The Ultimate War Of The Apocalypse-Chapter 405 - 398: Crossing the River

Gao Yuan and his team were cutting tree branches, trying to make the vehicle as concealed as possible.

After a simple camouflage, Gao Yuan and his team moved many things down from the vehicle. The essential items for river crossing, such as inflatable boats, had already been placed on the ground. If the Sanitation Workers really sent someone to search this area, they would evacuate with at least four inflatable boats.

The most important were the weapons and ammunition. As for drinking water and food, they had become less important at this time.

The real action would take place at night.

Klaus was wearing a ghillie suit, a makeshift camouflage crafted by adding the grass ubiquitous on the prairie to a large net-like cloak. The effect was quite good.

Now, they needed to prepare for the evening’s scouting and river crossing. Therefore, most of the men had to come back to retrieve their equipment, and under the premise of what they could carry, they brought as much weaponry and ammunition as possible. From now on, they would rely on their legs to walk and their carried ammunition to support combat.

Most of the items were thus abandoned along with the vehicle, which truly pained Gao Yuan.

Scouting and standing guard were left to the outsiders, while the rest of the camouflage and transport work fell to Spark Squad.

Yu Shunzhou, holding a sniper grenade launcher, called out to Nie Erlong, "Er Long, can you take this with you?"

Nie Erlong looked at the pile of stuff beside him and said, "I can’t carry any more, it’s too heavy."

Nie Erlong had a rifle, ten magazines, a thousand loose bullets, ten hand grenades, a bulletproof vest, a helmet, three days’ worth of field rations, a handgun with four full magazines, an 08-style single soldier rocket launcher, a knife, and also a first aid kit, night vision goggles, a radio, as well as spare batteries for the night vision goggles and radio.

All of these items together weighed close to forty kilograms, and that was after compressing the food and water to the bare minimum. If he added the weight of a sniper grenade launcher and its grenades, Nie Erlong definitely couldn’t handle it.

Nie Erlong’s equipment was almost a microcosm of all Spark Squad members, so even for a sniper grenade launcher, there was no one who could carry it.

Yu Shunzhou sighed. He too was already at his carrying capacity but really didn’t want to discard the sniper grenade launcher like this.

Li Jingang said, "I’ve noticed that Angel’s people use sniper grenade launchers quite commonly, and they’re very effective with them. Hmm, how about freeing up two people to specifically use the sniper grenade launchers?"

To free up two people for using sniper grenade launchers would mean having to abandon two rifles and the ammunition they carried.

Gao Yuan thought for a moment and asked, "Who will use them?"

Li Jingang thought hard but eventually could only sigh in resignation.

As the name suggests, a sniper grenade launcher is a grenade launcher that can snipe. Not everyone can use a sniper rifle, much less a sniper grenade launcher.

With only so few members left in Spark Squad, it was impossible to find someone who could use the sniper grenade launcher.

Gao Yuan looked around and noticed Renato sitting there, leaning against a tree and dozing off.

"This kid sure looks comfortable."

Renato did nothing all day and seemed quite carefree. When Lizhizi had turned into a packhorse, carrying dozens of pounds of equipment for others, Gao Yuan didn’t have such a good temper when he saw Renato’s empty hands. freeweɓnovel.cѳm

Gao Yuan said to Yu Shunzhou, "Take down the sniper grenade launcher and grab twenty rounds of grenades, someone will carry it."

After speaking, Gao Yuan walked over to Renato, woke him up with a push, and said with a smile, "Hey, I need a favor."

"What favor?"

Gao Yuan turned and gestured to Yu Shunzhou. Then he said with a smile, "A sniper grenade launcher and twenty rounds of grenades, not too heavy, just over ten kilograms. You’ll help carry it, right?"

Renato immediately shook his head, "No, I can’t, my body..."

"If you’re not going to help carry things, we won’t take you with us," Gao Yuan declared.

Renato was taken aback as Yu Shunzhou approached, already carrying the sniper grenade launcher. Gao Yuan took the launcher and put it into Renato’s arms with a smile, "It’s on you now, don’t lose it, don’t break it, okay?"

Gao Yuan didn’t say much, but the threat in his tone was quite clear. Renato sighed, his face showing resignation, "Alright, fine..."

Gao Yuan didn’t have time to deal with Renato’s reluctance and stood up to look around. Four hours had passed, and the nine men who had gone out to scout hadn’t returned, but fortunately, there was no gunfire, so the situation should still be safe.

They kept waiting until dusk was near. Those who had gone out to scout and stand guard finally started coming back one after another.

"No reconnaissance troops approached. We searched along the road and found a destroyed tank, probably hit by anti-tank rocket launchers, and completely burnt out. But the wreck had been dragged off the road, indicating that the Sanitation Workers have enough manpower and machinery to clear obstacles on the road,"

After Sirte briefed them and took a drink of water, he continued, "We’re crossing the river tonight. All of us will move together. Staying here has become unsafe, and for us, both banks of the river are equally dangerous."

