Morins did not see Song Heping.
He simply followed Song Heping's instructions, first ambushed the last member of the AGLAN team crossing the bridge, then turned and ran back in a flash.
While running, he watched his step.
He had entered the trap area set up by Song Heping in less than twenty meters.
The leader of the AGLAN squad that was ambushed was a lieutenant. After Morins attacked one of their members, several teammates turned their guns in Morins's direction and swept the area with gunfire.
It was almost unnecessary to aim.
First and foremost in unclear situations was fire suppression, to buy time for others to find cover.
The captain rushed to the downed member, grabbed his tactical vest strap, and dragged him to safety.
Only when they reached the cover of a tree did he take a medical kit and scissors from the man, cut open the tactical vest, and then snipped the undershirt underneath right in half.
Blood was gushing out, staining the shirt red.
There's a concept in field rescue called the "Diamond 30 Seconds."
It means finding the wound and stopping the bleeding within 30 seconds.
Stopping the bleeding within this time could drastically increase the chances of survival.
Finally, he saw the wound.
About five bullets had been fired, three of which were blocked by the ballistic plate, but two had penetrated the lower abdomen.
This was indeed a critical issue.
That area was the intestines, and if luck was bad, it could also puncture the bladder.
The wounded teammate screamed like a slaughtered pig.
After all, it was truly painful.
The lieutenant quickly took out a surgical cloth, wiped off the blood smeared on the abdomen, but soon a yellow-greenish viscous fluid oozed out of the wound, bringing a foul smell to his nose.
"Damn!"
He knew this indicated that the intestine had been perforated, leaking some digestive substances.
This meant that internal bleeding might be present.
But he didn't have the means to deal with internal bleeding, so he quickly poured on hemostatic powder and then sealed the wound with adhesive bandages.
"Did any of you see where that guy went?!"
"At your 3 o'clock!"
A teammate shouted back in response to the captain's inquiry.
The lieutenant said, "Medic, you stay with him. We're going after that damn guy. I want to tear him to pieces!"
After all, there were only two of them, and even with one severely wounded, there were still six of us…
Wait a second…
He suddenly realized something was wrong and quickly pressed the talk button.
"Brownie!"
No one answered.
"Brownie!"
He repeated the sniper's name twice.
But the channel remained silent.
Cold sweat seeped from his forehead.
He suddenly realized the sniper was in trouble.
"Brownie!"
Still unwilling to give up, he yelled into the microphone.
But all he was met with was dead silence.
The teammates crouching nearby all turned their gazes towards their captain, each of their eyes flashing with a hint of despair.
If the sniper was alright, he definitely would have responded to the captain's call.
"Before the ambush, I thought I heard two bursts of fire… very brief..."
One of the teammates finally recalled something and cautiously shared his observation.
"That's right, I heard it too."
Another teammate nodded in agreement.
A strange mood spread through the air.
Boom, boom—
The thunder exploded overhead and the glaring lightning momentarily lit up the dark jungle.
Faces, previously blurred, turned pale and clear in the flash, and everyone saw the hint of panic on each other's faces.
They were well-trained members of the Colombian Rangers, experts in jungle warfare, part of the AGLAN Special Forces...
But at this time, as they huddled in a defensive circle, they seemed as frightened as children.
They thought handling two men would be simple.
Now, it appeared these two were like ghosts.
Neither man was seen.
The sniper was in trouble...
The radio operator had been shot...
"Captain, what should we do? Should we hold our ground and wait for reinforcements or…"
The lieutenant glanced at the soldier who was asking what to do, unable to suppress the fury boiling within him, and roared, "They are only two men! Even if we leave the medic to tend to the injured, there are still four of us! What's so frightening about two against one! They merely ambushed us!"
Clearly, he meant they were to fight at all costs.
"Split into two teams. Vice captain, take Sinis, I'll take Ronik. You go left, I go right, let's search to the south!"
He waved his hand decisively and stood up first.
The usual training made everyone's cooperation extremely seamless.
The two search teams immediately dispersed, moving about 20 meters apart, entering the jungle from different points.
The thunder kept booming, the deep sounds shaking their eardrums.
The lightning kept the jungle alternating between dark and light.
Unnoticed, the drizzle had turned into a downpour, thrashing down.
Raindrops beat against the bunny hats, falling from the brims like a bead curtain.
They had moved about twenty meters or so.
The lieutenant suddenly felt something wasn't quite right.
These conditions were very unfavorable for a search.
The visibility was too poor.
Not to mention the poor lighting, just the drops alone made the view a complete whiteout.
He raised his fist and called out softly, "Stop moving forward!"
The two teams halted in the jungle, each concealing themselves behind tree trunks.
Group 2's vice-captain looked at the lieutenant with an inquiring gaze and said softly, "What's wrong?!"
The lieutenant did not answer immediately.
He hesitated.
In fact, the word "retreat" was already on his lips, yet he couldn't utter it.
