Chapter 173 Shadow Force

At 2 a.m. on the second day!In the darkness of the jungle, three teams silently approached the gold mine from three different directions. The low-light night vision devices worked excellently, allowing Joe Ga and his team to maintain good visibility even in such a dark environment. Upon hearing Antar's report over the headset, Karman, who was leading the way, raised his fist, turned around, and made a hand gesture for Joe Ga and the others to wait in place. He then silently moved towards a crude sentry post about 30 meters ahead. The so-called sentry post was just a clearing between two large trees, with a flare tied to one of the trees so the sentry could quickly signal the camp in case of any trouble. Even by this measure, these brothers were a bit more sophisticated than the other anti-government armed groups. But even the best military regulations need capable men to carry them out. The sentry did not notice Karman approaching from behind. Joe Ga and his companions felt as if they were watching a horror movie… They didn't see Karman's previous actions due to plant cover, but they could clearly see the old fellow's final move. They likened it to a horror movie because Karman was moving so slowly. When he came into their field of view, Karman, with his hunting knife in hand, was like a man possessed, moving in slow motion until the knife was just half a foot away from the sentry's neck. Then, suddenly picking up speed, he moved like lightning, slitting the sentry's throat with a swift motion. The most horrifying part was that the guy's throat had been cut open, but it took him several seconds to realize what had happened. By the time he tried to cover his neck, it was already too late. When Joe Ga and the others got closer, the sentry was not yet dead, but his body was limp, drained of strength, lying on the ground with only a terrifying gasp audible. He couldn't take in a single breath of air, and soon he convulsed in terror and lost all signs of life. Dorian, who had spent half a month nursing his injuries and then undergoing intensive exercises with the veteran jungle soldiers for a few days, swallowed hard in surprise. He was certain that if he were in the sentry's place, the outcome would not have favored him as well, because although he was close by, he couldn't hear any noise from Karman's movement even with his acoustic pick-up earpiece. The jungle itself already had its fair share of noises, but Karman seemed to blend the sound of his movements into the backdrop of the jungle's noise, making it impossible to detect that someone was standing behind you even if they were right up on you. This was a ghost, a lifesnatching ghost! Such an ability could not be honed through training alone; it required familiarity with the jungle and an indescribable, almost magical talent. Karman treated the whole affair as if it hadn't been worth mentioning. Once the sentry had completely stopped breathing, he unfastened the flare from the tree, inserted it into the ground upside-down, then nodded at the approaching Joe Ga and said, "You guys continue on, there's another one on the left. I'll deal with him then find you." Joe Ga nodded to show he understood, then, comparing himself and Dorian, he decisively gestured for Ayu to cover their rear, while he took the lead. Dorian lamented inwardly as he watched Joe Ga's agile steps. With intermittent blindness, he completely ignored Karman's watchful gaze and followed him obediently. It wasn't that the boss was too strong, but rather that his own injuries had delayed his training. It was an unavoidable circumstance with no shame attached to it. The difference between moving with Karman and moving alone rapidly became apparent. Executing a concealed movement in the middle of the night jungle was as tricky as walking a tightrope. You can't lift your feet too high with each step, and every time you land, you must be careful not to step on dry branches on the ground and produce a snapping noise that could travel far. In past jungle training, Joe Ga had never managed to get within 30 meters of those jungle veterans without being detected. But this time was different, as the opponent had changed and naturally, so had the requirements. Actually, Joe Ga thought those old guys were freaks of nature; most of them couldn't read, but they could generally speak English, French, and several African indigenous languages, like Sango from Central Africa and Lingala from Congo. The most outrageous thing was that they were intimately familiar with every plant in the jungle and knew the names of every river, how they looked in the rainy season and the dry season, and what animals might be found there. They could even blindfold themselves and distinguish the jungle's plants just by smell. Theoretically, this didn't seem difficult, but for an ordinary person to master it like they did would require ten to eight years of hard training. Initially, Joe Ga hadn't understood how a group of mercenaries equipped with night vision goggles could be beaten by those veterans. After trying in practice, he understood the mercenaries' 'despair.' Because even if you saw them, it was useless—they were bound to have found you first. Once they started moving, the narrow field of vision of binocular night vision was insufficient to guide your actions. The veterans moved not like soldiers in combat but in a peculiar style that Joe Ga thought verged on the legendary ninja's mode of warfare. Keeping themselves as much as possible in the blind spots or the weaker sides of their targets, they created an effect akin to invisibility. If you happened to