Rebirth in the Dragon Kingdom: The Strongest Blade

Chapter 47 Annihilation of the Gray Wolves

At noon, Lin Zhe was hiding in a birch forest, eating compressed biscuits.

His watch showed that he had reached 1850 points, firmly holding first place. Longya also scored 1200 points in the southwest, ranking second.

But Lin Zhe noticed a change: the frequency of troop movements in the Northwest Military Region had increased significantly. Especially in the southeast direction—where the command post was likely located—there were suddenly many more patrols.

"Trying to lure me over there?" Lin Zhe smiled and turned off his watch.

Of course he'd go. Decapitating the commander was the highest-scoring objective; a commander was worth 800 points. But charging straight in like that would be suicide.

He needs help—not real help, but help to "feint to the east while attacking in the west".

Lin Zhe took out four miniature drones from his backpack and programmed them. These drones were only the size of a palm, but they could carry small smoke grenades and flashbangs.

He ordered two drones to fly northeast and two others to fly northwest. The plan was to simultaneously drop smoke grenades 10 kilometers from the command post half an hour later to create the illusion of a "multi-point infiltration."

He himself chose the most difficult but unexpected route—directly crossing a swamp.

This swamp is marked as "impassable" on military maps, so the Northwest Military Region certainly wouldn't set up defenses there. But Lin Zhe scouted it last night and found a hidden strip of hard soil in the middle of the swamp, barely passable.

At one o'clock in the afternoon, Lin Zhe stepped into the swamp. The muddy water instantly reached his thighs, and he had to pull his legs up with force with every step. A stench hit him, and swarms of mosquitoes swarmed around him.

He walked slowly and with great difficulty. But that made it safer—no one would expect anyone to take this route.

At 1:40, the drone took off.

Smoke rose simultaneously from the northeast and northwest, accompanied by simulated gunfire. The Northwest Military Region Command immediately received a report: "Multiple enemy positions detected!"

Jiang Tao stared at the sand table and sneered, "Finally couldn't hold back anymore? Wanting more breakthroughs? Order all units to tighten the encirclement as planned!"

He was fooled. Most of the troops were transferred to the northeast and northwest, leaving a brief gap in the defense of the southeast.

Lin Zhe emerged from the swamp at exactly 2:00 PM.

He was covered in mud, but his eyes shone with an alarming light. Five hundred meters ahead lay a heavily guarded camp—the headquarters of the Northwest Military Region.

But he did not attack directly. Instead, he circled around to the south side of the camp—where a stream ran, which was the camp's main water source.

Lin Zhe fished several metal cans, about the size of water bottles, from the stream. These were "gifts" he had hidden there the night before: powerful dye bombs. If they exploded, the entire stream would turn red, meaning the water source would be polluted and the camp would have to be moved.

He set a timer: detonate in ten minutes.

Then, he turned and left, heading straight for his real target—the main force of the "Azure Wolf" special forces.

Since Jiang Tao had sent out most of the "Canglang" team members to encircle and suppress him, he would launch a counter-encirclement.

2:20 PM, deep in the birch forest.

Gao Cheng, leading five "Azure Wolf" teams—a total of thirty men—was searching for "enemy activity" to the northeast. Suddenly, an urgent communication came from command post: "Captain Gao, the water source south of command post has been contaminated. We've determined the enemy's true target is the command post! Return to reinforce immediately!"

Gao Cheng's expression changed drastically: "We've fallen for their trap! Everyone, retreat to command post!"

But it was too late.

They had just turned around when the gunshots rang out.

"puff!"

One team member was shot in the chest with dye and "died" on the spot.

"Three o'clock!" Takashiro shouted.

The team members quickly spread out and fired in the direction of the gunfire. But there were only swaying tree branches; there was no one in sight.

"puff!"

Another person has "fallen in battle".

"In the tree!" someone shouted.

Bullets swept through the tree canopy, knocking down countless leaves, but still no one was there.

Gao Cheng's heart sank. This tactic was all too familiar—it was the classic "hit and run" tactic of special forces, but the speed and stealth capabilities of the enemy had exceeded his expectations.

"Three people per group, back to back! Don't separate!" Gao Cheng ordered.

The team immediately adjusted their formation. But this was exactly what Lin Zhe was waiting for—with everyone concentrated, it would be easier to wipe them out in one fell swoop.

