Brian Carter and his group were situated on a vast plain, but the spot where they were hiding happened to be a small depression. With the cover of tall grass, as long as they didn’t stand up, they wouldn’t be discovered unless the enemy approached. So after Brian Carter and his group lay down, the sniper stopped shooting at people and instead fired shot after shot at the engines of the cars. Fortunately, the two vehicles were parked side by side, so the sniper could only hit the one on the outside.

Brian Carter glanced briefly at the shotgun in his hand. It was an old-fashioned 12-gauge side-by-side double-barrel with two triggers, each controlling one barrel, and it was a decent brand—made by Belgium’s FN. The maintenance had also been done quite well.

Brian Carter was extremely familiar with this kind of double-barreled shotgun. When he used to practice shooting, he used an Italian Beretta side-by-side, and the biggest difference between that and the one he held now was that the sporting model only had a single trigger.

Brian Carter opened the shotgun’s chamber and took a look. It was loaded, with one slug and one 00 buckshot shell. The so-called 00 buckshot, commonly known as “nine pellets,” contained nine lead balls. As for the slug, as the name suggests, it was a single large lead bullet. Within thirty meters, this kind of slug could take down an elephant or a rhinoceros.

In addition, there were twenty-two more shotgun shells on the bandolier, most of them 6-pellet and 9-pellet buckshot, with only five slugs.

Now that Brian Carter had a gun in his hand, and it was a familiar shotgun, he felt a bit calmer. However, a shotgun could only deal with enemies at close range; it was useless at a distance. Brian Carter thought he still needed to get the AK47 from the other black man.

There was a problem with getting the AK47: not only was the corpse holding the AK47 a bit far from him, it was also at the edge of the depression. If Brian Carter wanted to get the AK47, he would inevitably have to expose half his body.

At this moment, Professor Buck and the others had already taken cover behind the cars, leaving only Brian Carter in his original spot. Professor Buck called softly to Brian Carter, “Come over quickly, we need to figure out a way to get out of here.”

Brian Carter waved at Buck, then slowly crawled over to the corpse of the black man holding the AK47. He suddenly scrambled forward, grabbed the man’s leg, and immediately ducked down, using the corpse as cover to drag it into the depression.

Originally, Brian Carter could have just taken the gun and run without dragging the corpse back, but when he saw an ammo pouch on the black man’s body, he changed his mind on the spot.

As he was dragging the corpse back, bullets whistled past Brian Carter’s ears. Even so, Brian Carter didn’t forget to assess the situation. To his dismay, he found that at least twenty people were closing in, forming a semicircle, and they were less than two or three hundred meters away.

A quick decision had to be made. Brian Carter said urgently to Professor Buck, “There are a lot of them, at least twenty. We’re about to be surrounded. You have to leave immediately. Don’t even think about driving. Go with our people to our tribe. I’ll hold them off.”

“No, let’s go together. Hurry, we still have a chance.”

Brian Carter grew anxious and shouted angrily, “Do you really think that’s possible? If no one stays behind, none of us will get away. Stop wasting time—go with our people, now!”

After speaking, Brian Carter shouted in Akuri to the chief, “Take them back to the tribe. Crawl as you go. Once you’re far enough, start running. Staying here won’t help me. I’ll come find you at the tribe. If you sense danger, leave the tribe—I’ll find you.”

The chief was a bit frail, but after gesturing for Professor Buck and the others to follow him, he began crawling away. As the chief, he had the responsibility to lead his people back to the tribe.

Professor Buck knew Brian Carter was right—if no one stayed behind to delay the enemy, none of them would escape. Helplessly, Professor Buck tossed the walkie-talkie to Brian Carter.

“There’s another one with Catherine. You can use this to contact us. I’m sure you know how. May God bless you. You must come back.”

After saying this, Professor Buck also began crawling after the chief, while Catherine gave Brian Carter a deep look and said, “You’re very brave, truly brave. The brave don’t die easily. You will come back.”

As everyone began crawling away, Brian Carter fastened the shotgun shell bandolier around his waist, slung the AK47’s ammo pouch across his chest, and then slung the shotgun over his back. Now fully armed, he clipped the walkie-talkie onto the shell belt at his waist.

There were four magazines in the ammo pouch, plus one in the gun. If all the magazines were full, Brian Carter had 150 rifle rounds. Although there were many more enemies this time, with plenty of ammo, Brian Carter felt much more relaxed than in the last fight. At least this time he wasn’t injured, so he could move much more freely.

By now, the professor and the others had crawled a short distance away. Brian Carter took a deep breath, crawled to the edge of the depression with his gun at the ready, and saw that the encircling enemies were already very close—less than a hundred meters away. At this distance, facing so many people, Brian Carter thought that unless he had absolute courage, he would have to be utterly foolish to open fire.