Chapter 55: This is how steel is forged 6

  It is said that VIP is the inevitable path for all new authors to go down, and Ping Sha is not sure how many readers will continue to follow after becoming a VIP. However, Ping Sha still wants to express heartfelt gratitude to all readers who love this book. It is precisely because of your support and encouragement that this work has such vigorous vitality.

  After VIP, Ping Sha will maintain a stable update of 6,000 to 7,000 words every day, and there will be occasional small bursts. I will not abandon this book and will definitely complete it.

  Here's a small preview of the future direction of this work: The first volume of this book is about to end. The thrilling and cruel battles, the smoky battlefield, the heart-wrenching love story, the camaraderie of sworn brothers, and the hidden father-son vendetta for twelve years will be unfolded in the second and third volumes.

  What will be presented before your eyes are the mysterious tropical rainforest, the vast desert Gobi, and the beautiful exotic scenery. I eagerly await your subscription.

  The author's QQ has been announced, and after a while, Ping Sha will set up a reader QQ group. Sincerely hope to use this book to make friends with readers all over the world and jointly create more legendary stories of the Iron Blood Army.

  …………

  Chu Heng had the trainees gather around, and Zhan Peng used stones on the ground to lay out the positions of everyone when they were ambushed earlier, as well as the position of the instructor during the attack. The six people began discussing seriously, all talking at once.

  Xiao Wei picked up the stone on the ground that represented himself and moved it to a new position, saying: "I think I should roll over here, this spot has tall grass, which can provide effective cover." He then picked up the stone representing Qi Yunfei and moved it slightly: "When the enemy attacks from both flanks, No. 19 can move to this position and form a crossfire with me."

  Zhan Peng also picked up the stone representing himself and moved it to the back of all the stones, saying: "I should be here, both left and right wings can be taken care of, and the machine gunner should cover me in this position." He took the stone representing Yang Zhiyong and placed it at the four o'clock position, "can cover the sniper and also take care of the enemy on both sides."

  The trainees gathered together to discuss for as long as half an hour, using all the stones they could think of to rehearse every possible ambush. They finally understood what situation would appear and where they should be, who to pair with, and which side to take charge of. When they set off again, they looked confident.

  At noon, Chu Heng told Ding Lichen, who was the scout, to find a campsite. Ding Lichen found a small clearing in the woods, and everyone took off their heavy backpacks. Xiao Qiu and Huang Zhiyong dispersed to the left and right wings to do a round of camp patrol. Chu Heng pulled over Zhang Peng to help him study the map, while Qi Yunfei went on sentry duty, using binoculars to search around while discussing with Ding Lichen in a low voice about his experience as a scout, still habitually chewing on a straw in his mouth.

  Chu Heng calculated the route, and in one afternoon, they only walked 20 kilometers, which was not fast. The map showed that there was a small valley 10 kilometers ahead, and another route could be taken to bypass the valley to reach the destination. Generally speaking, it is easy to encounter ambushes when traveling through valleys, and he was hesitant about whether to take a detour.

  Zhan Peng also looked at the map, pondering the instructors' thoughts. The scorching sunlight of the afternoon cast a burning glow on the empty ground, and beads of sweat rolled down his forehead, but he seemed to be completely unaware of it.

  Xiao Wei and Huang Zhiyong finished their patrol and returned to the open space, where they saw Xian Peng frowning deeply, staring at the map. The two of them walked over together.

  After a moment of contemplation, Xiao Wei said in a low voice: "I think it's better to go around, if we fall into an ambush, it will be difficult for us to retreat unscathed."

  Zhan Peng shook his head slightly, pointing to the map and saying: "I don't think so. Look here, there are many optional sniper positions around this valley, the shooting distance is within 600 meters, which will not affect the accuracy of the shot nor pose a threat to the safety of the sniper."

  Chu Heng looked at him with a strange expression and asked: "Do you mean to launch a counterattack against the old guys?"

  "Right!" Zhang Peng nodded very firmly, "It's also time for us to turn things around."

  Huang Zhiyong was visibly lacking in confidence, his expression extremely hesitant: "Will it work? Or are we sending a sheep into the tiger's mouth?"

  Zi Yunfei ran over with a "thud" and delivered food to everyone. Chu Heng looked up at him and asked, "Number 19, what's your opinion?"

  Zi Yunfeng glanced at the map and shook his head decisively: "This brain-racking thing, leave it to you guys to think about slowly, I'll go patrol."

  Chu Heng glared at his back and cursed in a low voice: "Next time when it's your turn to be the captain, I'll see if you can think for yourself?"

  Qiyun flew back and made a face at him, then walked away with a smile.

  "It's settled then, let's give it a try and see what happens. How will we know if it can succeed if we don't try?" Zhang Peng looked up at everyone.

  Chu Heng said in a low voice: "I'll listen to you."

  Xiao Wei and Huang Zhiyong exchanged a glance, slapped his thigh and said: "Good! Let's take him down!"

  Zhan Peng called Ding Lichen and Qi Yunfei again, and once more used small stones to lay out the formation, carefully deploying troops. The six people gradually unified their opinions before each finding a suitable place to sleep.

  The squad of students rested for two hours at this campsite before proceeding forward into the valley.

  As they approached the valley, the trainees shook out camouflage nets from their backpacks and put them on, crawling through the grass to approach the valley. The wild grass in the opposite valley swayed gently in the wind, and Ding Licheng, as the scout, held up his binoculars and stared for half a day, unsure if there were any ambushes hidden across the way.

  Zhan Peng and the other students quietly crouched under the shade of a tree in the woods, competing with the instructor hiding across from them to see who could be more patient. After nearly thirty minutes of waiting, there was still no movement from the other side.

  Zi Yunfei was getting impatient, he whispered: "How long are we going to wait? We still have a long way to go, let's rush over."

  "Wait a bit longer." Zhan Peng whispered from his throat, staring intently at the opposite side, raising his sniper rifle and searching in the scope.

  After a long time, just as Ziyunfei and others were about to fall asleep, Zhang Peng whispered to Chu Heng: "There's no movement, let No. 19 rush over."

  Chu Heng nodded, and before he could give the order, Qi Yunfei eagerly said, "Understood." He quickly scanned his surroundings, suddenly stood up, and ran at high speed into the grass thicket across from him, making a swift jump and lying down on the spot. After waiting for a while without seeing anything unusual, he got up, pretended to take a few steps, and then quickly lay down again, shaking his head and looking around in all directions, letting out a pleasant bird call towards the back.

  "Cover, follow me!" Chu Heng shouted in a low voice, and all the trainees quickly rushed into the opposite thicket.

  Chu Heng lay on the ground, looking towards Zhan Peng's position. Zhan Peng nodded to indicate that he was ready. Chu Heng immediately whispered: "Everyone enter your respective positions!"

  The trainees crawled in all directions, approaching their own positions.

  Zi Yunfei and Ding Licheng quickly entered their own ambush position, panting heavily. The valley was as silent as death, with only the sound of their heavy breathing echoing through the air. After patiently observing for half a day, they didn't discover any suspicious firepower or hiding points. Zi Yunfei couldn't help but feel a bit discouraged, and he turned his head to look at Zhan Peng, using hand gestures to ask if they should proceed.

  Zhan Peng shook his head at him and made a gesture to continue observing, so Qi Yunfei could only honestly lie down on the spot. He had always admired Zhan Peng's judgment and understood that he was far inferior to the other party in this regard, so it was better to obey.

  Zhan Peng felt a tightness in the back of his neck, as if his hair was standing on end. In this sweltering afternoon, he inexplicably felt a chill run down his spine, and even he couldn't understand what was happening.

  In the thick grass, it was impossible to hide from the scorching sun. The trainees were sweating profusely and their throats were parched as if smoke was about to emanate from them. Chu Heng slowly reached for his water bottle, ready to take a sip to quench his thirst, when suddenly, a bird that had flown into the grass to forage let out a "tweet" and flew away without a trace.

  At this moment, all the students widened their eyes and stared at their own defensive corners.

