Chapter 62: Show Of Force
Another explosion sounded closer to the vehicle, and dirt even surged into the carriage.
The transport soldier slammed on the brakes, and the scouts in the carriage were thrown around by the inertia.
Chang Ning, holding Chen Xiwa with one hand and his rifle with the other, rushed out of the carriage, shouting to his comrades: “Get out, hurry up! We must occupy advantageous terrain as quickly as possible, don’t run around!”
Lao Pao had already gotten out of the vehicle before Chang Ning and had organized a simple defensive position.
Seeing Chang Ning and Xi Wa emerge, he then shouted loudly: “Drop your backpacks, prepare for battle!”
With Chang Ning and Lao Pao organizing them, the scouts quickly recovered from their panic. They dropped their backpacks, grabbed their rifles, pulled back the bolts, and loaded bullets.
Xiao Zhuang had never seen such a scene and was momentarily unaccustomed to it.
He just shrunk his neck, looked around at the empty surroundings, and asked blankly: “Who are we fighting?”
Chang Ning, lying behind his backpack, turned back and said: “As long as you see anyone pop their head out on the other side, no matter who it is, just shoot them. You definitely won’t go wrong by going all out.”
“That’s right, everyone, don’t hold back at this point, or we’ll just be waiting to be exploited by those Wolf Fang guys!”
Lao Pao, as an experienced trained soldier, reminded them loudly.
Xi Wa, lying nearby, took out his magazine and was stunned: “Why are all the magazines empty!”
Chen Xi Wa’s words made Chang Ning laugh. He had never seen anyone so foolish.
“Aren’t you stating the obvious! Wolf Fang isn’t our real enemy; this is clearly meant to be a show of force against us!
If we all used live ammunition, our small group wouldn’t be enough for them to even chew on. We’d be taken care of in the first encounter, and we wouldn’t have time to organize defenses, would we?”
While the two were talking, intense gunfire erupted from all directions around Chang Ning and his companions.
Furthermore, within Chang Ning’s line of sight, hundreds of people suddenly emerged from a small hill and began shooting at them wildly.
“Careful!”
Having just experienced an explosion, these scouts, who had no real combat experience, hadn’t reacted yet and could only instinctively return fire. Suddenly, another explosive charge detonated nearby.
Chang Ning heard Lao Pao’s hoarse shout: “Don’t run around! Everyone, don’t run around, there might be more explosive charges buried nearby!
Everyone counterattack in place!”
Chang Ning hadn’t studied command, so he wouldn’t interrupt Lao Pao. Now, he had to eliminate as many enemy forces as possible, and that was his specialty.
Professional matters are best handled by professionals to achieve perfection.
At this moment, Chang Ning’s skills shone. He had already emptied three magazines, and more than half of the enemy forces were eliminated by him.
The other side wasn’t stupid and wouldn’t ignore Chang Ning, who was a threat. Upon seeing him as a threat, they began to target him.
Don’t think that only the scouts attending the training camp have snipers; the snipers of Wolf Fang will only be more formidable!
“They have very powerful snipers. I can’t help you all anymore, you need to be careful.”
Chang Ning narrowly dodged an enemy sniper shot and shouted to Lao Pao and the others.
“Understood, you be careful too!”
Lao Pao indicated that Chang Ning should take care of himself first, and they would figure something out. If all else failed, they would simply break out separately.
A loud engine roar came from above the scouts. Everyone instinctively looked up, and an attack helicopter rose from behind a sand dune, clearly heading for them.
“This bunch of Wolf Fang trash, they’re clearly sore losers!”
Chang Ning felt some dissatisfaction with Squad Leader Gao, thinking, “Is such a big show of force necessary?
You’ve even brought out a helicopter, why don’t you just bring out missiles!”
Even though he knew this was part of the training, Chang Ning still felt uncomfortable.
Chang Ning narrowly dodged enemy sniper fire and, along with the surrounding soldiers, fired at the helicopter. Hot bullet casings bounced erratically before Chang Ning’s eyes.
A rifle ultimately couldn’t compare to the autocannon on an attack helicopter. The blank rounds hitting it were like a tickle.
As the attack helicopter flew over the scouts, several black cylindrical objects, emitting white smoke, were thrown down.
Chang Ning was shocked. Nothing used by Wolf Fang against rookies like them was simple. He quickly shouted: “Be careful, it’s bombs!”
Hearing the approaching bombs, the soldiers began to panic, scrambling to take cover. But it was too late. Chang Ning could only watch as these bombs landed in their formation, and white smoke quickly billowed up.
Smelling the gas filling the air, Lao Pao knew it wasn’t bombs and shouted: “It’s tear gas! Everyone put on your gas masks quickly!”
Amidst the thick white smoke, a series of coughs erupted. The soldiers’ formation was completely broken by the tear gas.
Chang Ning, hearing Lao Pao’s reminder, endured the discomfort and frantically searched himself. He remembered his gas mask bag was on his left side.
After searching, Chang Ning, with his nose and eyes running from the gas, finally found his gas mask.
He quickly took out the mask and put it on, then took a deep breath.
“Finally, some relief.”
In the air, Wolf Fang personnel began broadcasting from the attack helicopter: “Rookies, pay attention, you have been surrounded by our forces!
Please lay down your weapons, cease resistance, and surrender immediately!”
The soldiers’ resolve to resist had already weakened due to the tear gas, and since they were all comrades and not enemies, they lacked the motivation to fight to the death.
