Chapter 56 Then, he heard the miserable cry of the person who had just resisted. It seemed that the bandits were interrogating him under torture.

  "Hmph, rescue? You've been caught for two days now, has your country sent anyone to save you? Your military is right there in Pakistan, what's the use of that? Yet you're still caught by us?"

  "Is your army in Pakistan? That should be us," Li Nan asked Zhang Qipeng.

  "I think it should be." Zhang Qipeng replied.

  "Then let's hurry up and save him."

  "Let's talk to General Yuan first and see if he has any good ideas."

  "Alright, okay."

  "Commander Yuan, we have found the location of the hostages. What's next?" Zhang Qipeng asked.

  "Where is the hostage?"

  "At the junction of the small house and the main house."

  "How many bandits are inside?"

  "About seven."

  "Alright, on the right side of the main building there is a window, that's the only blind spot on the right. You guys go in through the window to rescue the person, 5 minutes later Wang Yuansen will arrive by car outside the window to pick you up. I'll distract them over here. Remember, you only have 5 minutes, if you exceed this time you'll be in danger. I'll retreat from the direction we came from. Got it?"

  "I understand."

  "Alright now everyone synchronize your time, take action in 5 minutes."

  Wang Yuan saw the direction of the car and felt his way there. Li Nan and others hid under the window, watching the watch and preparing to take action.

  In five minutes, Li Nan rushed in through the window first and turned around to sweep the bandit by the window with a burst of fire.

  Seeing someone coming in through the window, those thugs were initially stunned, but then reacted immediately. The thug behind Li Nan quickly raised his gun to shoot Li Nan, but Zhang Qipeng's speed was faster than theirs. A burst of gunfire swept away the two thugs who had just tried to shoot Li Nan. The guy who was shouting loudly just now ran towards the corner where the guns were leaning against the wall, wanting to grab a gun, but Li Nan didn't give them any chance.

  At the same time, Yuan Shuai also took down the sentry tower on the right with two shots. At this moment, all the gunshots rang out. There was a flurry of noise inside the main barracks. Then came the thud of footsteps, and the gunfire had startled them. The gunfire grew more intense.

  Wang Yuanjian also started the car at the same time and drove towards the window on the right.

  Because the gunfire was simultaneous, and the gunfire on Yuan's side was the most intense. It was also at the main gate, so the bandits all fired in his direction. For a time, there were bullets flying everywhere around Yuan. After taking out the guard tower on the right, Yuan turned around and opened fire on the sandbag bunker by the lake. He wanted to take out the bandits in the bunker and get the machine gun to strengthen his firepower, so that on the one hand he could cover the safe retreat of the hostages, and on the other hand he could increase his killing power, and it was also his ultimate route for retreat.

  The sudden sound of gunfire caused the bandits to momentarily lose their footing, and their attention was drawn to Yuan Shuai. Wang Yuanshi took advantage of this opportunity to drive the car safely to the window without being attacked by the bandits, who for some reason seemed to think he was one of their own or otherwise did not target him.

  At this time, Li Nan and Zhang Qipeng had also settled the henchmen in the cell, releasing the hostages. Li Nan whispered: "Quickly, quickly, quickly go out of the window, onto the truck by the window, shout loudly that you must hurry, or it will be too late if the henchmen discover us." Those who were heavily injured, Li Nan and Zhang Qipeng supported them as they pushed them out of the window. The movements were a bit rough, but at that time, there was no other way to do things. Because they knew that speed was crucial in giving Yuan Shuai enough time to win.

  "General Yuan, everything is going smoothly here, we'll leave first and wait for you to return home to drink." Li Nan said as he stuffed the last of the diplomatic personnel into the embassy.

  "Alright, be careful on your way, remember, in case of any unexpected situation, spare no effort to ensure the safety of the hostages."

  "Understood, be careful yourself."

  As he finished the last sentence, Li Nan's eyes had already begun to redden. He knew that the probability of Yuan Shuai being able to leave alive was extremely low. But he still preferred to believe that Yuan Shuai would drink with him in the command post.

