The Battle Looms

Li Jie had indeed done Gao Fei a huge favor, but asking Gao Fei to pay for it with his life was completely out of the question. A transaction fee of twenty-four hundred dollars was hardly cheap. The moment Li Jie accepted the cash, the deal was done. Anything beyond that was merely personal rapport, and there was no way Gao Fei would risk his neck just to do Li Jie a favor. Li Jie could read between the lines. "It's really not that big a deal," Li Jie said candidly. "I've already scouted and carved out this trade route. My only problem is finding people to help me haul the goods. With a major battle looming, I just want to seize the chance to make a bit more money." He pointed toward the rear. "I can see you carry real weight around here. Could you take a few men and help me deliver a run? Of course, you don't have to carry them all the way to the Ukrainian trenches—just to the middle ground between here and their lines. If you round up the men for me, I'll pay five hundred dollars per person for the trouble. What do you say?" Had Li Jie lost his mind? Asking Wagner soldiers to abandon the safety of their trenches and venture into no-man's-land between the opposing lines just to earn a measly five hundred dollars? Gao Fei stared at him in disbelief. Li Jie didn't look the least bit apologetic; instead, he pushed the twenty-four hundred dollars in cash back toward him. "Take this money back first. Just help me ask around and see who's up for it. How about that?" Gao Fei didn't take the money. He simply shook his head. "Have you gone money-crazy? I know you've got guts, and I know you'd die to make a buck, but I can't ask the boys to throw their lives away for five hundred dollars. Are you kidding me? A group of guys heading toward the Ukrainian positions in the dead of night—if that isn't suicide, what is?" "I'll definitely coordinate with the Ukrainian side beforehand. It's just a handoff in the middle ground, and I'll arrange people on their end as well. There shouldn't be any safety issues." Gao Fei shook his head like a rattle-drum, too weary to waste any more breath on him. Li Jie considered it, gritting his teeth. "Seven hundred. I swear I can't go a dollar higher. Seven hundred for one trip. I have to shell out the same amount to the other side. Any higher and there's no profit left. This battle is going to kick off any moment. If you don't move your inventory now, you probably won't be able to get it out later. Clearing the stock tonight is good for you guys too." Gao Fei waved his hand dismissively. "If you want to hurry up and make a few more runs, then get moving already. If you can convince the guys on the other side to haul the goods for you, give me a heads-up in advance. We definitely won't open fire, and we'll let you bring them onto our position to trade. But our men are not hauling shipments for you. It's not about the money. Drop it—I can't help you with this." Gao Fei's tone was resolute. Li Jie knew there was no point in pushing any further. He sighed, pocketed the cash, and said with a look of resignation, "The other side won't come over either. Meeting in the middle ground is their absolute limit. All right then, I'm taking off. Won't be back tonight." With nothing left to say, Li Jie cast a glance at the pile of rifles stacked in the trench. After letting out a long, heavy sigh, he slung seven rifles over his back—the absolute limit of what he could carry—and climbed out of the trench, trudging into the darkness toward the Ukrainian positions. A single round trip brought in thousands of dollars in profit. But after this major battle, there was no telling whether Li Jie's exclusive trade could even continue. If the entire E Company was wiped out, Li Jie's trading channel would be closed for good. Seeing money scattered all over the ground for the taking, yet being physically unable to carry it all—Li Jie was surely suffering real agony right now. Then again, that money wasn't Gao Fei's to make, so Gao Fei naturally didn't feel the sting. Now that Li Jie was gone, Gao Fei could only feel a mild twinge of regret that he couldn't help out before getting right back to what he needed to do. Once darkness fell, he practiced changing magazines in the pitch black. Releasing the magazine, seating a fresh one, reloading while standing, reloading on the run. Gao Fei felt that his current weakness was reloading speed. Over the past few days, he hadn't been idle, spending hours every day practicing reloads on an AK rifle. He drilled a single technique: using a full magazine to strike the release latch so the empty one dropped free, then immediately slamming the fresh magazine home. He practiced only that, convinced it was the fastest and most practical reload method in actual combat. As for flashy tricks like racking the bolt over the receiver, he didn't bother with them at all. Before, he had practiced whenever he had spare time, but now that he knew a massive clash was imminent, he drilled all day long. His progress had been remarkably swift. If another close-range shootout broke out, his reload speed wouldn't be as sluggish as before. He didn't care about looking slick—only about speed. The faster, the better; the more practiced, the better. If mastered to perfection, this technique allowed someone to reload one-handed while firing. At the absolute extreme, the fresh magazine seated just as the final round from the old one was chambered. Gao Fei could now change magazines on the move and reload one-handed while firing, though his timing was still imperfect. Occasionally, he swapped out a magazine with four or five rounds still left in it, but that allowed a seamless transition, reloading without interrupting fire. At other times, his timing was slightly off, and after emptying the magazine, he had to pause for a second before jamming in the new one. Shooting was talent; reloading was discipline. A few days of practice couldn't match years of hard training, but Gao Fei's reload speed had already become very swift. As long as he didn't mind expending ammunition, he could maintain virtually uninterrupted fire through magazine changes. On that alone, in a face-to-face shootout at close quarters, his odds of survival went up substantially. Sniper rifle practice could wait. For now, he needed to master his primary weapon to perfection. At nine in the evening, after Gao Fei had spent over an hour drilling magazine reloads, the walkie-talkie