Chapter 3: Blood-soaked Airport

  "I am a soldier of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, I pledge: to obey the leadership of the Communist Party of China, wholeheartedly serve the people, obey orders, strictly observe discipline, bravely fight; not afraid of sacrifice, loyal to duty, work hard, bitterly practice combat skills, resolutely complete tasks; under any circumstances, never betray the motherland, never betray the army."

  The next day, just after going to work, under the arrangement of the political commissar, Lin Ruolan took an oath of enlistment. Following the political commissar, she read out the solemn oath in front of the August 1st military flag. At that moment, a sense of responsibility and mission arose spontaneously, and even she herself did not understand where this emotion came from.

  Lin Ruo Lan organized all the materials and started her new job. She was never a workaholic, so she took good care of herself, working and living according to a strict schedule. Every morning at 5:30 when the wake-up call sounded, she would get up on time, slowly tidy up her personal affairs, and start jogging alone at 6 o'clock before starting work. She never skipped meals, and every evening before the lights-out call sounded, she would definitely leave the office, never staying overnight.

  However, in just one short month, the original small mountain-like file was left with less than a third. She wasn't a confidential secretary, but a human translation machine. To the point where Long Fei began to worry that after all this work was done, what job would be suitable for Lin Ruolan.

  After each document was translated, Lin Ruolan would hand it over to Jin Huan in the shortest time possible. At first, Jin Huan found it unbelievable, but later he greatly admired her. The way he looked at her changed day by day, becoming deeper and more meaningful than before, different from how he looked at others. His dark eyes always seemed to be burning with two flames, making Lin Ruolan feel like she had to carefully avoid his gaze to avoid getting burned.

  That morning, she entered her office as usual to start the day's work. Long Fei pushed in with a folder of materials, "Director Lin, this is the material that our military attaché at the embassy abroad had a hard time getting. Translate it immediately and hand it over to Director Jin as soon as possible."

  Lin Ruo Lan nodded and took over, finishing the 20-page document in just 4 hours. She shouted twice outside Jin Huan's office to report but no one responded. The duty officer heard her voice and walked out of the duty room, smiling as soon as he saw her: "Major Lin, don't shout, today First Squadron has parachute training, Major Jin and Deputy Commander Chen went to the military airport."

  Lin Ruo Lan lowered her head to take a look at the file in her hand, muttering softly: "And yet they said that once the translation is done, it should be handed over to him immediately." She thought for a moment, looking at the tightly closed door of Long Fei's office. Without a doubt, the Chief of Staff was not in his office either.

  She was just about to go find the political commissar when she ran into Cheng Xiaopeng, who had just returned from the training ground. At a glance, he saw the file folder in her hand and knew that this document was extremely important, it was intelligence that the embassy abroad had managed to obtain with great difficulty, Jin Hao attached great importance to it. He hastily stopped Lin Ruolan: "Lin advisor, I'll take you to the airport, Jin told me that he wants to see this translation as soon as possible."

  Cheng Xiaopeng drove the off-road vehicle for an hour and a half before arriving at a small military airport, which was only used for emergency landings of small air force transport planes and parachute training. The guards were not strict, with only two sentries at the gate, who saw the special pass on their car window and let them through without even asking a question.

  After entering the gate and driving for about 10 minutes, I saw three off-road vehicles of the cheetah team in the distance. Not far away, a Yun-7 aircraft was already being towed onto the simple runway, at the end of which stood a small control tower.

  Jin Huang and Chen Jianfeng were discussing something beside the off-road vehicle, while the soldiers of each combat squad in the first battalion stood neatly along the cement road at the edge of the runway. In front of them, more than a hundred parachutes were lined up on the ground, and Lei Ming was leading people to check the safety of the parachutes.

  "Lucky for us, if they had already taken off, we would have had to wait half a day," said Cheng Xiaopeng happily.

  Cheng Xiaopeng parked his car next to three off-road vehicles, Lin Ruolan jumped out of the car, and Chen Jianfeng had already seen her, waving at her.

  Lin Ruo-lan ran up to the two of them, jumping and skipping, and handed a folder to Jin Huang: "The files you wanted, translated." Her negligence in military etiquette had never been corrected, Jin Huang intentionally indulged her, and others also chose to turn a blind eye.

