Shadow Empire

Chapter 739 A Deserved Victory

"Lance, they seem to be planning to block the road..."

The driver of the armored vehicle had discovered that those people had parked some vehicles at the entrance of the valley, blocking that side.

Lance also noticed this situation. He turned the muzzle of the machine gun towards the vehicles behind and told the driver to "ram through".

The hail of bullets could not harm the people inside the car, which gave the driver the courage to fight anything. Without even hesitating, he stepped on the accelerator and rushed towards the valley entrance.

Hiram, who was standing next to him, noticed Lance's actions and followed closely.

Seeing the valley entrance that was blocked by several cars being knocked open by a high-powered armored vehicle in an instant, Joshua, who saw all this happening in the church, cursed the man as a waste, then put away his weapon and changed his position to shoot.

He was going to run away.

If they could block the entrance to the valley, he was willing to hold on. As long as Lance and the others couldn't get in, Joshua believed they couldn't lose.

Without armored vehicles, how can we use our physical bodies to attack a place that is easy to defend but difficult to attack?

Stop fucking kidding me!
No matter how many people come, there won’t be enough to die.

But the entrance was knocked open before it could be blocked, so there is no future.

Once Lance and his men entered the valley, there was no other defensible place except a church and some houses.

The key lies in the two armored vehicles, which can act as "breachers" to tear a hole in the defense line of any building.

If we stay here, destruction is only a matter of time!
Thinking of this, he pulled the bolt, tilted his head, aimed casually and fired a shot. The recoil made his shoulder very uncomfortable.

After getting used to a life of luxury, he hasn't experienced such high-intensity shooting for a long time!

There were opportunities and times for shooting in the past, but they were just symbolic, just firing a few shots to show your appreciation, or firing a few shots when hunting.

His shoulder was already protesting against the constant firing like now.

The moment he pulled the bolt and let the shell be ejected by the ejector, he had already made up his mind.

"Suppress them, don't let them rush over!", he shouted, and then changed his position to shoot.

Although people felt a little confused about why he kept changing the shooting location, at least Joshua did not escape from here at this time, which could be regarded as a way to boost morale.

Some people think that he may have done this to let more people see him, while others think that he just didn't want to be discovered and targeted by the enemy.

But no matter what, the fierce exchange of fire is still going on.

Lance, who broke into the valley, directly ordered Hiram to retreat, and he also retreated himself. The situation in the valley was more complicated, and he was not sure if there were any enemies hiding in high places.

It's best not to take any risks until it's cleaned up.

Although Hiram was somewhat reluctant, he still obeyed Lance's order and retreated back to the armored vehicle.

Lance changed his rifle and began shooting at the enemies around him through the firing hole.

The convoy outside was followed by two armored vehicles that began to move in. The exchange of fire between the two sides became increasingly intense, and Lance also suffered casualties.

But overall, their casualties were within an acceptable range.

The armored vehicles continued to approach the church, forcing the defense depth of the ground defense personnel hiding behind some bunkers to be continuously compressed.

Soon most of them hid in the church and the buildings around it, and fierce gunfire broke out between the two sides around the church.

Going further back, cars became a little less convenient, and people in the cars began to get out, using the cars themselves as cover and exchanging fire with people in the church.

Lance, who could see more clearly in the armored vehicle, suddenly had a piece of "little-known knowledge" pop up in his mind: in war, it takes almost thousands of bullets to kill an enemy.

He used to think that the data was a bit exaggerated, wondering if it included some cases of military corruption.

But now, he thinks that number may still be too conservative.

The two sides had been firing at each other behind the bunkers for several minutes, but there seemed to be no obvious casualties on either side. He was very worried that there might not be enough bullets.

"Run it in."

Lance instructed, and the driver was stunned for a moment, "What are you going to crash into?"

"We need to break in through the church door. We can't waste ammunition fighting them like this. We need to break in first and force them out of the church."

The driver stepped on the accelerator again and crashed directly into the church door.

The two wooden doors, which were not too heavy, were knocked open in an instant by the huge impact force. Lance could already hear the terrified screams of the Holy Bell Party members in the room!

He opened the firing port, pointed the weapon outside without even looking, and pulled the trigger. The bullets whizzed out, accompanied by screams.

At this moment, there was a heavy muffled sound from the roof of the car, as if someone had jumped onto the roof and seemed to be trying to open the cover of the machine gun tower.

Just as this guy was trying, the people outside the door noticed the situation and shot the guy, causing him to fall off the car.

Joshua, whose expression was becoming increasingly uneasy, ordered people to stop Lance and the others from entering the church, in order to protect the glory of the Lord from being tarnished, while he secretly retreated.

Resistance is definitely impossible. Even if we could resist, Lance and the others would not be allowed to enter the church.

