The mission had been exceptionally arduous, verging on a certain death. Everyone had prepared for sacrifice, but unexpectedly, not only had they completed the mission, they were still alive, which excited everyone imnsely. As they looked at Luo Zheng, their eyes were filled with respect. Luo Zheng was unwilling to delay, not even for a minute. With a broad wave of his hand, the team hurriedly departed and soon vanished into the night.
Without Turul's forces pursuing them, the retreat went smoothly. Luo Zheng was extrely anxious, wishing he could return imdiately. The team sensed Luo Zheng's urgency and gritted their teeth to continue marching relentlessly, day and night. Despite their exhaustion, there were no complaints or questions asked.
Five days later, at noon, the group arrived at a mountain ridge to rest. The team was utterly exhausted; everyone had lost a lot of weight, their eyes sunken, suffering from severe energy depletion. If they didn't rest properly, the team would be rendered useless. Noting this, despite his concern for Lan Xue, Luo Zheng had to consider the actual state of his team.
They kindled fires to cook, posted sentries, and Luo Zheng, along with the scholar, sat down to rest. Half an hour later, the grilled ga was cooked, as was the rice stead in steel helts. The last ti by the river, they had plundered a lot of rice and cooking oil. During the retreat, they brought plenty with them; otherwise, they could not have sustained the forced march for five days.
After sharing so food, Luo Zheng looked at everyone's haggard faces and couldn't bear it. He ordered the team to rest on the spot for two more hours before moving on. They were not far from the border; rushing wouldn't make much difference on this day. Luo Zheng leaned against a tree to recuperate, eyes closed, but he felt no sleepiness as his mind was filled with images of Lan Xue.
In a half-daze, he suddenly heard the sentry's warning of soone's presence. Luo Zheng was startled and instantly woke up fully. Discovering people here was not good news. He quickly got up, looked at his team who had also risen upon receiving the ssage through their earpieces, checked their weapons, and prepared for battle.
"What's the situation?" Luo Zheng asked in a low voice.
"A well-equipped team, their identities unclear, they look like soldiers," the sentry whispered back.
"Let's go take a look," commanded Luo Zheng with a wave of his hand, leading everyone to run hurriedly to a hillside. They took cover and began observing. Luo Zheng set up his sniper rifle, scanning through the sniper scope. Soon, he spotted figures on a distant hillside, camouflaged in Jili suits with branches inserted all over them. Had they not been moving, they would have been hard to detect.
"Sss?" Luo Zheng instantly felt this was no ordinary team. He observed carefully and suddenly saw that one of them, alert, had hidden behind a large tree. The person's strong intuition was evident; this was definitely a highly skilled expert. Luo Zheng signalled to everyone to hold fire and adjust the focus for a careful observation of the area ahead.
In between, Luo Zheng noticed several more figures, but they swiftly took cover, clearly well-trained and experienced. Luo Zheng's expression darkened as he fixed his sniper scope on one of them. After waiting a while, the target began to move quickly. Luo Zheng, recognizing the weapon in the person's hands, was shocked and shifted his sniper scope for a closer observation—it was a Type 09 sniper rifle.
"Eh?" Luo Zheng realized the Type 09 was a world-class, dostically produced large-caliber sniper rifle, the army's standard issue after the QBU88. It was mainly equipped within the Special Forces, though so division-level reconnaissance units also possessed them.
"Could it be our own people?" Luo Zheng thought in surprise. This was enemy territory; there was no reason for his country's troops to be here unless it was a secret mission. With this thought, Luo Zheng continued to observe while the scholar next to him suddenly exclaid in surprise.
"What's wrong?" Luo Zheng curiously asked in a low voice.
"Doesn't it look like it's our own people?" the scholar whispered back.
"You feel that too?" Luo Zheng was shocked and continued to watch ahead, but the people there were cautious and difficult to observe. After a mont, Luo Zheng asked, "Is there a way to confirm?"
"Firing into the sky, exposing oneself, releasing good intent," the scholar said in a low voice, "whether the other party is one of us or not, they won't easily open fire. Then sending soone to negotiate will suffice."
Luo Zheng reasoned that there was sense to it, so he nodded in agreent. The scholar fired a shot into the sky and then set down his weapon, whispering, "I'll go have a look."
"Be careful," Luo Zheng advised as he gestured for everyone to spread out a bit and ensure covering fire.
The scholar hurried over, making no attempt to hide and carrying no gun, emanating goodwill. Luo Zheng crouched under a large tree, aiming in a kneeling position and saw through his sniper scope that the people on the opposite hill had also noticed the scholar. Their gun barrels pointed in his direction but they did not shoot, clearly also confirming identities.
Soon, the scholar reached the opposite hill and shouted loudly, "Who are you?" Using the language of Huaxia Country for two purposes: as a probe and to clarify his own identity.
"Report your identity," soone from the opposite hill's woods called out, also in Huaxia Country's language. Luo Zheng overheard the conversation clearly through the scholar's headset.
"I am the scholar," the scholar called out upon hearing a voice that seed familiar.
Quickly, Luo Zheng noticed the people on the opposite hill ease their alertness. One of them burst out of the woods and ran to the scholar, exclaiming in surprise, "I didn't expect it to be you, that's great! Where are the brothers? Where is Ghost? Quick, where is he? I have urgent matters to report to him."
The scholar imdiately communicated via his headset, "Captain, it's one of our Special Warfare Team's second squad brothers."
"That's excellent; co over imdiately," Luo Zheng hadn't expected that they were looking for him. His heart skipped a beat, and he passively responded, bringing everyone to rush over.
"I am Ghost, what's the matter?" Luo Zheng ran up and called out to the opposite party.
"Reporting, sir. The second squad of the Southwest Special Warfare Team is reporting to you, Squad Leader Shi Qingshan," the other man respectfully saluted Luo Zheng and spoke earnestly. Seeing Luo Zheng's impatient wave of his hand, dismissing the formalities with a look of urgency, the man quickly continued, "Captain Lan is missing. We were ordered to search here and awaited your arrival for instructions."
"What? What did you just say? Say it again," Luo Zheng suddenly exclaid, seizing the other man's collar as he shouted, his face turning ashen and his whole body emitting a chilling murderous aura. The surrounding air seed to freeze, with his slightly sunken eye sockets flashing a terrifying cold light.
The soldiers around them, seeing this scene, couldn't stand by. They all pointed their guns, with one of them roaring, "What are you doing? Put down our Squad Leader!" The situation instantly tensed up.
"What are you trying to do? Mutiny? Everyone, put down your weapons imdiately!" The scholar's complexion drastically changed, seeing what was unfolding he rapidly pointed at the surrounding soldiers and roared, fearing an accidental discharge of weapons.
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