  Their conversation was overheard by an embassy staffer sitting next to them. "At all costs protect the safety of the hostages, even if it means sacrificing themselves." The 50-year-old veteran's eyes welled up with tears. For a moment his chin trembled and the muscles in his face twitched. It took him a while to speak.

  "Comrades of the Liberation Army, thank you, thank you!" As soon as he said this, several people who were still in a state of shock earlier began to express their gratitude.

  Li Nan remained silent on the side, thinking of Yuan Shuai, occasionally turning his head to wipe away tears that were about to fall from his shoulders. The car drove for a few kilometers and broke through a roadblock. Li Nan said to Zhang Qipeng: "Zhang Qipeng, you protect the hostages first, I'll get off and help Yuan Shuai."

  "Wait a minute, I'll go with you." Zhang Qipeng said.

  "No way, you have to ensure their safety."

  "Why is it that our lives are not as valuable, now they're safe and sound, while Yuan Shuai is in the midst of gunfire?" Zhang Qipeng might have been holding back for a long time. He doesn't like to talk much.

  "Sometimes our lives don't belong to ourselves." Li Nan said, pointing to the military emblem on his head. His expression was firm and calm.

  "Leave the wine for me when I come back." After finishing speaking, he jumped off the car and ran towards the direction of gunfire.

  "Wait for you to come back and drink." Wang Yuan shouted loudly. Tears came out immediately.

  At this time, Li Nan was already rushing towards Yuan Shuai's direction. In his heart, he thought: "Yuan Shuai, wait for me, I'm coming, hold on, you must hold on, I'm coming".

  In less than 5 minutes, after a short distance of just a few kilometers, he heard the rapid and violent gunfire and the earth-shaking explosions. Li Nan continued to sprint rapidly while asking: "Yuan Shuai, where are you?"

  Yuan Shuai thought he was talking to him in the car. He asked: "Have you safely rescued the hostages now?"

  "They are safe now, I'll come back for you, where are you?" "How did you come back again, it's dangerous here, hurry up and go back with them."

  "Come on, isn't it more dangerous for one person than two? More people means more guarantees. If we die on the road, at least we'll have each other's company."

  "I order you, withdraw immediately and ensure the safety of the hostages."

  "The hostage has left safely, don't order me around now. You're just a new recruit, stop commanding me."

  Actually, they were both conscripted in the same year, but Li Nan was born a few days earlier than Yuan Shuai. Normally he would listen to Yuan Shuai, but now in this situation, he definitely won't listen to him anymore.

  Yuan Shuai's side was fighting fiercely, he had already taken down the trenches by the lake, but there was no chance of retreat. Because the bandits' attack was too fierce. As soon as he left the trench, he would definitely be shot to pieces. The situation was extremely urgent. Machine gun bullets were running out fast. He threw a hand grenade and then picked up the machine gun to sweep again, just to confuse the enemy, making them think he still had plenty of ammunition. Of course, this couldn't bring him much chance of survival. He just wanted to use this method to stall the bandits for a while. To give the hostages more time to retreat. Li Nan's arrival gave him a glimmer of hope for survival. But at the same time, it also brought Li Nan a threat of death.

  To be honest, he really wanted to live. He was a single-parent family, his father left him forever in a big fire when he was 12 years old. Only his mother raised him by herself. He hadn't had time to repay his mother's upbringing yet. And there was Yurou, Yurou's clear eyes always appeared in his dreams. If it weren't for those damned "terrorists", he might be holding hands with Yurou and strolling in the park right now. But he was a person who knew how to consider the bigger picture, so he chose this way for everyone's safe retreat. He hadn't thought about how he would die, or if he would even die at all. It was just Li Nan's appearance that suddenly gave him a sense of confidence. He didn't know why he had this feeling.

  Li Nan's gunfire attracted the attention of many bandits, and some of them attacked in Li Nan's direction. This reduced a lot of pressure on Yuan Shuai's side. He fired both hands at the same time, throwing out three grenades from each hand, and the intense explosion sound and strong flames gave him a few seconds' time. He seized this moment to drill out of the barbed wire and quickly hid in the woods. At the same time, he said to Li Nan: "Li Nan, I'm withdrawing from the camp into the forest, I'll cover you, you think of a way to run to the woods."

