Chapter 26

From now on, we maintain a 1-2-2 formation and advance while searching, looking for others.

Li Erniu is positioned in the middle, always remaining concealed." This is Liu Xiaotian's first words after his call with Fan Tianlei.

In a sense, this is also the first formal joint operation of the core strength of the future Red Blood Cell Group, and Liu Xiaotian is the first to formally place himself in the group's 'brains' position.

The reason he is said to be using the enemy's plan against them is to, within the five minutes agreed upon with Fan Tianlei, eliminate at least two enemy members while incurring some cost to our side.

His plan, put bluntly, is a 'life-for-life' tactic.

No matter how you say it, the opposing side are all extremely experienced 'old soldiers', having participated in formal missions and having repeatedly hovered on the line of life and death.

No matter how confident they are in their own combat ability, in the face of ample combat experience, they are at a disadvantage.

Among the remaining five, He Chen Guang immediately understood Liu Xiaotian's intention, nodded and said softly: 'Okay, let's proceed according to your plan.'

Even Cai Xiaoxin, after pondering it carefully, realized it—unexpectedly, Wang Yanbing is lacking quite a bit compared to the TV drama character, and he asked somewhat resentfully: 'Why let Li Erniu be in the middle? Is your arrangement of this position just to screw people over at the crucial moment? Don't you think my quick reflexes are more suited to this spot?'

Hearing that, Liu Xiaotian couldn't help but roll his eyes inwardly.

This guy really is a blockhead.

He Chen Guang lifted his leg and lightly kicked Wang Yanbing, then lowered his voice and said quickly: 'You don't have a brain? Compared to Erniu, who do you think the chief of staff and others would pay more attention to?'

Wang Yanbing then suddenly understood, giving Liu Xiaotian a thumbs-up:

"You little brat, you're just an old schemer!"

"Get lost!" Liu Xiaotian bluntly cut off Wang Yanbing's half-praise, half-criticism.

Indeed, he placed Li Erniu in the middle to conceal his presence, precisely to paralyze Fan Tianlei and the others.

Just as He Chen Guang explained, if Wang Yanbing were placed in that position, once any of Fan Tianlei's group discovered them, they would certainly not act rashly.

After all, among the four already on the key list, Wang Yanbing is the least honest and full of dirty tricks.

To say that Li Erniu failed to meet up with Liu Xiaotian and He Chen Guang right away would hardly raise any suspicion.

But to say that Wang Yanbing failed to meet with the two is obviously suspicious.

It must be said, Liu Xiaotian's arrangement is indeed the most promising way to 'trap' those 'old foxes'.

And that is exactly what happened.

After ending his call with Liu Xiaotian, Fan Tianlei immediately grabbed his gun and left his hiding place to meet with Kang Lei, who was nearest to him;

The remaining four formed two groups—He Zhijun with Chen Shanming, and Gong Jian with Laohei—quickly assuming a search formation as they approached the designated landing point.

The reason needs no explanation: it's naturally because Liu Xiaotian's group eliminated the position of the 'Zhangyu' three, which is right there.

Fan Tianlei could tell without even thinking that they must now be searching outward from that position.

What he must do is, before Liu Xiaotian's group finds the other soldiers, eliminate as many people as possible to seize the opportunity to establish the winning side of this exercise.

"Old Chen, you've been training these kids for over half a month—how's it going? Tell me your thoughts." He Zhijun, holding his gun and warily observing the surroundings, asked Chen Shanming, who was two steps away, in a low voice.

Chen Shanming thought and said: 'He Chen Guang is relatively steady; Wang Yanbing this kid has no problem with ability and quality, just a bit of a hothead; Li Erniu is honest, has perseverance, and is quite smart, just a bit slow-witted; as for Liu Xiaotian… this kid is a bit hard to describe.' 'Oh?' He Zhijun immediately became interested, turned his head toward Chen Shanming, and asked eagerly: 'How exactly is he hard to describe? Is it good or bad?'

Chen Shanming first glanced warily behind He Zhijun, then smacked his lips and said:

"That kid can usually talk a lot, belonging to the slick type, but at critical moments he is never vague, his mind is very agile.

In several live-fire trainings, I found this kid's reaction even faster than mine; drawing his gun is like being able to predict where a random target will appear, and he almost always completes the shot within an average of two seconds.

He Zhijun nodded satisfied, muttering to himself in a low voice: 'If that's the case, then all the scolding I've taken was worth it!'

Before his words even faded, three gunshots suddenly rang out from the front left.

He Zhijun and Chen Shanming both stared in surprise, then looked with bitter expressions at the blue smoke rising behind each other's backs, helplessly lowering their gun barrels.

Chen Shanming's expression need not be described—his forehead wrinkles were almost twisted into a 'king' character.

If the opponent weren't He Zhijun, he really would have wanted to give a big flying kick.

At a time like this, what the hell are you chatting about?! Now we're both eliminated—just ask if you're embarrassed!

Actually, there's really nothing to be embarrassed about.

Both of them were wearing camouflage uniforms, and their tactical movements while moving were very well maintained; the surroundings also had trees as natural cover, so normally they would not be easily spotted by opponents on the same horizontal plane.

But the key is, Liu Xiaotian still had a 'war trophy' in his hand!

That thing is called a thermal detector, capable of detecting targets at a distance of about twenty meters.

When Liu Xiaotian saw two human-shaped icons appear on the screen, his excitement was beyond words.

He immediately signaled the others to conceal themselves, and he, Wang Yanbing, and He Chen Guang immediately drew their guns, aimed, and sought the target.

After several seconds, they discovered He Zhijun and Chen Shanming slowly moving and apparently conversing.

Without any hesitation, the three exchanged a glance and almost simultaneously pulled the trigger.

Thus, a dignified brigade commander of the Wolf Fang Special Forces Brigade and a current shooting instructor for the training soldiers, in such a sorry state, carried their weapons and walked along the prescribed route to the designated area.

They didn't even turn their heads once.

Really, it's embarrassing to face! Although He Zhijun didn't take it too seriously, he still didn't want the new recruits who were surely snickering to see him with blue smoke rising from his back.

"He Zhijun, Chen Shanming—hit in the head, eliminated."

Upon hearing the report, Fan Tianlei could hardly believe his ears!

He even momentarily suspected that He Zhijun was deliberately letting those kids have their way.

But upon further thought, he denied his suspicion.

He Zhijun is absolutely not the type to hold back in an exercise, so why would that be?

No matter how you say it, those two wouldn't be eliminated without taking down at least one person! (End of chapter)