Thunder Warrior Saves the World

Page 42

"If Lieutenant Alice is still alive and not controlled by the Belken, then she should be at this location." Soon, Alice's movements were predicted by the operations center, and their estimated location was also a small hill three kilometers away.

"Have Beatrix go take a look around there," Lu Wu instructed. "The reconnaissance company and Spetznaz can set off first. The reconnaissance company will be responsible for searching the crash site, and Spetznaz will go to the high ground."

"Understood." Valerio and Sergeyev accepted the order and immediately headed to the airport to prepare for deployment.

Alice, who had become the most sought-after person in the area, had now arrived at the foot of the small hill. Her water bottle was long gone, and her throat was so dry that even swallowing saliva felt like swallowing razor blades. So when she saw the clear stream, she could barely contain her joy. The girl rushed over, squatted down, and immediately filled the bottle again. Then she broke off a water purification tablet and dropped it in. She only needed to wait a few minutes before she could safely drink the water. Alice looked up at the summit, estimating that it would only take her ten minutes or so to climb up…

She heard a rustling sound beside her, which sent a chill down her spine. She quickly glanced at the stream and saw a Belken man with a rifle silently approaching from behind! Their eyes met without warning.

"She's here!" Belken didn't pull the trigger, but shouted and pounced on the pilot in front of him, trying to subdue her.

With her rifle slung over her back and her pistol still in its holster, Alice, in a moment of desperation, grabbed her water bottle and hurled it—striking him squarely in the face! The man screamed and fell to the side. Alice swiftly swung the rifle forward, instantly shouldering it, aiming, and pulling the trigger. The splash of red and white matter was quickly diluted by the trickling water from the bottle.

"Schei?e腫＇§zhUANqUn：救肆〖'≌∪樲⊥¤4叁叁<:0≈÷5!" Alicetina kicked the corpse on the ground in anger, ignored the water bottle, grabbed her gun, and rushed up the mountain. Although she hadn't seen the Belken soldier's companion yet, it was clear they couldn't be far away.

Trying to outlast these professional infantrymen in a physical contest? She had no such overconfident idea. Besides, she didn't know how many Belken soldiers had arrived. Her only option was to seize the high ground, use the firepower advantage of automatic weapons to suppress the enemy, and hold out until Beatrix arrived—by the way, the people from the base should have followed her trail here by now, right? If all else failed, she could hold out until nightfall before starting her attack.

Just as she reached the halfway point up the mountain, she saw the rubble at her feet suddenly explode, and gunfire erupted behind her. Alice turned around and her heart skipped a beat. About thirty Belken soldiers had appeared at the foot of the mountain; some were firing at her, while others were chasing her!

The Belken soldiers were very accurate, their bullets almost always hitting her in the direction she was moving, clearly intending to block her path. It seemed she couldn't advance without eliminating these Belken soldiers. Alice was certain they wouldn't kill her easily, so she ignored the bullets coming from behind and dove behind a protruding boulder, using it as cover to prepare for a counterattack.

Volume 1: Chapter 230 Chapter 214 Going Home (1)

Alice carefully peeked out from behind cover, setting the fire selector of her AKS-74U to single-shot mode. She aimed at a Belken soldier who was crouching low and crawling toward her, then pulled the trigger.

The man fell to the ground with a thud, tumbling down the hillside and leaving a trail of blood on the rocky slope. Although his limbs still seemed to be moving slightly, Alice had struck him in the lung, and he was unlikely to survive.

The Belken seemed to have taken aback that even a single woman would dare to stop and fight back. For a moment, they were caught off guard and some of them fell to the ground, while others tried to retaliate, suppressing Alice's firepower and creating conditions for their companions to advance. However, Alice had now taken up the high ground and was almost entirely hidden behind that protruding boulder. The Belken, with their heads tilted back, could hardly see where Alice was. Their so-called retaliatory fire was naturally just a haphazard effort, all for the sake of showing off their momentum.

