Extra, Chapter 453: Just Stay Alive Until I Get There! (2)

On hit, a bullet would either wound or kill. Either way, it didn’t take much force to pull the trigger and fire it.

Shluff! Shluff!

Kang Chan descended with his MP5SD aimed, the dirt under his boots constantly slipping away. The corpses were still fresh. He had found the stench unbearable in Ndulele, but now, he had reached the point where he could even tell how many days a body had been dead.

I get that this is all part of war.

Still, did they really have to kill the children? They didn’t have the strength to pull a trigger yet. Was that little girl, whose arm and hair are sticking out from the pile of bodies, hoping for a Shiite victory or a Sunni jihad?

On this cursed land, children lived without even a broken-down car or a tattered doll just to be brutally murdered for the sake of spreading a type of fear that wasn’t even worth a handful of sand.

Shluff! Shluff!

Fear? They don’t even deserve that! That’s an emotion meant for humans, not monsters.

Two soldiers flanked Kang Chan, following in a similar stance. As they descended the hill and passed by the pile of bodies, a line of caves came into view. They were scattered along the ridge, both above and below.

Reznov was responsible for the upper caves, which had steps carved out from dirt and ladders made of dried wood. Kang Chan nodded to the left, and two soldiers swiftly pressed themselves against the wall.

Huff. Huff.

It was still too dangerous to send soldiers to the right. The caves stretched out along the ridge, making them easy targets for the enemy.

Kang Chan briefly glanced back.

Boom! Thud! Whistle—thud!

As if in response, Reznov’s sniper rifle rang out, and an enemy soldier dropped from about five meters above.

Screech! Charge!

In response, enemies charged from the front.

Clack!

Kang Chan turned his rifle and pulled the trigger.

Bang! Thud! Bang! Thud!

Blood sprayed as he shot foreheads open.

Bang! Thud! Bang! Thud!

As an enemy collapsed, the one right behind them fell lifelessly as well, seemingly yanked back by the neck. Kang Chan wanted to pierce their eyes or the center of their noses so they would writhe in agony.

Bang! Thud! Bang! Thud!

It was easy to become a monster consumed by madness. However, if he let himself go that far, he feared he’d end up like them—slitting throats slowly or tying people to trees and setting them on fire. Unable to stand the thought, he aimed for their foreheads.

Bang! Thud! Bang! Thud!

Kang Chan ran forward as he squeezed the trigger. The two soldiers moved with him, covering his flanks.

Bang! Thud!

With each quick and accurate shot, he bore a hole through an enemy’s forehead.

Clack! Bang! Thud! Bang! Thud!

Bang! Thud! Bang! Thud!

Right after Kang Chan took out two more, Manrici shot a man charging from the side, hitting him in the neck and torso.

Boom! Boom!

Reznov, hidden behind cover, took care of the RPGs and grenades above Kang Chan’s line of sight. Their enemies were brutal, but they didn’t have any experienced mercenaries among them.

Clack! Clack!

After scanning the area, Kang Chan raised his left hand, made a circular motion, and then pointed forward.

Creak! Creak! Clatter!

The remaining soldiers who had been waiting above quickly advanced to Kang Chan’s position. Kang Chan pointed forward twice with his left index and middle fingers, signaling for two teams of two to move ahead and search the area. This was the farthest point of the Sunnites stronghold.

This area was so barren that there were only a few tribespeople in the area. Given how many they had already dealt with, there couldn’t be a huge number of enemies left.

Huff. Huff.

Kang Chan, with his rifle aimed, moved toward the central, largest door with two other soldiers. He nodded to instruct them to press against the walls and then positioned himself at the right side of the door.

Bang! Thud! Bang!

Gunfire erupted from the soldiers searching the other caves.

‘Get ready!’

When Kang Chan's eyes met Manrici's, Manrici resolutely nodded.

‘One, two!’

Bang! Clack!

Manrici kicked the door open, and Kang Chan moved in, pushing the muzzle of his rifle inside. Women, elderly people, and children, their mouths covered with their hands, stared back in shock, their screams caught in their throats.

Clack! Clack!

Kang Chan quickly scanned their faces. Their eyes would tell him whether or not there were enemies among them—especially the eyes of the elderly.

“Anyone wearing a bomb?”

Fortunately, the people of Niger could understand French. A few quickly darted their eyes left and right, the kind of movement people made when they wanted to look back but couldn’t. In these situations, the first one to speak up was usually the culprit.

“Is anyone else here?”

An elderly man at the back slightly raised his head and glanced at Kang Chan. He then answered, “This is everyone.”

As soon as he spoke, the eyes of the tribespeople who couldn’t look back flickered in frustration. Kang Chan smirked as he watched, which made the old man flinch.

Not even a moment later, the old man’s forehead burst open, sending him falling backward. Kang Chan surveyed the others, who had now huddled in fear.

“Anyone wearing a bomb?”

Once again, some shifted their gaze nervously. A woman raised her trembling hand beside her face.

“If I point or nod at you, exit the premises. Slowly.”

Kang Chan nodded to the woman and a child at the front. They hesitated for a moment but soon walked past Kang Chan and out of the cave.

Clack.

The people tensed up as Kang Chan turned his rifle, but they relaxed right after. If they all rushed out at once, the person wearing the bomb would get anxious. Left alone, they could fear being shot or losing their chance to escape, leading them to act irrationally.

“Only move when I tell you to, and do it slowly.”

Next, he signaled for three people to move. He checked for any signs of danger around them and met their gazes. These people weren’t skilled at lying, so their eyes often betrayed them. After sending out everyone seated at the front, Kang Chan approached the woman who had raised her hand earlier to inform him that a bomb was strapped to her.

