The mountainside was truly deathly quiet. The fire did not just burn away the forests; it also departed with the life of the place, toppled and scorched trees were everywhere. When she stepped with her combat boots, a ‘crunch’ could be heard underneath her soles.
A charred pheasant was crushed under a shrub; only two of its tail feathers still had brilliant color.
Ye Jian and the team was currently located in a mountainous forest region in Sichuan province. Their current position was a low altitude mountainous region situated on the border between two provinces. The resources within the forest were extremely rich, and the charred pheasant with brilliant tail feathers was nationally protected, the precious Golden Pheasant.
The precious pheasants weren’t the only things burnt to death; there were other animals like wild rabbits and others. It was visible how fierce this forest fire had been.
Hiding behind a scorched tree, Ye Jian raised her head to look at a small snake, charred so badly that only its tail was still hooked. Her glance swept past the side of the snake and landed on someplace.
“Something unusual, march with caution.” At the same time, she quietly whispered her sights aimed at a target location and fired the first gunshot in this ‘hostage target’ event of the current competition!
“Bang!”
The dull gunshot instantly reached the ears of every squad member, and suddenly, the deathly silent forest was now permeating with killing intent.
The oppressive space smelled of burnt charcoal. Gunshots filled with killing intent and the silhouettes darting between the charred trees in the shadows made the atmosphere across the forest turn more nervous and added a heavyweight to the hearts of men.
The regional soldier who was shot touched his chest; his expression seemed… stupid.
He lowered his head, then stared at the blank that landed by his feet. The soldier grits his teeth with annoyance as he bent down to pick up the blank; this was really… he could burst a vessel from being so angry!
He was finally chosen for this rumored competition between two of the top special forces, and all he had to do was act like a ‘bad guy’ that kidnapped the ‘hostage target,’ and the result. Before he even managed to glimpse at the mysterious special forces soldier, he was already shot and taken down!
“Squad leader, one of our squad members, is out; I think he wasn’t so willing to be disqualified; he was the one taken out by the first shot.” A soldier squatted under a fir tree that was still able to keep growing despite its bark that was pitch black from soot, “I’m closest to him, and I don’t even know where the bullet came from.”
The squad leader cursed when he heard that, then he gave consolation: “It’s normal if you don’t know, they’re all special forces, if we know where they are, then they aren’t that big of a deal. Alright, what’re you still upset about? Just wait for them to retrieve the hostage targets. Keep an eye out, don’t embarrass our unit too much.”
The people hijacking the hostage targets were local soldiers given disguise, while the hostage was a paper target.
Not only does Ye Jian and her team need to complete the hostage target shooting, but they also need to retrieve the hostage target. In that case, the probability of them exposing themselves would increase multifold, and allowing those disguised soldiers to discover them and shoot at them.
The soldier closest to his brethren, who was ‘Killed in Action’ lightly blinked his eyes, he wanted to answer his squad leader, but… he couldn’t answer!
“Don’t move, brother.” A very light voice could be heard behind him, then, he felt something icy cold and hard pressed against his neck, that… was the sensation of a dagger.
A special forces soldier had caught him from behind.
His earpiece was turned off by the special forces soldier, the communications was also severed. Then he heard this special forces soldier chuckle: “Then I’m not going to waste a blank; I’m afraid to hurt you by shooting it at such a close range. Anyway, as long as you understand, I’ve already slit your throat.”
