"Ah—ah…!"
Agonized screams echoed through the chamber.
Jiang Hai and the others had already shut their eyes. Calmly, they counted in their heads.
One.
Two.
Three.
The moment the third second passed, they opened their eyes simultaneously.
The world was still dark—
but now they could see perfectly.
Their enemies, on the other hand, were clutching their faces and screaming in pain, blinded by the flash.
Aler-Sara fired first.
Using her sniper rifle, she squeezed off two rapid shots.
Bang. Bang.
The two men wearing night-vision goggles dropped instantly. With them dead, their shields clattered to the ground.
That was the signal.
Jiang Hai, Azalina, Valentina, Belyak, Valerie Shelley, and Relis Carter all rose at once, their guns erupting in controlled bursts.
They aimed only for the faces.
There was no other choice. The mercenaries wore bulletproof vests and helmets—body shots were useless. A clean headshot was the only guarantee.
Fortunately, every one of them was an elite shooter.
After the first volley—
nine men were already dead.
"Retreat! Retreat!"
Hearing the relentless gunfire and his men's dying screams, the mercenary leader roared the order. Ignoring the tears streaming from his blinded eyes, he turned and ran.
One mistake.
Total collapse.
The fourteen-man squad was reduced to five in seconds.
But could they really escape?
Before they had taken ten steps, Xiao Huang and Xiao Bai shot forward like lightning, pouncing on two of the rearguard.
Crunch.
Their powerful jaws clamped down, snapping necks instantly.
The two men collapsed without even a scream.
Jiang Hai and the others gave chase.
Soon, three figures appeared ahead—two armed mercenaries and the man in the cowboy hat.
They had already passed the final corridor and were almost at their vehicles.
"Take care of them," Jiang Hai said calmly to Aler-Sara.
She raised her rifle.
Three shots rang out.
Bang. Bang. Bang.
All three men's right legs exploded with blood.
They lost their balance and crashed to the ground.
The cowboy-hatted man screamed and tried to crawl toward the car. The other two turned and fired wildly behind them.
Unfortunately for them—
Jiang Hai didn't miss.
His SCAR barked twice.
Two controlled three-round bursts.
Their weapons flew from their hands, arms shattered.
Only then did Jiang Hai's group walk forward.
Azalina stepped over, pulled the pistol from her thigh holster, and methodically shot the cowboy's remaining limbs. Then she dragged him back like a dead animal and dumped him at Jiang Hai's feet.
Three broken men lay side by side.
Jiang Hai slowly squatted down, smiling faintly.
"Honestly… if you'd stayed hidden, I might never have found you," he said lightly. "But you came looking for trouble. I really don't understand that."
He recognized them all.
Izo-Edith—the former underground racing king who had once targeted him.
Lynch-Walter—the so-called explorer.
And the mercenary leader, Sparks—just a code name, no real identity.
They had come to kill him.
Now they lay helpless on the ground.
"Fine… fine… we surrender," Lynch-Walter gasped through the pain. "We lost. Tell us what you want. Money, equipment—anything. We'll give you everything."
Jiang Hai laughed softly.
Release them?
Were they drunk?
"You attacked those Indian tribes without mercy," Jiang Hai said coldly, pointing the gun at him. "And now you talk to me about mercy? You Americans really love your double standards."
"You can't do this! Killing us is illegal!" Lynch-Walter screamed.
Jiang Hai sneered.
He wasn't a saint.
And besides—
If you don't cut the weeds at the root, they grow back in spring.
Bang.
The Desert Eagle roared.
A .50-caliber round blew a hole straight through Lynch-Walter's skull.
He died with his eyes wide open.
"Kill me!" Izo-Edith shouted hoarsely. "My dad and I will wait for you in hell!"
Bang.
Silence.
Then Sparks.
Bang.
Three bodies.
Three problems erased.
"You handle the cleanup," Jiang Hai said calmly, holstering his gun. "I'll get the gold."
Azalina nodded and directed the others to dispose of the bodies and vehicles. They were professionals—no traces would remain.
Jiang Hai took Aler-Sara and returned underground.
Only Qi Jie and the two dogs were waiting inside. She clearly wasn't suited for killing, so he had told her to stay behind.
Seeing him return safely, she finally relaxed.
Then they began packing the gold.
The bricks had sat underground for a century, their surfaces dull and brassy rather than shiny. But Jiang Hai knew that was normal. If they were gleaming, that would be suspicious.
Each bar weighed about one kilogram.
They counted while packing.
One large bag held one hundred bars.
They worked steadily, not rushing.
After about twenty bags, Azalina and the others returned to help. With more hands, the pace increased.
By around eleven at night, everything was packed.
They would transport it tomorrow.
Now came the count.
"There are 132 bags… plus 14 extra bars," Qi Jie reported with a smile.
Outside, only their two dented AMG65s remained. The enemy vehicles, blood, and bodies had all vanished.
A bonfire crackled nearby.
They sat around it, eating dinner while calculating the total.
Relis Carter tried doing the math but quickly gave up.
Vanessa-Rayle chuckled and said, "Total value—$59,463,000."
"Wow, boss," Valentina grinned. "You struck it rich again!"
Jiang Hai shook his head.
"Not me. Us."
He poked the fire thoughtfully.
"I'll round it to sixty million. One hundred million in goods goes to the Tarak tribe—they deserve it."
"The remaining five hundred million—Azalina, you, Galina-Vasikaya, Duning… eight of you total. Fifty million each. That's four hundred million."
"The last hundred million is for Qi Jie and me."
He never kept everything for himself.
Without them, he wouldn't have survived, let alone found the gold.
Sharing was only fair.
The girls fell silent.
Some were clearly moved.
Then—
Azalina quietly tossed a stick into the flames and shook her head.
"I don't want this money," she said calmly.
(To be continued.)