Chapter 58: Spray Melon’s Feat, Sending Themselves Off
The enemy speedboat drew closer and closer. Qin Haonan stood perfectly still, a placating smile fixed on his face.
"Captain, they’re being cooperative. Nothing unusual in the vicinity!" the soldier operating the searchlight reported to Inoue Hitoshi.
Inoue Hitoshi nodded slightly but still commanded, "Don’t get careless. We have to bring back some test subjects this time, or we’ll have nothing to show for this trip."
"Yes, sir!" the soldier replied. "Should we notify the other search boats?"
Inoue Hitoshi immediately shook his head. "If we notify them, we’ll have to share the supplies and the credit. No need!"
The soldier paused for a moment. Thinking of those juicy, sweet watermelons, he immediately nodded. "Understood!"
Hidden off to the side, Ren Yuanyang saw that the enemy was just over ten meters away. The Spray Melons on their speedboat’s railing should be enough to cover everyone on the opposing boat.
He quickly typed out a message: "Move now! Take out the people on your side!"
Lu Jiamei, hidden on the speedboat, saw the message and, without a moment’s hesitation, pulled the trigger line for the Spray Melon aimed at the Lvzhi Country soldiers!
The three soldiers closest to Lu Jiamei’s position immediately collapsed, spattering their nearby teammates with blood.
The Spray Melon seeds that had passed through the soldiers’ bodies PINGED against the outer wall of the enemy boat’s cabin.
Inoue Hitoshi and his men froze, unable to react for a second.
They hadn’t heard any gunshots. ’How did our teammates just collapse?’ That PINGING sound also distracted them.
Under pressure from their superiors, Inoue Hitoshi and his men had been searching for escaped test subjects all night. It was now the wee hours of the morning, and everyone was exhausted, lowering their alertness and reaction times. That’s why they froze for a crucial instant when suddenly faced with this situation.
On the battlefield, an instant like that can mean the difference between life and death.
Just then, Ren Yuanyang decisively pulled the trigger line for the Spray Melon by his side. At the same time, he grabbed Qin Haonan and yanked him to the ground.
WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH!
RAT-TAT-TAT!
The enemy had recovered and began strafing Qin Haonan’s position.
Ren Yuanyang shoved Qin Haonan. The two of them rolled in opposite directions as multiple bullet holes appeared where they had just been.
But the gunfire stopped as suddenly as it began.
The seeds from the Spray Melon had struck Inoue Hitoshi and the others on the speedboat.
THUMP!
Inoue Hitoshi felt a sharp pain in his chest. He looked down to see a bloody hole there, and then his consciousness faded to black.
Every enemy standing at the speedboat’s railing was killed instantly. The four soldiers in the back were severely wounded by seeds that had passed through their comrades, but they were still alive.
They immediately began to scream in agony.
"Agh, my shoulder’s shattered!"
"I’ve been hit in the arm! Medic! I need a medic!"
"It’s over! We’re surrounded! We have to retreat!"
The Spray Melons had instantly neutralized most of their combatants. The surviving soldiers thought they were facing a much larger force.
But because of Qin Haonan’s little act, everyone had come out to see the "watermelons." There was no one left in the cabin, which made starting the speedboat to retreat impossible.
"Iron Melon!" Ren Yuanyang barked.
"On it!" Qin Haonan immediately grabbed the nearby Iron Melon, visually measured the enemy’s position, and, from his prone position, flung it with an upward toss.
’Fuck, I missed!’
Qin Haonan cursed under his breath the moment he threw it and reached for another Iron Melon.
Ren Yuanyang commanded in a low voice, "Even though you missed, don’t throw another. Let’s see what happens first."
Qin Haonan froze. He immediately realized he had exposed his position. Making another move would be extremely dangerous.
’After all, there are still a few soldiers over there screaming their heads off. If I pop my head up again, I’ll probably get taken out instantly.’
He had only managed to throw it because the enemy had been hit hard and hadn’t had time to react or lay down suppressing fire on him.
On the speedboat, the four wounded soldiers only saw their opponents throw a watermelon-sized object toward them.
They didn’t know what it was, but they knew it definitely wasn’t anything friendly.
Enduring the pain, they instinctively opened fire on the Iron Melon.
With all four of them shooting, they hit the Iron Melon when it was about four meters away, causing it to explode in mid-air.
The four soldiers didn’t even have a chance to celebrate. The Iron Melon’s hard shell instantly shattered, sending shrapnel flying in every direction.
THWIP! THWIP! THWIP!
The shrapnel blanketed all four of them. Their bodies convulsed for a moment, and then they fell silent.
’Fuck, that actually fucking worked?’
Qin Haonan was dumbfounded. If they hadn’t shot the Iron Melon, it most likely would have skimmed past the edge of the speedboat and splashed into the water.
Instead, they shot it in mid-air, basically sending themselves to their graves.
Ren Yuanyang, who had been about to message Lu Jiamei, was also stunned. He quickly recovered and observed the enemy boat carefully for a moment. There was no movement. No one came out, and the boat hadn’t started moving.
"Boss, they should all be dead, right?" Qin Haonan asked uncertainly.
Ren Yuanyang nodded slightly. "Get Lu Jiamei. Tell her to bring her pistol and a Spray Melon. We’re going over to take a look."
"Right, Boss!"
Qin Haonan acknowledged the order, then crouched low and carefully jumped onto their speedboat.
"Sister Mei, the boss says to bring your pistol and a Spray Melon. We’re going over to check things out!"
"Got it!" Lu Jiamei’s voice came from inside the cabin.
The cabin door soon opened, and Lu Jiamei emerged, also keeping low.
Ren Yuanyang kept his eyes fixed on the enemy speedboat. When Lu Jiamei and Qin Haonan reached him, he said, "Let’s go. Get in the small boat."
Lu Jiamei quickly stopped him. "Chief, you should stay here and be our lookout. Once we’re in the small boat, we’ll be lower than the speedboat. If anything happens, we’ll need you to warn us."
"That’s right, Boss. Sister Mei and I can handle it!" Qin Haonan immediately agreed with a nod.
Ren Yuanyang couldn’t refuse their logic. He knew the two of them were just trying to keep him safe.
"Be careful," Ren Yuanyang said with a nod.
Lu Jiamei and Qin Haonan jumped into the small boat and started toward the enemy speedboat.
When they reached the speedboat, Qin Haonan grabbed its edge and vaulted aboard.
Once on deck, he clutched a Spray Melon and kept his eyes fixed warily on the cabin door.
Lu Jiamei vaulted up after him. Spotting the weapons lying next to the dead Feixiang soldiers on the deck, she immediately scooped one up and tossed it to Qin Haonan.
Qin Haonan instinctively caught the automatic rifle, paused for a second, then quickly put away his Spray Melon.
Covering each other with their new guns, the two moved toward the cabin. A moment later, they emerged, their faces grim.
"What’s the situation?" Ren Yuanyang couldn’t make out their expressions, only that they had come back out, so he called out loudly.
"Boss, they’re all dead! But there’s... something in the cabin. Maybe you should come see for yourself?" Qin Haonan said, kicking a nearby corpse a couple of times in frustration.