Chapter Fifty-Seven: This is How Steel is Refined Eight

  Ding Licheng let out a shout of surprise at the same time, and Zhan Peng also felt that someone was behind him. Before he could turn his head, he rolled away to avoid the attack, and with a swift motion, he raised his sniper rifle. With a loud "bang", the gun fired, hitting the opponent's chest. The instructor let out a cry of pain as he fell to the ground, with a red mist appearing above his head. As he sat up from the ground with a smile, he said: "Not bad, kid, your reaction isn't slow."

  Zi Yunfei's eyes searched the surroundings for a target, his ears perked up straight. Suddenly, an instructor grasped a wild wisteria vine with both hands and swooped towards him from behind, his two feet aimed at Zi Yunfei's helmet. He suddenly pounced forward, fell to the ground, rolled twice on the spot, raised his gun and fired. The instructor had already swung open using the inertia of the wisteria vine and ran away without a trace.

  Xiao Wei pulled out his pistol, loaded the bullet, and stood up. He slowly moved forward with his feet, looking for potential "enemies". An instructor had already sneaked up close to him. Xiang Peng suddenly shouted: "7th, front!" He raised his sniper rifle to aim at the instructor who was approaching, but the distance between the instructor and Xiao Wei was too short. If he fired rashly, both of their smoke bombs would go off together. His hands were tense with cold sweat.

  The instructor pounced on Xiao Wei, who forcefully kicked the ground with both legs and jumped up, flipping his body backwards in an instant. This was a standard move of jumping up and falling back down. As soon as his back touched the ground, he kicked the ground again with both legs and slid backwards, scraping his back against the floor. He immediately raised the gun in his hand and fired two beautiful shots in quick succession, "bang bang". The instructor was "killed" and sat on the ground, slowly taking out a cigarette, lighting it up and taking slow puffs.

  Just as the wild wisteria was about to hit Instructor Qi Yunfei again, this time his target was Huang Zhiyong in the bushes. He borrowed the power of the rapidly swirling wild wisteria and kicked his left leg at Huang Zhiyong, who dodged the kick with a sideways roll and quickly got up to deliver a side kick to the instructor. The instructor retreated one step, avoiding the side kick, and followed up with another side kick aimed at Huang's chest. Huang Zhiyong didn't dodge or evade, swinging his leg back to strike the instructor's temple.

  The instructor ducked and dodged the kick, but before he could straighten up, Huang Zhiyong changed his stance to a sweep, attacking the instructor's lower body. In a panic, the instructor leapt into the air in an attempt to dodge, but this kick was just a feint by Huang Zhiyong. Suddenly, he straightened up and swiftly extended his right palm, striking the instructor squarely on the back of the neck.

  This series of moves was once performed by Jin Huang at the training camp, and after being practiced thousands of times by Huang Zhiyong, the power was unmatched, and the instructor was instantly stunned.

  A low shout came from the darkness: "Withdraw! Captain 42."

  Two "killed" instructors jumped up from the ground and quickly disappeared while supporting the dazed instructor who had been chopped.

  Several students stared at each other in amazement, and after a long time, they finally came to their senses, involuntarily letting out a brief cheer. They had finally achieved a record of repelling the instructor once.

  On the fourth day's afternoon, the trainee team found their target for sniping, which was in a temporary camp. The trainees were scouting with binoculars from a mountain about two kilometers away from the target. The camp consisted of four tents, and there were several signs around the empty space outside the tents indicating "minefield". Such areas are not allowed to be passed through according to the training regulations. There was barbed wire at the main gate of the camp, with a watchtower beside it. Not a single person could be seen inside the camp, nor any sentry.

  The target in the middle of the camp was a dummy, dressed in military uniform, standing alone there.

  At this moment, all the trainees are arranged in a circular defense line and staring at the camp.

  The current captain Zhan Peng pointed to the forest in front of him and said in a low voice: "Number 19, search around."

  "Understood!" Qi Yunfei flew towards the woods and slipped out, the trainees gripped their guns tightly with tense expressions, ready to fire, the muzzles slowly moving along with Qi Yunfei's shadow. After a while, Qi Yunfei retreated back to the defense line and said in a low voice: "Don't worry, there are no ambushes."

  Zhan Peng made a gesture, and all the students gathered around him. He said in a low voice, "Brothers, this surrounding area has high mountains and dense forests, making it extremely inconvenient to escape. If our tracks are discovered, we won't even have any hope of retreating."

  The trainees nodded in agreement, and Xiao Wei pointed to the target at the foot of the mountain, saying: "The target is in the center of the camp. It seems that we can only choose to snipe the target from the top of the mountain."

  Zhan Peng bit his lip, looking at his teammates. "The old guys must have carefully calculated the distance, we don't have many formation options." He pointed to the mountain slope and said: "Either here, 1000 meters away from the target, or get close to within 400 meters. But it's hard for the 88 sniper to accurately hit the target beyond 600 meters, and if we fire at 400 meters, as soon as the gunshot sounds, the old guys will swarm over, our mission will be a failure."

  At this time, he still did not know that the 88-style sniper rifle had fallen into Chen Jianfeng's hands and could effectively snipe any target within 1,200 meters in a combat environment.

  The students listened quietly, they had a deep trust in Zhan Peng's conducting ability.

