Chapter 80: Mission Accomplished
After shaking off Hui Lang and the others, Chang Ning confirmed the direction in the jungle and headed toward the Armed Police Border Station that Geng Jihui had mentioned.
With Chang Ning buying time for Rookie A Team, everyone was able to calmly drive toward the rendezvous point.
The air pressure in the car was very low, and no one thought Chang Ning could escape. He was probably already eliminated by now.
As a member of the command group, Geng Jihui felt very guilty. If he hadn’t agreed with Chang Ning’s suggestion, Chang Ning wouldn’t have been eliminated.
Facing a siege by over a dozen special forces soldiers alone, no one in Rookie A Team believed Chang Ning could escape.
Even though Chang Ning’s individual combat ability was the best among the rookies, it depended on who he was compared to.
“It’s all my fault. If my strength was a bit greater, Chang Ning wouldn’t have had to face Hui Lang and the others alone. If Gao Zhong Dui eliminates Chang Ning, then I’ll…”
“Then what will you do!”
Before Xiao Zhuang could finish speaking, Lao Pao pressed him onto the seat.
“No big deal, no big deal. Xiao Zhuang is just worried about Chang Ning.”
As Xiao Zhuang’s good partner, Qiang Zi quickly pulled Lao Pao away.
“No big deal? Look at him now—where does he look like a soldier?
Let me ask you: Are you a soldier?”
Xiao Zhuang was stunned by Lao Pao’s question. How was he not a soldier? His military uniform and military rank proved he was a soldier.
“I am!”
“You’re not. You’re just a civilian in a military uniform!
You have no soldier’s honor in your heart. A soldier’s duty is to obey orders! We are people’s soldiers, serving the people.
Xiao Zhuang, ask yourself honestly: Are you a soldier? If you and Chang Ning had switched places today, he wouldn’t have made a fuss like you to sabotage Gao Zhong Dui and the others.”
At this point, Lao Pao signaled Qiang Zi to let him go.
After calming down, Lao Pao said earnestly, “Do you remember the question I asked you when you were in the new recruit company?”
“Yes.”
Xiao Zhuang didn’t know what he was thinking, and his tone was no longer as tough as before.
“This was Chang Ning’s choice. Any soldier would make the same choice.
Chang Ning didn’t do this because of how close we are, but because we are his teammates!
Xiao Zhuang, I hope you think it over carefully: why you joined the army, and what you’ve gained from being a soldier.”
After Lao Pao finished speaking, he ignored Xiao Zhuang. Some things can’t be digested just by breaking them down and shoving them in someone’s mouth; the person involved needs to comprehend them slowly.
If things ended and Xiao Zhuang was still like this, then as squad leader, Lao Pao hoped Xiao Zhuang would retire in a couple of years. Staying in the barracks would only harm others and himself.
“Everyone, say less. The issue now is how we complete the assessment. Whether it’s Xiao Zhuang’s issue or Chang Ning’s, we pass this stage first.
Otherwise, it’s all nonsense.”
Ostrich started to smooth things over and change the subject.
“Yo, Ostrich’s brain is turning fast today. With Ostrich’s brain capacity, that shouldn’t be possible.”
The medic started his daily roast of Ostrich.
With these two clowns bantering, the atmosphere in the car warmed up and wasn’t so oppressive.
After driving the Mengshi Off-road Vehicle for a stretch, Geng Jihui ordered everyone to get out and proceed on foot. Now every intersection in the mountains was guarded by training camp people, so driving openly would be like throwing meat buns at dogs.
Although the Mengshi was an off-road vehicle, they didn’t dare drive it into the mountains. Forget about flipping over in the complex terrain—the ride alone would shake people apart, and they couldn’t even go fast. It was better to go on foot.
A Team arrived at the agreed assembly point, set up vigilance sentries, and took turns resting.
The temporary camp was quiet, and everyone was worried about Chang Ning in their hearts. After spending so much time together day and night, no one wanted a teammate to be eliminated.
After waiting more than an hour, just when everyone had lost hope for Chang Ning’s successful escape, Chang Ning appeared.
“Yo, you’re all here.”
Chang Ning, panting, snatched the water canteen from Geng Jihui’s hand and took a drink to moisten his throat.
He hadn’t dared to stop the whole way, afraid that A Team would wait too long and think he had been eliminated.
