Rebirth in the Dragon Kingdom: The Strongest Blade

Chapter 48 Regret and Shock

Inside the temporary command tent of the Northwest Military Region.

Jiang Tao sat in his cot, staring at the communication screen on the table, which had turned into a static mess, remaining silent for a long time. A full forty minutes had passed since they lost contact with the thirty-man "Azure Wolf" main force led by Gao Cheng.

Chief of Staff Yang Zhenhua walked in from outside, his face pale, holding a newly printed battle damage report.

"Commander..." Yang Zhenhua's voice was a little hoarse, "I just received a confirmation message from the exercise referee team. Gao Cheng's 30-man special operations team in the birch forest area to the northeast has been judged... to be 'killed in action'."

"All of them?" Jiang Tao looked up abruptly, his eyes bloodshot. "Thirty people, not a single one escaped?!"

Yang Zhenhua nodded with difficulty: "The drone surveillance footage from the referee team shows that the opposing team... only has one person."

The tent was deathly silent. Several staff officers and communications soldiers lowered their heads, not daring to look at the commander's face.

Jiang Tao slowly leaned back in his chair, closed his eyes, and pressed his fingers hard against his temples. His head ached, it really ached. Not physically, but psychologically.

When he discussed with Chen Jianfeng about applying for "Qianlong" to participate in the exercise, he simply wanted to use this opportunity to give the troops a warning and see the strength of the legendary mysterious unit. He thought that at most, the other side would carry out a few successful infiltrations and sabotages, causing some trouble for his side and letting the officers and soldiers know that "there are always people more capable than you."

But what about reality?

Within seven hours of the exercise's commencement, the Northwest Military Region had suffered losses including a communications relay station, three supply depots, control of two main highways, and over three hundred soldiers declared "killed in action." The elite "Azure Wolf" special forces team, a main assault group of thirty men, was completely wiped out by a single enemy soldier within twenty minutes.

This is no longer just "making trouble," it's practically rubbing the Northwest Military Region's face into the ground.

"Old Chiang..." Yang Zhenhua lowered his voice, "Have we... gone too far? Isn't this a huge blow? Those soldiers of 'Azure Wolf' are all promising talents. If they are crushed by this setback..."

Jiang Tao opened his eyes, his expression complex: "You think I didn't think of that? But now is not the time to consider this."

He stood up, walked to the tent entrance, and lifted the curtain to look outside. The afterglow of the setting sun shone on the makeshift camp. The soldiers were still busy, but tension and unease etched on their faces. Although news of the attack on the command post, the contamination of the water source, and the annihilation of the special forces was being tightly controlled, the truth could not be hidden forever, and panic was already spreading quietly.

"Old Yang, do you know what I regret most right now?" Jiang Tao suddenly asked.

"Shouldn't we have requested 'Hidden Dragon' to intervene?"

"No." Jiang Tao shook his head. "What I regret is that for so many years, we've always thought we were leading a strong army, an elite force. But today's lesson has made me realize—we've never experienced real warfare."

He turned to Yang Zhenhua and said, "Think about it. If today wasn't a drill, but a real war, and that 'Hidden Dragon' team member wasn't using dye bombs and laser sensors, but live ammunition, what would our fate be?"

Yang Zhenhua shuddered. A paralyzed command system, the annihilation of the special forces, and the collapse of troop morale... that basically meant the battle was lost.

"So a big blow isn't necessarily a bad thing." Jiang Tao took a deep breath. "Only when it hurts do you realize where your weaknesses are. It's better than bleeding on a real battlefield in the future."

Despite saying that, he couldn't hide the bitterness on his face. After all, watching helplessly as the soldiers he had trained were "harvested" like leeks was a bitter experience.

Just then, the communications soldier suddenly shouted, "Report! Commander Chen of the Southwest Military Region is calling, requesting encrypted communication!"

Jiang Tao paused for a moment, then quickly walked back to the communications station and put on his headset. Chen Jianfeng's equally weary face appeared on the screen.

"Old Chen, you too..." Jiang Tao understood halfway through his sentence.

Chen Jianfeng smiled bitterly on the other end of the screen: "Old Jiang, don't say anymore. Things aren't much better here than yours. The Hunter Blade Special Forces... thirty-four men, and now only Qin Feng is left hiding in the mountains with two wounded soldiers. The command post has been moved three times, one fuel depot was blown up, the ammunition depot was infiltrated, and two communication vehicles were disabled..."

Jiang Tao was shocked: "So...it was done by one person?"

"What else?" Chen Jianfeng rubbed his temples. "Which military unit in China can play like this? My biggest regret now is that I suggested that bullshit idea with you. This isn't an exercise; it's fucking masochism."

The two commanders, separated by a screen, simultaneously wore wry smiles.

