Hearing the footsteps, Wang Zhi and the others tensed up. Had they been discovered?
"Target neutralized!"
Ying's voice sounded in everyone's ears.
With the sentry gone, Wang Zhi finally relaxed. Just as Wang Zhi was considering the situation behind the wall, the sound of someone urinating came from behind it.
It turned out the soldier had stepped out to relieve himself. Wang Zhi gave the others a look. Old He and Fatty linked hands to form a human ladder. Wang Zhi didn't hesitate, stepping onto their hands as they exerted force, throwing him high into the air.
In mid-air, Wang Zhi vaulted onto the three-meter-high wall and saw the soldier who was urinating. Wang Zhi leaped from the air, plunging his dagger directly into the soldier's neck.
The soldier fell to the ground without even seeing who had struck him.
Wang Zhi scanned the surroundings. After confirming they hadn't been discovered, he spoke into the radio: "Clear. Everyone come in. Ying, hold your fire for now; we'll find another chance if we get exposed later."
As soon as Wang Zhi finished speaking, several figures appeared on the wall. Once everyone was inside, Wang Zhi began searching the shadows for any isolated soldiers.
Meanwhile, Duan Qingtian's team was sneaking toward the enemy base camp—the residential area. Once they were well-hidden, they were to ambush the soldiers there the moment any fighting broke out.
The two teams moved stealthily through the camp, eliminating a total of five men. Including the sentry, seven had been accounted for. The remaining soldiers were clustered in small groups of three or five, leaving no opportunity for further stealth takedowns.
"What now, Captain Wang?" Fatty asked softly, approaching Wang Zhi.
"Spread out slightly, find good cover, and prepare for battle," Wang Zhi instructed over the radio.
When everyone had at least one target in sight, Wang Zhi counted down from three, and the first shot echoed across the camp!
Five soldiers in front of Wang Zhi instantly fell, spraying blood everywhere.
The other soldiers, upon hearing the commotion and seeing their fallen comrades, were greatly alarmed and immediately shouted, "Enemy attack!" Immediately after shouting, this soldier's head exploded. Seeing this power, it was likely Su Muying firing from a distance.
But by then, it was too late; everyone on the opposing side had already become wary.
Several soldiers rushed out from the residential area. Duan Qingtian, who had already laid an ambush there, immediately jumped out, his rifle spitting fire, intent on taking down every single enemy soldier himself.
After the initial assault, nearly half of the enemy forces were dead. Following this wave, Wang Zhi's group held a significant advantage; with the aid of night vision goggles, they moved like fish in water within the darkness.
The enemy gradually recovered from the surprise attack, all finding cover and facing off against Wang Zhi's team.
However, they had not anticipated that a pair of eyes was still watching them from the distant woods.
Puff! Another headshot; Su Muying eliminated a soldier who was hiding behind a tent.
Boom! Another explosion echoed throughout the entire camp.
"They have grenades!"
At that moment, an unfamiliar voice sounded in Wang Zhi's earpiece—it was someone from Wei Zheng's side.
"Everyone, extinguish the lights around you!" Since the teams were already identified, Wang Zhi decided to expand the engagement, worsening the environment first.
Subsequently, the camp lights gradually vanished. Seeing that their vision was gone, the opponents panicked, constantly throwing grenades wildly—they no longer cared much; as long as the explosion didn't hit them, they threw!
However, some were unlucky and had their legs injured by grenade shrapnel.
After a round of annihilation, the enemy's morale was completely gone. Wang Zhi could no longer see any enemies in his sight.
"Sister Ying, are there any enemies left?"
Wang Zhi asked.
"Yes, but they all fled."
"Fled!? Where did they run to?"
"The survivor area further back."
This was bad. If these people mixed into the crowd of survivors, it would undoubtedly pose the greatest security risk.
