Chapter 17: Ice and Snow Lurk (2)

Following Wang Xianru's steps, he walked forward tremblingly. At first, he was quite fast, but after a while he slowed down. Looking at the front, Wang Xianru also looked solemn, and stopped from time to time and squatted on the ground to observe. After a while, he dared to take a step, and also gestured to us, asking us to step on his footprints and move forward.

Seeing Wang Xianru's careful appearance, the soldiers couldn't help but hold their hearts and dared not take a breath. They all walked forward carefully on Wang Xianru's footprints. Fortunately, there was already a thick layer of snow on the ground at this time, and Wang Xianru's footprints were still clear in this dark night, otherwise we would have been unable to move forward.

After moving slowly in the wind and snow for nearly half an hour, Wang Xianru slowly relaxed and his pace became faster and faster. Finally, he waved to us and ran all the way to the enemy's position.

"What's wrong?" After running for a while, seeing Wang Xianru squatting on the ground and looking around vigilantly, I couldn't help but lean forward in confusion and asked in a low voice.

"Not what?" Wang Xianru looked at me in confusion and said, "Are you there? This is the lurking place of the first squad. I am checking if there are landmines around!"

"Um!" I couldn't help but blush when I heard this. The commander of the group was really inferior. I followed Wang Xianru all the way, and I arrived at the destination of the first batch. I still didn't know.

I stretched out a finger and bent it, then waved my hand. The first squad leader Hu Zudi quickly understood what I meant and quickly took his soldiers to find their own positions and lurked down.

These gestures were made privately by our cold gun force. A finger was extended to indicate a person. If you bend, it means shift one. For shift two, shift three, and so on.

Sign language is very necessary for a unit like us that fires cold guns. Many times, sign language can save us, or even the lives of the entire unit. However, these sign languages ​​are all invented and created by the soldiers themselves, and sometimes they are not very convenient to use. For example, sign language expressing one person or a squad, which will easily be misunderstood if you can't see clearly in the dark.

So I was wondering why I didn’t learn the special gestures used by special forces in modern times! Those gestures were found through the analysis and experiments of experts, and some gestures that could express the meaning clearly but were not prone to confusion! It would have been great if I could use that sign language until now, but there was no regret medicine in this world. Fortunately, my troops as sharpshooters all looked very good, so such misunderstandings did not occur many times.

After arranging the position of the first squad, Wang Xianru took us to the position of the second squad, and then to the position of the third squad, which was not so smooth at this time.

Wang Xianru told us in advance that the position of the third squad position was something he had never been to. This means that he was not familiar with the terrain here, and there might be much more mines than the previous places. This made me a little want to let Squad 3 give up the mission and go home. But the enemy that Squad 3 wanted to annihilate was the enemy's three machine gun positions in the mountains. If we give up, it means that the communication between the 597.9 and the 537.7 high ground will still be interrupted. This is not only unbearable for us, but if we do not repel these enemies, we will not achieve the strategic goal of our army to force the enemy back, and it may make the enemy even more rampant. So I had to grit my teeth and order Wang Xianru to clear the mines.

Wang Xianru is indeed worthy of being the "Mine Moving King", but in a short while, mines were raised one after another. At first, I hadn't noticed it, but after a while I was curious, I followed him and looked at it seriously... I saw that Wang Xianru seemed to have a natural sense of smell of landmines. I looked at them all, and there was no difference between the plain snow and other places. He was stunned to be able to dig out mines from there. And to mention that speed! He just tossed so easily for a few times, and then there were one more, which made the soldiers feel a little anxious to get the mines...

"Captain! When is it?" After a while, Wang Xianru wiped the sweat beads on his forehead, turned around and asked in a low voice.

I took out my pocket watch and looked at it. Because the pocket watch was not luminous, it took me a long time to see it clearly. Then I stretched out three fingers to Wang Xianru and shook it in front of him.

"Well!" Wang Xianru couldn't help but frowned and replied softly: "Captain, there are much more mines on this land than I thought. You can get it all, but..."

"Say!" Because it is very close to the enemy's position, I try to speak quietly and briefly.

"The landmines can be discharged, but you are lurking but there is no hurry!" Wang Xianru pointed to the footprints on the ground.

I quickly understood what Wang Xianru meant. It was almost dawn when the mines were discharged. Even if we found a suitable location to lurk, the traces of people walking on the snow could not be hidden. Because although the snow was very heavy, it was not enough to cover up our footprints in a short time. The chance of being discovered at that time was still very high...

