Chapter 24: You Definitely Did That on Purpose
Nighttime conventional warfare was three parts luck and seven parts cover. Visibility under the moonlight was too low; beyond fifty meters, it was pitch black.
A sniper rifle with night vision capabilities was practically a ghost on the night battlefield.
"Sir, it's 11:21."
The little assistant leaned close to Su Xiao's ear, her warm breath brushing against his face. Just moments ago, a shell had landed twenty meters away, and the assistant had nearly been sick from the shockwave of the explosion.
"Too close."
Su Xiao was unaffected by the blast's sound waves. The little assistant blinked her bright, spirited eyes, clearly indicating she hadn't heard a word he said.
As it turned out, a chatterbox wasn't scary under normal circumstances. But when a chatterbox went half-deaf, she assumed everyone else was half-deaf too.
In truth, Su Xiao didn't dislike the little assistant. This girl was excellent at range estimation; with the naked eye, she could pinpoint an enemy's position within a ten-meter margin of error.
Besides, Su Xiao's original partner, Hai Dong, had also been a chatterbox. Compared to Hai Dong, the little assistant's chattiness was nothing at all.
"Sir, it's already 11:22."
The little assistant leaned in again. This girl was different from ninety-nine percent of other girls; she didn't have that legendary body fragrance. Instead, she reeked of gunpowder.
Su Xiao raised his voice: "I know."
"Mm, so what do we do?"
"Wait."
The reason the little assistant was so anxious was that orders had come down from above: at 11:30, the Twelfth Regiment would begin an infantry-tank coordinated assault to push back the enemy tank division. If they couldn't take this position by midnight, there would be serious trouble.
Therefore, before 11:30, Su Xiao had to cover three members of the Kill Squad as they infiltrated the forest on the oblique flank. Once 11:30 hit, their side would launch a massive volley of flares, making it nearly impossible for those three to sneak over.
"They're moving."
The little assistant ducked back into the trench. A bullet whizzed past her head with a *swoosh*, nearly blowing her brains out.
Su Xiao picked up a blood-soaked steel helmet from the ground and tossed it up.
*Rat-a-tat-tat...*
A hail of bullets came in. The dirt above Su Xiao's trench was sent flying, and the corrugated steel in front of him bulged outward one after another.
Clearly, the enemy had spotted Su Xiao's position. Snipers were hated on the battlefield; they got machine-gunned, shelled by artillery, bombed by tanks, and so on.
"Change positions."
Su Xiao grabbed the little assistant by the collar of her uniform and leaped out of the trench.
*Swoosh, swoosh...*
Bullets whistled past. Su Xiao threw a flashbang from his hand.
*Bang!*
A white light exploded in the night. Su Xiao rushed behind an abandoned tank. The tank had tipped over on its side, and half a charred corpse hung from the main gun barrel.
The little assistant in Su Xiao's hand rubbed her eyes, her expression clearly saying: 'Where am I? How did I get here?'
Dropping the little assistant, Su Xiao pulled out a thermal imaging device and pressed it against the tank's chassis. A large number of red humanoid figures appeared on the screen. This was a one-time blue-quality item.
Among the many red figures, three purple figures stood out. These were the three members of the Kill Squad.
"What's this?"
The little assistant had clearly never seen a thermal imaging device before.
"Technology."
Su Xiao was observing the path of those three. Unless he encountered an enemy that absolutely had to be dealt with, he wouldn't intervene.
"Looks impressive."
The little assistant touched the imaging device. Su Xiao glanced at her, and she grinned, showing her teeth.
"Twenty-seven meters..."
After a moment's hesitation, Su Xiao leaned out from behind the tank.
*Bang!*
The moment the gunshot rang out, an enemy soldier 780 meters away was pierced through the torso by a bullet. The soldier staggered back half a step and sat down on the ground.
*Woo~*
A whistling sound cut through the air. A shell fell from above, heading straight for Su Xiao.
In an instant, the little assistant tore the thermal imaging device off the tank chassis. She had obviously realized its value. Just as she was about to dive for cover outside, she was stunned to find that the forty-eight-ton piece of cover had moved.
*Creeeak, creeeak...*
Metal groaned and twisted. Su Xiao lifted the abandoned tank with one hand and hurled it directly at the falling shell.
