The reason everyone stopped to fight was simple: they had clearly entered a large group of armed militants' encirclement, and the school bus veering off the road proved that proceeding along the highway was not safe.
As expected, when Liang En and his group took up their weapons and disembarked, they found the road ahead littered with shards of glass and iron nails, which explained why the school bus had left the road.
The attackers targeted the now off-road school bus, likely first shooting at the bus driver to distract him, then forcing the driver to charge forward recklessly, hitting the roadblocks on the ground and losing the ability to move.
This demonstrated Fan Meng's extensive combat experience, because if they continued to rush forward, they might end up immobilized like the unlucky school bus.
Clearly, these ambushers did not intend to let the witnesses to their actions leave alive, so when Liang En and his group suddenly entered the scene, the assailants immediately turned their guns aiming to eliminate these troublesome figures.
By this time, Liang En and his group had alighted from the vehicle and were ready to fight, having turned off the safety on their firearms and aiming at those holding rifles ready to shoot at them.
Although firearms could indeed level the playing field between individuals of different physical conditions, the side with better physical conditioning and training gained a greater advantage when both were armed.
After a crucial few seconds, the vehicle and trees that Liang En's group used as cover were marked with several bullet holes, but about five or six people opposite them had been shot in the head or chest and fell to the ground.
After these individuals fell, the bullets fired from the woods thinned out considerably, clearly surprising the attackers who had not expected such tough resistance.
For a mob of bandits, bullying the weak and fearing the strong was their nature, so after these chosen few fell quickly to the bullets, those behind hesitated to advance further.
However, this made the situation even more complicated, as the bandits hiding in the woods continually shifted their firing directions, still shooting at Liang En and his group.
Although the security personnel they had hired were trained in jungle warfare, and the bandits were indeed just a rabble, the surrounding jungle still posed a threat to Liang En and his group.
Especially now, the constant gunfire from the woods was slowing down Liang En and his group's progress, making it impossible for anyone to clear the roadblocks and drive away under such conditions.
Retreating the same way was now impossible too. Although the bandits were indeed disorganized and poor shooters, making a U-turn on an unobstructed street would obviously make them a huge target.
"We must find a way to force them to leave," Fan Meng said, pulling out a mirror to look at the school bus across the road. "But that bus likely carries their main target, so making them leave won't be easy."
The school bus Fan Meng referred to was a standard American-style bus, but it was now being used for long-distance passenger transport instead of school transport.
In countries like Guatemala and Honduras in Central America, many American school buses come here after their service life ends and then serve as part of the public transportation system in the area.
Of course, given the poor local security, riding such buses inherently carries certain risks, so it is advisable for tourists to travel on buses that park inside tourist areas.
The school bus in front of Liang En was marked with the logo of a long-distance bus company, clearly a common long-distance bus in the area. The bandits' target was apparently someone on the bus.
To be honest, Liang En didn't want to know exactly what was going on, but considering the current situation, they couldn't continue their journey without driving these bandits away.
After some thought, he used 12 legendary points and one 【Appraisal (N)】 card as a cost to activate 【Daedalus's Eye (SR)】.
In an instant, Liang En could sense the presence of all enemies within a 120m radius centered on himself. Using this 38 seconds of map-opening time, he quickly picked up his M4 assault rifle and began firing.
At the same time, Joan of Arc also emerged from the other side of the vehicle with her gun, obviously aware of Liang En's current method of fighting and knowing what she needed to do.
Liang En aimed at the jungle and pulled the trigger, interestingly firing only once in each direction, then swiftly turning to change his firing direction, appearing to shoot blindly.
Joan, on the other hand, focused on certain areas and fired three-shot bursts, giving the impression that her shooting was more skilled and stable than Liang En's.
At that moment, other security personnel were also firing, but they soon realized that the firepower from the woods was dwindling, and they could even hear a few screams muffled by layers of branches and leaves.
Clearly, after Liang En opened the map,
the balance of victory quickly shifted in his favor. Each of his shots actually indicated an enemy's position, while Joan was responsible for shooting in those directions.
Although the area was filled with tall trees, the opponents had to choose places with few obstructions for shooting, which gave Liang En a chance to target them.
After a little more than half a minute of firing, Liang En stopped pulling the trigger. By then, he had emptied one magazine, while Joan had emptied a 60-round drum.
According to Liang En's observation on the map, there were 24 ambushers in the jungle, but nine had been killed by him and Joan, with others injured.
With more than half the force either killed or injured, the bandits could only choose to retreat, as they were not regular troops. If it weren't for the surrounding rainforest obscuring their view of their comrades' conditions, they might have fled earlier.
However, because the security personnel had been shooting, neither the bandits, the security, nor the people in the school bus realized that such heavy casualties were actually caused by Liang En and Joan working together.
So when the people in the school bus were rescued, they kept thanking the security personnel for their help; otherwise, they would have definitely been doomed today.
After a brief conversation, everyone also understood why the bandits attacked a public bus—it was because it carried the captain of the local militia and the police chief of the town Liang En and his group were heading to.
According to the militia captain, the attack was likely related to their last refusal of a group of loners who wanted to plant exclusive crops in their vicinity, which led to today's assault.
The reason they could pinpoint this so accurately was simple: these people had not concealed their intentions or movements, so they were easily recognized.
And this was a reflection of Latin America. In many Latin American countries, these outlaws could live openly under the sun, whereas law enforcers, for the sake of safety, had to hide their real identities.
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