212: Chapter 212 The Burning Wind

"Hey, kid, did you receive the final payment?"

"I got it... What's up today?"

"Nothing, just dropped by for a look... Why? Still want to keep trading with me?"

"If you can still come up with good stuff." Tom stood with his hands on his hips. "I don't mind continuing to cooperate."

"That's good. Next time there's a chance, I'll make another deal with you."

"Nothing today?"

"Always getting good things isn't necessarily a good thing for you." Li Ming shrugged. "Hyenas always target defenseless prey full of fat, but when faced with those who can resist, they swarm and tear the prey to pieces."

"...What do you mean? Just gibberish..."

Li Ming chuckled. "You'll understand later. If you need to find me, hang around here at dusk; maybe I'll be nearby."

Li Ming turned and left, leaving a bewildered Tom behind.

"Something's wrong with him." Tom tilted his head. "Are all Huaxia people this strange?"

Calling his young companions, Tom planned to go to the outskirts of the city to scavenge for scrap today, seeing if he could find anything useful.

Meanwhile, Li Ming turned toward the other side of the city, planning to record the patrol's armament and the third-party civilian forces within the city.

He had discovered yesterday that not only in the UN-controlled areas but also near the conflict zones created by the standoff between the two sides, there were civilians and even armed groups.

In areas lacking food, electricity, and fresh water, survival required considerable wisdom.

Therefore, understanding them was a necessary part of surviving in this city.

Li Ming and Logic analyzed for a while and concluded that black markets and various gangs or communities must have emerged in this city to maintain livelihoods.

...Maybe Maria would know something.

But now, Li Ming had another objective to complete.

Passing through the ruins, Li Ming arrived at the I-610 Loop. This route circled the core area of Houston, and the Donkey Party army had used it to establish a siege, surrounding the Mediation Force completely.

Every few hundred meters, there was a checkpoint built alongside the road, with walls and sentry posts constructed from various materials, garrisoned by soldiers and supplies.

Individually, the armament of these checkpoints didn't look very strong—the heaviest firepower might just be individual grenades and squad machine guns—but the problem was that they could support each other, and there were mobile units patrolling between them, making it quite troublesome.

So what should be done next? If they couldn't obtain resources, the Mediation Force would sooner or later be worn down to death...

According to information Logic obtained through the signal towers, the main forces of the Donkey Party army were concentrated at George Airport to the north and William Airport to the south. Once a fight broke out, both airports would definitely sound an early warning, and then everyone would suffer when the shelling and air force arrived...

After spending some time climbing a high-rise that hadn't collapsed yet, Li Ming was able to observe the interior of the nearest checkpoint.

Judging by its scale, this checkpoint was deployed with about a squad of soldiers, had a small storage warehouse inside, and a jeep, with no other heavy equipment found.

...If it were just this many people, it should be easy for the Mediation Force to break through.

But based on the situation with the unit that had chased him last time, it definitely wouldn't be that simple.

The Mediation Force's control zone was suppressed around the Four Seasons Hotel in the very center of the city. Beyond that, there were only early warning posts and established camps. The vast area between the I-610 highway and the vicinity of the Four Seasons Hotel was under a kind of unknown gray veil.

But overall, this area was still relatively quiet.

"Ah... here they come." Li Ming picked up his binoculars. "Logic, help me check the composition of the mobile patrol."

"This patrol has four machine-gun Hummers, one M1131, and one M1128... Ho, they've already brought out the retired stuff?"

"Even if they're retired, they're not easy to deal with..." Li Ming clicked his tongue. "And this might only be one of the patrols."

"Indeed. Commander, do you plan to continue reconnaissance?"

"Definitely. Let's go observe the other checkpoints."

"Then deploy the pulleys?"

"Find a place to deploy them, avoiding the sight of the checkpoints and patrols."

"Naturally. Move to a new position first; I'll pick a suitable area for you."

Using a disposable zip line, Li Ming landed smoothly, then gave it a hard tug to pull it down, jogging to another spot to avoid being crushed by the falling pulley—that would be a pathetic way to die, and Li Ming didn't want to restart for such a reason.

Now, he headed east, looking for a new suitable observation point.

On the way, he encountered a scavenger. The two stared at each other for a moment before the other party proactively avoided him, not intending to clash with someone who looked so formidable.

Finally, he found a position that looked decent and looked up at the roof of a high-rise.

"...Climbing stairs, sigh, climbing stairs."

"If you want, I can try to restore the elevator's operation."

"Forget it, I don't want to get hit by a rocket launcher."

"Well, there you go."

"Just venting a bit..."

"Venting on the battlefield might cost you your life, you know?"

"Logic..."

"Oh, I know, I know... You really won't let me talk. How did you grow up like this..."

"..."

He didn't argue with Logic further because he now needed to exert himself to climb over a dozen floors. He always felt that sooner or later, he would die of exhaustion.

——————

"Hmm... what do you think of him?"

"Sir, if I may be blunt, his personality is a bit too... mild. He doesn't quite seem like an old hand who's been through five or six years of civil war."

"What do you mean?"

"He might be someone sent from Huaxia, but I don't have any actual evidence. However, his counter-reconnaissance skills and physical fitness are very strong, which is why I suspect so."

"In other words, you think he might be hiding some other mission?"

"Indeed. But I don't know much about Huaxia; I only know they like to plan ahead."

"I can understand your line of thinking, but we still have no evidence to show he was sent by Huaxia... What do you plan to do?"

"Better to have one more friend than one more enemy, Sir." Maria looked at the middle-aged man in camouflage across from her. "I want to continue contacting him... even if it means making some sacrifices, maybe we can trade for a glimmer of hope."

"...Sigh, I've put you through a lot."

"Sir, we stayed here voluntarily, so naturally, we won't back down."

...

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