Chen Ge shouted, and Big Bear unbuckled his ammunition backpack frame, unfastening the mortar tube secured to its left side with buckle straps and handing it over to Chen Ge before quickly pulling open the frame's cover to retrieve mortar shells.
M1061A1 high-explosive shells, packed three rounds to a plastic container.
The fuse was an M734A1, featuring four settings that could be rotated using a specialized wrench or pressed and turned with a fingernail. The standard settings included SAFE, the safe transport state;
PRX, proximity, airbursting 1 to 3 meters above the ground;
NSB, near-surface burst;
and DLY, delay, detonating after penetrating cover.
Chen Ge didn't use impact detonation, as soft soil could cause duds, nor did he need delay for open terrain.
Knowing Chen Ge's preferences, Big Bear pulled out a shell and used the grooved wrench slot on the side of the fuse body to turn it clockwise until it clicked into place.
PRX—proximity!
With the fuse set, he skillfully screwed the ignition cartridge into the lower end of the tail boom and tightened it by hand.
"Hammer Brother!"
Wearing heat-resistant gloves, Chen Ge took the shell with his right hand while grabbing the barrel with his left. He deployed the telescopic baseplate, its four steel claws springing open, and jammed it firmly into the dirt before sliding the shell down the muzzle.
No aiming required; he fired entirely by feel—his eyes were his ruler!
*Thump!* The shell left the tube, tracing a flawless arc through the air, and descended with pinpoint accuracy right above the heads of a dozen Ukrainian soldiers a hundred and thirty meters away.
A deafening roar erupted as the two hundred grams of PBXN-9 high explosive packed inside detonated 2.5 meters in the air. Over two thousand fragments tore through the space, cutting down all eighteen Ukrainian soldiers within its fifteen-meter lethal radius.
Night Cat bellowed, "Hammer Brother! Front right!"
*Da-da-da!* Sweeping fire from two Ukrainian machine gunners with PKMs tore in from the front right, riddling the sandbag fortifications and the wall behind them with dense clusters of bullet holes. Fortunately, the sandbags were thick enough that the rounds couldn't punch through.
"Shell!!"
Chen Ge extended his hand, and Big Bear immediately slapped a shell into his palm.
Grabbing the shell, Chen Ge pivoted the barrel and loaded!
*Thump!* Flame and smoke burst from the muzzle as the shell soared outward, set once again for airburst.
*Boom!* A violent blast echoed across the night sky, silencing both machine guns.
"Suka blyat! RPG!!!"
Just as Chen Ge was preparing to fire a third round, his spider sense flared with a critical warning from the front left.
He whipped his head around and spotted a Ukrainian soldier two hundred meters away hoisting an RPG-18 Mukha rocket launcher onto his shoulder.
Dropping the mortar tube, Chen Ge brought up the HK417 slung across his chest and fired a snap burst without taking careful aim.
*Bang, bang!* Two shots cracked, and the Ukrainian soldier, who was just about to fire, was hit and collapsed. His finger still pulled the trigger, sending the rocket veering off at an angle, sailing over the roof of the building, and slamming directly into the cluster of Ukrainian troops in front of the main entrance.
Fortress and the others defending the main entrance were left bewildered—where on earth had that rocket come from?
*Boom, boom, boom!* A barrage of dense explosions thundered from the southwest.
Big Bear pricked up his ears, listened intently, and said, "Msta, Giatsint, D-20... Ratibor has started shelling the Ukrainian positions."
This was Big Bear's talent: distinguishing artillery calibers and even specific models purely from the sound of explosions.
Chen Ge said nothing. Grabbing the mortar tube, he continued laying down heavy fire, specifically targeting Ukrainian machine gunners, rocket launchers, and mortars.
"Load charge one!"
Big Bear quickly slipped an increment propellant charge over the tail of a shell and handed it to Chen Ge.
Chen Ge's target was the roof of a two-story residential house seven hundred meters away, where eight Ukrainian soldiers were scrambling to set up a 2B14 82mm mortar.
*Thump!* The mortar shell arced over, detonating almost right on top of a Ukrainian soldier's helmet. All eight Ukrainian troops, along with two mortars, were blown into the air.
With Chen Ge acting as a walking self-propelled artillery piece wiping out Ukrainian heavy weapons, the pressure on Rock's assault team dropped sharply. They suffered no casualties beyond one unlucky bastard who caught a 5.45mm bullet in his left arm.
Inside the building, Trench and Hailstone each led a squad of mercenaries to storm the floors from the left and right, rapidly eliminating the Ukrainian troops within.
Down in the underground bomb shelter, Thunder's demolition team ran into trouble. The shelter had only one entrance, and since it served as the command post for the Ukrainian 93rd Brigade, the troops guarding it were all elite soldiers.
