Chapter 2: The Cheetah Squad Goes Down

  The gloomy sky of the whole morning finally appeared with scattered snowflakes. Not long after, the fluttering snowflakes like torn cotton wool continuously fell from the dull gray sky.

  The off-road vehicle drove on the highway for half an hour before turning into a quiet cement road, and after driving for nearly two hours, it finally entered a heavily guarded military camp, heading towards a five-story gray-tiled office building. A line of soldiers who were patrolling along the driveway hastily stepped aside and saluted the off-road vehicle with raised hands. Along the way, Jin Huan did not speak, tightly pursing his thin lips, as if he had accepted Chen Jianfeng's advice to "stop in time".

  As soon as she entered the gate, Lin Ruolan's line of sight was immediately attracted by the white and red banner on the edge of the playground, which was written in bold letters: Eagles in the sky, tigers on land, dragons under the sea. The gray-tiled office building opposite also had a row of white and red banners: Unity, Tension, Seriousness, Vigor.

  Her gaze shifted to the sentry standing in front of the building. On such a cold day, the sentry was not wearing a coat but still stood like a steel casting, as if the severe cold had no effect on them. She had seen it in a military book that during peacetime, sentries were a window into a unit's combat effectiveness. On a cold winter day, a motionless sentry standing like an iron block could very intuitively tell you how strong this unit's combat effectiveness was.

  The car had not yet come to a complete stop when applause broke out, and the five military officers who had been waiting in the hall walked towards the car. Chen Jianfeng smiled and opened the door for Lin Ruolan, "Welcome, welcome, you must be tired from the journey."

  Chen Jianfeng introduced the officers present one by one to Lin Ruolan.

  Standing behind Chen Jianfeng with a smile is a senior colonel, not tall but very lean, "This is Political Commissar Liu Xinjie."

  Liu Xinjie grasped Lin Ruolan's hands with both of his: "Welcome, your arrival has solved our biggest problem."

  "This is Chief of Staff Long Fei, he will be your direct superior from now on." Chen Jianfeng pointed to a lieutenant colonel standing on the right side, "He has a code name called White Fox, if you hear someone calling him that in the future, it's him they're referring to."

  Long Fei's deep and introverted black eyes floated with a kind smile, he politely looked at Lin Ruolan and saluted her. Lin Ruolan had a strange feeling: this was a very good boss to get along with, but at the same time, also a boss whose thoughts were not easy to fathom.

  "This is Deputy Squadron Leader Luo Jie."

  The lieutenant colonel standing behind Long Fei also saluted Lin Ruolan with a military salute, his attitude as cold as ice. His expression and eyes were like those of a thorough killer, calm and without any emotion.

  "This kid always looks like he's just lost his mother, don't be scared by him." Liu Xinjie's words brought laughter from the crowd.

  "This is Deputy Captain Jiang Zhen."

  Jiang Zhen nodded politely, his surroundings carrying an icy coldness that kept people at bay. His eyes hid a proud and disdainful air. But when he looked at Jin Huang, his gaze turned into genuine respect.

  "Is everything arranged?" Jin Huan asked him.

  "Not yet," Jiang Zhen reported with a completely expressionless face, "This time we're mainly conducting a raid war, the 95 assault rifle is our main weapon, but the newly issued tactical vest can't hold the 95's magazine, I've already ordered Ding Jinping and Yan Xiaoming to supervise them to modify it. In addition, Jiang Pengwu is leading people to install bulletproof steel plates on the vehicles. This time we're carrying more equipment, the armory storage box isn't enough, we need to allocate eight more." Perhaps knowing that Lin Ruolan was about to become a member of this place, his report didn't avoid her.

  Jin Hao glanced at his watch and gave a concise order: "Urge them to hurry up, your team must depart on time at 20 o'clock. To avoid alarming them, the helicopter will return ten kilometers away from the destination. You'll ambush after marching ten kilometers, if the ambush fails, immediately switch to a strong attack, you must annihilate them all! Do you understand?"

  "Understood!" Jiang Zhen replied crisply. He bowed to Jin Huang and then walked towards the main gate.

  Liu Xinjie turned his head to Jin Huan and said, "Jin, don't you think we should meet in the small conference room and brief Xiao Lin on the situation?"

  Jin Hao nodded in agreement. Everyone then followed Lin Ruolan up to the second floor, with Liu Xinjie introducing her along the way: "This building is our brigade's main office building, and the offices of the brigade leader and several deputy brigades are on the third floor, up the stairs to the left. However, you usually can't find anyone in the office, they're busy." He chuckled, "In the future, if there's anything related to daily life, just come find me, my office is the first room on the left on the third floor, with a nameplate on the door."

  As they spoke, everyone walked into a small conference room. Several staff officers had arrived earlier and tidied up briefly, serving hot tea to everyone.

