Chapter 394: Sudden Situation, Drill Abort
Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation
“I don’t need you to know me.
I don’t need you to recognize me.
I merge my youth into the rivers of our homeland.
The mountains know me.
The rivers know me.
Our homeland will not forget, will not forget me…”
On the rusty railroad tracks, four people carrying guns and backpacks, walking with sticks in hand, singing loudly the song “Our Homeland Will Not Forget.”
Yan Zhiming had learned and sung this song on the train when he first joined the army, and he often sang it in the new recruits’ training camp. However, it wasn’t until he arrived at the Seventh Company, at this border supply station, that he truly embraced this song as his spiritual pillar.
In the wilderness and mountains, there was a weekly supply truck that brought their essential goods.
Apart from that, they hardly saw any other people or vehicles.
It was tough.
The monotonous and lonely environment made him deeply appreciate this song.
In fact, this song was the anthem of their border supply station.
Every day, they would sing and listen to this song, using “Our Homeland Will Not Forget” to help them stay true to their original aspirations.
Now, after singing it once again, Sergeant Yan Zhiming smiled and said, “Alright, stop shouting, brothers. We only have a few kilometers left. Let’s pick up the pace and try to get there before it’s completely dark!”
“Okay… gogo!” Yan Zhiming responded with a smile and started running ahead.
Behind him, the other three didn’t keep up, and someone even jokingly scolded, “Why are you running so fast, kid? Aren’t you tired?”
Yan Zhiming turned back and chuckled, “Hehe, every time I finish singing this song, 1 feel like I’ve been injected with adrenaline. It can at least support me to run three kilometers!”
A private behind him laughed, “Alright then, you go ahead, start the fire at the finish line, and get the food ready.”
“Haha! Let’s forget about that,” Yan Zhiming replied with a smile. “In these deep mountains and forests, I don’t have live ammunition on me. What if 1 make the food smell too good and before you guys arrive, a tiger shows up?”
“Come on, the tigers in western Guangdong have long been extinct,” someone said. “Running into a bear would be more likely, but that’s not necessarily a disaster; it could be considered good luck!”
In the deep mountain jungles of western Guangdong, there were indeed many wild animals. Bears, leopards, wild boars, and the like were not uncommon. However, for soldiers, especially patrolling soldiers like them, the sergeant usually carried a few live rounds, just in case. In a situation like this, if they really encountered a bear charging at them, it would be as if the bear had willingly jumped into the cooking pot.
“Hey hey ha hey, watch my ‘Dugu Nine Swords’!” The four of them laughed and joked as Yan Zhiming, a bit nervously, swung the stick in his hand, hitting some tall grass growing along the railroad tracks.
Of course, this was both play and work.
Patrolling the railroad tracks was one aspect, but they also had to maintain them by clearing away small trees and tall grass.
“Smack! Smack-!”
Suddenly, while Yan Zhiming was having fun with his stick, two sounds from the forest to his right sent shivers down their spines.
And immediately, the “smack! smack!” sounds became more frequent.
At that moment, Yan Zhiming’s stick, which had been swinging, came to a halt.
Behind him, the other three, who had been laughing a moment ago, lost their smiles instantly.
“Quick, be on guard!” the sergeant ordered as he reacted.
“Sergeant!”
Yan Zhiming turned around and urgently whispered, “It’s gunfire. Come over here!”
“Report quickly!” the sergeant said with a serious expression, looking at another private nearby, “Xiao He, send a report!”
They had satellite phones with them, so when the sergeant gave the order, he quickly removed his backpack.
Yan Zhiming was startled by the sergeant’s words, but he immediately dropped the stick, set down his backpack, and started to remove his rifle from its case.
“Sergeant, what should we do?” Yan Zhiming felt a surge of adrenaline in that moment.
He felt nervous, scared, and excited all at once.
When he joined the army, he had imagined many times the scenario where he would confront criminals, subdue them, and earn recognition, eventually reaching the pinnacle of his life.
Especially when he thought of Wang Ye, he often fantasized about achieving feats like him.
But in this remote place, not to mention criminals, they hardly saw any ordinary people.
Yet, unexpectedly, this situation was unfolding now.
Gunshots, and they were not far from the border in this deep mountain forest.
This wasn’t a training area; there was a high likelihood that something real was happening.
“Take one each, remember, don’t fire unless I give the command!” The sergeant didn’t respond to Yan Zhiming’s question. He swiftly removed his own rifle from the backpack and checked that it had an empty magazine.
Then, he took out a magazine from a pouch on his tactical vest.
This magazine contained eight bullets.
Three were blanks, and five were live rounds.
At this moment, he removed three live rounds to give one to each of Yan Zhiming and the other two, while he kept two live rounds and three blanks for himself.
“Pop pop pop-”
In the jungle, the gunshots continued, getting louder and more frequent. It was clear they were from handguns.
The sound was rapidly approaching, and before long, they not only heard gunshots but also angry shouts and screams.
“This is Seventh Company, Seventh Platoon. We are currently on a railroad patrol mission and encountered gunfire. Requesting backup, 1 repeat, requesting backup!”
At this moment, Xiao He managed to contact the regimental headquarters. Without waiting for the other side to speak, he urgently lowered his voice and spoke.
Their unit, despite being small and not even fully staffed, with just six personnel in a squad, had a crucial mission. Each time they went out, they had to leave two members behind as a home guard, with only four members going out.
But they had the capability to directly call the regimental headquarters.
“Almost there!”
In the jungle, Wang Ye pushed aside some foliage and crawled out.
The sky was beginning to darken.