He emerged from behind a tree, not with a gun, but with a miniature drone. The drone took off, circled once in the air, and then dropped a small can.

The can hit the ground and exploded with a "bang," not an explosion, but rather the release of a large amount of white smoke.

Smoke instantly enveloped half of the forest.

"Smoke grenades! Put on gas masks!" Takashiro shouted.

But the smoke wasn't poisonous gas; it was just ordinary smoke that obstructed vision. Just as the "Azure Wolf" team members were frantically putting on their masks, Lin Zhe made his move.

He put on thermal imaging goggles, and the smoke was practically invisible to him. Those team members wearing masks that obstructed their vision became easy targets.

"Pfft, pfft, pfft..."

Gunfire was like the Grim Reaper calling roll; with each shot, one man was "killed." Gao Cheng watched helplessly as his teammates fell one by one, unable to even locate the enemy.

"Scatter! Get out of the smoke!" he yelled.

The team members rushed out desperately. But Lin Zhe was already waiting on the outskirts. He moved through the woods like a cheetah, firing only one shot each time he appeared before disappearing immediately.

twenty minutes.

In just twenty minutes, only seven of the thirty elite members of "Azure Wolf" remained.

The seven men stood back to back in a circle, their guns pointed in all directions. Their eyes had lost their sharpness, replaced only by fear and anger.

"Come out!" a young team member finally couldn't hold back any longer, shouting with red eyes, "If you've got the guts, come out and fight for real! What kind of hero hides like that!"

The woods were quiet for a few seconds.

Then, a figure emerged from behind the tree.

Lin Zhe wasn't wearing camouflage, just ordinary training clothes, and his face was covered in paint, obscuring his features. He wasn't carrying a gun; he walked slowly to within ten meters of the seven men and stopped.

"What you want is real weapons," he said calmly. "Come on."

The seven "Azure Wolves" team members exchanged glances, a fierce glint in their eyes. They were the most elite special forces soldiers in the Northwest Military Region, close combat being their forte. Seven against one, they couldn't possibly lose!

"Go!" Gao Cheng roared.

Seven men pounced on him at once! Their punches and kicks were swift and deadly.

But Lin Zhe was even faster. He moved like an eel between punches and kicks, each movement perfectly avoiding the attacks, and each strike precisely hitting the vital points.

A teammate swung a punch, which Lin Zhe dodged to the side. He then grabbed the opponent's wrist and twisted it, the sound of a joint dislocating clearly audible. The teammate screamed and fell to the ground.

Another teammate launched a flying kick, but Lin Zhe didn't retreat; instead, he advanced, ducking to dodge the kick and slamming his shoulder into the opponent's chest. The man flew backward and crashed into a tree.

The third one, the fourth one...

Gao Cheng was the last to fall. He had used all his strength, unleashing a powerful combination of punches. But Lin Zhe broke his attack in just three moves—a block, a deflection, and an over-the-shoulder throw.

Gao Cheng fell heavily to the ground, and before he could get up, Lin Zhe's foot had already gently stepped on his chest.

"You lost," Lin Zhe said.

Gao Cheng lay on the ground, looking at his opponent who was at least ten years younger than him, and suddenly laughed, a bitter laugh: "So... we really are frogs in a well."

The other six team members collapsed to the ground, their eyes vacant. They had always considered themselves top-tier special forces soldiers of the Dragon Kingdom, proud, confident, even somewhat complacent. But today, one person, in just twenty minutes, had defeated their entire thirty-man team.

This sense of powerlessness and despair was something they had never experienced since joining the army.

Lin Zhe withdrew his foot, took out a small notebook from his pocket, wrote a line, tore it off, and threw it to Gao Cheng: "This is my email address. If you want to know where we went wrong today, contact me after the exercise."

After saying that, he turned and walked into the woods, disappearing from sight.

Gao Cheng got up and picked up the piece of paper. It only had an encrypted email address on it, with no signature.

He looked into the depths of the woods, in the direction where the mysterious man had disappeared, and remained silent for a long time.

"Captain..." one of the team members struggled to his feet, "Who...is he?"

Gao Cheng shook his head and carefully put the note away: "I don't know. But I do know that our 'Azure Wolf' should start afresh from today."