Chapter 84: Crash and Airborne

"We have tried various unmanned methods to scout and scan Sheheba, but all ended in failure, so we can only send combat personnel in."

"Currently, Sheheba has been blockaded by the 2nd Armored Battalion of the 172nd Infantry Brigade, and so far no enemy reports have been found."

Lieutenant Colonel said this, looked around at those present, and asked in a deep voice, "Does anyone have any questions?"

— Including Leon, the others silently shook their heads.

"Very well, we plan to depart at 13:40. I hope everyone is ready before then, so let's dismiss."

After speaking, the Lieutenant Colonel was the first to leave the operations conference room.

The beret‑wearing lieutenants rose and left one after another, while Leon and the other five intelligence officers were the last to exit the operations conference room.

The European headquarters Special Task Force, along with armed security and technical personnel, will also, under the Red Queen's arrangement, rush back to support as a US Military secret unit.

The six of Leon's intelligence personnel need to gather enough intelligence before the support arrives, so they can conduct targeted control or reduction.

At present, the Phantom has reached the skies over Lebanon; if Leon and the others encounter an emergency, Carlos will lead HellParatroopers and the undead to provide support.

13:40.

Six black‑painted UH‑60 Black Hawks, after being inspected by ground crew and cleared, lifted off one by one.

Meanwhile, two black‑painted AH‑64D Longbow Apaches, which had been waiting for a long time, escorted the six Black Hawks toward Sheheba in a southeast direction.

The helicopter formation maintained an altitude of roughly 2,000 meters, swiftly crossing the border line into Syrian territory.

Below the formation stretched an endless desert landscape, with abandoned villages, or occasionally a rare oasis.

Soon, the formation arrived over Damascus.

This Syrian capital, with thousands of years of history, when viewed from the air, reveals only collapsed ruins and homeless refugees.

Those seated in the cabin, upon seeing this scene, felt an indescribable emotion.

But the green‑beret troops are already accustomed; they are soldiers, and obeying orders is a soldier's duty.

Leon, sitting beside the left side hatch of the cabin, looked down through the window, and his facial expression revealed his inner displeasure.

Leon now wears his ballistic vest over his combat jacket, with a tactical pack attached to his right leg to hold his pistol magazines and some small tools.

Besides him, twelve fully armed berets also sit in the cabin.

The berets are dressed in uniform desert combat uniforms, equipped with FAST helmets, heavy ballistic vests, AR or FN series firearms, and other weapons and gear.

"Hey, office‑bound ones, is this your first time personally experiencing the real situation here?"

The beret second lieutenant sitting opposite Leon, seeing Leon's sour expression, couldn't help but tease.

After all, to these battlefield elites, the CIA are just "office‑bound."

… Leon lightly shook his head, restrained his expression and gave no reply.

Having been an intelligence officer for over half a year, Leon is not seeing this scene for the first time, but his youthful vigor makes it hard for him to stay calm.

At the same time, Leon increasingly feels that leaving the police force and joining Umbrella was the most correct decision of his life.

Silence all the way.

At the formation's cruising speed, they can reach the outskirts of Sheheba in less than twenty minutes.

Only when they lower altitude, maintaining a flight at 200 meters.

When they are less than two kilometers from the temporary helipad built by the 2nd Armored Battalion, the visible dense fog area suddenly expands.

The speed is so fast that the helicopter pilots have no time to adjust the aircraft's direction to evade.

In an instant, the dense fog enveloped the helicopter formation.

"Du! Du!" shrill alarms sounded successively in the cabin.

"Everyone hold on! The engines have flamed out, we're going to attempt an emergency landing!" the pilot shouted.

!!!

Faced with this mishap, all the berets, including Leon, immediately grabbed their seats and the nearby armrests.

The powerless Black Hawk began to spin and fall, giving everyone in the cabin a firsthand experience of a high‑intensity manned centrifuge training.

But this time it wasn't training; it was a life‑or‑death crash!

Looking through the window at the Black Hawk nearing the ground, everyone in the cabin felt their hearts in their throats, praying they could survive this emergency landing.

———————

…

Meanwhile.

The Phantom, with its Optical Camouflage activated, is cruising over Sheheba at an altitude of 15,000 meters.

Inside the Phantom's leftmost individual deployment bay.

Ten HellParatroopers, wearing black one‑piece combat suits with special‑alloy armor on their joints and exclusive helmets, are seated in the airdrop pods adjusting their gear.

Aircrew members in yellow vests and breathing masks are assisting the paratroopers with the final checks.

"Beep! Beep!" yellow indicator lights flash in the cabin.

Seeing this, Carlos, lying in the frontmost airdrop pod, gave the aircrew a thumbs‑up with his right hand.

The aircrew gave a slight nod and closed the hatch of the individual airdrop pod.

Subsequently, the other paratroopers lay down and sealed their pods in turn, completing the pre‑airdrop preparations.

The aircrew quickly withdrew from the airdrop pod deployment area, and the lower gate opened slowly.

"Hoo—!" the cold vortex rushed into the cabin.

"Clack~." With a crisp sound, the mechanical arm holding the airdrop pods released, dropping the ten pods carrying the paratroopers.

The airdrop pods first fell like free‑falling objects.

After leaving the Phantom, one can see the Phantom's four simultaneously opened gates, which sequentially released thirty‑five airdrop pods.

Immediately thereafter, all the airdrop pods unfolded small wings, allowing the computer to automatically adjust their angle.

In less than a minute, the Phantom released a second batch of thirty‑five airdrop pods.

"Paratroopers!" At that moment, the communication from inside the individual pod transmitted Carlos's voice.

"Our six intelligence personnel lost contact before they even began reconnaissance, and we are the support unit that can reach them the fastest!"

"Our mission is to rescue our personnel while making contact with the anomalous phenomenon; if circumstances permit, we will coordinate with the US Military's Green Berets and 2nd Armored Battalion to withdraw from the fog zone."

"Please note, because the Red Queen has determined that the fog zone can cause electronic components to fail, we must not use equipment such as mechanical exoskeletons, and the airdrop pods will deploy buffer measures in advance."

"The combat environment is extremely harsh, but to us paratroopers it's nothing, because we have stepped into hell with our feet!"

"\"Ha! \" the paratroopers roared in unison."

"Carlos had just finished speaking when the first batch of airdrop pods about to approach the fog instantly opened their buffer chutes."

"In the blink of an eye, the airdrop pods carrying the fearless paratroopers entered the fog."

"Shortly thereafter, the second batch of airdrop pods did the same."

"Finally, sixty paratroopers and ten undead completely vanished from the ghost's surveillance field."

"(End of chapter)"