Qusay led his squad, striding forward across the land where reeds and muddy water mingled.
Return to base? No! He would take out the Iranian base first. After searching for so many days, he had finally discovered their secret. He would eliminate them first and then report to the military region. He wanted to see if that Uncle Izzat would still dare to look down on him.
Qusay made this decision almost the moment he discovered the road.
Confronting the Iranian armored group head-on would be suicide, but Qusay still had the ability to sneak in and set a fire; this was exactly the mission of the squad he led.
He just didn't know that on the edge of the marsh dozens of miles away, the armies of both sides were already locked in a death struggle.
While outside, his combat boots had been caked in mud, making walking incredibly heavy. Once on these reeds, the mud quickly fell away, making it much easier to walk. Qusay couldn't help but admire the Iranian commander; they had brains and vision. Future wars would most need such commanding personnel.
Meanwhile, the supreme commander of the Southern Military Region, Izzat, though holding the rank of Major General, was a short-sighted fellow. Since the start of the war, although the Southern Military Region had achieved victories, they relied on World War II tactics, piling up successes with human lives.
It was a pity he didn't have much power yet. He really wanted to reorganize things and wash their brains to make them understand what high-tech modern warfare truly was.
If Qusay later learned that the Iranians had not only used primitive materials like reeds but also deployed their only CH-47 medium helicopters to transport cement—literally air-dropping cement to build a road dozens of miles long for the armored group to advance—one wonders what he would think.
The snake meat he had eaten earlier was taking effect in his body; though bloody, it was very nutritious. Even Hades was reminiscing about the fresh taste of the snake meat as his stomach began to growl again unhelpfully.
Walking on two legs was simply too slow! Qusay knew that what he needed most right now was time, and what he lacked most was also time.
Just then, the sound of an armored vehicle starting up came from behind.
"Quick, hide!" Qusay said, dodging off the reed-paved road and into the low bushes nearby.
The squad followed him, ducking into the bushes in turn.
Hades had already set up the missile; if they were discovered by the enemy, they would have to take them out.
Qusay, however, was reluctant to encourage this. Taking out the enemy was easy, but it wouldn't benefit him. He was thinking about how to trick the enemy's armored vehicle into coming over; driving an armored vehicle would be much faster than marching on foot.
This didn't seem easy. If he had an Iranian military uniform, it would be simple—he could just trick them into getting out, eliminate them, and then the armored vehicle would be his.
Qusay thought of countless strategies in his mind, but none were practical.
If all else failed, he could only use anti-tank mines to blow off the tracks. Then, when the enemy came out, they would engage in close combat to eliminate them all before finding a way to reconnect the broken tracks.
Qusay had done this kind of thing before. Once a track is broken, it's no longer long enough; the only way is to bypass the idler wheel and connect directly through the drive sprocket, road wheels, and return rollers. However, removing tracks was back-breaking work.
After thinking it over, this seemed to be the most suitable method.
In the distance, an armored vehicle was rumbling toward them. Qusay had already ordered his men to prepare, and an anti-tank mine was tossed by the roadside.
The silhouette of the armored vehicle became clearer. Though caked in mud and lacking any markings, Qusay saw it clearly: it was a Type 63 Armored Vehicle!
In the storm last night, only one armored vehicle had been spared—Vehicle No. 3, led by Marwan.
When the storm hit, Marwan had a quick wit and did not order the vehicle to return immediately. In the torrential rain, the muddy marsh would quickly become unmanageable. Since they were still far from the border, trying to leave would only result in getting stuck somewhere with no way out.
Perhaps by luck, he unexpectedly discovered a patch of high ground; beneath a layer of mud was solid rock.
He immediately decided to park the armored vehicle on this high ground, shut off the engine to save fuel, and wait for the rain to stop before seeing how to proceed.
Unfortunately, just as they reached the high ground, a bolt of lightning struck, snapping the vehicle's high-mounted antenna and completely destroying the radio.