  Zhan Peng rushed to Qi Yunfei and made a gesture to ask if he had seen the target, Qi Yunfei excitedly replied with a "target moving in two locations" gesture.

  Zhan Peng's sniper rifle slowly moved towards the two o'clock direction, searching in the scope. The grass thicket at two o'clock made a faint rustling sound, as if someone was crawling under the grass towards them.

  In the scope, there was still no sign of the target's shadow, but the chill of being ambushed grew stronger and stronger. Zhang Peng moved the gun barrel slightly with a puzzled expression, when suddenly, his peripheral vision caught a glimpse of a figure flashing by in the 9 o'clock direction. In an instant, he silently screamed in his heart: "I've fallen into their trap!"

  He didn't have time to turn the gun around and fire, he shouted: "Nine o'clock position!" Immediately rolling continuously to dodge to the side, hearing his shout, five trainees immediately scattered and rolled, knocking down countless weeds. After a loud gunshot, a burst of red smoke appeared on Ding Licheng's head.

  "With a burst of gunfire, a figure clad in camouflage leapt into the air and vanished into the underbrush. Qi Yunfei sprang up, arcing his back as he held his assault rifle and sprinted towards where the figure had disappeared."

  Before Chu Heng could give orders, Zhan Peng shouted loudly: "Machine gun cover No. 19!"

  "Rat-a-tat-tat-tat" Huang Zhiyong's machine gun and Chu Heng's assault rifle fired in unison, suppressing the people in the bushes so they couldn't lift their heads.

  Xiao Wei, who had taken over from Ding Licheng to keep watch on the right flank, suddenly shouted: "Enemy troops at two o'clock!"

  Two points of location in the bushes shook violently, and an instructor rushed forward quickly. Xiao Lei picked up his assault rifle without hesitation and fired a dozen blank rounds in succession, "tut-tut-tut". The rushing instructor suddenly jumped to the left, dodging his bullets. Just as this instructor had leapt into the bushes, another instructor suddenly stood up from behind where he was standing, firing a short burst at Xiao Lei, "tut-tut".

  Xiao Wei saw the instructor jump to the left, and the muzzle followed his movement, completely unaware that there was an ambush behind him. In a state of shock, he quickly rolled on the ground, with red smoke already rising from his head. The instructor opposite immediately lay down in the grass thicket.

  Qī Yún flew over, getting closer and closer, with a beautiful short shot, a red smoke burst out of the grass thicket, but at the same time, a loud "bang" sound, Qī Yún flew backwards in a hurry, his head bursting into a yellow smoke, according to the exercise rules, he should be judged as seriously injured, he rolled over and hid in a pre-observed hiding point, panting violently in the grass thicket.

  The pressure on the left wing was suddenly reduced, and Huang Zhiyong and Chu Heng's gun barrels quickly turned to the right wing, searching for targets.

  The instructor who "killed" Xiao Wei jumped up again, raised the muzzle of his gun and locked onto Chu Heng. With a loud "bang", Xian Peng's sniper rifle shook slightly, and a yellow smoke burst out from the top of this instructor's head.

  "Damn it!" Zhan Peng cursed, taking aim again to fire another shot. Just then, Instructor Li sprang up from the grass on the left and unleashed a fierce barrage of gunfire in his direction. Huang Zhiyong's machine gun swung around, firing rapidly with a loud "Rat-a-tat-tat-tat" before the instructor was pinned down in the grass once more.

  Zhan Peng rolled out continuously with his sniper rifle and shouted: "Suppressive fire!"

  Chu Heng and Qi Yunfei raised their assault rifles, forming a crossfire with Huang Zhiyong. Bullets continuously swept towards the instructors' hiding place. The two instructors were fearless, holding their guns while constantly shifting positions and returning fire.

  Zhan Peng moved to a new sniping position, aimed at the instructor and pulled the trigger, firing two shots in succession. The seriously injured instructor's head emitted red smoke and stopped fighting back. Zhan Peng's sniping position was completely exposed, and suddenly a sniper bullet flew out of the grass 400 meters away from the front, hitting Zhan Peng "killing" him.