"What—on—earth—is—going—on!" Ji Ling exerted all his breath with each word. Finally, I replaced the magazine and pulled the T-shaped handle with all my might.
"Yang Shixiu, hurry up!"
"Bingbing!"
"Damn it! I can't hit anything!" Lu Wanqing became as crazy as when she was usually defending our base. "There are too many obstacles! Throw a smoke grenade!"
The observer tore off a green smoke grenade that looked like a beer can from his chest. It spun in the air two meters above the ground. Lu Wanqing, with her excellent marksmanship, hit it with one shot, and a white curtain poured down like the morning fog on the islands.
"I'm coming!" Yang Shixiu stumbled forward, stepping on the broken pieces of wood on the ground. I was one step ahead of him and quickly crouched in front of Luo Bing to form a human shield. Ji Ling wriggled over like a loach, and I grabbed his hands and pulled with all my strength.
Lu Wanqing threw the smoke grenade outwards and then detonated it just by feeling, buying us precious time. Immediately after that, I adopted a half-kneeling posture, my legs still a bit weak. Yang Shixiu's gentle voice came from behind me and directly reached my ears: "Relax, relax. It's just a minor injury..."
"Is she okay?" I asked, on guard for anything new emerging from the smoke and darkness.
Ji Ling, however, maintained his usual half-comforting concern: "She should be... okay, right?"
"It's not a big deal. She's lucky." Yang Shixiu was half answering us and half telling Luo Bing, "The bullet just grazed the artery on her neck. If it had been a bit deeper inside..."
"Carry her away?"
"Fifty-fifty chance. Well, if the bandage is too tight and makes you uncomfortable, just let me know. I'm afraid of strangling you."
"I feel like I'm already dead..." Luo Bing muttered expressionlessly. She was lying on the ground like a salted fish. Ji Han caught up and formed a familiar three-three formation team with me and Ji Ling, and we advanced forward, swaying left and right to keep watch. The whole process was quite calm. When we reached the end of the room, there was only a closed door.
Ji Ling carefully fired at the door panel. The hole revealed behind it was empty. They had escaped. I let out a sigh of relief, sat down against the wall, and pressed the communication device: "How far are we from our destination?"
"The estimated straight-line distance is between 150 and 200 meters,"Hedwig replied. "But are you guys mentally prepared?"
"What?" I was stunned.
Hedwig replied coldly: "Be prepared for having nothing."
I ignored her and unscrewed the tactical water bottle for Ji Han instead. The girl's face, which had turned red against the fair skin due to the intense exercise, was covered with beads of sweat, and her hair was sticking together. Ji Ling wasn't in a much better state either, panting heavily. The main consumption of physical strength was caused by the heat loss in the cold wind. Everyone was dressed as lightly as possible, so naturally, it wasn't comfortable.
The three of us huddled together, none of us saying a word. Through the earphones, we could hear Zhuge clearly discussing the next action plan with Hedwig. After hearing the content, I sighed and walked to the corner, gesturing for Yang Shixiu and Liang Dong to come over: "Don't turn on the communication. Remember what I'm going to say next..."
Yang Shixiu replied seriously: "I understand, but I haven't learned that skill."
"Someone has." I secretly glanced at Jiang Li. The latter noticed my gaze, and a sharp glint flashed in her eyes, like the glimmer of a drawn sword.
What are you up to? — I could read this meaning from her eyes.
I nodded and then looked away. The Holy War Army had left four corpses here. Their faces were either terrified or distorted. I pulled Liang Dong and Ji Ling and pushed the door open to enter the corridor.
The semi-open-air passage was covered with a layer of flying sand brought by the cold wind, and the footprints on it were half covered. The sandstorm was leaving, and the faint light visible in the sky was covered under the dark curtain.
"All clear." Ji Ling quickly checked every corner after kicking the door open. He found nothing. After realizing the gap in combat strength, that small group of enemies had disappeared without a trace.
