Chapter 1821 - 1382: Friendly Reminder

Back in his room, the sky hadn't fully brightened yet. Outside the window was a deep indigo, with only a faint grayish-white appearing on the eastern horizon.

Song Heping glanced at his watch; the luminous hands glowed softly.

Five o'clock exactly.

He locked the door behind him, the sound of the metal lock's tongue clicking into place was particularly clear in the silence.

He went to the desk and turned on the standard military desk lamp.

Started the laptop, and the machine hummed with a low fan noise.

Using access granted by the Joint Operations Protocol, he connected to the US Army tactical data link port, entered a twelve-digit access ID and a dynamic password, and logged into the system after triple encryption verification.

A red watermark in the top left corner of the screen read "Confidential—Authorized Personnel Only."

The screen glowed blue, reflecting his expressionless face.

He called up a high-definition satellite map of Badi Town, stamped with "updated six hours ago." With a resolution of 0.3 meters, the precision was sufficient to clearly see street cracks, roof tiles, and even the distribution of bullet holes on the walls.

The target building was marked in a glaring red, like a freshly coagulated scab on the map.

Ten blue markers were scattered around, arranged in three concentric circles.

The innermost layer had three points tightly against the building's perimeter wall, controlling all entrances and exits; the middle layer's four points covered nearby street intersections; the outermost layer's three points were located at the town's main entrance.

These were Milosh's team's pre-set surveillance points and external blockade positions, a standard capture tactic configuration.

Delta Force's breach route was marked with a green dashed line.

Two six-man teams, conventionally named Team A and Team B according to US Army Special Operations, approached simultaneously from the north and south sides.

Team A was responsible for the main assault, equipped with MK13 linear cutting cord and M84 shock bombs; Team B provided cover and exit blockage.

The building's internal clearing route was also marked in dashed lines, detailing every room, every corner, every corridor, and even estimated firefight locations and cover points, as precise as a surgical plan.

Song Heping zoomed into the image to the limit, the pixelated image slowly loading as details gradually emerged.

He studied every structural feature of the building—this was a habit he developed while serving in the PLA Army Special Forces, and it was why he survived until now.

Before the operation, he mentally deconstructed and reconstructed the target building, identifying all anomalies, as anomalies often meant danger.

First, the wall. Height

3.5 meters, cast as a single piece of concrete, with shards of glass embedded at the top, angled upwards at forty-five degrees.

For a retired teacher's residence, this specification was absurdly high.

Common rural walls in Iraq were around two meters high, mostly made of adobe or brick, primarily for animal deterrence rather than human.

This concrete wall with embedded glass shards resembled more a military outpost or prison's outer perimeter.

He marked with measuring tools on the screen.

The wall thickness was estimated at 30 centimeters, capable of withstanding light weapon fire.

The upper observation ports were evenly spaced, roughly every five meters, obviously set after calculation.

Secondly, the windows.

There were only two on the first floor, each less than half a square meter, with thumb-thick iron bars, and the welding points on the bars were abnormally robust, with full, plump welds.

Three windows on the second floor were equally narrow, like firing ports.

The ratio of windows to the wall was severely unbalanced, making the interior inevitably dark as a cave, but also making it challenging to observe the interior from outside while allowing good shooting sectors from inside.

Here, every window was a natural machine gun position.

He switched to the thermal imaging overlay.

The thermal radiation from the window positions was significantly lower than the surrounding wall, indicating insulation materials or thick curtains were blocking them.

Third, the roof.

A flat cement structure with a parapet 30 centimeters high around the perimeter, referred to in military terms as a "parapet."

This was no decoration; it provided cover for rooftop operations, implying someone could establish observation points, sniper positions, or even mount light support weapons on the roof.

Satellite image shadow analysis showed anomalies.

The length of the shadows on the building's west side didn't match the sun's angle, suggesting possible underground space.

Thermal imaging data also confirmed this.

The ground temperature distribution was uneven, with several evident cold strips, possibly ventilation shafts or concealed entrances to basements.

One of the cold strips extended from the main building to the well in the backyard.

Song Heping pulled up the building's historical images archive, with a timeline starting from 1998.

1998: Building initially constructed, a typical rural Iraq home, flat roof, large windows, low adobe perimeter wall, fig tree in the courtyard. Surrounding neighbor homes were dense, with thermal imaging traces of children playing in the street.

2003: After Sadam's fall, the building showed no significant changes, but surrounding homes began showing damage, and resident activities decreased.

2005: First large-scale renovation. Walls raised to 2.5 meters and converted to concrete, windows minimized and iron bars added, roof reinforced. Thermal imaging indicated residents were reduced to 1-2 people.

2009: Second renovation. Wall height increased again to 3.5 meters, topped with glass shards. An annex structure was added on the building's west side, with thermal characteristics indicating a small generator. A well appeared in the backyard.

2014: During the 1515 control period, surrounding homes were severely damaged, and resident thermal signals disappeared. Yet the target building remained intact, with occasional single-person thermal signals in and out.

Song Heping switched to street view mode.