Under the moonlight

He looked up at the sky, which was as blue as ever, with fluffy white clouds hanging overhead, full and pure, just like the ones Yaqin had made for the children. He smiled and looked at Yaqin beside him, who was looking at him with concern. Nasha gave her a bright smile, put his arm around her shoulder, and squeezed it tightly.

Huang Meng kept looking at Nasha, his face changing from anger and complaints at the beginning to calmness now, and even showing a smile that hadn't been seen for a long time.

She sighed deeply. Whether it was hatred or compromise, it was like the road beneath her feet, sometimes smooth and flat, sometimes bumpy and undulating, but it always moved forward. No one could stand still. Even if you wanted to, the people behind you and beside you would always push you forward. Whether to sigh and complain or to accept it calmly, it all depended on her own choice.

After Nasha's conversation with the young soldiers ended, no one spoke for a long time; everyone kept their heads down and hurried on in silence. Gunfire and explosions continued to ring out around them, sometimes near, sometimes far, but they seemed to have gotten used to it. Only the soldiers in the front row remained vigilant, holding their guns at the ready, not daring to relax their guard.

Xu Ao looked up at the road ahead. He was tall and could vaguely see the intersection where the blockade had been set up before. He turned to look at Huang Meng, who was deep in thought with her head down, and reached out to take her hand, saying softly, "We're almost there, just hang in there a little longer." Huang Meng looked up and met his eyes. She smiled and nodded. Xu Ao squeezed her hand and then let go, walking towards the back.

The fifth brother stood beside the stretcher. When he saw Xu Ao coming over, he nodded to him. Xu Ao walked over to him and asked, "How are they? Are they alright?"

The fifth brother glanced at the person on the stretcher, sighed, and said, "It's not good. These are all old injuries, and the wounds are quite large. In addition, he was bound to stumble and fall while running to avoid the plane." He didn't continue. Xu Ao saw the look in his eyes and understood the meaning. He didn't ask any more questions, frowned, gave a few instructions, and returned to Huang Meng's side.

As Huang Meng watched the intersection draw closer, and the others saw the embassy standing in the distance, the somber and oppressive atmosphere in the crowd finally dissipated, and relaxed smiles appeared on their faces.

The procession moved even faster, as if they wanted to step into the embassy in one stride.

Xu Ao looked ahead and suddenly spotted a few familiar figures, but he couldn't see them clearly. He turned to Huang Meng and told her. Huang Meng stood on tiptoe to see clearly that it was Jiang Ying, Lao Zhang, Chen Che, and a few others.

Finally seeing familiar faces, Huang Meng couldn't help but smile happily. Just as everyone breathed a sigh of relief, an armored vehicle suddenly rushed out from the side, less than a hundred meters away from them. Dozens of mercenaries then jumped out from behind the vehicle and opened fire on them.

In an instant, the crowd erupted into chaos. Everyone ran around in panic, disregarding everything else. The small squads positioned in front and behind reacted quickly, surrounding the mercenaries and forming a formation. They then opened fire on the mercenaries.

Unfortunately, they were no match for the machine guns on the armored vehicles. After a few minutes of stalemate, they were overwhelmed. Several soldiers were hit, and the mercenaries, under the cover of the armored vehicles, fired indiscriminately at them. Soon, the small team was almost wiped out.

They didn't seem to be aiming to wipe them out completely; they stopped at the last moment.

Xu Ao held Huang Meng and lay on the ground. The others were in no better shape. The men carrying the stretcher were unable to move and were unable to dodge in time, and they were all shot. They were curled up on the ground in pain.

The people on the stretcher were in even more danger. Lao Wu and Jiang Zijie reacted quickly and protected a small group of people, hiding under a low wall, barely escaping disaster. Nasha and Yaqin protected the two children and lay down behind Xu Ao and Huang Meng.

After the gunfire stopped, everyone slowly raised their heads. In front of them lay the corpses of S country soldiers, lying haphazardly on the ground.

Nasha immediately spotted the young man who had just spoken to him. Blood was gushing from the corner of his mouth, and several bloody holes pierced his chest, staining his clothes crimson. His hands were still in the gun-holding position, but his eyes were staring blankly at the sky, his long eyelashes motionless.

Nasha wanted to run over to see him, but Xu Ao stopped her. The few remaining soldiers were also tied up by the mercenaries. They looked at their victory and cheered. Huang Meng looked at them and thought they were like wolves driven to the brink of desperation.

The lead mercenary slowly stepped down from the armored vehicle. He first went forward to examine the dead soldiers on the ground, occasionally kicking them casually. Then he slowly walked up to Xu Ao and his men, looked around, and raised his head.

Old Five, hiding behind the low wall, was startled when he saw the mercenaries focus their gaze on the broken wall in front of them. He knew that encountering these demons was likely to be fatal. He patiently hid, telling the people around him not to make a sound. Their position was difficult to spot from the outside. If they were lucky, they might be able to hide, but they… Old Five slowly turned his head and looked nervously at Xu Ao and the others.

The mercenary walked up to Xu Ao, looked him up and down, then turned to look at Huang Meng, before fixing his gaze on Huang Meng.

Huang Meng instinctively hid behind Xu Ao, but when he took a step forward, Xu Ao blocked his way. The mercenary looked up at Xu Ao and sneered, "You've got guts."

Huang Meng did not translate those words to Xu Ao. The mercenary glanced at Xu Ao again, then turned around and walked back to the armored vehicle, saying something to the people around him. Several mercenaries then came over and dragged them to stand together with the bound soldiers.