I thought in my heart that Wang Xianru is really good. Not only does he have the skills to demine mines, but his thinking is also very meticulous. Look at Wang Xianru again, after he threw this problem to me, he began to demine mines on his own.

What to do?

I looked at the snow and ice in front of me helplessly, wishing I could also clear mines to speed up Wang Xianru's speed, but I thought that such a result would only send myself and the soldiers into the gates of hell.

Just go back like this?

No! The soldiers were all holding their energy up and went back like this. Even if I agreed to the soldiers, they would not agree! What's more, we can't afford to lose this person...

So, will you continue to wait for Wang Xianru to finish the mines?

This result seems to be no big difference from dying. I think no sensible commander will make this choice!

Damn it! This is neither left nor right...wait, it seems that I have other choices.

Thinking of this, I quickly patted Wang Xianru in front of me, but unexpectedly it made Wang Xianru quarrel. He suddenly turned around and gasped with a frightened look on his face and said, "Captain, I am clearing the mines! If you pat me like this, you will die!"

"Um! This..." I couldn't help but feel embarrassed when I heard this, and smiled embarrassedly and said, "No one was killed!"

"Nonsense!" Wang Xianru held back his smile and said, "We can still be here after death, and we have already flown into the sky!"

There were also a few chucklings behind him, and the soldiers couldn't help it.

"That's it!" I made a gesture backwards and attracted the squad leader Huang Sihu. The three of them gathered together and whispered: "Time is tight, and our plan has changed slightly. Now the soldiers will first choose the position, and then Wang Xianru will take the soldiers to the designated position one by one to lurk. Is this plan feasible?"

The last sentence was said to Wang Xianru. He is a mine-sweeping expert, and at this time all plans need to be recognized by him.

"Feable!" Wang Xianru nodded with certainty: "There are not many soldiers, including the regiment commander, and you are all in a group of two people. I only need to go back and forth seven times. This can greatly reduce the amount of mine removal, and it can be completed in more than an hour. It's just..."

"Just what?" I couldn't help but ask in confusion, but I thought to myself that this guy must not give me another problem.

"If you just do this..." Xianru said with some concern: "The soldiers may be surrounded by mines, and they cannot move at all, even if they wait until it is dark tomorrow night. Unless I will come back tomorrow night to pick you up one by one!"

"Then do it! Is there any difficulty?" This sentence was said to Huang Sihu.

"No!" Huang Sihu responded with certainty: "We lurked only to be unable to move, which is not much different for us!"

Huang Sihu said this, but I knew there were still differences, because if the soldiers entered the lurking position and found that the position was inappropriate, they could not change their positions even at night. It would be difficult for me to determine the appropriate sniper position at a glance during this windy and snowy night.

But now I can only do this.

"Action!" I waved my hand, and soon two soldiers walked up from behind. I handed the telescope hanging on my chest to the soldier in the hands of the leader. The soldier didn't say much, took the telescope and observed it carefully, and then quickly pointed a direction forward. Wang Xianru took the two soldiers and walked carefully in that direction without saying a word. The second group of soldiers took this time and took the telescope handed down by the soldiers in front to observe the surrounding environment...

I also know that such observations are not accurate enough, especially in this dark night. Because it is very likely that it was a crater that was black from a distance, and when I walked forward, I found that it was a cliff that could not be lurking at all. But due to time, the soldiers had no other choice.

As Wang Xianru returned and went back and forth, the soldiers entered the lurking site one after another, and in the end they were the only one I was left.

The sky is dark, the snow is white. Apart from a strong wind and snowflakes, there is nothing in the dark. I feel as if I have come to a void space, only me, the cold wind, the snowflakes and the land under my feet.

I knelt on one knee, grabbed the rifle with my right hand and supported it on the ground, letting the wind and snow blow on my face and hands. A feeling of loneliness also hit me with the cold wind, which made me feel inexplicable fear.

I don’t remember how long I haven’t felt this way. This feeling surprised me and was both surprised and happy. What was shocked was that I realized that I would still be afraid if I fought this war. What was happy was that I knew I had not become a killing machine.

Perhaps, it should be said that anyone will be afraid, but some people can deeply press fear and fear into their hearts, and they will gradually forget them over time. However, at a certain time or in a specific place, they will always encounter certain people or things that arouse the fear that has been pressed in the heart for many years.

For example, now, I'm scared.

At this moment, I knew that what aroused my fear was loneliness...

This is a very subtle feeling. I am afraid of loneliness, but at the same time I seem to enjoy it, because at least it can make me feel the feeling of killing and being killed in this moment. At least it can make me recall my pity for the lost life when I first went to the battlefield, and my enemies and comrades...

