Chapter 210: The Landmine Explodes
The pursuit squad followed the traces intentionally left by Chang Ning and quietly arrived at the outskirts of the temporary camp of Chang Ning and his two comrades.
They lay on the ground, surrounded by weeds about a foot high.
The Blue Team members believed their operation was extremely covert, and the Wolf Fang special forces soldiers probably hadn’t discovered them.
Little did they know, they had already been exposed in Xiao Zhuang’s field of vision.
The camp inside was long empty, leaving only the big gift that Chang Ning had prepared for them.
“The traces of activity around tell me that the flat mountain land ahead is the target’s camp.”
Looking at the quiet mountain land not far away, the vanguard said affirmatively to Li Hua Mao.
He had investigated the surroundings, and only the mountain land in front of him showed signs of human activity.
Moreover, he hadn’t discovered anyone leaving.
This meant the targets were all still resting in the mountain land not far ahead.
Li Hua Mao lay beside the vanguard, holding up night vision goggles to observe the surrounding environment.
In the greenish field of vision, as far as the eye could see, there was nothing but grass and trees.
Seeing this, Li Hua Mao lowered the night vision goggles and nodded.
Not discovering anything was the normal situation.
Their targets weren’t ordinary Red Team scouts, but Wolf Fang’s elite combat squad.
If they were discovered so easily with his night vision goggles, he would suspect if the targets had dug a pit for him to jump into.
“As expected of Wolf Fang, which even made our captain wary. Their basics are quite solid.
The camouflage they set up perfectly blended with the surrounding environment.” Li Hua Mao said admiringly.
A unit with a famous reputation indeed had some real skills. Li Hua Mao didn’t know about their other abilities, but just this camouflage skill that harmoniously blended into nature made him drop his contempt.
“But their counter-reconnaissance ability is really trash. I think the Wolf Fang people are just so-so.
If they were really as awesome as the captain said, they wouldn’t have let us find their traces so easily.”
The vanguard looked down on Chang Ning and his two comrades, thinking they were all show and needed to be remade.
The pursuit squad’s vanguard indeed had the capital to say such words; his reconnaissance and counter-reconnaissance abilities were very impressive.
Earlier, Chang Ning and Lao Pao had deliberately cleared some of their traces, but this guy still followed those barely detectable clues to track them down.
It was understandable that the vanguard looked down on Chang Ning and his comrades’ counter-reconnaissance ability.
Who told him to be so capable?
No matter where, to earn his respect, one needed one or two standout skills to impress.
“Alright, I see your old habit is acting up again!
Can’t you rein in that arrogant attitude of yours.
I think you’ll suffer because of it sooner or later.” Li Hua Mao advised.
This squad’s vanguard was good in every way, except he was too arrogant.
Relying on his exceptional reconnaissance ability, he always acted superior.
As the old saying goes, an arrogant soldier will surely be defeated!
Li Hua Mao knew that if the vanguard didn’t change his bad habit, he would get his comeuppance sooner or later.
“What? Don’t you accept it!
The target might just not have noticed their own traces; it’s not that their combat power is weak.
Before engaging, who dares say they can definitely take down Wolf Fang’s people?”
The other members of the pursuit squad saw the captain educating the vanguard again and pretended not to see, either biting their fingers or fiddling with the grass nearby.
This kind of thing was their squad’s daily routine; it would be strange if the captain didn’t criticize the vanguard that day.
“I’m not going to argue with you about this useless stuff; the mission is the priority.”
After saying that, Li Hua Mao issued a series of orders via radio to capture the targets alive.
Since the targets hadn’t discovered them, capturing them alive would be best.
It would also allow them to mock the Wolf Fang people.
They always shouted slogans like “give me the last bullet,” thundering loud, but now they couldn’t deliver?
Li Hua Mao felt delighted inside, his heart blooming with joy.
He was even already drafting what to say at the next meeting, not wanting to tarnish their Black Tiger Special Forces’ reputation!
Under Li Hua Mao’s command, the pursuit squad quietly approached the shallow pit where Chang Ning was resting and blocked all surrounding exits.
“Those inside, come out quickly.
You’ve been captured.”
Everyone’s gun muzzles were aimed at the shallow pit in front.
Seeing no one come out from inside, the vanguard raised his eyebrows.
“Hey, a tough nut!
You’ve been discovered; is it interesting to stay huddled in the pit?
Wolf Fang folks, come out quickly.”
After saying that, still no one responded.
The surroundings were quiet.
“Look at my temper!”
With that, the vanguard was about to lift the weeds and branches Chang Ning used for camouflage.
Li Hua Mao stood by without speaking, tacitly approving the vanguard’s behavior.
They had politely asked them to come out, but with no response, they couldn’t be blamed for using force.
“Could it be a trap?”
Someone felt something was off and said softly.
But time was already too late; the vanguard yanked off Chang Ning’s camouflage.
A black object suddenly jumped out. The vanguard and Li Hua Mao were closest to the pit and saw the object’s shape most clearly.
Li Hua Mao’s pupils contracted sharply, his face full of horror.
“Hit the deck!”
The others subconsciously followed the order upon hearing the shout.
At the same time, the black object emitted light, accompanied by a not-too-loud explosion sound.
The jump mine set by Chang Ning was for the exercise, with reduced gunpowder and all internal steel balls removed.
So the landmine was triggered, but no one was injured.
One anti-personnel jump mine that exploded in the air nearly wiped out the pursuit squad, with only one person spared.
“Captain, I…”
The vanguard stammered “I” for a long time without finishing, just mumbling.
Seeing his distressed look, Li Hua Mao didn’t blame him.
“I’m your captain; you need to change that arrogant attitude of yours.”
It turned out that in the nick of time, Li Hua Mao had pinned the vanguard under him, saving him from elimination.
But there was no real difference; the pursuit squad was left with only him.
“Earlier we mocked their reconnaissance as trash, but they turned around and taught us a lesson.
Wolf Fang’s people are indeed tough!” Li Hua Mao sighed.
Thinking about how he had been preparing to mock them just now, he now only found it ridiculous.
“I get it.”
The vanguard looked at his eliminated comrades, feeling deep guilt.
It was all because of him that the squad was eliminated by the target; why had he gone to lift that camouflage earlier? Such an itchy hand!
The vanguard’s heart was now filled with regret and guilt, bitter and uncomfortable.
Chang Ning was unaware of the pursuit squad’s elimination; at this moment, he was running wildly with Xiao Zhuang and Lao Pao.
Setting the landmine was just a casual move; he hadn’t even thought if it would work.
Now he only hoped the landmine could buy them more retreat time.
“I wonder how the others are doing?”
His side had Blue Team pursuit; he figured the others’ situations were similar.
Chang Ning was a bit worried about Xiao Geng and the others.