Inside the sandbag emplacement to the left of the rear door, Chen Ge fired off twelve mortar rounds in rapid succession before Trench's voice crackled through his headset.
"Sledgehammer, have the fire support team reinforce Thunder!"
"Sledgehammer copies!"
Dropping the mortar tube, Chen Ge gave Rock a quick heads-up, turned, and dashed into the building, shouting, "Fire support team, follow me to the bomb shelter!"
...
Inside the bomb shelter, a fierce battle was underway.
Two of the eight men in Thunder's demolition team were already down. The Ukrainian firepower was overwhelming, pinning Thunder and his five remaining men against the walls on either side of the heavy doors.
"Hang tight, brother, I'm here."
Chen Ge clattered down the entrance stairs, ducked swiftly to the left side of the main door, and called out to Thunder across from him. Poking his head out slightly to take a few quick looks inside, he asked, "Why aren't you using underbarrel grenade launchers for indirect lobbing?"
Thunder pointed awkwardly at a damaged GP-25 underbarrel grenade launcher lying on the ground.
"We only had one, and it got smashed."
Speechless, Chen Ge pulled out two RGO offensive hand grenades, popped the pins, and hurled them forcefully inside.
The layout of this underground bomb shelter was somewhat peculiar. Down from the surface entrance sat a set of solid steel double doors, beyond which stretched a corridor three meters high, three meters wide, and ten meters long. From there, it took a reverse L-shaped bend to reach the main hall of the shelter.
The Ukrainian soldiers held the corner, using heavy metal cabinets as cover to choke off the passage with impenetrable defense.
Attempting to breach with hand grenades offered no clear opening either. The ten-meter corridor was cramped; a direct throw would simply hit the corner wall without enough ricochet angle to bounce into the inner passage, while a high-arc lob was constrained by the walls and ceiling, making it nearly impossible to land accurately in the Ukrainian troops' blind spot—risking friendly fire instead.
Chen Ge throwing grenades was a different story. With his immense strength, the grenades flew in a straight line, struck the corner wall, and ricocheted at an angle straight into the inner corridor.
*Boom! Boom!* The Ukrainian gunfire ceased, followed instantly by screams of agony.
Thunder and the five remaining demolition team members breathed a sigh of relief. Flashing thumbs-up at Chen Ge, they praised him in clumsy Chinese: "*Wo cao, niubi!*"
Chen Ge had taught them that phrase; most of the Falcon Hunting Team knew it by heart.
*Da-da-da!* Bullets sprayed out once more, ricocheting off the steps in front of the door and forcing everyone to pull back tight against the angle of the steel doors to avoid ricochets.
Chen Ge produced an RG-60TB thermobaric grenade.
Packed with 240 grams of fuel-air explosive, this weapon generated an overpressure shockwave and temperatures exceeding a thousand degrees Celsius the instant it detonated. In an enclosed space, the shockwave would reflect and compound off the walls while consuming massive amounts of oxygen to inflict severe negative-pressure internal trauma—making it ideal for clearing out Ukrainian troops entrenched in the corridor.
Thunder and his men carried RG-60TBs as well, but they hadn't dared use them. If they couldn't land it around that corner, it would be suicide.
Pulling the pin, Chen Ge stepped out from behind the steel door's recess, whipped his arm in a lightning-fast throw, and pulled right back, shouting, "Take cover!"
*Boom!* A thunderous blast shook the corridor as flames billowed along the tunnel. The air temperature spiked violently, radiating suffocating heat.
All of the dozen or so Ukrainian soldiers inside the inner corridor were wiped out.
"Move in!"
Chen Ge bent down to scavenge two RG-60TB grenades from the corpse of a fallen mercenary, took the lead, rushed in, and as he hit the corner, pulled the pins and lobbed them into the main hall.
*Boom! Boom!* More than twenty Ukrainian soldiers about to charge into the corridor were blown off their feet, sprawled dead and wounded across the floor. Gripping his HK417, Chen Ge moved swiftly through the passageway into the main hall—seven meters high and fifteen meters across—putting bullets into any Ukrainian soldiers still breathing.
The officers of the Ukrainian 93rd Brigade command post had already evacuated through an escape tunnel, smashing any communications and electronic equipment they couldn't carry.
The hall had two tunnel openings: one diagonally across, and another on the left.
Dense gunfire erupted from the left tunnel entrance, rounds whistling through the air. Chen Ge dove into a forward roll, taking cover behind a metal desk ahead, before leaning out from the flank to pick off the two Ukrainian soldiers guarding the tunnel opening.
As the gunfire died down, Chen Ge gauged the surroundings by ear, then turned and yelled, "Thunder, you take the left! I'll take the far side—give me the explosives!"
Chapter 17