At first, Alice was genuinely stunned by the scene, partly due to the shock of the earlier accident. But she quickly realized that the bullets from those bastards below were nowhere near her range. Somewhat enraged, the girl switched the fire selector back to full automatic, leaned out halfway, and opened fire on the Belken men who were pulling the bolt. She wasn't greedy; after taking down one man, she immediately retreated behind a rock. Sure enough, a bullet from the foot of the mountain whizzed past her head, nearly grazing her helmet.

Now the Belkens didn't dare to be as reckless as before, and immediately switched to standard alternating cover advances. Fortunately, they were few in number and were still using traditional bolt-action rifles. In addition, they were attacking from a low position to a high position, which gave Alice a chance to counterattack.

She heard the Belken people below shouting something in their gibberish, but she didn't listen at all. She figured it was just another tactic to lure her into surrendering or to utter some threats. Alice thought to herself that she needed to take out the sixth man who was holding the gun at the foot of the mountain before she could even get to the top. If she kept hiding behind this rock, she was doomed sooner or later.

However, shooting at a humanoid target at the foot of the mountain from this position was indeed quite difficult for her—Alice Tina estimated that it was about two hundred meters from the foot of the mountain, which was already beyond the effective range of the AKS-74U, not to mention that her short assault rifle was just a bare gun without any accessories, and she could only rely on iron sights to challenge the limits.

But she had to try, she couldn't just stay behind the rock and leave everything to fate. However, before pushing her limits, she had to deal with a "small matter."

Alice pulled out the only grenade she had, released the pin, and threw it at the scattered Belken men below. After the grenade exploded, she didn't even check how much she had accomplished. She leaned out, quickly pointed her rifle at the group of old men at the foot of the hill, and swiftly pulled the trigger.

The sudden explosion did successfully divert the attention of the group of thugs, but Alice's marksmanship was really just so-so. This burst of fire only took down two people. After seeing their comrades fall, the remaining thugs reacted and launched an attack on her as well.

At this distance, the Belken's bolt-action rifle was clearly superior to the assault rifle in terms of accuracy. From the moment she was hit until now, Alice's luck seemed to have finally run out. A rifle bullet struck her shoulder, and the AKS-74U instantly slipped from her hand. Alice's body was also propelled by the kinetic energy of this full-power rifle bullet, and she fell behind the rocks.

The oozing blood quickly stained the flight suit around her shoulder a deeper color. Seeing the gushing blood, the girl finally felt the pain. She frantically rummaged through her personal medical kit with her left hand, finding scissors, styptic powder, and bandages scattered on the floor. Alice grabbed a large orange pair of scissors and roughly cut open the fabric covering the gunshot wound. She then tore open a packet of styptic powder with her teeth and fingers and slapped it onto the wound.

"Ugh..." The moment the hemostatic powder came into contact with the wound, the girl's body trembled as if electrocuted, and a trembling sound escaped her lips. Fortunately, the bullet had only grazed a piece of flesh off her arm and hadn't damaged any arteries or veins. As the hemostatic powder combined with the blood and coagulated, the bleeding was quickly brought under control. But the burning sensation that followed made her lips turn white, and barely able to feel her right hand, she injected herself with morphine.

The powerful analgesic and sedative effects of the opioids took effect quickly, allowing her to draw her GSH-18 from its holster. This pistol had an 18-round magazine, enough to take a few more of those fascist thugs down with her if they appeared in front of her.

But that simple action of drawing her gun caused the blood clot that had just formed on her wound to burst open, and fresh blood gushed out again. Alice had to tear open another packet of styptic powder and sprinkle it on. After she finished dealing with everything, the girl, feeling a little dazed and even experiencing mild tinnitus, suddenly realized: Why haven't these Belken people come up yet?

Alice peeked out curiously and saw that the Belken men were less than ten meters away, but their eyes weren't on her, and their faces showed panic. Instinctively, she raised her pistol and fired a shot at the riflemen standing with their doors wide open.