hear any noise they made, don't be surprised—it was definitely intentional to mislead you… The only mercenary team that had managed to overcome the jungle veterans, Team C, had cheekily relied on the effect of flashbang grenades to make the approaching veterans sensorily disabled and thus gained the upper hand. Even so, Team C had lost two men. The unfortunate Bolivian 'Xiao Luo' had his nose twisted by a jungle veteran who had lost control due to sensory impairment. Joe Ga could not learn this ability, even though he had Karman, the top veteran, as a mentor, even though those jungle veterans were eager to teach him hand by hand, he still couldn't grasp it. He understood the principles, but Joe Ga's deeply ingrained aggressiveness and his honed marksmanship determined that his first reaction to mortal danger would always be to draw his gun and counterattack, rather than circling around to deal a deadly blow to the enemy. This kind of thing could only come gradually through training, through slowly getting used to it. Forcing a change would only make Joe Ga feel awkward and might even decrease his combat effectiveness. In fact, at present, Joe Ga's efficiency was higher because he killed many more enemies than Karman did. This stuff is hard to define; modern weapons have simplified combat, but at the same time, they have caused some corporeal combat arts to gradually disappear, giving way to another kind of firearm combat art. There's no need to discuss which is superior, but if a special forces soldier learns the skills of jungle veterans and combines it with his tactical knowledge and use of modern high-tech weapons, then in the jungle, his ability would be overwhelming! Joe Ga's nature and foundation meant that he learned slowly; compared to him, old Karman was like a model student, as he was always learning and continuing to progress rapidly. At least now he had gotten used to the panoramic night vision, gotten used to the radio, had fallen in love with 'Broad Sword,' learned how to fly a plane, and even learned from Dorian how to make 'supermarket bombs,' because TNT and C4 were too simple to use. Who would believe that a man who could only write his own name, an illiterate, could make an IED with non-negligible power using cleaning supplies from the supermarket? The passionate old guy was not only strengthening himself, but was also wholeheartedly trying to cultivate a group of modern jungle infantrymen with powerful abilities, a sense of belief, and loyalty for Joe Ga. Once successful, they would be a group of jungle ghosts proficient with modern weapons, and anyone unfamiliar with them, if encountered in the jungle, would only have one outcome—to lose their life. Joe Ga slowly approached the outer camp of the mine, looking through the gaps in the vegetation to see a 'watchtower' at the edge of the camp, with a sentinel standing on it, dozing off. 30 meters inwards from the watchtower, in the middle of a relatively open space, two machine-gun positions had been piled up with sand and dirt. The machine guns that had been mounted at high points of the mine during the day had been moved here, where four armed militants were grouped in twos, sitting inside the position eating and chatting. Considering the direction the machine-gun muzzles were pointed in, those people seemed to be guarding against the miners who were treated like slaves. Joe Ga parted the vegetation carefully and observed the path ahead, not detecting anything troublesome. When Joe Ga saw Karman's figure emerge from the side tens of meters away, he pressed his communicator and whispered, "Team A is in position!" "Team C in position, the sentry has been neutralized." "Team B in position, the sentry has been neutralized, there is a watchtower directly in front, ready to attack at any time." Joe Ga once again confirmed the sentry's position on the watchtower ahead and estimated the distance between himself and the two enemy barracks. He pressed the communicator again and said, "Snipers." "Devil Bird in position." "Owl in position." "Kitten in position." "Xiao Luo in position." Joe Ga, grinning, said, "Devil Bird and Owl, you're responsible for the 5 o'clock direction machine gun position, Kitten and Xiao Luo for the 11 o'clock direction machine gun position. Team C is in charge of the warehouse, and by the way, destroy the two idle machine guns. Team B, take barracks number two." As everyone confirmed their tasks, Joe Ga moved his neck, raised his HK417, and decisively moved forward… "Attack!" The moment Joe Ga stepped out of the bushes, he pulled the trigger. A crisp "pop" sounded, and the armed sentinel on the watchtower's head burst into a spray of blood, then he slumped down limply. At the same time, four faint gunshots sounded; the four men at the machine gun position instantly went limp. Realizing that the enemy, who was asleep, had not been startled, Joe Ga grinned, moved forward with his gun, and said, "Move move move, King Kong set up cover, Dorian get ready with the flashbang grenade." While talking, Joe Ga had quickly approached the position of barracks number one. When he was up against the door, Sanderson's voice came through the earpiece… "Team B, attack in position, flashbang ready, three, two, one." As Sanderson counted down to one, Dorian slowly pushed open the wooden door of the barracks, and then with Joe Ga, they each threw a flashbang grenade inside. Searᴄh the nôvel_Fire.ηet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Boom, boom, boom, boom!" After four consecutive terrifying explosions and flashes, Dorian and Joe Ga rushed into the barracks and started shooting rapidly…