Misfortunes never come singly. Marwan realized he had made a mistake; staying on high ground during a thunderstorm made them an easy target for lightning.
However, he had no way back. The area around the high ground was already deeply flooded; if the armored vehicle drove down now, it probably wouldn't be able to get back up.
Fortunately, after staying through the night, no second accident occurred. They didn't dare set out the next morning either. It wasn't until noon, when the surrounding floodwaters had receded and the mud was no longer so soggy, that they carefully drove the armored vehicle out.
In fact, they had almost searched their way to the reed road paved by the Iranian armored units yesterday, but the storm had interrupted them. Thus, they had luckily discovered the trail left by the Iranians.
However, Marwan was even luckier because he could sit in an armored vehicle, while the teams led by Qusay and Wahrih had to rely on their legs.
Now, Marwan's armored vehicle was about to be even 'luckier' and hit a mine.
Qusay was still hesitating: was the approaching group led by Marwan, or was it the Iranians? Logically, the Iranians weren't this cunning, and they wouldn't be driving a Type 63 Armored Vehicle here. However, after seeing the unique reed road the Iranians had constructed, Qusay didn't dare underestimate them.
Who knew if this was an Iranian ruse to lure him out for identification? If he stood up and the other side simply operated the machine gun on the armored vehicle to fire a burst, his entire squad would be finished right here.
Thinking of this, Qusay suddenly had an idea. He took an SVD sniper rifle carried by a nearby teammate and centered one of the armored vehicle's headlights in the crosshairs of the scope.
"Thud!" A single bullet flew toward the armored vehicle. While it couldn't pierce the vehicle's armor, hitting the headlight was quite easy.
Crack! The headlight was shattered. Despite being muffled by the roaring engine, the sound was still heard by the special forces members inside the vehicle.
Not good, an ambush!
"Stop, reverse!" Marwan shouted.
The enemy had only fired one shot, indicating they lacked heavy firepower. The most important thing was to flush them out. If they were Iranian soldiers, he would leave one alive to ask where their base was, so he wouldn't be wandering blindly.
The armored vehicle reversed to a safe spot, and several soldiers jumped out of the rear hatch. Qusay saw clearly through his high-powered binoculars that they were indeed his own men.
These guys still needed proper training. When they jumped out, they didn't know how to use the armored vehicle as cover or how to move quickly; they should have at least performed a roll to immediately clear the open, dangerous area. If he were an Iranian sniper, he certainly wouldn't have let them off.
"Hades, call them over to assemble," Qusay said. "Virat, disarm that anti-tank mine from earlier to prevent any accidents."
"Sidewinder Third Squad, return to the unit immediately!" Hades shouted at the top of his lungs, about to stand up.
Qusay immediately pulled Hades down as a bullet whizzed past his head.
"Which idiot didn't watch his weapon?" Hades fumed.
Marwan was skeptical. The fact that the other side could call out the name 'Sidewinder' meant they might be comrades, but if they were comrades, why had they just shot at his armored vehicle?
"Marwan, it's Qusay Abdullah. Watch your weapons, don't have an accidental discharge!" Qusay shouted.
Now Marwan believed it; the person really was his superior, because the name Qusay Abdullah was known to very few people.
The two sides slowly stood up and recognized each other.
Marwan ran excitedly to Qusay and shouted loudly, "Reporting, Sidewinder Third Squad requests to return to the unit!"
Hades glared at him fiercely. Who had fired that shot just now?
After this incident, Qusay also felt that his squad's equipment was far too rudimentary. On the battlefield, they actually had to rely on such primitive methods to recognize each other. The combat capability of a special forces unit is heavily tied to its battlefield situational awareness. Even without an advanced positioning system, individual radios were a must.
However, it was a headache. In this era, although the West had already entered the age of very-large-scale integration (VLSI), the Soviets were still steadfastly pursuing the path of vacuum tube miniaturization. He couldn't count on the Soviets for advanced individual radios; he would have to find a way through Western countries.