  "So soon?" Jin Huan took over the file folder, turned his head to Lei Ming and said: "After checking, fly away, don't wait for us, go with the two deputy squadron leaders." He said and opened the file to carefully read it.

  Lei Meng replied with a "yes", then turned to Instructor Liang Xu of the first squad and said: "You bring two people along, remind them to be extra careful, damn it, my right eyelid has been twitching all day."

  Li Xue burst out laughing and patted him on the shoulder: "You young fellow have also learned superstition."

  A team of soldiers boarded a plane with their parachutes on, and the Yun-7 took off.

  Another Il-18 was towed onto the runway, and a dozen armed police emerged from the control tower, surrounding a portly couple in their fifties who were walking towards the plane.

  Jin Huang's body suddenly tensed up, a strange sense of irritation surged into his mind, and his back also tightened in waves. Every time danger approached, he would have this feeling. He raised his head, slowly moving his body to observe the surroundings without leaving any traces.

  Chen Jianfeng glanced at him, relying on the experience of going through thick and thin together for many years. Chen Jianfeng understood that he felt the existence of danger, and immediately lowered his voice to give orders: "Everyone be alert, there's a situation, unclear position, search immediately."

  The remaining squad leader Lei Meng and team leader Ma Xiangdong immediately entered a state of alert, while Cheng Xiaopeng put on a relaxed expression and slowly walked to the side of his off-road vehicle, quickly opening the trunk. The guns and ammunition in the trunk were all ready, Lei Meng smiled and slowly approached, taking out a 95 assault rifle, calmly loading the magazine, with a pair of vigilant eyes watching Jin Huan's every move, waiting for further orders. Ma Xiangdong saw that there was even a squad machine gun in the trunk, took it out, looked at Cheng Xiaopeng and cursed with a smile: "You little devil, you're really sly, no wonder everyone calls you Monkey."

  Cheng Xiaopeng skeptically curled his lip: "Your nickname is Zebra, do you have stripes on your body?" He then nodded towards Lei Hong beside him: "Jin Daguang calls him Master Lei, does he strike lightning?"

  A burst of thunder, she leaned against the car with a casual attitude, ignoring him.

  Chen Jianfeng slowly leaned against his car, the sniper rifle that was always by his side placed on the back seat of the car. With the most inconspicuous movement, he opened the car door, grasped the gun body, and let out a gentle sigh of relief.

  On the way to Yun 8, the armed police seemed to be loosely surrounding two foreigners in the middle. Jin Huan stared at this group of people walking quickly, his eyes suddenly narrowed slightly, and he pulled Lin Ruolan's arm into the rear door of the off-road vehicle, saying in a low voice: "Lie down on the seat, don't get out of the car without permission!"

  No sooner had the words fallen than a loud gunshot rang out, and a puff of blood burst forth from the chest of one of the armed police officers, who crumpled to the ground. Instantly, chaos erupted on the track, with gunfire and shouting filling the air. The remaining armed police realized that there was a sniper nearby, and they quickly surrounded the two foreigners in the middle, dropping down onto the track. However, their position was extremely unfavorable, with no objects around them to provide cover, leaving them completely exposed to the sniper's line of sight. All they could do was grit their teeth and use their own bodies to guarantee the safety of the people they were protecting.

  "4 o'clock, 800 meters, mountain slope." Jin Huan found the sniper's position, who was hiding in a dense bush on the mountain slope. "Hunting Eagle, clear out the sniper with me, Lei Gong (Lei Ming) go to the runway to pick up, Banzai (Ma Xiangdong), Monkey (Cheng Xiaopeng) suppress firepower, be careful, they must have accomplices!" Jin Huan received the assault rifle thrown by Cheng Xiaopeng and shouted: "Action!" He and Chen Jianfeng rushed to the edge of the bush like a snake, he suddenly jumped up on the left wing and made a few fake moves, covering Chen Jianfeng who charged into the bush. He followed closely behind him into the woods, alternating with Chen Jianfeng as cover for each other.

