Chapter Eighteen: Breaking Out of the Heavy Encirclement

  "Lei Gong, Shan Ying to sweep the battlefield, retreat in five minutes!" Chen Jianfeng threw the captured driver to the ground, Ma Ping crawled over, pulled out a climbing rope and tied the driver up like a rice dumpling, and heavily threw him under a tree. The driver's face was full of fear, shrinking into a ball, looking at the two burly men in front of him.

  "Tell me what I ask, don't lie! Otherwise..." He slowly moved the icy blade of his combat knife down the driver's cheek, and with a sudden flick of his wrist, pressed it tightly against his throat. "I'll be happy to send you to meet your God! Do you understand?"

  The sharp pain from the back of his neck made the driver extremely cooperative, Chen Jianfeng played with a combat knife in front of the driver, Ma Ping's right thumb pressed on the driver's Adam's apple, and his left hand slowly pulled out the glove from the driver's mouth, the driver opened his mouth and gasped violently.

  "Where is the wreckage of the plane?" Chen Jianfeng asked in a low voice.

  "Not here, on the other side of the river. After crossing the river and heading northwest for 50 kilometers, you'll arrive." The driver lowered his voice in a very cooperative manner.

  "How many of you have come?"

  "Ten teams arrived, each team with twelve to fifteen people. Five teams were deployed on this side of the river, and the rest surrounded the wreckage over there."

  "Are there any heavy weapons among the wreckage of the downed plane?"

  "Six heavy machine guns and ten mortars!"

  "Liar!" Ma Ping's fingers pressed slightly harder on the driver's throat. "Where did the special forces get their heavy weapons?"

  The driver was so scared that he almost wet his pants, desperately begging: "Sir, sir, everything I said is true, the heavy weapons were provided by the D country government army, and they also sent a battalion of troops to guard the S River bank to prevent you from crossing! Please spare my life, don't kill me!"

  Chen Jianfeng nodded, and Ma Ping slapped the driver's neck with his hand. The driver fainted softly. Ma Ping beckoned to Lin Jie, and the two of them carried the gagged driver behind a large tree and tied him up with five knots on the trunk. Whether he lived or died depended on his own luck.

  Lei Meng had gathered the enemy's corpses into a thicket, using them to hold down a hand grenade with its safety pin removed. Long Fei threw the enemy's weapons and ammunition onto the carriage seat. Chen Jianfeng chose a vehicle in better condition, ordering Ma Ping to load explosives onto another vehicle and abandon it by the roadside.

  Five minutes later, the team members drove a jeep towards the S River. The dirt road was used by local mountain people to drive cattle carts and was not suitable for cars. Ma Ping kept the speed at 20 miles per hour, Lei Ming manipulated the vehicle-mounted heavy machine gun behind him, Chen Jianfeng quietly held the M82A1 rifle in the front passenger seat, Lin Jie supported the sniper rifle behind Chen Jianfeng, gazing at the right wing, and Long Fei squeezed between Lei Ming and Lin Jie, silently wiping away the blood from his shoulder wound. Lin Jie turned back to look at the blood on his hand, took out a bandage from the first-aid kit, and re-bandaged it for him.

  Chen Jianfeng looked down at his watch, 11 o'clock. He corrected his direction with GPS and carefully studied the map. After a while, he said in a low voice: "Let's drive another 10 kilometers and prepare to abandon the car. From now on, we'll be getting farther and farther away from the S River as we move forward. We have to rely on our two legs to cross this mountain."

  The team members exchanged a smile and started eating dry food and drinking water to replenish their energy. Lei Meng said, "To be honest, in this primitive forest, I still believe in my two legs."

  Long Fei let out a hearty laugh and said, "This is what they call a laborious life!"

  Half an hour later, the car stopped, and the team members got off with their equipment and captured guns and ammunition. Lei Ming and Ma Ping pushed the car down the cliff by the side of the dirt road, so that the enemy would not find the trail of the assault team by following the car.

  "Brothers, judging from the current situation, the enemy army wants to annihilate us on this side of the river as much as possible. Everyone must have sufficient mental preparation, and from now on, there will be brutal battles waiting for us. Do you understand?"

  "I understand!"

  "Jackal troops advance, Thunder General cuts off the rear, depart!"

  The sunlight at noon filters through the gaps in the leaves and falls on my body, the mountain forest is quiet and peaceful, like a still oil painting. The bushes in this area have obviously never been set foot by humans, various plants of different genera are densely entwined with each other, growing exceptionally luxuriantly, filling the space between the trees, blocking the way for the small team.

  The team's progress was slow, Chen Jianfeng looked down at his watch and saw that two hours had passed, but they had only advanced less than six kilometers. At this rate, it would be difficult to reach the riverbank before nightfall. He blew a whistle, and the scout Ma Ping poked his head out from behind a giant vine plant, looking back. Chen Jianfeng made a downward chopping motion with his palm, indicating that Ma Ping should clear a path through the mountain forest. Ma Ping gave an OK gesture, took out a machete from his backpack, and chopped the thick vines in front of him into two pieces with one swing of the knife.

  The team's marching speed suddenly doubled, at 17:00 they were still 20 kilometers away from the river on mountain roads. The sun slowly set in the west, the sunset dyed half of the sky red, and the edges of the leaves were coated with a layer of golden red light.

  Suddenly, Ma Ping, who was clearing the way with a machete, waved his hand to signal a halt and jumped over the thorny bushes to run to Chen Jianfeng's side: "Hawk, there's a minefield ahead."

