Jasper felt a chill creeping up from the soles of his feet.
Simon's face was cold as ice, filled with murderous intent.
He glanced to his side, Kobe's body lay beside him, the assault rifle still in a guarding stance clutched in his hand, but his forehead had an extra charred bullet hole.
"Damn...it's all over..."
Jasper cursed, trembling.
Just over half an hour ago, he still had a well-equipped "Watcher" squad under his command, now he was left all alone.
More frighteningly, the "Satan" Team A, who were supposed to be ambushing the perimeter, had completely lost contact, and from Simon's slightly smug smile, he seemed to have found the answer.
Although both the "Watcher" and "Satan" battalion Team A were elite, Simon was familiar with the deployment positions of these people, making a move from behind was as easy as pie, no elite commando could withstand a cold gunshot from behind.
"Sizzle..."
Suddenly a static noise came through the headset.
"Sir...we were ambushed...the other side used the same channel and identification code as us..."
A violent cough interrupted the communication.
"This is a trap! I repeat, this is a trap..."
Bam!
The gunfire rang out, the communication abruptly ended.
Jasper's cold sweat soaked through his combat uniform.
The voice on the channel just now was from one of the members of the "Satan" battalion Team A.
Clearly, they were all finished.
There's no need to ask, it must have been Simon's handiwork.
He recalled Simon's eerie smile before departure, remembering Song Heping's several precise breakouts through encirclements, including when he tracked Khalid's cabin, within ten minutes, Song Heping had already fled like the wind to the refinery, and knew like Heavenly Eye the arrival time and troop deployment...
All the clues suddenly linked into a horrifying truth — Simon was clearly
"When did you start working for Song?"
He asked unwillingly.
Now, Jasper knew he could no longer leave alive.
But before dying, he longed for an answer.
"I can only tell you, it's been a while."
Simon frowned a bit, replying nonchalantly.
"It's just that you guys didn't know."
Suddenly, his right foot stomped fiercely, pinning down Jasper's wrist.
Crack—
Jasper heard a dislocating sound from his wrist.
"Ah—"
He cried out like a slaughtered pig again.
"Don't play tricks in front of me." Simon bent down, fished out a hand grenade from Jasper's waist, looked at it, and then tossed it aside.
"You can be a hero, but not now. In a few hours, you'll die here, and so will Song, then you'll be listed in the casualty report and sent back to headquarters, then a new star will be posted for you on the wall of unnamed heroes."
"Simon...we used to be partners..."
Jasper's face looked even paler than a corpse in the morgue under the moonlight.
"You don't have to..."
"Only the dead can keep secrets."
Simon interrupted his plea, took all the grenades and weapons off his body, and tossed them away.
Then dragged the screaming Jasper towards the center of the factory district, blood trails forming a gruesome path on the rusty ground.
While Jasper and Simon were conversing outside the factory district, Song Heping and others, who were ambushed inside, faced a long dead silence.
"Is there a battle outside?"
Antonov inquired over the channel.
"Did the Persians arrive?"
"Impossible!"
Song Heping looked at his watch.
"They should still be twenty minutes away, besides, I told them not to approach recklessly when they arrive nearby, to contact me first for the situation, and act on my orders."
"Then what's with the gunfire outside the district?"
Nura was curious.