Now, after being intimidated by Squad Leader Gao’s people, more and more people began to lay down their weapons and cease resistance.
They didn’t want to be eliminated from the selection just yet. The black beret was the honor of the Wolf Fang Special Forces Detachment, and the scouts also hoped to wear it.
But what they didn’t know was that when they ceased resistance, it wouldn’t just be about quitting the selection. For Huaxia soldiers, surrender was a disgrace!
Faced with this situation, the usually straightforward Chen Xi Wa could no longer stand it.
He got up from the ground and began firing at the hovering attack helicopter.
Seeing Chen Xi Wa’s actions, Chang Ning became very anxious.
He had been thinking of secretly leading everyone to escape while the Wolf Fang personnel were not paying attention.
This idiot had ruined everything!
“Unfortunately, you will pay the price for your hostile actions.”
The autocannon on the attack helicopter began spitting fire, and dense shell casings rained down from high above, hitting the soldiers’ steel helmets with clanging sounds.
After strafing, the attack helicopter ascended and circled the scouts in the air.
Chang Ning’s teeth itched. He thought, “Since you like flying so much, I’ll shoot you down!”
Chang Ning lay among a group of scouts. The pilot could never have imagined that someone would dare to shoot down a helicopter at such a time.
Utilizing the shooting assist function provided by the “Shooting Mastery” experience bar, data that could affect shooting in the surrounding environment was instantly calculated. Chang Ning only needed to adjust his shooting posture based on the data.
Moreover, the helicopter’s hovering altitude did not exceed the range of the 85 sniper rifle, meaning Chang Ning could theoretically achieve a hundred percent hit rate.
Now, it was just a matter of patiently waiting for the right moment. The pilot was unaware of his danger and continued to control the aircraft as it circled in the air.
Opportunity!
In a brief moment, Chang Ning spotted the pilot in the cockpit.
After a gunshot, smoke began to rise from the helicopter, indicating a crash and the elimination of the pilot.
Squad Leader Gao witnessed everything that happened here. When he saw the smoke indicating the plane’s fall, Squad Leader Gao’s mouth twitched.
‘He must be stunned. He definitely must be.’
“Hui Lang, notify them to stop messing around and bring those rookies back quickly!”
Squad Leader Gao had some guesses about who had shot down the helicopter.
According to the information, among the rookies participating in this selection and training, only that oddball from the Eagle Division and Chang Ning from the Night Tiger Reconnaissance Company possessed such sniper talent. He had witnessed the latter’s marksmanship during an exercise.
‘I wonder which one of you two did it?’
“This can’t go on. Squad Leader, let’s break out.”
On the Wolf Fang territory, a head-on confrontation wasn’t feasible. Their earlier resistance was meant to make the Wolf Fang personnel go through the motions; what was the point of all this fighting?
But it seemed their ideas were too naive. Squad Leader Gao clearly intended to give them a real challenge.
Chang Ning’s scalp tingled as he looked at the menacing special forces soldiers. “This is just crushing rookies; what’s the point of fighting anymore?”
“How about we just stop resisting? We’ll be taken back anyway.”
Some people nearby held a different view. The person who voiced this idea had many soldiers around him who felt this was no longer fun and intended to give up.
“Rookies, pay attention. From now on, the first ten people we catch will be eliminated.
Good luck!”
In the distance, Squad Leader Gao began shouting through a loudspeaker, intending to stir up trouble. Otherwise, the rookies wouldn’t have the motivation to escape, and capturing them wouldn’t be satisfying.
Chang Ning and his group heard Squad Leader Gao’s words, and everyone fell into a brief silence.
“Run! What are you waiting for? Do you want to be eliminated!”
Seeing the approaching special forces soldiers, Chang Ning slung his backpack over his shoulders, held his rifle, and without another word, bolted. He didn’t want to be caught now.
That would be too embarrassing for a transmigration.
“Now this is interesting.”
Seeing the rookies fleeing desperately, Squad Leader Gao’s face broke into a playful smile.
“Is there any need to bully people like this!”
Chang Ning saw dozens of Mengshi off-road vehicles dispatched to capture them, the rookies. He immediately grabbed his rifle and ran towards the vast wilderness at the fastest speed he could manage.
The scouts beside him, reminded by his actions, also started to run in different directions in small groups.
Behind them, intense gunfire, dog barks, and engine noises erupted into a cacophony. The rookies were so stimulated they wished they had more legs.
Chang Ning ran for his life, not daring to stop for a moment, fearing that if he ran any slower, he would be caught and eliminated.
Initially, a few soldiers followed Chang Ning. He couldn’t see who they were and didn’t have time to.
Later, because he ran too fast and others couldn’t keep up with his rhythm, he ended up being the only one darting through the forest.
Chang Ning took a large stride over the shrubs in front of him. Because the ground was uneven, he felt his foot sink, his body tilted, and he fell to the ground, sliding down the slope.
His backpack was thrown somewhere during the fall, leaving him with only his rifle and his water canteen slung over his shoulder.
Chang Ning slid to the bottom of the slope, dizzy and feeling like the world was spinning. His stomach churned.
He got up and continued running, not daring to stop, as the barking of dogs behind him was still clear.
“Why am I up against military dogs?”
Chang Ning remembered the days of being chased by the Blue Team’s search party during the exercise. That memory was still vivid in his mind, as if it were yesterday.