resting nearby crackled to life. "All personnel of E Company Assault Platoon, attention! Prepare for combat. Carry only essential gear for assault operations. You have ten minutes. Assemble at the platoon assault squad position in ten minutes. Acknowledge, over." The platoon leader's voice set Gao Fei's head buzzing. So fast? A night assault? It wasn't that Gao Fei was cowardly, but hearing the platoon leader's order, he knew that real trouble had arrived. In all likelihood, he would lose his life tonight. This was going to be a night raid, and Gao Fei was all too familiar with night raids—except in the past, he had always been on the side wiping out the attackers. Night assaults were brutal, with an absurdly high casualty rate. Yet the order had come down; fear was pointless. Gao Fei had nothing to argue with. He called out to Andrey and Samir Bek outside, "Platoon leader's orders. Assault combat gear. Assemble at the platoon assault squad position in ten minutes." Taking assault gear meant ditching every ounce of excess weight. In assault operations, traveling light was essential. Unless there was no rear position to fall back on, any weight that served no combat purpose had to be discarded. Most rations had to be left behind, a single canteen of water would suffice, pack as many hand grenades as possible, and cram in as many magazines as could fit. Loose ammunition was useless, as there would hardly be the time or opportunity to reload magazines during the fight. Gao Fei currently had four firearms: an AK-74, a shotgun, an SVD sniper rifle, and a pistol. What could he bring on a night assault? First, the sniper rifle was definitely out. Second, the shotgun was meant for shooting drones and served virtually no purpose at night. As for the pistol, weapon and ammunition combined weighed at least two kilograms—cumbersome on the body and bulky in a pack. Carrying a sidearm was worse than bringing two extra magazines. But leaving these weapons behind on the position meant the relieving unit would likely pocket them with a grin. After all, nobody expected anyone to return alive from this kind of night raid. Gao Fei felt an ache in his chest. Losing these hard-won firearms felt harder to accept than the battle that might cost him his life. Turning it over in his mind, he ultimately couldn't bring himself to abandon the pistol the company commander had given him. In the end, sentiment overruled logic. Fine, so what if it wasn't useful? At worst, he would carry two fewer hand grenades. With his marksmanship, Gao Fei figured he would be relying on his rifle most of the time anyway and rarely throwing grenades, so leaving two grenades behind was an acceptable trade. Since holstering a sidearm might make him look like an officer and a prime target, he simply stashed it into his pack. Having made his difficult choice, Gao Fei said weakly to his only two subordinates, "Are you ready? If you're set, let's move." Andrey grunted, "Ready." Samir Bek remarked with no small relief, "Good thing we wired that money out. Didn't expect the orders to come so fast." Indeed, nobody had expected the battle to arrive so abruptly. Best not to dwell on it. If they had to fight, they would fight with everything they had. Hanging their heads in defeat would only get them killed faster. Just as the three men shouldered their rifles and began moving, Gao Fei's walkie-talkie crackled again. This time, it was the company commander. "This is the company commander. All personnel assemble and stand by." The commander's voice was tense and hurried, but the order brought Gao Fei no relief. On the contrary, this uncertainty about what came next was worse than simply being ordered into a night assault. Once designated as cannon fodder, their fate rarely improved. For all they knew, the order might change in a few minutes from a night raid to an assault on the enemy headquarters. Fortunately, they didn't have to wait long. The company commander personally arrived at the forward position, accompanied by several men. Company commanders were frontline officers, but it was exceedingly rare for one to lead from the front. Yet this time, the company commander was clad in full combat gear, with the entire company command post staff following right behind him. Could the company commander really be leading the charge himself? The commander led his men down the trench. Passing the bewildered and stunned Gao Fei, he halted and whispered, "The regimental commander ordered our entire company to move out as the spearhead for a reconnaissance-in-force. But an order just came down moments ago adjusting tonight's action. We've been shifted from the spearhead to follow-up support. The reconnaissance company will lead the attack; we'll move in behind them. Tonight is going to be brutal. Be careful." Gao Fei shouldn't have asked, but he couldn't help himself. "Why? Why send an elite unit like ours on a suicide mission like that?" In the darkness, Gao Fei couldn't see the commander's expression, but heard the heavy grief in his voice. "The main offensive begins before dawn tomorrow. Tonight, they need to probe the enemy's troop strength and fire distribution. In the past, cannon fodder took on these reconnaissance-in-force missions, but now we're the only ones left to do it—because our company is mostly made up of foreigners." Within the Wagner Group, new recruits went to the front, veterans stayed in the rear. With no new recruits coming in, foreign mercenaries went to the front, Russian mercenaries stayed in the rear. In the Russian military hierarchy, Wagner mercenaries served as consumables at the front, while regular forces stayed in the rear. Lines of preference and expendability were drawn everywhere. Harsh and unforgiving, it was the law of the jungle. If you thought it was unfair, you shouldn't have become a mercenary. What could Gao Fei say? The fact that the company commander had bothered explaining this to him was already showing him immense respect. No, wait. Perhaps the commander was showing respect to someone else. Why else would E Company, packed with foreign fighters, be pulled back from the deadly spearhead to follow behind the reconnaissance company? Gao Fei whispered, "We were adjusted from the spearhead to follow-up support... you think..." The company commander murmured, "Yes. Obviously, Parker pulled strings. All right, thank Parker for me when you get the chance. Now, fall in behind me and prepare for combat."