Chapter 1: Top Secret Mission

  Latitude 40.1872, Longitude 90.8239, Tarim Basin, Lop Nur.

  Temperature 46, wind direction southwest, wind speed s, humidity 8%...

  This is the Robb Valley of Lop Nur, where the surface temperature can reach 80 degrees Celsius. There is no vegetation and no life here, making it comparable to the Taklamakan Desert, which is known as the "Sea of Death".

  A six-man team of Chinese special forces escorted two experts in the field of biochemical warfare, moving east at an extremely fast pace. Their faces were covered with sand and dust, their dry lips cracked open with bloody mouths, and their eyes, filled with bloodshot, gleamed with intense fatigue.

  Ten days ago, the Northwest Special Warfare Brigade of China received a top-secret mission to head to the depths of Robo Pu's Cang Long Duan Er to find and escort scientists who had obtained important items in the scientific field back to Base 13.

  A sudden desert storm destroyed their communication equipment, losing contact with headquarters. Under the influence of the storm, the sand dunes underwent large-scale movement, completely changing the terrain and putting them in a desperate situation.

  Under the scorching sun, heat waves rose in the endless desert, forming a misty water-like texture. All sources of water had been exhausted, and they had to trek eastward across the Tarim Basin at the fastest speed possible, searching for humid sand with minimal water content on the edge of the basin to replenish their supplies, and then try to contact headquarters for rescue.

  。

  A palm-sized sealed metal box was tightly held to the chest by a biochemical expert in his fifties, who walked forward with the support of an assistant. Six special soldiers formed a diamond shape around them, escorting them at the center.

  "Captain, this time's mission..." a hoarse voice came out, but was immediately cut off by the captain.

  "Shut up!" The captain glared at the soldier who had spoken, scolding in a low growl: "Don't speak secrets that shouldn't be spoken, don't ask about secrets that shouldn't be known, and don't look at secrets that shouldn't be seen! Zhao Ziyang, after we get back, you're going to copy out the confidentiality agreement a thousand times for me!"

  "Yes!" Zhao Ziyang absolutely obeyed and responded with a "yes", his eyes darting towards the metal box clutched tightly to the chest of the biochemistry expert.

  This time's mission belongs to the highest level of national secrecy, no one knows why they came to this godforsaken place in Robo Bay, and no one knows what is inside the metal box on the chest of the biochemical expert.

  To sum it up, everything went terribly wrong. The sudden storm drove them into desperation: the radio was destroyed, the compass lost its magic, and they could only rely on their legs and a map to get out.

  A sense of unease rose in Zhao Ziyang's heart, and from the captain's anxious eyes, he could also see the same unease.

  Mysterious Robo Lake, mysterious Canglong Duaner.

  "Dr. Sun, we must make a break for it, or else we'll all die in this desert." The captain approached the biochemist, his voice low and urgent with an unmistakable demand.

  At least 200 kilometers away from the edge of the basin, if they continue at this speed, it will take at least five days to get out. And in these five days, without water sources, they will lie in the desert and become mummies one by one.

  Dr. Sun forced a difficult smile, his blood-stained lips quivering slightly, but nothing came out. His right hand clutched the metal box on his chest tightly, showing that what was inside was more important than anything else.

  "Zhao Ziyang!"

  "Arrived!"

  "Support Dr. Sun's expedition!"

  Yes

  ！”

  Zhao Ziyang immediately reached out to support Dr. Sun, and together with the assistant, they rushed forward with him. The deep and shallow footprints behind them were connected in a string, and then filled with sand blown by the dry wind, completely placing them in the desolate sandy sea.

  The scorching sun pitilessly scorched them, and the dry sandstorm ceaselessly swept away the remaining water molecules in their bodies. Their dehydrated bodies, under intense sprinting, made their panting heavier and heavier. With each heavy breath, more and more of their body's water molecules flowed away. But they couldn't stop; once they stopped, they might not be able to get up again, waiting for thirst to snatch away their lives.

  The heat haze shimmering on the surface of the distant beach grew thicker, giving them an illusion that they were in the midst of a turbulent sea. The emergence of this illusion proved that their physical strength had been severely depleted and they could only rely on their willpower to persevere.