  Lin Ruo Lan chose a seat across from the officers, Jin Huang Jian's tall and sturdy figure sat in the main seat, the huge mural behind him set off his majestic momentum. His dark hands were clasped together, casually placed on the table, his indifferent eyes cast on her, his expression was profound and unpredictable.

  Chen Jianfeng's expression was still gentle, like white clouds drifting across the sky: "I'll briefly introduce the situation. Comrade Lin Ruolan, you were introduced to the Cheetah Team as a special talent. Jin Da and the Political Commissar ran several trips to the Military Region for your quota. You are now a Lieutenant Colonel Staff Officer, and your supervisor is Chief of Staff Long Fei. We hope you can start working immediately."

  "Isn't new recruit training needed?" Lin Ruolan was a bit surprised, becoming a lieutenant as soon as she enlisted?

  "No need, we've reviewed your military training records from college, excellent grades. Besides, we urgently need you to start working immediately."

  "May I see my workload?"

  Several officers conferred in a low voice for a while, looked at Jin Huan, who nodded slightly without changing his expression. The political commissar called over one of the participating staff officers: "Xiao Geng, move those foreign language materials from the Chief of Staff's office to here."

  Five minutes later, a two-foot-high mountain of documents appeared in front of Lin Ruolan. She took a few volumes and looked at them carefully, gradually getting an idea of the difficulty of the work in her mind. She nodded and asked again: "Is there any order or priority among these documents? Or which one is the most urgent?"

  "Firearms, weapons, especially biochemical weapons," Jin Huang finally spoke up, his voice devoid of any emotion: "Once translated, no matter what time or situation, hand it over to me immediately."

  Lin Ruo Lan nodded: "I know." For some reason, she was unwilling to face Jin Huang and respectfully say "yes", and he didn't correct her either.

  "Does anyone have anything else to add?" Seeing no one responding, he continued: "Alright then, Xiao Ge will put the materials back in the Chief of Staff's office. Tomorrow morning, we'll arrange an enlistment oath ceremony and give Lin a copy of the confidentiality regulations to review carefully. Then we'll start work."

  Chen Jianfeng glanced at his watch and looked up at Cheng Xiaopeng, instructing him: "It's now 3:30 PM, there's still time. Take Lin Zanmou to take a look around the surroundings."

  "I'll take her there, and we can also go to the second team." Ignoring the stunned eyes of his subordinates, Jin Huan had already walked to the door, waiting for Lin Ruolan to catch up with him.

  Lin Ruo Lan hesitated for a moment, but still followed him. This man was a high-risk leopard, yet he emitted an irresistible force like opium, making people involuntarily follow him.

  The team leader accompanied the visit in person, and it was chosen during training time, which naturally attracted the attention of everyone in the entire team. Along the way, many people were paying attention to Lin Ruolan.

  They had passed by the arsenal, the logistics warehouse filled with food and medicine, the helicopter apron that could take off and land 24 helicopters at the same time, a small hospital, the command and control center...... but Jin Huan didn't say a word of explanation.

  The guard officer Cheng Xiaopeng, who was following behind him, kept scratching his ears and complaining in his heart: "Boss, how can you not even be a tour guide? You should give Lin a lecture, why are you just walking with your head down?" He had been following Jin Hao for almost five years and had never seen him like this before.

  Jin Hao was seething with anger, extremely angry. A mixture of anxiety and indignation had been quietly brewing in his chest for a while. At 18, he had enrolled in the military academy, and in his 12-year military career, he had never experienced such a situation before. This man, who embodied calmness, strength, sharpness, and elegance, couldn't understand what was wrong with him? His usually reliable self-control seemed to be collapsing, as this little woman's every smile and frown could stir up his emotions, causing his rationality to gradually collapse, to the point where he would blurt out that he wanted to take her on a tour himself. "Damn it, don't I have anything better to do?" He cursed himself silently.

  Two people walked unknowingly to the edge of the training field in silence. Suddenly, they were met with waves of wild and extreme roars, and intense gunfire that rose and fell in succession. Hundreds of special forces members were undergoing the most rigorous shooting, hand-to-hand combat, and physical training. At the edge of the training field stood a row of white boards with red lettering: Be a Special Soldier, Act like a Special Person, Train in Special Skills, Forge a Special Soul.

  Jin Hao suddenly came back to his senses, only to realize that he had already walked a long way. He looked at the high-heeled shoes on Lin Ruolan's feet and wanted to scold her for wearing such shoes in the military camp, but the words turned into a warm and caring sentence: "Are you tired?"

  Cheng Xiaopeng, who was following closely behind, couldn't help but let out a sigh from the bottom of his heart. He raised his hand to touch his forehead, no fever? What's wrong with his god-like boss today? How could such warm words come out of his mouth?

  Lin Ruo Lan shook her head and nodded towards a corner of the training grounds, "Do you still have female soldiers?"

