Mercenaries, I Will Be King Chapter 479 - 425: Local Bully or Invading Dragon?

"MilMilitary Terrain Study?"

All the "elites" had a huge question mark flash through their minds.

In their eyes, this discipline wasn't that significant.

This had to do with the nature of the ELN ard forces.

They were guerrilla in nature, an anti-governnt ard forces group, recruiting all combat personnel from local farrs who were native to the area.

On the ELN's current turf, each local camp was recruiting soldiers from nearby, uniting local farrs dissatisfied with the governnt.

Since they were all locals, the combat range was also within their place of birth, so there wasn't much regard for sothing like Military Terrain Study.

After all, they could charge around with their eyes closed on this plot of land without getting lost, and if they were to fight in soone else's territory, they could use devices like GPS.

Even without such devices in the past, when joining forces with local ELN mbers for combat, there wouldn't be a situation of getting lost.

"Instructor, we don't need Military Terrain Study..."

Captain Anthony voiced his doubts.

He felt it was a pure waste of ti.

"We've never gotten lost in battles over the years, not once."

Song Heping said, "Oh? Is that so? Never gotten lost? Right now, you have five maps, and the 50 of you will start walking to the school from now, the school isn't far, about a hundred kiloters from here. Walk there on your own, I'll head back to the school first and wait for you."

He couldn't be bothered to explain the importance of Military Terrain Study for military command to this bunch.

Tactics need to be precisely executed to be effective, and in real combat, not being proficient in terrain study leads to tactical failure.

He, Jiang Feng, the translator, and a few others turned to get in the car, but before boarding, he turned to ask Anthony,

"What's your na?"

"Anthony."

Song Heping had looked over the list and knew this man was a Captain, also the highest-ranking student there.

So he said, "Anthony, you will lead the team. You all can put your heads together to figure out a way back to the school, it's just a hundred kiloters, not too difficult. I'll be waiting at the school for you. However, I must remind you, we're close to the border here, and that's an active area for the border forces. You are in the country illegally, and if you wander into their patrol range, I can't save you. Good luck."

With that, he got into the vehicle and left.

Anthony, holding the map, hadn't yet co to his senses, and Song Heping and the vehicle convoy had already disappeared into the night.

"Captain, what do we do now?"

Finally, a student couldn't help himself and ca over to consult Anthony.

Anthony, holding the map and compass, checked it several tis before finally saying loudly, "It's just walking a hundred kiloters, isn't it? It's not like we haven't walked that far before! Just follow , and don't get lost!"

...

Early in the morning.

Song Heping walked out of the school construction site's temporary building, stretched, and did so chest-expanding exercises, taking a deep breath of fresh air.

The air in the jungle was fresh, full of negative ions, giving a refreshing and exhilarating feeling.

He turned to go back into the room to get his toothpaste and toothbrush, and then walked over to the wash basin to wash up.

The workers on the construction site were also waking up, erging from their dormitories one after another to wash up before heading to breakfast.

The temporary canteen was also beginning to emit the scent of porridge and side dishes.

Song Heping really liked this feeling.

Looking at the dawn on the horizon and the undulating mountains, he felt as if he was back in his childhood, living in his ho village.

There was a mont when he truly wished ti would stand still at this instant, forever.

Because at this ti, he felt incredibly relaxed—he wasn't the boss of a PMC company, not the leader of a rcenary troop, just an ordinary person.

"Lao Song!"

Lao Gao's voice pulled him back to reality.

"You're awake?"

Song Heping felt a bit of loss, but after a mont, he still smiled at Lao Gao and said, "Yeah, I got used to waking up early in the army, can't sleep in."

"Brushing teeth?" Lao Gao saw the toothbrush and toothpaste in Song Heping's hand and called out, "Together?"

"Sure."

The two of them went over to the wash basin together.

The wash basin here was temporarily set up, just a twenty-ter-long counter made of cent, fitted with a faucet every three ters, allowing dozens of people to wash up at the sa ti.

Such washstands, there were three on the construction site.

After all, the cost of water here was quite low, incomparable to electricity.

The water was drawn from a nearby river by a pump station they had built themselves, so only electricity was wasted, not the water itself.

