"What... what's going on?"
Sears and the others were stunned. They had witnessed Leon's precise shooting, hitting the chest twice and the head once. Even with their limited military knowledge, they knew a normal person couldn't survive such injuries.
Yet, the villager's head exploded, and crimson vines, some half a meter, even a meter long, emerged from the neck.
Leon was equally shocked. However, all his training was meant to prepare him for such situations. After a brief hesitation, Leon stepped forward quickly, stomping on the villager's chest to prevent further struggle.
Simultaneously, he aimed his USP at the flesh bulge in the villager's neck.
Bang! Bang! Bang! The rapid shots echoed.
The flesh bulge, unable to withstand the close-range shots of the powerful .40sw rounds, burst apart.
Blood sprayed out like spilled tea, and the tendrils went limp.
It seemed the villager was truly dead this time.
Bang!
Leon fired another shot into the body, just to be sure.
After confirming the villager was no longer moving, he swiftly swapped the nearly depleted magazine for a fresh one from his utility pouch, completing the reload in under two seconds.
With no immediate threats around, Leon used his free hand to pull back his sleeve, activating the soldier's computer on his left forearm to call for urgent support from the ARS unit.
Seeing the distress call successfully sent, Leon re-gripped his USP and addressed Sears and the others, "Stay close to me. Our priority is staying alive."
"Thank you so much, Mr. Joseph. Without you, we wouldn't have made it," Sears said, both grateful and guilty.
The students, too, hadn't expected their "mercenary" would be so adept, not just against rebels but also these mutated villagers.
"Save it and remember to pay up later. Let's go."
Leon wasn't being modest, clearly fixated on the promised fee, perhaps because he had been cheated before.
He led Sears and the others along the line of thatched huts, eventually entering a narrow alleyway between them.
Reaching the alley's end, Leon crouched and observed the village square. They saw a mix of rebels and villagers, many of whom had crimson tendrils replacing their heads. These mutants could use firearms, shooting at the real rebels in the forest, though their accuracy was poor.
Using a monocular, Leon noticed that while they looked human, their eyes were entirely red, lacking pupils.
From these features, Leon deduced that the rebels and villagers were all infected. Coupled with the previous villager he had killed, Leon surmised that when an infected person sustained too much damage, the "crimson vines" would take control—indicating the second stage of infection: mutation.
The only thing that could cause such a situation was "God's Flower."
As for how the villagers could resurrect and infect the rebels, Leon had no idea. That would have to wait for the technical experts to analyze once the rescue arrived.
After stowing the monocular, Leon pointed to a nearby corrugated iron house, signaling that they should take refuge there.
Sears and the others nodded in understanding.
Leon took a deep breath, steadied himself, and was the first to dash out of the alley.
Perhaps it was luck; they weren't noticed by the infected. The rebels, intent on capturing the village, continued their assault, drawing attention away from Leon and his group.
However, as Leon kicked open the door and ushered the group inside, their luck seemed to run out. An infected person wielding an RPG-7 turned towards the iron house, ready to fire.
"Crack!"
Before the infected could act, its chest to head region suddenly ruptured, spraying blood and muscle tissue everywhere.
Boom!!
An instant later, the distinctive report of a large-caliber anti-materiel rifle came from the southwest.
The shot didn't come from the rebels' direction, and in the chaos of battle, no one noticed who had fired it.
Bang! Bang!
Inside the iron house, Leon had already completed a quick search and was crouched by the door, picking off approaching infected.
Bullets whizzed through the air.
Thwack! Thwack!
Rounds easily pierced the iron walls.
Fortunately, Sears and the students were lying on the ground, and the infected's shooting skills were even worse than before, so they weren't in immediate danger.
Leon, however, had to keep changing positions, running out of the iron house, sliding to the fallen tree, and using it as cover to engage the infected and occasional rebels.
Bang... Click!
Hearing the empty magazine, Leon quickly ejected it and loaded his last full magazine.
As he re-cocked the slide, readying the next round, he felt a deep sense of urgency. This was his last magazine, and even the previously recovered ones were empty. If the reinforcements...
Whoosh...
Just as Leon was contemplating the arrival of reinforcements, he heard a faint roar.
Looking up.
Boom!
He saw a gray and white A-10 Warthog flying low overhead, loaded with ordnance.
The aircraft slowed, circled, adjusted its angle, and then, from Leon's perspective, moved from left to right.
Rrrrr-rrrr-rrrr!!!
The A-10's GAU-8 Avenger, a seven-barrel 30mm rotary cannon, unleashed a deadly hail of fire, "plowing" through the infected, rebels, and a third of the village.
The pilot, controlling the A-10, then launched numerous air-to-ground missiles into the forest.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Three football fields' worth of forest were flattened, with trees and soil blown apart, leaving no trace of the rebels.
Shortly after, a CH-53E Super Stallion, escorted by an AH-1W Super Cobra, hovered above the village, maintaining a height of about 20 meters.
Then, a soldier jumped from the aircraft without using a rope, free-falling to the ground.
Contrary to expectations, the soldier didn't stumble on landing. Instead, with a thud, he landed smoothly.
Thud! Thud!
More soldiers followed, jumping from the aircraft and executing a perfect no-rope drop.
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