Early the next morning, the entire Black Star squad sprang into action. Everyone was assigned a role: the three snipers led by the calm man, the three firepower specialists led by the man called Black Tower, and the vanguard team consisting of Little Henry and another person. The rest began clearing the streets and searching for a large truck. The whole team started cleaning up the city—not just the abandoned vehicles on the roads, but even more so the riotous soldiers and armed mobs.

It must be said, there is a real difference between special forces and regular troops. Regular troops are better suited for positional warfare, war of attrition, and conventional battles, while special forces excel in small-scale conflicts, combat in complex environments, or special missions.

And right now, the city was the perfect stage for special forces!

As they advanced, with long-range snipers, mid-range firepower, and close-combat vanguard, this small squad of less than ten people easily took down at least a hundred armed soldiers or mobsters. In comparison, the biggest obstacle to Brian Carter and the others’ speed was actually the wrecked vehicles in the city, which forced the truck they found to stop and go repeatedly. At this rate, it was likely they wouldn’t reach a civilian airport all day.

However, at this moment, Brian Carter discovered an unexpected delight: as they cleared out the chaotic soldiers and mobs, they rescued at least several hundred civilians. This was truly a pleasant surprise. Among these people, although there were more women, at least twenty to thirty percent were men. The old and weak had mostly perished, leaving behind young adults of eighteen or nineteen, or in their twenties. After some food and rest, they quickly regained their basic mobility.

Given the situation, Brian Carter couldn’t worry about anything else. After this group had rested for a few hours, he directed them to start clearing the roads. Groups of dozens would work for an hour, then switch with another group for the next hour, rotating like this. With so many people, things got done much more efficiently. As the operation to clear out the chaotic soldiers and mobs continued, by the end, the team had grown to over a thousand people, and the clearing teams had expanded from one to three working simultaneously, greatly increasing their speed.

In this way, the entire group reached the airport by nightfall. Most of the people were utterly exhausted—they weren’t soldiers or special forces, but ordinary city dwellers: students, white-collar workers, maybe even some rich kids or children of officials. After suffering for days at the hands of the chaotic soldiers and mobs, when they finally arrived at the airport, everyone collapsed onto the grass by the runway, unable to get up.

Brian Carter and his team couldn’t worry about the civilians. The dozen or so of them hurried into the hangar and began carefully searching for planes that were still somewhat intact, as well as various parts. They kept at it until the early hours of the morning, and the results were encouraging.

As expected, aside from a few large planes that had been directly blown up, most of the other small and medium-sized planes had only been shot at or smashed. Several medium-sized planes had only a few damaged parts, which could be replaced with little issue, and a few planes, though battered on the outside, were mostly intact inside.

Given this, no one could afford to rest. They worked through the night, selecting the best parts, and found a medium-sized plane that could carry a dozen people and fly to America. After replacing the parts, no one dared to rest yet. They even had George Miller pilot the plane for a test flight. Only when everything went smoothly did everyone finally breathe a deep sigh of relief.

“Well, there’s no time to lose—let’s head to America right away!” Henry Clark was the most impatient. As he watched a few teammates refueling the plane, he excitedly said to Brian Carter.

Brian Carter nodded, but his gaze turned to the group of civilians. The calm man beside him thought he was feeling soft-hearted and said directly, “We can’t worry about them anymore. If we fail to seize the spaceship, knowing the temperament of those guys in the Longxing squad, they definitely won’t save a single civilian. They’ll just take the ship and leave Earth. We have to get to America immediately!”

Brian Carter nodded again and exhaled, saying, “Eagle, I know. Don’t worry, I won’t act impulsively.” But as he spoke, he still walked over to the group of civilians.

By now, it was fully daylight. Many civilians had already woken from their deep sleep, but they were so terrified that no one dared to move around. They all stayed cautiously on the grass. When Brian Carter approached, there was a bit of commotion among the crowd, but they quickly quieted down, all watching Brian Carter nervously.