He was so persuasive that he actually practiced extraordinary

Zhang Beixing sat down beside him and continued, "This is how it is the first time you go to the battlefield. Now, even if you want to go back, it's too late. There's only one armored vehicle left that we can use. You have no choice but to follow me to the bitter end."

"I didn't say I was going back," Zhang Nengliang muttered in a low voice.

"Aren't you afraid?" Zhang Beixing raised an eyebrow.

"I'm terrified, terrified to death," Zhang Nengliang honestly admitted, his fingers unconsciously rubbing the gun barrel.

Zhang Beixing chuckled and patted his shoulder: "It's good enough that you can stay calm on your first battlefield. If you feel unwell, just throw up. Don't force yourself to endure it."

As soon as he finished speaking, Zhang Nengliang's expression changed drastically. He abruptly turned his head to the side and began to dry heave, followed by a violent vomiting sound. He vomited up the compressed biscuits he had eaten that morning and his dinner from the previous night, and the air was immediately filled with a sour, rotten smell.

Zhang Beixing frowned in disgust: "You really don't discriminate when it comes to throwing up!"

“Zhang… Captain Zhang,” Zhang Nengliang wiped his mouth, his face pale but his expression slightly calmer, “This time I’m truly convinced, I can’t compare to you.”

"Isn't this normal?" Zhang Beixing shrugged dismissively. "In your Ninth Combined Arms Brigade, apart from the King of Soldiers Niu Nuli, I really don't take the others seriously."

Zhang Nengliang forced a smile: "If Yang Junyu heard this, he would be furious."

Zhang Beixing gave a soft "hmm" and adjusted his posture: "Yang Junyu's command ability is okay, but his individual combat skills are far from good. It's a pity he didn't have the chance to face Niu Nuli head-on in the last exercise."

“No, that’s not true,” Zhang Nengliang said. “Didn’t you shoot down the Type 965 tank?”

At this moment, Zhang Nengliang noticed that Zhang Beixing was sorting through a pile of clothes that had been taken from the terrorists' corpses, and asked in confusion, "Why...why are you taking their clothes off?"

Zhang Beixing smiled mysteriously: "It's useful. Don't ask too many questions, little kid. Curiosity killed the cat."

Zhang Nengliang pursed his lips and didn't press the matter further. Having just survived a life-or-death battle, he no longer had the energy to dwell on such details.

After a moment of silence, Zhang Beixing suddenly seemed to remember something and said, "Oh, I remember now, it was that tank that drove into the canyon, right? But that doesn't count. A real victory is one won face-to-face with real swords and spears."

Zhang Nengliang hesitated for a moment, but couldn't help asking, "Do we really have no support?"

Zhang Beixing sighed, his tone turning serious: "Don't think about it, there isn't one."

"Oh." Zhang Nengliang nodded in disappointment, then asked, "Then... what about those bodies?" Before Zhang Beixing could answer, he hurriedly added, "I'm not being dramatic, terrorists are dead, but aren't those government troops our allies? Shouldn't we take care of them?"

Zhang Beixing took a book out of his backpack and replied without looking up, "Special circumstances require special treatment. Conserving energy is the most important thing. Instead of thinking about collecting other people's corpses, we should think about how to avoid being collected by others."

Zhang Nengliang fell silent, watching Zhang Beixing take out a book called "Tank Driving Techniques" and start flipping through it. He couldn't help but say again, "Tanks need to be operated by hand. Just reading books is useless. You won't be able to learn them."

"That's not necessarily true," Zhang Beixing replied casually.

Zhang Nengliang seemed to be trying to ease the tension by talking, and continued, "Actually, I think I did pretty well just now. Yang Junyu even tried to recruit me into his special operations company, don't you have any thoughts about it?"

Zhang Beixing said without looking up, "Red Cell doesn't have a tank for you to drive, and..." He smiled mischievously, "I'm not so desperate yet. Wait until you beat Niu Nuli before you consider whether Red Cell will take you in."

Faced with such a blunt rejection, Zhang Nengliang coughed awkwardly twice and fell silent.

At this moment, Yang Rui walked over: "Team Leader Zhang, we've repaired another vehicle, so now we have two, and we can set off at any time."

Zhang Beixing stood up, stuffed the book back into his backpack, and brushed the dust off his clothes: "Thank you for your hard work, Captain Yang. We're likely to have a tough battle ahead of us in Bassem. Let's rest for another ten minutes before we hit the road."

“Okay.” Yang Rui nodded in agreement, then lowered his earpiece and said, “Li Dong, Shi Tou, increase vigilance.”