Like the first domino to fall, gunshots rang out in quick succession. The Belken men who had surrounded her abandoned their plan to capture or kill Alice and turned to run. Alice, witnessing this bizarre scene, hesitated, unsure whether to fire a few more shots. But the increasingly loud ringing in her ears made her abandon the idea.

"Boom boom boom boom..." Fire rained down from the sky, and the retreating Belken soldiers exploded in front of her like tomatoes being crushed, releasing large swaths of red mist, and bloodstains instantly covered large areas of rubble.

No, this isn't tinnitus, the sound is coming from... the sky!

She suddenly realized this, and looked up sharply, only to see a sky-blue Il-2 attack aircraft pulling up its fuselage! No wonder the Belken soldiers had retreated so abruptly; it was her. Alice breathed a sigh of relief, tossing aside the flare she had just pulled the pin on, and orange-red smoke immediately billowed into the sky.

Seeing the figure waving its arms behind the giant rock, Beatrix shook the wing. "Command, this is 'Werewolf.' I've found Alice. The target is alive and well. We need helicopter support. Coordinates..."

……you

It's highly likely you've tested positive for COVID-19 twice. Everyone, please take good care of yourselves.

Volume 1: Chapter 231 (Part 2)

Heinrich's face remained expressionless as he watched the Amelia military aircraft circling overhead.

Upon receiving notification from his subordinates that the Amelia pilot had been spotted, he immediately led his team to the scene. However, he hadn't expected the Amelia's aircraft to find its target so quickly. His entire platoon was easily wiped out by the two-tone painted plane in the sky.

"Sir, news has come from the rear that they've spotted more Amelia planes approaching." Marshall returned from the rear of the column. The 8th Company was currently concealed in a ravine next to the small hill, where a naturally formed cave could accommodate nearly two hundred men. Of course, now only about a hundred remained. Marshall licked his lips and added, "There must be about ten of them, many of them being large enough to take off and land vertically and carry people."

"Let's retreat, we've lost our chance." Heinrich shook his head, his decision decisive.

“Is this a good idea? This is an order directly from headquarters. If we just go back like this…” Marshall stopped mid-sentence. Many people were secretly listening to what they were saying. In this situation, it was best to avoid saying anything that could undermine unity.

“There’s no chance if we stay here,” Heinrich said, looking at the conspicuous orange-red smoke halfway up the mountain. “How long do you think we, a hundred or so men, can hold out against so many planes? On that little hill, can we even last five minutes?”

"No." Marshall answered without hesitation, after all, when it came to matters of life and death, we had to be truthful.

"That's it. Continuing to hold on will only increase casualties."

But Marshall still hesitated. He lowered his voice again, "What about command? We've come here and done nothing but watch the Amelia take the pilot away. If the higher-ups find out, they'll be in big trouble..." He almost whispered in Heinrich's ear, "What I mean is, organize a group of people and try again. If it doesn't work, so be it. That way, we'll at least have an explanation."

Heinrich's gaze made Marshall very uncomfortable. He quickly explained, "Sir, think about it. The higher-ups assigned this task to us, but we messed it up. They'll definitely have something to say. If it's a big deal, and they think we were just fooling around, they might get angry and send us to be part of the suicide squad. That wouldn't be fair to the whole company. But if they know we really did our best, it wouldn't be easy to punish us, right?"

"This is all for the sake of all the brothers in the company," he added at the end, subtly gesturing towards the two of them.

Heinrich wasn't fooled by this seemingly plausible argument. He knew exactly what this man was up to. All that talk about it being unfair to the whole company, about the company's best interests at heart—it was all bullshit. He just wanted to use some men's lives to secure their own future.

“I’ll take the responsibility.” He didn’t intend to take Marshall’s advice. It wasn’t that he disliked such behavior, but rather that he felt it wasn’t worth it. Marshall’s speculation wasn’t entirely unreasonable; Marshall was a seasoned veteran, adept at understanding his superiors’ intentions. But he saw things more comprehensively than Marshall. Failing to capture the pilot was indeed a mistake from the higher-ups’ perspective, and repercussions were inevitable. However, he hadn’t been without merit; they had discovered the wreckage and taken timely measures to actively salvage it. Based on that alone, they were unlikely to face any substantial punishment.

