Chapter 24

  It's only when you're truly faced with death that you realize how many people in your life have slipped away, and now they're all gone without a word. At the time, you thought you'd be together forever, so you never said thank you.

  Author's note

  A solitary lamp flickers in the deep mountains, a thousand miles of desolate graves, nowhere to tell the bleakness.

  In the mounds of earth, who knows whose remains are buried, thinking of home. On the suddenly raised soil, the withered mountain flowers can be faintly seen, blooming and withering on these struggling remains that want to return home, year after year, spring sorrow and autumn grief.

  January 1, 2006, 2:30 AM, mountain slope.

  After passing through the bloody forest, a long stretch of graves was laid out in front of the troops, all the way down to the foot of the mountain. At the foot of the mountain was a circular wall, inside which stood a three-story building and some temporary dwellings, with not a single person in sight, looking rather desolate. As the line of sight gradually became blurred from far to near, Zhao Zhenghao and Shao Hui put away their sniper scopes and looked at the graves with their naked eyes. The tombstones inside were all different, most of which had simple hollow crosses in front of them, a few stones piled up. There was also a small part that was made of earth, with a small stone tablet in front of it, and even more so, there were only piles of earth without any stone tablets for people to mourn, having come into the world, lived for half a lifetime, fought for half a lifetime, and finally, their names disappeared along with their bodies, turning into mud, leaving behind only a handful of yellow soil as evidence of their existence. This is the true portrayal of the final resting place of many soldiers.

  The people buried here are quite miscellaneous. Liu Junhao said in a low voice.

  Zhao Zhenhao nodded: It's possible that Snow Mountain Tiger people and international mercenaries have different funeral customs.

  "Rushing thousands of miles to fight a war, only to be buried in a foreign land in the end - whose fault is this?" Wang Jianbin asked.

  If a war is fought to correct a mistake, then perhaps the war is justified. But war is war, and can you really distinguish between extreme violence being right or wrong? Shao Hui's eyes gazed forward as he replied softly.

  At this time, the radio behind him suddenly crackled and a voice came from inside. The twelve team members in the squad were all strictly selected and understood English, but the other party was speaking in their native language, which no one could understand. The voice on the radio seemed to be asking something, and after no one replied, it returned to calmness.

  It's bad! Shao Hui said in a low voice.

  A rustling sound came from a short distance away, and the two sentries who had been sent out returned: The tomb area is clear, we can pass through.

  Observe for a while longer. Zhao Zhenghao gave the order.

  Shao Hui held the sniper rifle tightly, gazing nervously at the base below. The sound just now was definitely someone inquiring about the owner of this radio station. There were only two possibilities for no one responding: either the radio had malfunctioned, but it was impossible that all eight people only had one radio set, and all the radios couldn't have broken down at the same time; or the owner of this radio station was already dead. If the base became alert, they would immediately dispatch troops to investigate, and if so, the team members' whereabouts would be exposed.

  Time passed minute by minute, unexpectedly the base was as quiet and still as before, without any movement. Shao Hui had a bad feeling, he looked at his watch, in a little while it would be dawn.

  Zhao Zhenhao spat out a mouthful of snow, looked at the time and then heavily spat again on the ground. He gazed down at the base below and said word by word: "Brothers, don't forget the oath we took. Tonight, let's go home to sleep together, set off!"

  The tomb was once a quiet place, but fate brought the team here, shattering the peace. The squad quickly swept across the slope and approached the wall, re-checking for surveillance cameras. Kong Huan Tian and Yin Mo swiftly ran to the corner of the wall, hands clasped together, and before they could steady themselves, Zhao Zheng Hao stepped on their joined hands and flipped over the wall in an instant. His figure had just disappeared inside when Shao Hui followed closely behind, crawling up the wall with his hands grasping for balance and diving in headfirst. The two quickly lowered their center of gravity, alert to their surroundings, as Wang Jian Bin entered third, gun at the ready, aiming forward. After all team members entered, Kong Huan Tian lifted Yin Mo onto the wall, and Yin Mo pulled Kong Huan Tian up with one hand. Just as they were about to jump down, a gunshot suddenly echoed from the opposite slope, and a bullet whizzed past, piercing the wall where the two stood before drilling into the ground with a loud thud. Kong Huan Tian and Yin Mo felt their bodies shake violently and immediately dove in headfirst.

