Mercenaries, I Will Be King Chapter 468 - 414: Escape

A blast of air and dirt rose as an anti-infantry land mine exploded, completely shattering the lower right ankle of a Vanguard mber leading the way. His leg bone split open, oozing bone marrow, his combat boot was rcilessly torn apart, and his calf muscles along with the hem of his trousers were severely mangled.

After being thrown to the ground, it took him a while to feel the pain, and he let out a piercing scream.

"Ah—"

The sound of the explosion, deliberately reduced in charge for the anti-infantry land mine, was not loud, yet in the silent jungle, it was like a muffled thunder, making everyone's eyelids twitch.

Hearing the scream, nearby "Cobra" team mbers' scalps went numb, and goosebumps arose all over their bodies.

In a mont of shock, another thud sounded, and another soldier, who had tried to move forward to aid his teammate, fell to the ground with a hole in his foot as blood mixed with frothy bone fragnts gushed out.

"Ah—"

Like the previous victim, he only started wailing after he hit the ground, pain distorting his face.

Actually, the arrangent of a minefield relied on prediction.

Song Heping had almost predicted how the mysterious pursuers would lay the mines as they passed through this area.

He had predicted their predictions.

That was always the most terrifying aspect.

Watching the two mbers writhing in pain on the ground, the other mbers of the "Cobra" squad silently looked towards Wu Shengwen.

They were well aware of the malicious intent hidden behind these anti-infantry land mines, which were not designed to kill a soldier, but rely to maim them.

This effectively created a large number of casualties, burdening the other mbers of the unit.

A single casualty required at least two people to care for him, tying up four combatants like a contagious disease, thereby weakening their fighting capability.

In this dark, damp jungle, figuring out how to handle several casualties beca a big problem. Diverting people to take care of them ant falling into the enemy's trap, and heartlessly abandoning the injured would severely damage morale...

This dreadful choice, no matter how one chose, seed wrong and truly gave Wu Shengwen a headache.

Wu Shengwen felt torn.

Given his character, he would certainly abandon the two combat-incapacitated mbers—who even if saved, would end up with crutches—but such action would surely cause dissatisfaction among so mbers.

Diverting manpower to care for the wounded ant that at least a squad would have to drop out of the combat lineup, which was also a bad move, not to ntion it wasn't yet ti to abandon the injured...

"Everyone, stop advancing, deploy and start mine-clearing in place!"

This order indicated that Wu Shengwen had given up the pursuit.

Nearby, Harold, who understood Burse, imdiately objected, "Captain Wu! This is a critical mont. If we don't catch up now, they will cross the border by dawn!"

Wu Shengwen finally exploded in anger, lashing out at Harold, "Fuck off! All you do is boss around here. You're a Seal Team Commander yourself, show us how it's done then! I've already lost several n without even seeing the enemy, and you still want to pursue?! Are the lives of my n not lives?! I absolutely refuse to continue risking lives for this until we clear the mines!"

He was fed up with this Arican's constant directions.

Even if his unit was receiving military guidance from them, and even his ard group was supported by Arican funds.

But that wasn't for nothing.

There was work to be done for them.

Over the years, whether it was drug trafficking or confronting the governnt army, the KIK ard group had already paid with enough lives.

Considering tonight's situation, continuing the pursuit might as well an more deaths.

If the Aricans really wanted to chase, let them do it themselves!

"Captain Wu! You will have to face the consequences for your words," Harold said with a steely face, starting to threaten Wu Shengwen.

By then, Wu Shengwen was already irate, with several subordinates dead or injured, and the fate of another 20 mbers of the Vanguard Team unknown, likely bleak.

He probably realized what kind of opponent he was dealing with.

If the Aricans liked to compete with the Chinese, that was their business, but for his Civilian Military, skimming so profit and doing small tasks was okay. Fucking idiot to gamble everything for such causes.

"I will face the consequences," Wu Shengwen stepped aside and indicating the way forward, said, "I have 20 brothers ahead, whose fate is unknown. If you, Captain, think you are better than them, more familiar with this place, you can continue the chase with your own n. I dare say those people are still up ahead without having crossed the border. Please! I am not stopping you!"

Harold felt like a balloon about to burst but was helpless.

He knew himself that the opportunity had already been missed tonight.

The best chance to annihilate them was when sacrificing Wu Tunqin's entire company at the crossroads.

Now it was rely about wanting these n in front of him to continue as cannon fodder, chase after that mysterious small squad, and then lead his own n to find an opportunity.

Unfortunately, Wu Shengwen wasn't foolish.

He was no longer willing to make aningless sacrifices.

"Fine," Harold finally compromised, "I won't urge you to hurry anymore, but I hope you clear the mines quickly and continue your mission."

"That sounds more like human talk!"

Seeing Harold compromise, Wu Shengwen also gave way.

