Chapter Nineteen: Breaking Out of the Heavy Encirclement for the Ninth Time

  The sudden counterattack threw the d-country soldiers into confusion, scattering and running wildly in search of cover.

  "Boom! Boom!" More than a dozen artillery shells came from the enemy's rear position, exploding beside the squad members, shrapnel cutting down tree branches as thick as arms, and hot fragments mixed with leaves and twigs flew everywhere. The squad members remained motionless in their hiding spots, letting bullets hit the tree trunks and send wood chips flying wildly. The artillery shells exploded on the ground without causing airbursts, posing minimal harm to the squad members hidden among bushes and grasses. However, the deafening explosions and shockwaves left the squad members' heads ringing with a loud "buzzing" sound.

  Under the cover of powerful firepower, a company of government troops divided into two wings on both sides, in echelon formation, with three light machine guns charging at the forefront, preparing to launch a charge.

  "Grenade, throw!" Chen Jianfeng shouted loudly: "Seven o'clock, ten o'clock, cover with firepower!"

  "Bang! Bang!" Lin Jie picked up the six-shot 35mm handheld grenade launcher and fired two grenades in the direction Chen Jianfeng was shouting. Under the whistling sound of the grenades, the soldiers of Country D hastily lay down and crawled into the bushes to avoid them.

  "Rat-a-tat-tat..." A string of machine gun bullets flew over Lin Jie's head, he rolled and crawled to change positions, spitting out the mud that had splashed into his mouth and shouting: "Seven o'clock, 200 meters, enemy machine gun firepower point!"

  The enemy at the seven o'clock position launched another charge, dispersing into more than a dozen triangular three-man combat teams that accelerated their pace towards the squad members. The d-country soldiers at the ten o'clock position formed two loose skirmish lines, alternately covering and providing firepower to suppress.

  "You're asking for it!" Long Fei sprang up, sprinted forward a few steps, and with a swift kick, knocked down the enemy machine gunner at the five o'clock position. He then threw two flash-bang grenades into the enemy ranks while shouting: "Flashbangs!"

  The team members immediately bowed their heads, closed their eyes and waited for the explosion to pass. The government troops who were temporarily blinded by the flash in the explosion ran around crazily.

  "Grenades, concentrated attack on both wings! Throw!" Along with Chen Jianfeng's shout, fifteen grenades were thrown in one breath to the front of the charging line of enemy soldiers.

  "Boom! Boom!" The enemy was knocked down in succession, and the momentum of the charge was suppressed. However, the firepower on the front line continued to intensify, and the D country soldiers charged forward with a desperate cry.

  "Thunder, level your gun and fire!" Chen Jianfeng shouted. Leiming rose up amidst the pouring rain of bullets, rapidly advancing while hugging his machine gun, suddenly closing in for a shot. The M249 machine gun "rattled rattled rattled..." non-stop, as the torrential rain of bullets caused the D-country soldiers who didn't have time to take cover to be mowed down one after another, twitching and dying.

  Suddenly, countless smoke bombs were thrown from the enemy's position, "hiss, hiss!" Spewing white and red smoke, forming two strips of smoke at 200 meters and 40 meters in front of the line.

  "Take cover!" Chen Jianfeng's shout was followed by a series of explosions along the entire defensive line, with grenades raining down and pinning the team members to the ground. The intense smoke caused them to cough violently as they tried to dodge the hail of steel balls and shrapnel. Ma Ping was a fraction slower in taking cover, and his right leg was immediately hit by a piece of shrapnel that tore off a chunk of flesh the size of an egg. His leg buckled and he fell to one knee, letting out a muffled groan.

  "What's going on? The jackals are reporting the situation!"

  "It's nothing, just a bullet grazed my thigh." Ma Ping grabbed the first-aid kit and Lin Jie, who was next to him, quickly crawled over to his side and bandaged his wound.

  Figures emerged from the woods on both wings, taking cover in the smoke and firing at the squad members as they charged forward. A hail of bullets swept through the surrounding branches, falling on the squad members like rain. The d-country soldiers took advantage of the situation to charge into a range of less than 100 meters from the squad members.

  Chen Jianfeng and Long Fei lifted up the G3K short-barreled rifle, aiming at the left and right wings of the government army, shouting: "Suppressive fire! Mountain Eagle launches grenade! Jackal detonates landmine!"

  The thunderous sound responded, and the M249 was clamped under his armpit. He knelt on one leg, holding the gun horizontally to sweep, and in less than a minute, he fired an entire 100-round drum. Lin Jie left the defensive circle and continuously fired 35mm high-explosive grenades at the enemy's front line. Although the team members were blindly firing at the smoke without a target, the sudden appearance of intense firepower still slowed down the enemy's speed instantly.

  Ma Ping pressed the detonator, "Boom! Boom!" A large cluster of flames "whooshed" towards the sky, and the soldiers of Country D who were charging from three sides let out a miserable cry, throwing down more than 30 corpses as they retreated.