  The sniper hiding in the woods discovered that a master had arrived, got up and sprinted 50 meters, suddenly crouched down behind a dense bush, pulled out an M16A1 infantry grenade from his backpack, inserted it into the gap between the tree roots, pulled out the tripwire to secure it, covered it with fallen leaves for camouflage, and turned around to dash deep into the woods.

  Jin Hao saw the marks on the bush, gestured to Chen Jianfeng to cover him, and slowly approached, using his gun to lift up the leaves. He soon discovered the tripwire and carefully observed the surrounding plants after safely removing the landmine. Using hand signals, he signaled to Chen Jianfeng: "Single target, turning in two directions!"

  Chen Jianfeng gave a clear hand signal, and the two of them quietly moved forward to search for the target location. Suddenly, a bush on the edge of the forest rustled without any wind. "Take cover!" Chen Jianfeng shouted in a low voice, as he and Jin Huan simultaneously dived towards the bushes on either side. A bullet hit the small tree next to Jin Huan with a loud "thud".

  "Bang!" Chen Jianfeng aimed at the exposed position of the sniper and pulled the trigger, the sniper's forehead was hit by a bullet and fell backwards.

  "Clear!" The two quickly turned around and rushed towards the airport.

  At this moment, Lei Meng encountered a great danger. As he was quickly approaching the runway, there was an explosion in the control tower, followed by two black-clad men jumping out and rushing towards the runway. Ma Xiangdong reacted swiftly, almost simultaneously with the explosion, picking up his submachine gun and flanking one of the black-clad men. The black-clad man raised his AK-47 and fired a burst at him, but Ma Xiangdong immediately dropped to the ground, rolling sideways to avoid the bullets. One bullet grazed his right arm, and in the midst of flying blood, Cheng Xiaopeng rolled over continuously, getting closer, raising his hand for a precise short burst of fire. The 95 assault rifle roared angrily, and the black-clad man fell to the ground.

  A masked big man with a Soviet-made RPG-7 rocket launcher on his shoulder took aim, and a 40mm rocket shell with a long tail flame flew straight at the Yun-8.

  "Right wing! 40 fire!" Lei Meng yelled. A loud explosion sounded, and the fuel tank of the Yun-8 burst into flames, engulfing the SWAT team members who were knocked to the ground in a wave of heat. The sound of "crackling and popping" was mixed with the cries of the wounded.

  "Hawkeye, take him down!" Jin Huan yelled back at Chen Jianfeng.

  "Understood!" Chen Jianfeng raised his 88-style sniper rifle, took a brief aim. With a "bang", the 5.8mm bullet arrived instantly, lightly and easily knocking open the masked man's skull, with a "plop" sound, splashing blood and brain matter all over the track.

  Danger averted, Lei Meng sprang up and pounced on another black-clad man. Seeing the situation was not good, this person raised his AK-47 and aimed at Lei Meng. Before he could pull the trigger, Lei Meng had already rushed in front of him, kicked him to the ground with one foot, pulled out a Type 92 pistol and pressed it against his forehead, pulling the trigger without hesitation.

  "Bring the car over!" Jin Hwang shouted as he and Chen Jianfeng quickly approached the track. Cheng Xiaopeng started the off-road vehicle and rushed towards the track, while Lei Ming quickly retreated. Ma Xiangdong jumped into the car, opened the sunroof, and held a machine gun, vigilantly watching the direction of the tower. The tower suddenly exploded, and in the midst of the soaring flames, a dense hail of bullets swept over from two directions.

  "Two o'clock, suppressive fire!" Jin Huan shouted loudly. Ma Xiangdong stood up on the roof of the car and fired, while Lei Ming also raised his rifle and swept it across in a burst of shots. The bullets whizzed by with a "zip zip zip" sound, and the bandits' firepower suddenly weakened.

  Fifteen armed police escorts sacrificed themselves, using their bodies to block the bullets for two foreigners. Jin Hao pulled out the frightened foreign couple who were curled up and screaming from under the pile of corpses and stuffed them into the back seat of the car, closed the door, patted the roof of the car, "Withdraw, 10 o'clock direction, thicket!"

  The off-road vehicle covered the team members driving into the bushes, Jin Huan commanded Cheng Xiaopeng to park the off-road vehicle with bulletproof steel plate horizontally outside the bushes as cover. He looked at the terrain and ordered: "Monkey, bring the other three cars over."

