Chapter 54 Car Chase

“Vrrrrr—”

The car engine let out a deafening roar.

The tires scraped furiously against the asphalt, spraying thick clouds of white smoke.

The acrid stench of burning rubber mingled with the lingering gunpowder smoke from the barrels, churning through the cabin and forcing its way into everyone’s noses and mouths.

The instant the gearshift was pushed into position, a broad, armored mechanical hand suddenly reached out from inside the cabin and seized Shield Mountain by the arm.

Along with Chain Warden, whose magazine had already been emptied, it grabbed both of them and forcibly hauled them into the vehicle.

The next moment—

“Rooooar—!”

The engine of this outwardly ordinary news van, after being suppressed for so long, finally broke free of its restraints and released a beastlike howl.

The entire vehicle shot forward like an arrow loosed from a bow, its engine’s roar exploding through the depths of night.

The chassis skimmed the road, and the gusting air flung the dust and smoke behind them far into the distance.

Green Bull and Samira clung tightly to the handholds inside the vehicle, one on each side, with no time to care whether they might be thrown from the cabin.

They simply raised their guns one-handed and furiously squeezed the triggers, spraying bullets at the vehicles pursuing them from close behind.

The attack was not coming only from Luca’s side.

The gangsters driving after them were firing back as well.

However, these men of wildly varying ability were clearly more dangerous with their foul-mouthed curses than with their guns while driving at high speed.

Seven or eight men opened fire simultaneously from the three nearest pickup trucks.

In the end, fewer than a handful of bullets managed to strike the news van’s body.

Even so, to prevent any of his comrades from being hit by stray rounds, Shield Mountain—still sprawled inside the cabin and not yet back on his feet—shouted toward Wrench, who was driving up front.

“Wrench, shields one and two!”

Wrench, who had been concentrating on the road, immediately switched to steering with one hand. With the other, he tapped a button beside the dashboard twice in rapid succession.

The next moment, two pitch-black metal plates extended simultaneously from the roof and undercarriage at the rear of the cabin, shielding most of the vehicle.

Only a few observation windows and firing ports remained exposed.

The instant the two protective plates locked into place, two metallic clangs rang out from outside as bullets struck them.

Even Chain Warden, who had seen more than his share of battlefields, could not help breaking into a cold sweat.

There was no helping it. He was currently the person closest to the outside edge of the entire cabin. Had the protective plates taken even half a beat longer to rise, those two bullets would almost certainly have struck him.

Yet at almost the exact moment the enemy’s bullets hit, one of the three nearest pickup trucks behind them suddenly suffered a blown tire.

The vehicle, still moving forward, veered sharply to the side and slammed directly into another pickup traveling alongside it, knocking both vehicles off the main road.

Under the force of the impact, the unprotected gangsters standing in the backs of the two trucks were instantly thrown into the air.

Judging by the way they tumbled into the water, it was obvious none of them would survive.

However, as the two wrecked vehicles dropped out of the pursuit, even more pursuers immediately surged forward from behind to take their place.

“Haha! Spider, was that your shot? Nice one!”

Green Bull knew he had not been the one to shoot out the vehicle’s tire, so he immediately laughed and praised Samira.

The woman he had addressed quickly shook her head.

But she did not need to answer. The voice in their earpieces had already provided the truth.

“It was me.”

Longbow’s voice was as cold as ice crystals, seeming almost capable of cooling the blazing chase itself.

“That was my last round. You’ve already moved out of my firing range. I’m withdrawing!”

“Understood. Stay safe on your way out,” Shield Mountain said, having just risen to his feet.

Longbow, who had rarely spoken so many words at once, immediately cut the transmission after hearing Shield Mountain’s confirmation. He disassembled his rifle, Nikon tripod, director’s folding stool, and all his other equipment one piece at a time, sorting everything neatly into his cello case.

In truth, if Longbow’s preparations this time had not been intended for concealed nighttime sniping in the city, and if he had instead been equipped with a heavy anti-vehicle sniper rifle such as a Barrett or KSVK, he could have accomplished far more.

Of course, the ability to blow out the tire of a speeding vehicle from five hundred meters away, causing two pickup trucks to roll over, was more than enough to demonstrate Longbow’s skill.

As he watched the flames continuing to rise in the distance, Longbow’s expression remained unchanged.

“The warriors shall carry glory as they break through the encirclement. As for me, I shall walk alone through the dark of night!”

……

Well, leaving Longbow to withdraw on his own, let us return to the news van.

Although Longbow’s final shot had taken two enemy vehicles out of the chase, even more pursuit vehicles continued to pour after them like a rising tide.

After changing magazines, Shield Mountain stepped forward and patted Green Bull on the shoulder, taking over his firing position. Then he shouted orders loudly enough to drown out the ceaseless gunfire.

“Green Bull, go prepare the bombs! Chain Warden, don’t change magazines! Switch directly to the ammunition belt!”

“Wrench, watch the intersection ahead. This is Hell’s Kitchen—there could be an interception from the front at any moment!”

After shouting, Shield Mountain fired another three-round burst.

However, perhaps because several vehicles had previously been shot apart and overturned, the pursuers had learned their lesson. Nearly all of them were now weaving and swerving in unpredictable maneuvers.

Although this slowed their pursuit, it also greatly reduced the likelihood of Shield Mountain and the others hitting their targets.

At that moment, Wrench, still behind the wheel, spotted a convoy of jeeps speeding toward them in the distance and immediately let out a furious roar.

“Turn! Hold on!”

After shouting, Wrench had no time to check whether the others had heard him clearly.

He stamped the accelerator to the floor. Only when they reached the corner did he tap the brakes repeatedly while wrenching the steering wheel from side to side.

The entire news van carved out a massive arc through the intersection and successfully turned.

By then, the vehicle had tilted to nearly forty-five degrees. The wheels on the right side were completely off the ground, leaving only the two tires on the left grinding violently against the road.

Then the news van struck a roadside lamppost with a loud clang before straightening out again.

With another heavy jolt, all four wheels landed back on the pavement, and Wrench immediately floored the accelerator once more.

Inside the vehicle, everyone was tossed about as the cabin lurched up and down.

Fortunately, Wrench’s timely warning had prevented the worst possible outcome: an accidental discharge.

Big White had been clutching the mounted machine-gun turret without letting go. When he noticed everyone swaying and about to fall, he immediately reached out to steady Luca and Green Bull, who was nearest to him, and gently reminded them,

“Be careful. You could hurt yourselves like this~” (●—●)

As he spoke, Big White also extended his leaking hand and sprayed some wound disinfectant onto the minor abrasions that had somehow appeared on Green Bull.

Compared with the slight chaos inside the news van, which had nevertheless returned to a steady course, the pursuing vehicles behind them were not nearly so fortunate.