348: Chapter 345 Retreat

"Don't worry about them. They'll find a way to escape. Even if they can't... they are incredibly loyal soldiers. They won't leave behind any evidence, and what's more, they won't be captured!"

Although Zhou Guoli spoke lightly, the meaning was exceptionally heavy. Life and death are fated; once a name is registered in the little book, if they die in the future, it just becomes a line of names appearing in the book of merits.

"But rest assured, these guys prepared in a hurry. They probably never expected us to make such a big move. They should have some handheld heavy firepower in their base, and they might even be able to call in nearby military units, but as long as we are fast enough, they won't be able to track a single trace of us."

Zhou Guoli waved his hand. Before this operation, although it happened suddenly, they weren't completely unprepared. At the very least, they had already scouted out the entire military situation of the research institute beforehand.

But the suddenness of the event also meant they needed to sacrifice more lives. For example, many of the moles embedded within Genentech—it's unlikely this group will survive, having facilitated this operation.

Looking through the rearview mirror, Zhou Guoli couldn't hide his emotions as he watched Dr. Zhang in the backseat, still pale and dazed, not yet recovered from the shock.

This Li Changsheng is truly a fierce warrior. Taking the head of a general from amidst ten thousand soldiers in ancient times would be nothing more than this.

"You kid, sit back down and behave. I really don't know how you can still be jumping around when you're the most severely injured."

Zhou Guoli shook his head, his gaze falling back onto Li Changsheng. On his body, one could clearly see six or seven bullet holes, some hitting his shoulder, waist, abdomen, and chest.

In short, there were bullet holes in both vital and non-vital areas. However, the amount of bleeding was surprisingly small, far less than others. It looked like just a stain; while others would still be bleeding, Li Changsheng's wounds had already clotted.

"I won't be at peace if I don't ask. I'll rest for a bit, but I want to ask, when can we return to our country?"

This was the matter Li Changsheng cared about most. Having sacrificed so much, wasn't it all just to return home?

From this point on, his desire to return home grew even stronger, much like a soldier who has slaughtered too much on the battlefield and is in dire need of spiritual comfort.

In this foreign land, although he could sleep peacefully as long as he had a bed, something was still missing.

Now that he had walked through the gates of hell, he could be considered to be returning home in glory, and Li Changsheng's longing for home was naturally even greater.

"No rush. Your injuries are serious; get them treated and rest for a while. When the time comes, I will arrange a boat to send you back to our country. Don't worry, it's definitely not an ordinary smuggling boat; I guarantee you'll be sent back comfortably!"

Zhou Guoli smiled, but he drove faster and faster, creating the sensation of extreme drifting on the winding mountain road.

Upon hearing this, Li Changsheng sat back in his original position and closed his eyes to rest. The violent shaking of the vehicle made others nervously grab onto whatever they could find nearby.

Yet he remained as steady as Mount Tai, his body swaying slightly, always maintaining a horizontal angle with the vehicle's motion.

A wave of intense sleepiness swept over him, but Li Changsheng resisted it. He knew very well that this was his body's warning mechanism reminding him.

He checked his panel and found that his Lifespan had only been deducted by five days. Although it was continuing to be deducted at a rate of one day per hour, Li Changsheng didn't care.

This meant that while the injuries were enough to affect his health, they were by no means fatal.

"A few bullets were firmly lodged in my muscles. My Hard Qigong should be stronger than Odoba's now, but my muscle density is still quite a bit worse.

Being able to keep them from penetrating into the muscle layer is all thanks to the danger warning and extreme reaction speed after reaching the stage of Hua Jin."

Recalling how, several times after realizing he couldn't dodge, he had instinctively performed a Shun Jin movement in an instant, following the momentum backward, while simultaneously using a combination of Springing Power and the rounded force of Hua Jin to neutralize and offset most of the impact.

Otherwise, these bullets would have surely turned him into a sieve, just like Peter Guo, who only possessed decent force-deflection skills and a bit of Hard Qigong.

"However, modern bullet wounds are going to be much more troublesome to recuperate from."

Now that the previous life-or-death crisis had passed, the dopamine secretion began to gradually subside, and brain excitement levels dropped; naturally, the pain became incomparably clear.

Moving his internal energy slightly, Li Changsheng felt waves of muscle-twitching pain, and the area around the bullet holes felt numbingly painful.

"This aspect of entering the Hua Jin stage is not so good. The whole body is like one entity; if one place is injured, the whole body feels the pain, and the force is hard to form a circle again. My kung fu is still not high enough."

Li Changsheng shook his head internally. It was like a tire; if grooves appeared on the surface, it would inevitably affect the overall performance, whether it was the rotation speed or the overall stability.

This was exactly how Li Changsheng felt right now; his force could not form a whole, and it always disconnected near the wounds.

If it were the firearms and bullets from the modern era, it might be easier to deal with, but with modern firearms, many bullets are fired with a spiral trajectory.

After entering the human body, it's like a naughty child, constantly spiraling. Bullet fragments scatter deep inside, and if you're not careful, they can easily destroy most of your internal organs.

Li Changsheng was lucky; two of the bullets were from a pistol and didn't have much spiral. The other few bullets were all rifled bullets that spiraled upon impact.

Fortunately, none of them were the type of bullets that shatter upon impact.

Even so, the few spiraling bullets made Li Changsheng feel that the muscles around those bullets were showing signs of necrosis.

If an ordinary person were shot by this kind of bullet, the spiral tearing happens inside the body; even if it doesn't hit an organ, there's a high probability of death.

Li Changsheng was different; the bullets stopped in the surface layers. If he were to take off his clothes and look, he could clearly see that the skin around the bullet holes on his chest and abdomen was black and blue, with veins bulging, looking extremely hideous as if he had been infected by some kind of zombie virus.

This was caused by the blood vessels and muscles being twisted by the immense spiral force, leading to muscle and vessel necrosis. If not treated as soon as possible, it would only get worse.

Nearly ten miles outside the city, the bus suddenly took a turn and drove directly into a dense forest, finally stopping beside a lake.

After Zhou Guoli had everyone get off, he stepped on the gas pedal, leaped out from the open door, and the bus plunged into the water with a splash.

"Let's go. Our own vehicles are nearby; there are medical personnel inside who can provide treatment!"

Zhou Guoli got up in a disheveled state, brushed the dirt off his body, and beckoned them.

The cars he referred to were in a dense forest about three hundred meters away on foot. There were several cars, but they were all covered with various camouflage materials.

Brushing away the leaves and vines on top, it revealed several buses with various food graffiti on the surface. It was evident that these appeared to be the mobile food trucks that were very common here in the US.

Li Changsheng didn't think too much about it. Zhou Guoli's subordinates were all a group of master infiltrators; they had never said that their people only infiltrated Acupuncture Clinics. Perhaps some of the brothers were moonlighting in other professions.