He's already in his thirties, and he doesn't want to remain a junior officer until retirement. In wartime, to climb the ranks, you have to demonstrate ability; everything else is secondary. This mission, for example, is clearly doomed. If he were to push it up the ranks according to Marshall's approach, it would only give the generals who actually hold power a bad impression of being "simple-minded and inflexible." Marshall's theory of "attitude first, ability second" might have some traction in peacetime, but it doesn't work now.

Of course, there's no need to state these reasons now, so he simply expressed his attitude, setting the tone for the next steps.

Well, since the real decision-maker had said so, Marshall could only accept it and begin arranging the evacuation. After all, if the sky were to fall, Heinrich would be the one to hold it up. Before long, the 8th Company was ready to go. Before leaving, Heinrich took one last look at the mountainside, where more than a dozen figures had already appeared. The large plane that Marshall had mentioned, capable of going straight up and down, was already hovering in mid-air, slowly descending.

Upon arriving at the battlefield, Spetznaz quickly established a circular defensive line centered on Alice to cover the landing of the Mi-8 helicopter. As soon as the helicopter came to a stop, the medics rushed out and immediately went to Alice's side, carrying her onto the helicopter.

The whole process went extremely smoothly, and no one bothered them until the last person, Spetznaz, boarded the helicopter.

"Major, news from command," the pilot in the cockpit shouted to Sergeyev behind him, "There's been fighting at the crash site. We need to change course and go around there. Also, some of the escorting Hinds will be diverted to support the reconnaissance company's operations!"

“Okay, I understand,” Sergeyev replied loudly in return. He pressed PTT (a popular Taiwanese online forum) to inform the people behind him of the message, and also inquired about the current status of their target.

According to the medical corps, this guy's wound treatment technique wasn't very good; it might leave a scar. Considering Alice is a pilot, a scar could cause some problems… However, for Alice, this might be the least serious of the issues she'll face. A large part of the reason things turned out this way is Alice's disobedience and acting on her own initiative—a serious taboo in any country. Well, only the Showa-era Japanese military, with its tradition of overthrowing superiors, and the purely fictional air force filled with female data workers whitewashing the situation and vagrant young men, would take this seriously, or even be proud of it.

Sergeyev figured that confinement and suspension were just appetizers; a full-scale reprimand was probably inevitable. As for disciplinary action, a warning or serious warning were clearly inappropriate; a demerit would be the minimum. If Iristina weren't just a second lieutenant, a demotion might have been possible (demotion is generally not applied to second lieutenants). Fortunately, nothing went wrong during the rescue operation that caused further losses or casualties; otherwise, she might have had to be transferred from her original unit to another non-combat unit.

……

I forgot to set up automatic updates.

Volume 1: Chapter 232 (About the Side Story)

Some readers in the group have expressed a desire to see the sequel to the Middle East side story.

Let's see if everyone wants to read the second half of the side story. After all, in terms of timeline and setting, during the Middle East conflict, the 7th Guards Brigade was still in its infancy (likely referring to a specific type of military force), and there wasn't any significant technological advantage at that time. The two sides were generally evenly matched.

I can write, but if I spend all my time writing side stories, then updating the main story will definitely be delayed.

If you want to see how to travel with Middle Eastern Afghans, type 1 here.

If you want to see the mad scholar Belken, type 2 here.

Volume 1: Chapter 233 (Two Hundred and Sixteen Chapters)

Is this the end?

Princess Rosa was deeply shocked to see the blonde girl being helped off the helicopter.

