Chapter 414 - 367: Strike First, Ambush the Mexicans

Given Wang Hao’s performance, Wei Wu had simply confiscated his handgun to prevent any accidents.

More than ten minutes into the desert, Wei Wu, now in full command, had the pickup truck accelerate past them to set up a sniper position on the high ground ahead.

A short while later, Hawkeye’s voice came over the radio: "The fishing spot is ready. Just waiting to drop the bait!"

A short while later, the G-Wagon carrying Wu Yun arrived near Little Stone Mountain.

The moment he stepped out of the car, Wu Yun heard a BUZZING sound growing fainter as it moved away. Hawkeye’s drone was airborne.

Wu Yun saw a defensive grenade, a full size larger than a standard one, suspended under the drone’s belly, and a chill went down his spine.

’He knew this was serious. Before his rebirth, the war in Ukraine had already demonstrated the increasingly crucial role of drones. He’d occasionally seen videos of drone-dropped grenades tearing soldiers in trenches to shreds. Against a surprise attack from the sky, ground troops were utterly defenseless.’

’If that was the case for well-equipped soldiers, this disorganized rabble of Mexicans would never even spot the drone above them.’

From a great distance, Wu Yun could see the convoy behind them, a rolling cloud of dust.

Wu Yun and Wang Hao were positioned behind Little Stone Mountain for cover. Meanwhile, Wei Wu, Da Xiong, and Caviar formed the assault team. With shotguns on their backs and M4A1s in hand, they took cover behind the rocks.

At a distance of 400 meters, the Mexicans saw the vehicles stop and began to spread out, preparing to encircle them.

BANG! The powerful recoil of the Barrett made Poison Thorn’s prone body shudder, and the blast from the muzzle brake kicked up a cloud of dust from the ground.

Fortunately, it didn’t obscure his vision. Through his scope, Poison Thorn watched as an SUV’s windshield exploded. A spray of blood and gore painted the cabin and the glass completely red.

The SUV rolled forward a short distance before veering and crashing into the pickup next to it.

BANG! Another heavy shot rang out. The driver of a second vehicle and the passenger behind him were torn to shreds.

Due to the Barrett’s immense power, Poison Thorn had aimed for the driver’s chest. Even so, no carbon-based lifeform could hope to remain in one piece after taking a direct hit from it.

Two shots had instantly disabled three vehicles. The Mexicans inside scrambled out, their faces masks of terror, clutching their rifles. They took cover behind the vehicles; some even dove underneath them.

The drivers of the two remaining vehicles didn’t dare press on. They cranked their wheels and performed a hasty U-turn.

It was hard to say if they were acting out of loyalty, or if their boss was in one of the three vehicles that had been forced to stop.

The two vehicles that turned around didn’t flee. Instead, they pulled up between the stopped cars, forming a makeshift defensive circle.

The head of a Mexican who peeked out from behind a car instantly exploded like a watermelon. Only then did his comrades hear the crack of the rifle.

"The sniper’s on that small mountain! Grab the big gun!" a sharp-eyed Mexican shouted, having spotted the puff of smoke rising from Little Stone Mountain. He yelled to the others, ignoring the flecks of red and white that had splattered onto his face.

One of the braver men yanked open the back of an SUV and dragged out a long, black bag.

The Mexicans, their attention nervously fixed in the direction of Wu Yun’s group, failed to notice the drone now hovering directly above them.

The middle-aged leader of the Mexican Gang shouted to the man who had pulled out the bag, "Jason! Can you make that shot?!"

"I can’t, Boss! The effective range of an RPG is only three hundred meters! We’re at nearly four hundred. It’d be a Hail Mary shot!"

Jason was a veteran and knew the RPG’s specs like the back of his hand, so the answer was reflexive.

’Damn it,’ the boss thought. ’So this is the power of an anti-materiel rifle! I can’t believe that millionaire’s bodyguards have this kind of firepower!’