Everyone had just been worried about Chang Ning’s safety, and then the man himself appeared. No one reacted in time.
Geng Jihui’s water canteen was snatched away, but he still stared wide-eyed with disbelief on his face.
Putting themselves in his shoes, no one would have a chance to escape if it happened to them.
But with Chang Ning, it was uncertain. This guy always surprised people.
“Safe and sound is good!”
Geng Jihui didn’t even care about the water canteen and lightly punched Chang Ning’s chest.
“I knew Chang Ning would be fine. You lot were all distraught the whole way—such losers!”
Ostrich started yapping again, bragging about how much he trusted Chang Ning.
The current Ostrich had decent sniper technique, but no relation at all to Wolf Fang’s future strategic sniper, and his personality was extremely hyper.
“Give it a rest. Don’t know who it was that got in the car with a sourpuss face and didn’t say a word.”
“Hey, you damn medic, you’re talking about yourself, right?”
“Alright, alright, you two calm down. Xiao Geng, you make the operation plan first. I need to rest. I didn’t dare stop the whole way, afraid Hui Lang and the others would catch up.”
After Chang Ning spoke, he pulled his hat down, leaned against the tree trunk, and fell asleep.
Ten minutes later, Geng Jihui decided to steal military horses used for Armed Police patrols. Cars couldn’t be used in the jungle, but they could ride horses.
After formulating the operation plan, they woke Chang Ning and successfully stole the military horses, mounted them, and rode off.
Of course, the later negotiations between the Armed Police leaders and Gao Zhong Dui weren’t on the rookies’ minds.
During training, they had been pitted by old birds plenty of times. This was just collecting some interest.
With horses, the rookies’ speed increased a lot. Even if they encountered checkpoints, they galloped straight through, breaking through many in a row.
The horse team appeared slowly in the woods by the river. Chang Ning looked at the rushing river, reined in his horse, and said, “Dismount. We need to study the route ahead.”
The teammates dismounted, tied the horses in the woods, and gathered around. Several teammates spread out, holding rifles on alert.
Geng Jihui pointed at the map and said, “If we take the water route, we can shorten it by over thirty kilometers, but…”
“But those old birds will definitely be prepared, right?”
Chang Ning finished Geng Jihui’s unspoken words.
Deng Zhenhua rubbed his buttocks in pain; his thighs were chafed raw by the saddle. “Damn Gao Zhong Dui. He really doesn’t want us to have it easy!”
Chang Ning looked at the map and thought before saying, “From the map, we only have two paths now: one is to keep riding horses forward, but that’s thirty extra kilometers; two is to make a wooden raft and float down, saving thirty kilometers.
I prefer riding horses on the mountain road, because they set the mission. There’s no reason the old birds don’t know the terrain along the way. The water route isn’t safe.”
Geng Jihui said, “Agreed.”
Seeing both from the command group agree to continue on the mountain road, the others naturally obeyed orders. Besides, Chang Ning and Geng Jihui made sense.
It was just a detour—better than being eliminated.
“We need to prepare some surprises for the old birds.”
Chang Ning emphasized “surprises,” and everyone immediately got it, showing sly grins.
“There must be old bird pursuers behind us. To complete the mission smoothly and make the rest of the road easier, I think we should mislead them.”
Seeing Geng Jihui speak so righteously, even calling it “for completing the mission.”
‘Truly a top student, so “hypocritical,” but I love it!’
Chang Ning inwardly called him hypocritical while actively joining in, enthusiastically discussing how to lure the old birds.
In the end, the rookies unanimously decided to chop trees for a wooden raft, then make a dummy and set a booby trap. Sending off one or two old birds would be great.
After doing this, they mounted up and continued. Hui Lang eating a loss from this dummy was a later story.
Because of the horses’ stamina, after releasing them, the rookies resumed marching on foot.
This was tough on the assault team’s Qiang Zi and Xiao Zhuang; their hands were rubbed raw from clearing the way.
Now their hands were bloody and looked terrifying. Anyone seeing it for the first time would get chills.
“Brothers, we need to speed up. Without horses, we lose our speed advantage, and Wolf Fang’s tracking expert Earth Wolf is a very tough opponent.”
Chang Ning had suffered at Earth Wolf’s hands in a previous exercise. This time he was their instructor and would definitely join the capture mission, so he reminded everyone.
“That good?”
Ostrich clearly didn’t believe it.