Wang Ye hadn’t brought his backpack; he was only carrying his firearms, ammunition, and thermal imaging equipment.
He stealthily approached the spot where he had discovered the tracks during the day.
Wang Ye began to follow the tracks.
Occasionally, he would scan the surroundings with the thermal imager.
For tonight’s mission, Wang Ye had even replaced the battery in his thermal imager.
If they dared to chase him, then he was definitely going to surprise them tonight.
The long night was ahead, and Wang Ye had rested during the day, so he was fully alert now.
As he continued to track, little did Wang Ye know that in the exercise command room, the Chief of Staff’s expression had changed after receiving a phone call.
“Alright… I’ll arrange it immediately!”
After hanging up the phone, the Chief of Staff looked at Captain Xue, who was also watching him, and said, “Old Xue, we have a sudden situation. The exercise must be stopped immediately, and all the soldiers in our battalion need to be deployed for real combat!”
“What? What’s going on?” Captain Xue asked with a grave expression.
The Chief of Staff didn’t waste any time and quickly explained, “The patrol team from the supply station we visited earlier heard gunfire while patrolling the railroad tracks. Currently, the Iron Bone Hero Battalion is on an external training deployment, and they don’t have a quick means of reinforcement. So, the personnel left behind by the patrol team have contacted the division headquarters.
Now, our division has already ordered armed helicopters to provide support.
But just in case, I also need to assemble our troops to remain on standby. After all, we’re close by, and if the situation isn’t favorable, my soldiers must rush to support immediately!”
“Alright, we, the Mountain Leopards, are also on standby and ready to cooperate!”
“Good!” Nodding, the Chief of Staff looked at the head of the exercise department beside him and said, “Old Lin, the exercise is canceled!”
In this small-scale adversarial exercise, the exercise department hadn’t stationed personnel in the forest. However, controlling the exercise situation was not difficult for the exercise department.
Both reconnaissance soldiers and special forces carried cameras with them.
Moreover, the helmets worn by reconnaissance soldiers and special forces had additional functions. They could receive remote signals from the exercise department.
While direct verbal communication wasn’t possible, these specially designed exercise helmets were equipped with signal receivers, allowing the exercise department to locate them and even remotely activate smoke devices.
For instance, with the Chief of Staff’s words, the head of the exercise department quickly approached a device and pressed a button on top of it.
The next moment, many people in the viewpoints on the big screen appeared visibly surprised.
Naturally, this included Wang Ye.
Smoke?
Wang Ye felt a sensation through his helmet.
Instinctively, he looked up and saw smoke rising above his head as he raised it.
“Fuck!”
Wang Ye muttered a curse and quickly scanned his surroundings.
At that moment, Wang Ye thought he had been set up by someone.
But he hadn’t heard any gunshots at all, had he?
In an instant, Wang Ye realized something was wrong.
Because he suddenly realized that the smoke billowing above his head was not the typical red or blue smoke used to signify casualties in exercises. On the contrary, the smoke that was currently rising was yellow.
Wang Ye’s face changed.
He still remembered when they were issued these helmets; it had been mentioned that if an emergency situation occurred and the exercise department needed to halt the exercise, it wouldn’t produce the usual red smoke for casualties but instead emit yellow smoke.
And when such a situation occurred, everyone had to immediately withdraw from the exercise and return to base.
Fuck!”
Wang Ye muttered a curse and immediately turned to run.
The exercise had been halted.
Something must have gone wrong.
Wang Ye needed to get out of the field and return to base immediately.
In fact, it wasn’t just Wang Ye.
At this moment, all the reconnaissance soldiers from Division A in the entire exercise area had their faces change, and they all started moving.
Simultaneously, the special forces, equipped with remote communication capabilities, received direct verbal orders from Captain Xue at this moment.
“Exit the exercise, there’s a special situation, prepare for real combat!”
In the vast exercise area, as dusk settled in, people were getting a bit panicked.
At the same time, two armed helicopters took off in tandem from the helipad of the division’s helicopter squadron.
Armed helicopters were already present in the exercise area, not just one but several. In addition to armed helicopters, the special forces had even brought transport helicopters.
However, they were all without live ammunition. It was impossible to execute a real mission because in real combat, the enemy wouldn’t be equipped with exercise helmets, and blanks and lasers wouldn’t cause any real harm to them.
“Snap!”
“Don’t move, any of you!”
As Wang Ye began to retreat from the exercise forest, on the other side, Yan Zhiming and his three comrades, led by their sergeant, had already left their backpacks and entered the jungle.
They watched as a group of individuals up ahead turned and fired while fleeing in a panic. The sergeant waved his hand, and then he fired a shot into the air.
A blank warning shot.
The next second, the sergeant stepped forward, pointing his gun at them, and shouted sternly.
Yan Zhiming and the other three did the same, swiftly stepping out from behind cover with their Type 95 rifles aimed at the group.
Although there was only one bullet in each of their guns, their collective presence was quite intimidating.
Clearly, the sudden appearance of these four individuals had startled not only the group they were chasing but also those who had been pursuing them through the jungle.
In the world of illegal activities, especially for those engaged in criminal activities along the border, Chinese soldiers were the ones they feared the most.
However, fear was only momentary.
In the next moment, among the group of individuals fleeing ahead, someone raised their hand and adjusted their handgun, which had originally been aimed behind them.
“Be careful!”
The sergeant immediately lunged toward Yan Zhiming, and in the sound of a gunshot, he tackled him into the grass.
As for the other two privates, they quickly retreated behind cover.
However, one of the privates couldn’t resist and, after taking cover, fired a shot toward the group..