Chapter 272: Chapter 270: Prewar Combat Exercise

The next day, early in the morning, the soldiers woke up and found that some people were missing.

Hearing the whistles outside, everyone couldn’t bother with curiosity and hurriedly dressed and went out to line up. After counting, they realized it seemed like the missing people were all from the Special Service Company.

However, when they looked at the front of the formation again, Ling Chengyan’s upright back remained there as usual. They were puzzled again?

The Special Service Company personnel had gone for a covert mission, so why was Commander Ling still here?

Despite some of them having underestimated Ling Chengyan as a female commander, upon real contact, they found that indeed, they couldn’t match the battle prowess of the Special Service Company, yet the Special Service Company’s soldiers couldn’t match Ling Chengyan’s battle prowess.

Ling Chengyan, this woman, is recognized as the goddess of single-soldier combat strength!

Facts demonstrate that even the warrior goddess Ling Chengyan from the Special Service Company is no exception. After morning exercises, when the various units commenced project assessment and selection, Ling Chengyan quietly left without anyone noticing when she disappeared.

At this moment, Ling Chengyan had already left the camp, heading by vehicle to their special mission location — the border, the frontline of two opposing teams.

Their mission was live combat drill.

This live combat wasn’t played by pretending a red-blue opposition but was real army and enemy forces, with the possible occurrence of artillery bombardment and gunfire, and hidden landmines scattered throughout the mountain and forest.

They split into several small teams, infiltrating near enemy positions in batches, reconnoitering enemy conditions, obtaining accurate and military valuable intelligence, then based on the value obtained, ultimately subdued by the leadership of the command center.

The reconnaissance and infiltration were mandatory, with particular focus on the coordination between teams before and after, as well as adaptability in real combat scenarios…

The vehicles took them to a small town ten kilometers away, from here, they had to drop off non-essential equipment and proceed lightly loaded.

Ling Chengyan stood before the twenty soldiers she brought and said simply without elaboration: “The time to test your training results has arrived, go for it.”

“Promise to complete the mission,” the soldiers responded in unison, then split into two ten-man squads, the first squad initiated the departure, and two hours later, the second squad took off.

Ling Chengyan was part of the second squad.

Initially entering the forest, it was relatively smooth with the marks left behind by the first squad along the way. Some areas showed digging marks in the soil, possibly removing a landmine.

Continuing forward, the marks remained visible. Judging by the freshness of the marks, they could infer that their distance from the first squad was getting shorter.

The first squad encountered many obstacles during their advancement, which slowed them down.

Ling Chengyan mostly followed behind this time. In front, someone used a bamboo rod to drive away snakes and insects and also check for potential landmines. Even having passed through with one squad, they did not slack on vigilance.

At their pace, ten kilometers could be covered in at most two hours.

However, multiple crises delayed the first squad’s progress, and so, when the second squad had progressed for two hours, they found their distance had shortened even more. According to the situation of the markers, they could even determine that they were less than two hundred meters ahead.

Close as the distance was, not hearing gunshots or explosions indicated there was no crossfire or stepped-on landmines, and the first squad should be safe.

Ling Chengyan issued orders to remind everyone to strengthen vigilance — judging by the pace of advance, they had arrived at the confronting area of two armies, where crossfire or shelling could occur anytime.

Everyone was camouflaged with branches over their heads and bodies as they moved hidden within the trees and shrubs, making it difficult for the opponent to detect.

After advancing another hundred-odd meters, suddenly, sparse gunfire was heard a few hundred meters ahead.

With one gesture from Ling Chengyan, the ten people behind her uniformly lay concealed in cover.

Ling Chengyan’s figure was agile like an ape, climbing up to the tree top along the trunk. Then, beneath the gaze of ten pairs of eyes, Ling Chengyan’s form vanished into the cover of branches and leaves.

About five or six minutes later, a subtle sound overhead confirmed Ling Chengyan had returned from the tree, reporting her findings to the ten: “The gunfire ahead is just routine exchange, not because of the first squad; their position is diagonally ahead of us, to the left about one hundred fifty meters.”

Then, she stayed in place and signaled two soldiers to climb the tree to investigate.

Her earlier scan served as a demonstration. The two soldiers climbed the tree one after another to investigate, with a semblance of formality, and the information they collected was considered thorough, leaving Ling Chengyan fairly satisfied. After verifying against each other, they each kept the shortcomings discovered in mind.

After exploration, the squad continued forward another hundred meters, once more dispatching two for investigation… As such, the two squads encountered each other less than five hundred meters from the opposing position.

“Commander, their sentries probe every half hour and open fire at any sign of disturbance,” reported Geng Wei, leader of the first squad.

To infiltrate, they must pass less than two hundred meters below the enemy positions. That area has been cleared by enemy forces, with sparse trees and a relatively open view, making infiltration not easy.

Ling Chengyan gave simple pointers, enlightening the soldiers, who immediately came up with a good idea…

Subsequent tasks were relatively smooth. The Huicheng Special Service Company squad successfully infiltrated the blockade area, thoroughly investigated the opposing outpost, and marked them successfully.

By the time they returned to camp, it was past ten o’clock at night. The cafeteria had specially reserved kitchen staff to prepare meals for them.

After a bath, eating steaming hot food, these young lads, even though they remained composed in the blockade area, showed their pounding hearts and less than settled faces back in the safe zone.

Ling Chengyan, apart from the Special Service Company soldiers, also brought forty comrades along with her. Returning to the camp, she inquired about the day’s assessment results and learned that the Huicheng team performed excellently, ranking top among all the district representative teams in Eastern Province.

Relieving a sigh quietly, Ling Chengyan smiled encouragingly: “Very impressive results, there’s another training and selection tomorrow, keep up the good work and strive for better results.”

After calming down the guys under her charge, Ling Chengyan took the condition assessed back and headed for the command center.

The Yu Bei Special Service Company Captain, Han Daqing, had already arrived.

During the Yu Bei wilderness drill, Ling Chengyan’s team originally faced no crisis, yet ended up encountering Han Daqing cooling off with subordinates at the mountain stream.

Then, a rainstorm at the mountain top caused a flash flood, and Yang Hua, along with two other soldiers, nearly staked their lives rescuing the Yu Bei Special Service Company members.

Moreover, the promising future for Yang Hua was thwarted as he lost a leg.

Yet Captain Han Daqing merely visited Yang Hua at the hospital when the incident happened and afterwards, neither gratitude nor any inquiry was ever made.

They nearly risked their lives rescuing others, yet this was the outcome they faced.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep