Chapter 982: Step by Step

Captain Tony lay behind a giant rock, and seeing the opposing ships suddenly cease fire, he let out a sigh of relief and whispered excitedly: "They really are our own people! It's all that idiot Brown's fault for refusing to identify us in advance, causing so many of us to die!"

A corporal beside him looked completely bewildered, thinking the captain had gone mad, and retorted: "Captain, but so many of our brothers have died, how could they possibly be our own people?"

"This debt should be settled with Brown!" Captain Tony said in a low voice.

The corporal was stunned, his voice trembling: "But... Officer Brown has already been blown to death!"

Another sentry suddenly warned in a panic: "Captain, that ship has turned around; they have no intention of docking at all!"

Captain Tony's face flushed red, and he immediately knew his judgment was wrong, but he reacted quickly and roared out orders: "That group isn't our own people, they are the enemy! They must have gone to raid our ships! Everyone retreat immediately and run to the shallows on the south side! If they seize the ships, we will all be trapped to death on this desert island!"

Although he claimed they were his own people, only twenty or thirty men remained who could follow him; the rest were either wounded or dead.

Captain Tony led the remaining soldiers and ran with all their might toward the south side of the island.

On the other side, He Yuzhu drove the patrol boat as if it were about to fly.

This small island was not large, and in just over twenty minutes, the three ships anchored at the southern shallows came into view.

He raised his telescope to observe carefully; one of the ships was actually the same model of M Country patrol boat as the one under his feet. Beside it were two dilapidated LCVP small landing craft moored side-by-side, their hulls peeling with layers of rust—anyone with a discerning eye could tell they were old junk discarded by M Country and handed over to the Philippine monkeys.

Looking closer, the railings and masts of the two landing craft were covered in colorful clothing. As the sea breeze blew, the various fabrics fluttered in the wind, looking just like a row of colorful international flags, blindingly gaudy. He immediately concluded that these two ships belonged to the Philippine monkeys.

Deputy Co-pilot Zhang leaned over and asked: "Factory Director He, how shall we fight this battle?"

He Yuzhu pondered for a moment and immediately set the strategy: "Prioritize taking down that M Country patrol boat. Leave the two Philippine monkey landing craft aside for now; once we resolve the US Military, we'll deal with them later."

After speaking, he grabbed the ship's communicator and shouted: "Deputy Co-pilot Li, I'm charging over at full speed. You prioritize taking care of that landing ship that is the same as ours. After you finish off the M Country Military, then deal with the monkeys... don't you show any mercy."

"Don't worry, I know what I'm doing!" Deputy Co-pilot Li replied readily.

While speaking, the patrol boat had already approached the three ships at the beach at high speed.

The guards left behind on the three ships hadn't noticed anything unusual at all, assuming it was a friendly ship coming for a rest. Seven or eight people stood on the deck, even enthusiastically waving at the patrol boat.

Deputy Co-pilot Li lay behind the heavy machine gun, a cold arc curling at the corner of his mouth as his index finger slammed down on the trigger.

"Da-da-da-da-da-da—!"

The muzzle spewed blinding tongues of fire, and a dense rain of bullets swept across the entire deck like a steel whip.

Those few US Military personnel didn't even have a chance to dodge; like wheat cut down by a sickle, they all fell straight to the ground in unison.

The Philippine monkeys chasing and playing on the landing craft instantly went into a panic. Piercing screams and wails mixed together as everyone scrambled and crawled into the cabins.

How could Deputy Co-pilot Li give them a chance to escape? He turned the muzzle, and the firepower directly covered them.

After finishing off the soldiers on the two landing craft, he hit those on the ground.

In fact, most of the drivers and security personnel for the two landing craft were on the shore.

These guards didn't fulfill their duties at all; they had propped their guns to the side while they ate the fish they had just caught.

They were eating fish and drinking beer while occasionally messing around.

They never dreamed that while eating, drinking, and having fun, they would be attended to by someone else's M2 Heavy Machine Gun.

After Deputy Co-pilot Li's round of precise point-fire, few survivors remained on the shore.

At this time, He Yuzhu's patrol boat had already pressed tightly against the hull of the US Military patrol boat.

With a leap, he jumped directly onto the enemy deck.

The moment his toes touched the ground, his scalp suddenly went numb—something was wrong; there were definitely still people hiding in the cabin!

Sure enough, just as he took half a step forward, a gunshot exploded from inside the cabin door.

He Yuzhu's reaction speed was extremely fast. The same instant the gun fired, he lunged forward violently, rolling continuously across the deck as bullets whistled past his head.

During the roll, he raised his hand to draw his pistol, and without even needing to aim carefully, he fired a shot with a flick of his wrist.

"Bang!"

The enemy hiding in the dark tilted their head, blood splattered, and they fell straight down at the cabin entrance.

