273: Chapter 271: Ascending Attack by Levels 273: Chapter 271: Ascending Attack by Levels Attacking up the stairs from below was the only option, as this was a shopping mall where the stairs went straight up without the turns found in residential buildings, and the stairwells above would block the line of sight and firing range from the third and fourth floors, so they just had to deal with attacks from the second floor.
Attacking from below was highly difficult and dangerous, especially with grenades to be wary of, and the only piece of good news was that anyone shooting from above would have to lean out or at least extend their weapon to hit them, so with around twenty people blocking, they could ensure minimal enemy fire while ascending the stairs.
If there had been ample time, Gao Yang would have chosen another way, but with time pressing, they had to push through regardless, and all he could hope for now was that the enemy had not saved a large number of grenades for the impending indoor combat.
Gao Yang took his rifle off his back, handed it to a soldier to hold for him, then, ready with his shotgun, he signaled to Li Jinfang, and immediately they both rushed upstairs, one on the left and one on the right.
Their military boots made a huge sound on the stairs, but after only seven or eight steps, they each leapt to the sides with a sudden bound.
The railings in the building had been removed, so jumping down was convenient for Gao Yang, and as he leapt, he heard a couple of light pops on the stairs, followed by two thunderous explosions.
Having just deceived two grenades with his footsteps, Gao Yang felt a sense of achievement, but his joy was short-lived as the people above still had grenades, and it was uncertain how many they had left.
The grenade explosions inside the building, which had an echoing effect, made Gao Yang’s ears ring.
He slapped his ears, and when the buzzing lessened slightly, he quickly approached Frey and whispered, “How about it, can you see where the grenades are being thrown from?”
Frey, holding a grenade with the pin pulled, shook his head and whispered back, “Didn’t see, but it seemed to come from the left.
The enemy will surely move after throwing grenades.
Although we know they won’t be far from the stairs, we can’t ensure a kill without a confirmed position.”
After a helpless smack of his lips, Gao Yang gestured to Li Jinfang to try again, then Frey, Bruce, and Glolov got ready to throw grenades once more.
Gao Yang and Li Jinfang again faced the staircase with their weapons ready, but this time they didn’t run furiously.
Instead, they moved slowly upwards, step by step, making no effort to silence their footsteps; the defenders on the second floor had to know they were coming.
This time, Gao Yang didn’t rush to jump aside, but raised his head, slowly advancing and observing.
When he had climbed about a dozen steps, he caught a glimpse of a flying object in the corner of his night-vision goggles.
“Right side!”
As Gao Yang shouted and flipped over the rail, before he even landed, Frey’s grenade flew out, and following the direction of Frey’s throw, Glolov and Bruce’s grenades were also flung up.
Two enemy grenades exploded on the stairs, and almost simultaneously, Frey’s grenade burst in midair to the right of the stairs, followed by the explosions of Glolov and Bruce’s grenades.
Frey had thrown his grenade based on the trajectory of the enemy’s throw, so his grenade that exploded midair was likely to have taken out the defenders on the second floor.
But just to be safe, Frey and Bruce threw four more grenades upwards.
After the series of grenade explosions, Gao Yang got up from where he had jumped off the stairs and flipped back on, sprinting upstairs with Li Jinfang.
Frey and Bruce followed closely behind, while Glolov, with his machine gun, also charged upwards.
This was no longer a probe; it was an all-out assault.
Gao Yang ran up on the right side, holding his shotgun; he reached the top of the stairs and peeked out, but saw no movement.
Right then, the rifle in Lee’s hands on the left burst into action.
Gao Yang was responsible for the right side.
Ignoring any issues at Li Jinfang’s position, he sprinted out of the stairwell, spotted two figures lying on the ground, and after seeing no other threats, Gao Yang quickly fired a shot into the back of each prone figure before turning to check on Li Jinfang.
Gao Yang turned around only to see that Li Jinfang had already ascended the stairs, and less than thirty meters ahead of Li Jinfang, a person lay on the ground, still twitching obviously from a recent gunshot wound.
“Clear, secure the second floor!”
After Li Jinfang called out, Gao Yang immediately shifted his gaze back to his own area of responsibility, rapidly reloading two shotgun shells with his left hand while swiftly advancing forward.
He first ran towards the blocked-off windows and found three bodies lying not far from them.
