First a firefight, then a fistfight—his very first day on the battlefield was turning out to be one hell of a thrill.
Gao Fei naturally dared not point his gun at the platoon leader. The instant the shot rang out, he stopped immediately, though he didn't lower his guard. If the bastard opposite him holding the entrenching shovel kept swinging, he wasn't about to just stand there and take it.
Fortunately, rank still carried weight. The moment the gunshot cracked through the air, everyone froze.
Good. Now they could talk reason.
Gao Fei got his first look at his platoon leader—a middle-aged man in his forties, currently trembling with fury. After jamming his pistol back into its holster, he immediately pointed at Sokholov and bellowed, "What the hell do you think you're doing?!"
"Demanding an explanation."
"What fucking explanation?! Is that an excuse to abandon your position and run over here for a brawl? If you compromise our mission, I'll put a bullet through your head!"
The platoon leader's words weren't entirely reasonable, but a battlefield was hardly a place for reason. And since they weren't going by reason, Sokholov felt no obligation to be reasonable either.
"Just pretend we were all killed in action back there! The enemy walked right up to our position while Team One did jack shit. If luck hadn't been on our side, we'd all be corpses! And since we'd be dead anyway, what difference does it make whether we left our position or not?!"
Sokholov's twisted logic left the platoon leader momentarily dumbfounded.
The platoon leader whipped around, glaring furiously. "Nevin! What the fuck happened with you lot?!"
Nevin was the one who had been brawling with Glaski. He gave Glaski a resentful shove, but after a second of hesitation, his arrogant bluster completely deflated. He could only say in helpless resignation, "I fell asleep..."
"Move! Get out of my way!"
Barking curses, the platoon leader shoved the men aside and strode right up to Nevin, snarling, "You're a veteran! You'd never fall asleep on guard duty! Who did you assign to sentry?"
Just then, the soldier who had been swinging a shovel at Gao Fei muttered under his breath, "It was me. I'm sorry..."
"Sorry? You're telling me you're sorry?!"
The platoon leader lunged forward and kicked the soldier to the dirt. Snatching up an entrenching shovel, he brought the flat of it down hard against the fallen man's thigh—*thwack, thwack!*
The slaps were loud, but they wouldn't cause any real damage; it was just a physical display to give Sokholov some venting room.
After two vicious smacks, the platoon leader roared, "One slip from you could have gotten your comrades slaughtered! Is this your first fucking day in combat?!"
From the side, Nevin pleaded, "Platoon Leader, I'm sorry."
"You should be apologizing to Sokholov, not me!" the platoon leader barked.
Right at that moment, hurried footsteps approached from down the trench, and three figures rushed into view.
"Sokholov! Nevin! You two utter morons!"
The newcomer planted his feet in the trench. He glanced between the men, looking thoroughly exasperated, before saying, "I'm sorry, Platoon Leader. I didn't keep them under control. It's all my responsibility."
*Not bad,* Gao Fei thought. Looking at how things were playing out tonight, these men might fight rough and crude, but they at least had some principles. An officer acted like an officer, refusing to pass the buck to the brothers under his command, and soldiers acted like soldiers, refusing to cower in the back without owning up.
Sokholov said sullenly, "Squad Leader, when you decided to hand the thermal optic over to Team One, you promised they'd cover all three teams' sectors! This was our very first night raid, and Team One let the enemy march right into our trenches! We came this close to dying—every single one of us!"
He latched onto that single justification and refused to let go.
The squad leader whirled on Nevin, roaring, "What the hell happened?! What the hell happened to you?! *Cyka blyat*, what the fuck went wrong?!"
"I'm sorry. Our trench caved in earlier, and we spent all day digging it out. The men were wiped out. I failed to take their physical exhaustion into account."
The squad leader jabbed a finger in Nevin's face. "Apologize to Team Two!"
Nevin lowered his head, but his mouth stayed shut.
The squad leader had just been shouting at the top of his lungs, but seeing Nevin's expression, his tone suddenly dropped into a puzzled hum. "Hmm?"
Nevin let out a heavy sigh, turned to Sokholov, and muttered, "I'm sorry."
Sokholov gave a dismissive flick of his hand. "Don't let it happen again."
With that, the matter was considered settled. The squad leader exhaled in relief. "What was your situation over there?"
"Eight hostiles. All eliminated."
"What kind of gear did they have?"
"Well, regular elites, probably."
The squad leader breathed a sigh of relief and nodded. "Fine. Whatever else there is, we'll deal with it tomorrow. Get back to your positions."
Ever since the squad leader had arrived, the platoon leader hadn't uttered a peep. But now that the squad leader had restored order and the farce was about to conclude, the platoon leader suddenly spoke up: "Hold on. Where did the engagement take place?"
Sokholov answered in a low, heavy voice, "Twenty meters in front of our position. A few of them had already dropped into the trench."
The platoon leader looked baffled. He scrutinized Sokholov and asked, "The enemy crept right up in front of you and even made it into the trench, and you survived? How?"
Sokholov cracked a confident grin. He pointed at Samir Bek with immense pride. "This guy's got ears like a bat. We owe it all to him. He caught the noise they made and warned us just in time. A second later and we would've been wiped out."
The platoon leader frowned. "Spotted them in advance? But at that range, even if you detected them... Wait."
His head snapped toward Gao Fei. "A rifle with a thermal optic? How many night-vision devices did you capture?"
