Chapter 206: Steel Seventh Company Suffers Heavy Losses At The Start
After Yuan Lang announced the competition rules and mission, the competitors were taken to the other side to receive weapons and ammunition, as well as the essential laser simulation devices for the exercise.
Yuan Lang’s side also needed to set off with people, heading to the war zone first to make deployment.
Before departure, out of courtesy, he came before Regiment Commander Wang and greeted him: “Regiment Commander Wang, thank you for your support of our recruitment work. I’m heading to the war zone now, and we’ll come back in two days for the follow-up handover.”
“Sigh, wait a minute.”
Regiment Commander Wang waved his hand expressionlessly and said in Yuan Lang’s puzzled gaze: “I have a suggestion. You don’t need to make it so complicated. Just tie all these soldiers up and stand them in a row.
Then use the machine gun to spray them, and take away whoever’s left at the end. What do you think?”
“You mean…”
Yuan Lang smiled and countered: “I mistakenly overestimated the ability of your soldiers?”
“That definitely not.” Regiment Commander Wang replied.
“Then why are you underestimating your soldiers?”
Yuan Lang’s casual remark solidly shut down Regiment Commander Wang.
Opposing it would mean admitting his soldiers were all useless, which would definitely affirm that Yuan Lang’s assessment method was correct, and either way, he’d be at a loss.
Regiment Commander Wang couldn’t win with words against Yuan Lang and could only turn and leave without a word.
Yuan Lang easily handled the troublemaking Regiment Commander Wang, and the corner of his mouth curved up. Seeing Chen Jun following behind, he said with great interest: “Deputy Company Commander Chen, interested in playing whack-a-mole together?”
“Sure, mind bringing one more?”
Chen Jun happened to want to see the chemical reaction and simply agreed, even making a request.
“Sure.”
Yuan Lang mimicked Chen Jun’s tone, almost like a repeater.
“Old Gao, anyway there’s nothing going on in the company today. How about we go along and play?” Chen Jun turned his head and invited Gao Cheng along.
“Let’s go, get on my car.”
Gao Cheng didn’t like Yuan Lang and was too lazy to talk to him, turning straight to his own car.
But his stance was already very clear.
Yuan Lang watched Gao Cheng, like a sulking child, striding away with his neck held high, and grinned, showing his signature fake smile.
“Leader, then we’ll meet in the war zone.”
Chen Jun greeted Yuan Lang, took a few quick steps back to his car, and got in.
He skillfully sat in the driver’s seat. The space in the 212 open-top jeep military vehicle was quite large, and Chen Jun, at nearly 8 meters tall, didn’t feel cramped inside.
“Pretty arrogant, heh heh.”
Yuan Lang smiled strangely, then strode toward his car.
Meanwhile, the competitors were uniformly taken to the preparation point. Under the guidance of warriors from the directly subordinate Reconnaissance Company, they received their desired weapons and equipment.
Wu Liu Yi still had the 81 squad machine gun, Cheng Cai still had his favorite 85 sniper, and Xu Sanduo and others all had rifles.
Only Ba Te Er’s equipment was quite special. He not only picked up an 81 bar but also a rocket launcher, carried on his backpack with carrying equipment.
For most people, the extra nearly ten jin of load was a huge burden on the body.
But for the tough guy Ba Te Er, who was 86 meters tall, weighed 192 jin, with a broad back and bear-like waist, this bit of weight was just a drizzle.
Yuan Lang had just mentioned suggesting team action, and Wu Liu Yi thought it made a lot of sense.
As the squad leader of the elite First Squad, the strongest warrior in Steel Seventh Company in comprehensive strength, Wu Liu Yi naturally became the head of the Steel Seventh Company competitors.
To ensure maximum success rate and avoid too much embarrassment in the exercise.
Even though this time A Detachment was only recruiting three, and most of the rest were doomed to be eliminated, Wu Liu Yi decided to seriously make deployment.
There would be a reinforced company pursuing midway, and a twelve-person team was too large and obvious.
So after some consideration, Wu Liu Yi made an actual equal allocation of Steel Seventh Company’s twelve competitors, dividing them into two six-person groups.
He, Xu Sanduo, Bai Tie Jun, and others in one group; Cheng Cai, Gan Xiao Ning, Ba Te Er, and six others in the other.
Squad leader and deputy squad leader each leading a group, with outstanding elite soldiers in each group capable of assault. In comprehensive strength, the two groups were about equal.
Unfortunately.
Wu Liu Yi’s grouping strategy was very good, thought out very meticulously.
But no matter how good the plan, it can’t keep up with changes.
Not to mention being targeted.
…
Ten minutes later.
All competitors who had received supplies were separately taken to four canvas trucks and transported to the war zone starting point for assessment.
