I returned to my hometown adorned with military medals, and the whole city erupted in celebration.

Chapter 15: Chen Shanming's shock, He Chenguang takes the blame for others.

Edge of Black Wind Pass Valley.

When Chen Shanming led three members of the Wolf Fang team to the coordinates where the ninth group had gone missing.

The sight before him caused the veteran special operations squadron leader's eyes to twitch uncontrollably.

The thick yellow and red simulated smoke in the air had not yet completely dissipated.

The eight elite members of the ninth group were divided into several groups. Some were squatting by the rocks, questioning their existence; others were lying on their backs on the grass, watching the clouds. The group leader, "Hoe," was squatting under a big tree, holding a half-eaten compressed biscuit in his hand, his eyes vacant as if he had just been raped by ten elephants.

What's most infuriating is that these guys' helmets and tactical vests are covered in red paint and yellow mud.

"Hoe! Stand up!"

Chen Shanming roared, his face turning ashen, "Ninth Squad, all dead? Did you run into the Red Army's armored regiment, or were you surrounded and annihilated by Kang Lei's guard company?"

Upon hearing Chen Shanming's voice, Chu Tou trembled and slowly stood up.

According to the exercise rules, the dead cannot speak and provide information. He could only point to the remains of the lunchbox booby trap not far away, then to the top of the cliff, and finally, with a humiliated expression, to the footprint on his butt that had not yet been wiped off.

Chen Shanming ignored the group of "corpses" and squatted down to carefully examine the scene.

As an instructor in the Wolf Fang unit, Chen Shanming's tracking and reconnaissance abilities are among the best in the entire brigade.

As the investigation deepened, his expression gradually changed from anger to terror.

"Captain, look here." A team member pointed to the footprints on the grass. "There's only one type of footprint. It's from someone who jumped down from that cliff over there. The force was extremely heavy, and the landing was precise."

"And there are scratch marks on the tree trunks here. There were no climbing tools to help him climb. This person climbed a 90-degree cliff with his bare hands."

Chen Shanming walked to the lunchbox booby trap, looked at the intricate trigger structure, and gasped: "This is an old trick of the infantry, but the method is extremely cunning, taking psychological manipulation to the extreme... Apart from the residual presence of the Red Fourth Company, there is only this one person's activity trace at the scene."

"You mean... all eight of them were taken care of by just one person?"

Chen Shanming turned to look at the hoe, his eyes filled with disbelief.

Chu Tou's face turned red from holding back, and finally he couldn't help but nod heavily.

"Ding! Extreme shock from Chen Shanming, shock value +1000!"

Two kilometers away, Li Erniu chuckled as he heard the notification in his mind: "Captain Chen has arrived too? The big fish is starting to bite."

Chen Shanming immediately pressed the earpiece and dialed the Blue Team command post.

"Number five! Number five! This is Chen Shanming. Please respond if you hear me!"

"I am Golden Eagle, speak," came Fan Tianlei's deep voice through the earpiece.

"The entire Ninth Squad was wiped out. I only found traces of one person at the scene. The other party used extremely sophisticated camouflage, traps, and climbing techniques. Hoe and his team didn't even see the other party's gun before they were taken out by close combat and booby traps."

Fan Tianlei, who was in the command post, suddenly stood up, his cunning eyes flashing with an unprecedented light.

"One person? Taking on an entire special forces team by himself?"

Fan Tianlei was taken aback at first, then burst into laughter. "Good! Good! I knew it! Those promising talents I recruited into the Iron Fist Regiment would surprise me sooner or later! Chen Shanming, who do you think it will be?"

Chen Shanming hesitated for a moment before saying, "Among the Red Iron Fist Regiment, only He Chenguang possesses such skill, mental fortitude, and tactical thinking."

"Hahaha!"

Fan Tianlei slapped the table, overjoyed. "That kid Chenguang, he's grown up so fast! How long has he been in the Fourth Company? He's already managed to beat Chutou and the others! What do you call that? That's what you call a tiger father begets no dog son!"

In Fan Tianlei's mind, Li Erniu was an honest cook, Wang Yanbing was a somewhat talented troublemaker, and only He Chenguang was the war god who could create miracles.

