Chapter 1319: Chapter 1319: Besiege Wei to Rescue Zhao
Black Shark no longer had the mind to use those three bodies to make a fuss and go head‑to‑head with the people from Huaxia. What he had to do now was deal with Peng Bird. He’d already lost a good batch of elite subordinates; if this went on the casualties would only get worse. He had to prepare properly before he could handle Peng Bird’s seven people. So he pulled back all the men he’d had lying in ambush long ago and brought them into the camp focusing on Peng Bird.
After the order went out, he kept muttering the name "Peng Bird" under his breath, falling into deep thought.
"I need to report this to Big Brother, let him be mentally prepared." After hesitating for a while, Black Shark still decided to tell the head commander Hawk about Peng Bird’s attack on him.
The five regimental commanders of the Poison Dragon Mercenary Corps addressed each other as brothers. The "Big Brother" in Black Shark’s mouth was naturally the head commander, Hawk.
"Fifth, what is it?" Hawk picked up the phone and asked indifferently.
"Big Brother, Peng Bird has set their sights on me and has already inflicted a brutal blow on my people. There are seven of them in total; I can’t tell which one is Peng Bird. Among the seven, four men and three women, and every last one of them is a rare expert." Black Shark said grimly.
Hawk’s brows knitted tightly, his eyelids twitching. Only then did he speak: "Be careful yourself. Probe a bit and figure out how strong the seven of them really are. If you can’t beat them, pull out immediately. Don’t get bogged down in a fight—find another chance to deal with them."
"I understand." Black Shark agreed. He’d never planned on fighting the enemy to the death anyway. The reason he was treating Ye Fan’s seven so cautiously was that he wanted to properly test their strength. At first he’d still harbored the intention of wiping them out. After a round of clashes, he no longer had any confidence that he could annihilate the enemy. What he could do now was see just how capable they really were.
After this probing engagement, they’d be able to pin down the enemy’s overall strength and lay the groundwork for the next stage of deployment.
"We don’t know much about Peng Bird. Three days ago, after Peng Bird took the contract to assassinate us, we’ve been digging for information on them, but we’ve come up with very little." Hawk said calmly. "No matter who issued the hit on us, the fact that Peng Bird dared take this job means they’re not ignorant idiots. They must have some real backing."
"Whatever backing they have, to think they can challenge my Poison Dragon Mercenary Corps with just seven people—if you ask me, that’s pure suicide." Black Shark let out a savage grin, dismissive as he said, "Big Brother, just watch me. If there’s a chance, I’ll take their heads off. I want to see how seven people think they can overturn the sky in the palm of my hand."
"You know what’s at stake, so I won’t nag. Just watch your own safety." Hawk reminded him.
"Yeah, I know." Black Shark replied.
The five regimental commanders of the Poison Dragon Mercenary Corps were the face and load‑bearing pillars of the whole outfit. Not a single one of them could be lost. No matter which one died, it would be an enormous and irreparable blow. That was why Hawk was being especially cautious.
After ending the call with Black Shark, Hawk hesitated briefly and then dialed another number.
"Sea Horse, how’s the investigation going?" Hawk asked.
"Nothing. Not a damn thing. Peng Bird is like people who don’t exist—no way to get a handle on them. I followed some tiny clues but didn’t find a single useful lead." The third regimental commander of the Poison Dragon Mercenary Corps, Sea Horse, said furiously.
Sea Horse was in charge of tracking Peng Bird. He’d already followed the known traces to search for them, naturally wanting to strike first. But after all his efforts, he had nothing to show for it.
"Come back. Peng Bird has already shown themselves." Hawk said urgently. "Peng Bird has set their target on Fifth."
"That son of a bitch Peng Bird, had me running all over looking for him. I’m definitely going to gut him myself." Sea Horse said, his killing intent surging.
...
"They pulled out?"
"The enemy just pulled out like that?"
"Something’s wrong. This stinks. Why would they suddenly pull out for no reason?"
"Could it be a trap? The enemy fakes a retreat, and once we show ourselves, they coordinate from inside and out with those still hiding to wipe us out?"
Qin Yi and the others were concealed on a hilltop. Through the dense jungle they spotted traces of the enemy retreating.
The mercenaries withdrew in a big, brazen fashion, moving fast, without the slightest attempt to cover up.
So Qin Yi and the others quickly noticed. Naturally they couldn’t help but be puzzled.
"Could it be that we’re exposed?" one of them asked in confusion. "The enemy’s doing this to lure us out so they can take us down?"
"Doesn’t look like it. The way they withdrew is a little weird." Qin Yi said in a low voice. "When I saw a few of them coming out from extremely well‑hidden spots that were hard to notice, I was honestly shocked. If we’d launched an attack and gone up against that group in front, we wouldn’t have gotten a sliver of advantage. There were still more enemies we have no idea where they would’ve popped out from. Just from that, you can tell how deep they were buried."
"Should we sneak up and have a fight, feel out the enemy’s situation?" someone suggested.
"Don’t be reckless. Even though the enemy has exposed traces and close‑quarters fighting would favor us," Qin Yi said without thinking, "don’t forget what our mission is, and don’t forget what the commander told us. Getting into a firefight is not our objective. Wiping out the enemy is not our objective. What we’re here to do is bring the martyrs’ remains back safely."
"Then what do we do now?" someone asked.
"We wait." After a brief pause, Qin Yi contacted Ye Fan and reported the situation.
Ye Fan thought for a moment before giving the order: "Wait until all enemy elements have completely disappeared, then move in close to the area where the bodies are. Be careful. If there are still enemies hiding there, kill them and take the remains. If there are no enemies, carry out the mission as planned. Don’t delay for even a moment."
"Roger." Qin Yi replied calmly.
Ye Fan could already guess that the enemy had been hurt badly enough that they pulled all their ambush forces together to focus on dealing with them.
"The enemy shows no sign of retreating. Looks like they want a hard fight with us." Ye Fan looked at Zhang Lu, and at the same time sent his voice through the earpiece. "That’s just fine. A hard fight is exactly what we want. Wiping out as much of their main force as possible and eliminating this threat would be ideal."
"Watch out for enemy snipers. Don’t get careless." Zhang Lu reminded.
"According to intel, the enemy numbers are around a hundred and twenty. A third of them have already died by our hands." Ye Fan said flatly. "According to what Qin Yi reported, around thirty people pulled out from the ambush and moved toward Black Shark. We need to pay attention to that."
Ye Fan laid out everything that needed to be emphasized.
The seven of them had been fighting till now, and though their rate of fire hadn’t been high, the number of enemies they’d taken out was absolutely not small.