On the road, the competitors’ emotions were quite nervous, though a few were rather unusual.
Gan Xiao Ning had come just to play around and didn’t care about assessment rules or anything, with no major concerns, doing whatever he wanted.
Because he hadn’t eaten enough breakfast, when hungry he just opened the rations and started eating.
He didn’t care about saving field rations for emergencies.
Fortunately, A Detachment’s field rations were quite advanced, not the dry compressed biscuits from grassroots units. One big bag contained various small packages, each with different food.
Small chocolates, small beef jerky, high-calorie candies…
All pretty tasty, couldn’t finish them in one go.
Wu Liu Yi saw Gan Xiao Ning sneaking snacks but didn’t scold him like in the original drama, pretending not to see and letting Gan Xiao Ning eat freely.
He had deeply understood Chen Jun’s meaning.
This time they were specifically going to A Detachment to recruit, so it was better if Seventh Company’s warriors weren’t selected.
As long as the Steel Seventh Company competitors didn’t perform too embarrassingly in this exercise and could hold out for a day, that was completely enough for him.
If Gan Xiao Ning ate all the field rations and couldn’t hold on later, he could just walk off.
The goal was very clear, the thinking very straightforward.
The mentality naturally different!
Xu Sanduo was the only one grinning happily. To him, it was like going to play a game, chatting animatedly with everyone along the way.
But everyone was too nervous, with no interest at all.
In this atmosphere of sporadic, intermittent chat, the swaying canvas truck finally arrived at the designated war zone for assessment.
The command personnel in the lead vehicle picked up the loudspeaker and shouted loudly.
“About to enter the war zone, prepare for combat. Those hit by the laser beacon are killed in action and must not make any further moves, wait in place for elimination from the competition.”
“About to enter the war zone…”
The commander shouted three times in a row. By the third time, the vehicles had already entered the war zone.
On the distant mountainside on both sides of the road, in open areas, a crowd had already gathered. Chen Jun, Gao Cheng, Yuan Lang, Qi Huan, and others were all in position.
Watching the convoy slowly approaching along the road, Chen Jun recalled the scene he had seen before.
Curiously asking Gao Cheng: “Old Gao, earlier I saw you talking with Deputy Battalion Commander Wei. Your smile wasn’t quite right.”
His relationship with Gao Cheng was like brothers, so Chen Jun spoke even more casually.
He wouldn’t have been convenient to ask about such things before.
“Old Chen, your eyes are really sharp. Nothing gets past you.”
Gao Cheng teased a bit, then laughed: “I specially asked Old Wei for a favor, to take extra care of us, prioritize catching Steel Seventh Company people, haha.”
Gao Cheng laughed right after speaking, his eyes smugly glancing at Yuan Lang not far away.
It seemed like secretly playing a trick on Yuan Lang made him feel great.
“You got it, Old Gao. With an inside man, things get done easily, haha.”
Chen Jun gave a thumbs up, praising Gao Cheng.
Though in Chen Jun’s personal view, this was really a bit unnecessary. Anyway, only three would be selected in the end, most would be eliminated.
And the three with enough strength to make it to the end wouldn’t fear this targeted setup in the early stage.
But as someone with emotional intelligence, for such a straightforward guy like Gao Cheng who rarely schemed once, Chen Jun couldn’t dampen his enthusiasm at this time.
He had to max out the emotional value for him.
Gao Cheng received Chen Jun’s high approval, and the smile on his face grew even denser.
And just then.
Several canvas trucks on the road a hundred meters away all stopped collectively. Warriors from the Reconnaissance Company commanded by Wei Tianlei began outputting on the trucks.
The gunshots crackled densely like a lively New Year.
If this were a real ambush battle with real bullets instead of laser rays, the competitors in this wave would probably suffer heavy casualties.
Despite the intense gunfire outside, the competitors on the trucks had clearly received orders.
Soon, competitors were seen lining up, lifting the canvas door curtain at the back of the trucks, jumping down, and immediately seeking nearby shelter.
Not knowing the enemy’s direction yet, running around blindly was obviously unwise.
Finding shelter first was correct.
The competitors getting off the trucks were so unified, showing they were all well-trained excellent warriors with very mature mentality.
Gao Cheng’s attention was all on vehicle three, because Steel Seventh Company’s competitors were all on that truck.
Wei Tianlei really came through.
With over a hundred Reconnaissance Company warriors, he assigned an entire platoon just to this one truck, clearly setting up special treatment.
Yuan Lang’s eyes were extremely sharp, spotting the anomaly at a glance.
He glanced sideways at Gao Cheng and Chen Jun.
He smiled.
Yuan Lang knew it must be Gao Cheng playing tricks, but he had no intention of exposing or stopping it. His eyes even gained a bit more interest.
