Four Special Forces teams, two Delta Force teams and two Navy SEAL teams had involved eighty members. Added with the forty CIA field agents, there were around one hundred and twenty people in Alliance Mine.
Indeed, there was a radar station on the peak of the mountain which had acted as a signal jammer too. It had turned the surrounding area within the fifty-kilometre radius into a signal dead zone. Anyone inside the zone was technically unreachable.
The rationale behind this was simple- this land had belonged to Nigeria. The fact that the American Special Forces and CIA agents had occupied the mines was an invasion attempt on the country. If the international community were to catch wind of this, America would be faced with waves of verbal criticisms and all of the Western values they preached would be nothing but hypocritical nonsense.
So far, Alliance Mining had been under complete control of the American Special Forces and CIA field agents. All of the employees of the company too were bound to the plant area. An awful incident of five deaths and seventeen injuries were reported there, all of which were Chinese nationals. Their assailants had been the CIA agents as the five Chinese employees had attempted to create a signal transmitter by utilizing electronic components to send distress signals to the outside world. The agents had executed them and triggered a wave of protests. Yet, the protestors were quickly suppressed and had become the seventeen casualties.
At this rate, the Americans wouldn’t be sparing anyone and their scapegoat would be the Boko Haram armed group. If two suspects- America and the Boko Haram armed group- were presented to the world, which party would garner more trust from the rest of the population? The answer was obvious here, there was no need to even think about it.
There were two figures that led the Alliance Mine invasion. One of them was Williams, the head of the CIA and the other was Kestin, Lockheed Martin’s new CEO and the leader of the American arms dealer alliance.
This was all the information Xia Lei had gotten from the Delta Force soldier’s brain. However, due to his lower rank, the soldier had no idea if Williams or Kestin was inside Alliance Mine.
Meanwhile, the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team members had sorted out the bodies and changed into Delta Force uniforms. Each Delta Force soldier had carried a communicator along, but there was no signal.
“Why are they bringing the communicators around when they’ve jammed the signals?” Sa’im was confused.
Xia Lei replied, “I think they would turn on a specific channel at intervals and then turn it off again when the conversation is done. After all, they still need to understand the situation here. If they’re covering up their eyes and ears, they would be fighting this battle blind.”
“We should just carry this around. That way, we’ll be able to listen in to their conversations too.” Yelena swiftly shoved the communicator into the fabric slot on the shoulder.
Xia Lei left the railway tracks and led them into the jungle towards the left side of the mountain peak that belonged to Alliance Mine.
The five-kilometre radius closest to the site was positively crawling with enemies. Xia Lei and the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team members were forced to slow down because of that. But regardless if they had encountered the American Special Force patrol teams or the Boko Haram patrol teams, no one would be spared.
They could only fight, fight and fight without a pause.
Naturally, that would mean slaughter, slaughter and more slaughter.
The usage frequency of Xia Lei’s energy field had allowed him to be more adept. When they come across a bigger patrol team with scattered targets, he would instead infiltrate the minds of the Zodiac Battle Team members and become part of them. In this mode, it was equivalent to him fighting with seven bodies. With unified thinking, unified movements and scarily precise marksmanship, they were literally invincible.
By three in the afternoon, Xia Lei and the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team members had reached the mountain’s foot. At this point, they were only about three kilometres away from the Alliance Mine.
“The mountain is 2500 metres above sea level. We’ll need at least two hours to make it to the peak and we’ll only have ten minutes to end this battle.” Xia Lei began to plan his strategy.
“Then when do we destroy the radar station?” Sa’im asked.
Xia Lei answered, “After we wipe out everyone at the radar station, you all will stay there.”
“What about you?” The concern in Tsukino Kyoko’s eyes was evident.
Actually, Tsukino Kyoko wasn’t the only member riddled with worries. The other Chinese Zodiac Battle Team members too had a feeling that their leader was about to go on a solo mission again.
And as expected, Xia Lei said, “I’m going to enter the mine site. Wait for my signal and destroy the radar station when it comes. As soon as it is destroyed, the Americans inside the Alliance Mine would find out and that would be the moment where they’d try to attack you. By then, you need to signal Giovanna and have her move in with her people. Following that, they’ll attack the Americans and the Boko Haram armed members from behind.”
Anjum Khan grimaced. “Boss, that’s a thousand enemies you’re talking about. At least one hundred of them are CIA elites, Delta Force members and Navy SEALs. Are you asking us to be Rambo?”
Nonchalantly, Xia Lei replied, “Don’t worry. With me around, they have no chance of winning.”
Though it may sound overzealous., this was something Xia Lei wouldn’t have said if he hadn’t taken the last AE capsule. Why? Well, it was because he did not have the same confidence back then. With the last AE capsule, his body was now en route to complete evolution. With the energy field generated by the mysterious energy, the terrorists and Special Force soldiers were no match for him. He could easily run them over just like Zhu Xuanyue!
“Then that is settled,” said Yelena.
“Let’s move.” Qian Jun urged.
Xia Lei nodded. “Let’s move.”
At five in the afternoon, Xia Lei and the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team members had appeared at the dense jungle on the top of the mountain.