*Boom!*
Flames exploded in midair. The little assistant felt a tremendous force slam into her rear, and her body flew forward.
With a *thud*, she crashed into a mud pit. By the time she came to her senses, Su Xiao had already set up his sniper rifle nearby.
"Position."
"South, 173, 670, 3.2."
The little assistant rattled off a string of numbers at lightning speed. All Su Xiao needed was the distance. No matter the gun, once a bullet left the barrel, it wouldn't accelerate again; it would fly toward the enemy in a parabolic arc.
Su Xiao pulled the trigger. An enemy fifty meters away from the scout dog was shot in the head. Scout Dog, Blind Mountain, and the other two charged into the forest.
Su Xiao scanned his surroundings. Confirming there was no major risk, he crouched and dashed toward the trench. Compared to the mud pit, the trench was infinitely safer.
The little assistant, on the other hand, stayed low and crawled forward quickly. Twenty seconds after Su Xiao entered the trench, she finally crawled in.
Amid the roar of shells and the whistle of bullets, the little assistant lay in the trench, gasping for breath.
"I thought I was dead for sure, hahaha."
The little assistant sprang up with a kip-up, the move smooth and stylish. But the next moment, Su Xiao kicked her back down.
*Swoosh~*
A few bullets flew over the top of the trench.
"That hurt~ I calculated the height; those bullets couldn't have hit me, sir."
The little assistant clutched her stomach.
"Is that so? Then it's my mistake."
Su Xiao lit a cigarette. His mission was basically complete; all he had to do next was infiltrate the enemy's position.
"You're getting back at me, aren't you? Definitely, absolutely."
The little assistant sat on the ground, pulled out a compressed biscuit from her pocket, and started chewing.
*Rumble, rumble.* The ground shook from behind. Tanks rolled in, at least a hundred of them. Their own tank division had arrived.
The tracks screeched as they ground against the ground. A hundred tanks advanced side by side. The meter-wide trench was simply crushed under their weight as they crossed it with ease.
Su Xiao leaped out of the trench and followed one of the tanks. The little assistant was right behind him.
*Clang!*
An anti-tank shell slammed into the tank's side armor. Sparks flew. The shell ricocheted off, flying off to who knows where. The steel plate on the tank's side where it was hit glowed red hot, steam rising from it.
"Whoa~"
The little assistant ducked her head, but she was grinning.
*Boom, boom, boom!*
Tank after tank poured firepower into the enemy trench. A white light exploded in midair—a flare.
The entire battlefield was instantly lit up as bright as day. Thick white smoke rose from the enemy trench, and screams came from within the smoke. It was white phosphorus shells fired by their tanks, specialized incendiary rounds for tanks.
"Ahhh!!"
An enemy soldier covered in sparks screamed as he burst out of the smoke. The next moment, he was blown into a cloud of shredded flesh.
Their own infantry had all leaped out of the trenches, forming a long line behind the tanks. Stray bullets occasionally hit them, and those struck all fell to the ground.
Su Xiao sat on the rear hull of the tank, craning his neck to look toward the enemy trench. He was puzzled. Why hadn't the enemy's tanks moved?
The tank advance was almost unstoppable. Over a stretch of about seven hundred meters, within a few minutes, a hundred tanks had pushed to within eighty meters of the enemy trench.
The tank's main guns and heavy machine guns began to concentrate fire. In less than ten minutes, the enemy trench was blown to pieces.
"Send in the infantry."
A captain inside one of the tanks shouted into the radio. Not long after, the infantry behind the tanks spread out and advanced forward. That was how plain warfare worked; the side that deployed tanks had the absolute advantage.
Su Xiao jumped onto the top of the tank and knocked on the hatch with his rifle butt. A tank crewman opened the hatch, looking confused.
"What do you want?"
"Move over."
The little assistant climbed into the tank, and Su Xiao followed suit. His upper body was half-exposed outside the hatch. After some negotiation with the little assistant, the tank drove forward.
The battle situation took everyone by surprise. The enemy's frontline troops were incredibly fragile. In less than fifteen minutes, they had lost their defensive position. From start to finish, the enemy hadn't deployed a single tank.