Chapter Fifty-Four: Breaking Out of the Encirclement

  In the midst of curses, a hand grenade exploded behind us, and all the prisoners of war were blown to pieces. Intestines and limbs rained down on us three, sticking to our bodies. I peeled off a piece of large intestine stuck to my face, turned around, and saw that the edge of the house had been blasted into a big hole, with several segments of severed corpses standing there. This was my first time killing prisoners of war, and it was a collective massacre - over a dozen people were blown to bits by me. I couldn't describe what I felt in my heart; no shame, only a faint hope that my method would be effective. In my eyes, these prisoners of war were just useful objects, and I no longer thought their deaths were particularly noteworthy.

  "Don't look! Run!" The big bear grabbed the back of my collar and dragged me into the building, rushing straight to the conference room.

  Until the three of us crawled out of the tunnel found by the team leader, there was no more shelling outside. It seems that my method has had some effect, regardless of whether the militia in each department thinks their leader is killed by Taslan or not. Anyway, they are now dead on Taslan's turf, and the last sentence I shouted must have had some effect. If it's not a family, then it's not one mind, and without the common goal of saving people just now, I believe they will definitely suspect each other.

  He dashed into the dark alley, which was very narrow and low inside. Even with his neck shrunk in, he still felt a bit cramped with all his gear on. The M134 minigun in Big Bear's arms was neither horizontal nor vertical, but finally ended up pressed against his belly as he ran forward, looking extremely comical. After running for five or six minutes, the butcher who was scouting ahead suddenly stopped, and Big Bear didn't see it clearly at first and bumped into his face, almost scaring him to death.

  "Big Bear, you scared me to death! Don't point your gun at me! If your machine gun goes off, it'll turn me into mush!" the butcher shouted, pointing at Big Bear's nose.

  "No, no! I'm watching!" said the big bear, scratching his head in embarrassment.

  "Look out for me!" The butcher turned around with difficulty, pointing ahead and said: "Which one did the captain say? The gunshot was too loud just now, I didn't hear clearly."

  I stretched my neck with Big Bear and took a look ahead, and surprisingly there were three forks in the road!

  "Nope, I only remember Vanguard saying it can reach the suburbs? Nothing else was mentioned! The captain should have left a mark, right?" Big Bear and I said in unison.

  "Let me take another look!" The butcher took out a night vision goggles and pointed to two of the roads, saying: "Both of these intersections have marks! What's going on with the captain?"

  The two of us also took out our night vision goggles and put them on. Through the night vision goggles, we could see that there were two red gleams printed at each intersection, in the shape of wolf teeth. This was a special mark of the wolf pack that could only be seen with special colored lenses.

  "We all three of us were stunned, didn't expect the captain to make such a mistake. Because we are underground, the single soldier's wireless signal is very weak and cannot contact the captain. The current situation does not allow us to think deeply, the butcher pointed at the road in front of him and said: "Just this one! Let's go!"

  The three of us gritted our teeth and ran down the tunnel, the ground becoming increasingly uneven. We stumbled and staggered for a few more minutes, the ceiling above us shaking constantly as large clods of earth fell from the sky. Just as we were worried that the tunnel might collapse, a bright spot suddenly flashed out in the gray darkness ahead. Seeing hope, the three of us excitedly quickened our pace towards the light, and just as we were about to break through the darkness into the light, a loud cannon shot burst into the tunnel from the entrance, jolting the three of us awake and bringing us to an abrupt halt.

  If Taslan also escaped from the tunnel, he must have sent someone to guard the entrance. If we rush out recklessly, we will definitely be shot dead by random gunfire! But the falling soil doesn't allow us to stand here and think either!

  "It's all over!" the butcher gritted his teeth and said.

  "Uh-huh!" I nodded in unison with the big bear, adjusted my equipment and threw away unnecessary gear. I slung the sniper rifle behind me, took out the G36C submachine gun from my backpack, loaded it, and gave the butcher a nod indicating that we were ready to move...

