Chapter 22

  The squad cautiously approached a small cave in the valley, placing sentries and gathering around Zhao Zhenghao, who carefully examined the map under the tactical flashlight. The valley's terrain was long and narrow like a whistle, and when the wind blew in, it made an eerie screaming sound that echoed around, mixed with the howling of the wind, wave after wave hitting people's eardrums. Li Jinping, who was on guard at the entrance, felt as if he was surrounded by a group of vengeful spirits, making him feel somewhat dizzy. He turned his head to look at his comrades behind him and only then did he feel a strong sense of security. Suddenly, he heard a "bang" sound coming from outside, and he immediately whispered: "Something's happening!" Only to hear a "click" sound inside, Zhao Zhenghao quickly turned off the flashlight, and after a few seconds of silence, Shao Hui quietly came to Li Jinping's side: "What's wrong?"

  "There are sounds outside, I don't know if it's gunfire or the sound of rocks hitting." Li Jinping replied in a low voice.

  Zhao Zhenhao looked out of the cave and said, "It's not a gunshot. Nobody would come here to fire a shot at this time. It's very likely that the wind blew down some rocks and they fell to the ground. What do you think?"

  Shao Hui nodded in the darkness: "Right."

  Zhao Zhenghao put on his goggles and said, "The direction we walked earlier was not wrong. If we keep going forward, we will arrive near our destination. The time to engage the enemy is almost here, let's set off!"

  "Everyone be careful, that sound may not necessarily be a stone." Shao Hui said in a low voice.

  Everyone carefully emerged from the cave, with Zhao Zhenghao, a special reconnaissance soldier in the army, leading the way and scouting ahead. At this moment, his high-waisted soft combat boots played an important role, protecting the team members' ankles from sprains on the rugged mountain road. The rough texture of the soles provided friction, allowing the team to stabilize their center of gravity better. Zhao Zhenghao relied on these combat boots to blaze a trail for the team, and just as he was testing the ground with his foot, it suddenly slipped out from under him, and he fell to the ground with a thud. The team members immediately crouched down and kept watch all around, while Zhao Zhenghao lay motionless on the ground, hardly daring to breathe. Fortunately, except for the wind, everything was quiet. Li Ming helped him up, and the team continued to advance cautiously. This canyon was very long, and it took the team a full ten minutes to climb out of it. Only when they reached a small plateau did they realize that the real danger had only just begun.

  12:25

  Before them lay a valley plain, opposite was a very high mountain peak, which is the No. 1 peak marked with red pen on the map. It's not the commanding height, the commanding height has an elevation of over 500 meters, and can be ignored in this dark environment. The reason why it is so valued is that behind its side is the base of Snow Mountain Tiger, and this mountain peak is also the No. 1 danger peak blocking the squad's way.

  "Are they going to lay out landmines down there?" Shao Hui asked, crouching near Zhao Zhenghao.

  "If it were me, I would definitely set up an ambush. Their base is built in the front circular valley, and the only way to get there is through that exit road. The mountain road on this side is far and difficult to walk, so setting up a trap is the best defensive strategy."

  "What's to be done?"

  "One is acoustic mine detection, we don't have the equipment for it. Another one is manual mine detection, we also don't have the equipment for that. As for shooting to clear mines, it's not even worth considering. Once a landmine explodes, our mission will be completely failed." Zhao Zhenhao replied tightly while lying on the ground and looking forward.

  The first peak in front was like a giant with its teeth bared and claws outstretched in the dark night, ready to devour its prey at any moment.

  Shao Hui was originally a special police officer trained in urban warfare, but when faced with the wild wind and darkness of this night, he found himself at a loss for how to deal with the unpredictable guerrilla warfare. Zhao Zhenghao glanced at Shao Hui and nodded towards the direction of nine o'clock, where there was a mountain peak standing like a knife cut in the darkness. Shao Hui knew that it was a steep cliff, and he couldn't believe that this was the plan of the so-called guerrilla warfare expert. Zhao Zhenghao smiled and said, "Don't be influenced by military movies, on the battlefield there are no miracles or high-tech equipment, there are many paths to victory, most of which are foolish ones, often using the simplest method can solve big problems, let's go." After finishing speaking, he turned around and waved his hand to signal the team to follow him in that direction. It was this seemingly foolish decision that saved the lives of all the team members.

  Actually, Shao Hui had also thought of this method, but it just flashed through his mind. He thought Zhao Zhenghao would have a better way.

