Chapter 43: The Frustrated Fang

On a distant ridge, a sniper clad in a ghillie suit, concealed behind a tree, lowered his sniper rifle, activated his headset, and began reporting the situation.

"Wild Wolf, one of the guys on the opposite side has broken away! You can move in now!"

Near the cliff, High Wolf—Mikael—heard the sniper's voice through his headset and immediately gave a hand signal to the others.

"Snipers provide cover, we are attacking!"

With that, the Fang tactical team swiftly advanced toward the cliff under the cover of the sniper.

Over on Zheng Sanpao's side, they had also exchanged fire with the force pushing up from the front. Gunfire echoed continuously, and one after another, men were eliminated, wisps of white smoke rising from their gear.

Su Yang sprinted forward, took cover behind a massive tree, and shouted to Zheng Sanpao, "Squad Leader, we need to fall back! Their marksmanship is too good."

Pinned down by the advancing Blue Force and unable to lift his head, Zheng Sanpao shouted with a grim expression, "Where is Deputy Squad Leader Xu?!"

"Deputy Squad Leader Xu is down!" Su Yang glanced toward the cliff. Seeing that the Fang operatives had already closed in, he shouted anxiously, "Enemies are approaching my position. We can't stay here any longer, Squad Leader!"

Gritting his teeth in frustration, Zheng Sanpao yelled to the remaining men, "Su Yang, cover our withdrawal! We'll set up a rear guard to meet you!"

"Understood!"

Su Yang acknowledged immediately, quickly drew a smoke grenade from his pouch, and tossed it toward Zheng Sanpao's group. Leaning out from behind the trunk, he unleashed a fierce burst of suppressive fire toward the Blue Force at the front, drawing their firepower onto himself!

"Fall back!" Seeing the smoke rise, Zheng Sanpao hesitated no longer, immediately leading Xiwa and the others back toward the prearranged ambush point!

"Don't let them get away!"

Watching the squad pull back, Su Yang breathed a sigh of relief and prepared to retreat himself. At that exact moment, a figure flickered and gave chase right after him.

Su Yang had no time to retreat properly. Leveraging the strength of the tree trunk, he vaulted upward from the spot and pulled the trigger almost simultaneously.

"Bang!" A gunshot rang out, and a puff of white smoke bloomed.

Su Yang rolled gracefully like a carp coming out of the water, landing beside a small dirt mound on the left. Without pausing to check the result of his shot, he slung his Type 95 rifle onto his back and sprinted desperately toward the ambush point in the mountain forest.

"Gray Wolf, how is your side looking?"

Mikael led his team in pursuit, rendezvousing with Gray Wolf's men, and immediately asked.

"Four got away!" Gray Wolf sighed, glancing at his eliminated subordinates.

He had never expected that their dignified special forces unit, while hunting down Red Force scouts, would lose two operatives right at the very beginning.

"Add the one who ambushed us at the chokepoint, that makes five!" Mikael's expression was grim.

"They must have been prepared, otherwise they wouldn't have split into two directions to block us, nor would they have retreated so quickly," Gray Wolf analyzed earnestly.

He continued with a solemn tone, "Besides, I inspected their movement traces. There should be a full platoon of them, but we only encountered a single squad. I suspect they have further reserves in ambush."

"I understand. All teams, disperse and pursue. Watch out for ambushes. No need for live captures anymore; eliminate them on sight." Having processed the situation, Mikael issued his orders to the two tactical teams.

"I want to see whether those Red Force scouts run faster, or our Fang operatives!"

"Yes!"

The special operators immediately split up according to the order, forming a net as they pursued the direction of Su Yang's retreat.

...

"Su Yang, over here!"

Su Yang charged desperately into a depression within the mountain forest and spotted Xiwa waving at him.

"Get down! There's a sniper!"

Sensing danger, Su Yang roared and lunged forward, tackling Xiwa to the ground.

"Bang!"

A gunshot followed immediately. Su Yang quickly scrambled up and checked Xiwa, letting out a sigh of relief when he saw no smoke rising from his body.

