy breath.
He had killed six men, and it was not only because he had been accurate, fast, and sudden enough.
It was also because these men had lowered their weapons after arriving and seeing no enemies, while their surroundings were visible at a glance.
He could only say that timing, terrain, and circumstances had all favored him. Otherwise, killing them would not have been a problem, but if they had fired even one shot...
After all, the others nearby had not gone far yet.
Just as Qin Xiao had thought, these two vehicles had been the first to arrive here.
After they reported to the bearded man over the radio, he immediately led his men in pursuit toward the northwest.