After a moment of thought, just as the lieutenant was about to make the decision to retreat, there suddenly came a sound of something scraping through the plants ahead.
Rustle—
At this moment, everyone was extremely sensitive, their nerves stretched to the limit. Hearing the sound, they almost simultaneously turned their muzzles toward the source and pulled the triggers.
Bang, bang, bang—
Bang, bang, bang—
Bang, bang, bang—
Bang, bang, bang—
After each of the four had fired at least three bursts, the lieutenant finally called for a halt.
"Cease fire!"
The gunfire stopped.
Slightly warm gun barrels emitted wisps of white mist.
"Did you see him?"
"I think I saw something..."
"I didn't see him, but I heard the noise..."
Before he could finish speaking, they suddenly heard rustling sounds again. This time, they saw more clearly; the tips of the bushes were moving over there!
Bang, bang, bang—
Bang, bang, bang—
This time, the lieutenant felt the opportunity was not to be missed; there must be someone there!
While firing in bursts, he quickly approached the location of the sounds.
Two members of Team 2 also ran swiftly, flanking from the sides to ensure they could attack from the sides in case Team 1 encountered sudden developments, ensuring crossfire would kill the enemy.
However, a horrifying incident occurred.
"Ah—"
Screams came from Team 2.
The deputy commander, while running fast, suddenly felt the ground disappear beneath his foot, then intense pain struck as unpredictably as a bucket of water thrown in his face.
He looked down and saw his foot was unclear.
The jungle here had accumulated years of fallen leaves, and if there was a pit under the leaves, it would form a "floating leaves" condition, sinking upon stepping on it.
Now the deputy commander saw his left foot had stepped into a pit, but he knew it was definitely not naturally formed; he was up to his lower leg in it.
He tried to pull his leg out, but any movement caused excruciating pain that immediately made him abandon the desperate idea, feeling something "hooked" onto his calf.
"Deputy, what's wrong?!"
A team member from the same group came by his side, gun at the ready as he patted his shoulder.
"You cover me."
The deputy grimaced as he slowly sat down, gently brushing away the leaves around his calf.
Soon, he saw his own foot.
But the situation really looked bad.
This was a typical bamboo spike trap.
Half of the spikes in such traps point upwards, which are not really a threat to special soldiers wearing jungle combat boots.
But this trap had several spikes arranged at the edge of the pit, slanted upwards, so that anyone stepping on it would get their calf impaled, easily pierced like skewering mutton.
"This damned thing! I'll tear him to pieces and feed him to the dogs!"
Swearing, the deputy tried to pull out the wood spikes, but looking around, he felt like a tiger biting a turtle, not knowing how to proceed.
There were three spikes piercing into the small leg, and maliciously, these things also had barbs, making pulling the wooden spikes out of the soil not difficult, but any movement of the injured leg was painfully excruciating.
Reaching out to grab it...
Hands are only two...
"Give me a hand..."
He could only ask for help from his teammate.
"Hold onto that wooden spike, see, yes, that one...Damn it...I'll count one, two, three, and we pull up together. One, two, three! Ouch—"
With a scream, the deputy's foot was finally pulled out.
By then, the lieutenant's team had also arrived.
"What happened?!"
"I stepped into a trap. There might be many traps they've set up here, be careful..."
The deputy looked at his own leg, spiked like a hedgehog, and shook his head: "I can't go on..."
The lieutenant was now also inclined to retreat.
These two were too tricky.
It now seemed that they were well-prepared, intentionally drawing his small squad into this area filled with traps.
"The helicopter will arrive in fifteen minutes, hold on, I've already sent the location, reinforcements will arrive soon... Let's retreat to the riverside and establish a defensive line, holding for fifteen minutes should be no problem..."
Thud—
Thud—
Just as the lieutenant was comforting the deputy, something suddenly fell from above, landing on the damp pile of leaves, making an inconspicuous noise.
"Hand Grenade!"
One of the team members screamed.
All instinctively dove to the side, trying to scatter and take cover.
Boom—
One unlucky team member landed right on the hand grenade; he hadn't clearly seen the location of the two falling hand grenades.
The explosion erupted, a fireball flared under the squad member, blasting him two to three feet off the ground. When he hit the ground again, he began convulsing. Shrapnel tore open the blood vessels in his neck, and the blast wave shattered his bones and internal organs, even through the ballistic vest.
Boom—
Another hand grenade exploded.
Gun smoke filled the air.
The lieutenant's ears were ringing from the explosion.
Groggily, he rolled over, raindrops hitting his face, cold as ice, barely bringing him back to some awareness.
He struggled to open his eyes and saw a dark figure appear in his line of sight.
He instinctively reached for his gun.
But where was the gun?
He couldn't find it.
The figure glanced at him, raised the gun, and pulled the trigger.
Bang, bang—
In the rain-drenched jungle, all was quiet again.