I returned to my hometown adorned with military medals, and the whole city erupted in celebration.

Chapter 17: Fan Tianlei almost fainted from anger after violently disrupting the Blue Army's lo

Deep in the forest, in a secluded, sheltered spot among the rocks, Gong Jian was leading Kang Lei and the remaining soldiers of the Fourth Company, panting heavily.

"Instructor, Erniu... Erniu, could he really be dead?" Wang Yanbing wiped the mud off his face, his eyes glazed over.

Those twenty-odd elite Wolf Fang soldiers who surrounded us just now would make it difficult for even a god to escape.

He Chenguang gripped the gun tightly, about to speak, when suddenly he heard an extremely wild engine roar.

"Buzz—!"

The voice came from afar, carrying an unreasonable and domineering air.

Before anyone could react, a special forces off-road vehicle painted with wolf fang camouflage suddenly did a 180-degree spin and came to a steady stop in front of the pile of rocks, spraying Gong Jian's face with dust.

"Cough cough cough! Who is it!" Gong Jian shouted angrily while waving his hand to block the dust.

The car door opened, and Li Erniu, carrying his iconic large iron pot on his back and holding a sniper rifle in his hand, slowly stepped out.

He casually tossed a bag of seized beef jerky to Wang Yanbing, then grinned at Gong Jian:

"Little Gong, what's the rush? Your third uncle is back now. This car has a lot of power, but the shock absorption is a bit weak; it's making my back hurt from all the bumps."

The entire room fell silent.

Regiment Commander Kang Lei stared wide-eyed at the car, speechless for a long time.

Gong Jian's eyelids twitched violently. He recognized the car—it was Chen Shanming's personal vehicle!

Chen Shanming usually treats this car like his wife, but now Li Erniu has stolen it?

"Erniu...you, where did you get this car?" He Chenguang asked incredulously.

"Oh, Captain Chen gave it to me. He saw that I was having a hard time walking on the mountain road and insisted on lending it to me. I couldn't refuse, so I reluctantly drove it over."

[Ding! Extreme shock from Conley, shock value +500!]

[A soul-crushing shock from He Chenguang, shock value +500!]

[Gong Jian's "I want to strangle you but I don't dare" style of shock, shock value +1000!]

Gong Jian took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down. He walked up to Li Erniu and lowered his voice, "Third Uncle... no, Erniu! This is not the time for jokes. The main force of the Wolf Fang has already surrounded us. Our Iron Fist Regiment is like a shattered plate, with no communication between the units. That old fox Fan Tianlei is definitely waiting for us to walk into his trap."

Kang Lei also came over, his face grim: "Gong Jian is right. As the regimental commander, I can't let my brothers be captured so inexplicably. We have to think of a way to keep the Iron Fist Regiment afloat!"

Li Erniu patted the large iron pot, his eyes suddenly becoming deep, and his "elderly" aura instantly enveloped the entire room.

"Commander, Xiao Gong. I just did some thinking in the car." Li Erniu pointed to the map. "The Wolf Fang is using a 'cut-and-paste' tactic. They're cutting us into small pieces and then peeling us apart layer by layer like an onion. If we try to break out now with the commander, we'll be too conspicuous. Even if I can protect you, the rest of the brothers will be wiped out by the Wolf Fang."

"So what's your idea?" He Chenguang's eyes flashed with a sharp light.

Li Erniu chuckled: "Tactics can't be rigid. Wolf Fang is good at infiltration, sabotage, and decapitation, so let's give them a taste of their own medicine."

He looked at Gong Jian: "Little Gong, you take Old Black Squad Leader and escort the regimental commander to safety. You know the terrain well; the scattered soldiers of the Iron Fist Regiment are definitely heading towards the second assembly point. Your task is to gather the remnants and rebuild the defenses. As long as the Iron Fist Regiment's flag is still up, Fan Tianlei won't dare say he's won."

Gong Jian was taken aback: "And what about you?"

Li Erniu glanced at He Chenguang and Wang Yanbing beside him, a sly glint in his eyes:

"I'll take Chenguang and Yanbing, the three of us 'greenhorns,' and charge straight into the Blue Army's rear. They want a decapitation strike? Well, we'll scratch their necks raw! I refuse to believe that Fan Tianlei can send special forces to guard the logistics of tens of thousands of Blue Army soldiers."

