The Ultimate War Of The Apocalypse-Chapter 409 - 402 Lingering Spirit

Li Jingang was perhaps too pessimistic.

Because by the time the sky began to brighten, no pursuers from the Sanitation Worker had appeared, and by then, Gao Yuan and his team had already put fifteen kilometers between themselves and the riverbank.

For a full four hours, it would have been impossible to run the whole way. Towards the end, it turned into a brisk walk, but even brisk walking was utterly exhausting given the heavy load they carried.

So Spark Squad had no choice but to rest. It wasn’t that they had run out of the strength to keep walking, but if they completely drained their energy to the point where moving was difficult, should the enemy truly appear, they wouldn’t even have had the strength to run.

It had been a long time since Gao Yuan had felt tired, but when Yu Shunzhou leaned on a tree beside him and then slowly slid down to sit on the ground, gasping for air, Gao Yuan knew he had reached his limit.

"Can you keep going?"

Yu Shunzhou’s head was dripping with sweat. He shook his head, took out his water bottle, and shook it, listening to the loud sound of water splashing inside. With a worried look, he said, "We’re running low on water."

Unscrewing the cap, he took a couple of sips slowly, then looked up at Gao Yuan and said, "I can’t walk another step. My legs feel like they’re filled with lead, sore and painful. Damn, I’m exhausted."

At that moment, Li Jingang looked at his watch and then loudly declared, "We’ll depart after half an hour’s rest. Take this time to eat quickly."

Renato had been sitting on the ground initially, but upon hearing Li Jingang’s words, he simply lay down, placed his sniper rifle next to him, and sighed helplessly.

Gao Yuan had thought Renato might complain, but surprisingly, not only had Renato carried the heavy rifle he’d been forcefully given all this way, but he also had no intention of sharing the load with anyone, an attitude that earned him a new level of respect.

Everyone was very tired, but Gao Yuan remained relaxed. To him, this level of activity was like taking a five-minute leisurely walk outside his front door after breakfast.

Yet under severe tiredness, Sirte and Klaus still took the initiative to stay alert, voluntarily taking on the task of standing guard. They didn’t put their weapons down or sit like the others; instead, they immediately sought suitable locations and took up sentry duties on the perimeter of the group.

Indeed, these old soldiers who had survived many battles knew exactly what to do without needing to be told by anyone.

Gao Yuan cleared his throat, then raised his voice, "Listen up, everyone. Rest easy, I’ll patrol the vicinity and keep watch. With me here, you can be sure we won’t be taken by surprise by the enemy."

After a brief silence, Ralph finally said, "Why aren’t you tired? You don’t even seem to be sweating. You’re definitely not an ordinary person, right?"

Gao Yuan waved his hand nonchalantly and replied, "Now’s not the time for chatting. I’m going on patrol."

It was then that Li Jingang suddenly asked, "Ralph, you said Toad was your instructor? So, this Toad... what’s his name?"

Ralph looked at Li Jingang and after a moment of thought said, "I can’t tell you—it’s a secret, top secret. Please don’t..."

"Is it Li Jinfang? About my height, not as handsome as me, a Shenzhou person who practices Xingyi Quan, right?"

When Li Jingang uttered the name Li Jinfang, Ralph’s eyes widened in shock, and after Li Jingang had finished speaking with some difficulty, Ralph finally stuttered out, "No, that’s... you... I don’t know, I guess not, but it could be, you... you, I don’t quite understand what you’re saying."

Ralph almost admitted it, but he didn’t want to confess, because doing so would mean revealing secrets. Yet, he couldn’t deny the details that Li Jingang had laid out for him.

Li Jingang said with apparent disdain, "My name is Li Jingang, and his is Li Jinfang. What do you think our relationship is?"

Ralph fell silent for a moment, then he finally said. "I guess it’s definitely not a father-son relationship."

Li Jingang almost bit his own tongue, and said with a laugh out of irritation. "Man, your lips are really sealed, you won’t spill the beans, fine, I’ll tell you, Li Jinfang is my brother, my brother!"

Ralph fell silent again for a moment, then he finally shook his head and said. "I don’t know what you’re talking about, whatever you say, I... don’t know anything about it!"

Li Jingang gave a thumbs up and said. "Alright, your sense of secrecy is really strong, I won’t press you. Let’s assume he taught you something, what was it?"

Ralph still shook his head and said. "I don’t understand, I don’t get it."

Gao Yuan was drawn in and had been listening for a while. Now Ralph’s attention was diverted, but Gao Yuan was captivated by the topic.

But looking at Ralph’s behavior, Gao Yuan knew for sure that he wouldn’t get an answer, and that waiting here was just a waste of time, so he simply started jogging back the way they came.

Gao Yuan wanted to see if there were any pursuers behind them, so once he was out of visible range, he immediately picked up the pace.

Not just running fast, but sprinting at full speed. He covered five kilometers in just a few minutes, and then he slowed down slightly, leaped up, and jumped onto a branch of a big tree, almost slipping off but managed to grab the trunk. After turning around on the tree, Gao Yuan began to look into the distance.

Scattered across the prairie were trees that were not very tall. Looking out far, one could see a great distance. Gao Yuan scanned the surroundings for a while and didn’t notice anything suspicious. However, he agreed with Li Jingang’s assessment, so he didn’t hurry down. Instead, Gao Yuan took out a pair of binoculars and began to carefully survey the path they had come down.

Upon closer inspection, he made a concerning discovery. There were several small, hard-to-identify moving dots heading in their direction—individuals in camouflage gear who were difficult to distinguish from the green backdrop at a distance.

Gao Yuan swallowed his saliva and extended his view with the binoculars further back until he finally saw two camouflaged all-terrain vehicles, still draped with camouflage nets.

Behind the all-terrain vehicles, it was very difficult to make out a stationary group of vehicles and tanks.

The enemy hadn’t stopped pursuing; they had chosen to tail them persistently. But they were playing the long game, following at a distance, waiting for the search to reveal their tracks, and only then, using the vehicles’ rapid mobility, would they encircle Gao Yuan and his group. This strategy wasn’t easy to execute at night but would be much easier during the day.

Should he notify via the walkie-talkie, or should he return immediately?

After thinking for a bit, Gao Yuan took out his walkie-talkie, turned it on, and spoke softly. "Nemesis calling Mr. Hao, please respond if you receive."

"Mr. Hao received, go ahead."

"I went looking for food, walked a palm’s length, and ate well. Now I have canned meat and luncheon meat, lots of compressed biscuits, and slightly salty vegetables. Do you want any?"

He had gone out five kilometers and discovered the enemy, with tanks and armored vehicles, plus reconnaissance troops scouting ahead. What should they do?

After Gao Yuan finished speaking, Li Jingang immediately responded. "Understood, I’ll eat two cans first, walking on an empty stomach won’t get us far, and the more we walk, the hungrier we’ll get. It’s better to stop, eat something, then go. You better come back now, over."

Set up an ambush and fight, the enemy is fast and can’t be shaken off, just running isn’t the solution, come back first.

Gao Yuan also understood Li Jingang’s intention, but simply returning like this wasn’t as good as keeping constant watch over the enemy’s movement, so Gao Yuan immediately replied. "Understood, I’ll look for more food, over."