91: Chapter 90 Acquaintance 91: Chapter 90 Acquaintance Green Mamba’s men were spread out quite widely; it took them ten minutes to regroup after the retreat order was issued.
During that time, Gao Yang and his team had prepared for combat, while Green Mamba had also planned the quickest escape route.
The retreat route avoided opposition-controlled areas as much as possible, largely passing through zones controlled by government forces.
However, the intelligence Green Mamba had was outdated; territories once held by government forces could now belong to others.
Yet, this was the best route Green Mamba could devise in the shortest time.
About fifty of Coleman Company’s people remained.
Green Mamba divided them into three groups: ten as the vanguard responsible for scouting and clearing the way, around thirty in the middle, and ten as the rear guard.
They maintained a distance of one hundred meters from each other to avoid being caught in an ambush that could wipe them all out.
Gao Yang and his team were moving with the main Coleman Company force.
Whether it was the vanguard or the rear guard that was attacked, they would provide support alongside the main force.
After they began moving, Gao Yang had only walked a short distance when he felt a pain in his back.
He was carrying approximately twenty-five kilograms, and the pain combined with the heavy load made his progress slightly difficult.
Apart from Gao Yang and Cui Bo, there were no injured in the team, as Coleman Company would immediately evacuate any wounded members from the battlefield.
As for the just-ended skirmish, the French attackers had left no survivors.
Their departure had been relatively peaceful at first, only encountering a few sporadic shots that resulted in a minor injury to one of Coleman’s men, posing no real threat.
It was not until twenty minutes into the walk that the vanguard stopped for the first time.
“There’s fighting ahead; our path is blocked.
Do we stick to the original route or take a detour?”
Hearing the report from the vanguard, Green Mamba didn’t hesitate, “Take a detour and raise a white flag, indicating we’ve withdrawn from the fight.
If someone blocks us, we fight; if not, we pass quickly.
We have no obligation to provide support to anyone right now.”
Standing not far from Green Mamba, Gao Yang felt somewhat uneasy after hearing the order.
Raising a white flag to withdraw from combat was a bit uncomfortable.
Nevertheless, Gao Yang wouldn’t object to Green Mamba’s decision.
They were fighting for money; if they could leave peacefully, there was no need for complications.
Besides, raising a white flag simply indicated a ceasefire, not an actual surrender.
There was nothing shameful about it.
Once the vanguard had fortified their hold on the essential passageway of the retreat route, they waited for Gao Yang’s main force to pass quickly.
Their position was at a crossroads, and the crossroads were only about six or seven hundred meters from the area where the firefight was taking place.
Gao Yang’s group had to turn left at the crossroads to bypass the firefight area.
As they turned the street corner at top speed, Cui Bo managed to use binoculars to glimpse the combatants.
Just a quick look through the binoculars and Cui Bo, who had slowed his pace, suddenly stopped altogether.
He stared at the combatants through the binoculars, immobilized.
Seeing Cui Bo stop abruptly, Gao Yang became anxious and shouted, “Rabbit!
What the hell are you doing?
Move it!”
Cui Bo put down the binoculars, a look of astonishment on his face, as he turned to Gao Yang, “Brother Yang, the people over there look familiar to me, like those from Somalia last time, what’s-his-name, Ali.
Maybe you should take a look.”
Gao Yang was also taken aback.
Although he didn’t believe such a coincidence was likely, he moved over to Cui Bo’s side and took the binoculars for a look.
One side of the ongoing battle had occupied a roundabout at an intersection, with opposition forces securing the street corners around a hundred or so meters away—though it was unclear how many.
The roundabout was surrounded by stone railings with what appeared to be a monument in the center.
When a black man occupying the roundabout stood up to shoot, Gao Yang recognized a face that seemed familiar.
However, despite the slight familiarity, black faces often looked quite similar to Gao Yang, so he couldn’t confirm if that person was indeed Ali, who had saved them in Benghazi.
Ali had once invited Gao Yang and his team to join him, but later they got off midway and hadn’t seen Ali’s group since.
Gao Yang had heard from Ali that they planned to continue participating in Gaddafi’s mercenary troops, so it was highly possible they could also be in Misrata.
Seeing Gao Yang and Cui Bo had stopped, Glolov and Li Jinfang halted as well, standing guard on either side.
Gao Yang then gestured to Glolov, “Remember Ali, who helped us out in Benghazi?
Take a look here; there’s someone who looks a lot like him.”
Glolov took the binoculars, “I’m not sure I can recognize him.
I passed out quite quickly, remember?
I don’t have a strong impression of what Ali looks like, but I’ll take a look.”
