Bab 30: Tragic
Outside the town of Gulmira, a vast new cemetery had been erected. This was a collective burial ground built by the town's survivors for their lost relatives and friends. The graves were densely packed, with simple pits and wooden boards marking each one.
There were few people left in the town; many young survivors chose to leave this unfortunate place. Those who remained were either elderly or unfortunate souls who had lost everything, including their families.
"They used to come here often, robbing some things and taking people with useful skills, but they never committed such a massacre before!"
"They said Yinsen helped you escape, and that was a challenge to their authority!"
The speaker was one of the few young people Blake and Tony found in the town. He led them to Yinsen's grave, his words making Tony even more silent.
"Why didn't you leave? I mean, if you want to leave here, I can help." After a long silence, Tony asked.
"This is my home, sir. My parents and sister are buried here! I want to stay with them!"
A hint of sadness flashed in the young man's eyes. This was his only home; he had nowhere else to go.
"This is Yinsen's grave. He was a good doctor and helped many of us. We gave him the largest tombstone."
The young man led Blake and Tony to a cemetery outside the town.
"I'm really sorry, man! I should have thought of this earlier, but I promise you, those people won't harm innocent people around here anymore!"
Tony spoke as he took out a cheeseburger and placed it beside Yinsen's grave. That was for his child. Before Yinsen returned, he and Tony had made a stop in Los Angeles. The first thing Tony did upon returning to America was to eat a cheeseburger. Yinsen had mentioned that his child also loved cheeseburgers, but they rarely had the chance to eat them in Gulmira.
This scene moved Blake. Tony Stark might appear arrogant and abrasive, but he always silently remembered everyone's needs. Happy liked certain TV shows, Rhodey's suit had a parachute installed after his injury, and Tony even made adjustments to Peter Parker's suit.
Recently, Blake noticed that despite Tony's outward disdain for him, Tony had secretly been modifying an intelligent program for Blake's new home, adding many options to make it more comfortable and convenient for him.
...
Wakoda was a small town about fifty kilometers from Gulmira. Recently, it had become another target for the Ten Rings terrorists led by the bald leader. This information was also provided by the young man who had guided Blake and Tony.
"Sir, can I go with you? Give me a weapon, and I want to avenge my family and friends!"
The young man asked them before they boarded the plane.
"Stay here, take care of the elderly, and restore your hometown to its former state," Blake said, patting the young man's shoulder before he and Tony left Yinsen's hometown.
In earlier news footage, reporters described the road to Gulmiraas a path to hell. Now, that title evidently belonged to Wakoda.
On the roads outside the small town, the corpses of locals were scattered everywhere. Most of them had been shot in the back, likely while fleeing, used as live targets by the terrorists. Among them were not only young people and women but also many children around ten years old.
The most tragic sight was a little girl who appeared to be about five or six years old. A powerful rifle shot had torn her thigh apart. She lay on the ground, staring into the distance, her eyes full of terror. The wound on her thigh was mangled and had begun to turn pale. Behind her was a long, winding trail of blood.
Blake could imagine the scene: perhaps her parents had been shot inside the town and, before dying, told her to run. However, a terrorist had shot her in the leg from behind, causing her to crawl a long distance before dying from blood loss.
"I don't know what your faith is, but I believe heaven is universal. There, you will see your parents again, and there will be no more suffering," Blake murmured, gently closing the little girl's eyes. The girl closed her eyes forever, but the image remained etched in Blake's mind, unforgettable.
Gunshots and cries for help echoed sparsely from the town. Blake and Tony exchanged a glance. Tony's helmet closed, and Blake leapt powerfully off the ground. One above and one below, they dashed towards the town like lightning.
On the road leading out of town, a boy of about thirteen or fourteen stumbled and ran, trying to escape. His father, a man with a gunshot wound in his leg, dragged himself along, urging his son to run faster and faster.
Ten meters behind them, a terrorist raised his rifle, aiming at the father's uninjured leg. He planned to shoot it, then kill the boy, enjoying the man's despair and pain—a twisted pleasure he recently discovered.
The massacre in Gulmira had unleashed the terrorists' inner demons, making their methods increasingly brutal and bloody. As the terrorist locked onto the father's leg and smiled, his finger began to squeeze the trigger.
With a "whoosh," a micro-missile shot from the sky, blowing the terrorist into pieces. A red-and-gold figure flashed overhead. Another terrorist, hearing the explosion, emerged from a nearby house, holding women's earrings, bracelets, and other accessories.
He looked puzzled at the explosion site but didn't have time to react. From the dirt road, a figure enveloped in a cloud of dust charged in like a dragon.
The terrorist didn't have time to raise his gun before Blake's full-force punch smashed into his face. The impact was so powerful that his head exploded like a watermelon struck by a massive hammer, spraying brain matter and blood all over Blake.
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