Chapter 1189 - 1047

The coarse aluminum foil lining of the thermal blanket scratched against Song Heping's cheek, the highland's cold wind like countless icy whips lashing at the limbs barely wrapped by the blanket.

He pressed tightly into the recess in the cold, rugged rock wall, his body curled to the extreme, making himself look like a lifeless stone.

Overhead, the relentless MQ-9 "Grim Reaper" drone plowed through the high altitude again and again.

The shadow of death cast by its enormous wingspan weighed heavily on every nerve of Song Heping.

Perhaps the altitude was too high, or maybe the operator far away in the Nevada drone control center thought the target had already spotted them and deliberately hidden, or perhaps there was nothing here that could threaten the drone's safety, so the operator started to boldly decrease altitude, performing a plowing scan of the area.

Each time it flew overhead, the faint hum of its engine penetrated the air and rock, piercing Song Heping's eardrums like a cold dagger, announcing the presence of the Hunter.

No movement allowed.

Infrared signals are the most deadly beacon.

Time became sticky and prolonged in the extreme cold and intense tension.

Sweat soaked the lining and quickly turned ice-cold in the highland's biting chill, clinging to the skin.

His muscles stiffened from prolonged stillness, starting even to tremble slightly.

He forced himself to breathe in the tiniest, almost indiscernible manner, each inhalation cautious to avoid excessive rise and fall of the chest.

The infrared camera suspended below the MQ-9 drone's nose was no amateur in sensitivity.

Even the slightest release of thermal infrared would be captured by it.

The thermal blanket isolated most of his body heat, but the cost was that the heat couldn't dissipate, turning the sweat-soaked clothes inside into a wet cold torture.

Ten minutes.

Twenty minutes.

Maybe longer.

The "Grim Reaper" slid past again, this time with what seemed like an extremely slight pause in its flight path.

The pause was so brief it felt like an illusion, yet it poured like icy water down Song Heping's spine!

Locked on?

Or merely adjusting the scanning angle?

Can't wait any longer!

In the instant the drone's nose was turning, preparing for the next round of scanning loop, Song Heping moved!

Not running, but sticking to the ground like a lizard slipping between rocks, using a narrow "blind zone" formed by the crisscross of rock shadows he observed earlier, scuttling forward on hands and knees!

His movements were swift yet exceptionally low, dragging the thermal blanket behind to maximize concealment of his body outline and potential heat leaks.

The crushed stones and sharp eroded materials jabbed at his knees and palms, causing piercing pain, but it was entirely disregarded.

Dashing out over a dozen meters, he lunged down again, diving into another rock base with natural grooves, wrapping the thermal blanket tightly around himself and hiding in the deepest part of the shadow.

His heart pounded wildly in his chest, smashing against his ribs, almost bursting out.

He held his breath, listening intently.

Overhead, the drone's engine hum suddenly grew louder!

Evidently, it had detected that momentary anomaly.

The circles of its flight path shrank abruptly, and its altitude was decreasing, like a Vulture sensing blood, locking onto this area.

The cold "gaze" of its high-precision electro-optical probe swept repeatedly over the rocks surrounding Song Heping's hiding spot.

Cold sweat instantly drenched Song Heping's forehead.

He clutched the edge of the thermal blanket tightly, each second dragging like an eternity. He had the palpable sense of that cold electronic gaze penetrating rock, scanning his outline.

The "Grim Reaper" drone circled the nearby airspace like a death net gradually tightening.

No longer can stay passively on the defensive!

The other side clearly sensed something was amiss here.

Song Heping's gaze swept over the surrounding terrain.

On the left side was a steep, nearly vertical rock face, riddled with weathered cracks, difficult to climb and extremely exposed.

The right side had relatively gentler terrain, but was strewn with crushed rocks, lacking large cover, an open death zone.

Straight ahead, in the extension of the canyon's direction, was a dry riverbed Carved by seasonal floods, approximately a meter deep, winding forward with banks piled with numerous rocks of varying sizes carried by the water flow, forming a natural, intermittent line of cover.

That's the place!

He took a deep breath, suppressing the metallic taste and fear surging in his chest.

At the moment when the "Grim Reaper" completed another high-precision scan, its nose tipping slightly, preparing for the next larger-scale search—

Song Heping abruptly flung off the thermal blanket, his body springing out like a compressed spring unleashed to the extreme.

He didn't choose to run in a straight line, instead skirting the edge of the dry riverbed, using the jagged stones as jump-off points and temporary cover, employing an irregular zigzag leap!

One step!

Push off!

Roll!

Another step!

Leap!

Tumble down!

Each movement executed with maximum intensity, each pause utilizing rock or riverbed corners for the briefest concealment.

He was like a gray lightning bolt, madly leaping on the edge of death.

Whoosh—!!!

A piercing sound tearing through the air descended from the sky! A "Hellfire" air-to-ground missile, trailing an orange-red flare, like the Grim Reaper's spear of judgment, aimed precisely at the huge rock he had vacated less than two seconds ago!

"Boom!!!"

The deafening explosion roared suddenly.

A wild shockwave, mixed with scorching air currents and countless rock fragments, swept across the whole riverbed like a storm!