“We’ll let the others out and then remove the bomb. Just stay still and hold on for a bit,” he said.

The mid-fifties woman nodded. With another nod from Kang Chan, the others quickly slipped past the woman and exited the cave. Kang Chan nodded toward Manrici, who was standing at the back.

Creak. Creak.

Manrici and another soldier slowly backed away toward the door.

The preparations were complete. With his rifle lowered, Kang Chan slowly approached the woman.

“Where’s the bomb?”

The woman gazed down to her abdomen.

“I’m going to cut it off from behind. As long as you don’t move, nothing will happen.”

With a deep frown, the woman nodded weakly. She likely thought that Kang Chan wanted to get behind her to shoot her.

Kang Chan slowly crouched down.

Swish.

He then retrieved the knife strapped to his ankle and moved closer to the woman. Dynamite was usually just strapped around the waist, with the detonation device typically connected by a switch.

Kang Chan moved behind her and carefully cut each of the wires wrapped around her back. Once he had severed the six wires, the dynamite belt slipped off her and fell to the ground.

The woman caught her breath and swallowed dryly.

“Go,” he commanded.

The woman sobbed as she ran out of the cave. Only then did Kang Chan straighten up.

“How did you know the old man was holding the switch?” Manrici asked, glancing at the body.

“When he spoke, the women all looked at their children.”

Manrici stared at the dead old man as if questioning whether it was really possible to notice something like that, but it seemed he didn’t get an answer.

***

Sharlan stared at the map with a troubled expression.

The enemy’s resistance had been strong from the start. According to the plan, the enemies should have been pushed upward the moment the attack began. However, for some reason, they had established a defensive line below and were even resisting together with Qud forces.

Although the special forces teams could hold their own, the growing casualties of the 3rd and 6th Regiments were becoming a huge issue.

“Shit!”

Things rarely went as expected. They had deliberately delayed the start of their operation to push the enemies upward, but oddly enough, even those who should have been positioned above were now concentrated here. It seemed as though the enemies believed that there would be more Foreign Legion troops above. After all, they wouldn’t have decided to take on this many forces just because they were afraid of twelve men.

“Damn it!”

Kang Chan wouldn't go down easily. Now, instead of worrying about where the enemies were concentrated, he needed an excuse for why they had started an hour late. He also had to make sure those so-called gentlemen hadn’t played some kind of trick.

***

Once the fear and shock subsided, an overwhelming sadness took over the men. The people who pulled out the bodies clutched their chests and wept or sat against the crumbling mountains to pour out their grief. Kang Chan looked past them and toward the path ahead. It wasn’t much of a road—just more sand to walk through—but it led to more caves and what looked like mud houses.

Soon, Reznov approached him and issued a report. “The area has been cleared. We’ve eliminated twenty-six enemies.”

As Kang Chan glanced back, Reznov added, “We couldn’t confirm the number of dead tribespeople.”

“Station two soldiers where we came in, then have the men take a short break. I’ll let you know when we’re ready to move out,” Kang Chan ordered.

“Oui.”

With his gaze fixed on the path ahead, he pulled out a cigarette and put it in his mouth. He had to understand why the Sunnites killed those people.

Tribal massacre?

The moment he saw the people left in the cave, Kang Chan realized that the Sunnites hadn’t targeted this place just for a simple tribal massacre—they had killed the tribespeople to obtain something. What that something was, Kang Chan had no idea.

However, it was either a treasure so valuable that they were willing to kill half the tribe to protect it, or it was something they didn’t even know they had, even after half of them were slaughtered.

People here wouldn’t answer Kang Chan’s questions, and he wasn’t interested in the treasure anyway. However, knowing what it was and using that knowledge against the enemy would resolve things quicker and easier. It could also result in fewer casualties among his men.

Click. Sizzle.

Kang Chan lit a cigarette and casually glanced at the area. The sky was washed out as if bleached. Sandstorms drifted like fog over the mountains, and the sand gleamed brightly in the sunlight. Cries of despair and sorrow constantly erupted in the distance.

Kang Chan sighed.

He didn’t turn his head. What good would it do to see the dark mountains riddled with caves, the bodies lying in front of them, and the people wailing over those corpses?

According to his orders, they could stay here and deal with any approaching enemy. Based on the map, there had to be another tribe about twenty minutes away from their location. Someone else could be facing the same horrific fate there.

“

Tsk

!”

Kang Chan turned back.

That bastard! So fucking hard to like!

Smithen shot Kang Chan a resentful look, almost as if he had something to feel guilty about.

“Reznov!” Kang Chan called.

“Oui!”

“Get lunch ready! We’re moving out in thirty minutes!”

“Copy!” Reznov responded loudly.

A moment later, after gathering the soldiers, Reznov approached Kang Chan with a C-ration in hand. They sat with their backs against a spot where they could see the path connected to the village.

“Captain, is there a problem?” Reznov asked, then bit off a piece of chocolate.

“For a tribal massacre, the number of civilian casualties is off, and the bodies are too intact. The tribespeople also reacted strangely. It feels like we’ve gotten involved in some fight over a treasure or something,” Kang Chan answered. He took a bite of a biscuit and glanced around. “I don’t care what they’re protecting, but...”

Reznov slowly chewed his food, waiting for Kang Chan to continue.

“It would piss me off if it turned out that what we’re really guarding aren’t lives, but some treasure we don’t even know about.”

Reznov responded by munching loudly on his biscuit.