Knowing that it would be futile to pursue them any further, we determined the direction again and set off. There were sporadic enemies along the way. However, the closer we got to the crash site, the clearer the gunshots coming one after another became. Finally, I heard that familiar voice: "This is Team Four leader, Valkyrie. This is the 11th call. Please respond if you receive it."
"This is Team One, approaching from the north side."
"The north side? There..."
Amid the howling, the sandstorm flowed under the sun like a tattered robe and then dissipated. The sunlight shone brightly again. The Holy War Army spotted us dozens of meters away and opened fire immediately, leaving bullet marks. A rifle grenade exploded on the open ground not far from me, filling the air with the choking smell of gunpowder burning.
I rushed to the back of the wall, took a deep breath, and fired. The bullets only made deep holes in the earthen wall. The gun ejected the cartridges, which bounced between me and the broken wall. Liang Dong rushed forward, threw himself on the ground, opened the bipod, then put his left hand on the gunstock, and aimed with his right eye open. His shooting posture was as smooth as flowing water.
The sunlight shone again, and the small town was set ablaze in the heat.
I climbed onto a truck, lay down, and fired, launching a grenade that didn't cause much damage, sharing the pressure on the machine gunner. Taking this opportunity, Ji Ling rolled and crawled to a small mound.
"Why isn't the radio working yet?" I shot down an insignificant enemy who thought he could sneak up on Ji Ling. In the chaos of war, no one answered my question. However, there were indeed more and more enemies. The bullets in the air were like an all-pervasive rain of fire.
"Old—" Liang Dong turned around, trying to call me. Coincidentally, because of this movement, he dodged a long burst of fire, which startled him and made him break out in a cold sweat. I replaced the magazine and raised the muzzle again. The bullets flew towards the windows in the distant houses.
"Old Gu!" Liang Dong jumped into the truck like flying with the light machine gun in his hand. His chest heaved exaggeratedly. I daresay that if it weren't for the restraint of the bulletproof vest, he might have burst his stomach like a ridiculous frog. "Scared me to death! Scared me to death! Scared me to death! Do we have any heavy firepower to blast them to hell?"
"Ask Luo Bing!" I fired at a running figure.
"Reporting for duty." Luo Bing slowly climbed onto the truck, took off the rocket launcher, and aimed it. "The only available rocket I found is a fuel-air explosive rocket. Should I fire it?"
"Do you have a grudge against Ji Ling?"
"No. And, Captain," Luo Bing pushed my head down with one hand, "RPG."
The rocket exploded at close range. Luo Bing then switched to a rifle to protect herself. Another RPG, I didn't know if it was an RPG-2 or an RPG-7. Fortunately, the accuracy of this old-fashioned weapon wasn't high.
Otherwise, I would have been killed long ago.
The sonic boom melody unique to the MQ-1 rang out at the rear of the battlefield. A smoking drone glided by, and an AGM anti-tank missile streaked out with a white glow and fell. The operator's actions were brave and crazy. He risked crashing at any time and forced his way through that sandstorm.
"Cover me!" I jumped off the truck and charged towards my childhood friend. My teammates provided fierce fire suppression in time, allowing me to stand shoulder to shoulder with Ji Ling safely.
"Gu Xiaoyao!" The person speaking vaguely reminded me of something. It wasn't until I looked to the left that I remembered it was Katerina. CC squeezed in between me and Ji Ling like a tumbleweed, looking hesitant. "In one minute, you two just charge straight ahead. I and Polar Day will cover you!"
"Who's Polar Day?"
"It's me!" Dongfang Muxue peeked out from behind Katerina and waved the AK-19 (the NATO-caliber version of the AK-12) in her hand as a greeting.
Ji Ling replaced the magazine: "Xiaoyao, do you remember the 200-meter race in the first year of high school?"
"Of course." I switched the shooting mode to full auto. "I was third in our group, and you were first."
"This time, make sure you keep up."
"Sure."
