Chapter Forty-Four Arch-Enemy

  A thick black smoke rose from the valley, straight up into the blue sky. From a distance, it looked like a black tornado.

  Lu Cheng quickly compared the coordinate information displayed on the Beidou navigation instrument, patted the shoulder of the Pakistani captain, and made a gesture of landing in front.

  The "Mountain Cat" helicopter began to slow down, and the special forces inside the cabin started checking their weapons and equipment. Kang Xiaoting checked the PK-8 assault rifle he was carrying, and also checked the specially made explosives stuffed in Su Mingjian's backpack.

  The helicopter hovered in mid-air five meters above the ground, with powerful downdrafts swirling up clouds of sand and dust.

  Within half a minute, twelve commandos slid down ropes dropped from both side hatches and landed on the ground.

  "Fifteen minutes countdown." Lu Cheng heard the last one get off the plane, holding a wireless signal positioning system in his hand. "Kang Xiaoting, this side is handed over to you, and the others follow me to search north."

  Ten special troops dispersed into search teams and advanced northward in the valley.

  Their mission was to locate downed pilots and bring them back to Pakistan.

  Kang Xiaoting and Su Mingjian stayed behind, shouldering a task more important than rescuing the pilots.

  The downed J-10 fighter jet was about 150 meters to the east, its body broken into two pieces, and burned beyond recognition by the remaining aviation fuel. Because it had disintegrated before hitting the ground and then exploded, there were aircraft parts scattered all around.

  Su Ming carefully used the detector provided by the air force to search for the "target" while Kang Xiaoting cautiously observed the surrounding situation.

  After completing the search and rescue operation in Gwadar Port, Lu Chengwen led the experimental special forces to shift to Lahore, responsible for searching and rescuing parachuting pilots.

  Over the next few days they rescued five Pakistani pilots who had come down in Indian territory.

  Today, they were going to rescue a Chinese pilot.

  Apart from this, they also had another extremely important mission: to destroy the downed J-10 fighter jet that was originally equipped with the Chinese Air Force.

  Why blow up an already crashed plane?

  Kang Xiaoting didn't understand, and Su Mingjian also didn't understand. After the fighter jet was hit by a missile, it had already turned into scrap metal before it even fell to the ground. The precision instruments on the plane were either burned or shattered into pieces. If you say that they destroyed the evidence, it's also very far-fetched, because special forces couldn't possibly find all the scattered parts in such a short time, let alone bring back the wreckage of the plane to Pakistan.

  The strangest thing is that the air force not only provided a special bomb but also had strict requirements for how to place the bomb.

  For this, Kang Xiaoting and Su Mingjian received several hours of "professional" training from a technical officer from the air force on how to use the instruments and how to place the bombs.

  The two had no choice but to believe that what they were going to blow up was not the fighter plane itself, but some kind of key equipment on it.

  As the readings on the instrument jumped a few times, Su Ming stopped in his tracks.

  "What's been found?" Kang Xiao Ting also stopped in his tracks.

  "It's just nearby." Su Mingjing adjusted several knobs on the instrument.

  The readings fluctuated more obviously, and the upper pointer swung a few times, pointing to the front left.

  "Eleven o'clock direction, about twenty meters." Su Ming still couldn't change his sniper's habit.

  Kang Xiaoting looked left front and saw 20 meters away, it was the deformed rear fuselage that had been burned.

  As we approached the wreckage of the plane, the LED lights on the instrument emitted a red glow.

  "It's this." Su Mingjin put away the instrument, peeled off the charred aircraft skin, revealing a ring-shaped device attached to the front of the engine compartment air intake, behind which was the "Taihang" engine that had been smashed to pieces. "My god, what is this thing? It fell from an altitude of 10,000 meters and was burned at high temperatures of over 1,000 degrees Celsius for more than ten minutes, yet it didn't deform at all. Is it the legendary black box?"

  "Less nonsense, hurry up and load the explosives." Kang Xiaoting took out the explosives from Su Mingjian's backpack. "Lu's team will be back soon, I don't want to stay here for too long."

  "Lao Kang, do you think those air force rascals have nothing better to do after eating too much?" Su Mingjin muttered to himself as he loaded the bomb. "We've come all this way just to blow up the black box on the plane? Is there something inside that can't be seen in the light of day?"

  Kang Xiaoting rolled her eyes and didn't bother to respond to her nagging partner.

  Su Ming carefully loaded the bomb and Lu Chengwen returned with other team members, bringing back a pilot who was injured in the leg.

  "How's it going? Is everything settled?"

  "The bomb is set," Kang Xiaoting glanced at his watch, "it will explode in seven minutes."

  Lu Chengwen nodded and whistled a signal to the communication soldier.

  Two minutes later, the "Wildcat" helicopter flew back. First, let the team members and pilots get on the helicopter, Lu Chengwen looked at the plane wreckage again before boarding the helicopter.

  "The mountain cat" flew less than two kilometers to the west, a pale blue mushroom cloud rose in the eastern valley. In the midst of the powerful shockwave and dull explosion sound, the helicopter shook violently, as if it might fall apart at any moment. The officers and soldiers all showed shocked expressions, and the Pakistani pilot even cursed loudly in Urdu. Kang Xiaoting and Su Mingjian also looked at each other in dismay. They had only installed a directional shaped charge of two kilograms, which couldn't possibly have such enormous power.

  To the east of the valley, a "Sea King" helicopter is flying westward.