Only extreme pressure could unleash potential; only a steel furnace could forge elite soldiers.
Special operations believed in this even more.
Because training each qualified special forces soldier required selecting from hundreds or thousands, all having gone through hellish trials.
Without surviving a trip through hell, arming every hair on their body to the extreme, how could they complete hell-level difficulty missions.
The Reconnaissance Battalion specially targeting Steel Seventh Company’s soldiers naturally made Yuan Lang even more interested.
The few people Yuan Lang wanted most were all from Steel Seventh Company. Giving Steel Seventh Company more pressure would make the competitors burst with more potential.
Then Yuan Lang could feel it more directly.
Whether the competitors he wanted were just show goods or really had hard power.
But Steel Seventh Company’s competitors didn’t know the Reconnaissance Company would specially target their vehicle, so they were stunned right upon entry.
Competitors jumping from the other trucks had less than ten percent chance of instant elimination.
But those from vehicle three faced more attacks, with a thirty percent instant elimination rate.
Over twenty people got off one truck, and seven were instantly eliminated.
Among the eliminated competitors with smoking beacons, four were from Steel Seventh Company. Of the twelve, one-third were gone right on landing.
If this were an assault combat, it would absolutely count as tragic.
“Shelter, find shelter, quick.”
“Cheng Cai, find the enemy positions.”
Wu Liu Yi had wanted to lead Seventh Company’s people to at least hold out a day before eliminations started, but losing so many on landing soured his mood extremely, forcing him to start emergency command.
Under Wu Liu Yi’s timely command, plus the thick smoke from the seven eliminated competitors providing unintended cover.
Vehicle three, after a big wave of eliminations, finally stabilized the chaos.
Cheng Cai also showed his ability as a sniper, quickly searching for enemies based on gunshots, playing a big role at this crucial moment.
“Enemies at nine o’clock, six o’clock, twelve o’clock directions, all with machine guns. Firepower too fierce, impossible to counter effectively.”
Cheng Cai shouted the intelligence he gathered to Wu Liu Yi.
“Boom, boom, boom…”
At that moment, bombs buried on both sides of the road exploded, kicking up clouds of dust.
“Withdraw, quick withdraw, go nine o’clock direction.”
Wu Liu Yi saw the situation was so critical, staying longer meant all done for here, decisively ordering and leading the team to withdraw toward nine o’clock.
The remaining Steel Seventh Company competitors, plus other competitors from the same truck, all followed Wu Liu Yi in withdrawal.
This movement.
Stirred the whole audience.
Competitors from other trucks all followed Steel Seventh Company toward nine o’clock.
With smoke grenades from killed competitors for cover, escaping this road section was relatively simple. The group quickly left the dangerous road.
But leaving the road toward the right, the nearest forest was still over a hundred meters away.
Without the eliminated competitors’ smoke cover, a large group running in the flat open area with scant grass made them all clear live targets.
Competitors kept getting hit mid-run, beacons triggered smoke grenades, eliminated while smoking.
Xu Sanduo got addicted to acting, seeing eliminated competitors lying still, his kind heart couldn’t bear it, and he actually ran over very kindly to help.
As if helping pull them once could revive the smoking competitors.
“What the hell are you doing, get moving, go~~”
Wu Liu Yi ran over and slapped a big palm heavily on Xu Sanduo’s helmet.
This seemed to wake Xu Sanduo up. He immediately abandoned the rescue, focused solely on fleeing, legs pumping hard forward.
Dozens of people fleeing in panic, more kept getting eliminated.
By the time the surviving competitors entered the forest, nearly half of the nearly hundred starters were gone, only about fifty left.
And the specially targeted Steel Seventh Company now had only seven left.
In the forest with trees for cover, they finally had space to breathe, but no one dared stop, because more danger lay ahead.
“The cat and mouse game starts now. Let me see the strength of your Reconnaissance Battalion. Don’t tell me you can’t even catch these few little rats.”
Yuan Lang spoke in a sarcastic tone deliberately provoked, making Wei Tianlei uncomfortable.
To avoid being looked down on by Yuan Lang, he personally got in a vehicle and ordered: “Reconnaissance First Company all on vehicles. Third Platoon set up checkpoint ahead, First Platoon and Second Platoon all go, bring everyone back to me.”
With Wei Tianlei’s order, over a hundred from Reconnaissance Company all mobilized.
Riding dozens of vehicles, they charged toward the competitors.
Only leaving the nearby road littered with eliminated competitors, sitting dejectedly on the ground, equipment and helmets tossed everywhere, a scene of chaos.
Only Gao Cheng laughed very happily!
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PS: Merry Christmas to the brothers!
May you have this day every year, this moment every year.
Get rich every day, plenty every year.
Healthy body, everything goes your way!!!!!!
