139: Breakout

Driven by the laser's rapid-fire mechanism, these ink crystal rounds had a firing rate significantly higher than traditional propellant-based weapons. Beneath the ghostly blue muzzle flash, the hyper-velocity ink crystal projectiles caused immense damage to the enemy's ballistic vests.

"Everyone, board the train immediately!"

Seeing that the garrison was completely wiped out, Li Xiao hurriedly ordered everyone to board the train.

Once shots were fired here and the train started moving, Hailan Port would certainly take immediate action.

Therefore, Li Xiao had to speed things up, trying not to give the enemy too much reaction time.

To ensure safety, apart from Ling Chao, who was controlling the train, everyone stayed in the last carriage, which was also a powered locomotive.

After the last person jumped onto the train, Ling Chao immediately activated the power and pushed the train to maximum power.

Just as the train began to slowly move out of the station, the elevator doors opened again, and dozens of Black Hawk Unit soldiers rushed out, attacking the front of the train without a word.

Several rocket-propelled grenades hit the carriage, blasting holes the size of millstones.

However, the train had a durability of two million points; the minor damage from the rocket launchers couldn't stop it.

As the motor's power was fully unleashed, the train's speed began to increase rapidly, reaching over sixty kilometers per hour within a dozen seconds.

"Ling Chao! Push the speed to the max! We need to break out before the enemy is ready!"

"Understood!"

Unfortunately, despite being motor-driven, this train had a traditional locomotive, and after reaching a top speed of one hundred kilometers per hour, it couldn't go any faster.

Half an hour later, when the train was about a dozen kilometers from the tunnel exit, Li Xiao told everyone to prepare for a collision, and Ling Chao also withdrew from the locomotive.

As the train rounded the final bend, the dazzling lights at the tunnel exit illuminated the entire front of the train in a golden glow.

"Open fire!"

The Black Hawk Unit did not hesitate for a second. Several main battle tanks, along with the anti-tank missile vehicles behind them, launched an attack simultaneously. The 125mm cannons pierced directly through the train's cockpit, and the fireball from the anti-tank missile explosion engulfed the entire cabin.

Yet, the train was still moving at eighty kilometers per hour. In a few seconds, the locomotive collided with the main battle tanks parked on the tracks.

Boom!

The train's immense momentum instantly pushed the over-sixty-ton M1A8 main battle tank off the tracks, while the locomotive itself was severely deformed by the violent impact.

However, this did not stop the train. The locomotive, pulling over a dozen carriages, continued to surge forward, knocking aside several main battle tanks one after another. One of the tanks was pushed by the locomotive right out of the tunnel exit.

Li Xiao and his group, however, couldn't see this; the continuous collisions left everyone in the rear carriage dazed and confused.

It wasn't until Li Xiao saw the bright moon in the sky that he realized they had broken through the Black Hawk Empire's blockade.

Bullets and missiles continued to fly in from the distance, but none of them hit their rear carriage.

"Boss! The locomotive is severely damaged, and the train won't stop!"

Ling Chao looked through the window at the locomotive. Thick smoke was billowing, and the fire had already begun to spread to the second carriage.

"It's better if it doesn't stop; it'll carry us away from their encirclement." Li Xiao leaned against the carriage door, rubbing his head. That impact just now had nearly knocked him out.

Before Li Xiao could finish speaking, Mavis said, "I'm afraid that's not the case. Five kilometers past the tunnel is Hailan Port, which is heavily guarded even under normal circumstances.

If the train enters Hailan Port, we're done for..."

"Only five kilometers?!"

Mavis's words made everyone panic. They had finally managed to shake off the encirclement, only to be thrown into danger again within minutes; it was just too difficult.

"We have to find a way to stop the train before it enters Hailan Port!"

"I have an idea!"

At this moment, Yue Ge said, "These old-fashioned trains are connected by couplers. Can't we just pull the pin and disconnect them?"

Everyone suddenly realized what to do and rushed to the connection between the carriages, where they indeed found Janney couplers.

This type of coupler is locked by a pin; as long as the pin is removed, the carriages will naturally separate.

Chen Hu was daring. With Ling Chao's help, he leaned out, quickly pulled the safety wire, and removed the loose alloy pin.

With a click, their carriage lost its connection to the one in front and began to slow down.

Li Xiao watched the train pull away and let out a long sigh of relief. This really was a narrow escape.

Once the carriage lost all its momentum, everyone jumped off, quickly changed into civilian clothes, and slipped into the forest beside the railway.

"Once they realize the carriage has detached, they'll know we've escaped, and helicopters will soon be hovering over our heads. We must reach the road quickly and find a vehicle to evacuate north!"

The more dangerous the situation, the sharper Li Xiao found his mind to be. It seemed he was useless at everything else but was number one at running for his life.

He opened the map and took a look; if they walked a few kilometers north through this forest, they would hit a secondary road. They could only pin their hopes on that.

In the early morning, a light rain began to drizzle from the sky. Vehicles passed by periodically on the road through the woods, their dim yellow lights flickering among the trees.

If one listened carefully, the distant, continuous, thunder-like sound of helicopters could be heard.

Li Xiao poked his head out of the bushes and observed both ends of the road. At that moment, a small bus was slowly approaching.

He immediately ran to the side of the road, and when the minibus got close, he suddenly dashed out.

Seeing someone suddenly dash onto the road, the driver of the minibus slammed on the brakes and stopped.

"Are you trying to die?!"

The driver was a burly man with a thick beard, his face full of fat, leaning out the window and cursing loudly.

Li Xiao ignored him, stepped forward, and said in a deep voice, "One thousand Star Coins. I'm buying your minibus for use."

In Li Xiao's view, one thousand Star Coins was enough for this beat-up minibus, but to his surprise, the burly driver laughed loudly: "Who do you think you are? Just because you want to buy it, I have to sell it? Get out of the way, kid, and don't get in the way of my job!"

"Two thousand Star Coins!" Li Xiao looked around.

"Even if you offered three thousand, I'd... sell! Sell! I'll sell it for two thousand! Brother, let's talk this over..."

The burly man had been impatient and wanted to get out of the car to beat someone up, but Li Xiao pulled out a gun and pointed it at the man's head. The latter immediately cowered, laughing awkwardly as he hopped out of the car.

"Here's two thousand Star Coins! Take it and get lost, and don't say I'm bullying you!"

Li Xiao tossed a Star Coin card to the man.

"Alright, I'm rolling, I'm rolling!"

The man didn't even bother to check how much money was on the card; he turned around and ran back the way he came.

Once the man was far away, he signaled for Ling Chao and the others to get on the bus.

With Ling Chao driving again, the group sat in the crowded minibus, driving along the secondary road towards the border of the Yunwu provinces.