Into the Breach

Gao Fei held a very simple belief: the harder someone insisted "trust me," the less they could be trusted. Anyone who claimed there was absolutely no problem was hiding a massive problem; anyone promising guaranteed riches was about to leave you broke; and anyone pleading "trust me" was utterly untrustworthy. After kicking around in society for years, if you hadn't figured out at least that much, you deserved to be sheared like a leek. If you couldn't sharpen your wits, you deserved to be harvested again and again. Parker might be famous, and he had proven he was capable, but no matter how capable Parker was, where were the men who had followed him? Dead. Every last one of them! The barrier troops were wiped out, the recruits he commanded were wiped out, and Parker was the only one still breathing easy. Gao Fei would rather tumble through the Bakhmut meat grinder alongside Sokholov and the squad than follow Parker out into the world chasing big money. Should I just raise my rifle and put a bullet through his head right now? That was what Gao Fei was thinking, but his face wore a look of solemn admiration as he replied with polite deference, "If the chance comes, I'll think about it." It was a uniquely Chinese shrewdness—never burn your bridges, never back anyone into a corner. If he truly wanted to kill Parker, it would take only a twitch of his finger, but until the moment he made that lethal move, he kept things pleasant. Parker beamed, lowering his voice. "Don't worry. I still have friends in Wagner. When the time comes, I'll find a way to transfer you out of dangerous hellholes like this. Uh, my phone..." Asking for the phone already? The man certainly knew how to give an inch and take a mile. Gao Fei turned his head away and said sternly, "You'll get it back after this battle." Right then, Glaski barked, "Enemy!" They only knew the enemy was coming, not from which direction. In theory, hostile troops could emerge from three different sides. A machine gun opened up—short, measured bursts rather than continuous fire. Glaski was firing short bursts, which meant he had spotted enemy movement, but they weren't swarming in yet; the situation wasn't critical. Gao Fei could afford to wait in the dugout. Trench warfare was miserable for both attackers and defenders whenever fighting erupted inside the trenches. Poking his head out now wouldn't let him spot the enemy anyway, and it carried the risk of getting blown apart by a hand grenade. He was better off staying in the dugout. The thought had barely crossed Gao Fei's mind when Glaski's machine gun abruptly shifted to continuous fire, joined by a barrage of rifle shots and a cascade of exploding grenades. Sustained fire meant the assault was fierce and the enemy was numerous, forcing the defenders to unleash everything they had to suppress them. What was going on? Had the enemy lost their minds? Gao Fei was startled, but as a soldier, he had to wait for Sokholov's order. It wasn't that Sokholov was reluctant to let Gao Fei fight; he was reluctant to waste him on pointless skirmishing. There was a huge difference. When the situation genuinely called for Gao Fei, Sokholov wouldn't hesitate to unleash his ultimate weapon. "Rex!" Barely dozens of seconds into the clash, Sokholov needed Gao Fei. Gao Fei sprang up. He didn't need to maneuver; he simply straightened up in the trench, raised his rifle, and swept his gaze over the parapet. That single glance showed him why the clash had erupted so suddenly and violently. There were at least several dozen enemy soldiers pressing along the winding trench, and nearly all of them were firing in their direction. They weren't throwing many grenades, but dozens of rifles blazing at once laid down relentless suppressive fire. As long as they kept 1st Squad pinned with their heads down, their men could breach the line and charge straight down the trench. The attackers would undoubtedly leave behind a few bodies, but the end result would be overrunning 1st Squad's position. Gao Fei had never seen anything like it. Up until now, his battles had been fought against unseen foes, catching only fleeting glimpses of a soldier here and there. But now, dozens of helmets were poking out over the trench, dozens of rifles spraying wildly in their direction. He peeked for just a split second and ducked right back down as a swarm of bullets whipped past his head. Dozens of heads were lined up along the trench, packed tightly together. Dozens of rifles—the closest only twenty to thirty meters away, the farthest no more than forty or fifty. It was terrifying. Though winding, the trench formed a rough straight line from a distance. With the enemy lined up along it, their volume of fire was staggering. How could anyone fight back against this? Exposing your head for more than half a second meant taking dozens or even hundreds of incoming rounds. They didn't even need good aim—blind spraying alone would tear a man to pieces. Gao Fei decisively shifted position. Without pausing to deliberate, he waited two or three seconds, then suddenly popped up, raised his rifle, and fired. Crack! Gao Fei didn't even have time to see his target clearly. He took a snap shot at the absolute limit of his reflexes and instantly ducked back into the trench. He had no idea whether he had hit anything, and the enemy's fire was so overwhelming that he couldn't tell from the gunfire whether a target had dropped. Never mind that. This was the only way to fight. If he slowed down, he died. Gao Fei shifted two meters to the side—no further. Again he popped up, and before the enemy