  The butcher took off the backpack on his body, took out the ammunition and put it on the ground. Then, he pulled open three smoke bombs and threw them away. For a while, the smoke was misty and the visibility was unclear. A lot of smoke blew back into the cave with the wind, and there was no movement outside the cave!

  After a while, the butcher suddenly threw out the backpacks of the three people in his hands. Suddenly, the sound of gunfire and the "bang" sound of the backpack being hit were endless, and the three of us broke into a cold sweat. There was indeed an ambush outside! Holding the gun tightly, I counted the number of shots in my heart, and finally heard the sound of the firing pin striking empty. The butcher threw out a flash grenade. After a loud explosion, the three of us rushed out with our eyes closed.

  As soon as I rushed out of the cave, the light inside and outside was too different. Although I squinted my eyes, I still felt a white flash in front of me and my brain was stunned for a moment. However, my body didn't feel any hesitation. When I came out of the cave, I didn't consider whether there were any dangers in front of me. I directly turned my body around, pointed the muzzle at the top of the cave, and three people immediately formed a circle with their backs together, firing at all human-like objects. The sound of gunfire was deafening for a moment.

  A magazine of 30 rounds was fired in an instant. After the three black shadows on the top of the cave were shot down by me, another three black shadows emerged. Without time to change magazines, I pulled out my MK23 pistol from my waist and fired at the three black shadows continuously. The 16 rounds were fired in three seconds, and the three black shadows fell to the ground after being hit by multiple bullets. I threw away the gun in my hand, raised the sniper rifle, and searched around for threatening targets.

  Three of us fired our guns as we advanced, until we reached a safe area and split up to occupy advantageous positions and form a triangular defense. It was only then that I felt my own breathing and heartbeat racing like a drumbeat "Boom! Boom! Boom!". Panting heavily, I looked around cautiously and confirmed there were no threats, and the three of us suddenly collapsed to the ground, propping our guns up as we lay there sweating profusely. The belated sweat then flowed down from my temples like a small river "Whoosh!", instantly soaking through my clothes.

  Sitting on the ground and looking around, this is not a favorable terrain for an ambush. The entrance to the cave is located at a prominent dike face of a river bend, directly opposite the entrance is a downhill slope below which is a pool of water. People who are ambushing have no way to hide, they all lie on the slope that is obliquely facing the entrance, and the top of the entrance is too steep for anyone to stand. I'm not clear how those six people got up there, but I know when they rushed over, they didn't even think about aiming, just paying attention to where they stepped.

  Looking far away, the three of us took a cold breath, because our position was right between the troops besieging the government building and the reinforcements. Just one mile in front of me were the tanks of Tazlan, with their big black heads exposed outside the tank turret, which had been crippled there. A group of people were surrounding the tank arguing about something when they heard gunfire rushing towards us. Other soldiers had already entered the government building. I ran back to pick up my backpack and rifle, which was full of bullet holes. The three of us quickly followed the river ditch and ran away. At this time, I ran faster than anyone else because I carried the least amount of stuff. They were both heavy machine gunners, with more than 60 pounds of ammunition and guns alone, while I only carried 300 rounds of ammunition and had already fired half of it, so I was lightly equipped. After running for a while, I turned my head to see that Big Bear and Butcher had fallen far behind. Helplessly, I ran back again to help Big Bear carry his supplies and equipment over, and the three of us fled in panic like dogs with their tails between their legs.

  Bullets kept flying over our heads, at first we were scared when hearing the sonic boom, but later on we didn't even flinch. After running up to the river embankment, the three of us rushed into the building area. Just as we entered the building area, the sound of armored vehicles came from behind, and a 50-caliber heavy machine gun shot through the corner of the wall and hit my backpack. I felt like someone had pulled me hard from the side, and the whole backpack exploded with night vision goggles, GPS system, supplies, first aid equipment all gone! Luckily, I had taken out the spare ammunition inside, otherwise it would have blown me to pieces.