  "Received, understood." Li Nan replied.

  Commander Yuan, from the side, sent all the explosives on his body to those bandits. Suddenly, flames rose into the sky and cries filled the air. This wave of explosions attracted the bandits and gave Li Nan time. The iron wire mesh on Li Nan's side had no gaps that hadn't been cut open. However, for Li Nan, this was not a problem at all. He just looked at his right foot kicking the iron wire mesh, grabbed the top of the mesh with both hands and pulled hard, using the force of his kick to lift himself into the air and fly out of the mesh. His movements were smooth as flowing clouds or a swallow flying over a lake. However, this was still seen by a bandit holding a rocket launcher, who fired a rocket that exploded not far from Li Nan when he landed. "Ah!" A miserable cry sounded. He was blown away by the blast of the rocket.

  Yuan Shuai heard Li Nan's cry and knew he was in trouble, shouting loudly.

  "Li Nan, Li Nan... what's wrong? What happened, Li Nan?"

  "I'm not going to die, damn it, I've made a dirt plane."

  Hearing Li Nan could still speak, Yuan Shuai's heart, which had just been clenched in anxiety, relaxed.

  Li Nan lay on the ground, panting heavily, the rocket shell had stunned him. His head was splitting with pain. The left waist was also bleeding non-stop. Those bandits were yelling and rushing towards him. He endured the suffocating pain, got up and continued to run deep into the forest. Dense bullets sounded behind him.

  Yuan Shuai also rushed to his side. Seeing Li Nan covering his waist with his left hand and holding a gun in his right, he occasionally turned back to sweep the area. He quickly caught up, firing a few shots at the bandits behind him as he ran. Yuan Shuai soon caught up with Li Nan since he was unharmed. Without saying a word, he grabbed Li Nan's arm and they both sprinted forward, occasionally glancing back at their pursuers. Li Nan's waist was still bleeding nonstop. After running for several hundred meters, they came across a drop of over one meter in height. After jumping down, they used this terrain to launch a counterattack. Li Nan handed his gun to Yuan Shuai and panted, "You... you hold them off for now... Ah, damn it, I'll take this thing out. It's stuck here... it hurts so much."

  Yuan Shuai looked down and saw a tree branch stuck in his waist, from back to front it had already penetrated. It was probably a tree branch blown up by the rocket explosion that shot into his waist like a bullet under the strong airflow, but fortunately it didn't reach his spine, or else he would have been done for.

  Yuan Shuai didn't say a word, and he and his companion each took a gun in hand, waiting for the enemy to approach. When they saw an enemy approaching, they would first fire a shot and kill the one at the front. This way, the enemies behind would crouch down and hide for a while, giving Li Nan time to gain the upper hand.

  That was a large piece of wood that had been blasted open with tree branches, so the surface would have many small thorns, and one end was thick and the other end was thin, like an awl. When pulled out in the direction of the silk thread, the larger end was at the back, making the wound bigger and harder to stop bleeding, which obviously wouldn't work. When pulled out against the direction of the silk thread, it would be like countless reverse thorns tightly embedded in the flesh.

  Li Nan gritted his teeth and let out a muffled roar like a beast. Enduring unbearable pain, he managed to pull out the tree branch against the direction of the silk thread. A mouthful of blood was spat out, which was caused by biting too hard on his gums when he gritted his teeth. The wound continued to bleed non-stop.

  Because it was pulled out in reverse, many small thorns were still left inside his body. He took a bullet from the cartridge, bit off the shell with his teeth, and stuffed the gunpowder into the wound. He took out a waterproof match, closed his eyes, gritted his teeth, and slowly brought the match closer to the wound.

  With a "boom", flames shot out of the other end of the wound. "Ah" - this time he couldn't help but shout out loud. The gunpowder burned away all the small thorns inside after being ignited. At the same time, it also had a hemostatic effect. However, this kind of extreme pain was not something that ordinary people could endure.