could react, his rifle cracked once more. Gao Fei's fighting style was completely different from the others. Glaski's machine gun hammered relentlessly at the corner of the trench, locking down the enemy's only route of advance. Samir Bek was pray-and-spraying, holding his rifle above his head over the parapet and firing blindly. Sokholov had his rifle trained on the trench bend, completely focused and tense, ready to lock down the breakthrough corridor the second Glaski's machine gun paused. Only Gao Fei was still trying to land precise kills. Scanning the line, Gao Fei shifted a third time, popped up for a third shot, locked onto an enemy the instant his weapon rose, and ducked back the exact moment he pulled the trigger. He didn't even have time to complete a proper follow-through, because the moment he popped up, countless barrels were already waiting for him. It seemed his first two shots had found their marks; otherwise, so many enemies wouldn't be lying in wait just to take him out. Keeping his head down, Gao Fei sprinted toward the communication trench that led to the enemy's reserve position. This was a T-junction. Their sole advantage over the enemy was that they possessed an extra lateral trench, giving them better angles to bring firepower to bear. Gao Fei dashed past Samir Bek and past Sokholov. When he darted right behind Sokholov, the squad leader yelled anxiously, "What are you doing?!" Gao Fei didn't answer. He halted beside Glaski, then popped up without warning, exposing himself where the enemy least expected it, and fired. Glaski's machine gun position was already thoroughly exposed and obvious, and the enemy knew the machine gunner's primary role was to suppress the trench approach, not pick them off over the lip. Using a comrade's conspicuous position, Gao Fei caught the enemy completely off guard. Knowing the machine gunner wouldn't be delivering precision lethality at this close range, Gao Fei took two quick shots from that spot. He actually had the window to fire twice. The enemy was packed tightly together, giving him ample targets. He stuck to semi-automatic fire, since burst fire was a waste of time. Unable to confirm his kills, Gao Fei ducked low and moved away immediately after the second round, refusing to give the enemy a chance to bracket him. Five shots fired. He didn't know if he had hit anyone, but judging by the density of the incoming gunfire, the enemy was falling into disarray. The volume of their fire had suddenly thinned. In a moment meant for maximum suppression to force a breakthrough, for fire to drop off so quickly meant the enemy was rattled. Lacking experience, Gao Fei didn't grasp the significance of that shift. Others, however, understood full well. The moment Sokholov heard the change in gunfire, he knew Gao Fei's five rapid shots had done their work. He was left speechless. More importantly, Sokholov had no idea how to direct the squad, because he had no clue how to properly utilize a sharpshooter like Gao Fei. "Just... do whatever you want." Sokholov shouted half the sentence, then mumbled the rest under his breath. Gao Fei couldn't hear it, and Sokholov could barely hear it himself. Unaware of Sokholov's internal turmoil, Gao Fei came to a halt at a completely random spot, acting purely on instinct. He popped up and fired yet again. With this shot, Gao Fei finally spotted something unusual on the enemy side. The sea of green helmets that had lined the trench moments ago had dwindled to a scattered handful of five or six. Where were the rest of them? Where had their heads gone? If they didn't show their heads, Gao Fei had nothing to shoot at. Swinging his muzzle hastily, Gao Fei cracked off another round. This time, he saw it clearly—a spray of blood erupted from the helmet he targeted. I'm actually this fierce?! The thought flashed through Gao Fei's mind. He stepped back, moved about three meters, and popped up with his rifle raised, but scanning the trench, not a single target remained. It wasn't a tiger scattering a flock of sheep; it was someone stepping into a summer marsh full of croaking frogs. A moment ago the air had been deafening with noise, but the moment you stepped in, everything fell dead silent. He had single-handedly broken the enemy's assault, forcing every last attacker to cower in their trench, afraid to show so much as a hair. He had beaten them back before they could even launch their desperate final charge. This was what it meant to dictate the battlefield. His comrades had nothing left to say to him. Nobody knew how to fight a battle like this. At a moment like this, it took a veteran of Parker's caliber to speak up. "Watch the left flank!" Parker emerged from the dugout, pointing toward the left-hand trench as he shouted, "You, you, watch the left! Hostiles are likely trying to flank us! You, keep your eyes on the front for their reinforcing element! Observe only, don't lose focus!" No sooner had Parker barked out the instructions than Sokholov, tasked with the forward watch, yelled in alarm, "Enemy reinforcements! Open fire!" "Hostiles on the left! Suka, they're all coming at once!" That was how combat worked: either nothing happened, or everything hit at once. How else could they achieve surprise and maximum firepower? Now they were truly facing enemies on three sides, half-encircled. Without hesitation, Parker scooped up a rifle, paying no heed to whether Gao Fei might shoot him for it. Rifle in hand, Parker looked gravely at Gao Fei. "Keep shifting positions and fire at will. Brother, whether we live or die is entirely up to you! It's all on you!"