Rebirth in the Dragon Kingdom: The Strongest Blade

Five o'clock in the morning, deep in the Helan Mountains.

An hour before the exercise was scheduled to begin, the tents at the Northwest Military Region command headquarters were already brightly lit. Commander Jiang Tao stood in front of the electronic sand table, his brow furrowed.

"Have all troops moved into their designated positions?" he asked.

Chief of Staff Yang Zhenhua nodded: "The 1st Mechanized Regiment will establish a defensive line at the mountain pass in the northeast direction, the Army Aviation Squadron will stand by at the No. 2 temporary airfield, and the 'Azure Wolf' Special Forces will be divided into four groups, lying in ambush at four key nodes in the defense zone. We're just waiting for the exercise to officially begin..."

Before he could finish speaking, the communications officer suddenly stood up, his expression strange: "Report! The logistics department reports that the No. 3 supply depot... has lost contact."

"Out of contact?" Jiang Tao turned his head. "What do you mean?"

"Well... we could still get in touch five minutes ago, but there was no response to our routine call just now. The scouts we sent out discovered that half a platoon guarding the supply depot has been 'killed in action'."

The tent fell silent instantly. The exercise hadn't even started yet!

"How did you 'die'?" Jiang Tao asked in a deep voice.

"They all had laser sensor marks on their bodies, but no one saw the attackers. The surveillance at the supply depot was jammed; the last footage showed 3:40 AM, and then it was just static." The communications officer swallowed hard. "What's even stranger is that all the 'fallen' soldiers said they were suddenly 'killed' during shift changes, without even hearing a gunshot."

Jiang Tao and Yang Zhenhua exchanged a glance, both seeing the same word in each other's eyes—

Hidden Dragon.

"Damn, they came fast," Jiang Tao cursed, but his eyes flashed with excitement. "Pass the word: the exercise starts ahead of schedule! All troops are on high alert! Tell Gao Cheng to have 'Azure Wolf' search with all its might; they must find this 'rat'!"

At the same time, on a mountain ridge five kilometers away from the No. 3 supply point.

Lin Zhe lay prone behind a rock, his body covered in optical camouflage, almost blending into his surroundings. He had already put away his sniper rifle and was checking the assessment data of the recent operation on his wristwatch.

"Twenty-three defenders killed, one supply depot destroyed, 350 points earned. Current ranking: 1."

The watch screen showed that Longya had also scored 280 points in the Southwest Military Region, temporarily placing him second. The exercise scoring system is updated in real time, and all sabotage actions are converted into points.

Lin Zhe turned off the screen and looked up towards the east. The sky was already turning a pale white; dawn was approaching. He needed to reach his next target—the Northwest Military Region's field communications relay station—before daylight.

The station was located in a birch forest and had two high-powered communication vehicles responsible for connecting frontline troops with command. If it were destroyed, at least one-third of the Northwest Military Region's troops would be rendered deaf and blind.

Lin Zhe got up and slid down the ridge as silently as a cat. He didn't take the road, but rather followed an almost vertical crevice in the rock—a shortcut he had discovered during reconnaissance the previous night, saving him forty minutes.

The crevice was narrow, allowing only a sideways passage. Lin Zhe slung his backpack over his chest and slowly made his way down. Halfway down, his watch suddenly vibrated—someone was approaching.

He stopped immediately and held his breath. Five seconds later, he heard footsteps and voices overhead.

"Is the captain being too nervous? The exercise hasn't even officially started yet, and he's making us patrol so early."

"What do you know? I heard that special forces members have infiltrated. They were the ones who raided supply depot number three last night."

"Really? One person took down half a platoon?"

"What else can we do? So everyone stay alert and report any suspicious targets immediately..."

The sound gradually faded into the distance. Lin Zhe waited a while, and only continued down after confirming it was safe. Ten minutes later, he reached the bottom of the valley and disappeared into the dense bushes.

It's still three kilometers to the communications station. Lin Zhe glanced at the time—5:40, twenty minutes until dawn. That's enough.

He opened his tactical goggles and switched to thermal imaging mode. The terrain ahead appeared in red, yellow, and blue through the goggles—red for heat sources, yellow for warm sources, and blue for cold sources. Several red dots moved in the distance; they were patrol teams.

Lin Zhe bypassed them and chose a more difficult but more secluded route: following a dry streambed. The streambed was full of pebbles, which were slippery to walk on, but would not leave footprints.

At exactly six o'clock, it was dawn.

Lin Zhe also arrived at the designated location—a sloping hill 300 meters northeast of the communications station. He lay down and observed through binoculars.

The communications station was larger than he had expected. In addition to two communications vehicles, there were four tents and at least a platoon of soldiers. The perimeter was surrounded by a makeshift barbed wire fence, two machine gun positions, and four sentries patrolling.

The defenses are very tight, but not foolproof.

Lin Zhe noticed a detail: every twenty minutes, an off-road vehicle would drive out of the communications station, patrol along a fixed route, and then return. There were three people in the vehicle, equipped with a machine gun.

He had an idea.

At 6:20, the patrol car drove off again. Lin Zhe quietly followed. The car didn't go fast on the rugged mountain road, and he could keep up by running.

After following for about a kilometer, the car slowed down at a bend. Lin Zhe seized the opportunity, rushed up from the side, leaped up, grabbed the rear bumper with both hands, and clung to the rear of the car like a gecko.