“He really is that good. Let me tell you about this Earth Wolf…”
Geng Jihui started educating Ostrich.
After hearing it, Ostrich’s face turned pale. Their opponents this time were true elites—no joke.
“Then let’s hurry. I don’t want to be a rabbit chased by them!”
Though the rookies were prepared, they were ultimately blocked by Earth Wolf and his men.
“Everyone scatter and run!”
Chang Ning shouted once and vanished. The others weren’t slow either, immediately fleeing in all directions.
“Whoa, these guys have done their homework. Earth Wolf, your reputation has spread among the rookies so quickly.”
A special forces soldier stepped forward and teased.
“Get lost. Catching no rookies is useless!”
……
Mountain land, dawn.
Chang Ning carefully stepped on the soft humus soil, holding his rifle and sneaking vigilantly.
In the quiet mountain forest, two frog calls suddenly sounded. This was the code they had prepared in advance.
Chang Ning replied with two frog calls, and then Ostrich’s face poked out from behind a tree, waving to him.
Chang Ning ran over and dove into the bushes. Inside the bushes were Shi Dafan, Geng Jihui, Xiao Zhuang, and several other teammates.
Shi Dafan grinned at Chang Ning. “You made it too?”
Chang Ning: “Just these few left?”
Geng Jihui: “The others were all captured.”
Escaping with more than half from Earth Wolf was already an impressive achievement.
“With just this many left, completing the mission is extremely difficult.” Geng Jihui was a bit discouraged.
“Not necessarily.”
Chang Ning’s words lit a spark of hope in everyone’s eyes.
“Our people were just captured, not eliminated.
Just rescue them.”
The medic looked at the pensive Geng Jihui, then at Chang Ning with worry. “Doing this might break the rules.”
“Is there such a rule? I don’t recall.” Chang Ning truly had no impression.
“The training camp regulations don’t say we can’t counterattack,” Xiao Zhuang said.
“Exactly. We’re just following the rules—how is that breaking them?”
Chang Ning excitedly struck his fist into his palm.
“Then let’s do it. In this situation, we can’t complete the mission without rescuing our comrades, and rescuing them might violate rules.
Either way, we’re risking elimination. Might as well go for it.”
After thinking, Geng Jihui also felt the risk was worth it.
After the few made a plan to hijack the vehicle and rescue people, they set out.
Chang Ning led people to the must-pass road for transporting captives. Relying on the grass, they spotted two sentries guarding the road.
He signaled behind him, and Xiao Zhuang and another rookie quickly snuck up, subduing the two while they were unaware.
“Squad Leader, please follow the rules. You’re already dead.”
Xiao Zhuang and his temporary partner stripped the two sentries’ equipment and put it on themselves, moved them behind the roadside grass, and signaled Chang Ning.
“Hurry, dig!”
Seeing Xiao Zhuang’s signal, Chang Ning led the rest to set traps on the road.
“We’ll stay. You others hide well.”
Now only Xiao Zhuang and his temporary partner had old birds’ equipment, so Chang Ning didn’t compete with him.
“Be careful.”
“Don’t worry.”
After the rookies restored the road surface, they saw a troop transport vehicle approaching slowly. Xiao Zhuang even waved at the driver.
The driver honked the horn in greeting, but then there was a “clang”—one wheel of the car sank into the pre-dug pit.
Seeing success, Chang Ning led the others to rush up and rescue Lao Pao and the others.
“Veteran soldier, don’t move. Please follow the rules!”
Knowing his little move was discovered, the non-commissioned officer in the vehicle compartment obediently dropped the hand pressed to his waist.
Only then did everyone see the veteran soldier holding a hand grenade. If Chang Ning hadn’t spotted it early, everyone would have been eliminated together.
“Hey, how can you veteran soldier not follow the rules…”
Ostrich walked up to the veteran soldier with his gun, about to lecture him. They had the same military rank, so at worst they’d get scolded for fighting—no big deal.
“Hurry and go. We don’t have much time to waste!”
Chang Ning yanked Ostrich away, and Rookie A Team assembled fully. The 12 people formed a circle for a short operation meeting.
Mainly Geng Jihui introducing the operation plan and assigning tasks; the others just listened.
Chang Ning, the nominal captain, would lead the assault, while Ostrich led the sniper team for cover.
“Everyone clear on your tasks?” Geng Jihui asked.
