Chapter 1396 - 1167: Victorious Rendezvous

Those occasional stray bullets are actually not scary; after all, unless your luck is extremely bad, bullets without a clear target are like headless flies.

Song Heping knows very well that the real test actually comes from the sky.

The presence of the "Grim Reaper" drone means that every exposure in the night carries the risk of a fatal outcome.

A slight carelessness, and you're done for.

The low environmental temperature of the highland at midnight makes human heat sources more prominent under infrared detection. Even though they wear ghillie suits with some thermal insulation effect and use heat camouflage nets, the risk is still enormous in front of the drone's high-sensitivity sensors.

To lure the trackers more firmly towards the preset route, they must pass through a narrow pass about fifty meters wide.

That area is relatively flat, with steep rock walls on both sides—an excellent area for drone surveillance and a deadly trap.

"Pass quickly! Don't stop!"

Song Heping shouted lowly as the two of them simultaneously leaped from behind the hiding rocks, accelerating to the limit, rushing to the other end of the pass.

Cold air entered their lungs, bringing a burning sensation.

Just as they were about to rush past the center point, a spine-chilling, fabric-tearing sharp whistle sound approached from above at a terrifying speed!

Song Heping, who has dealt with the US Army drones countless times, broke out in a cold sweat.

That's the drone's "Hellfire" missile!

"Missile!"

The Hunter roared, lunging sideways forward with all his strength.

Song Heping also rolled to the other side almost simultaneously.

The two vanished almost instantly behind the rocks in the mountainous terrain.

"Boom!!!"

The earth shook violently! An AGM-114 "Hellfire" air-to-ground missile precisely hit the spot where they were a second earlier!

A huge fireball rose up in the darkness, illuminating the surroundings like daylight instantly, with the shockwave carrying debris, shrapnel, and scorching air, radiating outward in a circle!

Song Heping felt as if an invisible giant hammer had slammed into his back, his eardrums buzzed, and his mouth was filled with the taste of sand and gunpowder smoke.

He fought against the dizziness and the intense pain from his back, shouting hoarsely, "Hunter! Report status!"

"Cough... I'm alright! Not dead!"

The Hunter's voice sounded from the pervasive smoke and darkness, accompanied by a violent cough, "Move! Before the smoke and darkness dissipate!"

The two dared not linger for a moment, rolling and crawling in their most pathetic yet efficient posture, charging into the rocky area on the other side of the pass.

Behind them, they left a chaotic trail of footprints and a swath of shrubbery flattened by the shockwave. In the drone's perspective, particularly seen through thermal imaging, it's an entire mass of mixed white and orange heat signals.

Apart from the sky, the threat on the ground is equally omnipresent.

While they were circling to approach the basin, they once chose a dry underground river course, utilizing its deep gully to conceal their whereabouts.

The riverbed was nearly devoid of light, with only night vision equipment providing visibility.

The air was filled with the cold scent of damp earth and rotting vegetation.

One after another, they maintained a vigilant formation, their steps light and silent like a cat to avoid making any sound.

Just as they bypassed a protruding riverbank corner, a sudden mess of footsteps and low dialogue in Arabic came from ahead!

No more than thirty meters away!

Song Heping instantly raised his left hand in a fist, both movements frozen, sticking closely to the cold and damp earth wall, almost ceasing their breath.

The HK416 and SV-98 in their hands instantly pointed toward the sound source, fingers lightly resting on the trigger guard.

The other side clearly sensed something too; footsteps abruptly stopped.

A suppressed voice of tense conversation faintly echoed, accompanied by the crisp sound of pulling a machine gun bolt.

It's one of the Kurd people's search teams!

These guys indeed were born and raised here!

They actually managed to circle ahead of us!

It's utterly shocking!

In the dark, time seemed to stretch, with each second akin to dancing on a knife's edge.

Song Heping's sweat oozed from his temple but quickly cooled in the chilly night.

He made a hand signal to Hunter indicating to remain hiding, clearly suggesting not to engage unless absolutely necessary.

They could clearly hear their hearts' powerful and slow thumping in their chests, along with the heavy breathing of the others.

Engaging here, the muzzle flare would instantly reveal their exact location, and within two minutes, the "razor" squad would complete the encirclement from behind, creating an inescapable deadly situation.

Lady Luck seemed to stand by their side this time.

The Kurd squad apparently received new orders, and after a fierce exchange in whispers, footsteps resumed, gradually heading in another direction, eventually disappearing into the darkness.

Only after confirming the opponents' complete departure did Song Heping and Hunter slowly exhale the breath held tightly in their chests, exchanging glances in the night vision.

Though they couldn't see each other's eyes, they felt the shared sense of relief and grimness.

This route clearly became unsafe.

Song Heping immediately changed course, abandoning this seemingly convenient river course, even though it meant a longer detour of several kilometers, consuming precious energy and time, better than encountering those damn Kurd people.

The time was nearing two-thirty in the morning, the darkest and most intense hour of the night.

The cold in Mannier Valley reached its peak, and the white breath exhaled caused interference in front of the night vision goggles.

Song Heping and Hunter turned off all possible light sources, relying entirely on low-light/infrared night vision goggles to move through jagged rocks and shrubs.

The occasional gunshots and commotion of pursuers behind them seemed to be absorbed and weakened by the endless darkness, becoming distant and elusive.