"Lao Gao, I'm counting on you for the progress of the construction work,"

Song Heping said as he brushed his teeth, foam filling his mouth, as he made his request.

"Especially the runway. Pilots will soon arrive, and the planes on that side are almost assembled; they'll need to be test flown."

"Don't worry, it will be completed on ti and with quality."

Lao Gao was now in much better spirits.

This project was like a lifeline to him.

Once it was done, the debts of his company back ho would be no issue.

"The New Year is coming soon. I'll have so food sent over, and we'll set up dozens of tables for a celebration to lift everyone's spirits," Song Heping ticulously instructed about the New Year preparations – it was less than a week away.

The Chinese place great importance on the New Year, and with over a hundred workers on the construction site from back ho, Song Heping knew the feeling of being far from one's hotown. If it weren't for the rush job, he would have preferred to let everyone go back to China for the New Year and return afterward.

But the schedule of the project was too tight, so he had no choice but to ask Lao Gao to press on with the work during the New Year.

"Okay, I'll let everyone know when the ti cos."

Song Heping went on to say, "My sister-in-law isn't blaming , is she? Having you co to South Arica for this construction project over the New Year..."

"No way!" Lao Gao said sowhat excitedly, "Lao Song, you are my great benefactor... after the project is settled, I will repay that two million to you."

Song Heping did not refuse.

It was, after all, indeed the two million he had provided.

Helping a classmate was fine, but debts needed to be clear.

He knew well that not separating personal from business affairs could lead to problems and that friendship wouldn't last if this wasn't recognized.

"Fine. You can transfer it to my account when it's ti."

Lao Gao looked around and suddenly asked, "Lao Song, what exactly do you do now?"

Song Heping paused, the toothbrush in his hand stopping as he thought. Not wanting to hide it from Lao Gao, he confessed, "You might have guessed already, I work as a rcenary."

Of course, Lao Gao had suspected.

Those planes in the hangars and the facilities of this school were all built following the model of a military base and a military academy.

"Such a large school, it has to accommodate so many people…" he remarked with emotion, "Lao Song, back in the day, everyone said it was a pity you joined the army, and you would have had no problem getting into university. We all thought you wouldn't do well, but it turns out… it was us old classmates who were shortsighted."

Song Heping could only smile helplessly, "It's just a coincidental opportunity, all luck."

As they spoke, Jiang Feng appeared.

"Good morning! Old squad leader!"

He shouted as he made his way over, placing his bowl and toothbrush and toothpaste beside Song Heping, then turned on the tap, sticking his head right under it for a cold rinse.

Song Heping glanced at Jiang Feng and asked him, "Has Captain Anthony returned yet?"

"Not yet, I've sent people to watch at all the crossroads, but there's still no news."

Jiang Feng picked up a bar of soap, ran it a few tis over his cropped hair, then made a furious scraping motion, covering his head and face with suds before plunging it back under the running water to shower.

Song Heping wrung out the towel, wiped his face, and looked into the distance, his heart unavoidably filled with concern.

"I'll go out for a spin in the plane this morning, see where this bunch could have gotten to."

There was an MI-171 helicopter on site that had already been assembled, and the crew was in place. Song Heping wanted to take this opportunity to try out the helicopter while looking for those "elites."

"Don't freaking get lost and end up back ho, right?"

He couldn't help but laugh at the thought.

"They couldn't be that stupid!"

Jiang Feng wiped the water from his head and peered outside the valley.

"After all, these are elite troops used to rolling around in the Colombian jungles; they can't be that incompetent!"

Song Heping shook his head and chuckled, "Not necessarily. Being cocky on your own turf and being completely out of your elent in an unfamiliar environnt are two different things. Besides, they don't even have GPS now, it's purely manual navigation. Do you think their map reading skills are solid?"

Jiang Feng paused, suddenly becoming worried as well.

Those 50 "elites" had neither a way to contact the base nor any ans of sending out a distress signal.

It ant that if they encountered trouble in the jungle, they had to rely entirely on themselves.

"Old squad leader, I suddenly feel like we might have gone too extre. After all, this is a prival jungle…"