Chapter 27: The Islamic Holy Warrior

  Two people walked north, one in front of the other, without a map, compass, or satellite positioning system. Zhao Ziyang could only rely on his own experience to grope deeper.

  As for the little wild cat following behind, it hummed a little tune, jumping and skipping back and forth to look at the scenery, occasionally taking out an apple to take two bites. Occasionally when excited, it would climb up a big tree in three or two steps, treading on branches to move forward.

  Of course, this is not lightness, but she has a very clear grasp of the flexibility of each branch, and can use the rebound force to send herself to another branch. It looks simple, but it's actually very difficult. This skill alone may have to be trained from an early age.

  "Zhao Ziyang, I saved your life. How do you plan to repay me?" The little wild cat caught up with Zhao Ziyang, chewing on an apple as it made its demand.

  "A gentleman does not take advantage of kindness to seek revenge." Zhao Ziyang, whose eyes were scanning the ground in the mountain forest for any signs of tracks, didn't have time to think about her and directly threw out this sentence.

  "Hehe... I'm not a gentleman, I'm just a little girl." The little wild cat smiled and said with a face full of longing: "Or else you can let me join your mercenary group, consider it as repaying a favor, a gentleman doesn't repay kindness with virtue."

  "No way." Zhao Ziyang flatly rejected the little wildcat's request, a sense of disappointment welling up inside him: Join? The sleeper agent didn't even know if it existed...

  A sense of loss, Zhao Ziyang was certain that this was a sense of loss, just like suddenly losing one's home.

  Vampire-like Pandora, the most noisy knife edge, silly and straightforward Omo, perverted Mandrake, serious scythe hand... These faces flashed one by one in front of Zhao Ziyang's eyes, including Swarte who had always been at odds with him.

  It seems that these people have unknowingly occupied their own hearts, and their subconscious has already acknowledged that they are comrades who can block bullets for each other on the battlefield.

  "If...," Zhao Ziyang said with a bitter tone, stopping in his tracks and saying to the little wild cat: "If possible, I will recommend you to the captain."

  Squad leader Hei Ying, that steady and arrogant leader, might have suffered severe torture at the hands of the US military. For Hei Ying, Zhao Zi Yang had a certain level of respect in his heart, his demeanor was very similar to that of the deceased captain, an absolutely excellent commander.

  What's most important is the faith of Heiying, the squad leader, which makes Zhao Ziyang admire him. But he could never have imagined that he would be betrayed by his former sworn brother, and what's more, so thoroughly, this is a deep sorrow.

  "Hurray!" The little wild cat jumped up happily, did two flips in the air and stood in front of Zhao Ziyang with a red face, saying: "Don't deceive me, don't go back on your word, otherwise I'll run to your house and make a scene!"

  When Zhao Ziyang heard this sentence, he shook his head and glanced at Xiaoyezi without making a sound, as if he had understood something.

  "Ow, toothache..." Xiaoyezi threw away the apple in her hand, covering her mouth with a pained expression on her face and furrowing her pretty eyebrows.

  Eating too many apples will certainly cause toothache, everyone knows this truth.

  "Don't move!" Zhao Ziyang said in a low voice, crouching down to pick up a 7.62mm rifle shell from the ground.

  The shell casing shone with a golden light, and there was still fresh oil on the shell body. The smell of gunpowder inside was very strong, and it could be determined that it was an AK rifle shell casing, which had been fired not long ago.

  "I'm not moving, you see." Xiaoyezi raised her hands, made a bitter face at Zhao Ziyang and pouted, letting him look around in the distance.

  At a distance of about 100 meters away, a team of fully armed Taliban soldiers suddenly appeared. These soldiers wore long robes with ethnic characteristics, wrapped their faces in scarves, and held AK-47 rifles aimed at the two people.

  Apart from this, two Taliban soldiers carrying rocket-propelled grenades were also aiming at them and shouting.

  Zhao Ziyang can roughly understand some of the languages in Afghanistan and can also speak a little. In the past, he had specially studied the official Persian language of Afghanistan in the Northwest Special Forces to meet the needs of some unconventional tasks on the China-Afghanistan border.

  "Raise your hands!" A Taliban militant shouted at Zhao Ziyang in a commanding voice.

  With a loud shout, he raised the AK rifle in his hand and brandished it at Zhao Ziyang, flaunting the power of force in his hands.

  "Don't shoot, I'm a mercenary." Zhao Ziyang raised his hands high above his head, flipping them over once to indicate he had no weapons.

  With a "whoosh", a group of Taliban militants surrounded Zhao Ziyang and Xiaomao, dozens of rifles pressed against various parts of their bodies.

  With a "crack", a Taliban armed man poked the muzzle of his gun at Zhao Ziyang's knee, forcing him to kneel down on the ground.

  As soon as his knees went soft, Zhao Ziyang stood up straight, his waist straightened, he raised his head and puffed out his chest, with an arrogant expression written all over his face.

  Make him kneel? Besides his parents, no one can make his knees bend.