"Number Five, what do we do now? If it really is He Chenguang, he might be lurking in the forest hunting our other groups right now," Chen Shanming said worriedly.

Fan Tianlei stopped laughing, his eyes turning cold and expectant: "Chen Shanming, I'm giving you top-level authority. You'll personally lead the team to eliminate or capture everyone in the Sharpshooter Fourth Company! Especially that 'Shadow,' no matter who he is, even if it's He Chenguang, I want you to force him out! Remember, don't tell the team members his identity. I want to see what tricks he can pull under extreme pressure!"

"Yes! Understood!"

Chen Shanming turned off the communicator, looked at his teammates behind him, and said coldly, "Brothers, we, the Wolf Fang, have completely disgraced ourselves today. There's a master up ahead who single-handedly wiped out Old Nine. Let's go, let's go meet this 'King of Soldiers' from the Red Team!"

……

Meanwhile, the real "King of Soldiers," Li Erniu, was squatting on a crooked tree, holding a tactical telescope with a hoe in his hand.

He saw Chen Shanming lead his team away and also locked onto another nearby spot of light using the [Individual Radar].

That was the fifth squad of the Wolf Fang.

This squad was rather unlucky; they were originally tasked with cutting off the Fourth Company's supply line.

"Hey, Xiao Gong and his gang are running ahead, I have to clean up their tails behind them."

Li Erniu leaped down from the tree, as light as a swallow.

He didn't directly confront the fifth squad.

He pulled out a few sweet potatoes from his pocket—they were ones he had taken from the mess hall.

He used his boning knife to dig several holes in the sweet potato, stuffed in some smoke generators used in the exercise, and then sprinkled a layer of wild chili powder, which he had collected from the forest and was highly pungent.

This is the "Biochemical Sweet Potato Bomb" he developed using his "god-level culinary skills".

"System, activate individual radar to monitor enemy's five sense frequencies in real time."

[Ding! Radar activated. Enemy fifth squad, seven members, is searching northward in a fan shape.]

Li Erniu crouched low, using the [God-level Disguise Technique], his entire body darting between light and shadow like a chameleon.

The leader of the fifth group was an elite member nicknamed "Hound".

He was leading his men carefully across a low-lying area.

"Captain, there's a...sweet potato smell in the air?" one of the team members sniffed.

The hunting dog frowned: "Sweet potatoes? Where would we get sweet potatoes in this desolate wilderness?"

Before he could finish speaking...

"Thump, thump, thump!"

Several dark, round balls flew out of the bushes and rolled precisely to their feet.

"Grenade! Take cover!"

Everyone instinctively lay down.

However, the expected violent explosion did not occur.

The sweet potatoes split open on the ground, spewing out a thick, extremely pungent and acrid smoke.

"Cough cough cough! Holy crap! What is this thing?"

"Spicy! It's so spicy! I can't keep my eyes open!"

"This smoke is poisonous! Cough cough cough!"

Because Li Erniu added a special "seasoning" to it, although the smoke was for training purposes, the smell of wild chili peppers and smoke generators made the special forces soldiers instantly tear up and lose their sight.

"Now!"

Li Erniu burst out of the thick smoke like a black leopard.

[God-level Fighting Techniques] Fully Unleashed!

A special forces soldier was still rubbing his eyes when he felt a heavy blow to the back of his head, and he collapsed with stars in his eyes.

Li Erniu's movements were so fast that they left afterimages.

Chokehold, wrestling, disarming, slit the throat.

Just two minutes.

Before the thick smoke had even dissipated, the seven members of the fifth group were already covered in red smoke.

The hound knelt on the ground, his nose and eyes watering from the chili powder. In a daze, he saw a dark figure standing in front of him.

"You...cough cough...who are you?" the hound asked unwillingly.

Li Erniu squatted down, grinned sheepishly, and patted the large iron pot on his back: "My name is Li Erniu, I'm the cook in the Fourth Company. Um... how's the sweet potato? I did a good job controlling the heat, right?"

"Fire...the cooks?!"

The hound rolled its eyes and nearly fainted from anger.