Although this wasn't the first time she'd witnessed the sheer efficiency of Amelia's speed, and she'd even experienced it firsthand, observing the situation from an outsider's perspective gave her a much clearer understanding of the 7th Brigade's remarkable rapid response—from confirming the pilot's loss of contact to pinpointing their location and completing the rescue, it all took just over two hours. In that short time, the Kingdom of Elgia probably hadn't even come up with a clear plan on how to assist them in rescuing the pilot.

Nine medical staff immediately rushed over. Although Alice herself was fine, they insisted on putting her on a stretcher and taking her to the medical center. Davis's men followed quickly. Alice was back, but their work wasn't over yet.

Some of the things Alice mentioned during the plane crash seem very strange.

The deliberately concealed convoy heading south, the somewhat practical anti-aircraft vehicles—and the fact that these vehicles weren't deployed to the constantly bombed north, but rather to the south—all these factors warranted their attention and further investigation. Compared to this, Alice's disobedience seemed less significant. In fact, it could be argued that without Alice's defiance, by the time the subsequent reconnaissance planes arrived at the coordinates, the Belken would likely have already found new hiding places, and they might not have even noticed the Belken's unusual behavior.

Of course, this discovery will not affect the 7th Brigade's final assessment of Alice's punishment. Merit is merit, and demerit is demerit; merit and demerit must be clearly distinguished in the military. Those who deserve rewards should be rewarded, and those who deserve punishment should be punished. There can be no playing the game of offsetting merits and demerits.

From Alice, they learned about the series of events that occurred after the loss of contact, but they didn't gain any more useful information about the mysterious convoy. After all, after being outmaneuvered by AA, Alice had focused all her energy on piloting the aircraft. This discovery initially frustrated the intelligence team, but at least they could determine one thing—the Belken weren't as focused on the north as they appeared; their subtle movements in the south indicated they were planning something there.

But what was the purpose of these actions? Was it to divert their attention? Or had Belken truly shifted its main attack direction? They couldn't make a reasonable judgment yet. This discovery forced them to adjust their original reconnaissance plan, allocating more resources to the south. This news was also relayed to friendly forces, with the intention of hoping that the Kingdom's army would increase its investment in the south to avoid being caught in a situation where one side was neglected while the other was engaged.

After exchanging information, the battle at the crash site in Valerio also ended. The large firebreak cleared by the Belken soldiers proved invaluable; the Belken soldiers working below had few cover options and nowhere to hide from the Hind helicopter fire. After a round of clearing, only a few Belken soldiers remained at the crash site still breathing. The scouts who went down to the ground realized there was no real need for them to come down—after the pilot was picked up by the helicopter, their task became ensuring the destruction of the wreckage, but judging from the state of the ground, the metal was practically melted, and the scouts who hadn't even disembarked were drenched in sweat; there was no need for them to finish off the remaining wreckage. But since they were already down there, they couldn't let their sweat go to waste, so they shifted their focus to the few Belken soldiers still alive.

They must have come all this way to find out something, right? Even if they were just incredibly unlucky and ended up rescuing a bunch of clueless soldiers, they'd still consider it an act of kindness and a good deed. With that in mind, the scouts tirelessly brought the surviving Belken people onto the helicopter.

As the reconnaissance company escorted some prisoners back to base, the rescue mission was considered over.

After questioning, the cause and effect of Lieutenant Alice's downing and the entire sequence of events were clarified. The investigation report was quickly submitted to Lu Wu. However, Lu Wu was troubled by the specific punishment to be given. He rubbed his face, threw the tablet back on the table, leaned back in his chair, and said, "Honey, give me a massage."

"Alright, alright, Comrade Commander," Yelena replied softly, placing her slender hand on his temple and gently massaging it. "Still undecided?"

"It's hard to strike the right balance," Lu Wu sighed. His original intention was to set an example, but Alice's motives for disobeying orders weren't exactly bad; at most, they were impulsive and thoughtless. And now, with manpower in high demand, he was truly reluctant to leave such a valuable pilot, more precious than gold of her weight, idle. But if the punishment was too lenient, it wouldn't teach Alice a lesson, and thus would be meaningless.

