Ultimate Firepower
Chapter 355 - 339 Good Luck

Chapter 355: Chapter 339 Good Luck

In the midst of chaos, Donkey still needed to interrogate the prisoner.

But just as Donkey had uttered a harsh threat, someone urgently said over the radio, "A large number of tanks and armored vehicles spotted! Two kilometers away!"

Tanks were coming.

The distance of two kilometers would be closed in an instant.

Gao Yi looked toward Feng Biao.

At this critical moment, Wind Vane had not offered an opinion, which meant he thought there was no point in running.

Seeing Gao Yi looking at him, Feng Biao gently shook his head and said softly, "It’s useless."

Donkey didn’t get up; he simply spoke into the radio with a nonchalant tone, "Go to the third floor. If the tanks come close, try to target their tops. If the tanks don’t come close, don’t bother with them."

Gao Yi looked at Feng Biao again. Feng Biao whispered, "Our rocket launchers have a range of only two hundred meters and a direct fire range of one hundred and twenty meters. If they’re further away, we can’t guarantee accuracy. The M1A2 has very strong protection, and only the top armor is relatively thin, but if the tanks refuse to come close, there’s no chance."

It meant there was no chance to hit the tanks if they didn’t come close.

But tanks can’t engage in indoor combat. So long as the tank crews weren’t collectively insane, why would they approach the building?

In summary, it was unsolvable.

Donkey once again spoke to the British soldier lying on the ground, "Tell me, how many of you are there?"

The soldier’s lips were tightly sealed, refusing to speak. Donkey exhaled sharply and then pulled out a knife from his waist. Without a word, he gently poked the soldier’s leg.

The soldier immediately screamed.

"Tell me, how many of you are there?" Donkey continued.

"Ah... ah! Phooey!"

The soldier screamed bitterly twice, then suddenly spat at Donkey.

Donkey dodged the spit and without anger, he lifted the knife again and stabbed it into the soldier’s thigh, then gently twisted it.

The soldier screamed in agony again, and Donkey calmly said, "Tell me, how many of you are there."

At that moment, the voice of a soldier from War Axe Mercenary Group sounded over the radio again.

"The enemy has begun to disperse. They drove from the north side along the road, spreading out at the factory’s north side. Four armored vehicles left the road, they are moving to flank the Lego Mercenary Corps’ escape direction. We’re being monitored; the enemy is very aware of Lego Mercenary Corps’ movements, over."

There were soldiers on the upper floors relaying information about the outside situation.

Donkey seemed not to have heard as he continued interrogating the captured soldier, "Next time, my knife will cut off your ’little brother’, and with another stab, I’ll pierce your bladder from below. It will be very painful, but it won’t kill you. Now tell me, how many of you are there?"

Finally, the soldier cried out, "A platoon! Plus an SBS assault team!"

He had spoken.

Donkey continued, "Your point of departure."

"The Persian Gulf! We were supposed to cross the Suez Canal into the Mediterranean, but we received an emergency order, and then we were sent here!"

Once he started talking, he couldn’t stop, but the interrogated soldier hadn’t yet realized the gravity of his situation. With a trembling voice, he pleaded, "I’m just a Sergeant, don’t kill me!"

"How many helicopters did you bring?" Donkey asked.

"I don’t know! I only know we have six transport planes, all our helicopters had to minimize weight. We can’t refuel in the air, can’t refuel at the US Military Base in Baghdad, we must ensure enough fuel for the return trip, so armed helicopters must return once they reach the critical fuel level. The window of opportunity for our offensive is very short!"

The soldier rushed to say everything he knew, and realizing his situation, he said in desperation, "Ask whatever you want, and then make it quick."

Donkey asked calmly, "Does your operation plan not include coordination with ground forces?"

"Yes!" The soldier was incredulous, looking like he was about to cry, he said shakily, "We were supposed to attack under the cover of tanks and armored vehicles, taking on the final indoor assault. The intelligence I knew of only mentioned coordination with ground forces... waiting for the ground forces to completely destroy... destroy your fire points, then SBS combat teams would be responsible for critical clearances. We were just there to support and cover, but when we arrived at the rendezvous on time, we found no ground forces at all, and then our officers ordered us to start the assault immediately."

Gao Yi was frightened by what he heard.

There had been a disconnect between ground and air forces, a coordination error, fortunately.

The firepower that helicopters could provide was ultimately too weak. If tanks and armored vehicles had first plowed through the building, followed by the British entering the building for a slow sweep, the outcome would have been different.

On the battlefield, one plus one can have far greater than the sum of two.

It had already been extremely difficult to withstand the first aggressive wave of the British. If there had been ground forces to eliminate the Lego Mercenary Corps hiding inside the factory directly, it wouldn’t even require complete annihilation, just the suppression of Lego Mercenary Corps, the outcome would not be what it was now.