"No! This is too dangerous!" Gong Jian refused decisively. "Even if the three of you are incredibly skilled, you're still fighting alone. What if you get bitten..."

"Little Gong, listen to me." Li Erniu chuckled. "When has Third Uncle ever lied to you? The three of us are a small, agile target, and I also have Chen Shanming's radio and codebook. If we go and cause trouble, Wolf Fang will have to withdraw all the dogs they sent out to guard their base, which will reduce the pressure on you."

Gong Jian was nearly choked to death by the address "Little Gong," but looking at Li Erniu's extremely serious eyes, he knew that this might be the only way to break the deadlock.

Kang Lei slapped his thigh: "Great! Li Erniu, you're not only a sharpshooter, but also a born commander! I approve of this plan! Gong Jian, let's go! We old bones can't hold the young ones back!"

"Commander, this..." Gong Jian still wanted to insist.

"Little Gong, remember to treat the brothers to a hot meal." Li Erniu patted Gong Jian on the shoulder. "Don't worry, I, your third uncle, haven't even held my great-grandson yet. I value my life very much."

Gong Jian's face turned bright red, and he glared fiercely at Li Erniu.

……

As Kang Lei, Gong Jian, and the others disappeared into the depths of the jungle, He Chenguang and Wang Yanbing both turned to look at Li Erniu.

"Brother Niu, tell me, where should we go for our first adventure?" Wang Yanbing rubbed his hands excitedly; he had been itching to make a big splash for a long time.

He Chenguang adjusted his sniper rifle: "Erniu, since you said you're going to stab the Blue Army in the backside, then we need to find the most painful spot."

Li Erniu pulled a crumpled tactical map out of his pocket, which he had taken from the wolf fang squad leader, Chutou.

"Look here." Li Erniu pointed to a point marked with a red circle on the map. "Black Tiger Ridge, the Blue Army's No. 3 integrated logistics base. It has a lot of fuel and ammunition stored here, and it is the 'blood bank' of the Blue Army's armored column. As long as we destroy this place, we can at least paralyze the logistics supply of one of their regiments."

"Black Tiger Ridge?" He Chenguang frowned. "A place like this must be extremely heavily guarded. There's at least a guard battalion, and maybe even a small group from the Wolf Fang Guard stationed there."

"Tight security?" Li Erniu scoffed. "It's tight security for others, but for us, it's an open powder keg. Chenguang, you're in charge of outer perimeter sniping and suppression; Yanbing, you're in charge of sabotage and creating chaos; as for infiltration..."

Li Erniu pointed to himself and patted the pot on his back: "I'm a cook. What army camp in this world doesn't let cooks in?"

The three exchanged a smile and swiftly climbed into the SUV.

The off-road vehicle, like a black lightning bolt, bypassed the main road and plunged directly into the heart of the Blue Army's defense zone.

Half an hour later, on the outskirts of Black Tiger Ridge.

Li Erniu lay prone in the grass and activated [Individual Radar Scan].

[Ding! Radar indicates a Blue Army base detected one kilometer ahead. Lifeform response: 421 people. Heavy equipment response: 16 fuel tankers, 12 ammunition trucks, 2 anti-aircraft helicopters.]

"There are quite a few guards," Li Erniu muttered.

"Brother Niu, how do we do it?" Wang Yanbing asked in a low voice.

"No rush. I just took a look over there, and they're delivering supplies to the base. I also put on some makeup while I was there."

Li Erniu rummaged through the trunk and pulled out a tattered camouflage uniform he had taken from a Blue Army logistics soldier. He then smeared the paint all over his face, making him look like an unlucky logistics soldier who had gotten lost in the chaos of battle.

"Chenguang, see those two watchtowers? Ten minutes after I go in, open fire on time to draw their attention, but don't actually shoot anyone, just hit their alarms and power supply boxes. Yanbing, sneak over to the tanker truck while things are in disarray and throw all the 'biochemical pepper spray grenades' I gave you in there. I'm going to check out their command post."

After assigning tasks, Li Erniu took a deep breath, slung a somewhat tattered sack over his shoulder, and stumbled toward the side gate of the base.

"Halt! What are you doing!" Two fully armed Blue Army guards suddenly raised their guns.

