The Ultimate War Of The Apocalypse
Chapter 262 - 257: Ultimate move of War

Chapter 262: Chapter 257: Ultimate move of War

There are three principles to launching an attack: night raid, stealth raid, and surprise assault.

Launching a stealthy attack at night is the basic principle. First of all, initiating an attack at night is the most fundamental rule which must not change. Then comes the question of whether to transition from stealth to surprise.

A stealth raid, huh? Hit them quietly and then run, without getting too entangled with the enemy. But if you want to expand the victory and maximize success, you still need to penetrate the enemy’s core and cause as much chaos as possible while intertwined with them.

A stealth attack also allows for easier retreat. But once you’ve stormed into enemy territory, it’s not guaranteed that you can withdraw. Therefore, according to Gao Yuan’s plan, a night raid is the basic premise, a stealth raid is the goal of this mission, and a surprise assault depends on how the situation unfolds.

The squad has been chosen—Gao Yuan, Panxin, Li Jingang, Yu Shunzhou, Nie Erlong, and Liu Chunxiao.

The prisoners must be watched; it’s not as if we can just let these people run off. Cao Zhenjiang had no choice but to take on the responsibility of guarding the prisoners of war and thus couldn’t participate in the stealth raid.

Even Lizhizi took up arms to watch over the prisoners.

With the personnel selected, the choice of weapons naturally required careful consideration.

A sniper rifle with thermal imaging for night vision, which Panxin would use. The rest of the men were all equipped with rifles, not even a machine gun among them. The only special weapon was Liu Chunxiao’s flamethrower.

This time, Gao Yuan didn’t bring his long sword or Steel Mace because they were not conducive to stealth. So, he wore a bulletproof vest, carried only a dagger and an axe, then an AK47 rifle, and a large number of grenades.

Night had fallen. From here to the front line of the Indian siege at Gilgit was more than fifty kilometers. It was obviously impossible to walk the distance, but taking a truck was also out of the question.

Fortunately, Gao Yuan’s group had captured three motorcycles, special transportation for the command unit of this reinforced battalion.

The simplest disguise was to switch into the enemy’s uniforms. The clothes had already been changed, and whether it was psychological or not, Gao Yuan always felt a stench on himself.

Everything was ready, and just before departure, Xinghe waved Gao Yuan over.

Xinghe’s brows were tightly furrowed. After calling Gao Yuan over, it seemed like she wanted to hug him, but as she got close and smelled the odor on him, she took two steps back.

"You smell bad."

Gao Yuan sniffed and nodded, "Yeah, it’s the smell of the clothes."

Xinghe rubbed her nose, then said with some sorrow, "According to the highest principles of the Explorers, high-leveled civilized explorers are strictly forbidden from intervening in the civil wars of lower civilizations."

Gao Yuan paused, then said, "Oh?"

Xinghe furrowed her brows and said, "So I can’t suggest anything about your civil war. During your wars, I can only be an observer and recorder, but I must not intervene actively or passively."

"Who made that rule?"

"The Interstellar Explorers’ Association."

"An association of many civilizations?"

"No, our own Celestial association. No other civilizations have joined yet."

Gao Yuan smiled and said, "Then say whatever you want to say."

Xinghe spoke with worry, "But I would rather breach the Explorers’ code than not warn you that what you’re doing is too risky."

"Hmm? Is this your advice?"

"Yes."

"Then explain it to me in detail."

Xinghe let out a breath and said, "There are only six of you, and the enemy numbers in the thousands. Such a mismatch in strength means success is improbable. I’ve done a simple calculation, and the probability of all of you dying is as high as ninety-four percent, with the probability of individual casualties being one hundred percent."

Gao Yuan, somewhat confused, asked in a low voice, "Is this divination? A prediction? Or some high-tech method?"

"Hmm, it’s just a simple calculation based on the basic conditions of warfare. But, due to the huge disparity between the combatant forces, conclusions come easily."

Gao Yuan pondered for a while, then nodded, "I get it. Your technology is so advanced that you’re accustomed to warfare with absolute superiority, yet you don’t understand the true essence of war, I mean under equal strength conditions, with weapons not yet highly advanced."

Xinghe, still very serious, said, "Numbers! Numbers are absolute. Since mathematics is a universal language, it means that numbers are also a universal rule. I’ve roughly understood Earth’s mode of warfare. Even without a disparity in weapons, numbers are still one of the absolute advantages."

Gao Yuan laughed and said, "This is combat. Perhaps you understand war, but you might not understand combat. Just wait and see, we will win this battle. Even if we don’t win, we will not lose."

Xinghe remained serious, "I know some might survive and escape, but the probability is still very low. I don’t think this unnecessary death is worth it."

How to explain it to Xinghe? It seemed there was no way to explain. This was a clash between two fundamentally different philosophies of warfare.

When warfare becomes about piloting starships to destroy other civilizations, night raids and stealth tactics naturally exit the stage of war. But this is Earth, and while combat still primarily revolves around guns and cannons, a tactic like a night raid that has persisted for thousands of years is far from outdated.