  "Asshole!" I cursed in Henan dialect, my legs trembling with fear as I picked up the sniper rifle and rushed into a flat house without direction. As soon as I entered the house, I saw a figure holding something towards me, and without hesitation, I shot him. The bullet hit his chest, and at close range, he was blown away by the explosive bullet, flying out of the wall and bouncing back to fall to the ground. It wasn't until I let out a sigh of relief that I realized what had happened. In an instant, the image in front of me froze in my mind, and the sound of gunfire around me disappeared: A woman holding a wooden stick was lying on the ground with her left breast shattered, while under the table next to her were four one- or two-year-old children as thin as matchsticks, staring at me curiously with wide eyes, completely unaware that I had just killed their mother. I had killed a great mother who protected her children! My brain stopped functioning, and only this sentence floated in my mind.

  The children saw the mother's right breast exposed through her tattered clothes and crawled over to fight for a chance to suckle, looking at the tragic scene I had caused my vision went dark and my body felt cold, tears poured out uncontrollably, the woman in front of me suddenly transformed into my mother's face, a sharp pain shot through my heart like being sliced by a knife, I slapped myself on the cheek with my hand while muttering: "You're not human... Xing Tian!"

  A shell hit the empty ground in front of the door, and the huge shockwave shook me out of my daze. I shivered with cold sweat, came back to my senses, looked at the scene in front of me, and muttered to myself: "She was the one who attacked me first, it's her fault, she was the one who attacked me first, this is war! This is war! This damn thing is war!" As I spoke, I frantically scanned the room, crazily yelling as I rushed up the stairs on the side and onto the rooftop. While calling out for Butcher Bear and the team leader, I secretly peeked out to observe the enemy situation. Four armored vehicles had already arrived nearby, preparing to turn around the corner, which would put them right in front of the house where I was hiding. After taking down a civilian who poked his head out to discover me, I switched to a magazine loaded with armor-piercing incendiary and explosive rounds. The broken-down armored vehicle in front of me didn't even need frozen bullets; not even the M16 with SS109 rounds could penetrate its armor.

  Listening to the sounds in front of the house, I stretched out my hand and counted: "One car, two cars, three cars, four cars."

  When I counted to the fourth one, I rushed out of the bunker and aimed at the last armored vehicle's heavy machine gunner who was exposed on the top of the car. One shot, one hit, right in the back of his head, blood and water sprayed out from his steel helmet, and his body went limp and sank into the vehicle. Then I fired two shots at the vehicle, one hitting the oil tank and the other hitting the steel plate of the vehicle's body, both piercing through the iron skin and entering the vehicle. The oil tank was hit directly and exploded, setting the entire bottom of the car on fire, while blood and water flowed out from the bullet holes on the vehicle's body.

  The machine gunners on the three cars in front heard the gunfire behind them and turned their guns around, but before they could open fire, my rapid shooting knocked down two more. Before I could aim at the gunner in the front car, the machine gun on the car had already fired a burst of flames, and the large-caliber bullets smashed all the stone walls along the road into powder. If I hadn't been crouching on the ground, I would have been shot dead for sure. Before I could retreat down the stairs, two more heavy machine guns also opened fire, and the simple brick house couldn't withstand such intense firepower. It immediately collapsed by half, and from the rooftop, looking down along the stairs, I saw four children hiding under a table being torn to pieces by the crossfire. I closed my eyes in agony, never thinking that my arrival would bring disaster to this family!

  Just as the intense hail of bullets was about to demolish the house I was hiding in, two rocket-propelled grenades suddenly whizzed by, followed by two explosions. The roaring heavy machine gun fell silent, and when I looked up, Butcher and Big Bear were crouched on the rooftop, reloading their rocket launcher for a second strike. The last remaining machine gunner abandoned his post, and I turned around to fire in their direction, forcing them to take cover. I quickly got up, raised my gun, and smashed the careless machine gunner's head, then blew up his fuel tank using the old method, turning it into an oven that roasted the people inside like kebabs. Any soldiers who tried to rush out of the door were shot dead by me at the entrance.

