He shuddered violently, the transmitter in his hand fell to the ground, and he clutched the bleeding bullet hole in his neck with both hands. A wheezing sound escaped his throat as his eyes widened with endless terror and unwillingness, slowly crumpling down to the cold sandy ground, blood quickly soaking the earth beneath him.
The fierce and brutal crossfire, from the first explosion to the gunfire gradually thinning out and finally ceasing completely, lasted less than six minutes in total.
But for the four remaining mbers of Mans Squad, those re six minutes felt as torturous as centuries in hell.
When the 1515 assailants retreated as silently as they had appeared, they didn't linger after their successful ambush. Instead, they vanished into the dense night and complex terrain.
The old path, which had just undergone a bloody baptism, quickly fell into a death-like silence, leaving only the crackling sound of burning vehicle wreckage and the nauseating stench of blood.
The scene was like a painting depicting hell.
The first pickup truck was completely destroyed, turned into a pile of twisted scrap, still smoking.
The two team mbers inside were nowhere to be found, recognizable only from the tattered clothes and equipnt fragnts.
The second pickup truck burned fiercely, like a giant bonfire.
Of the six elite Squad mbers, two were instantly killed in the IED explosion, one died in the ensuing firefight, and one was seriously injured, barely clinging to life.
Only Mans and another team mber miraculously suffered only minor scrapes and concussive injuries, thanks to their superior tactical moves and a bit of luck. But their ammunition was mostly depleted, and ntally, they were on the brink of collapse from extre tension and witnessing their comrades' brutal deaths.
The two relied on a large rock near the riverbed, tightly gripping their rifles, breathing heavily, and watchfully observing any sign of movent in the dark, awaiting their unknown fate.
Hulmatu, Joint Command Headquarters
Song Heping had just taken off his coat, preparing to rest for a mont on the campaign bed to regain so energy.
Jiang Feng quickly walked in from the outside communication room.
"Old squad leader, we just received a report from the recon sentry. About twelve kiloters outside the city, near section four's abandoned road, there was an intense firefight. Based on the sentry's description of the gunfire density and explosion characteristics, we can basically confirm it's the usual ambush pattern of those 1515 guys. From the location and ti, there's an eighty percent chance it's the Thunder Defense squad that went out to fetch water, caught right in the crossfire."
Song Heping slowly sat up straight, walked over to the large tactical map, and accurately pointed his finger at the marked "Old River Path-Abandoned Road" area, with a cold smile on his lips.
Everything was within his expectations.
"Looks like our 'guests' from afar will be very busy tonight."
His tone was as calm as if he were comnting on sothing ordinary and unrelated.
"Go tell Samir to keep his n silent and await orders on site. Just conduct long-distance surveillance on the periphery and maintain vigilance on our defensive line. This is a 'private vendetta' between Thunder Defense and 1515. As 'allies,' it's neither appropriate nor our obligation to intervene. Let the brothers... enjoy the 'show'."
"Understood!"
Jiang Feng acknowledged, imdiately turned, and went out to deliver the orders.
On the road from Checkpoint 4 to the ambush point and at the ambush site.
Upon receiving the ergency call about the Mans Squad ambush, Sanders personally led nearly all available forces from the checkpoint, apart from essential stay-behind personnel, rushing out in three off-road vehicles, heading towards the general location where Mans Squad last reported.
Along the way, a foreboding feeling grew stronger in Sanders's heart.
When his convoy finally saw the fire illuminating the night sky in a faint red, and the terrible sll of smoke and scorched flesh drifting on the wind, his face turned pale.
Vehicles halted just outside the ambush periter, and Sanders was the first to jump out. Even for a veteran like him who had witnessed countless bloody encounters, the scene before him was suffocating.
Hell!
A real earthly hell!
The remains of two vehicles, still burning, emitted waves of scorching heat and a nauseating burnt odor.
The twisted and deford tal fras appeared grotesque and terrifying in the firelight.
The ground was littered with an overwhelming number of shell casings, gleaming with brass under the firelight.
Broken weapons and equipnt parts, blown off vehicle pieces, and so unidentifiable organic material fragnts were strewn across the entire ambush area.
The dics and team mbers he brought rushed forward, imdiately checking the status of any survivors.
Mans and another lightly injured mber supported each other as they erged from behind the rock, their faces mixed with the pain of surviving such an ordeal.
The critically injured mber lay in a pool of blood, breathing weakly, as dics frantically administered ergency field care, trying to staunch the bleeding and maintain vital signs.
Sanders stumbled slightly as he walked to the remains of the lead vehicle, reduced to a charred fra.
Under the flickering firelight, he could see the half-charrred, nearly carbonized horrifying corpse inside the driver's seat...
That was his brother, with whom he'd drank, and traversed bullet-strewn terrain together!
"FUCK——!"
A suppressed roar erupted from deep within Sanders's throat.
He suddenly squatted down, pounding his fist hard on the rough and solid ground, oblivious to the breaking skin and bleeding knuckles.
The elites who followed him for years did not fall in the mountains of Afghan, nor in the urban warfare of Illiguo. Yet here, in this godforsaken place, on a damned water-fetching mission, they were ambushed and slaughtered by terrorists, whom they had once considered a "rabble," in such a suffocatingly tragic manner!
He lifted his head abruptly, bloodshot eyes staring fiercely at where Hulmatu Town lay in the darkness, as if trying to see through the walls and glare at Song Heping in the command post!
The empty Checkpoint 4...
Song Heping's seemingly yielding yet malicious "cooperation"...
His performance of artful bla-shifting and crafty words...
The elusive and impeccably tid 1515 ambushers...
The scattered, ominous premonitions in his mind at this mont were strung together by an invisible thread, forming a clear and malignant web!
He and his n, occupying this Checkpoint 4, seed on the surface a strong strategic "nail" wedged into Hulmatu, a brilliant victory.
But now, he realized with utmost clarity, he and his subordinates more resembled players who willingly stepped into a death trap carefully prepared for them!
The hidden currents, dangers, and survival rules of this seemingly backward land were far more complex and brutal than he had imagined, based on past experiences!
And Song Heping, who seed sowhat "soft," was far more shrewd and ruthless than he initially assessed!
The chilling night wind swept over the bloody battlefield, lifting ashes and dust, bringing with it a bone-chilling cold.
Squatting beside his comrade's remains, for the first ti, Sanders truly felt that, in this land far removed from the norms of modern civilization, they, who prided themselves as the world's top "war professionals," had likely underestimated this Easterner right from the start.
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