  Even Li Nan, a tough special forces soldier, almost fainted from the pain. Sweat beads were densely distributed on his face. His lips turned white. Even his breathing sound became weak and powerless.

  After resting for a few minutes, he struggled to get up. He took the gun from Yuan Shuai's hand. His hands were still slightly trembling. Yuan Shuai saw him like this and said: "Li Nan, you rest for a while longer, I can handle it."

  "It's okay, in my hand, in my hand... I don't feel safe without a gun."

  The bandits continued to charge at them crazily.

  "Come on, you beasts!..." Yuan Shuai yelled out as he fired a burst of gunfire at the bandits. Taking advantage of their momentary drop to the ground, he grabbed Li Nan's arm and shouted, "Let's go!"

  The further they went, the thicker the thorns grew and the bigger the trees became. There was basically no way to walk. Yuan Shuai sometimes supported Li Nan with one hand holding a military knife to cut out a path in front of them.

  "Commander Yuan, we can't go this way, it's equivalent to telling them our whereabouts." Li Nan said.

  "I know, but you..." Yuan Shuai knew what Li Nan meant and played to his strengths, hiding himself and eliminating them one by one. But he was afraid that Li Nan was too weak.

  "I'm fine, I can take them on one by one, and I won't be afraid of them no matter what." Li Nan said firmly.

  "Good." Yuan Shuai nodded. He immediately climbed up the tree. Li Nan buried himself in a pile of dry leaves.

  Those bandits followed the trail to here, but suddenly there was no trace. They split into several groups and carefully searched forward. When the last one passed under the tree where Yuan Shuai was hiding, he took out a prepared vine and strangled them with force. The guy struggled for a while before stopping moving. Then, he quickly jumped down from the tree and hid in a pile of dry leaves at the base of the tree, his movements incredibly agile. The second-to-last bandit heard the noise and turned back to see that their companion had been hanged on the tree. They immediately shouted, "Here! Here!" The other groups of bandits rushed over upon hearing this. When one of the bandits passed by Li Nan's side, Li Nan grabbed his leg and pulled with force. After knocking him down, Li Nan's hand emerged from the dry leaves, wrapping around the bandit's neck. His other hand held a dagger, which he stabbed into the bandit's throat. Then, he quickly disappeared into the bushes. The front bandits only heard a blood-curdling scream from behind before turning back to see their companion's corpse, still bleeding, but they didn't see anyone else. They panicked and shouted, "Here! Here!" They turned around again and surrounded Li Nan. Yuan Shuai saw them turn around, drew out his dagger, and threw it at the last bandit.

  Another "ah" sound, a companion died by his side. The bandits were either on fire or frightened, one after another, people kept dying, but they didn't even see the shadow of their opponents. Holding guns and sweeping around randomly. For a moment, the wind was howling, and everyone was in danger, making them all feel insecure.

  What people fear most is not the enemy who is stronger than themselves, because no matter how strong the opponent is, you can always find a way to deal with him as long as he is in front of you and you can see him. But it's the unseen danger that you can't see. You never know when and where he will attack you, death is always lurking around them.

  At this time, a guy was shouting loudly. They started to form a formation. A few people slowly dispersed. Such a formation made it difficult for them to launch a sneak attack, as they had people in all directions and were in groups of several people. If someone sneaked up on one of them, the others would discover them. And if they kept hiding like this, they would definitely be discovered.

  A group of bandits walked towards the place where Li Nan was hiding. Li Nan had already sensed that someone was approaching him. But it was a few people coming together, even if he killed one, the others could still beat him to a pulp. However, not coming out wasn't an option either, they were stabbing their way over with bayonets. He would eventually be stabbed by them. What to do? The bandits' bayonets were already less than a meter away from him. Li Nan planned to rush out and kill as many as he could, he gathered his strength, but he was weak, even gathering his strength, he still felt a bit powerless. However, there was no other way. His right foot slowly curled up, preparing to pounce out.

