Late Ming Dynasty: Special Forces in 1645

As the torrential rain subsided and the sun blazed overhead, a group of fully armed assault team members marched forward along the rugged mountain path, their steps firm despite their exhaustion.

This is a team of elite soldiers selected from various units, including snipers, machine gunners, demolition experts, assault troops, observers, communications personnel, medics, and captain Li Chengming, for a total of eight assault team members.

"Not long ago there was thunder and lightning and strong winds, and then a torrential downpour followed immediately by blazing sunshine. The weather here is really weird!" the observer muttered to himself.

"Exactly! I'm soaking wet, carrying 50 kilograms of weight, and I have to cross 50 kilometers every day for 10 days of wilderness survival. I'm already this exhausted before the first day is even over. There are still nine days left. It's going to be tough!" the sniper complained.

The other commandos also joined in the complaints.

Captain Li Chengming, walking at the front, smiled and thought to himself: Usually, you all act so arrogantly because you are the best soldiers in the world. These ten days of field training will surely temper your arrogance.

After that, they will all be sent overseas for a real combat exercise, and then China's best special forces will be almost ready!

Li Chengming said sternly, "Stop complaining. Your walkie-talkies all have eavesdropping capabilities. The command center might be listening to your complaints right now. Don't forget to write a report explaining the situation when you get back!"

The sniper shouted, "Huh? Captain, please let me go! Do I have to write a report for this?"

The assault team members are usually fearless and won't even flinch when punished by running 20 kilometers with heavy loads. But what they fear most is writing reports. Although they are all highly educated, they get a headache just thinking about writing reports.

"The walkie-talkie..." The communications officer following behind looked uneasy. "Reporting, Captain! The walkie-talkie isn't receiving any outside signals, and the other individual radio is too!"

A walkie-talkie is a personal communication device that integrates the functions of a walkie-talkie, a small radio, a wireless repeater, a satellite phone, and satellite positioning, and has strong anti-interference capabilities.

Li Chengming's expression changed slightly, and he hurriedly tried to contact the command center using his walkie-talkie.

Unable to contact!

I tried calling the satellite phone, but there was no signal!

Satellite positioning cannot receive BeiDou information!

Li Chengming was somewhat surprised and said, "Everyone, try contacting the command center!"

The other team members tried to contact the command center, only to find that they really couldn't get in touch.

The correspondent added, "Everyone's walkie-talkies are communicating with each other, but they've all lost contact with the outside world!"

The individual radio carried by the communicator is more powerful and has more functions, enabling it to maintain contact with the command center in complex electromagnetic environments.

While walkie-talkies and individual radios can communicate with the command center via satellite links, with 24-hour global signal coverage, they are all unable to contact the command center at this time.

Li Chengming turned to the observer and said, "Use a drone to take this small radio up there, the higher the better, and see if we can make contact with the outside world!"

At high altitudes, with fewer mountains obstructing the view, the signal might be better.

The observer nodded, skillfully assembled the drone, attached a small radio to the bottom of the reconnaissance drone, and then piloted the drone into flight.

As the drone flew higher and higher until it became a black dot and finally disappeared from sight, Li Chengming, who was usually calm, felt a strange sense of tension.

The observer noted, "The drone has reached its highest point, 921 meters above the ground. Any higher and the airflow becomes more complex, making it easier to lose control!"

The communications officer nodded, took out a terminal about the size of a mobile phone, operated it for a while, then shook his head with a slightly somber expression, saying, "It's confirmed, no electromagnetic signals from the outside world can be detected!"

Li Chengming: "What do you mean?"

Reporter: "The radio can detect the signal from our walkie-talkies, but it can't find any other signals!"

He paused, then continued, "We've ruled out electromagnetic interference. Signals across all frequency bands have been analyzed, and the waveforms on the oscilloscope are remarkably clean. I've never seen such a clean electromagnetic environment before!"

Li Chengming, who also knew a little about communication technology, asked, "Has the whole world entered a state of electromagnetic silence? Or has a large-scale war broken out, and all external communication equipment has been destroyed simultaneously, including satellites in the sky?"

The reporter shook his head: "No country in the world can do that, because not only can't it detect BeiDou signals, it can't even detect signals from GPS, Galileo, GLONASS, and other satellite positioning systems!"

