King Of War: Starting with Arms Dealer

Sanderson urgently checked the condition of the Rangers, three seriously wounded, the rest each carrying injuries.

The gunfire outside continued, stray bullets kept flying into the house.

Joe Ga and Dorian voluntarily took positions by the windows, firing their guns for cover while shouting loudly, instructing Sanderson to organize a retreat with the wounded Rangers.

The smoke from the smoke grenades made visibility poor, which Joe Ga was unaccustomed to, but the thermal scope on his HK416 gave him an unparalleled tactical advantage.

"Pop pop pop pop pop..."

Continuous trigger pulls silenced the gunner in the opposite house, and Joe Ga, while loading his grenade launcher, yelled at Karman, "Dragon Gecko, get to the back and set up cover; we're pulling out soon."

For the first time, Karman truly put aside his worries about Joe Ga, and without any hesitation, he yanked a smoke grenade and a gas grenade from Joe Ga, and ran to the back of the house.

After launching the two auxiliary grenades into the street behind, Karman extended his grenade launcher outside the door, firing a series of grenades toward where he remembered the enemy was, then waved to Sanderson amidst the explosions, "Charge through, take them and charge through, 'Impact' and I will cover you."

The Rangers were confused by the situation, but Waters reacted promptly. The remaining six who could still run formed pairs, each carrying a seriously wounded comrade, and dashed across the street shrouded by the smoke grenades, into a house on the other side.

Smoke grenades truly are a godsend for weaker squads in combat, especially when you're facing a strong enemy; they can obscure your movements and afford you a tactical advantage.

Of course, the Rangers weren't up to it. Having night-vision goggles was considered good enough for them; thermal scopes hadn't yet been added to their gear.

However, this wasn't a concern for P·B; not only did the boss have one, but all the staff were equipped with them as well.

When the Rangers crossed the first street, Karman and 'Impact' chose not to counterattack.

The sporadic probing shots indicated the presence of terrorist special forces in the vicinity.

But the boss's safety was paramount; even if a counterattack couldn't cause them actual harm, the delay in their retreat would still be damaging.

Joe Ga and Dorian at the front of the house were fighting like madmen!

The terrorists' combat instincts were too strong; if they couldn't be stopped and allowed to pursue, the difficulty of the retreat would increase several fold.

"Pop pop pop pop pop..."

The faint sound of the HK416 had never stopped, and Joe Ga had never, like today, adjusted his rate of fire to fully automatic.

In the past, he aimed for lethal effectiveness; now, that was no longer his concern—he just needed to hit the enemy first.

The enemy within a horizontal distance of 100 meters from the Rangers' shack were all within Joe Ga's firing range, and none who he targeted escaped the deadly bullets.

Initially, the terrorists didn't realize what kind of enemy they were facing.

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The smoke not only blocked both parties' vision but also hindered communication among the terrorists.

It wasn't until after Joe Ga had killed a dozen men, silencing most of the machine gun positions, that the terrorists realized they had encountered a formidable opponent.

Joe Ga felt the enemy's fire weakening across from him. He decisively tossed another smoke grenade and a gas grenade, then signaled to Dorian, "We're moving out...."

The battle just now seemed easy, but the enemy's firepower had been fierce in reality.

Dorian touched his bleeding arm, looking at his boss who, like a chosen one, had emerged unscathed. As he quickly retreated, he said, "Boss, you must have some secret. Why do bullets never find you?

You have to share your secret with me so you can save a fortune in condolence money."

Joe Ga hurriedly instructed Dorian to set up two "Broad Sword" mines in the room before chasing after the lead soldiers, laughing as he said, "I don't know either, maybe this is just the boss's luck."

Dorian nodded earnestly and said, "Boss, you should weave some of your hair into lucky charms or something. A lot of people would like that.

Shit, I just got grazed by a bullet a moment ago, almost lost my arm."

People who fight wars over long periods tend to be superstitious, for the battlefield is a place where luck matters.

Some come out of a lifetime of battles unscathed, while others are torn apart on their first encounter.

There's no reason to it, and evidently, Joe Ga became Dorian's 'lucky charm.'n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

As the two talked, they rushed to the rear of the house. Seeing Karman waiting for him, Joe Ga decisively dashed into the smoky street and entered the house across.

Then, as he waited for Karman and Dorian to arrive, Joe Ga called out to Sanderson, who had always been playing Vanguard, "We'll take the lead...."

With that, Joe Ga quickly crossed the room and threw two smoke grenades toward the exit.

Once the smoke covered the narrow street, Joe Ga, Dorian, and Karman charged across and established cover on either side of the 'entrance.'

Waters could only use one hand, but he still carried the comrade with an injured neck.

After crossing the area covered by smoke grenades and seeing the people from P·B untouched by any attack, Waters said with a bemused expression, "Remind me next time, no matter what, always bring a few smoke grenades on missions.

