With his agility, Xia Yu had already sensed Mei Mei unfastening the belt, but because his claws were bear claws, he couldn’t grab the girl in time.
After Mei Mei ran out, Xia Yu hesitated again. There were at least two squads, nearly twenty soldiers along the way. Even for him, rushing out would most likely end in death.
At this moment, familiar anger rose in his heart, coming from the brown bear.
Xia Yu had already understood the brown bear’s decision. He clenched his bear claws and rushed out as well.
The officer in the peaked cap on the truck pulled the trigger toward Mei Mei. His hands were steady enough, and since Mei Mei was only ten meters away, hitting her should not have been a problem. However, suddenly a bear jumped out from the forest, knocked Mei Mei down, and dodged the bullet.
Seeing the bear, the soldiers were shocked, retreating and gripping their guns tightly.
Pressing Mei Mei beneath him, Bear Yu roared at the soldiers.
He wanted to create the illusion of a wild bear attack in order to take Mei Mei back.
At the same time, he used intimidation.
The soldiers took another step back, but did not scatter. Intimidation works well in daily life, but against real soldiers on the battlefield, its effect was very limited.
The soldiers had seen death many times, their willpower was strong, and with their numbers, how could they possibly be frightened by just one bear?
Xia Yu knew this, so he had never placed any hope on intimidation before. This time, he used it merely as a test.
Although not terrified, the soldiers still felt this was an extremely fierce bear, and they did not want to confront it.
When injured, other animals would choose to run away, but fleeing was rarely an option in a brown bear’s vocabulary. Injuries would only make them even more ferocious.
Although killing a brown bear was not a big issue, it could still kill one or two people without much difficulty.
Seeing the soldiers’ hesitation, Xia Yu sighed in relief. He patted Mei Mei beneath him with his paw, letting the girl hold tightly onto him before slowly retreating step by step.
The soldiers also relaxed a bit, as they were unwilling to confront the brown bear.
However, while the soldiers hesitated, the officer in the peaked cap sitting on the truck, protected by it, dared to act.
He pulled the trigger again, and this gunshot prompted the soldiers to fire their bullets as well.
Xia Yu, who had anticipated this, rolled several times to quickly move away from his original position.
He dodged in time, so most of the bullets missed him, but a stray bullet from a poor shot grazed his front paw.
While quickly taking out the belt and securing Mei Mei beneath him, he continued rolling to dodge the following bullets.
At the same time, he was thinking about how to respond.
Running along the road was impossible; he could shake off the soldiers but not the truck.
Returning to the forest was also impossible, as the officer in the peaked cap had already sounded the alarm, and soon troops from the forest would converge here. Plus, it was already starting to get light.
With no way to retreat, he had no choice but to fight head-on.
At this point, Xia Yu had rolled to the back of the truck.
The truck blocked the soldiers’ line of sight and the bullets’ trajectory, giving Xia Yu and Mei Mei temporary safety.
He stood up, gritting his teeth. The brown bear had probably been hit by three or four bullets, one particularly serious wound on its head.
Enduring the pain, he flipped himself up and climbed into the truck’s rear compartment.
The twenty soldiers slowly approached the back of the truck from both sides, while the officer in the peaked cap also peeked out, opened the door to prepare to get out and check, but then thought better of it and closed the door again.
Seeing that he did not come down, Bear Yu felt regret. He unfastened the belt around the bear’s waist, approached Mei Mei quietly, and whispered, “Stay quiet and lie low.”
The girl’s eyes widened, not yet having time to be astonished, when Bear Yu had already jumped out.
The soldiers split into two groups to flank the truck from both sides, puzzled as to why the brown bear had suddenly disappeared. They did not expect it to jump into the rear compartment of the truck.
The rear compartment was so high that an ordinary brown bear could not climb up in a short time.
Their fixed mindset gave Xia Yu the chance to counterattack.
Jumping from the rear compartment to the front of the truck, Xia Yu landed behind the soldiers and began his attack.
The attacked group from behind could not effectively resist; they either fell beneath Xia Yu’s bear paws or fled to the right side of the truck.
Hearing the screams of their comrades on the left, the soldiers on the right immediately became alert, which kept them in place instead of attacking actively.
Xia Yu jumped onto the truck again, but this time his target was not the rear compartment, but the driver’s seat.
The officer in the peaked cap, hearing the noise, was looking around in panic.
“What’s going on! What happened to you!” he shouted loudly.
The soldiers on the left side of the truck were nervous, and no one answered. Just as the officer was about to ask again, a voice came from the truck door: “Officer, three of our brothers are dead. That brown bear has already been killed, but… you should still come down and take a look.”
Hearing that the brown bear was already dead, the officer in the peaked cap relaxed. He was also curious about the use of the word “but.” He placed his hand on the door handle, ready to open the driver’s side door.
At this moment, the remaining soldiers also realized: “Officer, that’s the enemy!”
Hearing this voice, Bear Yu’s eyes flashed with coldness; he had nearly succeeded.
Since it was like this, there was no choice. Xia Yu smashed the window glass with his fist. The officer, relieved he hadn’t fallen for the trick, now realized the sharpness of the bear’s claws.
The officer in the peaked cap did not die immediately. Looking at the brown bear outside the window, he screamed in agony until Xia Yu pulled out the bear claw, after which he gradually fell silent.
The remaining soldiers were frightened again. Two of the more alert ones quietly climbed onto the truck to check.
What they saw was the brown bear returning to the rear compartment.
With a bear claw each, Xia Yu threw their bodies down, making the remaining soldiers even more reluctant to act rashly. Then he carried Mei Mei down from the truck.
From the broken window, he pushed Mei Mei inside, letting the girl open the door for him.
Grabbing the edge of the door, Xia Yu pulled himself up into the truck. From this point on, all he needed to do was sit in the seat, start the truck, and escape from here.
However, things often go wrong at the final stage.
A gunshot rang out, and Xia Yu felt a chill in his bear’s back.
He quickly judged that the bullet had come from soldiers emerging from the forest.
It had to happen exactly at this critical moment!
He knew that one shot was just the beginning; more bullets would follow.
At this moment, he was stuck at the door. Entering and closing the door would take too long. The best choice at this point would be to let go and get off, hide under the truck, then lure the enemy away and return to the truck. He believed the soldiers would not be particularly wary of a brown bear stealing the vehicle.
But the problem now was that Mei Mei was still inside the truck. If he dodged away, the bullets would hit Mei Mei.
His thinking was quick, only a second had passed when the following bullets came, hitting his back and the truck.
Braving the hail of bullets, Xia Yu entered the truck and slammed the door shut.
Under the astonished gaze of the forest troops, the brown bear started the truck and sped away.
The soldiers dropped their rifles, grabbed their heads, and were so shocked they even forgot to pursue.
Xia Yu had never driven a truck before, but with the help of Driving Level 2, he managed to drive quite well. His mind remained calm, following the instructions given earlier by Awei, and turned onto the southern road.
His body was equally calm, so calm that he now felt cold all over.
This was a sign of severe blood loss.
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