  If we keep this speed up, maybe we can reach the edge of the basin before our bodies collapse, and maybe even meet the team heading to Robb Glacier...

  A line of figures appeared in the southwest, becoming clearer and clearer, even the canteens hanging from their camouflage uniforms could be seen.

  Some people have water sources, some people have hope!

  Eight people almost simultaneously stuck out their tongues and gently licked their lips, staring intently at the figure walking towards them from afar.

  The dry cracked lips and the sand in their mouths were rolled into a ball by their tongues and chewed, using the power of chewing to dispel all negative reactions from their bodies.

  All kinds of ethnic groups, Belleville 550ST desert combat boots, Desert MCCUU, M4-A1 carbine...

  "Take cover! Mercenaries!" The captain suddenly let out a low and urgent roar.

  The special forces instantly lay down on the sandy ground, occupying the sand dune bunker, holding their guns in a shooting position, with their eyes deeply sunken into their eye sockets, radiating a fierce light of combat.

  Here appeared fully armed international mercenaries, obviously for them the iron box taken out of the abdomen of the Azure Dragon.

  What on earth is inside the iron box that can attract international mercenaries?

  No one knows, no one is supposed to know, it's top secret, they have no clearance to know.

  "No, this is false, this is a mirage."

  "Dr. Sun struggled to get up from under Zhao Ziyang's arm, gazing at the mercenary troops in the distance, and smiled self-deprecatingly: "I've been going into the desert so often that I'm almost jumping from the field of biology to the natural world."

  As Dr. Sun's words faded away, that team of fully armed international mercenaries gradually faded from everyone's sight, eventually disappearing without a trace.

  That's right, this is a mirage.

  The special forces who had a narrow escape got up from the sandy ground, panting heavily, their nerves still tense from the brief moment before, once again consuming what little physical strength they had left.

  "This is a mirage." Dr. Sun's eyes remained fixed on the southwest, his face worried as he said: "Usually, the refraction of a mirage is opposite, objects that appear in the southwest should actually be in the northeast."

  "Distance?" Captain asked Dr. Sun with a furrowed brow.

  "Maybe tens of kilometers, maybe hundreds of kilometers. But the depth of this desert is usually around 8 to 9.5 kilometers." Dr. Sun said, touching the metal box on his chest, and took a deep breath as he looked at the exhausted special forces soldiers.

  With a flick, the captain stretched out his left hand in a grasping motion. The team members received the hand signal and immediately approached the captain.

  "Keep going east!" The captain's hoarse voice rang out, his eyes gazing deeply into the eastern distance. "The current situation doesn't allow us to change our route, get ready for encounters and ambush battles!"

  With a sudden movement, Zhao Ziyang stood up and grabbed the young assistant's collar, gritting his teeth and growling in a low voice: "If you want to stay alive, tell me the importance of this thing you've found. Otherwise..."

  The assistant took a glance at Dr. Sun's figure in front of him, swallowed hard and nodded to signal Zhao Ziyang to release him.

  Zhao Ziyang loosened his grip on his assistant's arm, his eyes fixed intently on him.

  "This thing could potentially turn the entire scientific community upside down." The assistant said this and then caught up with Dr. Sun.

  Zhao Ziyang met the captain's gaze, nodded to the captain, and then continued to support Dr. Sun as they moved forward with deep and shallow steps, and all personnel became extremely vigilant.

  Zhao Ziyang's mind flashed with scenes of mirages, faces of people of all colors appearing before his eyes.

  He particularly noticed the emblem on the mercenary's upper arm in the mirage: a horizontal diamond shape with an inverted V pattern embedded below, somewhat resembling a telescope and also like two eyes staring at you.

  This pattern has never been seen before, giving people a very strange feeling. A ominous premonition swirls around Zhao Ziyang's clock, the sixth sense seems to be warning him of the existence of danger.

  A group of people rushed eastward for several kilometers and entered a basin surrounded by two sand dunes. To get through, they had to cross the extremely low-lying basin and then climb over the opposite sand dune to continue on their way.

  This low-lying basin made the squad feel uneasy: if there were enemies ambushing on the opposite mountain, they would be completely exposed to the other's gunfire when entering the basin, and would be picked off one by one without any accident.

