With Ye Cangtian's side holding the only leads, there were no other clues to follow.
If the missing research personnel were truly being transferred to Africa, then the group would have to make a trip there.
"This way, Xu Shi'an and I will head to Africa first. You all continue to investigate the clues. With so many researchers missing, if the Dark Association is really transferring them, they can't possibly leave no trace at all."
"That sounds good. If it's confirmed, we'll depart for Africa immediately to meet up with you!" Gao Xiong nodded.
Through the battle last night, Gao Xiong and the others had come to deeply respect Ye Cangtian, so they raised no objections.
Just like that, after less than a day of knowing each other, the two parties parted ways once more.
...
An hour later, Ye Cangtian and Xu Shi'an were driving one of the SUVs along a deserted highway.
Xu Shi'an, while driving, was boasting about the events of the previous night's battle.
"That woman actually dared to look down on us! If it weren't for us, those five would have surely died last night!"
"The Dark Association members are just like that. I beat that Copper Mask so badly he couldn't fight back. When there's an opportunity, I'll see what the Silver Mask's strength is like!"
Listening to his bragging, Ye Cangtian pouted and retorted, "You couldn't even kill one Copper Mask. With your strength, you'd be killed in an instant by a Silver Mask!"
Last night, besides Gao Xiong who had individually killed a Copper Mask, Xu Shi'an and the other three team members' opponents were all killed in a combined attack later.
Xu Shi'an quickly defended himself, "I wasn't even trying my hardest last night! It was my first time fighting these guys, I didn't have much experience. And if you guys hadn't interfered last night, I would have killed him in a while longer!"
Keep bragging.
Ye Cangtian couldn't be bothered to expose him, but the guy's strength was indeed not weak. He could handle Copper Masks, but if he truly encountered a Silver Mask, he would definitely not be a match!
Xu Shi'an then asked, "After we split up from them, do you think they'll still be in danger? Didn't they say two mercenary groups were targeting them?"
"They should be fine. Those two mercenary groups are already targeting us!" Ye Cangtian said calmly.
"What?"
Xu Shi'an couldn't help but startle and glance at the rearview mirror, immediately gasping, "Holy cow!"
Behind them, jeeps were rapidly chasing them.
He had forgotten one thing: although these mercenaries had only seen Gao Xiong and the others, the car he was driving now was the one Gao Xiong and the others had used before.
These mercenaries must have spotted the car and were now pursuing them.
This made Xu Shi'an deeply regretful. He immediately slammed on the accelerator, attempting to outrun the pursuing mercenaries.
A moment later.
The number of mercenary vehicles behind them grew, and bullets began to ping off their car with thudding sounds.
Xu Shi'an risked a glance back, and his scalp tingled!
"Oh, my brother-in-law, you're still in the mood to smoke? With so many mercenaries, we can't escape!"
There were at least ten to twenty vehicles chasing them, firing wildly behind them. They didn't even have weapons.
If they were caught, wouldn't they be riddled with bullets?
Ye Cangtian, with a cigarette in his mouth, remained calm. "Don't worry, our reinforcements will arrive soon!"
"Reinforcements? What reinforcements?" Xu Shi'an was confused. They had just separated from Gao Xiong's team, where could reinforcements come from?
However, at that very moment!
Ahead, a helicopter's rotors whirred, and it was flying straight towards them.
Before Xu Shi'an could guess whether the helicopter was friend or foe, it fired two bright flashes, and two shells whistled over their heads.
"Boom!"
Two of the pursuing vehicles behind them were hit, erupting in deafening explosions.
The other vehicles, being too close, were also affected by the explosions.
The remaining mercenary vehicles were forced to halt their pursuit and fled in disarray!
After a moment, once it was confirmed that the pursuers had retreated, the helicopter slowly descended and landed on the highway.
Xu Shi'an was a bit dazed, "What's going on?"
Ye Cangtian flicked away his cigarette butt and took a deep breath, "Let's go, get out of the car."
Xu Shi'an quickly got out and followed, "You mean, this is our support? Brother-in-law, when did you call for support?"
Soon, they boarded the helicopter.
Xu Shi'an saw that there were only two people on the helicopter: one in the cockpit and another who was busy typing furiously on a laptop.
Seeing them board, the latter stood up and chuckled, "Boss, was the support timely, brothers?"
From the cockpit, another person in a trench coat said, "Those guys ran pretty fast. Boss, do you want me to go after them and wipe them out?"
"No need, they're just a bunch of flies."
Ye Cangtian sat down. Seeing there were only the two of them, he then asked, "Where are the others?"
The man with the thick glasses who was fiddling with the laptop replied, "They're all in the Eastern Theater Command. We just got a job a few days ago, and it turned out to be a bit troublesome. Sister Qiangwei went to provide support, it should be fine."
Beside him, Xu Shi'an, seeing them converse so familiarly, especially their address to Ye Cangtian, became a bit curious.
"Uh, do you all know each other? Brother-in-law, are they..."
"The Grim Reaper Mercenary Squad. Haven't you heard of them?" the man with the glasses raised an eyebrow.
"Uh, you guys are from the Grim Reaper Mercenary Squad?" Xu Shi'an was a bit dumbfounded.
He had certainly heard of the Grim Reaper Mercenary Squad. During his previous assignment in Africa, he had learned about some of the world's renowned mercenary organizations.
It was said that the Grim Reaper Mercenary Squad was very mysterious, often appearing and disappearing without a trace, causing countless forces headaches.
But seeing these two, Xu Shi'an was truly taken aback.
Ye Cangtian said, "Let me introduce you, this is Viper. He's an intelligence officer in the Grim Reaper Mercenary Squad, specializing in gathering intelligence and attacking enemy networks."
In simple terms, this guy was a hacker!
Xu Shi'an carefully observed him. He was wearing a gray shirt, thick glasses that were thicker than wine bottles, his teeth were yellow, and he had dark circles under his eyes. Most importantly, he looked completely incapable of fighting.
In China, this was the typical appearance of a programmer!
"And that one, you can call him Scorpion. This guy is skilled in various mechanical principles and is proficient in assembling firearms. If you need to modify any weapons in the future, just find him!" Ye Cangtian pointed to the man in the cockpit.
Xu Shi'an glanced over. He didn't notice anything special, the only unusual thing was that the man was wearing a trench coat.
What was the weather like now? Everyone was wearing short sleeves or shirts, but this guy was wearing a trench coat. Wasn't he hot?
The driver named Scorpion turned around, revealing a row of yellow teeth, and smiled, "Little brother, you're a soldier, aren't you? I'll show you my personal defense weapon sometime."
Xu Shi'an nodded with a smile. Although the man's trench coat was a bit odd, he seemed quite normal!
However, he happened to catch Ye Cangtian and the slovenly man named Viper looking at him strangely.
Of course, he didn't think too much of it and casually asked, "Isn't this helicopter an Apache? How do you have this kind of helicopter?"
After all, this type of military helicopter was produced in the United States.
It seemed there was a US military base about a hundred kilometers away.
Viper said confidently, "We stole this thing from the military base over a hundred kilometers away!"
Xu Shi'an almost fell off his seat!
Stolen?
Good heavens! Stealing an Apache helicopter from a US military base? Wasn't that asking for death?
At this moment, Xu Shi'an felt an urge to jump out of the helicopter!