1001: Chapter 986: Like a Dream, Like an Illusion 1001: Chapter 986: Like a Dream, Like an Illusion The attack proceeded in an orderly fashion, and everyone knew what they were supposed to do.
Although everyone had a complex background and received various types of training, Gao Yang only recruited experienced mercenaries, and they had conducted extensive combined training in advance, so the newly formed assault team did not appear to have any coordination issues.
Three people kept watch while the rest cleared the rooms; this task had been repeatedly performed many times, and it did not extend the clearing time just because one room put up what could be considered fierce resistance.
Gao leaned against the wall, no longer concerned with the room that had just slightly complicated the otherwise smooth attacking process by managing to counterattack.
As the people behind him flooded the room with bullets and grenades, he fired a shot toward the room on the opposite side.
A high-explosive shell blasted through the door, and the explosion sounded unusually loud, indicating that the room was very large.
Only two rooms remained, and Gao immediately fired a shot at another door on the same side.
Gao was worried about tunnels leading to the outside, as it would be reasonable for an underground shelter to have two or more passages by his estimation.
Gao decided to clear the smaller rooms first; he fired high-explosive shells at both doors in quick succession, then held up two fingers pointing forward before dropping his shotgun and drawing his pistol with his right hand.
Ludwig and Red Feather breached the doors simultaneously; almost at the same instant, Frey and Ludwig threw grenades into the room.
Not knowing the room’s size, but understanding that a larger space would reduce the effectiveness of concussion wave-based attack grenades, they opted for shock grenades and defensive grenades.
Due to extreme confidence, Gao didn’t wait for the second round of grenades and darted into the room, firing four shots and killing two bearded men who were attempting to shoot toward the door; they thought they were aiming at the door, but unfortunately for them, the shock grenades had blinded them and the noise had disoriented them.
The first shot hit the chest, and then the second shot aimed the gun, lifted by the recoil, straight at the head, ensuring a kill with two shots per target.
The high-explosive shells and grenades had destroyed all light sources inside the room, and the men Gao shot were the ones equipped with flashlights on their guns.
Indeed, the room was vast, resembling an underground hall, and a large room meant more people; at least twenty individuals stood there like headless flies.
Nearly everyone was screaming, and the sharp-eyed Gao noted that at least a significant minority of them was unarmed.
One prolonged burst from Li Jinfang killed an enemy to Gao’s immediate left, then Ludwig followed suit, entering with continuous gunfire that took down the enemies on Gao’s right.
Gao raised his gun and again shot a bearded man whose vision had slightly recovered and had just managed to point his gun in the right direction; a follow-up shot to the man’s nose finally prompted Gao to speak for the first time.
“Capture the living.”
To capture the living, of course, didn’t mean just anyone, but those who were valuable.
What kind of prisoners were valuable?
Obviously, the leaders.
Even though Gao and his team hadn’t studied the enemy, they could still discern who was in command from clothing, demeanor, and body language alone; failing to have that level of discernment in combat would be inexcusable.
The team assigned to the other room had already finished fighting, but they stayed at the door without entering the large room, as the situation was stable and there was no need to add confusion.
“Team two has finished clearing, passage safe, casualties accounted for, no target individuals.”
Team two sent back their report; they had finished clearing the first floor and hadn’t found any target individuals.
Gao continuously shot enemies who were clearly just foot soldiers, before he rushed toward a bearded man yelling about counterattacking, who was holding an AK74U but did not have magazines strapped to him, grabbed the short barrel of the AK74U with his left hand, and kicked fiercely with his right foot.
With a swift tug, he wrenched the rifle from the powerless enemy’s grasp and threw it behind him, then grabbed hold of the bearded man’s beard.
Handling him like he would a dog, Gao pulled along the incapacitated individual and fired another shot, taking down the last non-valuable target, when he saw Ludwig rush up to a man with a pistol, smack the pistol out of his hands, and then clamp his left arm around the bearded man’s neck, causing him to immediately collapse into his hold.
Li Jinfang also captured someone; his method was much simpler, just knocking the person down with a rifle butt.
No one was left standing, and just then, Red Feather came over, and Gao handed him the bearded man he was holding by the hair.
Taking over the prisoner Gao had captured, Red Feather dragged him out like a dead dog, gun in one hand and holding the prisoner’s hair with the other.
Just then, Gao heard the report from team three in his earpiece.
“Second floor cleared, team three five injured, confirmed, no target individuals.”
Gao spoke gravely, “Team three, secure the passage; team two, clear the retreat path, hold the landing site.
Night Demon Three, extract us; Night Demon One, Two, and Four, cover.”
“Team Two, understood, clearing retreat path and holding landing site, action commenced, over.”
“Team Three, understood, reached the first floor, passage secure, over.”
Night Demon Three did not respond, and Gao immediately shouted, “Night Demon Three, respond.”
Gao Yang realized where the problem lay: Night Demon Three was in the air while he was in the basement; the power of the walkie-talkie was too small, and the basement obstructed the radio signals.