The next moment, we started running from behind the mound. Ji Ling took the lead. With my lungs expanding vigorously, I tried my best to keep up with the first assault man. The world seemed to be moving away from me, and all I could see was the straight assault route.
Charge—
It was as if I had returned to that sports field. The shouts, the cheers, and all the other chaotic sounds were fading away from me. I couldn't hear any clear sounds around me. All I could hear was the thumping of my own heart.
—In fact, this process was very short. I pulled CC, who was trying to rush into the house, with my left hand, and first pulled the pin of a grenade and threw it into the house. I could feel the ground shaking even through the wall.
I opened the door first. A rocket flew past me. The shooter didn't have time to retreat and died as his heart was hit. Another person who looked very similar to him angrily set up an RPK light machine gun and opened fire. The intermediate-power bullets shattered a series of household items.
I hastily dropped to the ground. Several parts of my body were burning with pain. Ignoring the wounds, I pulled the trigger and fired blindly at the source of the fire until the gun automatically locked back due to an empty magazine. CC nimbly shuttled through the house. Despite being the youngest, she had the highest lethality among us.
The little girl in my field of vision was like a bolt of lightning, bringing death and destruction as she rushed around.
She didn't seem like a child at all.
After CC alone cleared the area, I had already reached the window at the other end. The helicopter was lying on the ground, paralyzed. The windshield was completely shattered into pieces of crystal, shining with colorful reflections under the scorching sun. The tail wing of the giant beast was bent at a 60-degree angle in the impact and drooped lifelessly. The original propeller was left with only a bare shaft. The surface of the fuselage was uneven, like the tin of a can that had been forcibly pried open. Looking carefully into the distance, we could see the circuit boards that were emitting electric sparks. The dark red sparks fell to the ground like a waterfall and turned into sporadic flashes among the dust. The deep scratches that had been gouged out clearly showed that it had suffered a rather powerful impact. The bullet heads, with their unrelenting fierceness, were embedded in it, leaving traces like snow made of light particles, falling like petals.
"Don't approach!"
Valkyrie noticed me: "Don't approach! There's a sniper! Ashinchev and Romani have already fallen! And the other side is using NATO-caliber weapons, probably MK14. They've received standard sniper training. There's another one!"
"Another one," Ji Ling turned his head. "That means there were originally two of them. Ashinchev was attacked by the other one while dealing with one of them."
"The standard anti-sniper tactic should be to call for artillery fire." I spat out the bitterness that had been lingering in my heart with these words. Something seemed to stretch out in my mouth, leaving a bitter taste between my lips and teeth. From the beginning to the end, I really felt like I was at a loss, just like Zhu Bajie. The 50-meter open section right in front of the helicopter was a dead end. Once I stepped on it, there would be no turning back. Maybe I could be like Liu Bang and escape unscathed from the deadly Feast at Hongmen, but Liu Bang was facing Xiang Yu, who still had a bit of mercy in his heart. In this chaotic land, who would show me any mercy?
"We can use the decoy tactic," CC raised her tender right hand. Even with her height, she only reached my neck. "The fastest aiming time for a sniper is 2.5 seconds. That means as long as I can react within 2.5 seconds, I can hold him back. But the MK14 is semi-automatic. If he fires a follow-up shot immediately, I'll lose my ability to act... But sacrificing just me is within an acceptable range of losses."
"You don't have to go." Unconsciously, a solemn tone had seeped into my voice. "You don't have to go. I'll figure something out."
I connected to the communication device again: "Val, where's your drone?"
"Destroyed. Now I'll start reporting the situation," Valkyrie's voice mixed with the sound of gunshots at a typewriter-like speed. "Three seriously wounded people, half of the ammunition left. The target lost too much blood and was executed by me. Of the three seriously wounded people, two are in critical condition, and one has both legs fractured and needs medicine. The sniper is probably in the southeast direction of me. Over."
