The Ultimate War Of The Apocalypse
Chapter 331 - 324

Chapter 331: 324

After ten days of rest and reorganization at Kandahar Air Base, the entire garrison had completed all preparations for the withdrawal, allowing Liu Deguang to get through the most dangerous period.

Such time was not sufficient to fully heal all injuries, but it was enough to allow Liu Deguang’s body to recover and endure the hardships of a long journey.

"We’re leaving tomorrow, and now we need you, the intermediary, to get in touch with Atiq."

Andrew now seemed to be in good spirits. He couldn’t be described as exuberant, but at least he looked normal, not the crazed state Gao Yuan and the others had seen upon their arrival.

"I’ll meet with Atiq this afternoon to ensure they are ready to take over the base tomorrow."

All of this had been agreed upon, so there was no need for further discussion, but it was clear that Andrew now had a new idea.

"This is what I’m thinking..."

After a moment of contemplation, Andrew spoke in a low voice, "Being here, we’ve always been harassed by those bastards, and if we just leave like this, we would be reluctant to do so."

Gao Yuan was startled and immediately asked, "Colonel, what are you planning?"

The Americans were notorious for their treachery and for betraying their allies. Gao Yuan was genuinely afraid that Andrew had some inappropriate idea in mind and was planning a surprise attack on Atiq.

Picking on the weak was common practice, and while Atiq’s tribal fighters weren’t numerous or well-equipped, they had been fighting all their lives. Provoking them into a fight to the death was not a joking matter.

Anxiously, Andrew shook his head and gestured, "No, I don’t plan to harm Atiq and his men. I’m talking about the others."

As long as it wasn’t about attacking Atiq, that was a relief. Thinking of Ashraf, who had a masterful handling of the Mosin-Nagant, Gao Yuan always felt a chill at the back of his neck.

"Oh, so you mean... the others?"

Andrew nodded, then lowering his voice, he said, "Our morale is very low, and although it lifted a bit because we’re going home, it’s not enough. We are being forced out. I want to give the soldiers a victory to make them feel like they’re leaving on their own terms."

"Hmm, keep talking."

Andrew spread his hands and said, "Atiq and his men are tough to deal with, but the other group, they killed two of our people with a rocket launcher. We have to take revenge. If it’s discovered we’re leaving the base, those people will surely pursue us. Rather than waiting for their chase, we should take the initiative and strike them first."

"Okay, so I’ll discuss this with Atiq today to see what they plan to do tomorrow. Then we’ll go out tomorrow morning, take out the ones who attacked the base, and then retreat immediately. We’ll leave the rest to Atiq. What do you think?"

"Exactly, that’s what I’m thinking."

Alright, Andrew is still practical.

Atiq and his men had killed dozens of people at Kandahar Base in sporadic fighting, but Andrew never mentioned taking revenge. Another group used a rocket launcher to kill two at the base, and he seemed to want retaliation before leaving.

Meeting Atiq was easy; you just had to wait for him before his men’s scheduled attack.

Ever since Andrew made a secret agreement, Atiq had been willing to fire only one shell a day, and later on, he wasn’t willing to fire even one, reluctant to waste ammunition.

In the end, it was Gao Yuan and his men who brought a 60mm mortar and over forty shells to Atiq as a gift, persuading him to agree to fire two shells a day to disguise the fact that they had reconciled with Kandahar Air Force Base.

Gao Yuan and Li Yang waited in a wheeled armored vehicle at the location where Atiq and his men routinely fired their artillery.

Atiq possessed an incredibly valuable virtue among the Afghans: punctuality. Promising to fire at three o’clock, he would never wait until three-o-one. For this alone, he earned a high degree of respect.

At two fifty in the afternoon, Atiq arrived with his men.

"Atiq, my brother."

Gao Yuan opened his arms enthusiastically. Although there was a significant age gap between him and Atiq, since neither could understand what the other was saying, calling each other ’brother’ didn’t really matter.

As the two embraced, Ashraf remained seated beside them, cradling his Mosin-Nagant, smiling as he watched the group exchange pleasantries.

Gao Yuan couldn’t help but take another look at Ashraf.

One always has to give extra attention to someone who poses a threat, especially a fatal one, because that is what’s known as deterrence.

"Is there something wrong?"

"We’ll be leaving tomorrow. Before that, Colonel Andrew...wants to ambush the other side. Do you have any objections?"

Gao Yuan accidentally misspoke, referring to the general as a colonel, but fortunately, he had a safeguard in place—Li Yang smoothly translated ’colonel’ into ’general’ without batting an eye.

Atiq looked somewhat troubled. He pondered for a moment and then nodded, "We won’t interfere."

Gao Yuan whispered, "There are a lot of supplies in the base, mainly military arsenal and fuel. We will drive away most of the vehicles, but we will leave a lot of rifles and bullets. There are more than a thousand rifles, twelve small-caliber machine guns we can’t take with us, and so many, many more items. It’s too much, enough to arm an infantry regiment, an anti-aircraft battalion, and there are also four tanks. You will need at least a few hundred men to take over these weapons. If one tribe isn’t enough, I think you should contact others to help you."

After contemplating, Atiq shook his head, "No, leave us enough decoy medicines, and we will destroy the unusable heavy weapons ourselves. We don’t have the appropriate people to operate those weapons. But having enough light weapons and ammunition will still make our tribe the strongest armed force here."

"Okay."

Atiq said thank you and smiled, "I thought you would destroy most of the weapons and ammo."

Gao Yuan shook his head, "Andrew planned to do so, but I stopped him. I convinced him that arming you was the best choice."

"Thank you."

As Atiq extended his hand and shook hands with Gao Yuan, he said, "The Shenzhou people can be trusted. They consider their friends. Americans can’t be trusted; they are best at betrayal."

While shaking hands with Atiq, Gao Yuan whispered, "Yes, and it’s also because of your strength. If you hadn’t fought so well, Andrew wouldn’t care about you. Of course, convincing Andrew was still quite difficult."

The feeling of being generous with someone else’s resources is just so exhilarating.

Letting go of the handshake, Gao Yuan looked at Ashraf and whispered, "I have a request."

"Please speak."

"Could you send someone with me back to the base? He could monitor the Americans during the evacuation to see if they deliberately damage the weapons and equipment. Moreover, he could familiarize himself with the locations of the weapons in advance, making it easier for you to take over the arsenal."

Atiq looked toward Ashraf. Gao Yuan quickly extended his hand, "Wait, I haven’t finished. Uh, could I ask Ashraf to come with us? We need someone familiar with the Afghan terrain..."

Atiq turned to look at Gao Yuan with an expression that was both smiling and not.

Gao Yuan exhaled. Even with his thick skin, at this point, he was too embarrassed to say anything more. But the thing is, one can’t be too thin-skinned.

With a solemn face, Gao Yuan said, "We need warriors, real warriors. This is to better fight against the aliens..."

Atiq laughed and looked at Ashraf, who sat there cradling his weapon like an old peasant, "He’s taken a shine to you, will you go with him?"