Teams two and three could receive the signals, but the plane could not.
However, it was not a big problem.
Rafael immediately called the plane for Gao Yang.
After Rafael made the call, the Night Demon series quickly responded.
“Night Demon Three, begin descent, repeat, Night Demon Three begin descent.”
“Night Demon One understands.
A large number of enemies have exited the building.
Hurry up.”
“Night Demon Two understands.”
“Night Demon Four, Boss, a large number of enemies are coming from the east side.
We’re heading to intercept them.
Enemies from all sides are emerging in large numbers—really so many.
You all need to be quick.”
Gao Yang could receive the messages sent by the plane, and while he was listening to reports from the outside, he was not idle.
The basement had no second exit, which was crucial because it meant the enemy had no chance of escaping.
Red Feather, Ludwig, and Li Yunzhe left with a prisoner each while Gao Yang, Li Jinfang, and Frey inspected each corpse in the large room in turn.
They flipped over a corpse, which had already been turned into a honeycomb, and casually fired another shot into it, but during this process, Gao Yang did not find Badadi.
A total of twenty-four corpses, three prisoners.
After a quick search of every corner of the room to confirm there were no living persons left, Gao Yang gestured, issuing the retreat order.
Gao Yang, Li Jinfang, and Frey turned and ran toward the exit, while Tiger and the Military Dog, positioned at the doorway to cover their escape, turned and ran out first upon seeing Gao Yang’s signal.
Gao Yang was ready to leave when he noticed Night Demon One’s tail end, Captain Farouk with a camera in one hand, still running to each corpse to film.
“Move!”
An excited and trembling Farouk yelled, “Wait for me, I’ll be done soon, very soon!”
Gao Yang wasn’t angry, but he was in a hurry and time was short.
After checking his watch and noting that three minutes and twenty-five seconds had passed, Gao Yang rushed over, grabbed Farouk by the arm, yanked and pushed him while shouting angrily, “Get out!”
Stumbling a couple of steps, Farouk glanced at the plethora of corpses—he still had half of them left to film—but hesitated briefly before finally deciding to run out with Gao Yang.
As far as this operation was concerned, evacuating the battlefield was the most dangerous stage, entering came second, and the combat process during the attack on the target building was the least dangerous.
This was a decapitating operation, a deep penetration behind enemy lines to strike at the top brass of King’s Army.
A person immediately dies without a head, but if a military command is taken down, regardless of the future, at least at this moment, every person nearby capable of wielding a gun would rush over.
Thus, the saying about striking at the top brass of King’s Army was not an exaggeration—this area held at least thousands of people.
Gao Yang pushed Farouk to the first floor.
After waving his arms twice towards the third team guarding the attack entrance, he had the second team in front and the first team behind, rapidly heading towards the landing zone.
Second team had already set up a circular defensive line at the landing site of Night Demon Three, and they had begun to receive gunfire.
While Ludwig was carrying a prisoner under his armpit and still running quickly, Gao Yang finally had to shout again, “Don’t kill him!”
“Don’t joke!”
Red Feather, grabbing the prisoner by the hair and dragging him on the ground rapidly, completely disregarded the prisoner’s pained screams, while Li Yunzhe, lacking the strength of the other two robust men, had a Military Dog and himself each grabbing an arm of the prisoner as they ran.
Suddenly a group of people appeared in Gao Yang’s field of vision, at a very dangerous distance of about 150 meters, but a rocket suddenly exploded amidst the crowd in midair, followed by a concentrated burst of fire from the second team, clearing out the nearest enemies.
Night Demon Three landed; as it nearly touched down, the aircraft adjusted its orientation in midair to point the open tail cabin door towards Gao Yang and his group.
Less than ten meters away, as the plane descended, the intense downdraft blew dust and small stones painfully against their faces.
Those with the prisoner rushed directly into the cabin.
Gao Yang stood by the tail cabin door, shouting loudly, “Evacuate!
Fast!
Fast!
Fast!
Fast!
Fast!”
As people boarded the helicopter one after another and the last member entered the aircraft, Gao Yang pushed Farouk, who was standing next to him, into the cabin door before immediately yelling, “All members aboard!
Close the door and take off!”
As the helicopter ascended, it closed the cabin door.
Although there were three additional persons, it was not yet overloaded, and Night Demon Three took off smoothly.
More and more people emerged, firing rockets wildly at Night Demon Three.
Night Demon One, Two, and Four, although trying their best to intercept, were unable to cover all the emerging enemies with just three helicopters’ firepower.
Night Demon Three had taken off successfully.
At around fifty meters in height, it began to accelerate in one direction, but just then, Jacklan screamed, “F**k!
Anti-aircraft missile!”
People on the ground fired crazily at the skies from various positions.
Gao Yang looked out the window; he couldn’t see the missile, but he saw the tracer bullets tracing beautiful lines of light, dreamlike and gorgeous.(To be continued.
If you like this work, you are invited to vote at Qidian—qidian.com.
Your support is my greatest motivation.
Mobile users please visit m.qidian.com to read.)