Louis was shocked. "You blew up the enemy's arsenal!" he exclaimed.
Alex smiled deviously. "My plan worked, then?"
"I'm genuinely not sure if you're brave or just stupid," Louis replied, shaking his head. "In close combat in the desert, explosives are risky. If you don't use them properly, then the smoke and dust will block our vision for a long time. It can really hinder the whole operation."
He figured Alex would have known all that, but it seemed that he wasn't as experienced as he had assumed. Now he was second-guessing his partnership with him.
"I hadn't even thought of that," Alex said, shrugging. "But I guess I've learned my lesson."
He knew Louis was right. After all, he had briefly been buried under the dirt and debris himself.
"What's the situation inside?" Alex asked. "Did anyone escape?"
"Everyone was inside when the explosion occurred," Louis replied. "Even if someone had wanted to escape, they wouldn't have been able to. But I don't know how many of them were killed by the blast."
"All right," Alex said. "You go and count the number of people. I'll stay here, so I'll be able to see if anyone comes out." He turned his head just as someone from the underground was coming out.
He waited for the person to come out completely before he suddenly opened fire, and they fell to the ground with a thud.
"Hey!" Louis was shocked. "Did you even see who it was? Why did you shoot him?"
Alex smiled. He had seen it clearly.
"Captain!" called out the soldier who had been reprimanded by Sawyer.
Louis looked back and saw the man with a gun to his head. He stared at Sawyer and shouted, "What are you doing? Put the gun down!"
"Sorry, I'm simply carrying out an order," Sawyer replied.
Louis glared at Alex and demanded, "What is this?"
"I don't have time to explain it to you now," Alex said. "You'll understand after the battle is over."
"You—" Louis was furious, but as soon as he opened his mouth, he was interrupted by a gunshot.
Alex fired again, and another person fell to the ground.
When he had finished firing, the collapsed area was filled with people covered in dirt. He put away the gun and said, "All right, everyone, go and search for more survivors. Remember, safety first."
He then turned and looked at Louis, who was clearly very angry. He smiled and said, "What's wrong? Did I offend you in some way?"
"What is going on?" Louis pointed at the soldier who still had a gun to his head.
"I'll let him tell you," Alex said, shrugging.
"Alex," Louis said. "It's a serious crime to shoot your comrades for no reason." He frowned and then continued, "Look, I don't think you're that stupid, so what are you planning?"
"Have you counted your men?" Alex asked. "Have I shot any of your soldiers?"
Louis looked confused, and then he shouted, "Count the number of people!"
"Captain, we've already counted," one of the soldiers said. "All of them are here. None of our men have been shot."
Louis was shocked. He turned to Alex and asked again, "What is going on?"
Alex smiled and said, "If I couldn't see clearly whether the people in the dirt were friends or foe, do you think I would have dared to shoot them?"
"You could see them?" Louis asked, bewildered.
Alex smiled, neither admitting nor denying it. "I knew they were the enemies, and I killed them. It's as simple as that."
Louis was only now realizing that Alex was no ordinary person, and that he must also be looking for the tricolor flower. Everyone seemed to be pursuing eternal life lately.
Alex waved his hand and continued, "When I set off the bomb, I had no idea that it would blow up the other party's arsenal and bury all of you below. Please forgive me."
The others burst into laughter. Only then did Sawyer put down the gun that was pointed at the back of the soldier's head. "Sorry," he said. "I was just carrying out an order."
"No, I'm sorry." The soldier shook his head. "I didn't carry out my orders, so it's my fault."
"All right," Louis interrupted. "That's enough talking. Go and clean up this mess. Move it!"
"Yes, sir!" The soldier obeyed and got to work with the others, cleaning up the bodies of their enemies, while Alex and Louis watched from the side.
"That was quite an impressive feat," Louis said. "For as long as I've been in the army, I've never seen such a strange battle. You only used one explosive to solve it all, but you almost buried us alive."
Alex smiled and said, "That was an accident. Who knew that their own arsenal would be their downfall? I was just following the navigation route on my watch, but I was blocked by the wall. I heard fighting sounds from beyond it, though, so I had to blow it up."
"That's lucky." Louis laughed. "You're after the tricolor flower, too, aren't you?"
Alex knew that he didn't need to hide it from Louis. "Great minds think alike," he said.
The two men sat and watched as the men finished cleaning up. When they looked over in the direction that they would be going next, and they saw the entrance to a valley. It looked like the open mouth of a ferocious wolf.
"The Valley of the Buried Heart seems pretty extraordinary," Louis said. He got up and began gathering his things.
Alex followed behind, squinting his eyes as he sized up the valley with a trace of doubt. From the outside, there was nothing special about it, but he had a feeling that there was a great danger inside.
Despite that, he needed to find the tricolor flower, and that meant going into the valley. He would do anything to get the flower. Anything.