Chapter 535: Again—This Is Not a Drill, Not a Drill!

The night was as black as ink.

From a distance, the island looked like a lone little boat drifting on the boundless sea.

The island was quiet, and the vast majority of traces left by the earlier arrivals had been cleared away by Lu Yang and his men.

The speedboat that had docked at the reef beach earlier was also hidden in a relatively concealed, narrow spot, using branches and leaves as cover, completing the concealment.

At this moment, Lu Yang had already led the members of the Raptor Team to finish their covert lurking, quietly awaiting the "prey" to come to them.

Time passed bit by bit, yet no abnormal situation occurred.

The few who were camouflaged near the mudflat, suffering from chronic sleep deprivation due to long training, and further disoriented by yesterday's speedboat rocking, felt their spirits overturned.

Now they only felt drowsiness attacking, yawning continuously, each of them having to secretly squeeze their thighs to stay alert.

At the ambush point near the shallow sandbank, Kang Changyi had half his body buried in the sand and yawned again.

Next to him, Liu Ziqiang's lower jaw opened involuntarily: "Can you stop yawning? When you yawn, I want to yawn too."

Kang Changyi couldn't move, so he swept a side light toward him: "You talk as if I wanted to fight, but yawning—who can control it? We've been here for several hours, not a single move; if we're not sleepy there must be a ghost."

"I have a feeling this is most likely a simulated combat assessment, and it should be over by dawn."

Liu Ziqiang lowered his voice: "No way. Earlier I heard Lu on the phone with the Brigade Commander, saying that police personnel had also gotten involved."

Kang Changyi curled his lip: "You don't get it, this is a joint military‑police training; it's possible that later a group of police will come, posing as terrorists, drug dealers, or the like, to land on the island."

"Those live rounds are actually duds that can't be fired; remember the incident when we lost a rifle? Among that batch of bullets were some that had gotten damp and become duds."

"You really know a lot, having attended a military academy and being a specialist—it's different, huh?"

"Exactly!"

"Then how do you explain the white powder we dug up?"

"Protein powder, or maybe just flour; if it really were white powder, a hundred gunshots would be enough—doesn't that make you a total fool?"

"What about the gold bars?"

"Copper, or perhaps gold‑plated—anyway it couldn't possibly be real..."

Kang Changyi was about to continue showing off when Chen Panpan's stern voice came from behind.

"You two, shut your mouths!"

"We're on a covert mission; the enemy could return at any time, so be serious!"

"Pfft~"

The two paused briefly, then both laughed inwardly.

The reason was that Chen Panpan, regardless of appearance, temperament, or voice, had no intimidation at all.

One can imagine a baby‑voiced child holding a toy gun, running up with a serious face, pointing at you and saying "don't move."

Nevertheless, the two immediately fell silent and stayed quiet; after all, nominally this kid is the leader of the Raptor Team, and even though no one privately acknowledges it, Lu Yang's face still has to be saved.

Chen Panpan, seeing the two finally quiet down, let a faint smile of pride appear on their face, thinking that their authority as squad leader had finally taken effect.

He adjusted his breathing, gripped the assault rifle in his hands tightly, and repeatedly checked that the safety was engaged.

He didn't know what might happen next, whether it was real or not.

But he knew the gun contained live rounds, and a misfire would have unthinkable consequences.

Elsewhere, in the forest.

At a spot less than five meters from where the white powder was unearthed, beside some shrubs.

Zhou Kaidong and Guo Yongwen, the two longest‑serving veterans, lay in meticulous ambush at their positions.

They could clearly feel insects crawling on their faces and earthworms slipping through their collars into their clothes; yet the veterans' professional discipline and steel‑hardened will forged over years kept them motionless in the same posture.

About seven or eight meters opposite them, Lu Yang was likewise hidden among damp, moldy rotten leaves.

Lu Yang's gaze first fell on Zhou Kaidong and Guo Yongwen's hiding spots, expressing high approval of the two veterans' professional competence.