  Seventy-eight female soldiers wearing jungle training uniforms were practicing hand-to-hand combat on the plum blossom posts. Seeing Jin Huan waving at them, the leading female lieutenant immediately ran over and stood at attention, saluting: "Report to Captain Jin, the women's special warfare detachment is conducting hand-to-hand combat training." Her voice was clear and high-pitched, carrying far away.

  The female lieutenant was about twenty-seven or eight years old, with a rugged facial outline. Under the slanted eyebrows, the beautiful eyes with obvious hostility were measuring Lin Ruo Lan up and down without any scruples, even the straight nose was obviously raised due to the owner's emotional changes. Without a doubt, this woman was beautiful, with a strong and neutral beauty that belonged to a soldier.

  "This is the newly arrived female officer Lin Ruolan, temporarily arranged for her to live in the women's barracks. After the drill, vacate a room for her. She is a non-combat personnel, no need to call her out for drills." Jin Huan returned to his usual cold tone.

  "Yes." Lieutenant Yang Xinxin gazed at Lin Ruolan with a cold, icy stare. Under Jin Huang's increasingly severe gaze, she finally extended her right hand to Lin Ruolan: "Hello, I'm Lieutenant Yang Xinxin, commander of the female special forces team." She shook hands with Lin Ruolan, a hand that was rough and coarse from handling guns. The slanted, raised corners of her eyes and the unmistakable disdain in them clearly told Lin Ruolan: I don't put you in my eyes.

  ……

  The female special warfare team is one of the few places in the army where women gather, and with women come drama. Even if they don't sing their own praises, they like to gossip about others, even if they are soldiers. The focus of the female soldiers' discussion has always been on Jin Da and Chen Deputy Captain.

  Just as women are always the topic of men, heroes are also the center of discussion among beauties. Jin Huan and Chen Jianfeng in the mouths of female soldiers have almost been deified. Their bravery and tenacity in battle, their ruthlessness to the enemy, their integrity and straightforwardness... each one has a story that can't be finished. The image of the two battalion commanders, bit by bit, took shape in their words. The storyteller would often end with a sentence "Whoever marries such a man is truly blessed!" accompanied by a long sigh. The onlookers understood that this sentence was synonymous with "If only I could marry one of them!"

  Lin Ruo Lan was in her own room, slowly tidying up her personal affairs, with an air of being uninterested and not having heard their discussion. She thought that to be moved by such a man was too easy a thing. He didn't need to put in much effort, nor did he even need to be sincere, all the tender hearts would easily fall into his hands.

  She knew very well that she was an unwelcome outsider, and if looks could kill, she would have been beaten to a pulp by now. After all, she was the only one who had been personally escorted to her dormitory by the captain of the squad.

  She gently closed the door, and opened that diary which she always carried with her, lightly stroking the photo of Jin Huang. Even though he himself was just a stone's throw away, she knew that the one she loved was still the person in the photo. "You all go fight over him, I only love the him in the photo."

  The soft knock on the door sounded, Lin Ruolan put away her diary and opened the door. A short-haired, round-faced woman, Deputy Captain An Jin, stood outside with a few new military uniforms, "These are your uniforms, just sent from the quartermaster's office." She smiled foolishly.

  "Thank you." Lin Ruolan took over the military uniform and casually said: "Come in and sit down."

  It was just a polite remark, but An Zhen really came in. She looked at Lin Ruolan putting the military uniform on the bed and opening the package, saying with some envy: "It's great to have knowledge, you're already a lieutenant as soon as you join the army, from tomorrow on we'll have to report to you."

  Lin Ruo Lan put on the military uniform's upper garment and tried it out for size, smiling: "Is that really necessary?"

  "Of course it's necessary, this is a military unit." An Jin stared at Lin Ruolan with wide eyes as she smiled. "We usually wear combat uniforms here, and regular clothes are only worn when going out."

  Lin Ruo Lan murmured in agreement and searched through several sets of clothes, pulling out a set of jungle training attire that was the same as An Jian's. "Is this it?"

  An nodded slightly and quietly glanced at the quiet corridor, asking in a low voice: "Are you Jinda's girlfriend?"

  Lin Ruo Lan was taken aback and turned her head to look at her: "Who told you?"

  Her expression was calm and mysterious, as if she had grasped a huge secret: "Do you still need others to tell you? If he wasn't your boyfriend, why would he accompany you back to the dormitory together. Now it's all spread outside."

  Lin Ruo Lan's head buzzed, and she hastily composed herself, saying: "Don't spout nonsense, I only met Jin Da three days ago. As for him sending me to the dorm, I think he was just trying to show his respect for talent."

  "Really?"

  "Seriously, stop spreading rumors, it's really bad influence."

  "Ah, yes, that's true, it has a bad influence." An Jing got the answer she wanted and left with excitement.

  Lin Ruo Lan suddenly had an ominous premonition.