Chapter 740
A military Jeep came to a halt beside a ten-meter-tall desert poplar on the west of Saosa Desert.
Jonathan then hopped out of the car and retrieved a canvas from the trunk. The canvas had a camouflage pattern that matched
the sand around him.
After draping the canvas over the Jeep and securing its corners to all four wheels, Jonathan slung his sniper rifle on his back and
ran toward the west.
Saosa Desert was huge and spanned Merania, West Region, and Chanaea.
Of course, Chanaea owned the largest part of the desert.
Despite the desert being barren and uninhabitable, it was an incredibly important part of Chanaea.
Furthermore, it was possible for Saosa Desert to contain huge amounts of unmined petroleum beneath it.
West Region had been trying to invade Chanaea since petroleum became a main resource over a hundred years ago.
Chanaea had natural borders, such as mountains and jungles, surrounding it, but Saosa Desert had nothing of the sort.
Its sand dunes would constantly shift around as a result of the sandstorms, so the border could only be defined through
geographic coordinates.
Even so, West Region had, on multiple occasions, crossed the Chanaean border by claiming the geographic coordinates were
unclear in hopes of coveting the oil resources.
That led to lots of minor conflicts between the two countries over the years.
That desert poplar was one of the very few visible landmarks near the Chanaean border, and Mysonna Army would always pass
by it when patrolling the area.
For some reason, seeing a tree in the middle of the desert had a reassuring effect on them, even if it was no longer alive.
Jonathan wrapped himself up with a black camouflage canvas and continued running across the sand dunes.
He had to go on foot as there were no roads or paths that he could drive on.
On top of that, the Chanaean-West Region border was just ten kilometers away, so it would be easy to detect him if he drove
there.
Most people would assume that they should wear less clothing when traveling through the hot desert.
However, the temperature in the desert during the afternoon could go up to seventy degrees. Walking through the desert was no
different from being in an oven.
By exposing a lot of skin, one would not only get dehydrated even faster but also risk getting sunburnt.
As such, Jonathan's strategy of covering himself up from head to toe was actually the best approach.
Bang!
A loud gunshot echoed throughout the desert. Jonathan quickly ducked and took cover behind a sand dune.
After waiting for a bit, he sensed that there was no danger and determined the shot wasn't fired at him.
He then sat down in a shady spot, set up his sniper rifle, and looked straight ahead through the scope.
He then sat down in a shady spot, set up his sniper rifle, and looked straight ahead through the scope.
While cultivators did have superhuman eyesight, it was only a few times better than that of regular humans'. As such, Jonathan
needed to rely on his scope to see beyond five hundred meters.
As he scanned the area in front of him, he saw a figure run past his field of view.
One thousand and five hundred meters away, huh...
Jonathan glanced at the screen of the device on his arm and saw that he was close to the border.
The border is about a thousand meters away from my current position, so that figure I saw was technically within West Region.
Was he the one who opened fire just now? He looks like he's running from something, though.
With that in mind, Jonathan turned his gun slightly to the side and looked at the area behind the figure. Sure enough, a few cars
were speeding in the direction of the border. Those were most likely military SUVs belonging to West Region Army.
As Jonathan adjusted the magnification level on his scope, he saw two black dots flying toward the figure.
What the... Are those fighter jets? What did that guy do to have West Region Army hunt him down with fighter jets?
Jonathan saw the figure flash past his scope again, but he couldn't quite pinpoint his location due to the sand dunes blocking his
line of sight.
He then scooped his sniper rifle into his arms and ran straight ahead.
I don't care who he is or what he has done, but anyone who can get West Region Army riled up like this is definitely a friend of
mine! I must save this person!
Both Jonathan and the mysterious figure were running toward each other at insane speeds.
Jonathan felt slightly relieved when they were eight hundred meters away from each other, as it meant he was in Chanaean
territory.
However, the figure who was running in his direction stopped the moment he saw Jonathan. He then turned around without any
hesitation and took off in the northeast direction.
“Huh? Hey! I'm not from West Region!” Jonathan shouted at the top of his lungs.
However, they were simply too far away from each other, so Jonathan had no choice but to give chase and run after the figure.
Suddenly, a loud crackling noise echoed through the sky.
Jonathan quickly raised his bronze handbell and jumped toward the sand dunes on the side.
Boom!
A deafening explosion soon followed, causing the sand to fly everywhere.
Jonathan tightened his grip on his sniper rifle as he watched the grains of sand fall onto the protective barrier of his bronze
handbell.
What the... I would've been blown to bits if I didn't run fast enough! Wait a minute... That was a B-12R scud missile! A single one
of those costs about three hundred thousand! Just what did this guy do to them? Why are they trying to kill him so desperately?
With that in mind, Jonathan activated his spiritual sense. While the sand was slowly flowing into the crater left by the blast, it
would take a long time to fill up a huge hole that was about thirty meters deep.
“F*ck! Did that guy blow up West Region's capital city or something?” Jonathan exclaimed as he unleashed his technique and
ran after that figure.
However, he had just made it past the sand dune when a bullet flew right past the protective barrier of his bronze handbell.
“Oh, you want to pick a fight with me? I don't have time for this crap!”
Jonathan then channeled Ancient Sacred Dragon Technique and gave himself a huge boost in movement speed.
Four hundred meters... Two hundred meters... One hundred meters...
Jonathan had reached the advanced phase Grandmaster Realm and was only a step away from reaching God Realm.
As such, he was able to use his spiritual sense to communicate with that person, even with the sand dune in the way.
“Run toward the east! I'm Chanaean! I'm here to help you out!” Jonathan shouted in the direction of the sand dune ahead of him.
However, what he received was a very strange reply.
“You're powerful, but I don't believe! Stay away from me!”
As Jonathan jumped on top of the sand dune, the bronze handbell above his head lost its spiritual energy and fell.
Jonathan then went down on one knee and fired a shot at the SUV that was a thousand meters away.
Bang!
Instead of looking up to check if his shot hit its mark, he simply turned around and continued running toward the east.
Sure enough, the SUV that got hit by his bullet swerved around and went down the sand dune.
A few seconds later, an artillery shell landed on the sand dune that Jonathan was standing on earlier, reducing it to about two
thirds of its initial size in an instant.
Fighter jets then soared through the sky and dropped countless bombs all over the area.
The look on Jonathan's face changed the moment he saw the black dots in the sky.
After giving it some thought, he changed course and ran toward the figure as fast as his legs could carry him.
“You won't make it out of the blast radius in time! Come with me if you want to live!”