  Just after destroying four armored vehicles, the sound of gunfire and bullets came from behind. Turning around, it was found that the pursuing troops had returned.

  "Run quickly!" I said over the wireless: "Go find the captain at the designated assembly point!"

  However, I saw the butcher and the big bear were also there shouting loudly but my earpiece didn't make a sound. I took a look at my waist and damn! The miniature transmitter on my waist had been shot through and was smoking.

  "Shit!" (Damn it!) No way, I had no choice but to point at the two of them and then at myself, and then use my fingers to mimic the first letter of our agreed meeting spot. They nodded and ran towards the direction of the meeting spot, and I followed close behind, running through houses and jumping over walls.

  After having no houses to jump, the three of us returned from the rooftop to land, and when we met, all three faces were covered in blood. At a glance, it was clear that they had been tripped by debris on the roof and fallen. My nose almost broke!

  "Do you still have rockets?" I asked.

  "It's gone! The last one was just used!" The butcher pointed behind me. I turned my head to look, and it was empty, the rocket launcher had already been thrown away by the two of them.

  "If we run into heavy firepower, then it's every man for himself!" I said, crossing myself on the chest.

  "God bless!" And the two of them actually made the sign of the cross too.

  "Amen!" I ended the conversation and started firing at the crowd a kilometer away, my favorite way of attacking where others can't hit me but I can hit them.

  We three moved forward along the wall corner, so we could reduce our exposed surface by half, but it was easy to get hit by the bouncing bullets on the wall. Fortunately, there were no militiamen on the roof now. The butcher was at the front of the team, the big bear in the middle, and I was at the back. The three of us moved forward silently in a 180-degree angle, and everyone who saw us was killed by us, most of whom were civilians. At this time, what morality, what rules, all had no effect, killing everyone and leaving here was the only thought in our hearts.

  A faint gunshot, I took out the thirty-fourth civilian. The ejected shell casing jumped out of the chamber with white smoke, and the more civilians I killed, the calmer my emotions became. Even the guilt that had been stuck in my throat after killing that mother earlier was washed away a lot. What replaced it was a thrill, a stimulation after committing a crime! Even the concern for the dwindling ammunition surpassed the sense of sin.

  I took a glance at the magazine in my hand and saw that I only had twenty rounds of ammunition left, so I shouted to Butcher and Big Bear: "My ammo is almost gone!"

  "Mine is almost the same!"

  "Me too!" The butcher and the big bear also turned around with worried expressions. Three of them opened their holsters for guns and knives, but their main weapons were out of ammo, so they could only use these things to fight. After loading the special bullet clip that Tiancai gave me into my rifle, I took a deep breath, preparing myself for not being able to leave this place alive! For the past year, I haven't thought about the future at all, but rather how I would die has often appeared in my mind!

  Just as the three of us were about to give up in despair, the wireless earpiece that had been deformed and hung around the butcher's neck suddenly crackled to life after a burst of static, and the captain's "sweet" voice came through the receiver.

  "Butcher. Ah Xiong, Jiangshi, did you hear that? If you heard it, please respond! Butcher. Ah Xiong, Jiangshi, did you hear that? If you heard it, please respond! Damn it! Make a sound already!"

  The butcher gently picked up the receiver and pressed it against his throat, saying softly: "Butcher received!"

  "What? Who is it? Who's speaking?" The captain's voice boomed out of the receiver like a thunderclap, causing the exposed wires outside to quiver.

  "It's me! I'm the butcher! Our wireless is broken, speak softly. Captain!"

  "Ah-ah!" The captain's voice immediately became much softer: "Where are you? We're in the east of the city!"

  "We're in the south of the city!" We three looked at each other and said in unison.

  "What the...! How did you guys end up there?! Didn't you see the markers we left for you?! How did you rush out of the cave, there's an ambush!" The captain complained over the radio.

  "It was only when we saw it that we took the wrong path, how could you leave two markers? How did you get out? We sacrificed all our equipment to run out of here, even the wireless on our bodies is broken!" The butcher shouted.