  "You'd better treat me with courtesy, or I won't guarantee that Omar won't chop off your heads." Zhao Ziyang warned the Taliban militiaman in a cold voice, lowering his hands and pushing the gun barrel away from him with his chest, taking a step forward.

  Omar is the Taliban's nearly divine leader, and no one dares to disobey his orders. Omar was one of the earliest to join the holy war against Russian aggression, starting as a rocket artilleryman, fighting bravely and exceptionally, once destroying four Soviet tanks in a single battle. He was wounded four times, losing his right eye in one battle, and was later promoted to deputy commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Army, earning him the nickname "One-Eyed General".

  After the Soviet withdrawal, Afghanistan plunged into warlord infighting. Omar, unwilling to be a mere bystander, recruited students from Islamic schools in Afghan refugee camps in Pakistan and formed the Taliban movement, initially a force of some 800 men.

  The Taliban, meaning "religious students" in Arabic, shouted slogans to eliminate warlords, rebuild the country, oppose ***, and restore commerce, which won the hearts of the people. Many commanders in southern Afghanistan have joined his command, gradually expanding the Taliban into the largest armed faction in the country.

  In March 1996, more than 1,500 Pashtun mullahs from Afghanistan gathered in Kandahar for a two-week shura (consultation) to debate the future of the Taliban movement. They unanimously chose Mullah Omar as their leader, or Amir al-Mu'minin (Commander of the Faithful).

  Umar was chosen as a leader not because of his military or political abilities but because of his piety and devotion to Islam.

  In September of the same year, the Taliban occupied Kabul and quickly occupied 90% of the country's land, establishing the Taliban regime. Omar became the supreme leader who combined political power with spiritual leadership, and all decisions were made by him.

  Later, due to the refusal to hand over the US's most wanted criminal and his own father-in-law Ben Laden, he was invaded by the US military and forced to abandon the town and enter the mountains, continuing to lead the Taliban in a devout holy war with the favorable terrain of the mountains.

  His rights are supreme and also a saint in the heart of Taliban.

  "Do you know our holy Mullah Omar?" a Taliban leader asked Zhao Ziyang with a suspicious look, making an Islamic gesture of piety when mentioning Omar to show his reverence for the sacred Omar.

  "I don't just know him, I also know you're dealing with the US military's siege." Zhao Ziyang confidently faced the opponent's gun muzzle and glanced at Xiaoyezi, who was also pressed against the gun muzzle: "You are waging a holy war, we are waging a war of faith. Maybe you've heard of the undercover mercenary who has been helping you, that's me."

  "Nonsense!" The Taliban leader burst out in anger, shouting loudly: "The infiltrators are our closest allies, they are incredibly powerful, you are Japanese, how can you be an infiltrator?"

  "Damn it!" Zhao Ziyang spat heavily and stood up straighter, proudly saying: "I am Chinese!"

  When they heard the three words "Chinese people", the Taliban leader's facial expression immediately eased a lot. Their enemy is America, China is their friend to some extent and the Chinese government is friendly, at least that's what they think.

  Upon seeing the other's expression, Zhao Ziyang burst out in a loud and clear laughter. He yanked off the soldier's tag from his neck to let the other take a look, then pulled Xiao Yema along as he strode forward with big steps.

  "Lead the way forward, otherwise we'll miss our chance to ambush the Norwegian reinforcements, a responsibility I'm afraid you can't bear."

  Zhao Ziyang's unbridled arrogance had completely bewildered the Taliban leader, who had only heard of sleeper agents but didn't recognize their military ID cards. Moreover, sleeper agents only carried out missions after receiving orders and never made contact with them.

  With victory after victory in battles, as a leader he only knew that much, but also only knew that much.

  The holy war is of the utmost importance. The Taliban leader, with Zhao Ziyang and Xiaoyezi, walked towards their base, but the muzzle was still pointing at the two, without any relaxation.

  "Hey, Zhao Ziyang, you're really something! Why don't we become sworn brothers?" Little Wildcat whispered to Zhao Ziyang, his face full of eagerness.

  "Shh..." Zhao Ziyang whispered to her with a mysterious face: "I'm fooling them, once the fight starts, you run as far as you can, and don't come back to Afghanistan again."

  The little wild cat suddenly showed a face of indignation when she heard this, and she pinched Zhao Ziyang hard, saying angrily: "Do you want to deceive me? Don't even think about it, I'll stick to you!"

  "Hahaha......" Zhao Ziyang burst out laughing, leaving the Taliban militants bewildered.

  Actually, nobody knows the bitterness in Zhao Ziyang's heart. Originally, it was just a task that wasn't very difficult, but now the situation has completely spiraled out of control.

  The entire undercover team was completely dispersed and plunged into a huge crisis that would destroy the group. How could they continue their mission?

  For now, I can only take it one step at a time. After entering the base, I will immediately try to contact Sais and confirm my identity while searching for other hidden mercenaries.

  The mission is likely to be unable to proceed unless the captain is rescued. They can throw away their reputation, but they will not throw away any comrade.