"Donkey spoke indifferently, "Were there outsiders in your team, people you didn’t recognize, strange people, someone who doesn’t belong? Were there?"

"No."

The soldier thought for a moment, then he shook his head, "At least I didn’t see anything. When we were boarding, I didn’t notice any strangers following us onto the plane."

Donkey glanced meaningfully at Gao Yi and then whispered, "The one you need to deal with didn’t come."

Gao Yi forced a smile, "Of course, it was impossible for them to come."

Just then, Gao Yi heard continuous and dense sounds of autocannon fire, followed by the sound of machine guns.

Over the radio, a member of the War Axe Mercenary Group spoke again, "The people from the Lego Mercenary Corps trying to escape have been intercepted head-on; they are retreating, haha..."

The members of the War Axe Mercenary Group reveled in the misfortune; they didn’t have the slightest bit of sympathy for their compatriots in the Lego Mercenary Corps facing adversity.

"Tanks!"

A soldier guarding next to Donkey shouted, and then he barked, "They broke through the main gate, two... four tanks, four tanks split into two directions; two have crashed through the wall."

As if on cue, a loud boom sounded, momentarily illuminating the pitch-black room.

"The tanks fired, destroying three vehicles with armor-piercing shells!"

A single shot, just one, penetrated three vehicles.

The situation was already bad, but it immediately got worse without giving Gao Yi and his team a break to catch a breath.

One tank had fired and penetrated three vehicles, while another fired on the move, aiming directly at the first floor lobby of the office building.

There was a flash of fire, followed by a booming explosion inside the building.

The tanks showed no hesitation; their targets were crystal clear.

But the power of this shot seemed to be not that great, at least Gao Yi felt that despite its frightening aspect, the tremor was less intense than the one caused by an anti-tank mine.

"Armor-piercing explosive rounds!"

A soldier shouted, his tone quite relaxed, not too afraid or anxious.

Feng Biao said to Gao Yi, "The shells fired by the tank cannons are not overly powerful. Could that be considered good news?"

One shell meant one room, but that was all; the 120mm smoothbore tank cannons might not be small in caliber, but the US Army didn’t have much need for tanks in urban warfare, and their need for anti-personnel was also limited. Thus, the ammunition types the US Army transferred to the Iraqis were not very diverse.

The armor-piercing explosive rounds were effective against both vehicles and bunkers, but far from the power needed to demolish buildings.

Donkey had no desire to interrogate any further; without any unnecessary words, he stabbed the prisoner in the neck with a knife, withdrew it, then stood and shouted, "Disperse! Take cover separately, stay sharp, good luck!"

"Good luck!"

"Boss, good luck!"

Several members of the War Axe Mercenary Group yelled as they scattered, all mindful of the bonus good luck could bring, each one wishing their comrades good fortune as they sought cover from the shelling.

Indeed, at that moment, the only thing to rely on was luck.

Donkey looked at Gao Yi, "There’s nothing to say, everyone take cover on their own. The enemy won’t come close; they’ll just keep firing from afar. Whether we survive depends on our luck now."

Gao Yi nodded, "Good luck."

Donkey got up and left, heading toward the first-floor lobby.

The rule that a shell doesn’t fall twice in the same crater didn’t apply here because that was a situation with distant artillery fire. Here, the tanks were directly bombarding each room of the building, close and direct; it was normal for a previously hit room to receive another strike.

However, four tanks with four guns were not likely to fire at all rooms simultaneously.

Looking back, the intensity and fierceness of the fire really weren’t that exceptional, especially when compared to the Soviet battlefields of World War II. Even during the Battle of Stalingrad, when buildings were reduced to ruins, infantry could still emerge and fight against tanks.

A more recent example was Grozny; the Russian forces aimed to completely level Grozny with their assaults, yet such intense bombardments still couldn’t wipe out the Chechens completely.

Ultimately, it came down to a single phrase: it’s all about luck.

But it was uncomfortable, this notion of small lives hanging by a thread of divine whimsy, watching the enemy bombard systematically without having a place to hide was even more terrifying.

Gao Yi looked at Lucy. Lucy shook her head, "No, I want to stay with you."

Gao Yi hadn’t even spoken yet, but it wasn’t necessary to say anything, so he looked at Feng Biao, "How should we hide?"

Gao Yi had no experience, Lucy even less so, and Feng Biao sighed with resignation, "Let’s just stick together, the four of us. If we live, we live together."

As he spoke, another shell hit, this time striking a room even closer to where Gao Yi and his group were.

Feng Biao glanced outside and said, "We can dodge better by watching the direction of the tank’s cannons... but never mind that, just follow me, and after the second shell..."

Another shot rang out; the firing intervals for the two tanks were about a minute each, and then the two guns began to fire from the center towards the sides.

With a firing rate that wasn’t too fast and a power that wasn’t too great, Feng Biao chuckled bitterly, "Never thought I’d find myself in this situation. Come on, let’s hide somewhere in the middle."