Amir had already ducked behind the shipping container, crouching and running toward the corner; otherwise, he would have definitely recognized that this was a thermal detonator he had made with his own hands.
After waiting for less than a few seconds, a massive explosion reverberated through the small plaza.
Fire, intense heat, and the shockwave knocked everyone off balance. Even the Imperial Inquisitors, who were some distance from the bomb, were forced to squint against the blast wave.
On the ground near the detonation point, only a large crater remained. The people nearby had vanished, leaving only a few charred bodies blown away by the blast.
Taking advantage of the chaos, a figure suddenly jumped down from the roof, over ten meters high. As the person approached the ground, retro-thrusters under their feet fired, cushioning the landing. The landing spot was right next to the safe.
This person was Joan. She had been waiting on the roof for a long time.
Seizing the confusion caused by the internal strife below, she had thrown the bomb. However, to avoid damaging the artifact inside the safe, she could only throw the bomb to the periphery of the plaza, into a densely populated area far from the center; otherwise, she definitely would have thrown it right into the faces of the Imperial Inquisitors.
Then, while everyone was distracted by the explosion, she jumped down and grabbed her target.
"Damn it! Someone's stealing the goods!" Lindsey, who had been pinned to the ground, took advantage of his captors' distraction to kip up and throw them off. Suddenly seeing someone fall from the sky and grab the safe, he was startled.
The people around him fell into panic, looking around wildly, fearing another bomb would fall from the sky—that would be lethal.
But Lindsey's shout was still heard by the three Inquisitors.
They were much calmer in the face of this panic. Before Lindsey even yelled, they had noticed Joan's sudden appearance.
The Grand Inquisitor instantly activated his lightsaber, stepped forward, and slashed at Joan.
Joan had been watching the three closely since she landed. The moment she grabbed the safe, she immediately started running in the opposite direction.
Her mechanical body exploded with powerful kinetic energy, moving forward rapidly, narrowly dodging the Grand Inquisitor's lunge. She crouched and dashed toward a side where the crowd was thinner.
The Dead Hand members were still recovering from the explosion and hadn't noticed someone slipping away with their treasure.
But the Imperial Inquisitors wouldn't let Joan go so easily.
While chasing quickly, the Grand Inquisitor extended his left hand.
Instantly, a dragging force came from behind Joan, causing her steps to falter. But she reacted quickly, turning around and firing immediately. The Grand Inquisitor raised his saber to block, but Joan's fire was too tricky and dense, interrupting his advance. He was forced to sidestep and dodge.
This gave Joan an opening.
But after a moment of reaction, the Dead Hand members also came back to their senses.
Their enemies were actually quite simple: only Amir and Joan. As for the Imperial Inquisitors who wanted to take the goods for free? They couldn't beat them, and they didn't dare to fight them.
They had to secure the goods first before they could continue negotiating, right?
So dozens of guns on the field began firing in the direction of Joan's escape.
At this time, Amir, who had been ignored, poked his head out from a corner of the hall.
He had long since taken advantage of the chaos caused by the explosion to leave the position near the container. That spot had become a target for everyone; he couldn't show his head there at all.
On his way out, he had also shot and killed a few people blocking his path.
Good, Joan is here. Seeing his helper arrive, Amir felt much more relieved. He had no chance facing so many people alone. Just now, he had even planned to hold back, wait for the Imperial Inquisitors to take the item and leave, and then snatch it from them.
For Amir and his group, the Imperial Inquisitors posed less of a threat than this plaza full of blaster-wielding thugs.
First, Amir and his team had strong personal combat skills. In a one-on-one fight, even if 32 and Joan couldn't win, they could stall the enemy. Even if they got injured, it was just damage to their mechanical bodies; as long as their heads weren't cut off, it wasn't a loss.
Second, Amir had already provoked the Empire, so he didn't need to worry about retaliation; as the saying goes, he who is barefoot is not afraid of those wearing shoes.
If Dead Hand really decided to burn their bridges, even three Imperial Inquisitors would have a hard time. But they didn't dare. Even if Nuludin dared, most of his subordinates didn't. Apart from those on death row, who would want to be constantly targeted by the behemoth that was the Empire?
Raising his hand to snipe a thug carrying a heavy repeater, Amir focused his gaze on Joan.
Joan's situation wasn't optimistic. She was currently hiding behind a crate, taking heavy blaster fire, with the Imperial Inquisitors constantly closing in from behind. She had almost nowhere to run.
Driven almost to desperation, she took out another thermal detonator from under her robe.
This was the last one.
Pressing the activation switch, the spherical bomb flashed with red light as she bowled it in a curve toward the crowd behind her.
The Grand Inquisitor bore the brunt of it. He saw the bomb first and instinctively wanted to push it away with the Force. But right in front of him was the thief, and in the thief's hand was the mission target.
It didn't matter if the thief died, but given the power of that bomb—he recalled the scene just now—he feared the safe wouldn't be able to withstand it completely.
So the Grand Inquisitor made a prompt decision. He used the Force to grip the bomb and threw it toward the crowd of Dead Hand members behind him.
This motley crew was almost scared to tears seeing the bomb flying toward them. The previous explosion alone had killed nearly twenty of their people, and there were still those missing arms and legs wailing on the ground. And now you throw another one at us?!
In an instant, they scattered like birds and beasts, ignoring the thief completely, all scrambling to dodge.
Hiding by the wall, Amir smiled seeing this scene. He silently extended his sinful little hand.
Because Joan's position was already close to the edge of the field, after the bomb was thrown away, the Dead Hand members surrounding her ran desperately back toward the center.
The bomb's timer was set for at least six or seven seconds. Run! Run as far as you can in this time! Running one more meter might save a leg!
An eight-legged Harch at the very front regretted chasing so closely, but his racial advantage was maximized at this moment.
He had eight legs, while his surrounding associates almost all had only two!
Better you die than me! Go to the back and be my meat shield!
He threw away the blaster rifle in his hand, returned to his ancestral mode of movement, using all eight legs, transforming into a wind-swift male arachnid, moving backward rapidly. One by one, his teammates were left behind him. If he could laugh, he would definitely be laughing out loud.
These two-legged beasts who usually discriminate against me—now you know who should discriminate against whom!
So he looked back, wanting to know how far he had escaped.
But that glance became the last one of his life.
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