I returned to my hometown adorned with military medals, and the whole city erupted in celebration.

Before Fan Tianlei's roar had even faded into the air, Li Erniu had already calmly cut off the communication.

"Brother Niu, it's all done!" Wang Yanbing ran into the tent, looking disheveled, but his face was full of excitement.

He Chenguang also retreated from the high ground, his expression grim: "Erniu, the Blue Army's emergency response force has been deployed. Less than ten kilometers from here, a tank and armored battalion is rushing over at full speed. We have to retreat."

"Go? Where to?"

Li Erniu chuckled, a hint of madness in his eyes. "Since we're all here, wouldn't it be beneath my status as the Third Uncle if we didn't offer these 'Iron Turtle's' a little something?"

He Chenguang and Wang Yanbing exchanged a glance, thinking to themselves that Brother Niu was really having a blast.

"A tank battalion, that's more than twenty Type 59 or Type 96 main battle tanks. We only have three people and three guns, how do you plan to do it?" Wang Yanbing asked, puzzled.

Li Erniu pointed to the boxes of fire extinguishing powder and specially made viscous anti-rust paint piled up at the entrance of the base.

"Tanks are tough on the outside, but weak on the inside. Once you cover their eyes, they're just a pile of scrap metal."

Li Erniu swiped a large thermos from the major's desk. "Chenguang, is your 88 sniper rifle accurate enough? I have a few bottles of special 'blind spot spray' here. Try to attach it to your bullet heads. Dare to go all out?"

He Chenguang's lips curled up slightly: "If you dare to set the questions, I dare to answer them."

Ten minutes later, at Wild Boar Slope, the only route from Black Tiger Ridge to the Red Army's position.

This is a long, narrow mountain road, with steep mountain walls on one side and a deep river valley on the other.

Dust filled the sky on the distant horizon.

More than twenty Blue Army tanks and infantry fighting vehicles roared deafeningly, like a group of steel behemoths, charging menacingly toward the logistics base.

The leading tank was driven by Qi Dazhuang, the commander of the Blue Army's armored battalion.

"Quick! Full speed ahead! Those Red Team rats dared to raid our warehouse! I'm going to crush them into mincemeat!"

Qi Dazhuang sat in the control tower, observing the scene ahead through the panoramic mirror, full of vigor and confidence.

However, just as the tank column entered the bend of the mountain road...

"Bang--!"

A very faint sniper rifle shot rang out, almost inaudible under the cover of the tank's roar.

Suddenly, a mass of pitch-black, extremely viscous gel-like substance burst open on the driver's observation window and commander's periscope of the lead tank where Qi Dazhuang was located.

"What happened?! Who threw ink in my face?!"

The driver let out a gasp.

The black adhesive was extremely stubborn; when the wipers were used, it spread even more evenly, instantly blocking out all visibility.

"Battalion Commander! I can't see the road!" the driver shouted anxiously, instinctively slamming on the brakes.

"boom--!"

The heavy tank came to a sudden stop on the narrow mountain road, and the tanks behind it could not avoid it and crashed into it from behind.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

Several more sniper shots rang out.

Every shot seemed to have eyes, accurately hitting the infrared thermal imager and panoramic sights of the following tanks.

Some bullets had specially made fire extinguishing dry powder packets attached to their heads. When they exploded, the resulting whiteout completely blocked the sensor signals.

Some were covered in extremely disgusting paint with a strong adhesive-like texture.

"Damn it! Where did this sniper come from?"

"My thermal imaging camera screen is black!"

"My observation hole is completely covered! I can't see anything!"

The entire tank column was instantly paralyzed.

On the narrow mountain road, these steel behemoths not only lost their sight, but also had no room to turn around.

"All members, do not get off the vehicle! Stay hidden!" Qi Dazhuang hadn't finished shouting.

"Thump! Thump! Thump!"

Dozens of round, green-smoking "sweet potato bombs" rolled down the slope from the top of the hill.

"Sizzle—!"

The intensely pungent wild chili powder once again permeated the armored formation.

Although the tank has a NBC protection system, the piercingly spicy smell still managed to seep in through the gaps in the air conditioning vents and observation windows.

"Cough cough cough! This smoke is poisonous! Run!"

Many armored soldiers couldn't bear the thrill and pushed open the hatch, disregarding exercise regulations, jumping out of the vehicle with tears streaming down their faces.

"Brother Niu, we got the code!" He Chenguang and Wang Yanbing had already swiftly captured the communications soldiers behind them and ran up with the codebook.

Li Erniu nodded, looking at the pile of completely disabled tanks below, filled with joy.

"Chenguang, Yanbing, we've gone too far this time. Fan Tianlei is probably already furious. Let's go, before his decapitation team realizes what's happening, let's 'renovate' his command post too."

"To the Wolf Fang Command Headquarters?" Wang Yanbing's eyes widened. "Brother Niu, your appetite is getting bigger and bigger."

"If I don't win over Fan Tianlei, I won't be able to keep my position as the third uncle. Come on, I'll take you to the Wolf Fang Command Headquarters—for a good meal!"