  Scatter! There's an ambush in the middle! Zhao Zhenghao shouted loudly, his voice cracking due to extreme tension.

  The team members quickly held their guns, crouched down and dispersed to find cover. The several windows that Liu Junhao had warned about were quietly opening at this moment, and several black gun barrels slowly came out. Liu Junhao was greatly shocked and immediately raised his gun, relying on his instincts to pull the trigger. Bang! A string of shells shot out to the right front and hit the wall, rebounding back. The bullets whizzed and hit the upstairs, shattering a window. Although these bullets did not hit the enemy, they suppressed the gunmen inside, temporarily preventing them from firing. At this moment, a hand grenade fell from the sky and landed at the position where the team members had dispersed. With a loud explosion, the wall was blown down, and a huge shockwave mixed with shrapnel and mud flew everywhere and then fell back down. Liu Junhao ran to the edge of the wall and found no way to retreat, so he leaned his body heavily against the corner to maintain the stability of his gun. He took aim at several windows with precision shots, and the bullets flew out of the barrel every half meter, hitting the wall near the windows. The power of the gun was not to be underestimated, and the wall was immediately penetrated. If the several gunmen were still hiding inside, they would have been killed by now.

  The situation inside the courtyard was very clear to the team members, clean as if they had just finished the New Year's cleaning, although they had already forgotten that their hometown far away was now in the New Year. The large venue except for this building surprisingly did not have a place to hide. Moreover, various signs indicated that they were indeed ambushed. They could only fight and retreat to the back, smashing a window and jumping into the building, although it was very unsafe here, but at least it was much safer than being a target in the empty courtyard.

  Unexpectedly, after a brief spark, the base returned to calmness. The team members in the room only heard their own breathing and heartbeat sounds. Shao Hui quietly walked to the window and looked outside with his face sideways, except for the dark and gloomy mountains and the raging winds, there was no other movement.

  Who betrayed us? Who?! Wu Yan crouched in the corner of the wall, covering his helmet and asked loudly.

  Shh—— Zhao Zhenghao put his index finger to his lips, signaling him not to speak loudly. Zhou Yan walked over and patted his shoulder, only to find that his head had already started bleeding.

  We weren't betrayed, we were calculated from the very beginning. There was never any hostage here! Zuo Ming said with a deep breath.

  Here is the translation: "Present!" Zhang Weize and Wang Hongtao replied in unison.

  It was him who led us into this trap. I'll kill him when we get back! Wang Jianbin swore viciously.

  Never mind all that, our top priority is to find a way out of here first. Only if we can keep our lives can we talk about other things. Zhao Zhenhao said.

  We have shown you a sign from the Lord, so fear God and obey us. We have passed through the valley of death, but we do not fear, for we are cursed spirits, blocking our progress, demons, your souls are destined to wander in the deep mountains. Only we, the servants of the Holy Master, are destined to ascend to heaven forever, receiving the protection of the Holy Master. A hoarse and desolate voice sounded outside the wall, transmitted through a loudspeaker to the ears of the team members. This voice, if placed on stage, would definitely be a singer of the desolate school, but at this moment, it sounds like a messenger from hell calling for death.

  "What does it mean?" Liu Junhao asked, "What's so mysterious about it?"

  The outsiders wanted to destroy the team members' psychological defense line with this kind of language similar to a faith curse, which was also one of their magic weapons to defeat the enemy, but later he found that what he just said was like playing a lute to an ox.