After a brief glance, Glolov put down the binoculars and spoke gravely, “I didn’t see the Ali you spoke of, but I saw Suma, the medic who checked my wounds.
I saw him.”
Gao Yang and Cui Bo exchanged glances, sighed, and said, “That’s right, it’s definitely them.
What do we do?”
Cui Bo, hesitantly, “Should we help?
After all, they saved us; we cannot just stand by and watch them die.”
Glolov shrugged and said, “You’re the leader, so we’ll listen to you, but my personal opinion is to help them.”
Li Jinfang also shrugged and said, “They helped you guys before, can we still call ourselves human if we don’t help them now?”
Gao Yang immediately said, “Good, we’re unanimous, let’s go save them!”
While Gao Yang was speaking, Green Mamba, who had already gone ahead, stopped, turned back anxiously, and said to Gao Yang, “Hey, what the hell are you guys doing?
Why aren’t you moving?”
Gao Yang gestured with his hand to Green Mamba and said, “Brother, we have to stay, the people over there are our friends, we can’t just abandon them, you guys go ahead.”
Green Mamba glanced at them and said urgently, “Have you gone mad?
There are at least a hundred people over there, what can the four of you do?
I really admire your loyalty to your friends, but this is suicide.”
Gao Yang let out a bitter laugh and said, “There’s no way around it, whether it works or not, we’ll only know after we try.
We can’t run with a clear conscience.
No more talking, you’d better get going.”
After sighing, Green Mamba shook his head and said, “Ram, I’m sorry, sorry, my brothers, I have to take responsibility for my own men, I’m really sorry I can’t help you, I wish you good luck, I’m truly very sorry.”
Gao Yang didn’t have time to say goodbye to Green Mamba.
He simply waved his hand and said, “I understand you, brother, you have the lives of dozens of people on your shoulders, now go, go.”
With a sad face, Green Mamba turned to catch up with the already departing team, while Gao Yang gave a forceful wave and ordered, “Move out!”
Following the order, the four of them spaced out by about ten meters from each other and rapidly advanced along one side of the main road.
The opposition engaged in the firefight noticed Gao Yang and his team approaching and immediately someone started shooting at them.
Li Jinfang, who was in the lead, raised his fist, and the four of them promptly found nearby cover to hide.
Being suppressed by enemy fire and unable to advance, Gao Yang felt extremely anxious.
He immediately raised his gun, aimed at someone, and fired a shot, but after the echo of the gunshot, his target was still alive and kicking.
Gao Yang grabbed a handful of dust from the ground where he was hiding and threw it into the air, only to see the dust instantly dispersed by the wind, traveling at a high speed.
The wind was very strong, which was detrimental to long-range shooting, especially in the city where numerous buildings affected air flow, creating the kind of turbulent air that snipers dread the most, also known as erratic winds, and these were fast-changing erratic winds.
Gao Yang immediately shouted, “Rabbit, measure the distance!
Wind speed!”
Gao Yang was a better shot than Cui Bo, but when it came to estimating distance and speed, Cui Bo was more accurate and faster.
After all, that was Cui Bo’s main focus, to the point where measuring had almost become an instinctual response.
Cui Bo almost instantly came back with an answer, shouting, “Five hundred meters, wind speed, approximately eleven meters per second, it’s a strong wind!”
Having obtained the wind speed, Gao Yang immediately adjusted his aim according to the wind and fired another shot.
A machine gunner suddenly fell to the ground, but he wasn’t dead; instead, he rolled over twice on the ground before starting to crawl, and then two people dragged him away.
Gao Yang aimed at a second target and fired again, but the shot missed.
Gao Yang was certain he had aimed correctly, and the only reason for missing was that the wind had changed direction again.
After trying a third shot and still not hitting the target, Gao Yang shouted angrily, “No good, the wind is too erratic.
Rabbit, you stay back to provide cover, Toad, Big Dog, the three of us will move forward under cover and fire when we’re closer.”
At this point, the difference between Gao Yang and Cui Bo became evident.
Although both were marksmen who prioritized precise shooting, Gao Yang leaned more towards operating with a squad, while Cui Bo was more of a classic sniper, inclined to work alone on missions.
Although Cui Bo’s marksmanship still had room for improvement, a sniper isn’t just judged by shooting accuracy.
A sniper’s main tasks include surveillance, reconnaissance, taking out high-value targets, and even engaging in anti-material operations.
Gao Yang might have been significantly better than Cui Bo, but unlike Cui Bo, he couldn’t lie in wait for long periods without moving, waiting to execute the fatal shot.
Asking Cui Bo to stay back was a helpless choice; Cui Bo’s close-range combat ability was nearly non-existent, so he could only provide intermittent fire support from a distance.