At the same time as she finished her narration, Jiang Li appeared behind me with hurried pattering footsteps. Lu Wanqing backed into the room in a ready-to-shoot posture. Her first reaction was still to confirm our identities.
In that short period of time, the sniper had already found cover. The girl chose to lie down at the other end of the room, hiding her petite body among the piles of rubble. The sunlight shone through the broken roof and fell on her. For a moment, I was in a daze and almost mistook her for a stone. The observer took off the binoculars and observed the clusters of buildings reflected in the lenses. As his lips opened and closed, his snow-white teeth were visible: "The wind speed is 4, blowing north. There are three suspicious targets 300 meters away in the southeast direction!"
"Get ready to cover us!" Valkyrie didn't even intend to discuss it with me. "We're coming out!"
"Wait!" — Even though I said that, I had no other choice. The Russian team leader rushed out first and took the initiative with two cold and ruthless shots. The bullets pierced through the heads of two Holy War Army soldiers, and their heads shattered like eggshells. Along with the upward-rolling blank white eyes was the bloody mess. When I witnessed this, what came to my mind was actually a watermelon — a watermelon that had been dropped and shattered by its owner.
With a crisp and neat tactical maneuver, Valkyrie put the rifle against her waist. Her legs were long, strong, and had astonishing explosive power. She jumped high, with sparks flashing at the muzzle. The fall of the enemy on the other side when she landed was the finale. At that moment, I saw the shadow of the Valkyrie on her golden figure. She smashed the butt of the gun into the face of the nearest person. Broken teeth, along with saliva, flew out of the victim's mouth, forming a string of crystals.
His nightmare was far from over. With a cold and murderous aura like a surging icy river, Valkyrie directly grabbed his throat and used him as a human shield. The rifle fired precisely like the Grim Reaper swinging his scythe from the sky. She spun like a ballet dancer in Swan Lake. Perhaps the silence of the four people around was the best praise for the girl.
The shiny Alaskan whaling knife went in bright red and came out the same way. Valkyrie casually threw a smoke canister. The pistol on the outside of her thigh was grasped in her slender hand in the blink of an eye. She fired and eliminated the last standing person.
For a moment, the battlefield became so quiet that you could hear a pin drop. No one chose to pull the trigger, even if it was just a simple movement of moving their index finger. The blonde-haired, green-eyed girl stood in the middle, proudly holding her head high, with her neck raised like a white swan. "Hiss, hiss" The smoke canister spewed out white smoke, making her look like a hazy figure.
"Bang!" "Whoosh!"
Suddenly, bright gunfire flames like small flowers burst out in the distance. Jiang Li's gun fired almost simultaneously, one shot after another, like a singing melody. The 0.3-inch bullet heads flashed by in a blur before my eyes. Valkyrie's figure trembled like an old tree struck by a storm, then froze, and finally fell to the ground weakly and sadly. The white smoke continued to rise without a care, and all that was left in my retina was a vast expanse of white.
I woke up as if from a dream and rushed forward with my legs dragging my upper body. After witnessing all this, I felt so weak that I just let my legs mechanically carry me as I sprinted. My dry and burning lungs made a sound as if they were exerting all their strength. Something scalding surged up along my bronchial tubes. When I gasped for breath, it was like a volcanic eruption, billowing in the air.
No one fired at me. No one had the chance to fire at me. Jiang Li's cover had always been very effective. The young man who rushed out of the bomb crater had a mixture of excitement and fear on his face. He held his rifle level, with a bayonet attached to it. The bayonet was rusty, but the remaining luster still reflected the scorching sun above.
I remained unmoved, with only an indescribable calm in my heart. My emotions seemed to drift away and disappear from every pore of my body in the wind. I reached out, grabbed the gun handle, turned around, and a hollow creaking sound came from the bullets that brushed past me. The heat on my fingertips on the gunstock quickly turned into the warm rhythm of a living body full of vitality. As the numbers on my watch ticked by, I choked the man to death.
The attacks aimed at me naturally wouldn't stop just because one person died.