Sniping at the enemy at night, especially from afar, feels quite exhilarating.
Song Heping could even see the scorching bullet he fired flying toward the enemy, and the splattered blood would burst like fireworks through the night vision goggles.
The M24 sniper rifle (SWS) he held in his hand is a military derivative of the Remington 700 rifle used by the US Army, including the Special Forces, Rangers, and Delta Special Forces.
It uses 7.62mm NATO standard ammunition, with a maximum effective range of about 1500 meters with high accuracy and long range. The only weakness is that as a bolt-action sniper rifle, one has to work the bolt to eject and chamber a new round after each shot, making its rate of fire slower than that of a semi-automatic sniper rifle.
But in Song Heping's hands, this rifle fired with the speed of a semi-automatic sniper rifle; after each shot, Song Heping would rapidly eject the spent casing and reload, with very short intervals between.
Crack—
Crack—
Crack—
Three consecutive shots were fired before Hou Saini and his men even realized what was happening.
"We've got a sniper!"
He scurried and crawled to hide behind a nearby dirt mound.
More than twenty Ata militants scattered like startled rabbits, even abandoning the three captives on the spot as they sought cover.
The three US Army Special Soldiers, although their hands were tied behind their backs, were professional elite soldiers who understood the situation as soon as they heard gunfire and immediately lay down flat.
This was the best course of action.
After all, those attacking Hou Saini and his men were definitely their own.
As long as they lay still, the sniper hidden in the distance would surely not shoot at the three of them.
At this moment, Hou Saini's guts were in disarray.
He never expected that not only was there bombing from the sky, but an American squad had already infiltrated their territory unnoticed.
The situation was now very unfavorable for him.
The only hope left was for the Ata Organization on the Ba Country side of the border to have received the distress signals, and that they were already organizing reinforcements on their way here.
Considering the time, they should be arriving soon.
"Spread out, hold the line! Our reinforcements will be here soon!"
Although Hou Saini was internally panicking, he shouted bravely from behind the rocks to encourage his men.
"Stay sharp, they aren't many of them..."
He hadn't finished speaking when the M249 light machine gun over there joyfully began its song.
Bullets rained down like droplets, striking the rock Hou Saini was behind, with flying shards peppering him head to toe, infuriating him to the point of curse and yell.
Before setting out, Song Heping had instructed Gabri to specifically select two M249 Paratrooper variant light machine guns for firepower suppression purposes.
Deep behind enemy lines, especially in mountainous areas, carrying a too-heavy light machine gun would consume too much stamina, making the M249 an excellent choice.
"1st and 2nd teams, flank from the left and right, 3rd team, support with firepower, take them out as fast as possible!"
Song Heping had Gabri and Arthur's squads advance from both flanks, while both light machine guns were concentrated in the maneuverable group he commanded, taking on the role of suppressing fire.
Ata militants were totally defenseless at this point.
After all, it's nighttime, and one side had the best night operation equipment in the world, and there was a drone overhead monitoring, providing positions of all enemy locations.
Under the drone's viewpoint, Hou Saini and his lackeys were as exposed as if they were streaking.
The most embarrassed now were the two Vanguards that were sent to scout the top of the mountain.
When Song Heping started firing at Mohammed, these two had just happened to walk into the center of the crossfire region.
Upon hearing the gunfire, their reaction was swift, immediately lying down and crawling behind rocks for cover.
But now they found themselves tragically stuck in the middle of the crossfire, with bullets whizzing overhead. Fleeing would mean getting shot, so they had no choice but to hunker down behind the stones and fire blindly over their heads.
What both men looked forward to most now was for the reinforcements to arrive quickly.
Past experiences were the same.
Whenever there is gunfire at the Afghan border, the message quickly spreads into the mountains of neighboring Ba Country.
The Ata militants hiding there would send the nearest troops to reinforce.
Now, two companies of soldiers have already crossed the border and are rushing towards this location.
These people are accustomed to operating in the mountainous border areas of Abba, familiar with the terrain and paths, and can move remarkably quickly.
If they can hold on until reinforcements arrive, they will definitely be safe.
But they overestimated the reinforcements.
The distance to the border is approximately seven kilometers, and the closest people from the Ata Organization in Ba Country number less than two hundred. Even if they were to fully mobilize, under the pitch-dark conditions of the night, it would be difficult to arrive at the incident site within an hour.
Which means, as Hou Saini was rallying his men, he concealed the fact that reinforcements could not possibly reach them anytime soon.
In just five minutes, Hou Saini and his men had completely lost initiative on the battlefield, only being able to shrink behind rocks and dirt mounds, blindly firing over their heads with no aim.
Gabri and his combat team had already taken the lead, advancing three hundred meters and passing by a Vanguard hiding behind a rock; he signaled his team to stop.
"Ansel, take out that guy hiding behind the rock!"