From the explosive damage on the ceiling above them, Gao Yang knew these people had been killed by Frey and his team’s rocket fire.
Hearing signals of safety from Li Jinfang’s group clearing the other side, Gao Yang immediately shouted into the radio: “Rabbit, we have taken the second floor, tell everyone, the second floor is clear of hostiles, repeat, the second floor is clear of hostiles.”
“Rabbit copies, second floor is clear of hostiles, all friendlies, notifying our forces now.”
After waiting a moment, Cui Bo loudly said, “This is Rabbit, all fire units have been notified, second floor is secure, repeat, the second floor is secure.”
Two squads had followed up to the second floor, and with them were a few rocketeers who had survived.
Once it was confirmed there would be no friendly fire incidents, Gao Yang shouted, “Rocketeers, find suitable firing positions and eliminate the enemy fire points in the building across!”
The seven remaining rocketeers went to find positions from which they could hit the opposing street.
Because the building’s interior was vast, there was no need to worry about rocket backblast causing harm.
However, they definitely couldn’t use firing positions facing the Skull Gang’s location—those wouldn’t allow them to hit the other building, so they had to find new positions.
The two squads secured the stairwell to stop any enemies from potentially rushing down.
After confirming the second floor had no living enemies and had been fully secured, Gao Yang waved his hand.
He didn’t immediately initiate an attack on the third floor but instead convened a few people to analyze the situation they’d discovered.
After checking the staircase leading to the third floor and finding nothing unusual, Li Jinfang said somberly, “I don’t know why the enemy didn’t come down to reinforce.
I think there are only two possibilities.
First, the enemy has seriously insufficient remaining forces, so they only left three people on the second floor.
Second, they believe the third or fourth floors are easier to defend.”
No damage had been done to the third and fourth floors during the previous rocket fire.
Although they didn’t know the casualties from the earlier rocket and sniper fire, Gao Yang had to assume the worst.
After pondering for a moment, Gao Yang said solemnly, “Considering the initial density of enemy fire, there should have been more than twenty but fewer than twenty-five enemies in this building.
Now, we have found six bodies on the first floor and five on the second floor.
Based on the distribution of the corpses, we can now assume that the number of enemies on each floor basically matches our previous estimates.
So, conservatively, there should be at least ten enemies remaining on the third and fourth floors.”
After Gao Yang finished, Li Jinfang nodded and said, “The numbers match our estimates.
From the equipment found on the bodies, there was only one helmet-mounted night vision device on each of the first and second floors.
Our analysis of the enemy’s lack of night combat equipment is also correct.
Additionally, they were armed with AK47s and RPD light machine guns but no sniper rifles.
Since we had found at least four snipers in this building, snipers will definitely have night vision or scopes, so there must be at least six enemy personnel with night vision capabilities on the third or fourth floor, but snipers have limited anti-assault capabilities.”
Gao Yang nodded and said, “Out of the eleven bodies, there are seven black men and four white men.
From their tropical clothing and the items in use, it can be inferred that they mainly operated in Africa, and their equipment is not very good.
Four of the bodies carried grenades, although none were found on the others, it’s evident that they had them and had just used them.
However, the good news is that we found no directional mines or equipment for them, so it’s certain that the enemies upstairs will have grenades, but they probably won’t have directional mines.”
After concluding, Gao Yang looked around at everyone and asked, “Does anyone else have anything to add?”
Frey said solemnly, “Most of the grenade attacks just now came from the third floor.”
Bruce fiddled with a night vision device he had picked up and then smiled, “Good news, their night vision devices are outdated, lacking anti-blinding capabilities.
That means their devices can resist explosion lights or not too strong lights, but if there’s a very intense light source, it will burn out the components on their night vision devices.
Guys, I’ve got one stun grenade left, the one with a bright flash.”
Gao Yang couldn’t help but be delighted.
Although he didn’t know much about electronic devices, he still took the night vision device from Bruce.
After looking at it for a moment, he said, somewhat surprised, “Huh, this helmet and night vision device look very familiar.
I think I’ve seen them somewhere before.
Never mind that, I don’t have room to carry grenades on me, but as I thought we might get into an alley fight, I brought one stun grenade and one smoke grenade.
Never expected they’d really come in handy.
What about you guys?
Who else has any?” (To be continued.
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