  But the team's position was soon flooded again by a large number of hand grenades thrown by the enemy, and the team members kept rolling to transfer their hiding points. Not one of the hand grenades thrown by the enemy hit its mark, and after a burst of explosions, only Lei Meng was grazed on his back by flying shrapnel.

  The explosion stopped, and the enemy army gathered two platoons of troops to prepare for a charge. An officer holding a pistol hid in the middle of the charging formation, directing his soldiers to open fire. The enemy formed two lines under his command, advancing towards the team's hiding point. Behind him, three white men wearing US-style jungle combat uniforms and holding assault rifles followed closely, forming an inverted triangle shape. At a glance, it was clear that these three were special forces from M country.

  "Here!" Chen Jianfeng aimed with his sniper rifle and whispered, "Shan Ying, do you see the three white special forces soldiers behind the officer? The 10 o'clock position is mine, the 12 o'clock and 2 o'clock positions are yours. Pin them down for me here! Leigong cover!"

  The enemy troops formed a horizontal line, maintaining visual distance between each other, advancing slowly and cautiously. When they were still 500 meters away from the assault team's position, their formation began to expand towards both wings.

  Chen Jianfeng and Lin Jie almost simultaneously pulled the trigger of their sniper rifle, the M82A1 roared loudly, the bullet carrying a powerful force pierced through the enemy special forces' forehead at the 10 o'clock position, tearing open a large hole in his chest, inertia slammed both corpses heavily onto a large tree.

  At the same time, the enemy special soldier at 12 o'clock position fell silently under the SVD sniper rifle. The enemy special soldier at 2 o'clock position saw that things were not going well and rolled away to escape the bullets flying towards him, turning back to sweep Lin Jie's sniper position with a burst of fire. Lin Jie immediately relocated his position, jumping and running towards another sniper point.

  The M249 roared as it chased after the zigzagging enemy special forces, continuously firing in sweeps. The flustered enemy special forces abandoned their counterattack and kept jumping and dodging in the bushes.

  "Go to hell!" Chen Jianfeng took aim, "Bang!" The high-speed rotating bullet of the M82A1 arrived just in time, hitting the enemy special forces soldier right in the back of the head. He fell to the ground in a big character shape and didn't move again.

  Chen Jianfeng continuously threw four steel ball hand grenades into the enemy army formation that was advancing to encircle them from both wings. The enemy did not have time to open up their skirmish lines, and with each explosion of a grenade, a group of enemy soldiers would be knocked down.

  The sound of gunfire and explosions shook the air as the troops charged forward, wielding M249s and G3Ks to sweep across both flanks. Ma Ping and Lin Jie continuously hurled hand grenades into the enemy's formation, with tens of thousands of steel balls and countless shrapnel from the grenades causing the enemy to wail in agony, either dead or wounded, as they retreated non-stop. The assault team temporarily seized the initiative.

  The rain slowed down, and a brief calm appeared in the jungle, with the lingering gunpowder smoke and dense rain threads mixed together, making people feel suffocated. The enemy army couldn't just retreat like this, and the team members redeployed their defenses, Ma Ping holding five directional grenades jumped out of the hidden bunker at the edge of the defensive circle, and limped back to the hiding point. The team members quickly reloaded the empty magazines with rapid loaders, preparing for the next wave of charging.

  Chen Jianfeng lay under the bushes, observing with binoculars. After a while, he whispered: "Everyone gather around me and report the situation!"

  "Leigong, ammunition consumption 40%, lightly injured, finished."

  "White Fox, ammunition insufficient by one base, finished."

  "Jackal, ammunition replenished by half, right leg bandaged, done!"

  "Eagle Mountain, primary ammunition two bases, secondary ammunition less than half, finished!"

  "White Fox!"

  "Arrived!" Long Fei slowly crawled to his side, leaning against the tree trunk and panting softly. He raised his hand to look at his watch and said in a low voice: "It's now 20 o'clock sharp, we have less than half of our ammunition left. If we can't break out after the next wave of attack, the enemy's reinforcements will arrive in large numbers, and we'll only be waiting for death."

  "The two wings are the gathering points of the enemy troops, we can't charge hard, from the speed of the enemy's crazy attack, it can be inferred that they want to drive us back and forth on the road, and it can be concluded that the M country special forces must have prepared a pocket for us behind. Chen Jianfeng moved his body slightly, gently bending his numb injured leg and said in a low voice: "The only way to retreat is to go through the minefield! Once contact occurs later, I and Wolf will open up a breakthrough and hold the two wings, you and Lei Gong don't stop, use hand grenades to blast the minefield and tear open a gap, we'll break out!"

  "Understood!" Long Fei began to pack up his equipment.

  "Mountain Eagle continues: 'Suppressive fire on enemy machine guns that reveal themselves!'"

  "Got it!" Lin Jie gave Chen Jianfeng a thumbs up to indicate he was ready.

  Long Fei finished preparing and looked at Chen Jianfeng's injured leg with concern, asking in a low voice: "Can you walk?"