"But then again," Chen Jianfeng sighed, "my 'Hidden Dragon' team member, although he crippled Hunter Blade, Qin Feng said that the opponent at least held back. In the final close combat, they only incapacitated them, they didn't go all out."

Jiang Tao nodded, recalling Gao Cheng's report upon his return: "The same thing happened on my end. Gao Cheng said that the other side could have easily 'killed' them, but chose close combat instead. After the fight, they even left their contact information, saying they could ask them questions if needed."

The two remained silent for a while.

Chen Jianfeng suddenly said, "Old Jiang, should we continue this exercise? Given the current situation, both sides have basically lost their offensive capabilities. Morale is low, the command system is half paralyzed, and the special forces have been decimated... If we continue fighting, it will just be letting our soldiers continue to be used as targets by those two 'monsters'."

Jiang Tao pondered for a moment: "Continue. Why not continue? Since things have come to this, let the troops experience it fully. Let them know how to fight a battle against a truly formidable enemy—or rather, how to survive."

"That makes sense." Chen Jianfeng nodded. "Then let's adjust our objective. Instead of defeating the enemy as the victory condition, let's... preserve our strength as much as possible and complete the planned defensive mission under the continuous harassment of 'Hidden Dragon'."

"agree."

After hanging up the communication, Jiang Tao walked back to the sand table. He looked at the dense red dots on it—representing the damaged nodes—and suddenly chuckled.

"Alright. This lesson was worthwhile."

At the same time, in the Southwest Military Region's defense zone, next to a simulated fuel depot that had been destroyed by bombing.

Longya stood at the edge of the ruins, slowly munching on a compressed biscuit. His combat uniform was covered in dust and dye, but his eyes remained as sharp as knives.

The watch vibrated, displaying the latest score: 1450 points. He ranked second, still more than 400 points behind Lin Zhe in first place.

"This kid's really going all out." Longya grinned and turned off the screen.

He had just destroyed a forward command post of the Southwest Military Region, "killing" a lieutenant colonel and seventeen soldiers. By the time the Hunter Blade Special Forces arrived, he had already disappeared into the mountains.

Now, he's heading to his next target—the Southwest Military Region's temporary airfield. If he can take it down, Chen Jianfeng's air power will be crippled by half.

But the remaining three members of Hunter Blade should also be heading in that direction.

"Perfect." Longya stuffed the last bite of cookie into his mouth, patted the crumbs off his hands, and said, "All done at once."

He slung his backpack over his shoulder and darted into the woods like a cheetah. His movements were so fast that he made almost no sound, except for the occasional soft "crack" of a twig breaking under his foot.

Ten minutes later, Longya arrived at a small hill on the outskirts of the takeoff and landing field. He lay down and observed through binoculars.

The landing pad was built in a relatively flat valley, where four armed helicopters and two transport helicopters were parked. It was surrounded by a company of soldiers, with machine gun positions, air defense sentries, and patrols, making the defenses very tight.

But Longya noticed a detail: several ground crew members were performing maintenance next to the helicopter. One of them was holding a tablet computer, presumably checking flight data.

He had an idea.

Taking the modified military laptop from his backpack, Longya quickly connected to the satellite signal and began attempting to hack into the landing field's local area network. These temporary field networks typically had low security levels, and he was about 70% confident he could break in.

Five minutes later, the screen displayed "Connection successful".

Longya quickly located the ground crew system, locked the account of the ground crew member holding the tablet, and began downloading helicopter maintenance data and flight logs. At the same time, he implanted a small virus—which would activate in three hours, disrupting the navigation systems of all helicopters.

After finishing all this, he was preparing to leave when he suddenly frowned.

Someone is coming.

It wasn't from the direction of the landing pad, but from the woods behind him. Three people moved very quietly, but it didn't escape his ears.

Longya closed his laptop and silently slid behind a rock. He drew his pistol from his waist and attached the laser emitter used in the exercise.

Three figures emerged from the woods, advancing cautiously in tactical formation. Leading them was a weary-looking Qin Feng, followed by the two remaining members of the Hunter's Blade team—one with a bandage wrapped around his arm, and the other with a slight limp.

"Captain, he should be around here," the limping team member whispered. "The landing field is an important target; he'll definitely come."

Qin Feng nodded, his eyes scanning the surroundings warily: "Be careful. This person... is unlike any enemy we've ever encountered before. He knows too much about special operations, even... more than we do."

"Could it be Captain Lin..." The injured player was only halfway through his sentence when Qin Feng glared at him and stopped him.

"Don't guess. Execute the mission."

The three continued forward, now only twenty meters away from the rock where Longya was hiding.

Longya listened to their conversation from behind the rock, a smile playing on his lips. He recognized Qin Feng—they had worked together during the border hunt for the "Grey Wolf" team; Qin Feng was a decent captain.

But today, they are rivals.

Longya took out a smoke grenade from his waist, pulled the pin, counted to two silently, and threw it.

