The climate in the Lugo region was humid, and the mountains were dense with vegetation, especially in the summer, the thick forests not only made it easy for people to lose their way, but also made them headache-inducing with bugs and snakes.

Xiang Bei cut off the vines entwined around his legs and grumbled, “Are we going to be cutting grass all night here?”

Several teammates expressed the possibility.

It had been an hour since they entered the mountains, and the area they passed through was calm and uneventful, resulting in this reconnaissance mission gradually turning into a boring weed-clearing activity.

“Pay attention to your headphones,” the team leader reminded them not to let their guard down, “The surrounding teams will inform us if there’s any situation.”

Xiang Bei’s ears were hurting from the headphones, thinking this thing couldn’t be bad, could it?

Suddenly, a strong explosion sounded not far away.

The blast startled the birds resting in the woods, and after a moment of echo, the whole forest returned to a dead silence.

Everyone immediately drew their guns and looked around.

Liang Qiuchi held a night vision telescope in his hand and said in a deep voice, “Nine o’clock from my position, three hundred meters away, someone is lying on the ground, identity unknown.”

Immediately after, a warning came through the headphones of all special forces members from the nearby duty teams.

“Team Four, report, there’s a landmine ambush, someone’s injured! Someone…”

A burst of gunfire suddenly interrupted the warning on the walkie-talkie, and the electric current in the headphones suddenly became noisy, turning into an unbearable electromagnetic whine in just a few seconds.

All the team members immediately took off their headphones and looked solemnly in the same direction—even though the layers of foliage obscured their view, they could still see the flashes of gunfire.

“Rookies One and Two, return the same way to call for reinforcements, the rest follow me.”

The team leader made a decisive decision and rushed towards the direction of the firefight.

Liang Qiuchi carried his rifle with one hand and heavily grasped Xiang Bei’s shoulder, “Be careful later.”

Xiang Bei nodded solemnly, “Don’t worry.”

When they arrived, they found that the enemy’s firepower was even more fierce than estimated.

The squad of about seven or eight people, responsible for suppressing firepower, carried dozens of kilograms of heavy machine guns and mercilessly fired into the surrounding bushes, as if they were determined to kill every living thing in the forest.

Under the intense gunfire, unable to engage directly, Liang Qiuchi and the others could only temporarily take cover in the lower terrain of the depression to avoid the bullets flying over their heads.

They rescued a member of Team Four who had been injured by shrapnel from a landmine, making it difficult for him to move. The other members of Team Four had become separated during the firefight, and their fate was unknown.

Based on the location of the landmine he pointed out, Liang Qiuchi thought for a moment and speculated, “We should be close to where they’re holding the hostages.”

“How so?” asked the leader of Liang Qiuchi’s group.

“Setting up a landmine ambush here, coupled with heavy machine gun suppression, clearly indicates they don’t want anyone to approach,” Liang Qiuchi pointed to the suspected enemy camp location.

Xiang Bei peeked out and saw the guy with the heavy machine gun on the opposite side, still standing on an ammunition box. He couldn’t help but curse, “Does this son of a bitch think bullets are free? With the way he’s shooting, as soon as we show ourselves, we’ll be blasted to bits.”

“Get down!” Liang Qiuchi quickly pushed his head down.

Xiang Bei felt like his face was buried in the dirt, but the sound of bullets whizzing past his helmet made him break out in a cold sweat instantly.

“We can’t stay here for long,” the team leader said in a low voice, “Take out the grenades and smoke bombs, prepare to break through later, split up, one team responsible for escorting the wounded back to safety, one team responsible for attracting firepower, and seize the opportunity to see if we can find their nest.”

After saying this, he looked at Liang Qiuchi, “Rookie Three, dare to come with me?”

Liang Qiuchi nodded, “Of course.”

“Count me in,” Xiang Bei immediately said.

“Alright.” The team leader quickly glanced at his comrades, and everyone was ready.

He took out a grenade, pulled the pin, and counted “three.” After that, several grenades and smoke bombs flew out together, exploding into balls of fire and white smoke in the night-shrouded forest.

The gunfire from the opposite side temporarily stopped, but it was uncertain whether the enemy was injured by the explosion.

The two small teams had to take advantage of this gap in time to act quickly.

Liang Qiuchi and Xiang Bei followed the group leader, crouching low, using the cover of smoke and trees to silently move towards the direction of the camp he had judged.

In less than half a minute, the “rat-tat-tat” of machine gun fire rang out again, even more intense than before!

That heavy machine gun had to be taken out!

The group leader took cover behind a large tree, raised his rifle, aimed at the machine gunner, and pulled the trigger. But the next second, a bullet pierced through the trees and hit the group leader’s left arm.

Xiang Bei quickly dragged him to a safe and concealed area, while Liang Qiuchi quickly fired a shot, hitting the machine gunner on the opposite side, who fell to the ground motionless.

“Let’s go!” Liang Qiuchi and Xiang Bei protected the group leader on either side as they sneaked into the forest. Fortunately, the group leader only suffered a minor scrape on his left arm, nothing serious.

The group leader quickly bandaged the wound to prevent infection, then suddenly asked Liang Qiuchi, “Have you been to ‘Qing Training’? I remember seeing a photo of General Reinis presenting you with a medal there.”

Liang Qiuchi felt a bit helpless, “I don’t think it’s a good time to chat about this now.”

The group leader chuckled lightly, “Just marveling at my good luck, getting a relatively outstanding rookie assigned to my team, good marksmanship.”

Liang Qiuchi suddenly thought of Mo Xin and smiled too, “Some people are even better.”

“Yeah, yeah, you’re all great,” Xiang Bei tried to assert his presence, “I’ve been to ‘Qing Training’ too, and I’m the second one from the right in that photo.”

The group leader patted his shoulder with a smile, “I’ll take a closer look when we get back.”

Xiang Bei grunted, “You better.”

The three continued to move through the forest. Not long after, the trees suddenly became less dense and complex, seeming to show signs of being cut down.

They knew they had found the right place.

Sure enough, within a hundred meters, the view suddenly opened up.

It was a small camp, occupying an area no larger than half a playground, with no walls enclosing it, only two rudimentary wooden “watchtowers” set up on the east and west sides. So the internal situation was clear through the telescope.

There were only two wooden houses in the camp, and about a dozen people sitting around a campfire outside, chatting and laughing, each with a gun.

And on the two watchtowers, there was only one person standing guard.

They didn’t seem to be worried at all about being invaded.

“Weird.” Xiang Bei furrowed his brows and zoomed in on the view of the young man who had just come out of the house with the telescope, “Qiuchi, take a look at who this guy is.”

Liang Qiuchi took the telescope and saw a young man with red hair and wearing a tank top and shorts standing at the door of a wooden house, stretching lazily. He yawned widely, then turned his head casually, allowing Liang Qiuchi to see his face clearly.

It was one of the hostages they were supposed to rescue this time—Roy Reinis.

But his casual posture and relaxed demeanor didn’t match the word “hostage” at all.