Li Chengming considered himself experienced and knowledgeable, but he had never encountered such a situation before, nor had he ever even heard of it.

An eerie silence fell over the room.

"Something's up!" the observer broke the silence.

Li Chengming walked over and asked, "What's going on?"

"Look!" The observer pointed to the footage taken by the drone on the tablet and said to the crowd that had gathered around, "This town is the town where we started, right? We entered this mountainous area from this town."

Li Chengming asked with some doubt, "It's too far away to see clearly. Could you zoom in a bit?"

The observer said, "The straight-line distance is 15.7 kilometers, and the image has already been zoomed in to its maximum."

Seeing the puzzled looks on everyone's faces, the observer explained, "The small town we started from has many buildings that are seven or eight stories high, but look at the outlines in this picture, where is there any trace of modern architecture?"

Once everyone realized what was going on, they noticed the problem. Upon closer inspection, the images appeared to contain low-rise, ancient-style buildings.

Li Chengming said, "Let's fly the drone over and take a look!"

The observer nodded, lowered the drone, put down the radio, and then piloted the drone toward the small town.

The town's outline gradually became clear as the drone approached, and the buildings on the tablet were indeed in an ancient style.

To modern people who are used to skyscrapers, the buildings in the small town mostly appear low and dilapidated.

It's like an unknown ancient city with few tourists.

Most importantly, Li Chengming and his group clearly remembered that this town was not an ancient city, but a modern town.

After taking out the map and confirming the location several times, the town was indeed located at the starting point of the assault team's entry into the mountains.

When the drone had flown halfway through its flight, thick smoke rose from several parts of the town, obscuring its view.

Soon, smoke rose and spread, covering the entire town.

"This is weird. Have the drone fly back, but even if it does, we won't be able to see anything," Li Chengming ordered. "We all need to go back to that town. I want to see for myself what happened there!"

The other seven commandos nodded. They had just as many doubts as Li Chengming and were also thinking of going back to find out.

After resting for a while, the assault team members returned along the same route.

The assault team members were chatting and laughing when they arrived, but they all fell silent when they returned.

They even got lost several times on the way back, which is incredible for a commando team that is skilled in fighting in complex terrain!

After a three- or four-hour trek, they finally returned to the town. By then, the thick smoke had dissipated considerably, and the assault team members could clearly see what the town looked like.

The buildings inside were burned to ruins, and the fire was not yet completely extinguished.

The aroma of roasted meat wafted from the ashes.

Upon smelling the aroma, Li Chengming frowned and said in a deep voice, "It smells like barbecue!"

"I can smell it!" the machine gunner behind him said casually.

Li Chengming, the only special operations team member with combat experience, having participated in numerous overseas missions and possessing rich battlefield experience, added:

"The smell of roasted human flesh!"

"I smelled it too!" the demolition expert exclaimed, but quickly realized, "Human...human flesh?"

Upon hearing this, the other assault team members' expressions changed, and they all covered their mouths and noses.

No matter how strong their individual abilities are, apart from Li Chengming, none of the other assault team members have ever been on the battlefield or experienced life and death. It is inevitable that they will feel uncomfortable when they see death for the first time.

It's okay if you don't know it's human flesh, but once you find out, it makes you feel physically nauseous.

The medical staff reacted the least: "I've smelled human flesh before, but this is the first time I've smelled roasted human flesh. This smell isn't coming from just one direction. Has this village been massacred?"

Li Chengming, with a somber expression, stopped in front of a pile of ashes, carefully brushed away the ashes covering it, and gradually revealed a human figure inside!

"One, two, three, four... seven, a total of seven corpses, three of which, judging by their size, are children..."

Although the fire was not small, it was not enough to burn the bodies to bones; even charring them would be a stretch.

Seven corpses were piled together, emanating a strong smell of roasted meat.

The assault team members behind Li Chengming looked rather grim and involuntarily took a few steps back.

Li Chengming, seemingly unaffected, pointed to the charred corpses and analyzed, "These corpses bear marks of being injured by sharp weapons. They must have been killed by sharp weapons first, and then dragged here to be burned."

Following the smell of roasted meat, they discovered several more burned bodies, including not only adult corpses but also many children's corpses!

Looking at the gruesome corpses, the commandos were first disgusted and horrified, then filled with anger.

"The entire town was massacred!"

"That's ruthless! They don't even spare children!"

"Who on earth did this?"