Of course, there was no need to explain all this to Xinghe, the alien.

Gao Yuan smiled, then moved closer to Xinghe, embracing her and standing on tiptoe. Although he couldn’t be as tall as Xinghe, at least he could whisper in her ear.

"Wait for me to come back."

The absolute disadvantage in height was too damaging to a man’s pride.

Gently patting Xinghe on the head twice, Gao Yuan turned to the five people ready to go and said, "Depart!"

Three motorcycles started up; Gao Yuan mounted Yu Shunzhou’s motorcycle, while Nie Erlong took another and brought Liu Chunxiao with him; as for Panxin and Li Jingang, they naturally shared one bike.

"Did you just kiss Xinghe?"

"No, I just said a word."

"But you clearly kissed her."

"Do you want a beating?"

Yu Shunzhou said no more. He started up the motorcycle and rode it forward a bit before shouting loudly, "Tell Xiaoyu when you get back."

"If you wanna end up like a dead dog, just blurt it out."

Panxin and Li Jingang had already ridden off ahead; they were to act as the vanguard. Since it was a special operation, naturally they took the lead.

Why could Yu Shunzhou and Nie Erlong go, but Cao Zhenjiang had to stay behind? This was because although Yu Shunzhou and Nie Erlong were new recruits, they had learned real special operations from Xiang Weiguo; Cao Zhenjiang, despite being a veteran of over a decade, had always been a traditional infantry cook, and even with a solid base, he was more of a culinary master in the canteen than a special forces member.

In short, they were not from the same system; they could be compatible but they were distinct.

As for Liu Chunxiao, he was an instructor from the Stonegate Land Academy. Although he taught Anti-Chemical Militants, Stonegate Land Academy was all about studying tactics, and special operations within the Anti-Chemical Militants were definitely considered and practiced, weren’t they? Thus, Liu Chunxiao could seamlessly integrate into the battle system of Panxin and Yu Shunzhou.

See? Panxin and Li Jingang were one system; Yu Shunzhou and Nie Erlong were another system; Liu Chunxiao was a system of his own; yet, they could all make up a functioning program together. Only Gao Yuan was the one incompatible BUG.

Although they were taught by the same master, what Gao Yuan learned was how to survive, while Yu Shunzhou and the others learned how to fight—a totally different matter. They were brothers of the same sect but walked different paths.

The motorcycles moved along the mountain road at a speed of twenty or thirty kilometers per hour, sometimes encountering areas covered with ice and snow on the shaded side, where they couldn’t ride up and had to push the motorcycles instead.

However, the journey was overall smooth, and after nearly three hours, Panxin and Li Jingang finally slowed down.

"Stop, there are people ahead."

Hearing Li Jingang’s call through the earpiece, Yu Shunzhou immediately stopped his motorcycle.

The mountain road was basically all downhill, and standing at a turn and looking down, one could see dense white dots in the valley below.

Under the red-hot mode, people appear as red dots in the thermal imaging when close, but as the distance increases, the color fades to white dots.

"How’s it looking?"

Holding the largest handheld thermal imaging scanner, Panxin observed while Li Jingang said from beside him, "The straight-line distance is 2,400 meters, elevation difference 220 meters, lots of people. It’s local time 1:20 am; these thermal images suggest that these people could be sentries or similar personnel. We’ve found the enemy’s main encampment."

Gao Yuan looked down, squinting into the darkness without the aid of auxiliary equipment.

"Let me see."

Panxin handed the thermal imager to Gao Yuan. With a glance, the world lit up before his eyes.

A town surrounded by numerous tents, cannons, tanks—clearly visible in the thermal imaging.

Everything matched Abina’s testimony. The Indian forces had set up their eastern logistics base in a small town nine kilometers from Gilgit; it housed artillery positions, rear hospitals, and the command post of the 28th Mountain Division.

Five kilometers further on, there was the main infantry position; another two kilometers ahead, near two kilometers from Gilgit, lay the Indians’ front line.

"Wow, it’s quite a sight..."

Giving the thermal imager back to Panxin, Gao Yuan whispered, "This is a once-in-a-lifetime chance. I think we can make a bigger move."

After a moment of thought, Gao Yuan said softly, "What do you think about this plan: we just ride the motorcycles straight in and start shouting that the Shenzhou People are coming, run for your lives, scare the enemy witless, then take the opportunity to sabotage."

Panxin sighed softly, "That’s a good idea, but it won’t work."

"Why not?"

Panxin replied helplessly, "The two of us speak English..."

"The Indians speak English, don’t they?"

Panxin said helplessly, "No, although controlled by the Sanitation Worker, our main opponents are still the Indians under their command. And the Indians have twenty-two official languages, only a very small part of them speak English. I’ve already asked; here, less than one percent speak English, most speak Hindi... We don’t speak that."

After thinking for a moment, Gao Yuan said, "Then there’s nothing we can do. Let’s stick to the ultimate move of War that hasn’t changed in a millennium. We’ll go in hard!"