15: Hanging someone for the first time

Saying that, he turned to Zhao Feipeng: "Feipeng, we will launch a feint from the front to attract ground and sniper fire. You and Ye Ming will take the opportunity to approach the wall from the southwest side and quickly use C4 explosives to breach it!"

"Understood!"

After Li Xiao gave the order, Liu Nian exclaimed in surprise: "C4? Where did it come from?"

"Engineers get one for free when they're promoted to Private First Class!"

"Private First Class? You're promoted so fast? My Engineer only got to Private Third Class by collecting resources. The gap is too big."

Li Xiao thought to himself, 'The gap really is that big. I've taken down three planes, and you've only taken down a few people.'

"But are you sure one C4 can blow through this one-meter-thick concrete wall?"

"If one isn't enough, use ten. If that's still not enough, use a hundred."

Hearing Li Xiao's words, Liu Nian was speechless.

Zhao Feipeng received the order and, along with Ye Ming, circled around to the southwest side.

During this time, Li Xiao and Liu Nian each arranged for their men to take cover in secure positions, ready to open fire.

Estimating that the time was right, Li Xiao pointed at the machine gun position opposite and said to Zhang Shuang: "See that machine gun? Don't worry about anyone else later, just focus on that machine gun position. I've prepared two thousand rounds for you, so go wild."

"Understood, Boss!"

Zhang Shuang loaded a 150-round magazine into his squad automatic weapon, pulled the bolt, and stared intently ahead.

After everyone was in position, Li Xiao raised his rifle and swept a burst at the sniper on the high tower.

Clang, clang, clang!

The bullets all hit the iron frame of the high tower, which was like a signal flare announcing the start of a barrage.

Ten soldiers on Li Xiao's side opened fire simultaneously, and the resulting barrage instantly covered the entire gate of the steel factory.

Zhang Shuang's light machine gun roared furiously, and dense bullets continuously struck the sandbags of the heavy machine gun position.

At the same time, the heavy machine gun at the gate also turned its muzzle and began to sweep the gravel slope. 12.7mm machine gun rounds kicked up clouds of dust as they hit the sand and gravel, and the orange tracer rounds flew two hundred meters in an instant, forcing Li Xiao and his men to keep their heads down.

In desperation, Li Xiao simply ordered everyone to hold their guns above their heads and blind-fire towards the gate. Liu Nian, seeing this, followed suit.

After all, it was just to attract fire; there was no expectation of hitting anyone.

But even so, they were still pinned down by the sniper on the high point. Zhang Shuang, who had the most intense firepower, was hit twice in the head, losing three hundred health points.

And that wasn't all. Seeing Li Xiao and the others hunkering down, the Imperial Troops even brought out rocket launchers and fired rockets at them repeatedly.

Fortunately, they were on a reverse slope, and the rocket shrapnel was not easy to hit them. After four or five rockets, only two or three soldiers were hit by shrapnel, losing only a few hundred health points.

The two sides exchanged fire for more than ten minutes. Li Xiao finally saw the light signal from Ye Ming. He signaled Jiang Lang to reply, telling Ye Ming to detonate immediately.

At the same time, they also began to retreat, moving towards the southwest.

Under the southwest wall, Ye Ming took C4 explosives one by one from Zhao Feipeng and arranged them in a certain order, tightly against the wall.

When a full hundred blocks of explosives were attached, Ye Ming signaled Zhao Feipei to retreat first. Then he inserted all the C4 explosives into the detonators and clustered them into the detonator.

By the time Ye Ming had retreated to a safe distance, Li Xiao and his men had also arrived.

"Is it done?"

"Ready to detonate anytime!" Ye Ming shook the remote control in his hand.

Li Xiao nodded: "Good, detonate immediately!"

Boom!!!

With a violent explosion, the seemingly indestructible concrete wall cracked amidst flying sparks and stones. A fireball rose into the air, leaving a gap barely wide enough for one person to pass through.

"Beautiful! Brothers, go!"

Li Xiao roared, and the soldiers raised their guns, advancing in combat formation towards the wall.

Liu Nian clearly didn't want to look like he was just standing by, so he bravely led his troops to the very front.

The Black Hawk Empire troops in the steel factory heard the explosion and all converged on the breach. A fierce battle erupted between the two sides at the wall's opening.

"Everyone throw all your grenades!"

Before setting off, Li Xiao had put an extra five grenades in each soldier's backpack, worried that the Imperial Troops would use their sturdy fortifications to block them.

Now these Imperial Soldiers were indeed firing at the breach from behind the dense pipes and conveyor belts inside the wall, making it difficult for them to get out from the corner.

Soon, dozens of grenades were thrown at the feet of the Imperial Troops. Although the continuous explosions didn't cause much damage to the enemy, they effectively hindered their line of fire.

Zhang Shuang and Di Yun were the first to break through, and with their health advantage, they quickly took down three Imperial Soldiers. Liu Nian's troops followed up, providing suppressing fire and continuous flank protection for the two.

But at this moment, the sniper on the high tower struck again, killing one of Liu Nian's infantrymen and a new recruit Li Xiao had just spawned, whose name he didn't even know, with two consecutive shots.

"Damn it! Zhang Shuang, suppress that high tower for me!"

Li Xiao looked at the fallen recruit. This young man had only been with him for a day, and he hadn't even had time to check his name, and now he was gone.

Feeling his boss's anger, Zhang Shuang raised his gun and fiercely returned fire towards the high tower platform. In such dark conditions, it was very difficult to kill the sniper; he could only use suppressing fire to prevent the enemy from shooting.

Li Xiao glanced at the soldier's corpse and blamed himself. He still had over two thousand health points in his blood pool. If he had just remembered to add five hundred points to him, he wouldn't have sacrificed himself.

Thinking of this, he quickly added a thousand health points to Li Le, the radio operator behind him. Every soldier was a crucial force in the early stages.

Liu Nian's expression also wasn't good. He had already lost two soldiers in the early stages, and now another one had died, which had a significant impact.

Zhang Shuang's suppressing fire was effective. The sniper no longer dared to show his head and snipe. Di Yun swept his gun, and in just two minutes, he rushed to the vicinity of the east gate.

Then, the heavy machine gun team and patrol, who had been stationary, opened fire. Di Yun was accidentally hit by two heavy machine gun bullets, instantly losing six hundred health points.

However, Li Xiao quickly thought of a solution.

"Liu Nian, tell your troops to throw smoke grenades into the passage! We're going to charge!"

"Alright, no problem!"

Liu Nian continuously swept the high tower, helping Zhang Shuang suppress the sniper. Hearing Li Xiao's shout, he turned and said to his troops: "Everyone, smoke grenades ready!"

Smoke grenades were standard issue for all existing troop types. This situation, with the attack passage blocked by heavy machine guns, was precisely the time to use smoke grenades.

Soon, several smoke grenades were thrown near the East Gate, creating clouds of smoke under the searchlights. Once the smoke formed a curtain, completely blocking the heavy machine gun's line of sight, Zhao Feipeng was the first to charge out.