454: Chapter Four Hundred Fifty-One The Silent Battle 454: Chapter Four Hundred Fifty-One The Silent Battle It took less time than expected, only two and a half hours, for Gao Yang and his team to find the path to the Arturo Mine under the guidance of the guide.
Once they confirmed the route was correct and sent the guide away, Gao Yang and the others immediately entered combat mode.
As prearranged, Li Jinfang and Samuel took the lead, closely followed by Gao Yang and Lucica, with the four of them forming the assault team to enter first.
At a distance of about ten meters behind the assault team, Cui Bo, Brejinsky, Frey, and Glolov entered as the support team, with the remaining members staying another ten or so meters behind, ready to provide fire cover or launch a direct attack if needed.
Gao Yang switched his night vision goggles to infrared mode to detect any hidden enemies promptly.
He held his silenced pistol ready to fire at a moment’s notice should they be exposed.
Despite being on the mountain, the vegetation was dense, and the path cut through the forest, gradually ascending with the mountain’s contour.
Gao Yang and his team walked along the path for about twenty minutes without encountering anyone.
The occasional heat sources they detected in the night vision were all small animals.
The advance was too smooth, which made Gao Yang feel somewhat uneasy.
It was only when Li Jinfang and Samuel, walking in front, simultaneously raised their right arms, and Gao Yang almost simultaneously spotted two large heat sources that he finally relaxed.
The shapes of the heat sources were clearly people, one standing and the other either crouching or sitting, about thirty meters apart from each other.
The standing one occasionally moved around.
Apart from them, there were no other heat sources visible in the night sight.
It was time to take out the sentries.
After warning the team behind him, Gao Yang communicated with Li Jinfang using hand signals, indicating that he needed a captive alive.
To Samuel, he made a throat-slitting gesture with his hand, suggesting they only needed to capture one.
Unlike Gao Yang, Li Jinfang and Samuel were not carrying any burdensome equipment.
The two allocated their targets and then stealthily approached the sentries, about twenty meters distant.
The dense vegetation demanded extreme caution to avoid making any noise.
Li Jinfang and Samuel moved slowly and gently, but their efforts were quite effective as even Gao Yang, who was very close, could not hear a sound.
Gao Yang raised his pistol, aiming in the direction of the sentries.
If they detected Li Jinfang and Samuel’s presence, he was ready to shoot and deal with them alone.
Watching through the night vision, Gao Yang could not help but feel a bit amused by Li Jinfang and Samuel’s stealthy maneuvers, as the two large men twisted and turned among the shrubs in a dance-like motion that lacked the immediacy of a war film but instead came across as incredibly surreptitious.
Minutes passed, and as one of the sentries paced back and forth and turned around, Samuel moved within two meters of the sitting sentry and lay in wait, while Li Jinfang needed to close another three meters before he could reach the standing soldier from behind.
As all four men were almost close enough to touch yet still motionless, Gao Yang’s heart raced.
Finally, when the standing soldier turned his back once more, Li Jinfang swiftly lunged forward, and at that exact moment, Samuel swung his arm.
Without a sound, Gao Yang soon heard Li Jinfang’s hushed voice in his earpiece.
“Done.”
Gao Yang waved his hand, and Lucica quickly approached Li Jinfang’s location from the path.
By the time they arrived, Li Jinfang and Samuel had already brought the captured enemy onto the path.
The captive had passed out.
Having placed the captive on the path, Li Jinfang spoke in a low voice, “Do we wake him up and question him here, or pull back a bit first?”
For safety’s sake, Gao Yang decided to pull back before questioning.
After a gesture, Samuel and Li Jinfang quickly carried the captive away, while Gao Yang and Lucica stayed behind to keep watch.
Before long, Li Jinfang and Samuel came back.
Crouching next to Gao Yang, Li Jinfang spoke in a low, frustrated tone, “We got a tough one, didn’t get anything out of him.
He wanted to scream as soon as he woke up.
After gagging and warning him for a while, he tried screaming again as soon as we ungagged him.
We had no time to waste on him, so we killed him.
Also, these two had walkie-talkies but no night vision.”
Gao Yang nodded and made a gesture to proceed.
Moving forward again for another ten minutes or so, the path suddenly ended at a small cliff approximately three meters high, appearing about seven or eight meters in front of Gao Yang and his team.