  "I suggest setting up a hideout in the woods, observe for a day first. We still have two days to complete the task and one day to escape, it's completely doable." Zhan Peng looked around at everyone and asked: "Does anyone have any opinions?"

  "No objections!" The trainees all agreed in unison.

  "19th vanguard, target the forest. Move!"

  With this low shout, the trainees stood up with their guns and gazed at their own defensive angles, forming a column to slowly slip into the dense forest.

  The hideout was built quickly and camouflaged very well, even if someone stood next to it, they wouldn't notice. As the sky grew darker, Zhan Peng lay at the edge of the pit, using binoculars to patiently observe all movements within the camp through the gaps between the tree branches, but inside, everything remained quiet, as if there was no one there at all.

  Qī Yún Fēi lay on his side, facing the sky, with his legs crossed in a relaxed manner, chewing on a blade of grass, without any sign of urgency.

  The branch camouflage made a slight sound, the sentry did not issue an alarm, it should be Xiao Wei and Ding Lichen who went out to find water returning. After Qi Yunfei sat up, he opened the lid made of tree branches and leaves on his head, Xiao Wei first handed everyone's canteen into the pit, then he and Ding Lichen also jumped into the pit, and the lid was re-covered.

  Xiao Wei handed the kettle to Zhan Peng, took over the binoculars and continued to observe. Chu Heng took out dried meat and distributed it to everyone, saying in a low voice: "We only have this last bit of dried meat left, these two days we were chased by the old guys and didn't even have time to hunt."

  Zhan Peng opened the canteen and poured some water in, "That's enough, we still have three days' worth of compressed rations for one person, as long as we can find a source of water, that's all that matters."

  Yang Zhiyong climbed to the edge of the pit and looked down for a while, saying in a low voice: "It's strange, it's been so long and not even a shadow can be seen. Is there no one inside the tent?"

  Zhan Peng nodded, "I have the same suspicion. That place might be a trap. They should be lurking somewhere waiting for us to fall into their net."

  "I don't think so." Qi Yunfei's face was plastered with a trademark smile: "You've forgotten what Jin Da told us during his lectures: offense always has the initiative, no matter how tight the defense is, there will always be loopholes, as long as we can find them."

  Chu Heng seized the opportunity and retorted with a few words, pouting his mouth: "Easy for you to say, go find one yourself."

  Zi Yunfei was about to retort when Zhan Peng hummed softly, and both of them stopped talking.

  Xiao Wei called out softly to Zhan Peng: "Number 15, come and see. Next to the minefield there is a small grove of trees with a small path that can be used to enter."

  Zhan Peng didn't make a sound for half a day. After a long while, he finally said: "I also saw this road, it seems to be left on purpose for us."

  Xiao Wei said in a low voice, "If long-range sniping is not feasible, then we might as well infiltrate from this small path, and quietly 'take out' the target. Taking a risk may just complete the mission."

  "It's also possible that we'll be ambushed." Chu Heng disagreed, shaking his head. He leaned in close to Zhan Peng and said, "I have an idea. Let's send two people to infiltrate from this small path on purpose, then have the sniper on the hillside take out the target. This move will catch them off guard, attacking where they least expect it, and those old guys will definitely be caught off guard." He looked at everyone with a smug smile on his face.

  "But we will lose two comrades in this way, it's not okay." Zhan Peng firmly shook his head and negated Chu Heng's opinion.

  "No. 15 is right, we came here as six people and should go back together, not one less." Xiao Wei said after observing with binoculars for a while: "I think I'll go ahead and scout the small road first, if things don't look good, I'll run back immediately."

  "Can you outrun a bullet?" Half a day without making a sound, Ding Licheng suddenly said: "I think No. 17 makes sense, but we need to formulate a more detailed battle plan, that is, to ensure the completion of the task and also ensure a safe retreat."

  Zhan Peng furrowed his brow and thought for a moment before getting up and moving to the edge of the pit, "Mark all possible hiding points and open areas, as well as the tents on the map. Let's gather and discuss our plan of action."

  The result of the discussion was that Xiao Wei and Chu Heng formed a penetration group, infiltrating the camp to place explosives in important locations. Qi Yunfei and Ding Lichen formed an assault group, responsible for covering the withdrawal of the infiltration team. Zhan Peng chose a sniping position 400 meters away from the target to cover both teams. After the infiltration team successfully withdrew, they would carry out a sniper attack on the target. If the infiltration was unsuccessful, they would immediately take out the target. Yang Zhiyong was responsible for covering the sniper. After carrying out the sniper attack, the infiltration team would be responsible for detonating the explosives to prevent the instructors from continuing to pursue the students. They also planned their withdrawal route, preparing to return by the original route, climbing over the high mountain behind them and making a run for it.

  Chu Heng began making remote-controlled bombs, while other students checked their equipment and each started looking for their own position.

  It was already 1 am, the best time for infiltration. Xiao Wei and Chu Heng crawled under the trees with camouflage nets, slowly approaching the camp area from the front road, avoiding the side paths. Zhan Peng closely watched all suspicious places in the camp through his sniper scope, ready to sound the alarm at any sign of movement.

  As they crawled for an hour, approaching the main gate of the camp, Xiao Lei suddenly stopped and whispered to Chu Heng: "Don't move, there's a trap!"

  The traps were left by the instructors, and there were quite a few on this road. The two of them kept dismantling the traps, and their crawling speed became even slower.