Chapter 132: A Tragic Ambush

Although the car was not overturned, the shockwave of the explosion propelled it forward by two meters. Caught off guard, the driver lost his grip on the steering wheel, causing it to spin ninety degrees and slam directly into a large tree by the side of the road. The front of the car crumpled significantly, and thick smoke began to billow from the engine compartment; one wrong move could trigger an explosion.

The four surviving experts and their companions, along with the four subordinates Bai Jing had summoned upon Secretary Zhu's arrival, had set out in two vehicles. Including the car Lin Yang and Bai Jing had arrived in, the three vehicles traveled in formation, with Lin Yang’s car in the center for protection. They had not expected that the enemy's first target would be the center vehicle, as if their whereabouts had been known all along.

With the middle car under attack, the two flanking vehicles were also affected, though they suffered less damage than the center one. They had merely veered off course and come to a stop on the shoulder of the road, their bodies barely scratched.

The ambushers clearly had no intention of letting them off easily. After Lin Yang’s car slammed into the large tree, another rocket with a brilliant, flaming tail whistled through the air, targeting the Volkswagen in the lead.

The rocket was fast and sudden. By the time the two men in the lead car realized what was happening, it was too late. Before they could even open the doors to escape, the rocket struck the vehicle squarely. With a thunderous boom, the car was blown to pieces, and the four people inside were engulfed in a sea of flames.

Losing two subordinates and two experts was a significant blow to the Bai family. It seemed the enemy was determined to wipe them out completely.

Lin Yang’s reaction was relatively quick, but the violent impact had left him in a bad way. Having already been severely injured during the brawl at the scrap yard, his body had not yet recovered, which slowed his reflexes. The collision caused his head to strike the front seat with a sickening thud, leaving his ears ringing as if he had been struck by lightning. He had not yet regained his senses.

The enemies hiding in the shadows, however, were not finished. Intent on cutting off all escape routes, they fired another rocket toward the Honda at the rear.

Fortunately, the three people in the back had not been impacted by the sudden braking. Having learned from the fate of the first car, they had just enough time to jump out. Driving away was clearly unwise; even at high speeds, the cars could not perform well on the bumpy dirt road, and they were too large as targets. Rather than being blown to bits inside the vehicles, it was better to take a risk and abandon them, hiding in the weeds by the roadside.

They were less than ten miles from the scrap yard, having just passed the dumping grounds. The surrounding area was filled with withered, overgrown grass; in late autumn, the weeds had long since turned yellow, struggling against nature and destined to become fertilizer for new growth.

Yet, for Lin Yang and the others under attack, these ragged weeds were the perfect place to hide. In the vast, overgrown field, finding them would not be an easy task.

The three had barely jumped from the vehicle when the rocket approached. While it was still in the air, they dove into the weeds. With a deafening roar, the rocket struck, and the three figures vanished from sight.

Lin Yang and Bai Jing were slower to react. Lin Yang was fortunate to have a physique far superior to the average man; otherwise, the shockwave of the first rocket at the scrap yard would have claimed his life. He had only suffered superficial wounds, a testament to his physical resilience.

Bai Jing, a girl with no combat training and a slender frame, was nearly knocked unconscious by the violent collision. Her forehead was gashed by the seat, and blood trickled down into her eyes, threatening to flow further.

The most unfortunate was the young driver. Caught off guard, his hands had jerked the wheel out of pure reflex, and his head had slammed violently against the steering wheel due to inertia. He was now unconscious and bleeding profusely.

A sharp, primal sense of danger jolted Lin Yang, clearing his clouded mind. Before he could process the situation, the front and rear cars were obliterated, and flying shrapnel shattered the windows of their own vehicle.

Lin Yang instinctively shielded his head. Because the car had spun ninety degrees, Bai Jing was shielded by Lin Yang’s body, sparing her from the lethal shards of glass that he took instead.

Lin Yang would have preferred to crawl to the floor, but that would have left Bai Jing exposed to the glass. As a man, he could not allow that to happen, so he resigned himself to acting as a human shield.

In his exertion, he pressed down heavily on Bai Jing. Dazed and disoriented, she felt the pressure, and the contact triggered a sudden surge of sensation. Unlike Tang Yixue, Bai Jing was extremely sensitive.

Lin Yang had inadvertently pressed his hands directly onto her chest. In a moment of base, instinctive reaction, his hands gripped the soft curves firmly.

Bai Jing let out a moan so seductive and alluring that it would have stirred desire in any man. Lin Yang’s heart wavered, and his grip tightened involuntarily. Had his ears not been sharp enough to catch the warning signal of the incoming rocket, he might have lost himself entirely.

A rocket. That was his first realization amidst the haze of pleasure. Without dwelling on the sensation, he kicked the car door open with all his might. As the door flew off, he shoved Bai Jing out, effectively launching her away from the vehicle.

"Ah!" Caught off guard, fear overriding her reason, Bai Jing let out a shrill scream as she tumbled into the weeds by the road.

Lin Yang jumped out immediately after her. He had barely cleared the car by a meter when the rocket with the brilliant tail struck.

Boom! A violent explosion erupted. Lin Yang, still in the air, was blasted even further away, landing beyond where Bai Jing had fallen.

The force of the explosion was immense. Having been in the air and within the danger zone, it was easy for the blast to throw him. As flames showered down, his clothes caught fire.

The pungent smell of burning fabric was nauseating. Fortunately, Lin Yang landed on a slope and rolled like a snowball until he was stopped by a mound of earth. The tumbling motion accidentally smothered the flames, saving him from being roasted alive. Even so, he had sustained burns from the fire.

Struggling to crawl up from the debris, Lin Yang did not dare stand. He crept toward Bai Jing. His landing spot was in a low-lying area, and the evening mist had begun to roll in, masking him from the enemy. Had they seen him unscathed, they surely would have fired another rocket without hesitation.

Killing one is no different from killing a hundred; no one doubted that the enemy would hesitate to fire again.

Once the three vehicles were reduced to scrap, the ambushers emerged from the high ground. There were few of them, but their weaponry was terrifying: one rocket launcher, four AK-47s, and three of them had high-explosive grenades hanging from their belts.

Most striking were their matching camouflage uniforms. Unlike regular soldiers, these five appeared to be typical special forces: camouflage paint on their faces, ghillie-like netting on their backs, and heavy rucksacks.

"Boss, they must be dead by now! With that kind of power and the element of surprise, it’s impossible for them to have survived," said one of the men, whose voice sounded no older than thirty, with a cold sneer.

The voice was low, yet it carried clearly through the desolate, deathly silent field, chilling to the bone.

The leader, who stood at the front, was leaner than the others. Yet, being the "Boss," his physical frame was no measure of his lethality. His eyes held a steady, murderous gaze—the kind of aura that only a veteran forged in the crucible of countless life-and-death struggles could possess.