"I'm absolutely in love with this thing now!"

Waters, who had a pot lid on his back and had lost a lot of blood earlier, was now a bit delirious. Hearing his boss's words, he managed a difficult smile and said, "Boss, smoke grenades won't solve our problem. Should we have 'Syringe' bring more morphine next time? I like that stuff…"

Waters glanced at the pot lid on his back with discontent and said, "How about we bring weed on our missions from now on, shall we?"

The pot lid was desperately trying to start a conversation and nodded, "Yes, I like weed cookies. They're a stroke of genius.

"Boss, I think I can walk now, let me down, I think I can walk on my own."

Waters could feel that his comrade on his back was not doing well and yelled forward to Sanderson, "Vanguard, we've got to move faster, 'Chain' needs a blood transfusion!"

Joe Ga heard Waters' shouting but he was already moving as fast as he could.

'Gas Alley' had cleared them a safe path, but just because there were no enemies 'on the road' didn't mean there were no enemies on either side of the narrow path.

The terrorists in Western Asia were fighters with combat experience beyond belief. As Joe Ga and his team were passing through the fourth building, they started to notice a pattern. Then, as they crossed the street in a flash, the enemy sniped at them.

The one killed was a civilian who had insisted on retreating with Joe Ga and his team.

Feeling somewhat uneasy, Joe Ga took the unfortunate man's wife and children with him, determined not to let the man die in vain.

What Joe Ga hadn't expected was his action would lead to civilians along their route starting to choose to move with him.

If it had only been about rescuing the Rangers at the beginning, by the time Joe Ga and his team reached a point only 150 meters from the mosque, they were followed by a civilian convoy of over 50 people, most of whom were women and children, and this number was growing even as Joe Ga and his team stopped to check the situation ahead.

150 meters...

Joe Ga called Dorian over and threw all the smoke grenades they had to both sides of the open ground.

Thick smoke spread instantaneously over the empty lot!

Before Joe Ga could call others to rush over, gunfire erupted from both sides.

Joe Ga didn't take the situation lightly and said to Waters, "You guys go first, don't hesitate. Once you get into the mosque, you're safe."

Waters was a seasoned veteran; he didn't need Joe Ga to remind him. He bent down, carrying his comrade, counting the rhythm of the machine-gun fire from both sides...

Firing blindly without visibility was impossible, the machine guns on both sides could only intermittently fire three-round bursts towards the smoke-grenade-enveloped area in the hopes of hitting an enemy by chance.

Soon, Waters caught the rhythm of the machine guns. He charged into the smoke after a burst of three shots stopped, rushing along the route in his memory to the back door of the mosque.

With the first wave of survivors making a dash for it, the rest gained much more confidence.

Joe Ga didn't worry about them; he crouched by the wall of the building, replenishing smoke grenades for cover while using his thermal scope to search for lethal enemies.

However, Joe Ga's purpose in seeking out enemies was not to shoot, because any movement would bring attacks to those around him. He meant to notify Nis in the mosque.

"Six o'clock direction, 230 meters, second floor balcony with a carpet hanging…"

Before Joe Ga could finish, a shot from an SVD sniper rang out from the second floor of the mosque.

A spray of blood erupted from the balcony over two hundred meters away.

Seeing Nis had hit the target, Joe Ga signalled for people behind him to follow, while he continued his search for any enemy that might attack.

"Seven o'clock direction…"

"Ten o'clock direction…"

The precise sniping from the mosque quickly unsettled the enemy.

They first concentrated heavy machine-gun fire on the mosque's second floor, then a large number of terrorists began to fire blindly towards the mosque.

The many stray bullets made the retreat difficult; several unfortunate civilians were hit while running and fell to the ground screaming, and then the terrorists knew there were people in the smoke…

Joe Ga watched as two young children clung to a fallen civilian, beginning to cry loudly, and a barrage of bullets started to spray into the smoke.

Those bullets had no accuracy, but Joe Ga knew he couldn't let the two young kids stay there; their cries would attract relentless firing.

After shooting to stop a machine-gun position a hundred meters away, Joe Ga shouted to Dorian, "Elephant, get them out of here!"

Just as his gun was aimed at the two children, Karman held back Dorian, saying, "I'll go…"

After speaking, Karman raised his grenade launcher and fired a series of grenades to the left, slightly reducing the shooting frequency from that side. Then he sprang out like a cheetah, snatched up the two children crying over their parent, and raced towards the back door of the mosque.

At the same time, people inside the mosque also began to shoot, the machine gunners began to strafe potential enemy targets.

As Joe Ga felt the pressure decrease, he stood up, slung his rifle on his back, picked up a little girl of about two or three, and called out to the civilians who were determined to follow him in retreat, "Follow me, and don't stop for anything!"