Chapter 44: Operation Furious Dragon (Part Nine)

While Lei Dong and Bei Shiliang launched their assault on the water treatment plant, the Dark Cloud Squad initiated their own covert infiltration operation.

Beneath the dim starlight, Dark Cloud quietly made a hand gesture. Crouching low with slightly bent knees, he sprinted rapidly toward the eleven o'clock position. His body moved like a nimble civet cat; the well-developed muscles in his thighs provided explosive support, allowing his movements to remain completely silent. Yet, his running posture resembled a hunting leopard zeroing in on its prey, radiating fierce and rugged dominance.

The two-hundred-meter distance vanished in an instant. Realizing he was less than thirty meters away from the primary sentry post, Dark Cloud was confident that in just two seconds, he could snap the sentry's neck without making a sound.

However, at that exact moment, the sentry at the first post suddenly stretched out in a long yawn and tilted his head back slightly. Instantly, the sentry’s gaze froze—a shadowy figure was charging toward him like a whirlwind!

The sentry gripped his rifle with both hands, opening his mouth to cry out. But how could Dark Cloud give him that chance? Twenty meters away, Dark Cloud lashed out with his right hand. The modified Type 56 military combat knife drove lightning-fast into the sentry's throat, piercing clean through the entire neck with half the blade protruding from the back. Fresh blood surged up into the sentinel's windpipe, clogging his vocal cords. He could not even emit a faint gasp! By the time the sentinel's consciousness began to fade, the whistling sound of air being cleaved by the blade only faintly brushed against his ears.

"This strike... was actually faster than sound..." The sentinel's consciousness lingered forever on that single thought. Then, his wide-open eyes turned pitch black, and he completely lost consciousness. His body stiffened for a fraction of a second before collapsing limply.

Before the sentry's body could even hit the ground, Dark Cloud swept forward like a whirlwind, gently catching the soldier's weight to prevent any noise or contact with the communication and demolition gear on his belt. He then lightly swiped the transmitter to send a "clear" signal.

On the other side, the moment Dark Cloud moved toward the first post, Song Jinggang also darted rapidly toward the second sentry post located at the seven o'clock direction. His movements were vastly different from Dark Cloud's. It was as if he had lost all the bones in his body in an instant, turning hyper-flexible and capable of twisting into astonishing shapes completely unnatural for a normal human being. He glided soundlessly through the tall grass—if Dark Cloud was a ferocious leopard, then Song Jinggang was a venomous snake in the dark, flicking its red tongue. Yet he was equally swift, equally silent, and equally lethal!

The second sentry post was much farther away than the first, with a straight-line distance exceeding five hundred meters. Situated opposite the first post, they anchored the two sides of a mountain valley, firmly guarding the passage leading to the reservoir dam.

Song Jinggang’s body advanced swiftly and silently through the mountain forest.

Whether by fortune or misfortune, the sentry at the second post remained completely oblivious to Song Jinggang’s approach. By the time Song Jinggang clamped his left hand over the sentry's mouth and drove the modified Type 56 knife upward from the back straight into his heart, the soldier was still frozen in his original posture. He remained slumped forward in the grassy fortification, both hands gripping his Type 32 rifle, his whites completely showing as his wide-open eyes stared fixedly ahead—though they had already lost all focus.

Having eliminated the outermost sentry posts, Dark Cloud and Song Jinggang swiftly turned around. Under the cover of Lang Tianyu's sniper rifle, they lunged toward the three o'clock direction, where three mobile patrollers were passing by, just over five hundred meters away.

Perhaps believing that the two high-altitude vantage points on the peaks were sufficient to guarantee security, the three mobile guards chose not to patrol the ridgeline, but instead moved carelessly through the valley in a search formation. Still, they were not ordinary civilians nor poorly trained police officers, but well-conditioned regular soldiers. Although their weapons were slung across their backs, they maintained a distance of about fifteen meters between one another, forming a skirmish line. In the event of a sudden emergency, they could provide mutual cover and support.

Yet, this posed no obstacle to the two battle-hardened special operations elites of the Republic.

Moving with extreme speed and without alerting their adversaries, Dark Cloud and Song Jinggang maneuvered into the inevitable path of the three patrollers, laying in ambush within the roadside woods.

Just as the last patroller walked past, Dark Cloud silently emerged from behind a large tree in the darkness. His left hand swiftly cupped the sentry's chin, pulling him gently into his embrace while his shoulder braced the back of the sentinel's head. With a smooth sweep of his right hand, the sharp modified Type 56 blade gracefully slit the guard's throat. The patroller instantly collapsed into Dark Cloud's arms like a pile of mud.

The two preceding sentries heard nothing and continued marching forward. Song Jinggang’s snake-like hands had already seized the middle sentry's head and twisted it forcefully. With a series of faint cracking sounds, the sentry's cervical vertebrae snapped instantly.

In the dark and silent mountain forest, those few faint sounds finally reached the lead sentry. He turned around with a puzzled murmur, just as he was about to ask what had happened. Surpassing Song Jinggang—who was gently lowering the corpse in his arms—Dark Cloud leaped forward like a leopard and drove a fist straight into the man's Adam's apple. The thick anti-slash steel collar offered no protection at all; the formidable kinetic energy behind the protruding middle knuckle of Dark Cloud's index finger instantly shattered the man's throat.

Having dispatched the three mobile sentries with blinding speed, Dark Cloud and Song Jinggang dragged the three bodies into the woods and knee-high dense grass to conceal them. They then sprinted up the mountain, rendezvoused with Lang Tianyu and Luo Haoran who were providing cover at the peak, and advanced rapidly along the ridgeline toward the dam!

With a shortage of manpower, the entire squad consisted of only four members, forcing them to adopt the simplest triangular formation. Dark Cloud held a Type 32 assault rifle fitted with a hundred-round drum magazine, ready to charge at any moment. Twenty meters behind him at the eight o'clock position was Song Jinggang, similarly equipped with a Type 32 assault rifle and a hundred-round drum, outfitted with an underslung thirty-five-millimeter grenade launcher tilted upward at a forty-five-degree angle, poised to deliver indirect grenade fire whenever needed. At the four o'clock position stood Lang Tianyu, serving as the squad's strategic long-range precision-strike unit. A fifty-caliber heavy sniper rifle was braced against his shoulder, his eye pressed firmly against an infrared riflescope integrated with a mini tactical radar as he continuously scanned left and right. Luo Haoran, clutching an eighty-series general-purpose machine gun, trailed slightly behind, positioned closer to Lang Tianyu's side. He was responsible for providing continuous and rapid fire support for the squad, securing their rear, and acting as the primary bodyguard for the sniper.

Although garrisoned by military forces, this region was a scenic resort rather than a critical strategic stronghold. To avoid accidentally injuring tourists, and hampered by the rugged terrain, the garrison had laid down no barricades, traps, or minefields along the pathway. The advance remained relatively smooth, and the squad moved through the jungle with the silent, fluid grace of pouring mercury, maintaining an extremely high pace.

Three kilometers of terrain were quickly left behind. Not far ahead, the floating bridge across the reservoir came clearly into view.

Dark Cloud, leading the vanguard, raised his right arm and swung his flat palm horizontally. The squad halted their advance immediately and rapidly dispersed into concealment.

The next moment, as Dark Cloud observed the terrain below with increasing clarity, he couldn't help but fiercely suck in a breath through his teeth.