  "Two markers? I must have miscounted the wounded, I'm getting dizzy! Our current coordinates are..." The captain paused to dig out the GPS system.

  "Captain, stop searching, our GPS system has been destroyed. Otherwise, we would have located you through the positioning system long ago!" The butcher said, touching the electronic components on his forehead.

  "Right, positioning system! Wait a minute, let me take a look at your markers!" The captain suddenly remembered that the GPS device had a positioning function and said: "Who of you knows how to use the positioning system? Come and show me where the Butcher is!"

  The three of us rolled our eyes at what the captain said. I spoke into the microphone, "Captain, you should go back to school and brush up on your knowledge, you're so out of touch!"

  "Damn it! What era's soldier am I, how would I know how to use such high-tech stuff? I took two years to learn how to use a computer. Genius-made things are too complicated!" The captain apologized on the other end of the line: "Let me see... How are you still in enemy territory? DJ's computer shows that there are returning enemy troops and a large number of pursuers near you, not far away! The main street in front of you turns east, that road leads directly to the outskirts of the city, but there are returning troops on the road. If you move forward parallel to this road, you can make it over. I'll leave a mark for you at the city gate and you can follow it over. Just now, the government army said that the attack on the city is not going very smoothly, they have occupied the northern part of the city and are fiercely attacking the eastern part. We need to help them from behind in order to break through, otherwise we won't be able to escape."

  "Captain, we're running low on ammo!" Da Xiong rotated his six-barreled gun, making a rattling sound.

  "I don't care what methods you use, go steal! Go rob! Two hours later, I want to see all of you standing in front of me, complete and unharmed." The captain gave the order, and actually there was no other way out at this point.

  "YESSIR!" The three of us regained our confidence under the captain's firm words.

  We carefully put away the wireless radio, and with a nod from each other, we rushed out of the hiding corridor along the route indicated by our captain towards the east. The three of us ran with our heads down for half an hour, bypassing several groups of people and slowly approaching the outskirts of the city. The houses here were not planned, with one building to the east and another to the west, and the roads were complex, causing us to get dizzy and run many unnecessary routes.

  As we saw a group of militiamen turning around at the intersection in front of us, we quickly hid and retreated quietly. I suddenly changed from being the last one to the first one, and hastily turned into a small alley. Just 200 meters away, I saw four militiamen searching door-to-door on both sides of the alley. In a hurry, I knelt down, raised my gun, and shot at the four guys, taking down three of them. However, one of them, an M14 sniper, hid in a residential house, leaning against the door frame and firing at us, blocking the entire alley.

  I leaned against the wall and quickly peeked out to check his position. This guy reacted fast enough to shoot a bullet that hit the wall right next to my ear. If I hadn't ducked down quickly, he would have blown my head off with one shot. Even so, the shockwave from the bullet scraped off a layer of skin on my face. The three of us were pinned down at the entrance of the alley and didn't dare move. The guy across from us was a pretty good sniper - if we tried to force our way through the alley, he would definitely hit us. He had a 7.62mm sniper rifle, and our bulletproof vests weren't equipped with ceramic plates that could stop this kind of bullet - one shot and we'd be done for. But we couldn't retreat either, as the militia was getting closer and closer from the front. Looking at Butcher and Big Bear's expectant eyes, I felt for the first time the special responsibility of a sniper aside from attacking and covering: counter-sniping!

  Under the eager expectation of my comrades, I threw out a hand grenade as cover and mustered up the courage to raise my gun and flash out from behind the wall corner. As soon as I flashed out from behind the wall corner, I saw a black gun muzzle staring at me. I could even see the rifling on the M14's barrel clearly. A thought flashed through my mind: What a great shooter! He didn't even dodge the hand grenade! Then the black gun muzzle flashed and I didn't see any bullets, but only felt an enormous force crashing into my head, like being struck by a hammer. My head instantly jerked back 90 degrees, carrying my body flying backward. It was then that I heard the "bang" of the gunshot. My mind went completely blank with only one strange thought emerging: So it's getting hit first and hearing the gun sound afterwards!