The cliff wasn’t vertical; it was possible to climb up using hands and feet, but the situation above couldn’t be seen from the bottom.
After stopping again, Gao Yang was about to let Li Jinfang and Samuel go for reconnaissance when Lucica suddenly made emphatic gestures, pointing to her nose, indicating that she wanted to investigate the situation herself.
Lucica had rich combat experience, but she hadn’t received professional military training nor knew how to use sign language.
Gao Yang didn’t know why she insisted on volunteering, but after some thought, he felt she might be confident in her hearing.
Gao Yang and Samuel then raised their pistols.
Such a cliff that blocked the road could be defended by just one or two guards to prevent any forceful approach.
If Gao Yang had to choose, he would definitely arrange a watchpost near this cliff.
They heightened their vigilance and prepared to shoot.
Gao Yang then made a gesture, allowing Lucica and Li Jinfang to approach the cliff for reconnaissance.
Lucica only took a few steps, but her stealthy and silent approach revealed that this woman was certainly accustomed to scouting missions.
After reaching the base of the cliff, Lucica indicated they should not hurry to ascend.
She made a motion of listening intently and quickly put her palms together at the side of her face, miming a sleeping position, then waved her arms twice to signal two people.
However, she couldn’t convey the distance with gestures.
After whispering into Li Jinfang’s ear for a moment, Jinfang quickly used hand signals to inform Gao Yang that there were at least two people above, sleeping about five or six meters away.
After Jinfang finished signing, Lucica placed her blowgun tube on the ground, then slowly climbed the cliff using her hands and feet.
She peeked over the edge and quickly withdrew her head, then stealthily descended from the cliff and gestured to Gao Yang.
Gao Yang notified the support team behind to move in for backup and then joined Samuel at the bottom of the cliff.
After meeting up with Lucica, she whispered to Gao Yang, “There are four people up there, spread out on both sides of the path.
The enemy on the left is in a hammock about twenty meters from us, and on the right, three people are seated together about five or six meters away, all sleeping.”
Gao Yang nodded and whispered, “I’m carrying too much, send Toad up to take a look.”
After Li Jinfang personally scouted the scene, he came back and nodded to Gao Yang, whispering, “They seem to be all asleep, we can take them down.”
After some thought, Gao Yang quietly said, “Let’s go up, Lucica keep an eye on the one to the left, the three of us will take care of those on the right.”
Lucica waved her hand and then said, “I can handle them myself, trust me.”
Gao Yang decided to trust Lucica once more.
Since they were teammates, he had to trust his own team.
If Lucica was confident, he would let her handle it.
After making a hand signal, Lucica pulled four blow darts from the quiver on her waist and placed them on the ground.
She then took a small bottle from her shirt pocket, unscrewed the cap gently, and dipped the darts into the bottle one by one.
“Be very careful not to get pricked by the blow darts.”
After a soft warning, Lucica reversed the wooden blowpipe and handed the tail end to Gao Yang.
She stood up and gently climbed the cliff again, peeking over before slowly taking the taller blowgun tube up, then turned her head to signal Gao Yang for more darts.
Gao Yang carefully handed her the darts.
Lucica delicately placed a dart in the tube, aimed, and with a forceful puff, let out a barely audible “pfft.”
After the soft noise, Lucica quickly turned and reached out to Gao Yang for another dart.
After receiving it and taking a brief moment to aim, she released the dart again.
After repeating the action four times, no sound came from atop the cliff, and the three left at the base had no idea what had unfolded above.
Samuel shrugged and spread his hands, looking completely baffled, and Gao Yang could only shake his head, indicating that he was also clueless about the situation above.
At that moment, Lucica turned her head and whispered to Gao Yang, “Boss, it’s done.
You can come up now.”
Gao Yang had heard about the miraculous effects of Lucica’s arrow poison, but there was always a bit of unease with something so astonishing until one witnessed it firsthand.
So Gao Yang asked softly, “Are you sure?”
Lucica responded confidently, “I’m sure.”
After she spoke, Lucica immediately climbed to the top of the cliff.
Li Jinfang looked at Gao Yang, who nodded, and Jinfang quickly followed up the cliff.
When Gao Yang reached the top, he saw Li Jinfang next to the three people on the right, urgently gesturing to him to come and see.
(To be continued.
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