These two were also among the few in the unit who, regardless of authenticity, took everything seriously and meticulously.

This point, in fact, can be traced back to past experiences.

In the past, when Kang Changyi was a Platoon Leader, he had hastily issued some seemingly unreasonable orders.

At that time, Zhou Kaidong already disliked him, but as a subordinate he still chose to obey the command immediately and carry out the order.

Obedience is every soldier's rule; it's iron discipline. Any country, any army, is the same.

Then Lu Yang turned his gaze to a raised mound thirty to forty meters ahead to the right, behind which Wu Sida was concealed.

His role was to fill in; to prevent the enemy from suddenly sensing danger and fleeing without warning, at which point he would be responsible for covering fire.

Wu Sida, formerly a Platoon Leader in an Army reconnaissance unit, was the only soldier on site besides Lu Yang who had actually seen combat.

The moment he discovered the drugs, he immediately realized this was no assessment; from start to finish, regardless of others' conditions, he remained in a battle‑ready stance.

Thus, those who have killed enemies and seen blood differ greatly from those who haven't.

Even though Lu Yang had already arranged for them to kill pigs, chickens, rabbits, and even taken them to observe dissections.

Nevertheless, nothing compares to personally taking part in combat and feeling bullets whizz past your ears.

If it were wartime, such a problem wouldn't exist; today you train briefly, and the next day you're on the battlefield, everywhere blood and corpses, and the environment forces you to grow.

But now is a peaceful era, with few wars; training and drills have become the main theme, so real combat experience has become the hardest hurdle for ordinary soldiers in peacetime.

Lu Yang pressed the intercom, said nothing, and lightly tapped the microphone three times with his finger.

Speaking while covertly hidden carries exposure risk; using a code to communicate is more concealed and convenient.

Soon, three tapping sounds came from the other end, Ding Tengfei's response.

Three taps signify that nothing is happening, and Lu Yang also needs to make sure the kid hasn't fallen asleep.

Ding Tengfei's position is the island's highest point, serving as everyone's watchpost; if he falls asleep and the enemy sneaks onto the island from another direction, the consequences would be unimaginable.

Nevertheless, according to the message relayed by Headquarters, a slow‑moving, unarmed ordinary fishing boat is about to arrive, with a police undercover agent aboard.

Moreover, this is the place where Lu Yang has been training and living for two months, so he knows the surroundings like the back of his hand; the chance of these fishermen quietly approaching and sneaking onto the island is minuscule, but vigilance is still required.

Time drifted slowly; Lu Yang raised his hand to glance at his watch—it was already 3:47. In a little over an hour, daylight should break.

Suddenly, a rapid knocking sound came through the walkie‑talkie; it was Ding Tengfei on the lighthouse frantically sending him a signal.

Lu Yang immediately brought the walkie‑talkie to his face, pressed the talk button, and lowered his voice: "Report the situation—where is the fishing boat approaching from, and from which point will it go ashore?"

Ding Tengfei replied anxiously in a low voice: "No, it's not a fishing boat!"

"Not a fishing boat? Our people arrived first?"

"No, not our people—two speedboats, coming from the southwest sea area, moving fast, five people in total..."

Lu Yang's complexion changed; given their current island position, if they're coming from the southwest sea, that likely means they're foreign personnel.

"Are they carrying weapons?"

"It's a bit far, I can't see clearly—wait… yes, they have weapons, all of them carrying guns on their backs, they're heading toward the shallow sandbank to the south!"

"Got it. Stay concealed; don't fire unless absolutely necessary. If you miss and expose your position you're dead."

"Yes, yes…"

Ding Tengfei's voice trembled slightly, his palms and soles sweating profusely, his gun‑holding hand a little stiff.

At that moment, he could be almost 100% certain this was no assessment, not some so‑called combat drill; this was a real, foreign‑armed invasion!