Staying here would only lead to death, so he had to leave.

Staying alive is everything.

If he died here, he would just be dead and would not have any beneficial effect on the future.

But if he survives, he will have a chance to make a comeback and avenge the brothers who died today.

Joshua's actions were also noticed by some people, but they did not make a fuss, and some even retreated with Joshua.

The funds of the Holy Bell Party are basically controlled by Joshua. In other words, a large amount of wealth is stored in his several accounts.

Several senior officials who had been keeping an eye on Joshua looked at each other and followed him towards the backyard.

The exchange of fire in the church became more intense. The people of the Holy Bell Party seemed to vent all their emotions on the armored vehicle. Even though it was really strong, Lance was still more or less worried when facing such intensive attacks.

Fortunately, the caliber, kinetic energy and destructive power of the pistol bullet were not enough to tear open the armor. As another armored vehicle broke into the church, the line of fire began to retreat again.

The sound of gunfire outside the church and some members of the Lance family who began to try to enter the church made these gangster believers in the Lord feel extremely terrified.

In particular, the neat and uniform attire of the Lance family put heavy psychological pressure on them. There were also two armored vehicles. How the hell were they going to fight them?
Suddenly someone shouted, "Joshua is missing!"

Then someone else shouted that "someone" was missing, and the situation in the church began to collapse one-sidedly.

The disappearance of Joshua and the gang leaders caused the already low morale to plummet to the lowest point. Some people no longer cared to continue to stop Lance and his men and chose to escape.

Others raised their weapons high and knelt on the ground to surrender to Lance.

Once people lose the will to persevere, they will no longer have the urge to resist.

Just like this moment!
On the blood-spattered crucifix, the Lord lowered his eyes and looked calmly and mercifully at the people who kept falling down in the church, as well as those who looked at it with confusion in their eyes.

They don’t know whether they will really return to the Lord’s arms after death, or they may realize at the moment of death that it is actually all a scam.

Faith, church, gangs, and even themselves are all important links in this deception.

The more people died in the church, the greater the contrast between it and the expression on its face.

When the gunshots began to become sparse and the remaining members of the Holy Bell Party began to run up the hillside and into the surrounding woods, victory was assured at least at this stage.

Considering the safety issue, Lance did not leave the armored vehicle. Lawn grabbed a member of the Holy Bell Party, pushed him to the ground, stepped on his neck and pointed a gun at his head. "Where is Joshua?"

The man was shaking all over, not knowing whether it was because of the collapse of his faith or because of pure fear of death. "I don't know. They all said Joshua had already escaped."

The church was under complete control. There was some resistance in the surrounding buildings, but it was quickly extinguished.

There were at least thirty to fifty people who fled to the mountain. Even from the top of the church tower, one could still see their backs as they continued to run upwards!
"Should we chase them?" Hiram came over and also looked up the mountain. From here, the figures didn't seem to be far away from them, but if they really chased them, it would be a long way and they might not be able to catch up.

There is a good saying, "Although the mountain is in front of you, the distance from you to the mountain is farther than you think", which well describes the actual changes they see when they look at those people at this moment.

From the time we approached here to now, two or three hours have passed since we cleared the entire valley.

It is not yet daylight saving time and the sky is starting to get dark. By the time they catch up, it will be at least half an hour later.

It would be a little darker by then, and Lance looked at the layers of forest that were becoming lush again with the arrival of spring.

These vegetation will block the sunlight, and it will become darker and darker inside!
He thought for a while, "Organize four teams to go and take a look. Be careful. If you encounter someone running up there..." He turned and looked at Hiram.

Hiram nodded, his eyes fierce, "I understand."

What did he know?
He knew what Lance meant. He didn't want any living people, not even corpses, just kill them all!
"If you can't catch up after dark, don't chase them. Just come back. I'll send someone to trap them in there."

He patted Hiram's arm and warned again, "Be careful."

Hiram nodded and turned to leave. As he walked, he loudly called out the names of the captains, asking them to bring their men and follow him up the mountain.

Lance looked away as he watched them drive over the gentle slope, stop in front of the steep slope, and start chasing up the mountain.

Hiram left, but Lawn was still here, in charge of the entire valley.

“How many of us died?”

Lawn's expression was somewhat heavy. "Thirty-seven, and more than forty injured, a few of them seriously injured."

"Sent away?"

He nodded and said, "I've sent someone to send them back. They should be able to catch up."

Lance came to the church. The church had been simply cleaned up and the dead brothers were placed together on the platform of the church.

The Lord looked down upon them mercifully, as if to comfort their souls.

Lance sat in the first row of chairs. He knew that some people would die in the battle, but he still felt sad for them.

