Chapter 792: Survival in the Desert

The five of them quickly buried the two Babylon soldiers under the yellow sand, leaving only their small heads exposed. The two men cursed He Yuzhu and his group with eyes full of spite.

He Yuzhu spoke in English: "Be good people in your next lives, and stop being so blinded by greed!"

Lao Qiao didn't dare to look even once; he scrambled back to the car in a panic, terrified that He Yuzhu would leave him behind.

The car drove along the bumpy desert dirt road for nearly an hour. With the scorching sun overhead, the men were drenched in sweat, feeling unbearably hot and restless.

Suddenly, with a muffled "clunk," the car jerked violently and stopped dead in its tracks.

A bad premonition rose in He Yuzhu's heart. He immediately pushed open the car door and jumped out. Looking down, he saw thick black smoke billowing from the engine hood.

He lifted the hood to inspect it carefully and concluded on the spot that the engine had suffered a blown cylinder and was completely totaled; it was impossible to repair.

He pointed at the wrecked car and said in a deep voice: "This car was already an old piece of junk, and now that the cylinder has blown, it's dead. We have no car to ride in; we can only walk out of this desert on our own two feet."

He couldn't conjure a car out of thin air from his Storage Space in front of these five people, so they would just have to walk.

Lao Qiao was the first to jump out of the car in a panic. He hurried over to He Yuzhu, looking anxious: "He Dazhu, we're still dozens of kilometers away from the edge of the desert. How could we possibly make it out on just our two legs?"

Upon hearing this, Gao Dayong gave a cold sneer: "Lao Qiao, you're at your age, why are you still so clueless? If you don't want to walk, are you expecting someone to drive out here just to pick you up? If you aren't going, we're leaving first."

Hearing this, Lao Qiao immediately stood up straight and hurriedly explained: "I was just grumbling for the sake of it; it's not like I don't understand our current situation."

The five of them braced themselves and hiked for another half hour. Just then, the rumbling sound of helicopter rotors came from the distant horizon, growing louder as it approached.

"Quick! Take cover immediately!" He Yuzhu's expression changed, and he shouted sternly.

Lao Qiao was so scared he collapsed onto the sand, paralyzed and unable to move. He Yuzhu sighed helplessly, took out his Military Shovel, and quickly buried him shallowly in the sand.

Lao Qiao asked in a trembling, stuttering voice: "He Dazhu... did they find out we buried those two soldiers and come after us specifically? It's over, they're definitely going to shoot us dead!"

He Yuzhu shook his head slightly: "It's impossible for those two to have been discovered so quickly. My guess is that someone doesn't want anyone in this base to leave alive, and they intend to silence us here in this desert."

Lao Qiao looked at him in disbelief and shook his head repeatedly: "I signed a formal contract with them, how could they dare to do this? That's against the law!"

"Lao Qiao, how can you be so naive? Don't you know what kind of fate awaited the craftsmen who built imperial tombs for emperors in ancient times?" He Yuzhu asked calmly.

Lao Qiao remained confused: "But this is just a military base, not some vital location. Is it really necessary to be this ruthless?"

"With no villages in front and no shops behind, why build a military base in the depths of this desolate, uninhabited desert? Do you think this is an ordinary place?" After saying this, He Yuzhu immediately hunched over and quickly hid behind a tall sand dune.

Liu Xiaoqiang followed closely, imitating the others by burying himself in the sand, leaving only his head exposed.

"He Dazhu, this sand is too hot. If we stay here any longer, I'll be roasted. Do you really think they came all this way just to kill us to keep us quiet?"

"I suspect there's a conflict of interest between the Engineering Team and the military, and the military has no intention of letting us outsiders leave alive."

Liu Xiaoqiang grew increasingly panicked: "Dazhu, do we still have a chance to walk out of this desert?"

"Asking that is useless. Stay quiet and watch the situation; the truth will reveal itself soon enough!"

He Yuzhu's gaze was like a hawk's, locked firmly onto the direction from which the helicopter was flying. The Sniper Rifle at his side was already loaded and ready; he could strike at any moment.

Sure enough, this helicopter was coming specifically for them.

It wasn't that the military had discovered the two missing soldiers, but that the news of the Engineering Team taking a vehicle out without authorization had been secretly reported to the Revolutionary Guard Medina Division Commander, Amir.

Upon receiving the news, Amir immediately ordered his men to pursue them, with orders to kill them on the spot if necessary; they were not to be allowed to leave the desert alive.

