Tombstone's cold voice rang out.
"Kuzma, obey orders!"
Cold sweat broke out across Kuzma's entire body. He wanted nothing more than to die right there. His swollen red lips twitched several times before clamping shut.
Disobey? Members of the barrier detachment stood by the doorway, the safeties already off on their AK-74Ms.
That yellow-skinned monkey called Sledgehammer possessed immense authority, and the veterans all listened to him. If anyone dared to disobey, being shot was the most merciful way to die.
There were plenty of far less pleasant ways to go—like... hammer punishment!
The gruesome scene he had witnessed on the eighth of this month flashed in his mind: a fellow K-soldier from his batch had shot and killed their squad leader, attempting to surrender to the Ukrainian forces. The barrier detachment had dragged him back and battered him to death with sledgehammers in front of several hundred K-soldiers.
He swallowed hard, gulping down saliva mixed with blood. Docilely, he stepped forward, scooped up the crate of landmines, and shuffled outside with terror in his heart.
Night Cat raised an eyebrow at Chen Ge and followed behind him. Archer gestured to two barrier detachment members, and both walked over to supervise.
Wagner veterans could beat and curse convict soldiers, but they were not allowed to kill them. Except for the barrier detachment, no one held the authority of execution.
Chen Ge walked over to the stack of ammunition crates, picked up an RGO grenade from one, and began assembling it.
The UDZ fuze was separate from the grenade body. All one had to do was remove the plastic sealing plug on the body and screw the fuze in—very simple.
Compared to the RGN, Chen Ge preferred the RGO!
The RGN had excellent concussive and stunning effects in enclosed spaces, making it ideal for clearing rooms during assaults. Even if it detonated at close range during a charge, the thin aluminum casing produced few fragments, meaning it was less likely to injure friendly soldiers.
The RGO was different. It produced more than twice as many fragments as the RGN, with fragments carrying three times the kinetic energy. Its lethal effect was devastating.
"Hm? What the hell is that noise?"
Chen Ge had assembled a dozen RGO grenades and stuffed them into his grenade pouch. Just as he was about to pack some thermobaric grenades, he suddenly heard voices chattering at the annex tunnel entrance.
He did not know Japanese and couldn't understand a word!
"Prepare for combat!"
With that command, everyone immediately shifted into a combat stance, their eyes warily scanning the windows for any sign of the enemy.
Chen Ge stepped to the window, turned his head, and switched his five senses from Selective mode to Full-open mode.
Under normal circumstances, he remained in Selective mode, directionally listening to sounds or catching scents from specific bearings. He rarely used Full-open mode because the sheer volume of information would overload his brain.
Keeping it active for a brief few minutes was fine, something he could barely withstand.
After focusing intently for a few seconds, his brows furrowed, and his expression turned grave.
There were many of them. Aside from around forty Japanese, there were over two hundred men in and around the tunnel entrance speaking English, French, Ukrainian, Russian, and Dutch.
A mixed force of foreign volunteers and Ukrainian regular troops?
Chen Ge pondered for a few seconds, switched his senses back to Selective mode, and turned toward Tombstone and Manhole Cover.
"The Ukrainian forces will assault the building shortly. Stay sharp—shoot anyone who shows their face!"
With that, he pressed the PTT fixed to the shoulder strap of his tactical vest and issued orders to Octopus, Bull, Lightbulb, Rust, Viper, and Igor.
"All units, Ukrainian forces are incoming. Prepare to engage!"
"Octopus copies!"
"Bull copies!"
"Lightbulb copies..."
Once everyone had acknowledged, Chen Ge clapped Tombstone's shoulder and pointed at Manhole Cover. "Tombstone, this is my brother, Manhole Cover. He's also ex-GRU. The two of you are responsible for these four rooms. You must hold them!"
Tombstone gave Manhole Cover an astonished glance, then replied solemnly, "Understood!"
Chen Ge nodded at Manhole Cover, turned, and strode away.
Tombstone watched Chen Ge's retreating figure, then turned to ask Manhole Cover, "Brother, how long have you known Sledgehammer?"
"We fought side by side in Syria for over half a year. Brother Hammer was my squad leader, and I was his bodyguard!"
"Bodyguard?"
Manhole Cover puffed out his chest proudly. "That's right. Didn't you guys recognize him earlier? Brother Hammer is the Artillery King who can fire a mortar with the precision of a sniper rifle.
"Well... that description might be a bit exaggerated, but his mortar skills are so terrifying people suspect he's using aimbots and headlock hacks. That's why he holds such high status in the Falcon Hunting Team; he's our captain's treasure. My sole job was to haul mortar rounds for him and act as his human ballistic plate, hahaha!"
Tombstone's expression turned bizarre. The corner of his mouth twitched violently, thoroughly rendered speechless.
*What are you so proud of? Did acting as a meat shield give you a superiority complex?*
Even so, one could draw a clear conclusion from Manhole Cover's words: Sledgehammer had earned the respect and recognition of the Falcon Hunting Team's veterans purely through sheer strength.
Remembering how Chen Ge had hurled the hefty Kuzma across the room with a single arm as if tossing a lump of dough, Tombstone couldn't help but feel a twinge of awe.