After sitting there for a while, he looked at Lao En who was standing by and asked, "How many people have we arrested?"

Laun seemed to realize something and licked his lips. "More than sixty."

Lance made a gesture to silence him, and Laun turned around and left without hesitation.

A few minutes later, there were sounds of multiple submachine gun shots coming from outside the church, as well as screams and cries.

But all this was completely over in less than thirty seconds.

Some members started firing their rifles. After all, with so many of them gathered together, maybe someone was pretending to be dead.

They did find a few people pretending to be dead, and as they begged for mercy, those people coldly shot them with guns.

Lance slowly stood up and turned to walk outside. The last rays of sunlight from the sunset shone on him as he walked out of the broken door of the church, as if he was covered with a bright red robe, a blood-stained robe.

He glanced at the group of people lying dead on the stairs not far away, then looked at the remaining brothers in the square and took a deep breath.

Perhaps, this is called the setting sun like blood.

Soon, the local Imperial gang leader received a call from Lance, asking him to bring people and medicines, as well as some gasoline, because Lance wanted to burn the entire place down.

At the same time, he was also asked to help surround the nearby area where people could go down the mountain, so as to block Joshua and his group on the mountain.

And with so many bodies to deal with, it's not impossible to just dump them in the wilderness, but considering environmental and safety issues, Lance decided to burn them all.

Two hours later, it was completely dark, and gunshots could be heard from the mountain from time to time. More than two hundred local Imperial gang members had rushed here, and this was already their limit!
When they saw the piles of corpses in the valley and the people of the Lance family holding guns and looking at them with murderous intent, everyone's legs began to tremble.

"Joshua... is it over?" the gang leader couldn't help but ask.

Lance shook his head. “The Holy Bell Party is finished, but Joshua escaped to the mountains.”

"I want you to guard all nearby places where you can get down the mountain. If he comes down, kill him and bring his body to me."

"Whoever can bring his body here will be rewarded with 100,000!"

“Our own people are also effective.”

All the people brought by the gang leader took a deep breath, and then a look of joy appeared on their faces.

Then Lance arranged for them to be responsible for patrolling, while the rest of the people gathered the bodies together and began to burn them.

At this time, Hiram also came down from the mountain with a depressed expression on his face and did not catch up.

"The people who caught up with him said he was the first one to run away. They didn't know where he ran to, but they knew he was running forward."

He sat on the steps smoking a cigarette. The sheep in the sheepfold behind had been slaughtered. They also found some other food and a big pot, so they threw it all in and started cooking.

On one side, there were corpses burning, and on the other side, people were cooking, which gave the local gang members a creepy feeling.

It is conceivable that after tonight, even more outrageous rumors about Lance and the Lance family will soon circulate in the market!

Lance was also smoking. He looked up at the sky which was not polluted by industrial waste gas and was full of bright stars!

People may be accustomed to this bright sky, but what they don’t know is that it won’t be long before they can no longer see it.

Even Lance, looking at it at this moment, would feel deeply shocked, "I will send someone over tomorrow, he is dead!"

"So don't worry, just trap him for two days."

"It's a good opportunity to send some people back..."

In the evening, Lance called Erwin and asked him to send some people over. He also called Chief Blue and asked him to send some police officers over for support.

Some of them can wear police uniforms and some can wear plain clothes.

If we compare the number of people, it must be the police. With the continuous increase in population, Jingang City has more than 20,000 police officers this year, including temporary workers.

Mobilizing two or three thousand police officers here will not have any impact on the current city, and the police are also happy to do so, after all, this is to serve Mr. Larance.

Because Joshua was not dead, no one celebrated that night. They just ate and went to bed quickly.

After a day of running around and an afternoon of fighting, everyone was exhausted.

At this time, Joshua, who was on the mountain, was looking at the fire in the valley and his teeth were almost broken.

If it weren't for these people, he would be lying on his velvet bed right now, enjoying a sweet dream.

But now, with hunger, thirst and fear surrounding him, he clenched his weapon tightly and continued to walk towards the other side of the mountain.

For him, this was an exercise that exceeded the limits of the human body. He had never walked such a long distance before!
Now the only motivation that keeps him going is to stay alive!
In fact, later in the evening he met a member of the Holy Bell Party, a senior cadre, but he did not dare to speak out. He just watched quietly as the other party passed by him about ten or twenty meters away.

After going up the mountain, he became cautious and didn't trust anyone.

He was already thinking about what to do after leaving here.

Before, he was still thinking about revenge and making a comeback.

But now, he suddenly felt that being a rich man was not bad.

There is gang funds in his bank account, enough for him to live a life of extravagance!

He gritted his teeth and endured the severe pain in his feet. As long as he left here, everything would be fine...

(End of this chapter)