  Chen Jianfeng waved his hand, "Don't worry, my enemies haven't been born yet!" His tone was filled with arrogance and disdain. The oil and gunpowder covered his cold face, only revealing a pair of clear black and white eyes, the coldness and cruelty between them seemed to be spreading in all directions.

  Two mortar shells "day day" screamed from the enemy position and flew over, a new wave of charge began.

  "Fall back!" Chen Jianfeng shouted in a low voice. "Don't counterattack, let them come over!"

  "Boom!" A shell exploded ten meters away from the team members, creating a two-meter diameter crater in the mountainside. The surrounding trees all collapsed and fell to the ground. The intense shelling paused as the gunner adjusted his aim. Chen Jianfeng immediately ordered the team members to jump into the newly created shallow crater. Next, "Boom! Boom! Boom!" A series of deafening explosions shook the air as ten shells of various calibers detonated in rapid succession, their impact points getting closer and closer to the team members.

  The bombardment stopped, and the German soldiers launched a comprehensive charge from 10 o'clock, 7 o'clock, and 2 o'clock directions under the cover of three light machine guns "rattling" sounds. The squad members lay on the ground, motionless.

  Not hearing the return fire, the German soldiers mistakenly thought that all the squad members had been annihilated. Excitedly, they couldn't help but straighten their bodies and run forward, quickly approaching the hiding place. One hundred meters, fifty meters, thirty meters, the enemy was getting closer and closer.

  "Charge!" The German soldiers were startled by Chen Jianfeng's sudden loud shout and stumbled under their feet. The team members suddenly jumped up, hugged their guns, and fired at their waists. In the dense crossfire, the enemy army running in front had no time to counterattack and was knocked down. The enemy army behind was in chaos, and they turned around and fled in all directions.

  "Jackals, blow it up! Everyone else take cover!"

  Ma Ping fiercely pressed the detonator, and the five directional mines buried in advance exploded simultaneously. In the "boom boom" explosion sound, the front of the position was killed and wounded.

  "A breakthrough has been made!" Lin Jie shot down an enemy soldier who had not been killed by the explosion and was trying to return fire.

  "Lei Gong, come with me!" Long Fei shouted loudly, and together with Lei Meng, they leaped up and rushed quickly towards the Thunder Area.

  Chen Jianfeng threw five smoke bombs to both left and right wings, taking advantage of the milky white smoke to cover him as he pulled up Ma Ping who was burying explosives and shouted loudly: "Enough, retreat!"

  Long Fei and Lei Meng ran while continuously throwing hand grenades into the depth of the minefield, causing a chain reaction of explosions. The two men's running speed got faster and faster, finally becoming like madmen with their feet barely touching the ground as they sprinted through the minefield, stepping on the blast points of the grenades.

  "It's gone!" Lin Jie shouted loudly and put down his binoculars.

  "Mountain Eagle, follow up!" Chen Jianfeng pulled Ma Ping to trample the road blown out by Long Fei and ran rapidly. The awakened enemy troops began to counterattack, with countless bullets chasing after them, making the grass under their feet look like it was boiling, bubbling up continuously.

  Lin Jie knocked down an enemy soldier aiming at Chen Jianfeng with the butt of his gun, and Chen Jianfeng immediately dropped to the ground. The M82A1 sniper rifle fired continuously, knocking down two enemy soldiers. The threat from the sniper made the enemy stop in their tracks and drop to the ground, constantly changing positions to exchange fire with Chen Jianfeng and Lin Jie.

  Long Fei, who had already escaped the minefield, suddenly shouted "Grenade!" and threw out four grenades, which exploded among the pursuing enemy troops. Lei Ying stood up furiously, his machine gun shaking wildly as it spat out a half-meter-long tongue of flame.

  "Speed up, speed up!" Chen Jianfeng shouted loudly, jumping up and grabbing Ma Ping to rush towards Long Fei quickly. They had to cross the minefield in the shortest time possible, otherwise if the enemy's artillery shell landed on the minefield and detonated the landmines, the team members would have no way out but death.

  "Hawk at two o'clock!" Lin Jie shouted loudly from the side rear.

  Chen Jianfeng immediately fell to the ground, a clump of shrubs less than two meters away from him was swept by bullets and jumped up instantly, and then torn into pieces. Two points of position shot Chen Jianfeng with a machine gun, if not for Chen Jianfeng's timely reaction, this burst of bullets might have directly hit his chest.

  "Clear!" Lin Jie and Ma Ping shouted in unison as the SCD sniper rifle went off with a loud bang.

  "Speed up!" Chen Jianfeng jumped several steps forward, and Ma Ping and Lin Jie followed him through the minefield. "Go, go faster!"

  Ma Ping ran and pressed the detonator, the explosives buried during the retreat were continuously detonated, the pursuing enemy was caught off guard, and was blown to pieces, the gunfire stopped abruptly.

  "Inverse triangle formation, quick withdrawal." With Chen Jianfeng's low command, the team members silently contracted their formation and rapidly disappeared into the dense forest.