“Clear!”
“We have only one vehicle, so A Team splits into two groups. Lao Pao, you take one group on the vehicle. Xiao Geng and I will take the rest on foot as group two,” Chang Ning said.
Lao Pao nodded, indicating he understood.
Half an hour later, everyone rendezvoused on a hillside, with the mission site at the bottom.
As the saying goes: Strike while the iron is hot, second time weakens, third exhausts!
The mission target was at the bottom of the hillside. Hold your breath, complete the mission, and happily return to the training camp.
At Geng Jihui’s signal, Lao Pao lit the vehicle and pushed it down the slope. The flaming vehicle charged toward the camp below.
The explosion’s shockwave from the car flipped the special forces soldiers to the ground. The prepared Chang Ning led Xiao Zhuang and others yelling as they charged the camp. Any blockers on the way were gunned down by Chang Ning.
Xiao Zhuang, Qiang Zi, and the others didn’t get a single kill. In such open terrain, Chang Ning’s combat power with a gun was off the charts.
Along the way, he killed gods and Buddhas alike.
Chang Ning assaulted to the wooden hut holding their scout, kicked down the door, and shouted, “Huaxia Army!”
Ma Da on the cot hadn’t reacted yet. Chang Ning and the others were just too fast—basically right behind him.
He’d just lain down not long ago when Chang Ning brought Rookie A Team. Totally ridiculous!
“How did you get here? Earth Wolf didn’t catch you!”
“Hui Lang, no time to waste. Get up and come with us!”
Chang Ning slung his gun on his back and went to pull Ma Da.
“Ouch, I’m injured. Hurts all over.”
Hui Lang lay on the bed wailing nonstop.
“Hui Lang, that’s enough. You know we have a traditional Chinese medicine guy in the team. Want me to have him treat you?
Medic, get to work.”
“Got it, watch this.”
The medic approached, eyeing Hui Lang maliciously up and down, occasionally flashing a creepy smile. Even Chang Ning couldn’t handle the medic in this state.
“Hey, no touching. I’ll go with you right now.”
Hui Lang immediately gave in and followed Rookie A Team to the mission handover point.
Chang Ning pulled a special marker flare from his backpack, pulled the pin, and tossed it on the open ground.
When thick yellow smoke billowed out, the roar of a helicopter grew from far to near.
The strong downdraft blew Chang Ning’s face flesh sideways.
The helicopter landed, ramp opened. Gao Zhong Dui wearing sunglasses appeared at the door. Chang Ning and the others maintained their armed vigilance posture.
Gao Zhong Dui said, “Exercise over. Everyone assemble.”
“Gao Zhong Dui, we completed the mission!” Ostrich couldn’t hold back his smug grin, flashing big white teeth.
Gao Zhong Dui ignored him and gave Chang Ning a deep look.
This assessment’s biggest surprise to him was this guy. Chang Ning’s progress was obvious to all.
Especially when facing off alone against Hui Lang and the others—exceptionally outstanding.
“Hui Lang, how much do you weigh?”
“Report! 90 kilograms!”
Gao Zhong Dui looked at the rookies and said, “The helicopter was shot down en route. You’ll carry the scout back.
Go pick up 90-kilogram stones, put them in your backpacks, and carry them back.”
The rookies were dumbfounded. They didn’t expect Gao Zhong Dui to mess with them even at the end.
The helicopter carrying Gao Zhong Dui and Hui Lang roared off quickly.
“Alright, brothers, load the stones. Don’t dawdle. If we’re fast, maybe we can still have lunch.”
Chang Ning joked.
“What kind of nonsense is this!”
Ostrich was dejected, his low mood almost writing “want to quit” on his face.
But if really asked to quit, he definitely wouldn’t.
“Enough complaining, get to work.”
Geng Jihui urged. Though Gao Zhong Dui hadn’t set a time limit at the end, who knew if it was a trap.
Everyone picked stones by the road until their backpacks were full. Then they found a stretcher, and Chang Ning led everyone carrying the backpacks on the road.
Because they were afraid of Gao Zhong Dui’s trap.
Rookie A Team walked and stopped along the way, returning by the original route. Despite Chang Ning’s precautions, Ostrich still dropped his backpack in the water.
Chang Ning realized the memorial service specially for the backpacks was inevitable. So he gave up—whatever happens, happens.
