Seeing the chasing convoy slow down in the rearview mirror, Mist burst into loud laughter, excitedly throwing out one "FUCK" after another at the Revolutionary Brigade, mocking them for being cowards.
Song Heping inwardly sighed, these foreigners really had a limited vocabulary for cursing, nothing but FUCKs and SHITs, maybe an occasional bastard, definitely not as colorful as Chinese curses.
He, however, was not nearly as excited as Mist.
The pursuers had indeed fallen far behind.
But Song Heping absolutely did not believe these guys would just give up like that.
Give up chasing just because one vehicle had been taken out?
This was completely inconsistent with the intelligence provided by ISA.
The intelligence indicated that the Revolutionary Brigade had strong combat capabilities and resilience, having dominated this area for many years.
They were always ruthless, relentless in dealing with anyone who dared to oppose them.
Will they just sit and watch themselves being infiltrated and two of their leaders killed without pursuing?
"Mist! Keep an eye on the road ahead! Something's not right!"
"What?!"
Mist obviously had not heard clearly.
Song Heping moved next to the driver's cab and shouted at him, "Be careful, it's not over yet!"
Before he finished speaking, several beams of headlights suddenly appeared to the right front.
"Look over there!"
Song Heping rushed back to the Desheka Heavy Machine Gun, swung the muzzle around, and aimed at the right front.
The distance between them was still about seven or eight hundred meters.
So it was not yet time to shoot.
The newly appeared convoy consisted of four vehicles, their headlights glaringly bright in the dark wilderness.
Song Heping thought of the night-vision goggles.
Without night-vision goggles, one cannot drive at high speed with the lights off, which is the biggest danger.
It made them too easy to be spotted.
"There are vehicles to the left front, too!"
Rabbani also cried out in surprise.
Song Heping looked and indeed saw the faint lights of vehicles in the dusk to the front left, but he couldn't make out how many there were due to the great distance, probably over a kilometer away.
The convoy that had been slowing down behind them, as if in silent understanding, also began to speed up in pursuit, with the headlights that had disappeared reappearing at the rear.
"They're all their people!"
Mist could no longer smile.
"Damn it! This is their turf; it'll be tough to break through!"
Song Heping looked up at the sky and identified his location.
Then he looked at the three directions where the blocking convoys had suddenly appeared.
Clearly, they were communicating with each other via radio. Otherwise, they would not be so in sync.
They were trying to trap and surround him.
"We can't keep going forward!"
Song Heping quickly weighed his options.
Up to this point, there had been no sightings of drones, nor had the pursuers been attacked from the air.
This indicated that ISA's drones had not detected him and Mist fleeing for their lives here.
Without aerial support, relying just on the three of them was certainly not enough to even be considered a challenge for the Revolutionary Brigade.
Song Heping had seen a map of the Revolutionary Brigade's force deployment in this area in the intelligence provided by ISA before.
Although the intelligence might not be accurate, at least in the south, they had over twenty local armed factions with a force of thousands of people.
The factory incident meant that all armed forces of the Revolutionary Brigade in Helmand Province had been mobilized, and now everyone's target was probably just one—to kill the invaders!
"Turn right immediately! Lao Mi! Turn right! Do you see that road over there!?"
"A right turn!?"
Mist glanced ahead, where there was a right turn about a few dozen meters away, looking like a dirt road.
There were no proper highways here, mostly dirt roads.
No signs, no markers.
Everything was very primitive.
"Where does turning right take us!?"
"South!"
Song Heping had figured out the direction; initially, after leaving the factory, they had been heading east. According to the route they took coming here, going north would take them straight to the Hindu Kush mountain range, where the vehicles would soon be unable to pass, and most of the range was infested with armed factions opposed to the US Army—it would be suicidal to enter the mountains.
Heading east would continue towards Hanix; after reaching Hanix and then heading north, they would be less than a hundred kilometers from Kandahar.
But now they were blocked on three sides, and even if they could break through going forward, heading east meant there was still more than three hundred kilometers of road ahead, how many more armed interceptors?
That was an unknown.
Initially hoping that ISA's drones would notice the situation here, it now seemed Niki was completely unable to find himself and Mist—not that she didn't want to but because she couldn't.
Upon arrival, Hula's series of anti-tracking maneuvers had completely shaken off ISA's tracking. Now, the vehicle they were in, including the three people inside, had no means of communication; his team was like a kite without a string.
Everything had to rely on themselves.
When he had undergone specialized combat training in the past, Song Heping had practiced this kind of simulated combat scenario, how to survive after becoming separated from the main force.
There were different ways to handle specific situations.
But the principle was definitely the same—play to your strengths and avoid weaknesses.
What are the strengths of a small team?
Few in number, elite, easy to hide.
What are the strengths of a large force?
They were many in number, fierce in firepower, slow in movement, and difficult to hide.
Facing a large force with a small squad meant drawing the enemy into terrain that doesn't favor their strengths and using the landscape to shake them off.
Head-on confrontation is the stupidest approach.
Head south.
That meant executing the plan he and Avanti had agreed upon.