The three climbed back into the stolen off-road vehicle and, under the angry and helpless gazes of the Blue Army armored soldiers, turned around and drove away with a flourish.

……

At the same time, at the Wolf Fang Command Post.

Fan Tianlei sat slumped in his chair, the screen in front of him showing clear footage of the tank battalion's paralysis being transmitted back by a drone.

Fortunately, the command system can be quickly repaired and frequency switched.

Otherwise, with Li Erniu causing such a commotion, the exercise couldn't proceed as planned!

Fan Tianlei stood up, staring at the chaotic tank formation on the screen, which resembled a blind man touching an elephant, and the arrogant backs of the off-road vehicles speeding away. His facial muscles twitched for a long time.

His hands, resting on the table, were clenched so tightly that his knuckles turned white, and the veins on them bulged out.

There was no yelling, no throwing things.

This extreme silence made all the officers and technicians in the command post feel uneasy, and they even subconsciously held their breath, afraid of being used as a punching bag.

After a long while, Fan Tianlei slowly exhaled a long breath.

He took off his beret, rubbed his throbbing temples, and when he looked up again, his eyes, which had been bloodshot from anger, had become calm, deep, and even carried a hint of...morbid excitement.

"Good, very good." Fan Tianlei's voice was hoarse. "Li Erniu... Li Erniu... I, Fan Tianlei, have traveled all over the country, led countless soldiers, and seen countless geniuses and eccentrics, but I misjudged you the only one. You're not naive; you're wise beyond your years, the ancestor of the art of playing dumb to outsmart others!"

He stood up, walked to the huge electronic sand table, and stared intently at the area where Li Erniu had last disappeared.

"Number Five, what do we do now? The armored battalion is temporarily out of combat, the Black Tiger Ridge base has been destroyed, and the logistics supply line is under serious threat. Although the Red Force has been scattered by us, Kang Lei and Gong Jian are definitely gathering their remaining forces. If we let Li Erniu, this 'shadow,' continue to stir things up inside us, this exercise..."

Chen Shanming stood to the side, reporting in a somber voice.

"An exercise?" Fan Tianlei sneered. "The exercise is far from over! That kid Li Erniu really gave me a big surprise, or rather, a shock."

"But he made a mistake, a mistake that all young, ambitious, and budding geniuses make—he was too greedy and too confident."

He turned to Chen Shanming and asked, "Shanming, let me ask you, if you were Li Erniu, after taking down two of my elite teams, destroying a logistics base, and crippling an armored battalion, what would your next target be?"

Chen Shanming was taken aback, then a thought flashed through his mind, and he blurted out, "He'll think... our command system is in disarray, our frontline forces are stretched thin, and our command post is poorly defended! He wants to strike at our heart!"

"That's right!" Fan Tianlei slammed his hand on the table. "This kid is incredibly audacious, and his appetite is insane. He definitely wants to take advantage of our chaos to 'behead' me, the frontline commander of the Wolf Fang! This is the ultimate humiliation, and also the tactic most likely to turn the tide of the battle!"

Chen Shanming gasped, "Then...should we immediately reinforce the command post's defenses? And bring all the outer perimeter teams back?"

"No!" Fan Tianlei categorically denied, revealing the smile typical of the nursing team. "Transfer him back? Wouldn't that just tell him we're scared, that we guessed it? That would only make him back down and continue his guerrilla warfare, which would be a real pest with endless consequences."

He pointed to several directions on the map where Li Erniu might attack: "What we need to do is not strengthen our defenses, but... give him an 'opportunity,' a seemingly perfect, once-in-a-lifetime 'opportunity' that would make him risk a strike!"

"You mean... set up an ambush?" Chen Shanming understood instantly.

"Yes! And it's Mingfu!" Fan Tianlei pointed heavily on the map.

"Shanming, take all the manpower you can gather right now, no less than two small teams, and set off immediately! Make a big show of it, let everyone know that I, Fan Tianlei, have been thoroughly enraged and have dispatched my most elite forces to capture this scourge Li Erniu at all costs!"

Chen Shanming hesitated for a moment: "Number Five, if I take too many people with me, the command post's defenses will be..."

"The key is to create a weak defense!" Fan Tianlei's eyes flashed with a sharp light. "The command post will only have the most basic communications and security personnel, creating a facade of strength but inner weakness. But the real killing move isn't on the outside, it's on the inside!"

"I will deploy the most concealed passive infrared and vibration sensors within a one-kilometer radius of the command post. Simultaneously, we will ambush our final 'hidden arrow' at key passageways and high vantage points inside the command post—"

"I will lead sniper and assault teams. They will not participate in the pursuit; they will remain in the command post, disguised as ordinary technicians or guards."

"Isn't Li Erniu good at disguise and infiltration? Isn't he able to evade our detection? I'll let him in! The moment he thinks he's successfully infiltrated and about to succeed, that's when we'll close the net! I'll trap him like a turtle in a jar!"