Chapter Twenty: Breaking Out of the Encirclement for the Tenth Time

  The team marched for an hour under the cover of night, finally crossing the mountain, and could already hear the rushing sound of the river. The trees on both sides gradually thinned out, and in front was a grassland as tall as a person, the road after the rain was slippery and muddy, and the small team struggled to move forward through the grass.

  Chen Jianfeng ordered the troops to stop advancing, knelt on the ground and observed backwards with night vision binoculars for a while. The rain blocked his view, but within a kilometer around him, he could confirm that there were no pursuing soldiers. His leg wound was throbbing in pain, he wiped the rainwater from his face, used GPS to locate, and found that they were still 5 kilometers away from the riverbank.

  The team members' clothes were already soaked, and the young and determined faces were filled with exhaustion. Due to excessive blood loss, Long Fei's face was deathly pale, and the cold rainwater lowered his body temperature. In this Southeast Asian month with the highest temperature all year round, he was actually shivering slightly.

  But it was these battle-hardened warriors, their bodies ablaze with the fire of combat, who flashed a resolute gleam in their eyes and still stood tall with unwavering stature.

  Chen Jianfeng whispered to Ma Ping: "Use a thermal imager to scan it."

  Lin Jie helped Ma Ping take out the thermal imager from his backpack, turned it on and searched around, "Hawk, no personnel activity was found within a radius of one kilometer."

  Chen Jianfeng gritted his teeth and stood up, saying in a low voice: "Continue to advance, Mountain Eagle vanguard, pay attention to use thermal imaging instruments to search forward, Leigong will cut off the rear, we must hurry up to cross the river!"

  "Understood!" The team members gave a thumbs up, with iron-like willpower as support, and took big strides to continue advancing towards the river.

  Suddenly, scout Lin Jie rushed into the thicket and hid, the squad immediately stopped advancing, and the team members scattered and hid in the thicket.

  Chen Jianfeng tilted his head and listened carefully. Amidst the rustling sound of raindrops on the grass leaves, a faint rustling sound was transmitted.

  The target was very cautious, and the faint sound of footsteps from his teammates made him stop immediately. He quickly crouched in the bushes and searched with his ears. The man wore an infrared-proof suit, making it impossible for the thermal imager to locate his position. Chen Jianfeng slowly searched with night vision binoculars, five minutes later, he silently pointed in two directions and raised one finger, a single target.

  Long Fei nodded and, together with Lin Jie, quietly removed his backpack, drew out a combat knife, and crawled into the grass thicket towards the target's two flanks.

  As someone approached, the target quickly retreated behind a clump of grass for cover, but reacted a step too slow. Long Fei and Lin Jie pounced from either side, four large hands pinning the target to the ground as it struggled desperately. Lin Jie's hand flipped over, his combat knife flashing in the air with a sharp whistling sound as he stabbed towards the target. Just then, Long Fei suddenly reached out and grabbed his wrist, growling in a low voice: "Wait, it's a woman!"

  "White Fox? I am Nightingale!" The target being pinned down let out a low cry: "Finally found you guys!"

  "Night swallow? How are you here?" Lin Jie loosened his grip, and Long Fei turned the target over, and it was indeed Yang Xinxin.

  The team members immediately gathered around, Yang Xinxin jumped up from the ground, looked around cautiously and said in a low voice: "Hunting leopard sent me and Dengdeng to report, the plane wreckage is not on this side. The riverbank defense is too strict, we finally found an unguarded place to cross the river."

  "Where's the light bulb?" Long Fei looked around but didn't see Xu Mingliang anywhere.

  "The light bulb is just nearby, and it has opened up a distance of forty meters from me." Yang Xinxin turned her head back to the vast night sky and let out two bird calls of varying lengths. Before long, a pleasant oriole call came from the depths of the bushes at the ten o'clock position. Immediately afterwards, Xu Mingliang ran over with his camouflage net, hunching his back and taking quick steps. He and the team members warmly patted each other on the back like long-lost relatives reuniting.

  "Hawk, we've been had. The plane wreckage is in the electronic shielding zone on the other side of the river." Xu Mingliang didn't even have time to catch his breath as he reported in a low voice: "Hunting leopard has ordered us to cross the river and rendezvous with you, immediately shut down individual radios and move northwest across the river."

  "Understood! We've found the problem and are preparing to shake off the pursuers and cross the river." Chen Jianfeng let out a sigh of relief, seeing Xu Mingliang and Yang Xinxin, he knew that Jin Huan's side was already safe. But he still asked anxiously: "Is the Cheetah's side safe? Has the guest been found? How is Leng Jian's injury?"

  Xu Mingliang paused slightly, his eyes suddenly turned bloodshot, he sighed and said with his head down: "The guests and Lin Zanmou are all safe, we were one step late, Leng Jian sacrificed himself."

  "What?" The team members exclaimed in surprise.

  "Leng Jian sacrificed himself to save me, I..." Yang Xinxin stammered, opening her mouth after a long silence.

  Chen Jianfeng waved his hand and interrupted her: "Save these words for when we return to the main team, it's not suitable to stay here for long, let's go quickly!"

  Xu Mingliang stood up first, "Hunting Eagle, I'll be the vanguard. There's still one kilometer to go before we reach the crossing point where Nightingale and I will cross the river."

  "Alright, V-formation, Raytheon takes the rear, let's move out!"

  Suddenly, a loud "Boom! Boom!" sound came from the sky, and dense mortar shells poured down from high altitude and heavily hit the grass two or three kilometers away from the team members. Immediately afterwards, the sound of machine guns came from far and near, and the barking of military dogs was also faintly heard in the midst of the gunfire.