  The captain made a stopping gesture, lay on the sand dune and took out binoculars to carefully observe the terrain in front of him.

  A vast expanse of deathly stillness, with nothing but yellow sand as far as the eye can see, devoid of any living thing.

  "Zhao Ziyang protects Dr. Sun, the rest of you take turns covering!"

  As the captain's order was issued, four special soldiers presented an alternate cover formation, gunning towards the basin and moving quickly to open up a path for the mission objective behind them.

  Zhao Ziyang, lying on the sand dune, bit his cracked lips and held up his rifle tightly, staring at the opposite sand dune through the sight. Nothing unexpected happened, and the five team leaders entered the flat area in the center of the basin smoothly, preparing to cross the plain and climb up the opposite sand dune to ensure safety.

  The team leader and his men became extremely cautious as they entered the flat basin, with five people fanning out to face the sand dunes ahead, guns at the ready, advancing stealthily in tactical steps. This terrain was the most dangerous, and if they had a choice, they would never have entered this kind of terrain that completely exposed themselves.

  "Ten o'clock direction safe!"

  "Eleven o'clock direction is safe!"

  "Direction of one o'clock is safe!"

  "Two o'clock direction safe!"

  The captain in the center of the fan-shaped formation waved his hand, indicating to continue advancing, with the muzzles always pointing upwards to prevent sudden ambushes.

  A scorching gust of wind blew in, and the golden sand rolled like flowing water under its action, filling up the inconspicuous pits on the sandy ground, making it flat, smooth and glossy.

  。

  The captain suddenly stopped in his tracks, his eyes fixed intently on a small depression in front of him, with a sharp, dagger-like glint in his pupils. This depression was absolutely not formed naturally, but...

  With a "hiss" sound, the originally silent sand layer suddenly burst open, and several figures rushed out of the sand.

  Bang!

  The team leader who discovered the anomaly shot without hesitation, killing the figure that had emerged in front of him. However, a teammate on his left was not so lucky. His ankle was grabbed by a pair of large hands protruding from the sand and he was dragged to the ground.

  A "plop" sound was heard, and the team member who had fallen onto the sandy beach looked up with an incredulous expression, blood flowing from the corner of his mouth, and his head hung heavily down.

  "Old Xu!!!!" The team leader, who had personally witnessed his comrade being stabbed in the heart by the enemy under the sand, had a dark face with bulging blue veins, and his face was full of ferocious and painful anger.

  "Charge!" A loud cry came from a comrade beside him, his rifle knocked out of his hand by the ambushing enemy, he drew his bayonet and stabbed fiercely at the enemy.

  "Whoosh", the bayonet plunged into his abdomen, twisting clockwise with a fierce stir and pulling out with force. The enemy's blood gushed out along the wide blood groove, and the intestines scraped by the serrated blade were pulled out and scattered on the ground, staining the golden sand instantly dark red.

  At the same time, two other team members were entangled with the remaining two enemies, fiercely pulling out their military knives and stabbing them into each other's bodies.

  "Pffft! Pffft! Pffft! Pffft!……" A team member named Mengzi stabbed the enemy's body again and again with a fierce knife, his face stained with blood splattered out, looking eerie.

  "Get out!!!" The captain let out a roar and flipped over Old Xu's body with one hand, stretching out his left hand to grab into the yellow sand.

  "Hsss..." A military knife emerged from the sand and pierced through the palm of the captain's hand that was about to grab it.

  "ROAR!!!!!" The captain, whose palm was pierced from the middle, let out a beast-like roar, and with great force pressed his left palm down on the hilt of the knife, his five fingers gripping the opponent's right hand like steel bars.

  "Out!!!" Along with the captain's repeated roar, a grayish-yellow figure was pulled out by him single-handedly, exposed in mid-air.

  "Kaba"

  ！”

  The captain threw down the rifle in his hand and punched the opponent's ribs with a loud crack, sending out a crisp sound of broken bones, and instantly knocked the enemy to his waist.

  The military knife was snatched from the captain's bloody left hand and, in a precise arc, stabbed into the opponent's neck.

  A sharp blade sliced through the air, a bright red blood spurted out of the pierced neck artery, splashing onto the disordered sandy ground.

