Chapter 3427: Combustion (16)

In the original storyline, Song Yi chose love and rose in ranks. He became what many would call a winner in life.

His bond with his comrades-in-arms was replaced by romance.

Not that it could be said to be wrong, exactly.

“Comrades need to fight side by side, and love needs time and attention,” said Ning Shu, spreading her hands. “So… it’s an unsolvable equation.”

With the helicopter’s rotor thundering above them, she had to raise her voice to be heard.

Song Yi closed his eyes slightly. “There’s another option. Give up Wu Xianrou.”

“You won’t do it. Which is why it’s unsolvable,” Ning Shu replied. “There’s something I probably shouldn’t say, but…”

“Say it,” Song Yi said.

“Miss Wu’s kind of love is—how should I put it—ruthlessly possessive. If you stay with Wu Xianrou, you’ll have to distance yourself from all of us, your comrades. Because we’ll take up your time.

“Miss Wu wants to be the centre of your universe.”

Human relationships were like a web. Everything and everyone was interconnected. However, Wu Xianrou’s subconscious aim seemed to be to sever all of Song Yi’s other ties.

She demanded absolute loyalty and devotion, along with indulgence, indulgence, and more indulgence.

Considering her mother died young and her father was always busy with work, it wasn’t surprising that Wu Xianrou had turned out this way.

Song Yi remained silent. Ning Shu couldn’t be bothered to say any more. If everything could be explained clearly, then the world wouldn’t be full of such ridiculous, messy nonsense.

The military helicopter landed on Middle Eastern soil, the land that held mountains of wealth beneath it—oil.

As soon as they disembarked, Song Yi pulled himself together. There was no point talking about anything now. What mattered was executing the mission successfully.

Their orders were to work with the local government to capture the family members of terrorist operatives.

It had a bit of a ‘you nab ours, we’ll nab yours’ feel to it—tit for tat, a bit shameless even.

And this mission was a tough one. These families were almost always heavily guarded. The organisational strength of these terrorist factions was no joke.

This was the kind of job where every ounce of skill had to be brought to bear.

Killing someone was easy. Capturing them alive was not.

But this was their duty to the nation. They had to succeed.

The squad lay in wait, biding their time.

Around the house, heavily armed guards patrolled back and forth with rifles in hand.

Song Yi made a series of hand signals. The squad nodded and broke off in separate directions.

Their objective was to neutralise the targets quietly, without firing if possible.

From behind, Ning Shu crept up and clamped a hand over one man’s mouth. With a clean stroke of her dagger across his throat, he dropped dead.

She dragged the body into the bushes—but suddenly, a gunshot rang out.

Like a hornet’s nest had been kicked, gunfire erupted everywhere.

Ning Shu crouched with her back against a wall, clutching her pistol.

At this point, the only option was a direct assault on the house to take hostages.

She pulled out a grappling hook gun and fired it toward the roof. Then, after gripping the cable, she scaled the wall like a gecko.

Bang! Bang!

Shots were fired at her from below.

While still hanging from the rope, she returned fire with one hand, picking off the gunmen beneath her. She darted left and right and dodged swiftly, then swung herself through an upstairs window.

Inside the house, red laser beams from motion sensors criss-crossed the space. Ning Shu switched on a specialised torch that revealed the beams. She twisted her body to avoid them with precision.

The gunfire outside was intensifying, a sign that the battle had become fierce.

They weren’t the only ones fighting. Forces from the local government were involved as well.

Ning Shu opened a door. A shadow flickered past her. She immediately raised her weapon and aimed at the corner.

“Who’s there? Step out,” she said in a low, steady voice.

“It’s me,” came Song Yi’s reply.

Ning Shu let out a brief, “Oh.”

Song Yi stepped out from behind the wall and stuck close to it. There were bloodstains on his clothes.

He, Ning Shu, and several others began combing the house room by room. Eventually, they came upon a room where several children were being kept.

The youngest were barely over a year old. The oldest was about seven, maybe eight.

The older children had guns in hand and opened fire the moment the door burst open.

Their faces were cold, ruthless. They barely hesitated before pulling the trigger.

Song Yi didn’t flinch. He shot the leading child in the head. Blood sprayed across the floor.

Ning Shu’s expression didn’t change. These children might have been young, but they were already child soldiers.

As family members of terrorists, they too had taken lives.

Together, they managed to subdue several of the children. But the way those kids looked at them—like wolf cubs, wild and vicious, ready to bite at any moment.

Zhu Yi let his guard down for just a second and one of them sank their teeth into his hand. Blood gushed from the wound.

Zhu Yi merely frowned, tied the child up, and moved to exit the house as fast as possible.

“Move! The house’s rigged with bombs!” Song Yi shouted, firing as he went. He had a child slung over his shoulder.

Most likely, someone had triggered an infrared sensor upon entering. The countdown had already begun.

Those little wolf cubs still had the audacity to grin at them, with a cold glint in their eyes.

That beeping sound echoed in the ears, relentlessly.

Ning Shu extended her spiritual consciousness, probing for explosives within the house.

What she found chilled her to the bone. She found not one bomb, but multiple advanced explosives, all linked. There was no way to defuse them.

Even if there was a way, they had no time.

They moved faster and broke into a run. Outside, enemy gunmen were trying to seal them in—to trap them inside and blow the whole place sky high.

Ning Shu gritted her teeth and opened fire rapidly. Every shot was aimed at vital points—head, eyes, heart.

It was the quickest way to incapacitate.

Her heart pounded violently. Her breath was ragged, and sweat was pouring down her face.

Then—the deafening roar of an explosion.

Ning Shu felt herself shoved out of the house by someone with brute force. She hit the ground hard. The blast wave and flying debris slammed into her body.

Her mind went completely blank.

She instinctively released her spiritual consciousness again to dodge falling rubble and collapsing beams.

While clenching her jaw, she picked up a small child and ran.

The person who’d shoved her—had saved her—was dead.

She thought it might’ve been Zhu Yi.

Zhu Yi had died in the explosion.

Ning Shu’s tears sprang forth uncontrollably. Her eyes burnt so badly she could hardly open them.

“Go! Move!” Song Yi was shouting hoarsely at her.

But her ears were ringing, temporarily deaf from the explosion. She couldn’t hear a thing. She could only see Song Yi waving frantically at her.

His face was twisted with urgency, barely visible through the swirling clouds of dust and ash.

Ning Shu gritted her teeth and ran to catch up. The child was still in her arms. Together, they reached the rendezvous point.

They climbed into the military helicopter as fast as they could.

“Old Four is gone. He sacrificed himself,” Song Yi said. His eyes glistened with tears.

This was a soldier’s fate. This was how Zhu Yi died.

And back then… was the conviction he had the same conviction Wu Jing had held when she died?

Ning Shu clutched her chest. It felt like something had lodged itself inside, like a heavy stone was pressing down on her chest—so stifling she wanted to pound her chest to dislodge it.

It was almost too much to bear.

Tears streamed uncontrollably down her face. She didn’t even know what emotion they were supposed to express.

All she could feel was a complex, overwhelming ache. A tremble of the soul she couldn’t explain.

Her ears still rang terribly. The dull, constant buzz told her she had a concussion.

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