Gao Yuan readily agreed with the proposed plan. Glancing at his watch, he said, "You all take some time to rest. We move at eleven o’clock tonight, okay?"

Sirte thought for a moment, then nodded and replied, "Okay, we’ll rest up first."

"We’ll stand guard."

Li Jingang led people to scatter around and establish secret sentry posts, but at this point, the risk of a surprise attack was virtually nonexistent.

After resting for a few hours, by ten o’clock at night, Sirte and his group woke up almost simultaneously, then started to check their equipment. By eleven, they were ready to depart.

"I and Scarecrow will lead the way. Signal Flag on the left flank, Egg Bomb Squad on the right, and captain, you lead our team in the middle, maintaining a distance within a kilometer. Keep radio silence; if we must use the radio in case of an emergency, first activate the IR light to signal a warning, then turn on the radio, okay?"

Sirte was asking Gao Yuan, but he was also making the decision on Gao Yuan’s behalf; of course, Gao Yuan would not refuse.

"No problem, let’s move out."

All of Gao Yuan and his team were equipped with night vision goggles, so they had to maintain radio silence. If they needed to communicate at night, using IR lights invisible to the naked eye yet visible through night vision goggles was a good option.

The load was heavy, and they had to be very careful not to be detected by others, so the team’s progress was not fast. To travel from their hiding place to the riverbank, they needed to cover at least ten kilometers.

By the time they could hear the frogs croaking and smell the moist air, three hours had already passed.

A wide river appeared before Gao Yuan’s eyes. The current was not very strong, but the river itself was indeed very wide.

There were dense reeds and bushes along the bank, so it was still easy to hide after reaching the river.

While maintaining vigilance and waiting for the scattered members to regroup, Sirte and his men had already been observing the opposite bank with their large night vision surveillance equipment.

"There’s no one on the other side. Scarecrow and I will go over to scout first."

After finishing his statement, Sirte looked around at the others and asked, "Who has the ability and experience to swim across armed?"

All members of Egg Bomb Squad, two men from Signal Flag, and Li Jingang all raised their hands.

They had inflatable boats, but those going to scout still needed to be able to swim across armed, which was a basic requirement for amphibious landings, whether crossing seas or rivers.

After a moment’s thought, Sirte spoke in a serious tone, "Yuri, the four of us will go over, establish a bridgehead on the opposite bank first, Ralph."

Turning to Ralph, Sirte said solemnly, "The captain and his men lack experience in swimming across armed. If you come under attack while crossing..."

Ralph replied gravely, "Of course I know what to do."

Letting out a sigh of relief, Sirte said, "After crossing, we will signal with a light. Pay attention to the signals. Considering the speed of the current and the width of the river, we will land about a kilometer downstream. Be mindful of the location."

Drifting downstream while paddling toward the opposite bank was the most effort-saving way, so after Sirte and his men landed on the other side, they were inevitably downstream.

Once ready, Sirte, Yuri, and the other two men, equipped only with their combat gear, boarded the inflatable boat and began silently paddling to the opposite riverbank.

If one had night vision equipment, the brightly illuminated water surface in the night vision goggles would clearly show a darkened inflatable boat.

But there was no other choice, upon realizing they were in a battle zone, they had to cross the river as quickly as possible for safety.

After twenty minutes, Gao Yuan could observe with his hand-held thermal imager that Sirte and his team had landed on the riverbank and entered the reeds on the opposite side. Ten minutes later, he saw the IR light turn on and begin to flash repeatedly.

"They’ve landed, it’s safe. Let’s get in the water too."

The inflatable boats were already filled with air, and the equipment and weapons were loaded. After speaking, Gao Yuan, followed by Xinghe, boarded their inflatable boat. Several men pushed the boats into the water, and three inflatable boats silently began to make their way to the opposite bank.

It took half an hour since the people on Gao Yuan’s boat were not very skilled at rowing, so their pace was slow. However, there wasn’t much deviation in their position, and eventually, they reached the opposite riverbank with the aid of Sirte and his team.

Yuri and Green Hat each grabbed the bow and dragged the inflatable boats onto the shore. Sirte urgently said, "Quickly, quickly, hide the boats on the shore and let’s leave this place as soon as possible."

The boats weren’t too heavy. Once a few men had hidden the boats among the reeds, Sirte said gravely, "Follow me. Once we leave the riverbank, continue to advance in scattered formation. We must move quickly through this area."

Without further ado, they continued on, with Sirte and his team leading the way about twenty meters ahead, as they had already quickly and roughly surveyed the vicinity.

No sooner had they left the reeds, one member of the Egg Bomb Squad, who was vigilantly watching the situation to the south, suddenly paused, then abruptly leaned back. After reclining slightly, he quickly thrust his head forward again, and immediately shouted in English.

Upon hearing his subordinate’s shout, Ralph also shouted in Chinese: "Hit the deck! Unmanned Sentinel System!"