  The mountain above here has no vegetation, the soil is very loose, and it just snowed, so the ground must be extremely slippery. Climbing this cliff in the middle of the night in such harsh conditions is a risk that goes without saying. But he also understands that there is no other choice besides this path, choosing to be a special forces soldier means choosing to dance with death. The team members are even more cautious as they move forward, wearing camouflage nets, because the enemy's No. 1 peak must have Snow Leopard sentries or snipers. If they're not careful here, it won't just be a matter of falling down. Zhao Zhenghao crouches and carefully avoids rocks that seem loose under the weak light, the strong wind blows open his camouflage net, making it flutter like a cloak, the team immediately stops and goes on high alert, holding their guns at the ready. The teammate behind him, Zuo Ming, quickly grabs the net and helps him re-fasten the buttons, after doing all this, Zhao Zhenghao's forehead is actually sweating. The road that shouldn't be long took the team 20 minutes to finish, until they turned into a dead end and the teammates stood up to examine the cliff blocking their way.

  Shao Hui stretched out his right thumb and little finger to measure it roughly and said: "The absolute height of this cliff is about 24 meters, there are no trees or vegetation around, including the top, and there are few places where you can attach a hook. Do you have a good way to climb?" The last sentence was asked to the three army scouts.

  Zhao Zhenghao didn't say a word and exited the bullet from his gun, slinging it over his back with a waistband. He took off the climbing pack and rope from Zhou Yan's shoulder, quickly putting on the seat cushion, hooking up the single-section ring, and putting on the figure-eight ring. He carefully observed the cliff, then suddenly swung the rope in a circle with his right hand, releasing it after several rounds. The rope shot upwards like a bullet, hanging onto the top of the over 20-meter-high cliff with a loud "thud". He pulled hard on the rope to test if it was secure, but unexpectedly, the hook slipped off and fell heavily to the ground with a loud "crash". Zhao Zhenghao didn't give up and tried several more times, but failed each time. Zhou Yan looked at his watch and saw that they were less than half an hour away from the scheduled meeting time with the enemy. He suggested, "How about we use the climbing ladder?"

  "No way, there's no time for that. If only we had a pulley..." Zhao Zhenhao replied, holding the rope and looking upwards.

  Shao Hui walked to the bottom of the cliff and looked at the wall. There were some protrusions that could be used as footholds, but they were not connected and had ice and snow on them. It was impossible to climb up without external force. Special soldiers are also human, not Superman wearing underwear outside or Spider-Man in a tight-fitting suit. He touched the stone wall and measured its height, suddenly thinking of a way.

  "Shall we three work together to climb up the city?" he asked, turning his head.

  "Of course, how? Do you want to climb up this cliff with three people?" Zhao Zhenhao asked in surprise.

  "No, let's build a human ladder." Shao Hui pointed to a height above and said, "Two people form a relatively stable platform, then one person stands on it, under the protruding rock below, chiseling a climbing step, standing on the climbing step and jumping up to throw a rope, in this way, the height can be increased by about five meters, and the possibility of the hook catching something solid will be greater."

  Zhao Zhenhao looked around again and confirmed that there was no other way. He gritted his teeth: "Let's do it! The air force will come over to set up the ladder, the army, navy, and armed police will be responsible for catching me, get ready!" When multiple troops work together, they have this advantage - when coordinating, they don't even need code names, the troop type is the most direct way to address each other.

  Kong Huan Tian and Yin Mo never thought that they would be trampled underfoot by someone, the two of them leaned against the cliff wall with their hands clasped together, using all their strength to pin their bodies to the ground. Zhao Zheng Hao held a rope and took an arrow step forward, pressing down on their shoulders and borrowing the force of the two people lifting upwards to lift his body off the ground. His two feet stepped on their shoulders again and then jumped up with force, while Kong Huan Tian and Yin Mo simultaneously raised their hands high to support the soles of his feet, the entire movement was done in one breath.

  Zhao Zhenhao stood on the palm of two people's hands, starting to shake and sway as he chiseled at the stone wall. His face was pained from the strong wind mixed with shattered ice and snow, while his short-fingered tactical gloves could only protect his palms. The five fingers of his right hand were tightly in contact with the icy iron, numb and senseless from the cold. He struggled to chisel out a hole that could serve as a foothold, then turned his head and shouted down at the people below: "Get ready to catch me!" After throwing away his chisel, he wrapped his arms around the protruding stone in front of him, puffed out his chest, and lifted himself up with both legs. His right foot was inserted into the hole, while his left foot stood on the stone, barely stabilizing his body. At this moment, Zhao Zhenhao was at a 90-degree vertical angle to the ground, clinging to the cliff face as he struggled to look upwards and estimate the height. Slowly, he loosened his right hand and started swinging the rope in a centrifugal motion - a pose that couldn't be maintained for long in mid-air. As Zhao Zhenhao felt himself losing control of his center of gravity, he kicked out with both legs, propelling his body upwards and backwards. The rope was flung out with great force as his body fell towards the ground, but the people below had already formed a human net, arms interlocked in two rows, waiting to catch him. They caught Zhao Zhenhao perfectly, without any deviation from the target point. As he stood up, gasping deeply, and checked the time: "There are only 15 minutes left - we're running out of time!"

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