"Let Michiru come here." After all, Alice was a newcomer in the 7th Brigade, and Lu Wu planned to ask her superior for his opinion.

Michiru Isumi is the commander of the 588th Air Wing and one of the most senior pilots in the 7th Brigade. She used to fly MiG-17s, but a battle left her with some psychological issues that made her unsuitable for combat, so she retired to a command post to continue her service. She now directly commands all the fixed-wing pilots in the brigade and knows these newcomers much better than he does.

"Knock knock." The knocking sound came quickly. Yelena returned to Lu Wu's side, and the man sat up straight again before letting the person outside in.

With short, reddish-brown hair and a dashing air, Michiru Isumi raised her hand in salute: "Comrade Brigade Commander, you wanted to see me?"

“Yes,” Lu Wu said without further ado, “I’m here to find out about Lieutenant Alice Tina Bernhard.”

“Yes, Lieutenant Bernhard is a pilot who is extremely passionate about flying, and the sky seems to have a special meaning for her…” Michiru Isumi told Alice Tina about her knowledge without reservation.

'Is flying a second life...?' Lu Wu had an idea in mind, but this information also raised some questions—it seemed that with version updates, some of the androids he randomly generated might also develop certain traits. Could these traits indirectly or directly affect the behavior of the androids?

"How long will it take for our replenishment equipment to arrive?" he asked.

"Two days."

"Then give her a major demerit, two days of confinement, a two-week flight ban, a 10,000-word self-criticism, and a good reflection at the end-of-month meeting." Seeing that Michiru seemed relieved, Lu Wu raised an eyebrow. If it weren't for your poor management, would this have happened? He decided to give Michiru a warning, so he added, "Have her come over later. I want to hear her thoughts firsthand before deciding whether to transfer her to another unit."

"Yes." Michiru Isumi's face stiffened.

……

How can someone reply with 2 where they should reply with 1, and 1 where they should reply with 2? (Annoying)

I'll calculate the votes based solely on the responses.

Regarding the extra chapters, please be sure to read the previous chapter.

Volume 1: Chapter 234 (Mission Termination)

"Respected military leaders, dear comrades:"

The pilots and ground crew of the 9th Regiment of the 588th Air Force sat neatly in several rows below, listening attentively to Alice's self-criticism on stage.

"I am Alice Bernhard, 2nd Squadron, 588th Air Regiment. Today, on this stage without flowers and applause, I am filled with deep remorse as I present the following self-examination. The matter is as follows..." The girl, whose shoulder was still wrapped in bandages, read aloud while holding a stack of papers.

After a thorough conversation with the girl, Lu Wu ultimately decided not to transfer her out of the 2nd Squadron, but all the previously mentioned punishments remained. Don't overthink it, though. Although Lu Wu is a lecher, he still has his bottom line. He couldn't bring himself to say things like, "Alice, you don't want to never be able to fly again, do you?" Besides, Yelena was there too.

Today's review meeting is not the month-end conference mentioned before, but an internal meeting organized by the 588th Aviation Group itself. Only if Alice's review passes this test will she be qualified to reflect at the month-end conference.

Lu Wu also missed the internal review meeting. Instead, he joined Davis to see if they could extract any useful information from the prisoners. However, the reconnaissance company was really unlucky this time. The prisoners they captured were all clueless soldiers. After a day of interrogation, they only managed to extract basic information such as their names, ranks, and unit numbers from them, before moving on to the next level.

However, just the unit designation and the unit's movements in recent days have already revealed some important information.

They belonged to the 6th Company, 2nd Battalion, 524th Regiment, 23rd Infantry Division of the Belken Imperial Army. Previously, they had been moving and deploying in battalion units, but three days ago, the 2nd Battalion was split into companies, moving south at night. What happened? They hadn't gone far when they received a telegram from the 8th Company, ordering them to rush to the crash site. The entire company was almost wiped out by the helicopters.

