Chapter 587

At night, Blackwater Mercenary Group headquarters.

Wang Zheng and Lao Hei rushed back to Bana City overnight. Upon hearing the news of their return, Su Tianyu immediately convened an emergency meeting to discuss the intelligence they had gathered.

In the corridor leading to the conference room, Wang Zheng spotted Fu Zhen walking ahead and quickly strode to catch up. "Uncle, I'm back."

"Damn it, who told you to run off?" Fu Zhen stopped, looking at Wang Zheng with his hands behind his back and scolding, "Is that how they taught you to obey orders at the Army University?"

"I... I just wanted to see the situation on the ground. We're going to have people coming later, so we need to have a good idea of what's going on," Wang Zheng said, scratching his head awkwardly.

"Don't give me that crap." Fu Zhen frowned and scolded, "I brought you here to experience the atmosphere of real combat, accumulate experience, and learn! Not for you to run around recklessly. Look at those two shrewd guys, Jiang Zhou and Wu Han. Even if you sent them to the front lines, they wouldn't go! Because they know that if something happens to them, the impact on the battle will be fatal."

Hearing this, Wang Zheng grinned and replied softly, "Uncle, I'm not the same as them. They work behind the scenes, but my future is on the battlefield. It's a family tradition. I want to achieve fame and success immediately!"

Fu Zhen couldn't help but laugh and curse, "Heh, you haven't even grown all your hair yet, and you want to achieve immediate success. I've been trying to achieve it for so many years, and I still haven't become a real crown prince. This is the only time; there won't be another!"

"Heh, I know," Wang Zheng said with a smile, nodding.

...

A little later, everyone was present in the conference room. After greeting Fu Zhen and the others, they took their seats.

Lao Hei printed the collected information into booklets, distributed them to everyone, and then took out a bird's-eye view of Saint Paul City, which he hung on the front wall. Then, he pulled out dozens of photos he had taken and posted them one by one beside it.

After everything was set up, Lao Hei pointed to the photos and said, "Everyone, look, here, here, and here... Gustav has prepared defenses in all these places..."

Sitting below, Fu Zhen frowned as he looked at the photos. He said with a serious expression, "That old fox Gustav still has some tricks up his sleeve! He's considered all the urban warfare factors he could. He's not giving us any openings."

"Yeah," Yu Mingyuan said with some surprise. "He's even considered these kinds of details. It's really hard to deal with."

The conference room fell silent as everyone pondered countermeasures.

Gu Baisun broke the silence and suggested with a frown, "Since they're prepared, should we adjust our plan?"

"No." Su Tianyu, who hadn't spoken until now, asserted his absolute direction at this critical moment: "Even if Gustav has thought of this point, finding another spot wouldn't necessarily be smooth. We're short on time, and we don't have time to try again and again. Moreover, he only has defenses; he can't completely eliminate this hidden danger. So, I think we can still try to continue pushing this plan forward."

Hearing this, Wang Zheng's eyes lit up, and he immediately raised his hand and said, "I agree with Commander Su's opinion. This hidden danger can't be eliminated; it can only be prevented! We'll use time to exhaust their energy and do our best to make them overlook this point at a crucial moment. Then, this plan is still feasible."

...

At the same time, Saint Paul City, South District.

The entire South District was shrouded in darkness. There were no lights around, and it was very dark. Only the occasional incoming shells brought a dazzling light.

Gunfire continued to ring out all around. The seventh platoon leader, under the fifth regiment of the third division, was leading more than thirty soldiers on a search and advance mission.

The soldiers were gathered around an armed pickup truck, holding automatic rifles and slowly advancing while checking the surroundings.

Just then, the soldier at the very front stepped on a booby trap.

"Boom!"

The four people at the front were blown away by the explosion of the booby trap.

"Ah!!"

"Minefield, watch out!"

"...!"

Cries rang out all around as the soldiers reminded each other, entering combat mode.

But these booby traps were all directionally planted, and the blast points were very precise. They only blew off the soldiers' lower legs. On the battlefield, these kinds of booby traps were very insidious and disgusting; both sides used them.

Four soldiers lay on the ground, wailing in pain.

Under the command of the seventh platoon leader, several soldiers around him quickly rushed over, trying to drag them back.

"Da da da!"

Just then, a building next to them suddenly lit up, and a burst of gunfire rang out. Several soldiers who were trying to rescue the wounded were sprayed with blood and fell to the ground.

The machine gunner on the armed pickup truck immediately turned the gun and aimed it at the building where the shots had come from, roaring as he pulled the trigger.

The machine gun swept across the building, and the bullets hit the opposite wall, directly penetrating the concrete and kicking up clouds of dust.

The machine gunner continued to provide suppressive fire, and while he did, another five or six soldiers rushed over to try to rescue the wounded, but seven or eight enemies emerged from the windows of three or four surrounding buildings and opened fire on them.

Gunfire erupted from all sides, and because the light was so dim, the third division soldiers couldn't see the enemy's direction at all. They could only identify their positions by sound.

The platoon leader, his eyes red, could only lead the remaining soldiers to hide behind the armed pickup truck. Bullets rained down on the vehicle's armor, sending up red sparks.

"Retreat! Retreat!" the platoon leader roared at the top of his lungs.

"Platoon leader! They're not dead yet!" the machine gunner roared as he fired frantically.

"It's too late! If we don't retreat, we'll all die here!" the platoon leader roared again, giving the order.

The remaining soldiers leaned against the armed pickup truck and slowly retreated together, gradually withdrawing from the street.

The soldiers of the second platoon were nearby and immediately came to support after hearing the gunfire.

Seeing the retreating seventh platoon, the second platoon leader shouted, "Seventh platoon, what's wrong over there?"

"We can't get through!" the seventh platoon leader told him.

"Save our brothers!" After quickly converging, the second platoon leader saw several wailing soldiers lying on the street and shouted anxiously.

"We can't save them!" The seventh platoon leader gritted his teeth, his voice trembling. "I don't know how many people are in the building across the street. They're hiding too deep, and they're not using any lighting equipment or reflective equipment. We can't find them!"

As soon as he finished speaking, several Molotov cocktails were suddenly thrown from the building across the street.

"Pa pa pa!"

With the crisp sound of shattering glass, the flames spread in a line. The soldiers who had fallen to the ground died miserably in the sea of fire amidst agonizing cries.

The seventh platoon leader and his men watched with tears in their eyes as their comrades were burned alive, slowly withdrawing from the area with anger and unwillingness in their hearts...

...

Third Division, temporary command post.

"Report!" The first regiment commander rushed into the command post and saluted Xin Xiaodong. "The search operation is being hampered, and we're suffering heavy losses. The enemy has transferred all the residents from the entire South City area and is only building positions in various complex buildings to fight guerrilla warfare with us! These people don't have specific command units; they're all in groups of a dozen, fighting and running. After a battle, you don't even know what their firepower is."

Xin Xiaodong was also decisive and immediately said, "Have your men pull back, stop advancing, and provide cover for each other to withdraw from the city in an orderly manner."

"Yes!" The first regiment commander left the command post.

The third division's first tentative attack failed to advance an inch and resulted in the loss of over a hundred men. There were almost no wounded; all were killed.