"Cough cough—"

Nura coughed dryly twice, then shouted, "Dr. Maria, there are some wounded outside. You need to take a look."

Upon hearing about the wounded, Maria instinctively stopped crying.

It was then she realized she had been crying so much that she had soaked Song Heping's clothes.

Feeling a little embarrassed, she apologized, "Sorry, I was a bit emotional just now..."

Song Heping hurriedly said, "It's okay, it's okay..."

After Maria left, Nura said to Song Heping, "A woman like her would be stoned to death in our place."

Song Heping was suddenly stunned.

He suddenly thought about how the Bedouin people also followed some of YSL's codes, and their regulation on women was extremely strict.

However, Nura's extreme reaction surprised him.

"Ah..."

Song Heping let out an awkward laugh.

Clearly such words were not easy to respond to; it was a trap.

Although he had no relationship experience, he was not foolish.

"I'm going out to see if they need any help."

Finding an excuse, Song Heping quickly slipped away.

Recently, he could clearly sense some changes in Nura.

Outside, the air was filled with wails of agony.

When Song Heping stepped out of the church, the open ground ahead was already full of wounded and corpses lying in disarray.

The villagers had brought their injured or barely breathing relatives here, hoping for treatment.

Maria was busy moving around the crowd, checking on one person after another.

"Go help them."

Song Heping gave Jiang Feng and Antonov a glance, then fetched an emergency kit from the car and began to perform simple bandages on the wounded villagers.

But soon he felt a sense of helplessness.

There were at least a hundred villagers wounded or dead.

Their injuries were far beyond the help of an emergency kit.

Even hundreds of emergency kits wouldn't be enough to save them.

They needed a hospital.

But there was no hospital here.

All the nearby areas were war zones.

To reach a hospital, they would need to go north over a hundred kilometers into northern Sudan.

Soon, many of the severely wounded began to breathe their last.

Song Heping had killed many people on the battlefield.

However, seeing so many people slowly dying during a rescue was a first.

The feeling between the two was indescribable.

With the former, the aim was to kill the opponent, so there was no feeling after the kill.

With the latter, the aim was to save lives, but one helplessly watched the person die before them.

Such frustration was something he had never experienced before.

Song Heping suddenly had a strange insight.

In fact, killing was much easier than saving.

Killing only needed a bullet.

Saving might require a hospital, an operating room, enough medication, and a skilled doctor.

"Oh God!"

Maria suddenly sat on the ground and started to cry loudly.

Her cries startled everyone.

The villagers, who had been wailing due to their deceased relatives, stopped crying and watched Maria, puzzled as to why this usually strong female doctor was suddenly crying so intensely.

Song Heping understood.

But he knew he couldn't console her.

Jiang Feng asked, "Aren't you going to comfort her?"

Song Heping shot a glance at the troublemaking guy and said, "It's best to let her cry out and vent it all."

Jiang Feng looked at his watch and said, "Cry all you want, but I have to remind you that time is ticking away."

Song Heping knew what Jiang Feng was referring to.

This was a war-torn area, and currently, various armed forces and the government army were already fighting, with the front line constantly changing. Armed personnel had already arrived in Koma Village, which meant the next arrival wouldn't be long.

The disappearance of a rebel platoon wasn't a small matter; their superiors would soon know something had happened here.

Once the main force arrived, no matter how formidable they were, they couldn't withstand the attack of thousands of armed men.

"Alright, ten minutes."

Song Heping said, "We'll leave in ten minutes."

He had to consider the safety of his brothers.

The villagers of Koma Village were pitiful.

But there were too many pitiful people on the African Continent.

No people in war-torn countries were free from suffering and misery.

He was not God, nor did he want to play God.

If he couldn't save them, he couldn't save them.

"Maria, don't cry."

He walked to the female doctor and patted her on the shoulder.

"This is not the time for tears. I have to tell you something more urgent. This place is no longer safe. Some of those armed men must have escaped; their superiors will soon know about it. They will definitely send a large force to surround Koma Village. You must inform the villagers that if they want to live, now is the time to leave."

Maria struggled to stop crying.

She was an adult after all; although she had a moment of breakdown, her rationality was still there.

Living.

It was the most arduous and difficult task at the moment.

Nothing more real and substantial than living.

"Alright...I'll go tell them..."

"Yes, ten minutes. If they are willing to leave, I can provide ten minutes of protection. Don't think it's short; this place is too dangerous. My men are risking a lot too."

"What exactly do you do?"

Maria suddenly remembered a critical question.

After all, she had wanted to ask before.

Song Heping had previously said he was a businessman, but he really didn't look like one.

At this point, Song Heping didn't intend to hide, so he confessed, "I am the owner of a PMC company. These people are my company's core combat personnel, so there's no need to doubt; we are professionals at this."

"Alright, I understand."

Maria wiped away her tears, stood up, glanced around, and walked toward the crowd, heading for the village elders to discuss the evacuation.

Song Heping didn't want to interfere in their discussions.

These villagers would eventually find a place to go safely.

It wasn't his responsibility nor obligation.

He had already repaid Maria for saving Hou Xing by launching a counterattack.

Song Heping's gaze soon fell on the distance, under a tree about tens of meters behind the church. "Carpenter" Danny was busy there, seemingly digging a grave.

Taking advantage of the time left, Song Heping moved away from the crowd and walked towards the big tree.

"Danny!"

Song Heping initiated the greeting, his eyes falling on the ground.

He saw Jose's corpse, now lying in the pit.

Danny nodded towards Song Heping and continued filling the pit with soil.

Jose's face and body were slowly covered by soil until submerged.

"This tree was planted by Jose when he first came here, it has grown so tall now. He said if he died someday, he wanted to be buried here."

Danny quickly filled the pit, patted the soil, solidified the grave, and inserted the pre-made wooden cross. Then he closed his eyes and prayed in front of the grave.

Moments later, he turned around to ask Song Heping, "Are we leaving?"

Song Heping nodded, "Yes. What's your plan?"

"Plan?" Danny looked confused and shook his head, "When I came to Africa, I wandered around, then I met Jose and settled here. It has been years..."

Danny looked up at the lush tree crown, a few rays of sunlight filtered through the leaves and fell on his face, looking like the patterns on a leopard's skin.

"Back in the army, I killed too many. After retiring, I came to Africa to atone. Here I also saved people, but now I realize it's useless to preach and save like Jose or treat and rescue like Maria. These mean nothing in the face of armed force..."

"What's your plan?" Song Heping asked.

Danny shook his head, "I don't know, take one step at a time."

Song Heping glanced at his watch, "We are leaving."

"Where to?" Danny asked.

Song Heping said, "We are heading to Ethiopia, that's our original destination."

"Over there..." Danny said, "Yes, it's quite safe there."

"Old squad leader!"

Jiang Feng ran over.

"That foreign girl is looking for you!"

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by lotustale.com