"understand!"

Taking advantage of this rare break, Zhang Beixing went alone to a relatively secluded corner, took out various equipment from his backpack, and began to work. He first took out the clothes he had just taken from the terrorists, carefully examining the style and markings of each garment. Then, he took out a simple set of dyeing and finishing tools and began to modify the clothes. He skillfully washed away some obvious bloodstains, and then added some new stains and signs of wear, making the clothes look neither too new nor suspicious.

Then, he took out several worn books and manuals from his backpack and quickly flipped through them. Besides the book "Tank Driving Techniques," there were "Middle Eastern Customs and Culture," "A Crash Course in Arabic," and "Urban Warfare Tactics Guide." His eyes moved quickly between the pages, occasionally pausing to carefully read a particular paragraph before continuing to turn the pages.

Ten minutes later, the rest period ended, and all team members gathered to prepare for departure.

Yang Rui stood in front of two armored vehicles, his expression serious as he gave a pre-battle pep talk: "I reiterate the mission situation: we have lost contact with the warships, and our superiors cannot provide any support. But our mission remains unchanged: to rescue Deng Mei, the kidnapped Chinese citizen. Any questions?"

"No problem!" the team members answered in unison, but their voices betrayed their barely concealed nervousness.

Medic Lu Chen whispered to the team member next to him, "I'm a medic, and this is my first time participating in actual combat. To be honest, I never imagined that real war would be like this. Seeing those people lying in pools of blood, I don't know how to describe my feelings."

Upon hearing this, Yang Rui turned around and said, "We're not much better off than you, but we can't back down."

Lu Chen nodded emphatically: "I know, Captain. I just hope you can protect yourselves better from now on. I won't back down!"

An unprecedented tension enveloped everyone. The life-or-death battle they had just experienced had completely changed their understanding of war, making them realize that the battlefield was a cruel reality of life and death.

Watching Yang Rui try his best to calm the team members, Zhang Beixing couldn't help but feel a sense of admiration for this captain of the Jiaolong Commando. Even though he himself was trembling inside, he could remain so calm; he truly was an experienced commander.

He turned to face the members of the red blood cell team, his tone calm but firm: "I'm not a psychologist, so I'll only give you one sentence." The team members immediately held their breath, awaiting his instructions. Zhang Beixing slowly scanned each person's eyes and softly uttered one sentence: "Come back alive."

……

The armored vehicle engines roared to life, kicking up clouds of dust. The Red Cell Team rode in one vehicle, and the Jiaolong Commando Team rode in the other. The two vehicles drove away from the area that had just witnessed a bloody battle, heading into the desolate depths of the Gobi Desert.

Outside the car window, a vast, yellowish-brown expanse stretched endlessly, seemingly a future for Ivia devoid of any hopeful green. The blazing sun beat down on this war-torn land.

In the sky, several vultures circled incessantly, emitting piercing cries. They coldly surveyed the movements on the ground, their black wings tracing elegant yet dangerous arcs against the azure sky. Suddenly, one vulture swooped down, then quickly soared back up, its sharp gaze catching the outline of a distant town.

An eagle soars through the sky, its black wings sweeping across the horizon.

A feather drifted down from the sky, and in its shadow, the silhouettes of two armored vehicles became increasingly clear.

We've arrived in the town of Basem!
The town sits in a desolate Gobi Desert, surrounded by low hills. From a distance, the buildings appear mostly low and dilapidated, their walls riddled with bullet holes and the marks of artillery fire. Several narrow streets wind through the town, and occasionally, a few figures can be seen moving quickly along them.

A roadblock, made of several dilapidated cars and sandbags, stood at the entrance to the town. Several armed men patrolled behind the roadblock, vigilantly watching their surroundings. The minaret of the mosque in the town center stood tall, becoming the most prominent landmark of the entire town.

As the armored vehicles drew closer, the details of the town became clearer. Some buildings had their windows boarded up, and the walls were covered with slogans and graffiti. The streets were deserted, with only dust swirling in the air.

On the outskirts of the town, there were several ruins of bombed houses, with fragments of everyday items occasionally visible among the rubble. A burnt-out car skeleton lay by the roadside, its black metal frame glaringly visible in the sunlight.

On the hills surrounding the town, fortifications and bunkers are faintly visible, indicating that military conflict has occurred or is still ongoing. Several paths extend from the town and disappear into the distant Gobi Desert.

