Chapter 280 - 150: Annihilation

Chapter 280: Chapter 150: Annihilation

The voices were faint, but loud enough for Xu Mo to tell it was the two men outside the tent talking.

Xu Mo slowed his steps, preparing to move closer. He wanted to get within twenty meters to ensure the suddenness and devastation of his initial strike.

Xu Mo gently lifted his left foot, stepping over a clump of dry weeds as he searched for his next foothold—

"Who’s there?!"

A sudden roar erupted from inside the tent! The voice was completely different from the casual chatter from before, now sharp with sudden alarm!

’My heart tightened,’ Xu Mo thought. ’I was sure my movements had been extremely light, making almost no discernible sound. How did they detect me? Is there some kind of early-warning trap set up in the camp? Or does one of them have superhuman senses?’

But these thoughts flashed through Xu Mo’s mind in an instant. Since he was exposed, there was no longer any need to hide.

"It’s me! I’m back—!"

Xu Mo shouted back. At the same time, he put all his strength into his right arm and precisely hurled the high-explosive grenade he had been clutching in his palm—pin already pulled, spoon held down—straight for the space between the tent’s entrance and the source of the voice!

The grenade traced a low, swift parabola through the air, sailing over the heads of the two men outside—who had just been alerted by the shout—and slipped through the half-open flap of the tent!

"Who are—"

The alert voice from inside the tent only managed to get out two words. The second had just left his lips—

BOOM—!!!

A world-shaking explosion, like a sudden clap of thunder, instantly shattered the afternoon stillness of the mountain hollow!

A blazing fireball swelled violently from within the tent, ripping the heavy canvas from the inside out into countless burning fragments! The shockwave, carrying intense heat, shrapnel, and torn fabric, swept outwards in all directions like an invisible sledgehammer. A few clothes-drying racks were twisted and flung into the air like toys.

At the edge of the tent, the burly man and the thin one were thrown to the ground by the blast. One was instantly covered in blood, letting out a terrified and agonized scream!

"AHHH—!! My eyes!!"

It all happened too fast. From Xu Mo’s exposure and response to the grenade’s detonation, no more than three or four seconds had passed. In an instant, the lazy tranquility of the afternoon camp had plunged into a hell of flames and smoke.

Xu Mo didn’t waste a single second.

Before the shockwave of the explosion had even fully subsided, he burst from his cover. His body shot forward like an arrow loosed from a bow, heading straight for the heart of the camp! At the same time, the AK-47 from his back was already in his hands, stock against his shoulder, muzzle pointed low, ready to fire at a moment’s notice!

However, the expected return fire never came.

From the direction of the tent, there was no movement other than the two figures writhing on the ground, groaning and wailing. The doors and windows of the other RVs remained shut, with no sign of anyone rushing out to help.

Xu Mo quickly closed in on the two fallen men.

The shirtless, burly man lay in a pool of blood, his eyes squeezed shut and his face a bloody mess; he had clearly taken shrapnel to a vital area. The other, thinner man was clutching his leg and letting out an inhuman howl. His lower leg was bent at an unnatural angle, with shards of bone protruding as blood gushed out.

Xu Mo didn’t hesitate. He didn’t even slow down.

BANG! BANG!

Two short, precise shots. The twitching bodies on the ground went still.

Smoke curled from the muzzle of his rifle as Xu Mo stepped over the corpses and approached the tattered remains of the tent. The once-sturdy, army-green canvas now hung in shredded pieces from the twisted frame. Through a larger tear, Xu Mo saw the scene inside—or rather, the bloody sight of a man and a woman entangled together.

The two had clearly been in the middle of getting intimate. When the explosion hit, they hadn’t even had time to get up, let alone get dressed or fight back.

The shrapnel and shockwave from the high-explosive grenade had left countless horrific wounds on their naked bodies. The man’s back, in particular, was almost completely blown apart, and the woman had a hole torn in her abdomen.

And somehow, they weren’t dead yet, their mouths emitting garbled sounds that were somewhere between groans and screams.

Xu Mo stood outside the torn tent, looking at the scene with a sense of resignation. He couldn’t even be bothered to bend down and lift the completely warped tent flap.

RAT-TAT-TAT-TAT—!

A spray of bullets swept across the two still-writhing bodies, sending them on their way.

"This is what you were after, anyway," Xu Mo explained as he changed his magazine. "You wanted to reach heaven in pleasure. I just gave you a different way to get there."

From the grenade’s explosion to finishing off all four of them, no more than seven or eight seconds had passed.

After finishing, Xu Mo quickly ducked behind an RV, using its side for cover. He scanned his surroundings vigilantly, his rifle muzzle sweeping the area.

The intel had said there were supposed to be six people in this camp. He had just killed four—the two inside the tent, plus the two who were active outside. That meant two people were still missing.

’Where did they go?’

’If they were hiding in one of the vehicles, why didn’t they come out to support their comrades when the grenade went off and the gunshots started?’

Maintaining high alert, Xu Mo quickly and carefully searched the entire camp.

He searched the four RVs one by one. The first three were empty, showing only signs of messy living. Deep inside the fourth vehicle, several neatly folded field uniforms bearing the Jiang City logistics insignia and a pried-open, empty supply crate lay quietly. They were the belongings of some nameless Messenger. Xu Mo fell silent for a few seconds, then backed out without touching anything.