Chapter 230: Conflict
“Whoosh~”
That was the sharp whistle made by the shell slicing through the air.
Hearing this sound, Chang Ning’s face turned green.
Sure enough, it was Lei Keming’s trap, but in the original plot, there was no shell explosion!
The plot can’t be trusted!
“Shelling, find cover!” someone shouted. The voice sounded like Lao Pao.
At this point, they were clearly exposed under the Blue Team’s nose, so whether the voice was loud or not was no longer important.
Intense explosion sounds kept ringing out. Although they were all training rounds, it still wasn’t pleasant to keep getting bombed.
The shockwave from the shell explosions left Chang Ning dizzy and disoriented.
Just one salvo nearly took out the Lone Wolf.
Fortunately, it was an exercise; otherwise, it wouldn’t have been as simple as one salvo.
“Urp~”
Chang Ning lay on the ground for a long time before recovering, dry-heaving for a while before feeling much better.
He took off his helmet and saw that the identification device on it hadn’t been triggered, so Chang Ning finally relaxed.
He lay weakly on the ground, feeling extremely fortunate in his heart.
Not getting eliminated after one round of firepower coverage—this luck was explosive.
Thinking of the others, Chang Ning’s heart sank.
He didn’t know how his teammates were doing; he hoped few had been eliminated.
In this situation, Chang Ning didn’t expect no one to be eliminated.
In someone else’s carefully set trap, it would be an insult to the Blue Team’s preparations not to pay some price.
“Is anyone injured?” Chang Ning asked over the radio.
What responded was prolonged silence over the radio.
This made Chang Ning extremely anxious.
It couldn’t be that the whole team was wiped out, could it?
“Cough cough cough~”
“This is Siberian Wolf, I’m fine.”
It was as if some switch had been flipped; after Xiao Zhuang spoke, the radio gradually became lively.
“Bald-tailed Wolf twisted his ankle.”
“Mountain Wolf is fine.”
“Evil Wolf is good.”
……
Listening along, Chang Ning noticed something was off.
Why hadn’t Geng Jihui and Ostrich spoken up?
“Forest Wolf? Big-tailed Wolf?
How are you two?”
Chang Ning’s face was full of anxiety.
He feared these two had bad luck and been eliminated.
But accidents happen, especially under such dense firepower coverage?
It was already good that Group B only lost two people.
“This is Big-tailed Wolf, Forest Wolf is with me.
We’re both eliminated!”
Chang Ning didn’t know what expressions Ostrich and Geng Jihui had now, but from Ostrich’s dejected tone, he could guess their moods weren’t good.
What to do now?
The team’s sniper and commander had been taken out by a few shells from the Blue Team—this was really disastrous for Group B.
For now, the only option was to get to Xiao Geng first; the radio was still with him.
When Chang Ning reached Geng Jihui, he didn’t acknowledge him—”dead people” couldn’t speak; they had to follow the exercise rules.
Besides, asking would be pointless; from Geng Jihui’s current state, Chang Ning knew he was also undecided.
After all, there was too little usable intelligence.
“Remaining personnel, converge on Forest Wolf.”
After arranging the next operation order over the radio, Chang Ning quickly used the radio to contact Group A.
He hoped Group A hadn’t been wiped out, or this trip would be a total loss.
In the original plot, Group B had no losses at this point in time, but now two important positions were gone.
Outside the encirclement, Night Tiger Reconnaissance Company Headquarters.
“We’ve received orders from above: after the shelling ends, enter the forest to capture Wolf Fang personnel.”
Putting down the headphones, Chen Guotao relayed the order to the surrounding platoon leaders, squad leaders, and the new deputy company commander.
Chen Guotao was now the company commander of Night Tiger.
With Miao Lian’s recommendation and Chen Guotao’s own excellent qualities, taking over as Night Tiger’s company commander was a natural progression.
“Every day it’s either capturing prisoners or cleaning up after them—we’re a reconnaissance company!”
The deputy company commander was a fresh military academy graduate. Hearing it was cleanup duty again, he was extremely unwilling.
So he muttered complaints under his breath.
They were a reconnaissance company, so they should be doing reconnaissance work.
Why were they always handling trivial “small matters”? This was completely at odds with his expectations.
“Yo~
Looks like the little company commander is unhappy. This isn’t school—whatever order you’re given, you execute it. Where’s all this griping coming from!”
The Second Squad Leader said with sarcasm.
Because of Chang Ning’s intervention, Chen Guotao hadn’t retired and instead took over as Night Tiger’s company commander.
But the deputy company commander was still the military academy grad from the original plot. The grassroots officers and soldiers never paid much attention to such parachuted-in academy grads.
The Second Squad Leader was a veteran soldier who loved bullying new recruits, always squeezing the parachuted deputy company commander at every opportunity.
No doubt, he’d just seized another chance.
Xi Wa was now a non-commissioned officer, serving as squad deputy for Second Squad.
Seeing his own squad leader bullying someone, especially in front of the company commander, he quietly tugged at the squad leader’s sleeve from behind, signaling him to watch it.
“Second Squad Leader, are you itching for a beating!”
The others might give face to this veteran soldier from Second Squad, but Chen Guotao had no intention of indulging that bad habit, reprimanding the Second Squad Leader in front of everyone.
“Heh heh, Company Commander, how would I dare.”
Reprimanded by Chen Guotao, the Second Squad Leader grinned cheekily.
“Tonight’s capture mission will be led by your Second Squad!”
Chen Guotao’s face darkened, looking furious.
“Yes, guaranteed to complete the mission!”
After receiving the order, the Second Squad Leader led Xi Wa and the other Second Squad soldiers charging ahead into the Blue Team’s encirclement.
“Don’t take it to heart. Second Brother is a bit slick, but he’s not a bad guy.
His military qualities are top in the company too. Once you get familiar, you’ll know what kind of person he is.”
After assigning the mission and waiting until no one else was around, Chen Guotao rolled up the map to comfort the deputy company commander.
The earlier reprimand of the Second Squad Leader was also to protect the guy. After all, the deputy company commander was superior; there was no need for such sarcasm.
Wasn’t that just offending him to death? Did he still want to get by in the company?
“Actually, I know why the Second Squad Leader is targeting me.
Miao Lian just left and I just arrived; he’s not used to it and feels uncomfortable.
Thinking about it, I’m pretty fortunate—lucky I’m not the company commander, or he’d target me to death.”
As he spoke, the deputy company commander even chuckled a few times.
Chen Guotao beside him seemed amused too, laughing along.
But looking closely at his eyes, there was no hint of amusement in Chen Guotao’s gaze—instead, a flash of worry.
Don’t be fooled by the deputy company commander laughing and chatting with him now, unbothered by the Second Squad Leader’s jabs—Chen Guotao knew he was just holding it in.
The team was hard to lead, with conflicts between the deputy company commander and the grassroots officers and soldiers.
A team rife with conflicts would inevitably affect its combat power.
“Miao Lian, you sure left carefree.”
The bitterness in Chen Guotao’s heart was known only to him.