"Ding! Shock from the hound's soul, Shock value +2000!"

"The entire Fifth Group is in shock and psychological breakdown; total shock value +5000!"

Li Erniu returned laden with spoils, also taking away two stun grenades and a sniper rifle from the other party.

"All done. Next stop, let's go see my troublesome grandson, Gong Jian."

Li Erniu whistled, and in a flash, disappeared into the mist.

……

At this moment, at the Wolf Fang Command Post.

Fan Tianlei was leisurely drinking tea, waiting for the good news that He Chenguang had been "invited" back by Chen Shanming.

Suddenly, the technical officer turned around, his face pale.

"Report to Number Five! The... Fifth Group, all signals have gone gray! They've been 'defeated' too!"

"puff--!"

Fan Tianlei sprayed a mouthful of tea directly onto the monitor.

"What did you say?! Five minutes again? Another group? Where's Chen Shanming? Isn't he chasing after us?"

"Captain Chen is still tracking north from the coordinates of the Ninth Group. But he just sent a message saying that he discovered the 'target' is moving towards Regiment Commander Kang Lei, who is retreating from the Red Team..."

Fan Tianlei stared intently at the big screen.

On the screen, a high-altitude unmanned reconnaissance aircraft is transmitting live footage.

In the scene, Kang Lei, Gong Jian, Squad Leader Lao Hei, along with He Chenguang and Wang Yanbing, are escorting Kang Lei as they quickly weave through a rocky area.

Fan Tianlei's pupils suddenly contracted.

"Wait! Zoom in!!"

The image zooms in, clearly showing He Chenguang carrying a rifle and guarding Kang Lei's left side with a vigilant expression.

Cold sweat trickled down Fan Tianlei's spine.

"He Chenguang is there...he's next to Kang Lei...then, who was it that wiped out my fifth team five minutes ago?!"

The office fell into a deathly silence.

Fan Tianlei felt a chill run down his spine as an unprecedented sense of crisis enveloped him.

If the person who took down the two Wolf Fang teams wasn't He Chenguang, then there must be a more terrifying, more ghostly, and more unreasonable monster hiding in the Red Iron Fist Regiment than He Chenguang.

"Could it be... Li Erniu?"

"He doesn't seem to be in the shot."

"impossible!"

Fan Tianlei immediately dismissed the idea, saying, "I personally brought Li Erniu into the Iron Fist Regiment. His physical abilities are alright, but he's not very bright, and his shooting and hand-to-hand combat skills are barely up to par. He's probably crying his eyes out back home right now, taking the blame for something!"

"Then...who exactly is it?"

Fan Tianlei narrowed his eyes: "That old slippery eel Kang Lei really did have a trump card! Pass on my order: forget about that 'Shadow.' Have all the nearby teams move in at once and capture Kang Lei first! Once Kang Lei is in custody, I don't believe that 'Shadow' won't show itself!"

"Chen Shanming, stop chasing! Turn around immediately and surround the rocky hill!"

"yes!"

……

A rocky hill.

Kang Lei wiped his sweat and looked at Gong Jian beside him: "How is our group doing now?"

Gong Jian, panting heavily, said, "I don't know, they were all scattered!"

As they were talking, He Chenguang suddenly pushed Kang Lei down.

"Get down! There's a sniper!"

"Bang!"

A drill shell hit the rock next to where Conley had just been standing, sending up a cloud of red powder.

"Damn it! Wolf Fang is catching up!" Gong Jian roared. "Cover the commander's retreat!"

Just as the red team was in dire straits.

A strange gunshot suddenly rang out from the high point above the rocky hill.

"Bang--!"

Immediately afterwards, red smoke rose from the head of a Wolf Fang special forces soldier who was preparing to flank the enemy.

"Where did this sniper shot come from?" Gong Jian was stunned.

He Chenguang looked up at the distant mountain ridge, his pupils suddenly dilating.

A figure carrying a black pot on his back sat elegantly on the mountaintop, holding a sniper rifle he had stolen from somewhere, and was waving down at the crowd.

"Erniu?!"

Gong Jian screamed, "This guy's been sniping special forces while he's been framed?!"