The smoke grenade landed between Qin Feng and his two companions and exploded with a "bang," instantly enveloping the entire area in thick white fog.

"Smoke! Disperse!" Qin Feng shouted.

But it was too late.

Wearing thermal imaging goggles, Longya charged into the smoke like a tiger among sheep. In the first encounter, the limping team member was struck in the side of the neck with a hand chop and immediately "lost consciousness." The second team member had just turned around when Longya kicked him in the chest, sending him flying backward and crashing into a tree.

Only Qin Feng remained.

The two men faced off in the smoke. Qin Feng gritted his teeth, gripping his gun tightly, but he couldn't see where the enemy was.

"Come out!" he growled.

Dragon Fang really did emerge. He walked out of the smoke and stood five meters in front of Qin Feng, without a gun in his hand.

Qin Feng saw the other person's face—around thirty years old, with a cold and stern expression, and a murderous aura in his eyes that Qin Feng had never seen before. It wasn't a murderous aura that had been trained; it was the murderous aura of someone who had truly killed and seen blood.

"Captain Hunter Blade, Qin Feng," Long Ya said calmly, "I heard you're the top special operations team in the entire army."

Qin Feng didn't answer, but suddenly raised his gun and fired. But Long Ya was faster; he dodged the laser beam to the side and was already in front of Qin Feng.

One punch, aimed straight for the face.

Qin Feng tried to block, but the difference in strength was too great, and he was knocked back three steps. Long Ya followed up with three heavy punches in succession. Qin Feng barely blocked two of them, but the third punch landed on his chest. He groaned and knelt on one knee.

"That's it?" Longya looked down at him. "The soldiers Lin Zhe brought shouldn't be this weak."

Qin Feng suddenly looked up: "You know Captain Lin?"

Longya didn't answer, turned and walked away. After a few steps, he stopped, and without turning back, said, "His troops are alright, but they're still far from good enough. If you want to become stronger, you have to know how weak you are first."

After saying that, he leaped several times and disappeared into the depths of the forest.

Qin Feng knelt on the ground, looking in the direction where the figure disappeared. His chest ached terribly, but the shock in his heart was even stronger.

Thirty-four people, beaten like this by one person. In the end, face to face, he couldn't even withstand three moves.

So... there really are soldiers this strong.

It turns out that... Hunter Blade's so-called "number one in the entire army" was nothing more than the self-indulgence of a frog in a well.

He struggled to his feet and helped his two unconscious teammates to their feet. In the distance, an alarm suddenly sounded at the landing pad—the virus implanted in Dragon Fang had activated, causing all the helicopters' instruments to malfunction and throwing the ground crew into chaos.

Qin Feng looked at the chaos and shook his head with a wry smile.

The Southwest Military Region has already lost this exercise. Not to the Northwest Military Region, but to those two people.

The exercise's general command was located in a military camp fifty kilometers outside the Helan Mountains.

The atmosphere here was completely different from that of the two military region command headquarters. In the spacious operations room, several generals from the Central Military Commission were gathered in front of a large screen, watching the live feed of the exercise, their faces beaming with smiles.

Deputy Chief of the General Staff General Li pointed to the red dots moving rapidly through the mountains and forests on the screen—representing the location signals of Lin Zhe and Long Ya—and said with a smile, "Look, these two kids are having a blast."

A lieutenant general standing nearby chuckled, "Those two old bastards, Jiang Tao and Chen Jianfeng, are probably kicking themselves right now. They wanted to use 'Hidden Dragon' to give the troops a warning, but they ended up getting themselves implicated."

"Serves them right!" General Li snorted. "Let them think all day long how great their troops are. They'll never know how big the gap is until they see real top-tier combat power."

On the screen, the blue dot representing the Northwest Military Region Command began to move again—Jiang Tao had moved the command post once more. Meanwhile, the red dot representing Lin Zhe was rapidly approaching in that direction.

"That kid Lin Zhe has his eye on Jiang Tao," a major general chuckled. "He gets 800 points for beheading a commander; he's really trying to rack up points."

"Let him charge." General Li waved his hand. "The purpose of this exercise has been achieved. The special forces teams of two military regions were decimated, the command system was thrown into chaos, and the morale of the officers and soldiers was severely damaged... This lesson is enough for them to remember for years to come."

He paused, his smile fading. "However, this incident also exposed many problems in our conventional forces. Weak anti-infiltration capabilities, a rigid command system, and insufficient combat experience in special operations teams... These are all issues that need to be addressed."

"Sir, what about 'Hidden Dragon' over there..." someone asked.

"They deserve a reward," General Li said. "Lin Zhe and Long Ya performed very well this time, demonstrating the might of 'Hidden Dragon.' But we must also remind them not to be arrogant. This is an exercise, and the opponent is friendly forces. When we actually go abroad to carry out a mission, we will be facing real enemies, and the situation will be much more complicated."