29: Chapter 29 The Final Battle in Purgatory Valley: This is not war, it's a slaughterhouse

The so-called "Kokang Allied Forces" finally set off sluggishly three days later.

The massive convoy stretched for several kilometers, kicking up dust that blotted out the sky. Over five thousand men, dressed in a motley assortment of uniforms and carrying all kinds of weapons, some even carrying broadswords and homemade hunting rifles on their backs.

They didn't look like an army going to war; they looked more like a bunch of bandits and thugs heading to a market fair.

In the middle of the convoy, Yang Maoliang, Liu Zhengqi, and several other bigwigs sat in luxurious bulletproof off-road vehicles, holding walkie-talkies and continuing to flatter and encourage each other.

"Old Yang, look at this formation! That Zhang Cheng must be so scared he's wetting his pants by now! Hahaha!"

"That's for sure! We've brought out our entire stash this time! Look at those two cannons in the back; one shot, and his crappy compound will collapse by half!"

"Pass the order down! Speed up! Whoever rushes into the compound first gets ten gold bars! And they can take their pick of the women there!"

These warlords had no idea what marching discipline or reconnaissance and security meant. In their view, five thousand fighting against a few hundred was like a dragon riding on one's face—how could they possibly lose?

They followed the only route leading to Dawn Base and plunged headlong into the treacherous terrain that the locals called "Soul-Breaking Gully," which Zhang Cheng had renamed "Purgatory Valley."

It was a huge gourd-shaped valley with a narrow entrance, a large belly, and an even narrower exit. On both sides were steep slopes overgrown with dense shrubs and weeds.

By the time the vanguard of the allied forces was about to exit the valley and the rearguard had just entered, the entire force, like a gluttonous snake, had completely crawled into the pocket Zhang Cheng had set up.

On the hillside, under the dense grass.

Old K lay behind a giant rock, holding binoculars, coldly watching the enemies crawling below like ants. His gaze didn't flicker at all, as if he were looking at a group of livestock about to be slaughtered.

Behind him, along the ridgeline stretching for several kilometers on both sides, 350 fully armed Death Soldiers had been lying in wait silently for a whole day and night.

Twenty PKM general-purpose machine guns were mounted in the best firing positions, their dark muzzles pointed at the valley floor. Fifty RPG rocket launchers were loaded and aimed at those seemingly imposing vehicles. Ten mortars had already calculated their firing data, ready to pour death down at any moment.

"Master, the prey has all entered the net." Old K pressed his headset and reported in a low voice.

Far away at the base, Zhang Cheng watched the real-time feed and softly spat out one word: "Kill."

With this order, it was as if the Grim Reaper's scythe had swung down.

"Boom!!!" A deafening explosion went off simultaneously at the entrance and exit of the valley!

It was hundreds of kilograms of TNT explosives planted in advance! The massive explosion instantly triggered a landslide, countless giant rocks rolled down, completely sealing off the allied forces' path forward and backward!

The long snake had its head and tail cut off, trapped inside the urn!

"What's going on?! An earthquake?!"

"The road is blocked! Can't get through in front!"

"The back has collapsed too! We're surrounded!"

The valley floor instantly turned into a chaotic mess. Those warlord soldiers who were still bragging and joking were panicked, scurrying around like headless flies.

Just then, the real nightmare descended.

"Whew—whew—whew—!" Mortar shells, accompanied by ear-piercing whistles, rained down from the sky, slamming hard into the dense crowds and the convoy!

"Boom! Boom! Boom!" Fire soared into the sky, limbs and severed arms flew everywhere! Those trucks and pickup trucks without any protection instantly turned into burning scrap metal in the artillery fire. Soldiers screamed as they were blown away by the shockwaves or torn apart by shrapnel.

"Da-da-da-da-da!!!" On the hillsides on both sides, twenty general-purpose machine guns opened fire simultaneously!

The crossfire web was like an impenetrable whip of fire, mercilessly lashing at every living thing on the valley floor. Bullets hitting the vehicles made crisp clinking sounds, while hitting human bodies made dull thuds.

Blood instantly stained the dirt road at the bottom of the valley red.

"Counterattack! Counterattack now! Fire at the mountains!" Yang Maoliang lay under the car seat, so scared he was leaking feces and urine, screaming hysterically into the walkie-talkie.

A few officers with slightly more experience tried to organize soldiers to fight back, but as soon as they poked their heads out, they were precisely picked off by Death Soldier snipers hidden in the dark.

"Bang!" Heads exploded.

"Bang!" Chests were struck.

The two howitzers the allied forces were so proud of hadn't even been deployed before they were sent to the sky by a few RPG rounds, causing secondary explosions that killed a large swath of their own men.

This was not a battle at all. This was a one-sided, cold, and efficient massacre!

Zhang Cheng's Death Soldiers legion occupied the absolute geographical advantage and possessed overwhelming firepower and tactical competence. They were like a group of calm hunters surrounding a herd of panicked wild boars.

"Ah—! I'm not fighting anymore! I want to go home!"

"Stop killing! I surrender! I surrender!"

The psychological defenses completely collapsed within minutes. Countless allied soldiers threw away their weapons, knelt on the ground, or buried their heads in the piles of corpses like ostriches, crying and begging for mercy.

But the gunfire did not stop. Zhang Cheng's order was: Annihilate.

Since they dared to invade, they had to be prepared to leave their lives behind. This wasn't cruelty; this was establishing authority! They had to kill until the entire Northern Myanmar trembled at the mere mention of the word "Dawn"!

"Thump-thump-thump-thump—!" Just then, ten armed pickup trucks rushed out from their hiding spots, and the 12.7mm heavy machine guns in their truck beds roared like thunder. The large-caliber bullets easily tore through the soldiers trying to hide behind the vehicles, blasting cover and human bodies into fragments.

This was a storm of steel.

The battle—if it could even be called a battle—lasted less than forty minutes.

When the gunfire gradually thinned out and finally ceased, the entire Purgatory Valley had turned into a literal hell.

Everywhere were burning vehicle wrecks, everywhere were shattered corpses, blood gathered into small streams, pooling in the low-lying areas. The air was filled with the nauseating smell of burnt flesh and gunpowder smoke.

The surviving seventeen hundred or so people, like a flock of lambs waiting to be slaughtered, knelt shivering in the pools of blood, hands raised high, their eyes hollow and numb.

Most of their officers were already dead, including the constantly clamoring Yang Maoliang, who had been directly hit by a mortar shell, leaving not even a complete corpse. The representatives of the Bai Family and the Liu Family did not escape either, dying in the chaotic army.

Old K stood on a towering rock, coldly overlooking the tragic scene below. He pressed his communicator, his voice still devoid of any inflection: "Master, the battle is over."

"The main enemy force has been completely annihilated. Key leaders confirmed dead. Approximately seventeen hundred captives. Our side... three slightly injured."

"Purgatory Valley has been cleared."

Far away at the base, Zhang Cheng heard this disparity in the casualty ratio, which was nothing short of outrageous, and slowly closed his eyes. He knew that after this battle, the sky over Kokang had completely changed.