Dead silence.
A harrowing silence, swallowing the echoes of gunfire.
Only the wind, carrying the lingering smoke and the sweet metallic tang of fresh blood, swept past the jagged rocks where Song Heping was hiding, bringing a chill from the depths of Hell.
He lay prone behind the cover, bloodshot eyes locking onto the entrance of the Sand Valley below, which had just been a purgatorial furnace.
The sporadic gunfire had completely ceased.
The figures of GNA soldiers vanished as if swallowed by the desert's giant maw.
All that's left were the charred skeletons of burning pickup trucks, scattered wrecked weapons, and…
Layers upon layers of twisted, rigid corpses.
The "Jackal" armored vehicle stood alone at the entrance, with its turret drooping and machine gun aimed at the ground, resembling a dead dog with a broken spine.
"Boss… down there… seems… empty?"
"Wrench's" voice came through the earpiece, filled with great confusion.