"Who told you to stay here alone? Where's the Squad Leader and the others?" Ignoring his own bruises, Su Yang swiftly replaced his empty magazine!

"The Squad Leader told me to lead you straight toward the reservoir, and not to wait for them, so we wouldn't give away our positions or expose the ambush site," Xiwa explained.

"I understand. Xiwa, grab your rifle and follow me!" Hearing this, Su Yang nodded decisively, pulled Xiwa to his feet, and bolted toward the distant reservoir!

Scarcely two minutes after the two had fled, two camouflage-clad special forces operators appeared at their previous spot, staring in the direction the pair had escaped.

"Report, the targets are fleeing southeast. Shall we pursue? No ambush detected."

"After them! Take those two out!" Mikael commanded through his headset.

"Wild Wolf, it's too late!"

Just as the two special operators were about to give chase, several gun barrels emerged from the surrounding foliage, aimed squarely at them. They could only sigh and curse their bad luck.

"What do you mean, too late?!"

...

"Bang, bang, bang..."

Before they had run far, fierce gunfire erupted from the forest behind them.

The two abruptly stopped and looked back.

"The Squad Leader and the others are in a firefight! Should we turn back?" Xiwa asked, his face etched with anxiety.

Just as Su Yang was about to reply, a sudden chill prickled down his spine. He yanked Xiwa hard, dragging him down into a trench.

"Bang!"

A bullet whizzed past, brushing inches from his body.

"It's a sniper! They've caught up again." Su Yang regained his footing and said to Xiwa.

"Those damn Fang bastards are using their gear to bully people."

Su Yang cursed inwardly, regretting that he hadn't trained as a sniper; otherwise, he wouldn't have been left entirely powerless, beaten and chased like a stray dog.

"Move, keep running!"

Daring not to linger any longer, he led Xiwa along the trench, racing down the mountain slope.

As for Zheng Sanpao and the others, Su Yang no longer had the luxury of worrying about them; they would simply have to fend for themselves.

...

Back in the mountain forest, the intense battle had finally subsided.

Gray Wolf brushed the dirt off his uniform, tallied the casualties and captured scouts of the Red Force, and then walked over to Mikael to report.

"Wild Wolf, aside from the three soldiers who escaped earlier and the few eliminated ones near the cliff, practically all the Red Force scouts are accounted for here—about a platoon's worth, matching our estimate. As for our side, we lost a whole team as well."

Gray Wolf's expression was somewhat dark as he reported. This was the first time they had suffered such heavy losses while assaulting a mere platoon.

Hearing this, Mikael said nothing. Instead, he walked over to the dejected reconnaissance platoon soldiers, eyeing them one by one, but failed to find any familiar faces.

He turned to the second squad leader of the Night Tiger Reconnaissance Company and asked, "Where is Su Yang, the private from your company?"

The second squad leader held no respect for the Fang operatives and coldly retorted, "Reporting Chief, dead men don't speak."

Mikael was unfazed by the attitude. "Even if you don't say it, I know. The soldier who ambushed us by the cliff and then covered your retreat was Su Yang, right?"

Faced with this, the second squad leader remained silent, offering no rebuttal.

"Wild Wolf, could this Su Yang be the private Vulture mentioned?" Gray Wolf asked dubiously.

Seeing Mikael nod in confirmation, Gray Wolf looked surprised. "Then this kid is truly formidable. He single-handedly eliminated two of our men and still managed to slip away."

Just as Gray Wolf finished speaking, a muffled explosion suddenly echoed from the direction of the cliff.

Mikael quickly grabbed his headset and demanded, "Earth Wolf, what's your situation over there?"

Moments later, a voice came through the headset, making Mikael and the others' expressions darken considerably. "Wild Wolf, the Red Force scouts are too cunning. They rigged a booby trap on the body of one of their own fallen comrades. Tianlang wasn't paying attention and got eliminated."

Hearing this, Mikael furrowed his brow. He glanced toward the direction where Su Yang and Xiwa had fled and spoke coldly to the sniper team, "Sniper team, those two are your responsibility. If you fail to capture them, you can head back for retraining."