"Don't shoot! Don't shoot! I'm from the 305th Regiment's supply depot!"

Li Erniu, speaking with a thick local accent, looked aggrieved and fearful: "Our vehicle was bombed by a small group of Red Army troops halfway there, and I got separated from the unit. I still have a few tomatoes in this bag that I left for the commander. I was thinking I should bring them to him; I'm so thirsty..."

As Li Erniu spoke, he opened the sack, revealing several bright red tomatoes inside.

The guards exchanged glances, looking at Li Erniu's simple-minded, almost idiotic expression, and then at the several tempting tomatoes. Their vigilance instantly dropped by more than half.

"The 305th Regiment? Aren't they in the north? What are you doing here?"

"How would I know! I was running the whole way, and the gunshots behind me were like popping beans. I was just focused on getting forward, and that's how I got here."

Li Erniu wiped away his tears. "Brother veteran, please give me some water. My throat is parched."

"Alright, alright, go inside. Go ask the cooks over there for a drink of water, hurry up!"

Li Erniu entered the base with profuse thanks.

Upon entering the base, his eyes instantly became as sharp as a hawk's.

"Ten-minute countdown, begin."

Li Erniu didn't go to the mess hall. He used [God-level Camouflage] and [Individual Radar] to avoid all the mobile sentries, moving swiftly through the base's fuel depots and ammunition storage areas like a transparent man.

He sneaked into the pump room of the oil depot and placed a drill time bomb inside the huge filter.

He then sneaked into the ammunition depot, skillfully disassembled the fuses of several signal flares, and cleverly connected them to a detonating cord.

I'll be there in ten minutes.

"Bang--!"

On a distant hilltop, He Chenguang fired a precise shot that directly destroyed the base's central transformer.

"Sizzle!"

The entire base was plunged into darkness in an instant.

"What's going on? Is there a power outage?"

"Alert! Enemy attack!"

The piercing alarm instantly shattered the tranquility of Black Tiger Ridge.

Just as the base guards were in chaos, Wang Yanbing also made his move.

"Take this, remnants of the Wolf Fang!"

Wang Yanbing pulled the fuse and threw all of Li Erniu's specially made "biochemical pepper bombs" under the tanker truck.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

Puffs of extremely pungent and choking green smoke instantly exploded within the base.

"Cough cough cough! Is this poison gas?"

"My eyes! They sting!"

"Evacuate the fuel field immediately!"

Taking advantage of the chaos, Li Erniu had already made his way to the base's temporary command post.

Those were several field tents.

As soon as Li Erniu lifted the curtain, he saw an officer with the rank of major shouting into the radio: "Report to command! We've been attacked by an unidentified chemical weapon! Requesting backup! Requesting..."

Before he could finish speaking, a large, thick hand covered his mouth.

"Stop shouting, Major."

Li Erniu chuckled, pressing his Type 95 rifle against the man's forehead. "You're 'dead' now. Lend me your command console and codebook."

The major stared at Li Erniu, whose face was covered in grease but whose eyes were terrifying, and felt the suffocating murderous aura emanating from him. He was completely stunned.

Three minutes later, at the Blue Team command post.

Fan Tianlei was staring at the map, sulking. Chen Shanming's group still hadn't brought Li Erniu back.

"Beep beep—!"

The communication system suddenly went off.

"Report to number five! Urgent telegram from Black Tiger Ridge Logistics Base!" an officer shouted.

Fan Tianlei's heart tightened: "Quick, bring them in!"

The screen lit up, but instead of the base's major, a large, dark face appeared.

Li Erniu was sitting in the major's seat, holding a half-eaten sweet potato, and waving at the camera:

"Hey! Old Fan, long time no see! I've missed you terribly since we parted ways at the construction site last time! Um... sorry, I accidentally raided your 'blood bank.' Those sixteen tanker trucks are all ours now. My grand-nephew Gong Jian says he doesn't like eating dry rice, so I'm planning to trade this oil for some rice. Do you have anything else good? Could you get me some too?"

As Fan Tianlei stared at the familiar, honest face on the screen—a face he so desperately wanted to tear apart—he snapped the baton in his hand with a "crack."

"Li... Er... Niu!!"

Fan Tianlei's roar almost shook the command post tent to its foundations.