"Don't worry, once it's confird safe, I will lead my n to continue the search and pursuit. But until then, I won't let my people take any more risks."

While the "Cobra" squad was trapped by the minefield, five kiloters away in a valley among the mountains, Song Heping and Hunter were moving through a pile of bodies with pistols equipped with silencers.

A minute ago, they had ended the battle.

After laying mines, Song Heping led Hunter to pursue forward.

"Put on silencers, hit them in the ass! They must be rushing blindly right now, not knowing we are already behind them!"

These were Song Heping's original words.

But it scared Hunter quite a bit.

Even with his extensive combat experience, such risky maneuvers were new to him.

According to Song Heping, the two of them had to catch up with that Vanguard squad and strike from behind.

That was twenty n...

If they were discovered midway.

Two n against twenty...

Thinking about that scenario, even Hunter felt sowhat faint.

"Wait for to take the lead."

Song Heping said, "Before they realize, you don't need to act."

"Boss, isn't this too risky…" Hunter wanted to persuade Song Heping but ultimately didn't dare to speak up.

Because he knew it was no use to persuade.

His leader had such a temperant, nobody could stop him from doing what he wanted.

Especially since he was leading the charge himself, with the rear tasked to reinforce at any mont.

What was there to discuss?

The two of them ran quickly and soon caught up with the "sharp-eyed" Vanguard.

A Vanguard team generally advances in a single file through the jungle as there's only one narrow path.

And each person generally keeps a distance of about three ters.

This distance isn't far.

But today was a stormy day.

Song Heping took advantage of this.

When the rearmost team mber turned to check behind him, he saw a ghostly shadow right behind him.

Before he could react, a survival knife had pierced through his chin, straight through his tongue and upper jaw. His head looked like a skewered rabbit head, completely silent.

At that mont, thunder roared and lightning flashed across the sky.

The sound of rain and thunder perfectly masked everything.

Song Heping dropped the guy and without looking back, continued to follow the team closely.

What ca next would be handled by Hunter.

The penultimate "Cobra" team mber felt sothing stirring behind him.

He glanced back and, seeing his teammate still there, he was reassured and continued moving forward.

Suddenly, the entire team stopped.

The scout who was leading the way realized that despite running for so long, they had found no footprints or traces.

"Stop! Sothing's off!"

The Vanguard Team finally halted.

The leader stepped forward and asked the tracking Vanguard, "What's the matter?!"

"Having run so far, there are absolutely no traces! Sothing's off!"

The Vanguard frowned, looking around on the ground like a hunting dog, and even turned on his flashlight to inspect several spots.

"There are no traces at all; they didn't take this route!"

"That's impossible! We've followed this path all the way; could they have moved onto the mountain?"

The leader was incredulous.

Because the terrain here was too complex; to leave the path and walk through the mountainous area was practically suicidal.

Not only was it difficult to navigate, but it was also highly prone to accidents.

As the two argued, everyone else in the team heard sothing fly over their heads…

It wasn't the sound of raindrops hitting leaves, but sothing swishing through the treetops overhead…

Then, several dull black objects fell at the feet of a few of them.

Soone looked down to see clearly what it was.

Boom—

Lightning illuminated the earth as if it were day.

Finally, soone saw clearly what had landed at their feet.

"Hand Grenade!"

He scread.

Boom—

Boom—

Boom—

It was all too late.

After the explosions, so were killed, others injured, and those unhard were just as confused and their minds buzzed.

Before they could struggle to stand up, two flashes like viper's tongues appeared from the darkness behind them.

Then, two different muffled gunshot sounds were heard…

A few minutes later.

"Boss, you've outdone yourself!"

Standing among the corpses, Hunter gave Song Heping a thumbs up.

"What do we do now?"

Song Heping looked around; all the Vanguards were dead.

For several ters along the small path, there were only corpses.

"Let's retreat, retreat first."

He said, then asked Hunter, "When you separated from White Bear, did he give you those two MS-3 mines?"

"He did." Hunter took off his backpack, which was now very light, as they had used up many mines and explosives.

He took out two MS-3 mines, holding them in his hands to show Song Heping.

The MS-3 is a Russian-made anti-tampering mine, which structurally and explosively resembles the Russian PMN series anti-personnel mines. However, its central detonator on the top and the triggering chanism are the opposite.

The PMN series mines explode when their pressure caps are struck (or stepped on), whereas the MS-3 mines explode when their payload is removed, thus known as "release mines."

These devices were suitable for placent under corpses, ammunition boxes, or even food containers on the battlefield to create booby traps to lure the enemy.

Song Heping said, "Let's create two trap mines; even if we don't confront them head-on this ti, we should still give them a hard ti."

He was still resentful over Grey Wolf's severe injury.

A head-on confrontation wasn't advantageous now, so they would bide their ti.

Sooner or later, they would settle the score with those Seals!