Away from the dense jungle was a man-made clearing, where a radar vehicle and signal jammer vehicle was parked at. There was no route on the mountain that could’ve allowed the ascend of these cars, so it was obvious that they were brought here via air transport. Only America would have the capabilities to ship a radar car to a West African mountaintop through the air.
This was the mentioned radar station.
Tasked with guarding the station was a team of Navy SEALs that consisted of twenty members. There were also a handful of radar soldiers but they were evidently technical soldiers that belonged to the SEAL.
“Boss, are we still going with the same instructions?” At the edge of the jungle, Tsukino Kyoko questioned.
The instruction she was referring to was how they were told to not fire at the enemy. There were twenty of them here and the radar soldier could easily send a distress signal at any given moment. The difficulty was obviously much higher than all of their past battles, it even sounded impossible to complete.
Despite that, Xia Lei looked relaxed. “Wait for me here.”
“Huh? What about you?” Tsukino Kyoko stared at him with wide eyes.
“I’m going over to talk to them.” Xia Lei stood up and left the protection of the jungle.
Behind him, all six of the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team members were gaping in shock. Everyone was equally confused, minds filled to the brim with questions.
“What’s up with the boss?” It took some effort for Anjum Khan to string words together.
“Yeah. What’s the matter with him?” Sa’im shared the sentiment.
“After not seeing him for so long, he feels like a different person,” said Alessio.
Qian Jun replied, “He’s definitely stronger now.”
“I’m pretty sure this is something Kyoko could shed some light on,” uttered E’er Demutu with a grin.
Tsukino Kyoko whipped around and flashed him a middle finger.
To which E’er Demutu shrugged off. Gentlemen do not fight women.
Xia Lei’s presence was noticed not long after he had emerged from the jungle. It was then that the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team members started moving towards the designated spot.
“Hold it!” A Navy SEAL captain shouted at Xia Lei. “What are you doing here?”
At the edge of the jungle, all the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team members raised their Gust assault rifles. They were prepared to fire if necessary. The captain’s voice had alerted the nearby soldiers. They began to surround Xia Lei from different directions with raised M14EBR assault rifles.
There was no path that led to the mountain’s peak. They and the radar station were even carried here by the Hercules transport plane. There was no hiking involved at all. Despite the Delta Special Force uniform on Xia Lei’s body, the appearance of a Delta Force soldier here was worthy of doubt.
Xia Lei raised his arms and walked over. “Chill. Something has happened at the headquarters and I’m here to verify it.”
“What’s the matter?” A SEAL commander asked.
Xia Lei continued to go nearer. “We’re facing some issues with communication devices. We have lost contact with one of the patrolling teams. That’s why Mister Kestin has sent me here to ask in hopes that you can fix the problem as soon as possible.”
Xia Lei’s answer had eased the SEAL soldiers tension. Kestin was, in fact, the commander of this entire operation. This was a secret known by a selected few that not even the higher authority circle of Boko Haram knew. This Delta Force soldier had mentioned that Kestin had sent him over, so this heavily implies that this man was Kestin’s direct subordinate. Plus, he had been raising his arm since the start without any intent to attack.
“Come with me, let’s go ask the radar soldiers about it. They probably have an idea about the situation,” said the Navy SEAL commander.
Xia Lei went to the commander and smiled. “How about we all go together?”
And with that, everyone else had followed them away towards the radar vehicle.
At the edge of the jungle, the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team members were having a hard time stomaching reality.
What the absolute fuck?
Are all the Navy SEALs here idiots?
Despite their surprise, this was merely the prologue to an even peculiar event.
The group of SEALs had stuck close to Xia Lei, the furthest they’d go was five steps away from the man. It was dead silent, no one spoke and no one raised their guns.
When Xia Lei reached the radar car, he abruptly raised his Viper pistol and took out all the radar soldiers inside.
Poof poof poof!
Crimson droplets were splattered everywhere as the radar soldiers slumped over. Their deaths were rather unjustified.
In all of a sudden, Tsukino Kyoko dashed out of the hiding without care. Everyone else in the jungle quickly mirrored her. They ran and began firing at every single Navy SEAL in sight.
One by one, all the Navy SEAL soldiers fell to the ground with a generous pouring of blood. Till their complete deaths, no one had managed to raise their weapons in time.
The battle had ended just like that.
This felt like an exceptionally dark joke.
“This…” Tsukino Kyoko gazed at Xia Lei with unmasked concern. Inexplicably, this was the first time she dared not go close to him. He felt like a complete stranger to her. His eyes were like black holes in space; it was merciless, cold and ready to devour everything!
The female ninja wasn’t alone in this. The other Chinese Zodiac Battle Team members too felt the same. The overwhelming respect they held for him was immediately upgraded to absolute fear!
Xia Lei closed his eyes, only opening it after a few seconds. He flashed them all a smile. “Why are you staring at me? This is indeed what I’ve planned. Well done, team.”
“...”
“Clean this area up. Sa’im, go take a look at how the radar works. When the time comes, open up the channel they need,” said Xia Lei.
“Got it, no problem.” Sa’im left for the radar car.
“Alright, that’s it. I’m going to the Alliance Mine now. Wait for my signal to destroy the radar station and signal jamming car, capiche?” After that, Xia Lei began his hike down the mountain.
This time, no one attempted to stop him.
Was there even a need for that?