However, the intuitive sense of threat from being chased by fierce opponents not only did not diminish but became sharper due to visual limitations and the cold stimulation.

The US Army's "Razor" team was also equipped with the latest four-eye panoramic night vision goggles and infrared laser designators, possessing strong combat capability at night.

They were like a pack of patient wolves, relying on high-tech equipment and hunting instincts honed over countless nights, tightly gripping the traces left by Song Heping and the others.

This chase in the early hours of a cold morning had transcended simple physical and tactical engagement, rising to an ultimate test of will and patience.

"Almost there."

Song Heping, using the cover of the rocks, glanced at the surrounding environment.

Even though the mountains' contours were blurred in the night, for someone like Song Heping, who was adept at reading maps, seeing the terrain was enough to find the corresponding location on the map in his mind.

He quickly recalled and precisely compared the coordinates of the rendezvous point agreed upon with Petrovsky.

"About a kilometer ahead, the edge of the basin. We can signal Da Maozi here, and if everything goes well on their side, they should arrive in about ten minutes."

Hunter silently nodded, taking out a cylindrical object slightly thicker than his thumb with no markings—a miniature infrared laser designator—from a special pocket in his tactical vest.

He carefully aimed the laser at the predetermined direction, adjusted it to the agreed-upon invisible infrared frequency, and pressed the switch.

Several brief, almost negligible infrared laser pulses that were completely undetectable by the naked eye and ordinary equipment penetrated the icy darkness, shooting towards the rocky area in the center of the basin.

This invisible light was useless in a drone's night vision scanning mode, but here it was the rendezvous point, the stage for the show to begin.

Placing the infrared laser pulse emitter here was equivalent to telling those US special forces soldiers—they are right here, come on! Baby!

In the center basin of Mannier Valley, deep within a pile of rocks scattered like the bones of a giant beast, a natural, extremely concealed crevice, Major Petrovsky's arm-mounted individual terminal emitted a specific frequency vibration.

He took out a PDA and opened it; on the screen, an icon disguised as a system icon, the receiver symbol, flashed three times regularly and then quietly disappeared.

On Petrovsky's face, which was as cold and hard as the Siberian tundra, the lines seemed to soften slightly imperceptibly.

"The 'guests' are on time. Get ready to receive. 'Signal,' you immediately indicate our position to Song."

He whispered into the earpiece.

"Signal" immediately crawled out of the hiding spot, moved to the observation position, and used night vision goggles to observe the distance.

Soon, several red dots nearly a kilometer away flashed a few times on the mountainside and then quickly went out.

He hurriedly took out a similar infrared designator, quickly fired three short signals aimed at Song Heping's location.

Just as "Signal" began to contact Song Heping, the squad's deputy leader and sniper "Cold Blade" Dmitry quietly carried his sniper rifle, climbing like a bobcat to a shooting position above the crevice with a good view.

Machine gunner "Iron Hammer" Volkov carefully moved the machine gun forward a few meters, setting it up in a new position that could provide intense flank firepower while being perfectly concealed by natural rocks, minimizing the weapon's heat signature.

The entire SSO squad operated silently and efficiently in the cold and darkness, waiting for the prey to arrive and the show to start.

About ten or so minutes later, two figures almost merging with the darkness, in a near-crawling posture, silently slipped into the crevice area where Petrovsky's squad was hidden, using every depression and shadow on the ground.

Their movements were agile and precise, not dislodging a single loose stone, only bringing in a surge of cold from outside.

"Who?"

A cold voice came from behind a rock shadow.

"Volga."

Song Heping panted, trying to lower his voice as he answered the code.

The long period of extreme running and intense mental strain had consumed a lot of his energy, making him feel even more exhausted in the cold.

"Song. Welcome back."

In the shadow, Petrovsky's towering figure emerged from behind the rock.

He reached out, pulling the nearly exhausted Song Heping and Hunter one by one into the relatively spacious crevice.

The inside of the crevice was slightly warmer than outside but still cold.

The interior of the crevice had clearly been simply arranged to form a few corners for alternating rest and alert, with weapons and ammunition neatly placed in dry spots.

SSO team members took their positions, silent and vigilant as rocks.

"How's the situation?"

Song Heping drew out a hose and took a few sips from his water pouch mixed with functional drink powder, feeling his parched throat ease slightly.

"The guests from the east were received with 'enthusiasm.'

Petrovsky rarely used a bit of black humor, but his eyes bore no trace of a smile, only cold killing intent.

"They left at least eighty corpses, temporarily retreating to lick their wounds. But Abu Omar called for backups, and it's not a small force. They're less than two kilometers away and should arrive soon. What about you guys?"

"Tails are long, the American special forces are as persistent as a shadow. The Kurds are like hyenas smelling blood. They're too familiar with this area, even outpacing us a few times, nearly giving me a fright."

Song Heping concisely summarized.

Next to him, Thunder Beast quickly disassembled his SV-98 sniper rifle, using the faint moonlight/night vision assisted light from outside the crevice, began skillfully checking the bolt, and replaced the slightly worn rubber seals inside the silencer due to continuous firing; the cold made the metal parts feel even more piercing.

"Good."

Excitement flashed through Petrovsky's eyes.

"The stage is set, and the actors are in place. Now, let's find a good spot and watch the show unfold."