Chapter 42: Ambushing the Wolf-Fangs

Deep within the forest, along a wide dirt road, several military vehicles were parked on the roadside, surrounded by a heavily equipped, elite special operations team standing on guard.

"Gray Wolf, why are the Red Army scouts so quiet? Is their radio really under complete radio silence?"

Gao Dazhuang, standing by a vehicle, asked his comrade Gray Wolf.

Gray Wolf weighed the situation and shook his head, saying, "It must be the electronic warfare regiment playing tricks. They just made the military newspaper, and now they're just waiting to show off."

"Nonsense! If they show off, how are we supposed to capture the Red Army scouts? Communications soldier, patch me through to the Blue Army headquarters." Gao Dazhuang cursed with an ugly expression and immediately gave orders to the communicator.

On the ridge of the first line of high ground, primary and covert sentries from various squads maintained mutual vigilance. At that moment, the communications soldier, who had been constantly tinkering with the radio, stood up and shouted softly, "Squad Leader One! We have a signal!"

Zheng Sanpao sprang up like a coiled spring and ran toward the communications soldier. Sure enough, he quickly confirmed that the Blue Army's electromagnetic jamming had been lifted.

"Quickly transmit the intelligence to the forward command post. Listen up, everyone: according to the previous plan, Second Squad and Third Squad, hide yourselves. First Squad will act as the bait!" Zheng Sanpao was not a man of hesitation and immediately issued his orders.

"Understood!" The various squads immediately began setting up their ambushes according to the contingency plan.

"Remember this: as soon as the enemy arrives, we fire a few shots and fall back, drawing them right into the encirclement of the Second and Third Squads," Zheng Sanpao instructed the men earnestly.

"Understood, Squad Leader!" Everyone in the First Squad nodded in agreement, except for Su Yang.

"Su Yang, what are you looking at? Don't zone out during combat," Zheng Sanpao said, noticing that Su Yang was staring blankly at the map in his hand, and promptly reminded him.

Su Yang shook his head, then marked a spot on the map he was holding. "Squad Leader, I was just thinking: if the people from Fang's Lair discover us, might they bypass the cliff from the north and launch a sneak attack?"

"If they do that, our current terrain won't hold up. It'll be easy for them to cut off our retreat, and by then, the Second and Third Squads won't be able to rescue us."

Su Yang traced a route with his finger on the military map, leading from the valley intersection around the northern side of the cliff.

Zheng Sanpao quickly snatched the map to take a look, pondered for a moment, and told Su Yang, "Here's what we'll do: you and Deputy Squad Leader Xu head over to the cliff side and seal off that route for me. If the enemy comes up that way, give them hell!"

Su Yang and Deputy Squad Leader Xu immediately acknowledged the order, relocated to the side of the cliff, and found a hiding spot that allowed for both defense and retreat.

………

Xiao Zhuang was washing his face by the stream when a group of people wearing special operations uniforms, agile and swift in their movements, quickly surrounded him!

"Stand up! Hands behind your head!" Gao Dazhuang stared at Zhuang Yan and commanded.

Zhuang Yan looked up at Gao Dazhuang and the others, raised his hands, and slowly stood up.

Several men quickly approached him, checked his backpack, and fished out a student ID!

Gao Dazhuang looked at it and asked, "What are you doing here?"

"Backpacker!" Zhuang Yan naturally recognized Gao Dazhuang, who had given their company a hard time. Though a bit nervous, he quickly came up with an excuse.

"Backpacker? What's that supposed to mean? Where's the pack animal?" Gao Dazhuang asked.

"It means traveling for pleasure!" Zhuang Yan was almost amused by Gao Dazhuang's reaction, which helped ease the tension in his heart.

Then, leveraging his identity as a college student, he successfully conned two hundred yuan out of Gao Dazhuang!

"Wild Wolf, we've picked up the Red Army scout's signal!" Gray Wolf rushed over and said to Gao Dazhuang.