  Cheng Xiaopeng ran back to the parking lot, started the car and drove one by one into a hidden point, forming a circular fortification. Halfway through, Cheng Yajin suddenly appeared, and the bandits were apparently caught off guard, temporarily stopping their attack, seemingly discussing countermeasures.

  The gunfire stopped, and Lin Ruolan raised her head from the car seat to look outside. She immediately heard Jin Huang's warning voice: "Get down!" He opened the car door, "Don't raise your head, slowly get out of the car."

  Lin Ruo Lan acted obediently, crawling out of the car door and crouching behind a bush according to Jin Huan's instructions. She heard the foreign woman in the neighboring car shouting repeatedly in German: "Oh God, save us, hurry up and save our lives!"

  Then Jin Hua also opened the door of the neighboring car, and when he saw someone opening the door, the foreign woman became even more panicked, screaming and speaking incoherently in German, her voice loud enough to pierce everyone's eardrums. The man was pale-faced, covering his chest, unable to utter a word.

  Jin Huang shouted loudly at Lin Ruolan: "Can you understand what she's saying?"

  The foreign woman's voice was too loud, so Lin Ruo Lan could only nod to indicate that she understood.

  "Talk to her and make her stop shouting, ask them who they are? Who wants to kill them?" Jin Hwang shouted.

  Lin Ruo Lan was extremely frightened, her legs trembling and she had no strength in her body. Growing up in a peaceful era, she never even dreamed that such a thing would happen to her, that one day she would face a hail of bullets like something out of a movie. But the situation was clear before her eyes, it wouldn't change just because she was afraid, so she might as well face it bravely.

  She took a deep breath, gently grasped the foreign woman's hand and softly said in fluent German: "Please don't be afraid, we are the Chinese army, we won't hurt you, we're here to rescue you." She had been learning German since she was four years old, using it as if it were her second mother tongue. Her Frankfurt-accented German was low and gentle, with an irresistible persuasive power that slowly calmed the woman down. By the fifth time she said this, the woman stopped screaming and looked at her in a daze.

  Jin Hao nodded, and in the depths of his dark eyes, a warm current melted the long-standing chill. "You did very well," he said softly.

  Encouraged, Lin Ruolan began to try and communicate with the woman. After a while, she turned her head and whispered to Jin Huang: "They are German aircraft engine experts - Mr. and Mrs. Mark. They don't know who wants to kill them. Also, Mr. Mark has heart disease, and his medicine was lost during the attack just now."

  Lei Meng immediately opened the first-aid kit, rummaged out nitroglycerin and put it in Mr. Mark's mouth, Cheng Xiaopeng found a miniature portable oxygen cylinder in the trunk, connected the tube and put it on Mr. Mark's nose and mouth. Realizing that these sudden people were not enemies, her husband was also rescued, Mrs. Mark temporarily regained calmness.

  Jin Huang's eyebrows were tightly locked, and his side had only five combat personnel, who also had to protect three unarmed people. The number of enemy troops, the type and quantity of their equipment, and the composition of their personnel were all unknown. This kind of blind fighting was most taboo in special operations and was extremely dangerous. The enemy was well-prepared, and any slight carelessness would result in incalculable losses. The military airport was located in a remote area, the control tower had been bombed, and it seemed that communication had also been cut off by the bandits. When would reinforcements arrive? He and Chen Jianfeng were discussing countermeasures in low voices.

  Suddenly, a white aircraft tractor burst into view, accelerating wildly towards the bunker. "Rat-a-tat-tat" Jin Hua's 95 rifle fired continuously at the tractor's windshield. The tractor veered off course and crashed into a thicket of bushes, with a male corpse tumbling out of the driver's cab.

  As soon as Mrs. Mark was about to scream, Lin Ruolan hurriedly hugged her massive and obese body, constantly comforting her: "Don't be afraid, you're safe!" The clothes on Mrs. Mark's body had been completely soaked in the blood of the armed police officers, emitting a strong, pungent smell that rushed into Lin Ruolan's brain, making her feel like vomiting. She desperately suppressed the discomfort that made her stomach churn constantly, comforting Mrs. Mark while also comforting herself: "Don't be afraid, don't be afraid, it's okay."