  "Lei Gong, be on the lookout. Shan Ying and Chi Lang, pay attention to both flanks. White Fox, come with me to take a look." After Chen Jianfeng gave the order, he ran forward with Long Fei, hiding behind a clump of grass to observe ahead.

  In the minefield on the positive side, three mining methods were used: oblique square array, radiation line and type A minefield. The dense and eerie landmines made one's hair stand on end, with a ferocious appearance like a venomous snake baring its fangs.

  "Damn it, this dense minefield will take at least half an hour to clear." Long Fei gritted his teeth in frustration: "It's really not worth the cost in blood."

  The sun had set, dark clouds filled the sky, the forest was dimly lit, and the surroundings became very quiet. Not a single sound could be heard, no insect chirping or small animal movement. The silence was eerie, as if something was lurking in the air, exerting pressure on them from afar. All of this indicated that there was danger present.

  The two carefully searched the surrounding area, Long Fei lightly touched Chen Jianfeng and pointed to a spot under some fallen leaves. Chen Jianfeng used his gun barrel to gently sweep away the leaves, revealing a horizontally placed club made of rattan strips.

  The moment of arrival has finally arrived, Chen Jianfeng understood the trap and minefield in front of him, all set by the enemy army for the squad. The enemy army had completed the initial encirclement of the squad, leaving only when to launch the attack. Being able to carefully lay traps and minefields in such a clever position, it must be a special forces unit that has undergone rigorous training. However, the broken shrub branches and numerous footprints left behind also proved that a regular army without special training had passed through here before. It seems that a government army from country D reinforced by special forces from country M had set up an encirclement circle and was waiting in ambush ahead.

  The towering trees and shrubs two or three meters high shortened the line of sight like a huge screen, Long Fei brushed against the ground and drilled into the roots of the grass, and with his hands, he propped up the pressed grass, his ears stuck to the ground listening carefully. Five minutes later, he raised his head and pointed in the directions of ten o'clock and two o'clock.

  Chen Jianfeng had already grasped the terrain of the surrounding area, and he retreated back to the middle of the troops with Long Fei at a speed that was almost crawling. Pointing to the right flank of the minefield, he said in a low voice: "Halt the advance, establish a defensive position!"

  Lei Ming went out 20 meters in front and stood guard under a large tree, Ma Ping set up eight remote-controlled explosive landmines around the perimeter of the position to prevent being surrounded by the enemy, and also set up two steel ball landmines on both sides of the front of the position. Lin Jie quickly climbed up a luxuriantly branched nanmu tree on the right side, set up his sniper rifle. Long Fei crawled into a large leafy grass that grew under a big tree, sat down with his back against the trunk. Chen Jianfeng took out a camouflage net and put it on himself, crawled in the bushes and raised his night vision telescope to look towards the thunder area.

  Ma Ping thought for a moment and didn't feel at ease, scanning the surroundings to confirm there were no ambushes. He then quietly slipped out of the defense line with several packages of C-4, burying explosives in several hidden points that posed the greatest danger. The remaining C-4 was installed on trees around the ambush circle, preparing to detonate and fell the trees to create a barricade if the situation became critical.

  A blinding flash of lightning split the night sky, followed by a deafening clap of thunder that seemed to scrape against the skin, making people's scalps tingle. Next, coin-sized raindrops pounded against the leaves with a loud "patter-patter". The rainy season had arrived in the tropical rainforest.

  The raindrops quickly turned into a rain curtain, and the heavy rain soaked the team members' clothes. Chen Jianfeng and Long Fei helped each other to bandage their wounds with waterproof tape, but the pain-relieving effect of the medicine was gradually wearing off, and the tearing pain from the wound kept transmitting to their brains, constantly interfering with their judgment and willpower.

  Chen Jianfeng suddenly felt a chill run down his spine, as if someone was staring at him with malice. He exchanged a glance with Long Fei, whose eyes also seemed strange. Chen Jianfeng trusted his intuition and whispered, "Be careful, they're here!"

  "Rat-a-tat-tat!" Accompanied by the muffled sound of M0E3's light machine gun, a long string of bullets swept away the tall grass behind Chen Jianfeng. The heavy rain made the ambushing enemy lose their patience, and they decided to launch a frontal assault, using their absolute numerical superiority to annihilate the assault squad.

  A lieutenant colonel wielding a pistol, closely followed by a light machine gunner carrying a Type 99 machine gun, led about forty soldiers in a charge from the enemy position at ten o'clock towards the assault team.

  Immediately afterwards, more than 20 soldiers rushed out from the enemy's position in two directions, bravely charging under the cover of machine guns.

  "Mountain Eagle, take out the commander." Chen Jianfeng held up his binoculars and stared at the approaching enemy army, roaring loudly.

  "Understood!" The bullet accurately hit the lieutenant's head, Lin Jie quickly slid down from the tree to the ground, rolled and transferred to the bushes. Before he could get into position, the treetop where he was just at had been shaved bald by machine gun bullets.

  Chen Jianfeng rolled sideways, and with one shot, the machine gunner who was standing upright on horseback was cut in two at the waist. The muzzle shifted slightly to the left, and the faint muzzle flash disappeared instantly. In an instant, the two machine gunners who were still shouting loudly fell to the ground, and the enemy's position was suddenly silent.

  The team members felt a sudden relief, opening up a distance of five meters, the guns in their hands firing short bursts of gunfire, the sound of the guns was not dense, but every bullet hit its mark. Within two minutes, more than a dozen bodies had been laid out in the forest.