Though Song Heping didn't know his exact coordinates or orientation, one thing was certain.
The factory had to be very close to the Persian border.
Heading south was the right move!
Once at the border, entering the Persian Plateau area, although still the territory of the Revolutionary Brigade, it was also the Persians' domain.
The highland mountains were favorable for his small squad's escape.
It was definitely better than crossing over three hundred kilometers of the basin in the south of Afghan, betting on the luck of not encountering the Revolutionary Brigade's pursuers—a near impossibility unless they were all blind.
The plan to head east then turn north back to Kandahar only worked with ISA cooperation, air support, and a quick response force to meet them.
According to the original plan, they should have signaled the Air Force to attack the factory immediately after taking out Adrian and his men, but to his surprise, not even a single satellite phone was found on Adrian!
It seemed that even Adrian couldn't defy the rule of no electronic devices allowed in this place.
Forced and without a choice, Song Heping had to give up calling in the airstrike, hold the position waiting for reinforcements, and instead chose to flee.
At least the mission was more than half accomplished.
The most important targets were Adrian and the two heads of the Revolutionary Brigade.
Song Heping could roughly guess what the higher-ups in the US Army, like Peter, were thinking.
In the New Golden Crescent area of southern Afghan, there were many armed factions; they were like wild beasts in the forest, each with their own territories, businesses, and channels.
The harmony had been maintained because they had a common enemy in the US Army, and their powers were evenly matched.
Once the two leaders of the Revolutionary Brigade were taken out and their distribution channels cut off, it meant the balance was broken.
These wild beasts would then start fighting each other, scavenging on each other's corpses.
This was why Peter emphasized that the most important targets were Adrian and the other two, with the factory being the last priority.
Now that the US Army couldn't be relied upon, they had to depend on themselves.
Plan B.
This was the result of Song Heping's few days' visit to Persia before the operation.
The assistance plan he had developed with Avanti.
Moreover, his "Musician" defensive forces were deployed there with a squad.
A few core members led by the chef were already waiting near the Persian Plateau, ready to be airdropped nearby to assist him in retreating to safety with just a bit of information from him and Avanti's help.
Therefore, turning right, heading south, crossing the Persian border, was the only choice for survival in the current situation.
Of course, deciding shouldn't involve any hesitation.
One good thing about Mist was his complete trust in Song Heping as a partner.
Whatever Song Heping said, he didn't waste time discussing right or wrong.
Professional soldiers trained rigorously have one excellent quality: obedience.
Although Mist was puzzled, having never heard from Song Heping about a plan that involved heading south,
after all, that was Persia.
As a member of Seal Team, he was very reluctant to enter countries like Persia.
But still, he violently turned the steering wheel to the right, driving onto the dirt road on the right without hesitation.
"Song! You'd better be incredibly lucky, or we won't even know where this road leads! What if we come across a mountain we can't cross ahead?! Have you even looked at a map?!"
After making the decision, Mist began to grumble.
Song Heping didn't immediately answer him but instead fired a burst at the lead vehicle of the pursuing convoy that had caught up again.
Dong dong dong—
Dong dong dong—
Song Heping was still thrifty with his shots, firing only two bursts.
It was a habit he had developed.
To save ammunition whenever possible.
Besides, six bullets in rapid succession could destroy the lead vehicle and kill its passengers with just one hit.
Chasing on this mountain road was like playing with death. Even if the bullets didn't hit someone inside the car, hitting the tires or anything that caused even a slight loss of control could very reliably send the vehicle off the dirt road and crash into a hillside or ditch.
Although it wasn't the Hindu Kush mountain range with its high plateaus and peaks, the road was still full of slopes and bumps, demanding high driving skills.
As expected, the bullets didn't hit the driver due to the distance but struck the engine.
A large-caliber warhead was enough to completely wreck the engine of a civilian pickup, spraying engine oil on the windshield with a spurt.
The driver, in a panic, activated the windshield wipers, but the more he wiped, the blurrier it became, leaving the whole windshield dark and smeared.
The lead vehicle slowed down, affecting the speed of the vehicles behind, and the entire convoy was disrupted.
The narrow road didn't allow for passing, and other vehicles also came to a stop.
Kawasi jumped out of the car, ran to the crippled vehicle, took a quick glance at the bullet hole in the hood, and angrily kicked a tire.
"Everybody out! Push the car into the ditch and keep chasing!"
The lackeys hurriedly disembarked to push the vehicle, while Kawasi walked to the side, took out his walkie-talkie, and started calling: "They're fleeing south! Chase them!"
After giving the orders, he sneered.
Fleeing south?
Even if they entered Persian territory, his domain in the highland area was just as strong, with thousands of men there. This time, they had to be mobilized to ensure these three audacious individuals didn't step out of his territory.
With that thought, he quickly turned back to his vehicle, picked up the radio, and contacted his accomplices in the direction of the Persian Plateau, reporting the movements of Song Heping and his men, ordering everyone to get moving.
"...Yes, they're now fleeing south. If they cross the border, that will be the Awaz Region. Tell the brothers there to move out immediately, spread out in the mountains to cast a net—ensure none of them escape!"