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"By the way, Colonel Han, where's that martial arts coach from the Blue Beret Unit—Master Owen—from headquarters?" Fiona Tang suddenly asked Colonel Hank Han.
"Oh! Looks like he's having tea with your dad—uh, General Tang—in the command center right now," Colonel Hank Han replied.
"Hehe—Brother Shawn, since Colonel Han is taking you on a tour, that's even better. I'll go check out the command center first. Colonel Han will bring you in later. See you!" Fiona Tang waved to the two of them and walked straight toward the command center by the training field.
"Heh, Comrade Shawn, come on, I'll show you how those monkey brats train." Colonel Hank Han said with a laugh.
"Thanks for the trouble, Colonel Han," Shawn Young replied.
"Look, that whole area up ahead—about a kilometer across—is the most complex terrain in the whole training base. Right now, we've split into two teams of snipers for the 'Cruising Hunter' exercise. Basically, it's two teams of snipers facing off, each trying to hunt the other. Today, I'm the training instructor, so it's just me versus all of them—they're all the enemy. But today, I'm the hunter, and they're the 'running pigs!' Here, take this and see if you can spot any of those guys hiding in the field." Colonel Hank Han pulled a military binocular from his bear-like ghillie suit and handed it to Shawn Young.
"Oh! Sniper showdown! Sounds intense! Colonel Han, with that furry getup, aren't you taking part in the exercise too?" Shawn Young asked curiously.
"Uh—this is professional sniper gear, called a 'ghillie suit.' Invented by Scottish hunters, it's mostly strips of cloth and camo netting. The strips do three things: break up the human outline, mimic natural plants, and give the suit a three-dimensional look. Ideally, the color and material change with the environment. There are field and urban versions. Mine's called the 'mixed trash suit.' Just watch—I'm going in to wipe out those guys! They're just starting out with this drill, so it won't take me long to finish them off! Hehe—" Colonel Hank Han couldn't hide his excitement when talking about his favorite sniper tactics.
With that, Colonel Hank Han raised his camouflaged sniper rifle and dashed into the woods at the edge of the training field, disappearing in the blink of an eye.
Shawn Young quickly raised the binoculars, trying to follow Colonel Han's movements. But even with the binoculars, once Han darted into the infantry assault zone in his 'mixed trash suit,' Shawn couldn't spot him at all.
Shawn took another look through the binoculars at the training field's terrain. He saw mountain forests, swampy lakes, buildings of all shapes and sizes, even a deserted artillery shell disposal plant. The place was seriously complicated—definitely a real test for snipers.
Soon, "Bang!"—a gunshot rang out. Shawn followed the sound with his binoculars and saw colored smoke rise from a patch of forest hundreds of meters away. A 'hit' sniper stood up, looking dejected, and left the battlefield with his head hanging.
As gunshots rang out all around, snipers hidden in every nook and cranny kept getting 'hit.' Their laser simulators puffed out colored smoke—'gloriously' knocked out.
Shawn kept searching through the binoculars but still couldn't spot Colonel Han. The gunshots came from all directions, but there was no muzzle flash, and each shot came from a different spot. Every time a shot went off, another hidden sniper would get 'gloriously hit.' Shawn couldn't help but marvel—Colonel Han's sniper tactics were insanely good. If Shawn hadn't been able to sense Han's presence before, he'd have 'died' a dozen times in a real match.
In less than half an hour, the last 'running pig' was 'killed!' The snipers, all wearing ghillie suits, gathered outside the training field.
"Hehe—all wiped out! Five running pigs!" Colonel Han suddenly popped up next to Shawn like a ghost, scaring him half to death.
Colonel Han turned to Shawn and said, "Comrade Shawn, wait here. I'm going to go knock some sense into those monkey brats—they're clueless! No idea how they got 'killed!' Sorry you had to see that!"
With that, Colonel Han stomped over to the group of snipers outside the field. He went right up to the shivering guy on the edge, and without a word, kicked him in the butt, sending him sprawling. Then he barked, "Yan Wenhai, you blockhead! Using a sniper rifle like a machine gun?! Just spraying bullets everywhere—does having more ammo make you feel cool?! Go run five laps around the field—now!"
"Yes, sir!" The unlucky guy hung his head, stepped out of line, slung his sniper rifle, and started running laps around the field. The other soldiers started laughing, but Colonel Han walked into the group and kicked a few more of them over, yelling, "You idiots are blockheads too! Calling yourselves sharpshooters? You're just a bunch of losers who can only hit stationary targets! The moment someone moves, you freeze! Dumbasses! Your heads are full of crap—snipers, my ass. You're embarrassing me! Get out there and run! Five laps!"
The soldiers immediately wilted, obediently slinging their sniper rifles and trailing behind the unlucky guy, running laps around the training field.
Colonel Han kept scolding the other snipers, calling them 'blockheads,' 'losers,' 'birdbrains,' and all sorts of nasty stuff. Then he listed out each person's flaws, and in the end, every poor soldier got punished with laps around the field. Only after sending them off did Han, still fuming, come back.
"Damn! These guys are the so-called 'elite soldiers' just picked from the Southern Military District this year. They've only been training with our Dragonforce Battalion for two months. In our battalion, they're total rookies. There's still a month left in their assessment—if they don't pass, they'll be sent back to their original units. At their current level, if they hit the battlefield, they'd just be target practice!" Colonel Han explained to Shawn.
"Wow! Your Dragonforce Battalion is really strict about bringing in new blood!" Shawn Young said admiringly.
"Of course! How else could we place top three in the army competitions?" Colonel Han replied.
"Hey, is the number one special ops battalion in the army your Dragonforce?" Shawn Young asked curiously.
"Uh—not us! We're only number two! Number one is the so-called 'Best Battalion in the World'—the Sword Battalion from the 2nd Army of the Beijing Military District! Tons of Blue Beret-level commandos! They're better than us in both personnel and gear. Every competition ends up as a showdown between us and Sword Battalion, and they always edge us out. Damn—those guys in the capital really have it all! They keep the best stuff for themselves!" Colonel Han grumbled.
"Don't worry, Dragonforce will beat Sword Battalion one day!" Shawn Young encouraged him.
Colonel Han sighed, "There's still half a year till the army competition. That might sound long, but it's actually pretty short! Sword Battalion always edges us out, not just because of their people and gear, but because they're constantly on real missions—fighting terrorists overseas! Their combat experience is off the charts!"
"Hmm—doesn't Dragonforce go on combat missions often?" Shawn Young asked curiously.
"Of course we do! But since we're in the Southern Military District, aside from anti-piracy missions, most of our work is chasing down cross-border drug traffickers. No huge military operations. Sword Battalion's anti-terror missions are usually way higher level—they team up with the armed police border units and go after pro-trained terrorist groups like 'Altay.' Those guys have all done hardcore training in the 'base' organizations, and many are commando-level! Way tougher than southern drug dealers! If we could get one super mission for Dragonforce, our guys would level up big time!" Colonel Han said.
"Yeah, I bet Dragonforce will get that chance!" Shawn could feel how much Colonel Han craved those big missions. As a 'King of Soldiers,' he had the instinct to fight!
"Hehe—hope so! Come on, let's go! Team Leader Tang and the others should be waiting for us at the command center. I heard from General Tang that he invited an expert today to give us special training!" Colonel Han said, leading Shawn toward a gray building deep inside the training field.