77: The terrifying roc

Soon, Luo Hongyi and his team returned to the western border.

The vast majority of the western side was occupied by their team members; the civilians had all chosen the east and north.

A large number of people does not necessarily mean greater strength; it could also mean a larger target.

Everyone first ate military biscuits for dinner, then sat on the ground to rest, waiting for seven o'clock to arrive.

"Commander Luo, will they keep their promise and break through at exactly seven o'clock?"

"They should, this is everyone's best chance to break through."

"Commander Luo, will the Great Peng Bird come after us first?"

"Hopefully not."

Qin Shilei and his group stood dozens of meters to the right of Luo Hongyi's team, observing through the gaps in the giant trees with binoculars.

Time passed minute by minute, and soon it was exactly seven o'clock.

"Why aren't they running? Are they just tricking others into going ahead to scout and die?" An Qian said with some indignation.

"They look like they're ready to go, so they should still leave." Qin Shilei looked up at the sky but didn't see the four Great Peng Birds.

"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!"

Just then, several high-pitched calls came from the east.

"Go!"

Luo Hongyi gave the command and was the first to rush out onto the road ahead.

It turned out he intended to let others attract the Great Peng Birds first, departing a minute after seven o'clock.

Everyone ran frantically, while the Research Institute members like Elder Yu were each pulled forward by two soldiers, running at a pace not much slower than the other soldiers.

Soon they arrived in front of several abandoned cars about a hundred meters away.

"Xiao Chen, Xiao Lin, quickly start the cars."

Luo Hongyi chopped open the bus door with a single strike, allowing Xiao Chen and Xiao Lin, who were already prepared, to climb onto the truck.

There were no keys inside the car; Xiao Chen skillfully pulled a bundle of wires from under the steering wheel and then connected two of them.

"Clatter, clatter, clatter, boom." The bus successfully started.

Xiao Chen jumped out of the driver's seat and moved to start another bus.

The soldiers nearby quickly climbed onto the bus.

Soon, two buses and one dump truck roared as they sped forward.

"Whoosh! Whoosh!"

This time, the sound of the Great Peng Birds came from the north.

An Qian said with some surprise, "Have the Great Peng Birds already killed everyone in the east?"

Only a little over a minute had passed from the Great Peng Bird's first cry until now.

Qin Shilei interjected, "Commander Luo and his team are lucky; the Great Peng Birds came to this side last. They are also unlucky; they don't have enough time to escape."

They were still three to four thousand meters from the nearest mountain peak's jungle, requiring at least nearly three minutes of travel.

And the Great Peng Birds would probably fly over them in less than two minutes.

The last dump truck suddenly slowed down, gradually increasing the distance between itself and the two trucks ahead.

"Whoosh!"

At this moment, the Great Peng Bird had already flown above them and spotted them.

The Great Peng Bird swooped down in a dive.

Two soldiers were seen standing up from the back of the dump truck's cargo bed.

They raised their rocket launchers and aimed at the Great Peng Bird.

"Boom!"

Two rockets exploded almost simultaneously.

The Great Peng Bird flew through the explosion's fire.

Then, it fired a golden energy ball from the front of its beak, striking the dump truck's cab.

The dump truck immediately swayed left and right, then drove off the road shoulder, rolling into the field.

Two smaller Great Peng Birds also flew down, descending towards the dump truck's location.

Meanwhile, the Great Peng Bird continued to pursue the bus ahead.

That bus slammed on its brakes and stopped, then over a dozen soldiers ran out of the car doors and scattered.

The Great Peng Bird, like a high-speed fighter jet, flew close to the ground, leaving trails of blood.

Those soldiers were all crushed into meat paste by the Great Peng Bird; not a single one escaped.

This bus continued to drive forward.

The Great Peng Bird circled, then flew head-on into the bus.

Its hard and powerful wings directly struck the front of the bus.

The upper half of the bus was directly cut open.

"Boom!"

As the Great Peng Bird flew past half of the bus, a huge explosion suddenly occurred inside the bus.

A towering blaze instantly enveloped the entire Great Peng Bird.

The rapidly flying Great Peng Bird clearly paused, then flapped its wings and flew higher into the sky.

A plume of crimson blood mixed with countless feathers drifted down from its left wing.

"Whoosh!"

The Great Peng Bird let out an angry cry, then circled and pursued the foremost bus again.

"Get out of the car quickly."

The bus slammed on its brakes and stopped, seven or eight people jumped out of the windows, then ran desperately towards the civilian houses along the roadside.

The bus, meanwhile, put into reverse, rapidly backed away.

The Great Peng Bird looked at the few people about to escape into the civilian houses, then looked at the bus, and finally chose to fly down towards the bus.

Several consecutive golden energy balls blew up the bus, then it flew towards the isolated civilian houses.

It had no intention of getting close to those people again, directly firing energy balls downwards from twenty to thirty meters in the air.

Twenty to thirty energy balls cut the civilian houses below into a pile of ruins.

Then it circled the houses at close range for several more rounds before flying south again.

The two smaller Great Peng Birds continued to patrol this area.

"This is too fierce!"

An Qian looked at the half-burnt bus still burning in the distance, taking a long time to recover her senses.

"It can't even be killed like this; are we going to be trapped here for life?" Zhang Xiaoli said with a bitter tone.

"Luckily, we didn't escape with them, otherwise, we'd probably be gone without a trace now." Xie Haimei also felt a surge of lingering fear.

At the same time, the women were all filled with admiration for Qin Shilei, who could directly withstand a blow from the Great Peng Bird and even injure it.

Qin Shilei put down his binoculars and said calmly, "We can't go by land, we can only break through by water."

Unconsciously, it was past midnight.

Qin Shilei immediately fixed his own 'Sea King' title.

Then he turned to Zhang Qiang and said, "I'll send you off first, let's go."

Zhang Qiang threw half a log into the river; a surge of water swept over, and the log disappeared in the blink of an eye.

His heart trembled, "Brother Qin, will this really work? I'm terrible at swimming."

"I am a man respectfully called the Sea King; how can a mere small river trouble me?" Qin Shilei pointed at the river with a confident expression.

"Sea King?" An Qian said, drawing out her words.

"Yes, a true Sea King."

Qin Shilei had just finished speaking when he added, "Only the Sea King in the water."

"Women are made of water, you can also be a Sea King." An Qian continued to tease.

"Don't interrupt, Zhang Qiang, let's go." Qin Shilei was the first to enter the river from beside a giant tree.

As soon as he entered the water, Qin Shilei was like a fish in water, so at ease and comfortable.

Without any obvious movements, he naturally stayed in the turbulent river.

Zhang Qiang had no choice but to follow him into the river.

As soon as he stepped into the river, he was swept away by the current and disappeared.

Fortunately, there was a rope tied around his waist and connected to Qin Shilei's waist.

Qin Shilei quickly pulled him back to his side, then, holding the other's waistband, he submerged downstream.

Zhang Qiang, meanwhile, breathed air through a small tube exposed above the river surface.

Half an hour later, Qin Shilei brought the dizzy Zhang Qiang out of the river. "This is a small town twenty li away; it's temporarily safe. You go to the house on the bank and wait for us first."

Zhang Qiang rested for a while before recovering, then he entered the four-story building not far away.

And Qin Shilei swam back to the forest where they had been earlier.