  Suddenly, the sound of "da da da" gunfire rang out, and seven bandits holding AK-47s ran out from behind a tractor, firing wildly at the bunker as they rushed towards it. The dense bullets riddled the vehicle with holes.

  Lei Meng and Ma Dong immediately raised their guns to counterattack, Chen Jianfeng's sniper rifle fired continuously, "Bang Bang" several gunshots later, the four bandits who rushed to the front fell to the ground. The remaining three bandits saw that things were not going well and hid behind the tractor trailer, using Chen Jianfeng's visual blind spot in an attempt to escape. One of them ran while taking out a 500g TNT explosive from his pocket, Cheng Xiaopeng held the 92-style handgun with both hands and fired a beautiful double shot. The bandit who was running had a burst of blood on his head, fell down like a dog eating shit, and the explosive in his hand flew out more than ten meters away. Another bandit threw a grenade at the cover, Jin Huan caught it and threw it back, jumped up to catch the grenade, landed and threw it, and the whole action was done in one breath. "Boom!" The grenade exploded beside the fleeing bandits' feet, and the remaining bandits were all killed.

  The shrubs on the right rear suddenly shook violently, and Lei Meng caught a glimpse of it. He raised his assault rifle and fired a long burst. A bandit who had just exposed his head behind the shrubs was hit in the head, with the entire skull blown off, revealing red and white brain matter. The bandit fell to the ground, his smashed head facing Lin Ruolan.

  "Don't look!" Jin Hao shouted, but the bloody head still crashed into Lin Ruolan's line of sight. Lin Ruolan's face turned pale in an instant, and for a minute, her mind was a complete blank, as if her hearing and vision had also been lost at the same time. Ma Xiangdong rushed to the side of the bandit's body and covered his head with the clothes.

  "Lin Ruo Lan, Lin Ruo Lan!" Jin Huang's voice seemed to come from the distant horizon. He shook Lin Ruo Lan's frail shoulders vigorously, shifting her gaze from the corpse to his face. "Listen to me, you still have a mission. You are the only one here who understands German. You have a responsibility to keep Mark and his wife calm. Do you understand?" Lin Ruo Lan looked at him blankly for a long time before nodding slightly.

  There were still people visible behind the towing vehicle, it seemed they were going to use the towing vehicle as cover for an attack.

  Jin Huang's mind was filled with murderous intent, and he shouted: "Fight quickly and decide quickly! Leigong, Banma right wing, I'll go left wing, Monkey watch the back, Eagle watch the front, act!"

  Lei Meng and Ma swept east, moving towards the right flank of the bandits. Jin Huan also began to approach the bandits from the left flank. Chen Jianfeng set up his sniper rifle, waiting quietly. Cheng Xiaopeng held his rifle tightly, staring at the bushes behind him.

  The bandits began to panic and scatter in all directions.

  Jin Huang sprinted towards the bandits' hideout in a snake-like manner, and in an instant he had already rushed to the side of the tractor. With his submachine gun, he swept across, and the bandits hiding behind the car fell to the ground with a mournful cry. The Thunder Team also arrived on the scene, and with the crisp sound of "tatatatat..." from their machine guns, the remaining bandits fell to the ground one after another.

  After carefully searching and confirming that there were no surviving bandits, Jin Huan returned to the hiding point, stuffed Mark's couple back into the off-road vehicle, Chen Jianfeng helped up Lin Ruolan who was in a daze, he and Jin Huan exchanged a glance, shook their heads, "Let's leave here first."

  Lin Ruo Lan suddenly pushed him away and ran to one side, kneeling on the ground and vomiting loudly.

  "Damn it!" Jin Hao muttered, his face darkening as he tossed the gun to Cheng Xiaopeng and strode over to Lin Ruolan's side. His iron-like arm wrapped tightly around her waist, while his other hand came up to gently stroke her back, speaking in a soothing tone, "Don't be afraid, it's all over."

  His scorching body temperature had a clear sedative effect, and after emptying his stomach completely, Lin Ruolan slowly calmed down, grasped his arm and stood up shakily.

  Two military vehicles drove into the airport at this time, took over the security of the airport, and Jin Huan confirmed their identities before handing over Mark and his wife to them.