"Just try it! We’ll give you covering fire!" the middle-aged man said, raising his M16 as he leaned against another SUV.

’We have to take out that damn sniper,’ he thought. ’Otherwise, we’ll never get out of this open space alive.’

’The boss’s heart was bleeding. The nineteen men he’d brought today were his most trusted guys, all hardened fighters who’d seen their share of action. He couldn’t believe that in just three shots, the enemy had taken out five of them!’

Jason nodded, loaded the rocket into the launcher, and shouted, "Boss, open fire first! I’m ready to launch!"

"Alright! Everyone! Count of three! Three—"

BOOM—

An explosion roared, and the middle-aged leader’s eyes looked ready to pop from their sockets.

Where Jason had been, there was now only a small crater. Jason himself lay a short distance away, with only half a head. A chunk of his arm and thigh were gone, blown to god-knows-where. The muscles in his remaining arm still twitched, as if trying to warn his brothers to watch out for grenades.

The RPG launcher was a twisted wreck, clearly useless now.

Two other unlucky bastards hiding behind the same car were caught in the blast. One was a corpse, just like Jason. The other...

"AHH! AHH! Boss, help me!"

The leader looked at his man crawling toward him on the ground, then at the long, bloody trail he left behind, a slender, bluish-red intestine dragging along with him. He was just about to raise his rifle to put the man out of his misery when the subordinate’s head slumped to the ground, and he fell silent.

"FUCK!" the leader roared in helpless rage.

"Look! There’s a drone!" one of the men, his face a mask of fear, yelled while pointing at the quadcopter circling overhead. He then raised his rifle and started firing. BANG! BANG! BANG!

Without needing to be told, the others also raised their guns and opened fire.

But the drone jinked erratically and shot upward in an instant, causing all their bullets to miss.

The leader’s expression was grim. "Carlos!" he roared. "Where is Carlos?! Get your ass over here and shoot down this damn bird!"

’The leader was no longer thinking about kidnapping and extorting the Huaxia millionaire. All he cared about now was survival, about getting out of this godforsaken place.’

Carlos was their best shot; even some professional marksmen couldn’t match his skill.

The only way to escape the drone’s surveillance was to have Carlos shoot it down.

"Carlos! Carlos!"

The leader shouted again, but Carlos didn’t answer.

Just then, one of the men spoke up, his voice trembling. "Boss! Carlos... he was already dead. Back in the car. His stomach was blown wide open."

As the man spoke, he recalled the gruesome scene. He felt a fleeting sense of relief at his own survival, but that was quickly overwhelmed by terror.

Carlos had been sitting in the back seat, laughing and joking with him, when suddenly the driver just... exploded, splattering them both with blood.

He had turned to look at Carlos, who only reacted a second later. Carlos clutched the massive wound in his abdomen—he was nearly torn in half—and his voice trembled as he pleaded, "O’Neal, finish me! Quick!"

...

"Nice!" Hawkeye exclaimed, but the hand holding the joystick remained perfectly steady as he calmly pulled the drone higher.

Watching the muzzle flashes on his screen as the men on the ground fired wildly at his drone’s camera, Hawkeye raised an eyebrow in disdain.

Hawkeye spoke into his headset mic, "That’s three kills from the blast! Only ten to twelve of them left alive!"

"Poison Thorn, cover them. I’m bringing the drone in to re-arm!" Hawkeye piloted the drone back. A moment later, he caught the descending craft with a steady hand, then pulled another defensive grenade from his bag and began rigging it.

BANG— Even the massive report of the Barrett didn’t cause Hawkeye’s hands to so much as twitch.

"Tango down. One tried to make a run for it in a car," Poison Thorn’s voice crackled over the comms.

Everyone knew what happened to a person hit by an anti-materiel rifle.

Just as Hawkeye launched the drone, now re-armed with a fresh grenade, a new command from Wei Wu came through his earpiece: "Da Xiong, Caviar, advance!"