  "Lamp post, lead the team to quickly approach the riverbank, Mountain Eagle and Jackal Wolf pay attention to guard the flanks! All personnel prepare to cross the river at any time!"

  "Understood!" The gunshot immediately made the exhausted team members energetic, opening up a scattered line and rushing quickly to the riverbank.

  Suddenly, a rustling sound came from the grass behind him, Chen Jianfeng's head snapped back, and a German Shepherd with its mouth open wide, revealing bloody teeth, leapt into the air and pounced on him swiftly. The foul smell from its mouth hit his face, and it let out short "woofs" as it bit down on his throat.

  Chen Jianfeng tilted his head to the side, falling backwards with the momentum, the military dog bit into thin air, unwilling to give up, it bit down on Chen's right arm. Chen's left arm curved, his elbow striking the dog's back like a thousand-pound iron hammer, cracking loudly, the dog's spine was broken, and it went limp on the ground.

  Lin Jie, who ran back to respond, added a shot to the military dog's head and kicked it open. Lei Meng helped Chen Jianfeng up: "Hunting Eagle, are you okay?"

  Chen Jianfeng waved his hand: "I'm fine, hurry up and sprinkle the CS powder to disrupt the military dog's sense of smell!"

  Lei Meng took out a large bag of talcum powder and sprinkled it on the spot where the three people were standing, also sprinkling some on their shoes. He smiled and said: "Now we are just like standing in front of a military dog, it can't smell anything either."

  Lin Jie suddenly pointed at the sky and said: "You guys hear that? It sounds like a helicopter!"

  Three people listened carefully with their ears sideways, and from the distant horizon came a faint rumbling sound. Chen Jianfeng raised his binoculars to maximum magnification and searched in the direction of the sound. Two "Super Eye Mirror Snake" attack helicopters were rushing towards the riverbank with great momentum!

  "Enemy special forces are coming, be careful to hide!" Chen Jianfeng rushed towards the team members. "Mountain Eagle, cover me from the right wing 400 meters away. If I go down, Mountain Eagle must take out the helicopter before the infantry charges, otherwise we'll have no place to hide when crossing the river and the whole squad will be annihilated. Prepare for a forced crossing!"

  "Got it!" Xu Mingliang took off with the power cord towards the riverbank, hoping to complete the preparations for crossing the river before the helicopter discovered them.

  Lin Jie threw a box at Chen Jianfeng, "Hawk, armor-piercing incendiary shell!"

  Chen Jianfeng reached out to catch it, and sternly said to Yang Xinxin who was hesitating and wanted to stay: "Go quickly, women are best to stay away from war!" Yang Xinxin knew that this was not the time for argument, so she stomped her foot and went to find a hiding spot.

  Lei Meng stretched out his hand to grab Chen Jianfeng's sniper rifle. "You're injured and can't move easily, you go first, I'll take care of them!"

  Chen Jianfeng stared at him with a piercing gaze, his voice low and menacing: "Obey orders! Listen, if I die, White Fox will take command. You must cross the river and complete our mission!"

  "Hawk!" Lei Meng still wanted to argue.

  Chen Jianfeng shouted: "You're a veteran, when did you learn to be so soft and weak? Get out of here!"

  Long Fei grasped Chen Jianfeng's hand, staring intensely into his eyes, and said in a low voice: "You come back to me alive!" After finishing speaking, he tightly pulled the reluctant Lei Ming, and swiftly disappeared into the grass thicket.

  Ma Ping hesitated for a moment, puffed out his cheeks as if to say something, but seeing Chen Jianfeng's stern gaze, he had no choice but to pick up his backpack and run towards a nearby thriving fir tree.

  The squad members alternated covering each other as they retreated swiftly, the AH-1 helicopter burst through the dark night sky and appeared rapidly before their eyes.

  Chen Jianfeng slung down his heavy backpack, pulled the camouflage net over his head, and crawled on the grass, taking a deep breath to calm his nerves. Lin Jie had already set up his gun about 400 meters to his left and gave him a thumbs-up to indicate he was ready. Turning back, he saw that the team members' silhouettes had all disappeared into the depths of the grass thicket. He turned back, pressed the M82A1's stock into his shoulder socket, and pulled the bolt handle with force, "Ka-chunk!" A crisp sound, the first armor-piercing incendiary round was loaded.

  Knowing that the assault team had no anti-aircraft equipment, two helicopters hovered triumphantly in the air above the grassland, hovering at 300 meters from the riverbank at ten o'clock and two o'clock respectively. The cannons under their bellies were menacingly pointing at the grassland, with the muzzles moving left and right, sealing off the entire defensive line. From the open cabin doors on both sides, an M-24 sniper rifle was stretched out to search for living targets in the bushes. The special forces soldiers from Country M, who were aboard the helicopters, had not yet begun their descent by rope.

  Slowly, Chen Jianfeng's mind was clear that the helicopter pilot's head was being put into the scope from a 10 o'clock direction. The helicopter's position was less than 300 meters away from him, and once he fired, the muzzle flash would expose his position to another helicopter sniper. Even if he could dodge the fatal shot, the helicopter was only 200 meters away, and once hit, it would crash and explode, and at that time, he would be in the core of the explosion, with absolutely no hope of survival.

  The helicopter is apparently stalling for time waiting for the infantry charge, must cross the river as soon as possible, otherwise a large number of infantry will arrive in no time!

  "Come on, let's die together!" Chen Jianfeng's finger lightly touched the trigger, and a fierce killing intent burst out from his body.