"Head northwest from here. In about half an hour, we'll cross into Afghanistan. Once we do, we'll be safe."
After driving for more than an hour, Hawkeye slowed the vehicle, checked their heading, and glanced at the GPS.
"Looks like we—"
BOOM!!!
Black Widow's words were cut off by a violent explosion.
Less than three meters to the left of the off-road vehicle, the ground erupted, sending massive clouds of yellow sand into the air.
"Left!" Hawkeye shouted, yanking the steering wheel hard.
Black Widow raised her binoculars and looked toward the left.
"Go! Go! Go! Damn it!" Her face changed instantly as she shouted at Hawkeye.
Without another word, Hawkeye floored the accelerator. The engine roared as he abandoned any concern for direction and swerved sharply to the right.
Qin Xiao's sharp eyes caught sight of a lone figure in the distance, holding a long metal tube.
It was a single-man rocket launcher. The earlier explosion had come from there.
A single rocket launcher wasn't truly dangerous to their group.
What was terrifying was what stood behind that man—
More than a dozen off-road vehicles crested the sand dunes, one after another.
"Damn it! How did they get here so fast—and with so many people? Hold on tight! If you fall out now, there's no insurance!"
The pursuing vehicles were all open-top jeeps. Almost every one of them had a terrorist carrying a rocket launcher.
They began bombarding the convoy.
Hawkeye jerked the steering wheel left, then right. The vehicle twisted like a snake, bouncing wildly across the desert.
Explosions erupted constantly around them, filling the sky with yellow sand.
Qin Xiao suddenly felt like he was in a spy movie.
"They came from the north. The Afghan border isn't safe," Hawkeye shouted as he drove. "Contact our people and notify the military—now!"
"I'm already calling, damn it!" Black Widow snapped, phone in hand.
Gunfire suddenly erupted behind her.
A bullet grazed past her arm and shattered the side mirror into pieces.
Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat!
Whether their rocket launchers had run out of ammo or their accuracy was simply terrible, the terrorists had mounted machine guns on their jeeps.
No one in the vehicle could even raise their heads. The metallic clang of bullets striking the body never stopped.
The enemy was using heavy machine guns—this kind of vehicle couldn't withstand that kind of fire.
Hawkeye glanced back at Qin Xiao, Tony, and the others, sighed, and said to Black Widow,
"You drive. We need to fight back."
Before Black Widow could react, he stood up and jumped forward between the two front seats.
The moment Hawkeye spoke, Natasha grabbed the steering wheel, bracing it between her legs.
"Your turn now, bastards!"
Hawkeye drew his bow. Despite the violent bouncing of the vehicle, his upper body remained almost perfectly steady.
Whoosh!
An arrow flew.
Qin Xiao saw flames erupt from the nearest pursuing vehicle.
Hawkeye's explosive arrow struck the jeep, turning its rear window into a bloody mess.
"Get down!" Qin Xiao shouted at Tony and Yinsen as he smashed the window with his fist.
He raised his rifle, aimed backward, and opened fire.
Qin Xiao's marksmanship was average at best—and even worse under these conditions.
But he wasn't worried about wasting ammo.
He switched to full auto and unleashed burst after burst.
The suppressive fire forced many of the enemy gunners to back off. At the very least, they no longer dared to stand up and fire recklessly.
Whoosh!
Hawkeye took a moment to aim and released another arrow.
Another vehicle exploded into a fireball.
Whoosh!
Another arrow.
"Nice! Great shooting, man!"
When Hawkeye finally sat back down, Qin Xiao gave him an enthusiastic compliment.
With Qin Xiao's suppression and Hawkeye's three arrows, three vehicles were taken out.
The remaining enemy vehicles began to keep their distance, no longer daring to get too close.
The pressure on them dropped dramatically.
"They're farther back now," Qin Xiao said. "Cupid, keep moving forward. A little more and there'll only be five or six vehicles left."
He said this to Hawkeye, who was seated.
"I'd love to keep going," Hawkeye replied, checking his quiver, "but I'm out of explosive arrows. And I'm Hawkeye, not Cupid, rookie!"
"What? You're out already? They're terrorists—we're in a firefight! You didn't bring more gear?" Qin Xiao shouted.
"We're here to rescue people, not start a war, rookie!" Hawkeye shot back.
"I know you came to save me," Tony suddenly cut in, "but hey—Mongolian warrior, could you spare me a gun? I'm not the kind of guy who just sits there and gets shot."
"Damn it! My name is Hawkeye—stop giving people random nicknames!" Hawkeye snapped. "And who says I can't do anything without explosive arrows?"
Before anyone could respond, Hawkeye stood up and aimed quickly.
To everyone's surprise, two arrows flew in rapid succession.
One struck a machine gunner directly in the head.
The other pierced straight through the windshield, killing the driver instantly.
The jeep swerved violently and flipped over in the desert.
"See, rookie—and you too, millionaire. Leave professional work to professionals."
Qin Xiao and Tony exchanged a look. Qin Xiao shrugged.
"You're right—you're an amazing shot. But why didn't you shoot both drivers? Two flipped vehicles would've been better."
Tony nodded. "I think Qin's right."
Yinsen added, "Yes."
Hawkeye: "..."
After all that chaos, only two enemy vehicles remained, and the pressure was nearly gone.
Everyone relaxed, simply waiting for Hawkeye to stand up and fire arrow after arrow.
Hawkeye didn't disappoint. He rose and cleanly took out another enemy.
Just as he stood up again—
Bang!
Hawkeye collapsed.
A bullet was lodged firmly in the right side of his chest armor.
"Damn it! There's another one!"
Hawkeye's words seemed to signal the enemy's next assault.
On a sand dune to the front-left, nearly twenty off-road vehicles suddenly appeared.
Gunfire erupted instantly.
A storm of bullets tore through the sand to the left and front of the vehicle, creating a massive yellow dust cloud.
Several deadly firing lines formed almost instantly.
If they hadn't happened to crash behind a sand dune for cover, the vehicle would've been destroyed on the spot.
"This isn't going to work," Tony said, using the dune to block the line of sight. "Can't we call in the military directly?"
"We're in real trouble now," Hawkeye replied. "Even if they rush us head-on, we won't last long. Fortunately, there are a lot of dunes ahead. We'll take them one by one and see if we can shake them off."
He pointed toward the rolling dunes ahead.
Qin Xiao glanced at the endless dunes before them.
With that many pursuers behind them, there was no way these dunes alone would save them.
There definitely wasn't enough time to wait for reinforcements.
"I remember there were two big guys in the car back then," Qin Xiao said quietly. "I already had a plan."
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