  Bang, a gunshot rang out, and an enemy who had been hiding in the sand dunes suddenly pounced on the captain, only to be shot right between the eyebrows. Brain matter and blood flowed down from the bullet hole, and he fell heavily onto the sandy ground.

  Zhao Ziyang narrowed his eyes, trying to suppress the strong glare in the scope, looking for any possible enemy.

  Charge!

  The captain pulled out a general's sword from his left palm with a ferocious face, and rushed up the mountain with a corpse. The remaining three team members each carried a corpse in front of them to block the bullets shot at them.

  Bang!

  The dull sound of the sniper rifle added to the deathly stillness of the desert, and the heavy bullet that flew out made a sharp whistling sound as it rubbed against the air, like the howl of the devil in Lop Nur.

  The special forces soldier at the forefront was suddenly pushed to the ground by a great force, and as soon as he touched the blood, flowers burst out from his back, sprinkling onto the sandy beach in starry dots.

  "Armor-piercing bullet!"

  "Stack the corpses!!!" The captain let out a roar, stretching out his hand to throw the corpse in front of him. The remaining two special soldiers immediately stacked up the corpses in their hands after hearing the order, forming a small barricade.

  Zhao Ziyang quietly lay on the sand dune, narrowing his eyes and holding a rifle to wait for the opponent's sniper to shoot again.

  The vast desert fell into a dead silence after a brief chaos, both sides were quietly waiting, waiting for who would lose patience first.

  At this time, the sun was hanging in the west, and the light was shining directly on the east. Zhao Ziyang held his breath to find the sniper's hand. He lightly licked his dry, cracked lips, and then used his tongue to roll up the fine sand that had entered his mouth, slowly chewing it to counteract the high temperature of the ground he was bearing and the visual impact of the golden yellow in front of him.

  。

  Dr. Sun and his assistant stuck tightly to the sandy beach under Zhao Ziyang's feet, not daring to move, with thick terror in their eyes.

  Suddenly, Zhao Ziyang's left eye felt a sense of discomfort, this discomfort made him immediately turn the muzzle towards his own left front sand mountain: reflection, the opponent sniper's telescopic sight reflection!

  The opponent's sniper moved the sniping point after, and there was no intentional hiding action. He locked Zhao Zi Yang, with a sure win. Because he knew from the gunshot that Zhao Zi Yang was a rifle assault hand, and his words to him only had one dead end.

  "Bang!" Zhao Ziyang instantly pulled the trigger, and the 5.8mm 95-style rifle bullet flew out of the barrel, whizzing towards the opponent's sniper.

  With a "crack", the reflection disappeared, the sniper's scope was shattered, his right eye became a bloody hole, and half of the shattered eyeball hung on his face, dripping with blood...

  "Sniper? Ha! I'm a assault specialist who only plays with rifles." Zhao Ziyang spat out the yellow sand from his mouth.

  Bang! Bang!

  Two muffled and violent sniper rifle shots rang out, two team members hiding behind the body shield were heavily buried in the sand pile, with a terrifying blood hole torn open on their chest.

  Anti-materiel weapon!

  Bang! Bang! Bang!

  At the same time, several sniper rifles simultaneously suppressed Zhao Ziyang with suppressive fire, and the bullets shaved off a layer of sand in front of him, making it impossible for him to lift his head.

  Yang Zi withdrew...

  Bang!

  The corpse was shattered by a anti-materiel rifle's heavy bullet, the captain's shoulder was blown open, and he fell heavily to the ground. The gushing blood flowed into the sand, quickly absorbed by the greedy dry land, leaving behind a shocking dark red stain.

  "Captain!!!!!" Zhao Ziyang let out a pained howl.

  They're all dead... All of them are dead...

  "Ahhh!!!......" Zhao Ziyang let out a beast-like desperate howl, his rifle creaking in his grasp.

  He shot a deep glance at the mercenary who had just killed his target and stood up as if nothing had happened, then Zhao Ziyang grabbed Dr. Sun and ran in the direction they came from.

  。

  Bang!

  "Pffft!"

  A streak of fresh blood spurted onto Zhao Ziyang's neck, the assistant's head was pierced, and his body rolled down the mountain slope.