"Brother, Sledgehammer's strength isn't humanly possible. Is he some kind of mutant? Or an abnormal human from the movies, injected with super-soldier serum or genetically modified?"
At this question, the surrounding K-soldiers, Detachment 9 veterans, and barrier detachment members all pricked up their ears to listen.
Manhole Cover's expression darkened. He could not tolerate anyone slandering or insulting Chen Ge, even if Tombstone was only engaging in wild speculation.
His gaze turned sharp and severe. "Tombstone, let me warn you: comparing Brother Hammer to those movie freaks created by gene mutations or powered by bullshit serums is an insult to him!
"Brother Hammer is a normal human being. His strength comes from unyielding willpower and pushing himself to the brink every day practicing martial arts! What he practices is an exceptionally formidable Huaxia kung fu—authentic, secretly passed-down Huaxia martial arts. He even teaches us!"
*Secretly passed-down Huaxia kung fu?*
Tombstone was entirely dumbfounded. The others exchanged bewildered glances, all overcome by a sense of inexplicable awe.
Suddenly, several GP-25 smoke grenades arced over, and thick gray smoke quickly blanketed the western side of the Laboratory Building.
The Ukrainian forces had launched their assault. Casting all stray thoughts aside, everyone focused entirely on defending the building.
***
A few minutes earlier, at the annex tunnel entrance.
The annex sat facing north. Its eastern side was a mere twenty meters from the Laboratory Building, connected by a covered corridor. Before the war, workers at the Asphalt Plant used that corridor to cross over for meals, but two months ago, artillery fire had collapsed it along with the annex.
If the Ukrainian forces wanted to retake the Laboratory Building, they had only two routes.
First, advance from the southwest through the ruins of the raw material warehouse. Second, charge out from the annex's western tunnel entrance, located roughly a hundred and twenty meters in a straight line from the Laboratory Building.
That hundred-and-twenty-meter expanse was completely exposed, devoid of cover. Without tanks or armored personnel carriers providing shielding, pushing through the combined firepower of over a hundred mixed mercenaries commanded by Chen Ge was virtually impossible.
Yet no matter how difficult the battle, they had to fight. This industrial area served as the core pivot of the eastern flank's defensive line, holding immense strategic importance.
The Asphalt Plant was the central pivot of the entire industrial sector. Once it fell, the Ukrainian forces across the area would face the grim prospect of being cut off, surrounded, and destroyed piecemeal.
The Ukrainian commander had decisively ordered the mobilization of the International Legion's 2nd Infantry Battalion Sakura Detachment—comprising forty-seven Japanese veterans led by retired Major Yamamoto Kamimine of the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force's 1st Airborne Brigade—along with B Company of the Norman Battalion, C Company of the International Legion's 1st Infantry Battalion, and the 2nd Infantry Battalion of the Ukrainian 93rd Brigade. In total, three hundred and twelve men were temporarily organized into the 8th Assault Battalion. Commanded by Major Yaroslav, the 2nd Infantry Battalion commander whose callsign was Kraken, their mission was to recapture the Asphalt Plant's Laboratory Building and support friendly forces at the mixing plant.
The half-collapsed annex had just been leveled by dozens of 120mm mortar rounds from Ukrainian artillery, and the falling debris had partially blocked the tunnel mouth.
Kraken led B Company's commander Lucas (callsign Lynx), C Company's commander Maksim (callsign Titan), and the Sakura Detachment's commander Yamamoto Kamimine (callsign Sakura) as they clambered up the rubble, poking their heads out to observe the Laboratory Building.
Peering through his monocular at the defensive firing positions set up in the first- and second-floor windows, Lynx couldn't help muttering a low curse. "Fuck."
His close comrade Philippe was probably already dead inside, and there was a good chance he might be meeting God today as well.
After a moment's reflection, Lynx looked at Kraken with a grim expression and said solemnly, "The enemy's firepower is too heavy. A frontal assault will cost us at least half our men. I suggest requesting the commander immediately dispatch at least two tanks to support the push."
Kraken was battle-hardened and composed. He knew Lynx's estimate of losing half their men was by no means an exaggeration; if anything, it was conservative. His own estimate was two-thirds.
"Mm... that works. But our drone units have been hit by Russian cyber warfare, and we've lost air superiority. Bringing tanks up will be extremely dangerous; they'll need to strike fast and pull back fast. I've decided to launch a probing attack first, using a small force to bait the Wagner mercenaries into revealing their direct-fire positions on each floor, setting things up for precision strikes by the armor."
The others nodded in agreement. The question was: who would go?
To put it bluntly, this probing attack meant acting as bait—serving as live targets for the Wagner mercenaries defending the building.
Kraken's gaze swept over Lynx, Titan, and his four company commanders before coming to rest on Yamamoto Kamimine's face.
Yamamoto Kamimine's heart sank, his expression turning venomous beneath his balaclava. He knew this bastard Kraken was going to use the Sakura Detachment as cannon fodder.
"Sakura, do you have the courage to take this assignment?"
Chapter 59