When the armored vehicles were about one kilometer from the town, Zhang Beixing raised his hand to signal them to stop. The two vehicles slowly came to a stop, and after the engines were turned off, the surroundings fell into silence, with only the whistling of the wind across the Gobi Desert and the occasional gunshots in the distance.

All team members quickly disembarked and, using the armored vehicles as cover, began reconnaissance of the town. Zhang Beixing and Yang Rui took out binoculars and carefully observed every detail of the town, searching for possible entrances and potential dangers.

"Looks unfriendly," Yang Rui said in a low voice, the armed personnel behind the roadblock clearly visible through his binoculars.

Zhang Beixing nodded and took out the modified clothes from his backpack: "That's why I prepared these. We need to disguise ourselves as locals to infiltrate."

He distributed the clothes while quickly assigning tasks: "Falcon, Buffalo, you take the high ground and provide fire support. Longlong, you're in charge of communications and surveillance. The rest of you change. We'll set off in ten minutes."

The team members sprang into action. He Chenguang and Li Erniu, carrying sniper equipment, moved towards a hillside to find suitable sniping positions. Xu Tianlong began adjusting the communication equipment, establishing a minimum connection with the rear. The others began changing into local clothing, checking each other's camouflage to ensure it was in place.

Zhang Beixing gave the equipment a final check, then looked at the distant town with a determined gaze: "Remember, our goal is to rescue people, not to fight. Try to avoid conflict, but if we do engage, we must act swiftly and decisively."

All team members nodded in understanding, and the atmosphere immediately became tense. The rescue operation was about to begin, and everyone knew that every step from here on out was a matter of life and death.

The town of Basem stands silently in the Gobi Desert, like a sleeping beast, awaiting the arrival of uninvited guests. Zhang Beixing and his team are about to venture into this dangerous town to complete an almost impossible mission.

The joint operations team's convoy quietly stopped in a desolate area on the outskirts of Basem, some distance from their target. All armored vehicles shut down and stood by, while the team members quickly dispersed, using the terrain and vegetation for cover, plunging the entire area into a deathly silence.

A reconnaissance team consisting of He Chenguang, Xu Tianlong, and Zhuang Yu set off first to conduct enemy reconnaissance. The rest of the team remained in place, maintaining silence, and a tense atmosphere permeated the dry air.

A few minutes later, Zhuang Yu's low voice came through the communicator: "Report, this is Zhuang Yu. Traces of a town have been detected two kilometers ahead, with a large number of armed men active inside. Over."

Yang Rui immediately responded: "Received. Zhuang Yu, immediately find a high vantage point, set up satellite communication equipment, and ensure uninterrupted communication. Over."

"Understood!" Zhuang Yu replied succinctly.

Zhang Beixing then added instructions: "Pilot, Falcon, you two assist Zhuang Yu in completing the antenna installation task. Prioritize the safety of personnel and equipment. Over."

"Falcon received."

"The pilot understands."

After the call ended, Yang Rui turned to Zhang Beixing, his brow furrowed slightly: "According to the latest intelligence, the number of Zaka members in Basem town is close to three hundred, double the original estimate of 150. How should we infiltrate them?"

Zhang Beixing remained calm and asked in return, "What's your plan, Captain Yang?"

After a moment of contemplation, Yang Rui suggested, "Perhaps we could have the team members disguise themselves as terrorists and infiltrate the town. They're all wearing masks, making it difficult to discern their true identities."

“That’s a good idea.” Zhang Beixing nodded in approval at first, then changed the subject, “But the problem is that Deng Mei, as a key hostage for Zaka’s hostage-taking of the warship, will definitely be under close guard. Once she is taken away, you will be exposed very quickly.”

Yang Rui fell into deep thought again upon hearing this. Zhang Beixing was right; the Chinese side's promise to protect Mohadi's family had already provoked a strong backlash from Zarqa's organization. Deng Mei had unfortunately fallen into their hands, and the terrorists would never easily let go of this important bargaining chip.

The plan might be feasible if a female member could be exchanged. However, the only female member of the team, Zhang Yingying, looks significantly different from Deng Mei, and even terrorists with a weaker ability to recognize Asian faces could easily see through the disguise.

Seeing Yang Rui remain silent, Zhang Beixing, who already had a plan in mind, smiled slightly and broke the deadlock with a relaxed tone: "Captain Yang, don't be so serious. There's no need to be so worried. I already have a plan."

Hearing the confidence in Zhang Beixing's tone, Yang Rui looked up in surprise: "Why didn't you say so earlier? What are you planning to do?" (End of Chapter)