  "Little Ding......" Seeing the assistant's body roll down from his feet, Dr. Sun let out a trembling cry, he wanted to use his hand to pull his assistant's body back, but was pulled back by Zhao Ziyang.

  "Listen up!" Zhao Ziyang's face twisted in a scowl as he shouted at Dr. Sun, "I don't care if you can move or not, you must keep up with my pace, otherwise the next one to die will be you!"

  Dr. Sun seemed not to have heard Zhao Ziyang's words, he seemed to be stunned by the scene in front of him, and only kept grieving.

  With a loud "slap", Zhao Ziyang slapped Dr. Sun's face and shouted at him: "If it weren't for saving you, would my comrades have died? You only lost one assistant, but I lost five comrades!!! Let me tell you, I've run out of patience, if you can't keep up, I'll complete this task in my own way!"

  As he said this, Zhao Ziyang's face turned blue with rage. Five comrades were instantly shot in the head by a sniper rifle, driving him mad.

  His way is simple, kill Dr. Sun and escape with the mission items!

  The metal box was stuffed into Zhao Ziyang's hands, Dr. Sun sat weakly on the sand dune, his eyes filled with reluctance and pain.

  "I'm getting old, I really can't run anymore." Dr. Sun gazed at the metal box with infinite nostalgia and said to Zhao Ziyang: "Take this thing back, you must take it back, maybe with it, our country's biochemical field will leap to the top of the world. It's just that I won't have the chance to see it again..."

  "Damn it!" Zhao Ziyang cursed, pulled out a handgun and handed it to Dr. Sun, his eyes fixed on him cruelly and said: "You'd better choose to commit suicide, if not, I'll give you a bullet!"

  Dr. Sun nodded at Zhao Ziyang, a hint of a bitter smile on his face that seemed like relief.

  Things cannot fall into the hands of the enemy, and researchers also cannot fall into the hands of the enemy.

  "Bang"

  ！”

  Zhao Ziyang, who was running wildly, heard a gunshot coming from behind him. His body shook and he bit his lip tightly as he continued to run wildly.

  The task must go on, it's his duty.

  Just as Zhao Ziyang was running wildly between the two sand dunes into the flat desert terrain, he fell into despair. He saw another international mercenary team appearing in front of him and moving quickly towards him.

  Ambush in front, pursuit behind, there's no way to escape. Zhao Ziyang pulled out the metal box from his chest and pried it open with a military knife: Mission failed, destroy mission items!

  A sealed metal box quietly holds a piece of emerald green leaves, the green is dazzling, and the whole body emits a luster of life.

  Despairing sorrow surged up in Zhao Ziyang's heart, he wanted to cry, but his body's moisture couldn't squeeze out a single tear: was the top-secret mission he had risked his life for just this piece of paper? Top-secret mission...

  With one mouthful, Zhao Ziyang swallowed the leaves and stood up with a gun, revealing a crazy and ferocious smile on his face.

  "Damn it, come on, hahaha...". Zhao Ziyang laughed like a madman, holding his rifle and firing forward.

  "Rat-a-tat-tat..." The sound of gunfire rang out, but the bullets flew off in all directions, losing their mark and soaring into the sky.

  "Uggghhh..." A pained voice escaped Zhao Ziyang's mouth as his entire body went limp and collapsed to the ground, a wave of intense burning sensation spreading from his abdomen, as if it was going to melt him whole.

  A scorching sensation flashed through the body, stimulating every pore to expand to its limit, yet unable to escape from the pores, and instead returned again to burn every nerve and blood vessel.

  "Huh...... Ah......!!!!!!"

  Zhao Ziyang was rolling around on the ground in agony, trying to use this action to resist the volcanic eruption of burning lava inside his body. He felt like he was about to explode, with the fresh blood in his blood vessels completely boiling over, and a nameless thing stirring restlessly inside him, as if it was about to break through the seal that had been holding it back for years.

  "ROAR!!!!!" Suddenly, Zhao Ziyang fell to the ground on his knees and let out a loud roar, unable to bear it any longer.

  He saw the mercenary across from him open fire on himself and then pass over him. The entire world was a cacophony of gunfire...