"Platoon Leader, we won't report the combat merits this time, but we're definitely not handing over the captured night-vision gear."
"I didn't ask you for the night-vision devices! I asked why *he's* carrying a rifle mounted with a thermal optic!"
The platoon leader pointed at Gao Fei, his gaze deadly serious. "This guy just arrived today, didn't he? Why did you give this rifle to him?"
Without missing a beat, Sokholov replied, "Because this idiot gets dizzy using helmet-mounted night vision, so I had no choice but to let him use this rifle."
A faint smile touched the platoon leader's lips. "Sokholov, do you take me for a fucking idiot?"
"No, sir, I wouldn't dare. I'm not hiding anything, sir."
Despite his words, Sokholov couldn't keep a flicker of nervous tension from showing on his face.
The squad leader broke in, "Team One messed up, and Team Two abandoned their post to pick a fight. Platoon Leader, our squad really disgraced itself tonight. I'll make sure they're disciplined properly. You should head back—having this many men bunched up here is dangerous."
The platoon leader clearly had no intention of leaving. He looked at Gao Fei with keen interest, then at Samir, before pointing at Gao Fei. "Which unit did you serve in before you discharged?"
Gao Fei lowered his voice. "Classified."
"Special forces?"
"No."
"You're a sniper!"
"No, I've never touched a sniper rifle."
The platoon leader chuckled, his demeanor turning remarkably gentle. "Come with me. Our platoon has a direct assault squad. I'll transfer you over, double your mercenary pay, and get you off trench duty for good. Your days will be easy, and the assault squad gets much better loot."
*What was this?*
*Poaching?*
*Poaching someone right to their faces?*
*Wait, did a platoon leader even need to go around poaching recruits?*
Gao Fei couldn't make heads or tails of the situation and glanced blankly at Sokholov.
Sokholov panicked. "Platoon Leader, he's my man!"
The platoon leader cut him off with a sharp hand raise. "I'll give you two replacements tomorrow."
Sokholov grew frantic, but before he could speak, the squad leader gave a light cough and asked, "Your name is... Rex, right?"
It made sense that the squad leader knew his name; a squad only had twelve men. Even if they weren't stationed in the same trench, a squad leader was expected to know everyone under him.
Gao Fei nodded. "Yes, Squad Leader."
"Are you a sniper?"
"No!"
"Is your marksmanship great?"
Gao Fei put on an embarrassed look. "Not really. Just barely passing. To be honest, I've only ever done field exercises before. I've never seen actual combat."
"Hmm. Are you special forces?"
"No!"
The squad leader spread his hands in exasperation. "What can you do, then? You can't do anything! What business do you have in an assault squad? Get the hell back to your position!"
Gao Fei immediately turned to leave, but the platoon leader reached out and grabbed him by the arm. He turned to the squad leader and said with absolute conviction, "Even if he's a rookie, I want him."
The squad leader sighed. "Platoon Leader, things just barely started looking up for me. Do you have a personal grudge against my squad or something?"
The platoon leader shook his head. "More new recruits are coming in tomorrow. I'll give you two—no, three! I'll hand over the platoon's entire replacement quota to your squad! You know my assault squad is missing a good shooter right now."
The squad leader glanced at Sokholov with an inquiring look.
Sokholov subtly shook his head.
Seeing that, the squad leader immediately stepped up and seized Gao Fei's other arm. In dead earnest, he said, "Platoon Leader, he's already part of the Assault Platoon while serving in First Squad. There's no reason he has to be in the assault squad specifically. Besides, he's a newcomer. You heard him yourself—he's never seen real combat before tonight!"
The platoon leader refused to let go. After a moment of thought, he said evenly, "Actually, I saw it."
"Huh?"
"I saw their fight. The drone operators already filled me in."
The squad leader froze. Then, gripping Gao Fei's arm with both hands, he lowered his voice. "Platoon Leader, our squad has already surrendered four of our best men to you. Where are they now?"
"Positional warfare doesn't need sharpshooters. Leaving them to guard trenches is a waste."
"Platoon Leader, can't you leave our platoon a few decent hands?! Does an assault even need sharpshooters? Don't you just call in targets for the artillery to blow to pieces anyway?! Don't push it too far, Platoon Leader!"
Just then, Nevin spoke up from the side. "Platoon Leader, if our team's Semyul were still here, tonight wouldn't have gone down like this. You can't just hollow out our entire squad's combat power!"
The platoon leader's expression stiffened awkwardly. After a beat of hesitation, he finally let go of Gao Fei's arm, though he still wasn't ready to give up. He looked at Gao Fei and said, "This depends on your own preference..."
The squad leader gave a firm tug, and Gao Fei quickly sidestepped out of reach. "I want to stay in First Squad, sir. I'll stick with my team leader."
A look of deep regret washed over the platoon leader's face. The squad leader whirled on Sokholov and barked, "Take your men and get the fuck back! Guard your damn position! If something like this happens again, I'll shoot you myself!"
Sokholov grabbed Gao Fei, pulled him in front, and shoved him forward from behind.
The four of them didn't say another word, taking off at a brisk jog down the trench. Behind them, they could hear the squad leader's furious voice tearing into Nevin: "You absolute dumbass! How the fuck did you set up the guard rotation?! If this happens again, I'll put a bullet in you! Platoon Leader, why haven't you left yet?!"
Chapter 21