Chapter 82: Jungle Hunt

Chapter 82: Jungle Hunt

"Rejie, the plan has changed."

"We will leave Huangshi City in fifteen minutes and head to the northern jungle to conduct harassment."

"We expect contact in thirty‑five minutes; you seize the moment, organize reconnaissance, and once the enemy ahead is drawn in, proceed along the second route to Fengbo Harbor."

"We will use Xise Mountain as the second drop point and Fengbo Harbor as the first drop point."

"If conditions allow, reach the first drop point as best you can."

"Upon arrival, conceal yourselves on the spot and wait for my signal to drop."

"There is plenty of cover near both drop points; if you can get inside, you can hide!"

"Understood."

Rejie’s reply crackled in the earpiece; he did not ask why the plan was altered on the fly, nor did he wonder how to withdraw from such a deep‑penetration operation behind enemy lines.

All he knew was that his PDA had received the new operational map flowing from Chen Jian.

All he had to do was follow that map and act.

That’s how special operations work: the superior issues the task, and the executors have to worry about the details.

Having received the order, Rejie immediately halted his advance.

He signaled with his hand for Zeng Yi and Xie Liu to drop their gear, while he raised his binoculars and looked in the direction indicated on his smart goggles.

That was the position heavily guarded by the Machine God Sect and the Holy Blood followers; he could already see specks of heat blooming in the not‑so‑dense forest.

To go straight through was nearly impossible.

All he could do now was wait for Chen Jian’s side to act.

Meanwhile, Chen Jian and his two comrades had already donned their gear and strapped on their rebreathers.

The air cylinders in the rebreathers would last fifteen minutes; they had to submerge within that time, cross the shallow water, traverse a lake nearly a kilometer wide, and reach the jungle on the far shore.

This was no simple task; when the water lay glass‑still, any tiny disturbance could alert the Holy Bloods to their presence.

Fortunately, the Machine God Sect continued its fatigue tactics.

When another barrage arrived, they used the artillery’s cover to slip into the water and quickly land again.

Under the shield of tactical camouflage, the three moved like ghosts into the jungle, and from that moment their hunt truly began.

The thermal‑fusion night vision goggles were already on; Chen Jian carefully swept his gaze over the forest ahead.

Seeing nothing amiss, he gave a hand signal, marked on the map several high points where Holy Blood sentries might be lurking, and reminded the other two to watch the canopy.

After all, these Holy Bloods were no ordinary men; they could very well be hidden in the thick treetops, reenacting what the monkeys had done in the Vietnamese jungle.

Step by step, the trio inched forward, cautious and slow.

When they came within less than a hundred meters of the first high point, Chen Jian finally spotted a faint heat signature in his field of view.

"Two."

Chen Jian gave a hand signal, telling the other two to keep searching while he stayed put, lowered his weapon, and aimed at the two figures not far away.

The exoskeleton’s rack was still folded, but in a surprise assault he was confident he could kill both with his 191 in a single second.

Even if you were fast, could you really anticipate the shot?

When my bullet hits your body, the sound has only just left the muzzle!

In the silent night, Chen Jian lay hidden in the pitch‑black forest.

He Xu and Shen Yue slipped away silently, continuing to scout other points.

It took them nearly half an hour to cover the 150‑meter stretch, and when Xu found the second moving target, Yue repeated the same steps, pulling away from Xu to search for the third.

After two hours, each had locked onto a target.

By then the distance between them had stretched to nearly a kilometer, and their searched area fully covered the protruding stretch of the lakeshore.

The moment was ripe.

Chen Jian set the countdown on his smart goggles; after three seconds, all three positions opened fire simultaneously!

"Bang‑bang‑bang‑bang—"

A rapid burst of fire sent the two Holy Bloods before him crashing to the ground.

The first round struck one in the head; the sweeping fire that followed drove a dozen more rounds into the other, pinning him firmly to the earth.

At the same instant, as the gunfire reached Huangshi City, the long‑waiting Li Shi squeezed the trigger.

The 022 heavy machine gun roared, spewing 14.5 mm caliber rounds; incendiary rounds set the whole woods ablaze with sparks, and amidst that blaze the awakened Holy Bloods finally realized what was happening.

They instinctively turned toward the sound of the shots, overlooking the threat close at hand. Seizing the chance, Chen Jian’s trio withdrew, shifted position, and slipped back into the jungle.

The scent of blood drifted through the trees; following Chen Jian’s order, Li Shi carefully counted.

Twenty seconds after pulling the trigger, he snatched a mortar round from nearby and loaded it into the mortar whose parameters had already been set.

"Pop!"

"Pop!"

Two soft thuds later, the shell whistled down.

Accompanied by a tremendous explosion, Li Shi lunged for the nearby QLZ‑24 automatic grenade launcher; at the extreme range of 1.5 km, he aimed at the already‑bombed woods and laid down another long burst.

Explosions echoed back and forth; the northern shore of Dahua Lake plunged into utter chaos.

Chen Jian clearly saw heat sources flitting through the distant woods, but he ignored them, sticking to the original plan and swiftly clearing the designated open area.

His speed was great, yet the Holy Bloods in the forest were no slower.

When he reached the appointed spot and deployed his exoskeleton’s weapon rack, three Holy Bloods lunged at him from three directions at once.

But he was not alone.

Xu Yue and He Xu arrived from the flank, laying down a crossing fire; meanwhile, Li Shi, after finishing his grenade‑launcher burst, returned to the rear of the 022 heavy machine gun and laid down a fierce suppressing fire on the woods ahead of Chen Jian.

The Holy Blood scouts, thinking they had finally seized an opportunity, slammed into an iron wall; trying to retreat, they found it already too late.

A large‑caliber bullet struck one in the thigh; the next second his lower half was torn from his body.

Chen Jian steadied his 191 and, with a single precise shot, took down the last struggling foe.

Then he shouted the order:

"Li Shi! Cover our breakout to the north!"

In an instant, the dark forest seemed to awaken countless eyes.

Chen Jian swapped out his magazine, then lowered his voice:

"We must hold here for five minutes, then Li Shi will cover our withdrawal back to Huangshi City."

"They will surely summon more Holy Bloods to plug the gap."

"Rejie, seize the chance!"

Gunfire and explosions merged into a single roar; the Machine God Sect’s large‑caliber smoothbore seemed to swing its aim, and shells kept falling around the trio.

Chen Jian simply stood calmly in place, meeting the enemy that was about to surround him.

At the same time, in Yu Qingzhou.

Xu Lie stood before Zhou Yan, speaking in an urgent tone:

"Those God's Chosen—those mimetic heretics—intend to break out!"

"This is the best opportunity!"

"If they hole up in Huangshi City, we would need to commit massive forces just to breach it; their firepower is too strong!"

"But now we have a chance to encircle and annihilate them directly!"

"They have abandoned their greatest advantage; they can carry at most a few automatic weapons!"

"Lord Overseer, please give the order!"

"Recall the peripheral Holy-Blooded, and send a few more Source-Blooded!"

"Even if we cannot kill them, at least we can drive them back!"

"I know them; when we parted, there were only four of them."

"But now, even judging solely by their firepower, they have gathered more than twenty of the God's heretics."

"If we let them escape again, the next time we meet they will likely have grown so strong that we cannot handle them!"

As Xu Lie's words faded, Zhou Yan nodded slowly.

Then he spoke:

"Do as you say!"

Five kilometers away, Lei Jie heard the faint gunfire in the distance.

He silently patted the shoulders of Xie Liu and Zeng Yi, and then the three plunged into the jungle, heading straight for Fengbo Harbor.

(End of Chapter)