Chapter 197: The Wind of the Hometown (II)

Sandstorms filled the sky, and Li Boyong and Shihe returned to this land when they first arrived in the Full Metal Panic world.

"This kind of wind, the feeling it gives me is war!"

Riding in a military jeep, Li Boyong stood upright in the back seat, feeling the long-lost Middle Eastern sand, and then played a meme by the way.

The armed convoy sped along, passed the airport under construction, and entered the Azadistan capital city that was changing with each passing day.

"That girl seems to be working quite hard."

Li Boyong looked at the surrounding buildings and commented.

Indeed, the changes in the capital city were beyond Li Boyong's expectations, so much so that the armed convoy he brought looked out of place with the city.

A sentence from a poet Li Boyong didn't like very much: You stand on the bridge looking at the scenery, and the person looking at the scenery is looking at you from the building.

He was looking at the scenery along the street with great interest, and many people in the crowd on the street also recognized this famous Tiger of the Middle East.

"It's the Tiger, the Tiger is back."

A shopkeeper who opened a grocery store on the commercial street after being wounded and retired saw the passing convoy and shouted in surprise.

"You're back!"

The city guard soldiers on patrol saw Li Boyong's convoy, saluted, and let them pass.

"Is there going to be a war again?"

Some women who had just finished shopping on the street saw this, looked towards the city's administrative building, and revealed a worried look: "Saintess..."

"Going to war again?"

A nephew of a certain great elder revealed a thoughtful expression.

For the return of Li Boyong, the Tiger of the Middle East, people's reactions were different.

Some were just simply welcoming the hero's return, some were worried about a new round of political turmoil in the country, and others were just simply gossiping about the love-hate relationship between the Tiger of the Middle East and the Middle Eastern Saintess.

Yes, in the Azadistan folk, similar gossip had been circulating.

After all, when Li Boyong left Azadistan, Wang Liumei carried out intelligence operations according to Li Boyong's instructions, making people mistakenly think that Li Boyong had left after failing in a political struggle.

But afterwards, some people analyzed that it was wrong. After all, at that time, Li Boyong had a very high reputation in the country, and if he had insisted on launching a coup with the military power he held, it would have been difficult for Wang Liumei to resist.

So some busybodies made up a love-hate relationship between the Tiger of the Middle East and the Middle Eastern Saintess, which gradually spread among the people.

Later, it was revealed that the Saintess had continuously rejected marriage proposals from several big families, and more made-up gossip became a must-have topic for housewives after tea and dinner.

Returning to the main topic, Li Boyong's convoy drove straight to the administrative building where Wang Liumei was located, and the Xia sisters had already been waiting downstairs according to Wang Liumei's instructions.

————

At the same time, Sousuke, who was far away in Tokyo, boarded the stealth helicopter that came to pick him up again and returned to the base of Mithril's Western Pacific Squadron—Merida Island.

There, Sousuke received an order from the combat headquarters.

It was necessary to temporarily transfer Sousuke and the ARX-7 Arbalest to Central Asia to execute a secret mission with the Mithril squadron there, which was to eliminate Jiulong.

The origin of the matter was because Mithril's intelligence department had filmed Jiulong's figure in Helmakistan a few days ago. Given the danger of the target person, the combat department arranged an elimination operation against Jiulong.

Considering Sousuke's experience of fighting Jiulong several times, as well as his years of guerrilla experience in Helmakistan, the combat headquarters strongly demanded the addition of Sousuke and his Lambda Driver-equipped machine.

"Sorry, originally at this time you should be playing at the beach with Chidori."

Tessa, who personally issued the mission to Sousuke, apologized to Sousuke with some shame.

Tessa, who realized her feelings and "declared war" on Chidori Kaname, felt that such behavior seemed to have the suspicion of taking Sousuke away from Chidori by abusing her power.

She, who was extremely strong in her heart, didn't like such behavior, but this was the requirement of the combat headquarters, and she could only execute it.

"The Colonel has nothing to apologize for."

Sousuke, standing beside Tessa, stared at the figure of the man on the screen without squinting, lowered his voice slightly, and said: "And I also want to make an end with that guy, so I am honored to be able to participate in this mission."

After speaking, Sousuke saluted and left Tessa's office.

Leaving Tessa alone in the office, holding her forehead helplessly, praying for Sousuke's safe return in her heart.

Long-lost hometown, arduous mission, teammates she had never met, and the most familiar enemy.

All factors seemed to be indicating the difficulty of this mission to Sousuke.

But he still didn't waver in the slightest, just intending to do his best, use the Arbalest to make an end on that land, and then return, return to that girl's side.

Carrying the unit and transferring through several military airports belonging to Mithril, Sousuke finally completed the merger with the team members of this mission, but unfortunately, the first meeting was as unpleasant as Sousuke expected.

If they weren't very familiar, no one would trust a warrior of his age.

Sousuke was prepared for this, after all, it was the norm in the industry.

Listening to the noisy sounds of teammates joking with each other, Sousuke spent the flight process of several hours with his eyes closed.

It was a tormenting few hours, not because of the intentional ignoring of temporary teammates, but because he was full of mixed feelings about stepping on the hometown he had been away from for many years.

The flames of civil war, the smoke filling the sky, the guerrilla companions, the residents in the village, the commander who was his foster father, and the endless enemies.

Everything flashed in Sousuke's mind like a revolving lantern, and the memories that had been sealed for many years surged into his heart again.

It was just that the torment finally ended, and Sousuke drove the Arbalest and the M9s of his teammates down from the transport plane.

Then, using the deceleration of the AS parachute, Sousuke returned to this land again.

At the same time, on the border between Azadistan and Helmakistan, an armed convoy was also secretly crossing the border and entering Helmakistan.

The people riding on the convoy were Li Boyong, Shihe, and several subordinates, and of course, several AS units.

Mithril obtained intelligence that Jiulong appeared in Helmakistan. Li Boyong, who knew the plot, knew it more clearly, knowing clearly what kind of goods Jiulong brought to Helmakistan this time.

Nuclear bomb, this thing that Shihe would feel unhappy when hearing, was sold to Helmakistan by Amalgam just like that.

So the organization Amalgam was really annoying, actually selling such dangerous things to its neighbors casually.

Although Sousuke did stop this transaction in the plot, to be on the safe side, Li Boyong still brought a few elites.

After all, he could see if he could take the opportunity to kill Jiulong while completing the system's mission.

【Faction Mission: Azadistan】

Stop the nuclear weapon transaction secretly conducted by the neighboring country, and seize the traded goods. (Success reward: 10 plot points, and 100 reputation points for this faction.) ===== CHAPTER 198 =====