He Yuzhu slowly stood up and searched the entire ship level by level with his pistol raised.

The cockpit, lounge, and engine room were all checked thoroughly without omission. Aside from the five who fell on the deck and the ambusher he shot inside the cabin, there were no other living souls on the ship.

After confirming it was completely safe, he jumped back onto his own patrol boat and steered the ship toward the two Philippine monkey landing craft.

Most of the Philippine monkeys on the two landing craft had been on the shore, and those on the shore had already been cleared out by the machine gun.

There were only a dozen or so crew members left on the ships responsible for sailing; they had been sleeping, which is why they weren't killed.

These Philippine monkeys heard that their other companions were all dead. They didn't dare to oppose He Yuzhu and the others. They all huddled on the ground holding their heads, jabbering and begging for mercy.

He Yuzhu was about to execute this group of prisoners when Deputy Co-pilot Li walked up quickly to dissuade him: "These people all know how to sail; it's better to keep them. We can use this captured US Military patrol boat as a supply ship and let them be responsible for driving and transporting food and diesel. Once we reach safe waters, it won't be too late to wipe them all out."

He Yuzhu gave him a thumbs up, laughing despite himself: "If we're talking about being meticulous and having ruthless methods, it has to be you, Deputy Co-pilot Li."

"I learned it from you!" Deputy Co-pilot Li said with a smile.

Deputy Director Li also chimed in: "Doing this has another benefit. Even if M Military reconnaissance planes scout later and see two identical M Military patrol boats on the sea, they will have to verify them, and they won't dare to rashly conclude it's us for a while."

He Yuzhu highly approved of this plan.

Deputy Director Long came over and said: "Factory Director He, we have already notified our navy, and they are already on their way to pick us up."

He Yuzhu realized this upon hearing it and nodded in agreement: "That's great. In two days, we will be completely safe."

Deputy Director Li nodded slightly.

He Yuzhu's expression suddenly darkened, and he said: "I just thought of something. We can't leave immediately right now; the remaining enemy troops on the island must be completely cleared out. We will wait until nightfall to set off."

Bureau Chief Zhang frowned, full of concerns: "The news of our raid on the fleet has likely already been transmitted by the other side. What if a large number of enemy warships surround us?"

He Yuzhu analyzed calmly: "We aren't afraid of warships; what we need to guard against are fighter jets. Night navigation has stronger concealment and a much higher safety factor."

Deputy Director Li immediately made the decision: "Everything will be arranged according to Factory Director He."

Bureau Chief Zhang immediately called out to everyone: "Then everyone hurry up and get to work; move all the fuel to the captured patrol boat!"

As soon as the words fell, the young and strong members of the delegation immediately split up to take action.

He Yuzhu did not follow to move the fuel; he boarded the two abandoned landing craft alone to scavenge for supplies. He searched through all the cabins but didn't find anything valuable, only moving a dozen boxes of compressed dry rations and canned goods onto the lifeboat to transfer back to his own patrol boat.

By the time he returned to the ship, the deck was already piled high with diesel barrels, with barely any room left to stand.

Bureau Chief Zhang was leading the others in tying the oil drums layer by layer with ropes, fearing that the fuel drums would roll into the sea if the voyage became bumpy.

He Yuzhu glanced at the mountain of oil drums and asked aloud, "Where did all this diesel come from?"

"I reckon this group relies on these fuel supplies for their daily cooking and power generation," the Deputy Flight Engineer replied.

He Yuzhu pondered for a moment, then suddenly conceived a ruthless plan, placing Timed Bombs inside the two empty Landing Crafts respectively.

The group then boarded the captured US Military patrol boat and sailed to the distant open sea to wait quietly.

On the other side, Captain Tony, leading over twenty wounded soldiers, ran frantically all the way to the southern shallows.

Seeing that the US Military patrol boat originally docked there had been taken away, he was so angry that he cursed, "Those damn bastards!"

A sniper beside him stepped forward and asked, "Captain, what should we do now?"

"What else can we do? Board these two Landing Crafts first and return to base immediately to call for reinforcements!" Tony said irritably, in a foul mood.

Tony took over a dozen wounded soldiers onto the Landing Craft in slightly better condition and ordered the remaining ten to board the other one, starting the vessels and sailing away in the opposite direction from He Yuzhu.

He Yuzhu watched from afar as the entire group of enemy soldiers boarded the Landing Crafts, a sinister smile curling at the corners of his mouth as he immediately pressed the remote detonation button in his hand.

"Boom—!"

"Boom—!"

Two deafening roars exploded in succession, and with sky-high flames engulfed in billowing smoke, the two Landing Crafts were torn to pieces on the spot, their burning wreckage slowly sinking into the sea.

He Yuzhu immediately ordered in a deep voice, "Everyone follow me to the island to rest and regroup; we will set sail for the return journey late at night."