Zhang San raised his wrist and glanced at the time, "How long will it take to get to the vicinity of the research institute now?" ”

"I should be able to get there before sunset, I looked at the map, the routes are all controlled by the government army, as long as I can go to the institute before sunset, it is safer to transfer or stay overnight." Li Si's half-discussed tone had already reassured Zhang San.

"What do you think?" Zhang San asked Di Shiyong, who was listening carefully.

Di Shiyong spun in his mind for a moment, "Let's go as soon as possible, in short, we should pay more attention on the road, we are already very close to the firefight area after here." ”

"Get in the car and go." Zhang San shouted around and gave an order.

The grasslands along the way have gradually been divided by small oases, and the smaller villages are finally home next to the oasis river. However, most of the houses made of mud and straw are abandoned ruins, and the barren villages are like broken memories, without traces of life, where can there be traces of life.

The soldiers stared at everything in front of them in a daze, except for the roar of the engine, only the suppressed breathing sound between each other, and the vicissitudes of the broken mountains and rivers. Although I was in a foreign country, I used to feel the same way.

Di Shiyong gradually no longer felt unbearable, and the oncoming wind blowing on the African grassland extinguished the anxiety of the hot-blooded men, but also ignited their determination to protect the tranquility of the party. The institute was established by the United Nations to study various diseases in Africa, to understand the epidemic and transmission routes at the forefront, and to quickly research and discover various clinical drugs and treatments to solve the disease problems of the people in the disaster areas. But now the troubled African savannah is not only suffering from those incurable diseases, armed and bloody conflicts still plague everyone there.

The setting sun finally sheds its last light in the afterglow, and a village that is still full of smoke gradually takes on its shape in the light of the setting sun.

"It's the village ahead, and less than five kilometers to the east is the research institute." Li Si shouted loudly holding the GPS location and map.

"Stop." Zhang San gave an order to the soldiers in the whole car, "The pickup truck is stationed in the village to stand guard, you stay in charge of communication, and the rest of the people run to the research institute." ”

"Yes!"

Passing through a cornfield, we ran towards a hill on higher ground, with only low shrubs as shelter, but at dusk was approaching, night was coming, and night was their best camouflage without special observation equipment.

"I just inquired in the village, and it seems that the government troops have withdrawn from the area this morning, so we need to be careful later." Li Si caught up and reported the latest news to several people.

"The militants have already taken over the area?" Zhang San stopped and turned back and asked.

"I knew I shouldn't have come, but now it's a problem how to go back after I come." The gray cat kept chattering with her rifle.

"You shut up Lao Tzu, believe it or not, I'll go back and clean you up." Zhang San shouted in a low voice.

"You can go back and clean up as you like, hehe." The gray cat's dead-skinned face has never been very flattering.

"It's not certain whether the militants have taken the area, but someone in the village said that there were foreign soldiers passing through their village in the early hours of this morning, and I suspect they were talking about the French from Group 36."

"Early this morning? Twenty hours back, it should have been them, but we didn't see them on the way here. Where did you pick up someone? Zhang San looked at his watch and estimated the time and distance.

Bang! A loud explosion rang out from the location of the institute in the distance.

"What's wrong?" Li Si looked in the direction where the sound came from, and there was a flash of fire in the low position of the hills.

"Dayang, find the commanding heights and see what's going on at the institute. Others take cover first. As soon as Zhang San's words fell, everyone's bodies disappeared into the bushes.

The starry sky of the African savannah is incomparable, and there is no vegetation to shelter the endless grasslands except for low shrubs. The ocean crawled to the high point of the hills, and the sparse shrubs beside it could only provide the shelter area of a gun barrel, and if the whole person was lying forward, it was possible to find it. He took out his sniper scope and looked out into the open space of the institute hundreds of meters away, under the cover of the bushes.

Militants under the command of extremist groups have taken over the medical institute, and four pickup trucks with heavy machine guns are clustered around the compound the size of half a football field, and the number of extremist group members exposed by Dayang is estimated to be at least 30 by sight, not counting those inside the institute. The institute has three white brick buildings, the middle one should be the main building of the institute, and the other two buildings surrounding the central open space should be the staff dormitory or canteen.

"The central clearing was supposed to have been a basketball court, but now there's a bonfire, and a few people around it can't see their faces clearly, but they don't look like them." The ocean crept back from the hills to the bushes below the slope and reported what he saw to the team.

Da Da... The sound of automatic rifle fire.

"AK47 rifle." Li Si concluded.

"I'll go up and have a look this time, and all of you will be on standby." Zhang San crawled up the hills, and the writhing figure under the night sky looked like a swinging snake from a distance.