"Good, let's go capture the Red Army scouts!" Gao Dazhuang glanced at Zhuang Yan's retreating back, no longer caring whether the kid had lied to him or not, and turned to lead the Fang's Lair personnel toward the target.

"The signal shows the Red Army scouts are on the mountain ahead. I suggest we take a detour and sneak in past the cliff. Approaching directly from the front makes it too easy to be spotted, and the terrain isn't in our favor," Gray Wolf pointed at the opposite peak and said.

Gao Dazhuang took the map, glanced at it intently, and said with confidence, "We'll split into two groups. Gray Wolf, take a team and approach from the front. I'll take a team via the cliff and cut off their retreat."

"Will do!" Gray Wolf did not drag his feet and immediately led a team to advance from the front.

More than ten minutes later, Su Yang looked through his binoculars and spotted a heavily equipped tactical squad. He smiled and said, "Deputy Squad Leader Xu, they've crept up!"

Deputy Squad Leader Xu took the binoculars, took a look, and cursed under his breath, "Damn it, there are barely any of them, not even a full squad. They really look down on us!"

Then, he lowered the binoculars, made a hand signal to Old Pao and the others in the distance, and told Su Yang, "Let them get a bit closer before we fire. Also, watch out for their sniper. Change positions after shooting—let them see that special forces aren't omnipotent."

"Understood!" Su Yang nodded, checked his rifle to make sure everything was fine, extended the barrel out of the bushes, and waited for the enemy to close in.

Soon, Su Yang saw the Fang's Lair personnel using superb stealth techniques to bypass the cliff and enter his field of fire.

"Su Yang, your marksmanship is accurate. We'll fire together—I'll take the one in the front, you take the one in the back," Deputy Squad Leader Xu commanded.

"Got it!"

The two men immediately locked onto their targets. "Three, two, one! Fire!"

"Bang! Bang!"

Su Yang fired two consecutive shots, and the Blue Army tactical squad member carrying the radio in the back was instantly hit by Su Yang right on the spot!

"There's someone across the cliff! Take cover!" Hearing the gunfire, Gao Dazhuang somersaulted behind a tree and took cover.

The rest of the squad reacted just as swiftly. Before the echoes of the gunfire had even faded, and before Su Yang had time to acquire the next target, he watched as all of them scrambled into hiding, leaving only the unlucky bastard he had hit—now billowing white smoke—sitting there with a look of utter despair.

"Sniper, one o'clock direction!" Gao Dazhuang pinpointed the origin of the sound and shouted into his tactical headset to the sniper.

"I missed! Damn it!" Deputy Squad Leader Xu slammed his fist against the ground in frustration.

"Deputy Squad Leader, change position! Their sniper might have locked onto us!" Su Yang had no time to respond to Deputy Squad Leader Xu; he shouted a warning and immediately rolled backward.

"Bang!"

The moment Su Yang rolled away from his original spot, another gunshot rang out. Following that, Su Yang looked up and saw white smoke rising from Deputy Squad Leader Xu's body.

"Deputy Squad Leader Xu! You..." Su Yang didn't know what to say for a moment.

"Damn it, I am so freaking unlucky. Su Yang, hurry up and find the Squad Leader and the others. These guys are tough!" Deputy Squad Leader Xu sat on the ground looking somewhat depressed and waved his hand at Su Yang.

"Alright, I'm going!" Su Yang did not hesitate, turning to leave.

But after taking only two steps, he turned right back around.

"What are you doing? They're coming up fast!" Deputy Squad Leader Xu scolded.

"What the hell, are you going to rig a booby trap on me?" Before Deputy Squad Leader Xu even finished his sentence, he saw Su Yang pull out a training mine and hook it onto his vest.

"Stay flat, Deputy Squad Leader. Since you're already sacrificed, you might as well try to take someone else down with you!" Su Yang grinned, secured the mine, and quickly slipped away.

Leaving Deputy Squad Leader Xu lying in the grass, staring wide-eyed.