This was at least a breakthrough. Knowing the Belken were nocturnal, Lu Wu dispatched Mi-24V helicopters, capable of nighttime missions, to conduct reconnaissance. Sure enough, after several reconnaissance flights, they caught them red-handed—these scoundrels hid in jungles and caves during the day, only leaving their hiding places at night. Unfortunately, to avoid repeating their mistakes, the Mi-24 helicopters maintained a certain altitude during reconnaissance. At this altitude, the low-light night vision equipment wasn't very effective; it couldn't match the T-72AV's ability to use thermal imagers to accurately count their numbers.

They also spotted the same AA trucks that had previously ambushed Alice. That night, they discovered three such convoys traveling from north to south. This time, the Belken, perhaps feeling they were already exposed and didn't need to hide anymore, or perhaps overconfident that the Amelia couldn't see them at night, left their anti-aircraft vehicles undisguised. However, the trucks in the middle of the convoys, as before, were completely concealed, their contents unknown.

Finding out what these convoys were carrying was simple. Just blow up the escorting anti-aircraft vehicles and send the infantry out for a quick look around.

The task of bombing anti-aircraft vehicles was not assigned to the faster and safer Su-7 attack aircraft—it was nighttime operation, and the Su-7's high speed meant a short attack window, making it easier to miss. Moreover, the convoy's vehicles were closely spaced, and hitting the target would be disastrous—who knew what was inside the vehicle? Therefore, the Mi-24 helicopter, which could hover in the air and had better firing conditions, took on the mission.

The anti-aircraft vehicles at both ends of the convoy were each targeted by a Mi-5K S-5K rocket. These rockets were capable of inflicting fatal damage on these unarmored light vehicles, and the ballistic computer could accurately predict their impact points, preventing friendly fire incidents on other vehicles in the convoy. Two fireballs exploded one after the other, blocking the convoy's path. Soldiers poured from the trucks, lying prone on both sides of the road, wildly firing their rifles in the directions from which the rockets had been fired.

With the most threatening anti-aircraft vehicle destroyed, the other Hinds approached the convoy with renewed confidence. The YakB-12.7 machine gun in the nose of the helicopter spun, spitting out a red streak of fire that lashed the Belken soldiers. Occasionally, red tracer rounds, due to their angle of attack, would streak into the air and disappear. Behind the Hinds circling the convoy, Mi-8 helicopters carrying paratroopers quietly landed on the ground, releasing the paratroopers from their cabins.

Although the battle broke out without warning and was sudden, the Belken people did not surrender. And then, unexpectedly, the truck guarding the center of the convoy suddenly exploded, releasing a large amount of gas and a pungent garlic smell that made people want to vomit.

Seeing the rapidly approaching cloud of gas through his night vision goggles, Captain Doronin immediately sensed something was wrong—"Poison gas attack!"

The spreading cloud of poison gas seemed to put a pause button on the offensive, forcing even the Hind helicopters that were suppressing the enemy forces in the sky to temporarily retreat.

"Captain Dolonin, mission terminated, retreat." The situation had developed completely unexpectedly. Based on previous experience and Dolonin's report, command determined that the convoy was likely carrying a chemical weapon—mustard gas. This extremely potent and deadly chemical weapon was difficult to protect against and control. Command assessed that continuing the mission would significantly increase the risk of casualties. Considering that the mission's objective had been achieved, command ultimately issued the order to terminate the mission.

The paratroopers, already donned gas masks and protective cloaks, reboarded the helicopters. The Hind, meanwhile, circled upwind, ascending above the gas cloud to prevent the Belken from recovering any remaining chemical weapons from the trucks. After the transport helicopters departed, the Hind used rockets to plow through the convoy shrouded in the brown gas cloud. This attack triggered a secondary explosion, releasing even more gas from the truck beds. The rapidly vaporizing mustard gas quickly surpassed the Hind helicopters' altitude, nearly engulfing them entirely.

……

The voting for the extra chapters continues until midnight tonight.

Volume 1: Chapter 235 (Two Hundred and Eighteenth Chapter) Poison in the Chicken Leg