The sound of automatic rifle strafing was intermittent, but Zhang San didn't see it for a long time, and the gray cat who couldn't bear it began to complain, "What's going on inside?" If it's really an extremist organization, we don't have enough people, why don't we go back and move the rescuers? ”

"As long as you talk a lot, shut up." Li Si shouted quietly.

After a while, Zhang San finally came back with a tense face, his face was green as if he had just gone to meet the enemy, "The brothers of the thirty-sixth group estimate that there are many bad lucks, and those people around the campfire should be the staff of the research institute and the people of the thirty-sixth rescue group." ”

"Then why shoot again?" Di Shiyong asked.

"It seems that the inside of the institute has not been completely controlled by the extremists, and they are leading the way in trying to force the people inside to give up resistance with the hostages in their hands."

"There's still a firefight inside?" Li Si asked.

"But it won't last long." Zhang San responded.

At this time, the biggest problem faced by the 37th rescue group appeared, what should be done? The time has come to test Zhang San and Li Si, as the captain of the team, when it is difficult to choose, he has become the backbone and compass of everyone, Zhang San began to quickly calculate all kinds of powerful relationships and success odds in his mind, he is gambling with his life, including his rescue team and the people waiting for rescue in the research institute. Everyone's life is priceless, but when a person has to gamble with it, the pressure will penetrate his bloodstream, paralyze his nerves, make him breathless and even feel slightly suffocated.

"We can't withdraw, our group is their only hope, the only possibility of survival." Zhang San's decision to risk the lives of the entire group to save those who were captured and trapped was the beginning of all the difficult decisions in his life, but it was by no means the end.

The silence of the whole group of fighters was already the best answer to Zhang San, and each of them had a resolute gaze, as bright as the stars in the sky over the grassland, and these men chose not to abandon or give up when others needed them.

But since it is a gamble and it is necessary to understand technology, and you can't bet big and small at will, Li Si calculated the plan of action in his mind, and began to deploy to everyone, "Later, I will attract them from the front with the hummingbird, Zhang San, you take Dayong and the gray cat to go around from the back to see if you can find the entrance to the research institute building, or see if you can cooperate with the inside to catch them off guard." Dayang, you are on guard on the slope just now, and provide fire support if necessary. Bugs, as soon as the battle started, drove the car over, there was no cover for the distance from the village to the research institute, and when he received the signal, he quickly drove the pickup truck over to pick up the hostages and evacuate. ”

"Not now or later," Di Shiyong interjected with his own suggestion, "and we'll have to wait until they're all asleep, at least most of them." ”

"Acting at half past four in the morning, even night owls can't stay up at that time. According to what Li Si said, Dayang will cover Li Si and them first when the time comes. Zhang San glanced at the watch on his wrist and gave an order.

That night, in an unnamed bush in the heart of Africa's vast grasslands, Di Shiyong spent the longest dark night of his life lying quietly. Under the bright starry sky, the soldiers around him tossed and turned, and no one could really sleep even with their eyes closed. The scorching air of the day had cooled down, but even so, everyone's breathing seemed cautious.

High on that hill, he watched this frenzied militant group go from arrogant fanaticism to ruthless slaughter, and finally to a deep sleep in a reckless gasp, he could not understand the reason for the wild bloodthirsty, but he knew deeply how the people of this land were suffering from the war.

Zhang San and Li Si have been serving together for three years, and after this year, they will be promoted separately, in Zhang San's heart, this battle is the hardest battle he has served so far, no action can be compared with this time, but he still has no hesitation, and sometimes that feeling even makes his blood boil. Unlike Zhang San's perseverance and courage, Li Si is a person who thinks first and then acts, but he has already thought about everything he can think about this operation, and the only thing left is to let go with Zhang San. He finally sighed that it is impossible for people to think clearly about everything in this life, and sometimes it is not a pleasure to be free and easy.

The whining gray cat quietly looked at the starry sky, and at this time he did not want to say too much, this warrior who usually talked too much was now beginning to think of his hometown, where the fertile rice fields and the cattle in the fields were unimaginably rich compared to the barren African savannah. The hummingbird turned and patted the gray cat on the shoulder, then pointed to the time on his wrist.

At half past four in the morning, the time finally came.

In a light breeze, five silent figures bowed down to the foot of the barbed wire fence outside the medical institute, and then quickly split into two groups and walked towards the main entrance and the collapsed rear door.

Hummingbird and Li Si sneaked along the wall towards the main entrance of the institute, passing the militants' pickup truck, Li Si glued the remote-controlled explosives he was carrying to the car's gas tank.

"I'll sneak in and kill the guards on the left later, Dayang, and I'll leave the right one to you." Li Si arrived at the side of the gate, waiting for Zhang San and them to reply, "Later, when the car blows up, you will find a way to enter the research institute through the back wall." ”