He Yuzhu didn't care about the complicated reasons behind it; he had only one thought in mind: shoot down this helicopter and lead everyone out of the desert.

The helicopter flew closer and closer; He Yuzhu could even clearly see the pilot's facial features.

The time had come! He suddenly leaped up from behind the sand pile, his sniper rifle aimed firmly at the helicopter pilot.

"Bang!"

With a crisp gunshot, the helicopter pilot was shot in the head on the spot.

Immediately following was another gunshot, the bullet heading straight for the helicopter's fuel tank.

With a loud "Boom—," the helicopter exploded instantly in mid-air. The violent shockwave, mixed with shattered debris from the fuselage, crashed down onto the sand not far away.

Liu Xiaoqiang, lying in the sand, watched in stunned silence, completely dumbfounded.

He loved watching war movies, but he had never seen such skills before—the speed of the strike was extreme, and the ruthlessness of the execution was extreme.

He Yuzhu didn't dare to delay and shouted immediately: "Move out now! In less than an hour, the enemy's main force will definitely be tracking us down!"

By now, Lao Qiao was so scared his legs had gone weak and he had wet his pants. Still shaken, he asked: "He Dazhu, how could you dare to shoot down a helicopter directly? If a large army comes after us, we won't be able to fly away even with wings!"

He Yuzhu found it both annoying and amusing, so he simply spoke plainly: "I'll tell you the truth: this isn't just some ordinary military base, but a secret underground vault. The hundred-plus large trucks that were coming and going yesterday were all loaded with gold. Someone wants to silence us."

Gao Dayong frowned and stepped forward to ask: "Dazhu, there are still dozens of kilometers of desert to walk. How are we going to escape now?"

He Yuzhu said in a deep voice: "There's no other way. I still have some fresh water left in my backpack, I have firearms, and we can hunt some wild beasts on the road for food. We'll take it one step at a time."

Under He Yuzhu's arrangement, the group did not head back along their original route, but deliberately veered one or two kilometers off course, crossing the vast desert directly.

As expected, after the group had been walking for over two hours, the roar of two more helicopters came from the horizon.

He Yuzhu had keen hearing and sensed the movement in advance, immediately urging everyone to bury themselves in the sand and hide.

The two helicopters swept over their heads at a low altitude, circling and patrolling back and forth for a long time. Finding no trace, they eventually had to turn around and fly away.

After the helicopters were far away, Gao Dayong walked to He Yuzhu's side, looking deeply worried: "Zhuzi, I think even if we're lucky enough to reach the edge of the desert, it'll probably be very hard to leave safely."

He Yuzhu's expression was indifferent: "It's come to this; there's no use thinking too much. Let's just get out of this desert first."

Unknowingly, the group had already come to view He Yuzhu as the only backbone of the team.

You have to realize, in daily life, He Yuzhu's impression on people was that of a rough man with great strength, silent and reserved, never showing off his true colors.

But this time, he had shot down a helicopter in mid-air with just a single Sniper Rifle. His formidable strength had completely won everyone over.

Liu Xiaoqiang leaned in close to He Yuzhu, full of curiosity: "He Dazhu, have you ever been to the battlefield to fight in a war before?"

He Yuzhu nodded slightly: "I went to the Korean War and fought the American devils with real blades and guns."

Liu Xiaoqiang looked at him with envy, yet still couldn't quite believe it: "He Dazhu, then how old are you really? You fought in the Korean War, but you look way too young."

"I'm already fifty-something this year," He Yuzhu said calmly.

Liu Xiaoqiang was so shocked his eyes widened: "Damn! I can't tell at all; you don't look like someone in your fifties in the slightest!"

He Yuzhu smiled indifferently: "I've practiced martial arts for years, so naturally I look younger."

The more Liu Xiaoqiang looked at him, the more he admired him, and he couldn't help but ask: "He Dazhu, with your skills, could you handle twenty or thirty people at once?"

He Yuzhu's lips curled into a confident smile: "Even if a whole company comes, I do not fear them."

"Then I'll follow your lead from now on! Wherever you go, I go!" Liu Xiaoqiang immediately declared.

"You want to follow me, but I might not even be willing to take you in," He Yuzhu teased.

Liu Xiaoqiang curled his lip: "It's just a retired veteran, what's so great about that."

He Yuzhu took a sip of water, his tone carrying a hint of seriousness: "If it weren't for this veteran stepping in, your group would never have had a chance to walk out of this desert alive."