Suddenly, a gentle pat on my shoulder woke me up from my thoughts. I turned around and found that at some point Wang Xianru had already stood beside me.

"Captain, what's wrong with you?" Wang Xianru lowered his body and asked in a puzzled tone.

"What's wrong?"

"Just...you look a little different." Wang Xianru said hesitantly: "You are like a child just now. I, I thought you recognized the wrong person..."

Upon hearing this, I couldn't help but smile bitterly, without explaining, and asked without answering, "Are all comrades lurking? Will the position be ideal?"

"I can't be sure!" Wang Xianru replied: "I have never been to this place. I will not know until dawn to see the enemy's position!"

I nodded and understood what Wang Xianru said. The positions we have chosen now look good, maybe it was not until dawn that I realized that there was no enemy position in that place at all!

"Captain, it's your turn. Have you chosen the right position?"

"This..." I raised my telescope and looked at the enemy's position, then pointed to the barbed wire that the enemy had laid in front of the position and replied: "Just there!"

"What?" Wang Xianru was shocked when he heard this: "Captain, the place is only about forty meters away from the enemy's position, it's too close! It's easy to be discovered by the enemy!"

"It's there!" I nodded with certainty.

"Yeah!" Seeing that I insisted, Wang Xianru stopped saying anything, nodded and took me to climb to the top of the mountain with his waist.

I don’t know if the enemy thought no one could pass through the light curtain of their searchlight or were relieved about their mine array. The US military responsible for the alert on the machine gun position did not shoot the light of their searchlight in our direction, even if it was only one.

If they did this, I would be a little confused about what to do. Because at this time we were in the minefield and there was no way to lie down on the ground. If we did this, we would not only not lie down, but we would also be lifted into the air by the mines as fast as possible. Fortunately, the US military had no intention of doing this. So Wang Xianru and I slowly advanced in the minefield silently until we came to the enemy's barbed wire. Here, we could even hear the "cry" sound of the US military shaking the searchlight.

I took the light emitted by the searchlight as a reference, found a place in front of the barbed wire and lay down, carefully avoided the can box hanging on the barbed wire and put it on the ground through the gap of the barbed wire and almost made the spikes on the barbed wire hook the white cloth wrapped around the rifle...

I patted Wang Xianru who was lying beside me and signaled him to go back. Wang Xianru looked at me, then looked at the enemy's searchlights on the position. After a while, he nodded, and then turned without saying a word and disappeared behind me like a ghost.

I was the only one left, but strangely, I didn’t feel the loneliness I had just now. Maybe it was because of the barbed wire in front of me, or the rotating searchlight not far away, or because the canned box floating in the wind on the barbed wire made a "clang clang" sound...

I can't be sure!

But one thing I can be sure of is that it is not only my comrades, but also my enemies who can eliminate my loneliness!

I like this feeling a little, like the feeling of lurking under the enemy's nose, which is a bit like the hide-and-seek I played with my friends when I was a child. I also like waiting here, waiting for a fatal blow to the unprepared enemy at dawn, which made me a little excited. It was a bit like when the child was not paying attention, I sneaked up from behind and scared him!

The difference is that now I use the gun to scare the enemy! And after the enemy is scared by me, they will never wake up again.

After thinking about it, I started digging the snow under me. In order not to make a sound, my movements were very slow, so slow that it was not so slow that it was to snatch the snow and turn it outwards.

The reason for doing this is that I don’t want the US military to get up early the next morning and see a pile of white human-shaped protrusions in front of their barbed wire. In that case, even if I have snow on my body, they will doubt me. Once they become suspicious, I don’t think they will mind using a few bullets to verify it…

Finally, more than half an hour later, my great project came to an end. At this time, I was trapped in the snow. I even covered my rifle and hid it deeply in the snow. Now I just need to wait patiently at this position for a while, and the snowflakes floating in the sky will soon wipe away all the traces I left. The next day, the enemy will see a very natural and flat slope.

The chill kept seeping into my blood through my skin, and then flowing from the blood to my whole body. This made me realize that although it is easier to disguise when shooting cold guns in winter than in autumn, and even if the enemy is shot, it is difficult to detect, but the danger is no less than autumn. Because while we are dealing with the enemy, we also have to deal with the cold.

It's still good now. The weather in early winter is not so cold that it can't stand it, but it's still dangerous to lie on the ground and hold on for a day and a night in such snow. Moreover, the weather will get colder and colder, and the tests that the soldiers have to accept will become greater and greater. How will we deal with these difficulties that come with it?

I have no idea!
Chapter completed!