  Just as he was about to make the final blow, the bandit's gunshot rang out. But the bullet didn't hit him. "Huh, what's going on? Can't even hit at such a close distance?" Li Nan wondered. But then he heard the bandits shouting and running in the opposite direction.

  Originally, Yuan Shuai saw that the bandits were about to approach Li Nan, so he jumped up and ran to the side. The bandits were shooting at him. Fortunately, Yuan Shuai's speed was fast, and the bullets did not hit him. As he rushed into the thicket, two flying darts shot out from his sleeves, hitting the two bandits in front, who cried out and fell to the ground struggling. The remaining bandits shouted and charged towards the thicket where Yuan Shuai had just hidden, firing their guns. However, when they arrived at the thicket, they couldn't even see Yuan Shuai's shadow.

  "Give me a thorough search, I don't believe they can fly away anymore." The Chinese guy yelled again.

  "This guy must be their leader, we have to take him down first." Yuan Shuai thought to himself.

  Yuan Shuai had just jumped into the bushes and quickly climbed a tree. He could hear everything being said below him clearly. He was holding a vine in his hand, hanging it down, waiting for that person to "jump into the net" on their own accord. As long as he got close to this vine, he would be dead for sure. He waited quietly, just like a wolf stalking its prey, silently lurking and waiting for his quarry.

  Li Nan felt temporarily safe, so he didn't move and just lay quietly. His toes were curled inward, taking a deep breath in, exhaling half of it, then inhaling again, exhaling half of it, repeating the cycle, with his tongue touching the roof of his mouth. He was circulating his qi. Trying to recover his physical strength as soon as possible. (The reason why martial artists can heal faster than ordinary people is not only because of their good physical quality, but also because they know how to circulate their qi to regulate their blood circulation.)

  The bandits were still searching around the bush where Yuan Shuai had just hidden. While searching, they shouted to release their tense and fearful emotions. The "head" slowly approached the vine hanging from Yuan Shuai. When it was only a few centimeters away from the tree vine, Yuan Shuai swung the vine, which perfectly wrapped around the guy's neck, then pulled hard on the other end of the vine. He jumped down from the tree. The "head" was hanged up, with two feet still kicking wildly in mid-air. The bandits next to him immediately panicked and opened fire at Yuan Shuai. This time, Yuan Shuai was acting under their noses. Of course, he didn't hide so quickly. He probably also knew that he couldn't escape this time. It's unlikely that he could slip away again under their noses. Before his feet even touched the ground, he threw out the last two flying darts, hitting the two bandits in front at the same time, and with a flick of his shoulder, the gun behind him "obediently" fell into his hands. As soon as he landed, there was another burst of gunfire, and the two bandits who had just rushed up let out miserable cries and fell to the ground.

  As soon as Li Nan heard the sound of the 95 rifle, he knew that Yuan Shuai had been discovered by them. He immediately jumped out from the pile of leaves and fired at the bandits from behind, dispersing them and relieving Yuan Shuai's "burden". The few bandits behind him immediately turned around and opened fire on Li Nan. Li Nan made a quick move to his right, throwing out a hand grenade with his right hand. Those few bandits immediately fell down, and after the loud explosion, Li Nan kicked off from the tree trunk with his right foot, grabbing a branch with his right hand, intending to climb up the tree. However, when he exerted force on his wound, another wave of severe pain came, and he started bleeding again. Due to his lack of strength, he couldn't climb the tree after hanging onto the branch. He could only hang from the branch with his right hand, holding the gun in his left hand.

