Chapter 995: The People Seeking Lives Have Arrived

A sudden alarm sounded in He Yuzhu's head, sharp and piercing, as if it had stabbed directly into his marrow.

This situation rarely occurred; in his memory, it had only happened once before.

Before the thought had even settled, he instinctively lowered his head, his entire body instantly dropping to the ground, pressing close to the earth to observe his surroundings.

"Bang—"

A gunshot rang out, seeming to tear through the air from the far horizon, the bullet grazing his scalp. He Yuzhu's scalp went numb, and his back was instantly soaked in cold sweat. He knew that this moment was the closest he had ever been to death.

He swung his gun around with a speed that was beyond belief.

"Rat-tat-tat—"

The machine gun spat tongues of fire, bullets pouring down like a torrential rainstorm, aimed straight at the water tower. The person on the water tower was still immersed in the excitement of their success, their body mostly exposed, and before they could even form the thought to dodge, they were riddled with holes. Their body tilted and plummeted from the ten-plus-meter-high water tower, slamming into the ground with a "thud" and kicking up a circle of yellow dust.

Danger averted. He Yuzhu did not pause for a second, his gun barrel shifting rapidly to lock onto the crowd that had been milling around the bulletproof car.

Looking back, that group had already been terrified by his killing, and at this moment, they were fleeing in all directions, in total chaos.

But the machine gun in He Yuzhu's hands had an extremely long range; he held the gun steady, chasing them down and "calling the roll" on those panicked backs one by one.

No matter how fast they ran, few could escape his field of fire.

However, it wasn't realistic to say not a single one escaped—after all, with over a hundred people, there were bound to be a few fish that slipped through the net into the night.

After clearing the battlefield, He Yuzhu stowed the bulletproof car, which had been riddled with holes, into his space and brought out a nearly brand-new spare vehicle.

He had several such cars, all captured during the last raid on an M Military base; there were four in total, all the same model of bulletproof car.

Once everything was tidied up, he finally released Xiao Wang and Lao Yu and his son.

The father and son were still dazed when they came out, completely unaware of what had happened.

Lao Yu was full of astonishment and asked as soon as he spoke: "Lao Zhou, did the enemies run away? How did you do it?"

He Yuzhu waved his hand: "Lao Yu, it's a blessing that you're out. As for how I saved you, don't ask, alright?"

Lao Yu was a perceptive man and immediately cupped his hands in a salute: "Thank you! If it weren't for Brother Zhou today, my life would have been forfeit."

"I will go back and immediately scrape together one million US dollars for you; you must accept this money!"

He Yuzhu shook his head: "Lao Yu, I don't lack money. Take your child back and hire a few more reliable bodyguards in the future. You helped our delegation a lot this time; I cannot take your money. Actually, your kidnapping was partly our responsibility..."

Hearing these heartwarming words, Lao Yu's eyes turned red, his voice choking: "We overseas Huaxia people truly hope for our motherland to be strong. Being bullied abroad is a common occurrence; only when the motherland is strong can we stand tall, and only then will those foreigners not dare to bully us so casually..."

He Yuzhu was also moved after hearing this and said with deep empathy: "I have also stayed abroad; I understand your feelings best."

Lao Yu said: "I understand that perhaps it was because I did things for the delegation that I was kidnapped, but I have no regrets."

He Yuzhu gave a thumbs up: "Lao Yu, you are a good man. Unlike some people who forget their ancestors the moment they go abroad and are desperate to distance themselves from being Huaxia people. But when the white people and black people start fighting, who cares where in East Asia you are from? I find it laughable when I think of these things; bad guys won't stop attacking you just because you carry some brand!"

Lao Yu laughed: "It seems Mr. Zhou is very knowledgeable!"

The three returned to the base, and Deputy Minister Sun trotted over to meet them, looking He Yuzhu up and down: "Factory Director He, you aren't hurt, are you? We owe it all to you this time."

He Yuzhu replied, "Don't mention it, saving Lao Yu is helping ourselves," but inwardly he was secretly lamenting: his body wasn't hurt, but the wound to his heart was not light—to save Lao Yu, he had spent two tons of gold, which was nearly two hundred million US dollars. This deal was a huge loss; he would have to rob those warlords later to break even.

Deputy Minister Sun said again: "From now on, let's try to handle our own affairs ourselves and not implicate others."