Old Zhang and Jiang Ying were already waiting outside to provide backup, but they watched helplessly as the mercenaries took them away. The anxiety in their hearts felt like tens of thousands of ants crawling on them. They were unwilling to wait after losing contact with Xu Ao, but they dared not enter the city easily, so they had no choice but to stay here. Seeing that the person was about to come out, they could not let these mercenaries succeed.

"Wait a moment!"

Her voice was loud, especially during the brief silence, it sounded exceptionally clear. Old Zhang stared at Jiang Ying in surprise, his mouth agape.

By the time he realized what was happening, Jiang Ying had already walked towards the group of mercenaries. Old Zhang, watching her resolute back, finally came to his senses and nervously whispered, "Come back, come back, come back quickly, what are you doing?"

Chen Che was also very nervous. As Jiang Ying walked up to the mercenaries, Old Zhang slapped his forehead, muttering, "It's over, it's all over. It's all over."

But when he looked up again, his eyes were filled with unwavering determination and courage. He shook his head, looked at Chen Che, and said calmly, "Do you want to go down in history?" Chen Che looked at him with some confusion. Old Zhang loosened the buttons on his uniform, rolled up his sleeves, and said, "Do you want to leave a lasting mark on the history of your achievements, hmm?" This time he understood what he meant and nodded heavily. Old Zhang sighed and said, "Then let's go. We can't waste such a good opportunity."

As they spoke, the two of them followed Jiang Ying past.

The mercenary, who was pointing his gun at Jiang Ying, was at a loss when he saw three more people in front of him. He turned around and looked at their leader.

Xu Ao watched as the three uniformed men walked towards him, and a surge of anger welled up inside him. He immediately blurted out, "Are you three crazy? Don't you know what's going on? Are you eager to get shot?" Huang Meng looked at the furious Xu Ao, then at the calm Jiang Ying, and was also confused about what they were up to.

Hearing Xu Ao speak, Old Zhang suddenly shouted, "Hey, boss, who smeared your face? Look at you, you're all disfigured." Old Zhang teased, but Xu Ao ignored him and glared at him before looking at Jiang Ying.

The leader glanced at the three approaching men, noting their identical uniforms and bright red badges on their chests. He then craned his neck to look at the embassy a hundred meters behind them, squinted for a moment, and asked, "Are you from the C country embassy?"

Huang Meng readily translated his words, and Jiang Ying said, "Yes, we are from the C country embassy. Communication was interrupted before, but just now after communication was restored, we immediately notified our country of the situation here. Of course, they also replied to us, asking us to ensure the safety of every Chinese citizen here and escort them back home." As Jiang Ying spoke, she took out a fax letter with the C country logo from her pocket.

After hearing her words, Xu Ao felt a sense of doubt. Had communications been restored? But why couldn't he contact them with his walkie-talkie, and why couldn't they contact him either?

Xu Ao looked up at the leader, who stared intently at the mark on the letter before waving his hand. Jiang Ying, having packed her things away, said, "Can we take our people now?"

A hint of amusement flashed in the leader's eyes as he smiled and said, "Fine, we won't make things difficult for you. You can take your people with you, of course, but they..." He pointed to the bound soldiers and Nasha's family standing not far away, and said in a deep voice, "We were driven to the brink of defeat by their army and now I'm going to trade their lives for our own survival."

Huang Meng translated his words to the others. She knew that Nasha must have heard what he said. She turned around and looked at them. Yaqin's face was very pale, and her hands holding the children were trembling. The two children did not understand anything. They were nestled in Nasha and Yaqin's arms, their innocent faces full of curiosity as they looked at the people around them.

Nasha and Yaqin protected them well during the shooting, so they didn't witness the horrific scene, and the piercing gunshots were much less loud. Huang Meng couldn't bear to look at the two children any longer and turned away.

Jiang Ying stood there, pondering how to deal with it. Although she hadn't had much contact with the people here and didn't have any deep feelings for them, it was impossible for anyone to be indifferent and detached if they had to watch them die in front of them. That was just human nature.

Seeing her somewhat troubled expression, Xu Ao walked up to the mercenaries and said with a sharp and uncompromising look, "These people are all coming with us."

Huang Meng hadn't expected him to say that. After all, from his perspective, rescuing his compatriots was the ultimate goal. Huang Meng spoke his words with conviction. The group of mercenaries were stunned for a moment, but then burst into laughter. They were laughing at his overestimation of his abilities, that he had already become a sitting duck but still dared to try to negotiate.

The leader chuckled as he walked up to Xu Ao and said, "Who do you think you are? Believe me or not, I'll shoot you in the head right now. So what if you're from China? We're mercenaries, outlaws. I don't believe that killing you will make China issue a global warrant for my arrest." With that, he provocatively pointed his finger at Xu Ao's forehead, making it look like a gun. His actions caused his companions behind him to burst into laughter; they were nothing but a bunch of soulless devils!

Huang Meng glared angrily at the leader and relayed his words to Xu Ao. Xu Ao listened without getting angry, but stared straight into the mercenary's eyes and said seriously, "Yes, you can try if you don't believe me."

Huang Meng was startled upon hearing his words, and looked at Xu Ao with worry on her face. Xu Ao, however, looked at her and gestured with his chin, indicating that she should translate his words verbatim.

Sure enough, as soon as Huang Meng finished speaking, the mercenary leader seemed to be enraged. He raised his pistol, cocked it, and pressed it against Xu Ao's forehead. This time, it was for real.