  Yuan Shuai took advantage of Li Nan's shot to catch his breath. Although he couldn't disappear in front of the bandits, he ran behind a tree, avoiding exposure. He used the tree as cover to launch a counterattack. The bandits also quickly took cover behind trees and opened fire. Several bandits were hiding at the base of the tree where Li Nan was hanging. Li Nan couldn't hold on any longer, as blood continued to flow out. Hanging there would only accelerate his bleeding. He wanted to come down, but there were enemies below. What could he do? He had no choice but to put away his gun, take out the last two hand grenades from his waist, pull the pin with his mouth, and throw them at the bandits' hiding place after a brief moment. After a loud explosion, several bandits were blown into the air. Li Nan took advantage of the situation to jump down and hide behind a bush. He tore open his clothes, ripped off a piece of cloth from his shirt, gritted his teeth in pain, and tied up the wound that was still bleeding. Just as he wanted to find another tree for cover, he heard Yuan Shuai's call: "Li Nan, Li Nan, I'm out of ammo! Do you have any spare clips?"

  Li Nan saw that there was only one bullet left on his chest. However, he still said: "I have some left, where are you?"

  "I can see you, just at your 9 o'clock position, fifteen meters away," said Yuan Shuai.

  "Alright, I'll count to three, you come out and meet me."

  "Good"?

  "Connect one, two, three."

  As he counted to three, he threw the clip away. Because he was now seriously injured, his grasp of strength also became a problem. He had clearly thrown it 15 meters away, but it didn't land near Yuan Shuai's side, instead stopping about two meters short. Yuan Shuai could only dodge to the side and jump out to catch the clip. Fortunately, Yuan Shuai reacted quickly, pressing the button above the clip on his gun with his right hand, ejecting the clip, and catching the one Li Nan had thrown over with his left hand. He swiftly reloaded the clip, but as he pulled the bolt back, the bandit had already recovered and opened fire at him. Yuan Shuai didn't dodge in time and was shot in the thigh, blood spraying out. Li Nan saw that the clip hadn't been thrown far enough, but he could only hit two of the bandits because his gun only had two bullets left. When he threw his gun to try and hit the third bandit, the bandit's bullet had already been fired.

  Yuan Shuai was shot, his body quickly turned around, and the muzzle aimed at the bandits rushing over from behind. He pulled the trigger, and as he fell to the ground, two bandits also fell to the ground with a loud noise. However, there were still bandits coming towards him in an endless stream. A clip of bullets was fired in less than a minute.

  Li Nan realized the situation was not in their favor, as both he and his companion were out of bullets, while there were at least 20 bandits charging towards them. With no other choice, he sprang into action, performing a "back grab" move on the lead bandit, using him as a human shield to block the incoming bullets from the other bandits. He then grabbed the gun from the bandit's hand and threw him forward. Next, he dove down and unleashed a barrage of shots at the charging bandits. After two bandits were hit, the others quickly took cover and returned fire. Due to the close distance, Li Nan had no time to react or dodge. Two bullets struck his left shoulder, one passing through and the other lodging in his scapula. Despite his wound, he ignored the bleeding shoulder and picked up an AK-47 with his left hand. He shouted "Yuan Shuai, catch!" as he tossed the gun, adding "There are 17 rounds left!" As a skilled special forces operative, he could tell how many bullets were left in a gun just by handling it.

  Yuan Shuai responded with a sound, stretched out his hand to take over the gun. This time he threw it very accurately.

  He took the gun and first swept it in a burst of fire. Immediately afterwards, he switched the gun to single-shot mode. (The AK-47 can be switched from continuous firing to single-shot mode by simply flipping the adjustment lever on the right side of the stock upwards.)

  He remained calm and aimed at the target. Although he was worried about Li Nan's safety, he knew that he couldn't afford to lose his composure now. Years of training and combat experience had taught him to remain calm in the face of danger.

  Li Nan's shoulder was shot, making his hand unable to exert force, but he had to leave his current position immediately. Because now there were more than a dozen guns aimed at his position. He used all his strength and made a "dragonfly somersault". Immediately, he flipped sideways towards a nearby tree. The leaves where he was just standing flew up. "What a close call!" he thought, involuntarily taking in a breath of cold air. If he had been one step slower, the consequences would have been fatal.

  Distant gunfire rang out intensively, and judging from the sound, it should be the 95 rifle and M16. It's Wang Yuan who has come to rescue them.

  Yuan Shuai connected with Wang Yuan through the microphone.

  It was them, they came, and they came very quickly, very timely.