  Seeing the mushroom cloud rising from the valley, Major Beckett on the helicopter was also secretly shocked.

  "When the Sea King arrived over the valley, Major Beckett immediately spotted a crater more than 20 meters in diameter and five meters deep. The Indian Navy pilots on the helicopter were also stunned - at least a thousand-pound bomb would be needed to create such a large crater!"

  As soon as his feet touched the ground, Major Beckett felt the heat emanating from the soles of his shoes.

  The explosion was too stunning, too terrifying. All the grass, wood and stones within a hundred meters were gone without a trace, and thousands of cracks in the ground extended from the center of the crater to hundreds of meters away. This is not a crater, it's simply a lunar impact crater.

  "Major, no sign of the plane wreckage." A special forces operative walked over and tossed a piece of metal to Beckett. "Just these metal fragments left."

  Beckett gritted his teeth and looked around cautiously.

  Three days ago, they arrived in India as a special task force under the United Investigation Bureau, hoping to find some kind of special device on the downed J-10 fighter jet. For three days, Beckett found the wreckage of four Pakistani warplanes but couldn't find that device. Apparently, those four planes were all "Thunder" fighter jets sold by China to Pakistan, not the Chinese Air Force's J-10 fighter jets.

  Although it could not be confirmed whether the aircraft that had just been destroyed was a "Thunder" or a J-10, Major anticipated that this was the J-10 they were looking for, and it must have had the device he was searching for on board. They had arrived too late, only by a few minutes.

  Was it Pakistan's special forces who arrived first?

  The lieutenant colonel sneered. He didn't think so. Before coming to India, he had carried out a three-year secret mission in Afghanistan and killed more than a dozen Afghan Taliban leaders; then went to Pakistan to deal with the Taliban terrorist organization within Pakistan's borders, and had dealings with Pakistani special forces. Although the officers and men of the Pakistani special forces were very fierce, they were far from being the opponents of American special soldiers, and their reaction was not so swift.

  There is only one possibility, the previous arrivals were Chinese special forces.

  Thinking of this, Lieutenant Colonel Becker touched the wound on the right side of his neck. It was three years ago when he was executing a mission in Afghanistan and was left with a bullet wound from a sniper rifle. After recovering from the injury, Becker learned from his superior officer that he had encountered Chinese special forces during the operation, and it was likely that the one who shot him was a Chinese special forces sniper.

  From then on, Beckett regarded China's special forces, which appeared and disappeared mysteriously like a divine dragon, as the most powerful opponent.

  "Colonel, we've searched all around and there's nothing else to gain."

  "Fall in." Beckett let out a deep breath and gazed off towards the western sky.

  For three years, he has been wanting to compete with Chinese special forces, but he has not had the opportunity yet. Perhaps, soon he will get his wish!

  The "Sea King" helicopter returned to an Indian Air Force base while the "Cobra" helicopter returned to a Pakistan Air Force base.

  Lu Chengwen had just gotten off the plane when he received a call from Xiang Tonghui.

  "Has the US sent over special forces?" Lu Cheng was startled at first, then calmed down. "We'll be careful in our response. Is it necessary to try to avoid conflict with the US special forces?"

  "On the contrary." Xiang Tiehui's tone was very firm on the phone. "What the boss means is that if there's an opportunity, we should try to capture a few American special forces soldiers and keep them alive."

  "Seize the tongue? Team leader, this command of yours isn't simple at all."

  "Do your best, I know your situation." Xiang Tonghui's tone softened slightly. "I'm just conveying the boss's intention, you know what to do in your heart. Anyway, no one can confirm whether you have encountered American special forces or not, and it is said that those 'Seals', 'Delta Forces' and 'Rangers' are all reckless masters. Completing the task is important, but bringing my soldiers back alive is even more important, do you understand what I mean?"

  "Understood, thank you captain."

  "Alright then, if there's any news, let me know at once."

  "Yes, team leader!"

  After hanging up the phone, Lu Cheng let out a long sigh, this was indeed an "order to die".

  He is not afraid of the US special forces, but they are executing a search and rescue mission, which requires quick entry and exit, and cannot stay in India for too long. Moreover, as mercenaries, if they fall into enemy hands, not only will the Republic not acknowledge them, but international law will also be powerless.

  However, it is very important for the boss to directly issue tactical orders.

  After some thought, Lu Chengwen called Kang Xiaoting and Su Mingjian over.

  "Lu Du, you're not kidding us, are you?" Su Mingjin's reaction was huge.

  "This is a voluntary action, you can refuse, I won't make it difficult for you." Lu Chengwen took out a cigarette, "I don't want to send people over either, after all, there are only so many people in the team, and no one can be missing. However, the task was directly arranged by the old boss, and Old He also called me. If you guys don't go, I'll arrange for others to go."

  "No need, we'll go." Kang Xiaoting replied firmly, "In terms of stealth capabilities, the two of us are the most formidable. If others go, I won't be at ease."

  Lu Chengwen nodded and found Kang Xiaoting and Su Mingjian for the same reason.

  "Is there any compensation?" Su Mingjin chuckled, "Since we are mercenaries, can't do it for nothing, right?"

  "Alright, you're not short of money anyway." Kang Xiaoting kicked his partner and said to Lu Chengwen, "Captain Lu, when are we leaving?"

  "You all get ready first, once I have news, I will contact you again."

  After sending away two team members, Lu Chengwen secretly sighed, he didn't know if what he did was right or wrong.