The people inside the car were completely unaware.

The car drove for a few more minutes before stopping at a high point with a wide view. The driver got out, took out a cigarette, and said, "Have one, take a break."

The other two also got out of the car, and the three of them, with their backs to Lin Zhe, began to smoke and chat.

Lin Zhe silently released his grip and landed, then walked around to the other side of the car. He took out three miniature tranquilizer darts from his backpack—non-lethal weapons used in exercises, which would temporarily "incapacitate" the target upon impact, thus classifying them as "dead."

He raised the pistol fitted with a silencer.

"Puff, puff, puff."

Three soft thuds rang out, and three soldiers were simultaneously struck in the back of the neck. They froze for a moment, instinctively touching their necks, then their bodies went limp and they collapsed to the ground.

Lin Zhe quickly stepped forward, dragged the three to a secluded spot, and then returned to his car. With the keys still in the ignition, he started the engine and turned the car around.

At 6:40, Lin Zhe drove the patrol car back to the communications station entrance. The sentry, seeing it was one of their own, waved and let him through.

The car drove directly next to the communications vehicle. Lin Zhe got out, pretending to inspect the vehicle, but actually secretly stuck several button-sized magnetic bombs onto the chassis of the communications vehicle.

"Hey, which class are you in?" An officer came out of the tent and looked at Lin Zhe with a puzzled expression.

Lin Zhe turned around and fired a shot.

A blob of dye burst from the officer's chest—he had been "killed."

The gunfire alerted the entire communications station. Soldiers rushed out of their tents, and upon seeing their comrades "killed," they all raised their guns.

But Lin Zhe was faster. He rolled behind the car and pressed the detonation button on his watch at the same time.

"Boom boom boom—"

Several muffled thuds were heard, and thick smoke billowed from the chassis of the two communication vehicles. The exercise's judging system immediately determined that the communication equipment was damaged.

"Enemy attack!" someone shouted.

Lin Zhe was no longer behind the car. Using the smoke as cover, he rushed to the generator and attached another bomb.

"boom!"

The generator was also "damaged". The communication station lost power instantly, and all equipment was paralyzed.

The next two minutes were a one-sided massacre. Lin Zhe moved through the camp like a ghost, and with each shot, a soldier was "killed." He targeted commanders and communications soldiers, quickly crippling the entire communications station's command system.

At 6:50, Lin Zhe withdrew from the communications station. Behind him was a camp shrouded in thick smoke, with more than forty soldiers "killed" and a key communications node destroyed.

The watch vibrated: "Destroyed the communications relay station, gained 500 points. Current ranking: 1."

Nine o'clock in the morning, Northwest Military Region Command.

The atmosphere was so heavy it seemed like it could drip water. Jiang Tao stared at the red nodes on the sand table—representing targets that had been destroyed—his face ashen.

"Supply point No. 3, communications relay station, Highway 7 checkpoint, fuel transport convoy..." Yang Zhenhua read the battle report, his voice growing softer and softer, "In just three hours, we have already lost twelve key nodes, and the casualties... oh no, the 'killed' soldiers have reached two hundred and thirty-seven."

"Have you caught them?" Jiang Tao asked.

"No." Gao Cheng, the captain of the "Azure Wolf" special forces team, stood to the side, his face grim. "The other side is too cunning. They disappear immediately after each success, without any follow-up. Our patrol team didn't even see a shadow of them."

Jiang Tao slammed his fist on the table: "One person! Just one person! He turned our entire military region upside down! If this were a real war, the command post would have been wiped out long ago!"

He looked at Gao Cheng: "What are you 'Azure Wolves' good for? More than sixty people, and you can't even catch one person?"

Gao Cheng gritted his teeth: "Commander, we have searched with all our might. But the other side is clearly a top expert with extremely strong counter-surveillance capabilities. Moreover... he seems to know our defenses very well and is targeting our weak points."

Yang Zhenhua suddenly said, "Old Jiang, something's not right. Look at these destroyed targets, their distribution is very regular—gradually contracting from the periphery towards the center. It's like he's...fishing."

"fishing?"

"Yes, by using these acts of sabotage, he forces us to mobilize troops to surround and blockade us. Then he can pinpoint the exact location of the command post." Yang Zhenhua pointed to the sand table. "You see, all the points of attack are concentrated in the northeast and northwest directions. He hasn't touched the southeast direction even once."

Upon closer inspection, Jiang Tao realized it was true. The southeast direction was where their command post was located, and it was the most heavily guarded area.

"He's testing our reaction speed and also wearing down our forces." Yang Zhenhua's expression was serious. "If we continue to defend passively like this, he'll find a weakness sooner or later."

Jiang Tao was silent for a few seconds, then suddenly laughed: "Interesting. Very interesting."

He looked at Gao Cheng: "Gao Cheng, take your men and move them all out. He wants to fish, doesn't he? Let's fish him! Use the command post as bait and lay a trap. I want to see just how much this 'hidden dragon' can stir up!"

Gao Cheng's eyes lit up: "Yes!"

"But remember," Jiang Tao added, "leave a small squad near the command post in case he actually comes to decapitate him. The other thirty men, divided into six groups, will form an ambush within a 20-kilometer radius to the southeast. Once he enters, give him a good beating!"

"clear!"