He Yuzhu couldn't openly disagree, so he only said tactfully: "Deputy Minister Sun, I feel that this incident with Lao Yu is just the prologue. Those M Country people have suffered a setback this time and surely won't let it go; they will come back sooner or later."

Deputy Minister Sun looked troubled: "But our mission is to negotiate cooperation with the transitional government; it is better to avoid provoking those warlords if possible."

"I want to go meet that Boss who is causing trouble behind the scenes," He Yuzhu said with certainty.

Deputy Minister Sun hesitated: "Would that... cause unnecessary international disputes?"

He Yuzhu laughed: "The enemies have already put a knife to our throats; if we keep enduring, then whoever helps us will be kidnapped, and who would dare to reach out again?"

"That's true," Deputy Minister Sun nodded, "Then what do you want to do? Let's hold a meeting to discuss it."

He Yuzhu waved his hand with a smile: "Since we know it's M Country causing trouble behind the scenes, and they are playing dirty, we might as well learn from them. I interrogated their people; they are all from the Islamic Party, and there is someone named James manipulating things behind the scenes. Their goal is to prevent our country from having influence in Europe. Dozens have already died by my hands. Next, they will only become more frantic; they might even attack Huaxia merchants or launch a smear campaign, slandering us for killing the innocent and listing our people as 'undesirable persons'—that would fall right into M Country's trap."

Deputy Minister Sun pondered for a moment and nodded heavily: "Then let's not hold a meeting to study it. I can tell that your colleagues don't really understand your capabilities, and a meeting wouldn't help much anyway. You handle it; just don't let anything go wrong."

He Yuzhu laughed: "Rest assured, I won't implicate the delegation."

At nightfall, the last trace of red in the sky was swallowed by darkness.

He Yuzhu's black bulletproof car rolled over the potholed dirt road and silently drove into the main camp of the Islamic Party army.

In the mercenary military camp, the firelight flickered, and James was slamming the table in his villa, cursing, his spit almost splashing onto Farhe's face: "What? I just gave you ten thousand US dollars, and you turn around and ask for money again?"

Farhe wore a mournful face, his shoulders slumped as if his bones had been pulled out: "Major, it's really not that I'm being a rascal with you—this time I lost over eighty more brothers, plus a top-tier sniper. You tell me, how much is that worth? The ten thousand you gave isn't even enough for the bereavement payments. Who exactly are you dealing with? Those people are simply killing machines. How about this: you give me a few more tens of thousands of US dollars, and I'll pay the bereavement fees for those who died today. I don't even know how many more people I'll have to throw into this before the job is done..."

James's gaze turned on Farhe's face twice, and he finally pulled two more stacks of US banknotes from his bag and slapped them on the table with a "slap": "Take it, to settle the aftermath. From now on, as long as you kill one person from the Huaxia delegation, I'll add ten thousand; that should be fine, right?"

Farhe's mouth curled, and he chuckled: "If you had been this straightforward earlier, I would have gotten it done for you long ago; why would we have needed to go through so much trouble? We operate on a 'you get what you pay for' basis here. Those pirates were useless; if it weren't for them this time, we wouldn't have been defeated so miserably and had our rear flanked."

James frowned: "How many people from the Huaxia side participated in the rescue?"

Farhe shook his head, his eyes drifting as if recalling a nightmare: "The few who ran back were all dazed; they had no idea what was going on." He poured out the situation at the scene in full detail.

As James listened, a layer of cold sweat crept up his back, though he remained calm on the surface, his mind already calculating a retreat route. He vaguely felt that there might be people involved in the World Trade negotiations within the Huaxia delegation that had arrived. If that were true, as a Major, he would never dare to clash head-on with those people again.

Having made up his mind to slip away, he showed nothing on his face. Instead, James patted Farhe on the shoulder and pretended to be generous: "Farhe, listen well. This operation has served as a reminder to us—it's not that easy to move against people from the Huaxia delegation. You go ahead and recruit more people; the more the better. Money is no object; I'll give you a large sum of money when the time comes."

Farhe was stunned, not expecting James to be so straightforward all of a sudden, and immediately patted his chest to guarantee: "Major, don't you worry!"

And at this very moment, He Yuzhu was standing outside their window, taking in every word of this conversation without missing a single detail.