Wang Zhi and his group regrouped. One of Wei Zheng's men had the bad luck to have his leg injured by grenade shrapnel. Wang Zhi arranged for a soldier to escort the wounded man to the stronghold where Su Muying was located.
"What should we do? Should we pursue them further inside?" Zhang Ming asked from the side.
"We won't pursue for now. It's better to be cautious; getting injured by this group isn't worth it."
Wang Zhi planned to search the vicinity first to see if any fish had slipped through the net.
After sweeping the area a few times, Wang Zhi and the others found a total of thirty bodies. If Zhang Ming's count was accurate, there were over forty people, meaning more than ten were still unaccounted for.
"Everyone, stay on alert here for now. After daybreak, I'll make them walk out themselves," Wang Zhi said.
"Walk out themselves? Will they come out to die?" Zhang Ming asked doubtfully.
"Yes, just wait and see," Wang Zhi said confidently.
"Sister Ying, how is your side?"
"This side is very secure; the wounded have arrived."
After receiving the reply, Wang Zhi waited behind some cover for daybreak.
The civilian survivor residential area was already extremely chaotic. When the explosions sounded, they had awakened, wanting to know what had happened, but the gunfire stopped their attempts to venture out, forcing them all to huddle in their tents, praying they wouldn't be implicated.
The next day, dawn broke.
Having been sleepless all night, as soon as the sky lightened, Wang Zhi organized the team to advance, halting when they were 100 meters from the civilian survivor residential area.
Wang Zhi took out a loudspeaker he had picked up at the camp and shouted toward the opposite side: "Survivors inside, listen up! We are here to save you. Please hurry out and form a line. I repeat, survivors inside, listen up! We are here to save you. Please hurry out and form a line."
With Wang Zhi repeating the message again and again, the number of survivors emerging grew from a few people to dozens, and finally, almost everyone came out.
At this point, Zhang Ming finally understood Wang Zhi's intention: this was how he could make them walk out to their deaths.
Seeing that almost everyone had emerged, Wang Zhi changed his script: "Now, please proceed in groups of five, hands raised, walking towards us. We can guarantee your safety. Repeat: Now, please proceed in groups of five, hands raised, walking towards us. We can guarantee your safety."
After Wang Zhi finished speaking, some people began walking towards them with their hands raised.
"Captain Wei, your men will be responsible for searching them shortly. As long as they have no dangerous items on them, let them pass."
Five people walked slowly towards Wang Zhi with their hands up. After being searched and confirmed to be unarmed, they were settled to the side.
Seeing those in front reach the other side safely, the people behind also lined up and started walking over.
Before long, all the survivors who had emerged from the other side were settled to the side, and it was confirmed that none of them were carrying weapons.
"Captain Wang, were the ones who escaped last night hiding in that tent over there?" Fatty asked, leaning closer.
"There's no one left in there," Old He said.
"Yes, they have surrendered and disguised themselves as civilians to mix in," Wang Zhi glanced at the crowd.
Wang Zhi walked into the crowd, selected five women, and whispered a few words in their ears.
"Old He, have them line up."
After Wang Zhi spoke, the eyes of those five women began sweeping across the more than one hundred people.
After a while, the five women gathered together and whispered a few more words.
After hearing the report from the women, Wang Zhi's lips curved upward. "Captain Duan, Zhang Ming, you two come here."
"What is it, Captain Wang?" Duan Qingtian asked with a frown, confused about what Wang Zhi was doing.
Actually, Wang Zhi had just asked the five women to search the crowd for the soldiers. After long periods of contact, these people were already very familiar with their faces.
The result also greatly satisfied Wang Zhi. The five women reported that eleven soldiers were indeed mixed in with the crowd. Making them line up just now was to make it easier for the women to identify those soldiers.
Wang Zhi told Duan Qingtian and Zhang Ming the locations of those eleven soldiers.
"These are the people. Whether to keep them or kill them is up to you two to decide." After speaking, Wang Zhi stepped aside, awaiting their decision.