With the help of the Islamic Jihad Organization's resistance fighters, several trucks made it safely to a warehouse in a market in Peshawar. The resistance also arranged a dormitory building to host everyone. Upon entering Peshawar, Colonel Hank Han used a special communication method to contact Sherry Shawn, informing her that they had seized a "Mjolnir Exosuit."
Naturally, Sherry Shawn knew how critical this was. Besides notifying Peshawar’s intelligence personnel to provide support, she compiled their situation and reported it through a secure line to the National Security Bureau’s top brass, urging them to coordinate immediately with the Chinese Ministry of Defense to retrieve the "valuable cargo" as quickly as possible.
Due to the unstable situation in Pakistan, even with support from several powerful resistance factions, it was best not to leak such crucial news. Peshawar was a place teeming with all sorts of characters; if they lingered too long, rumors would spread and the trucks could easily be targeted by foreign spies or groups with ulterior motives—which would be a disaster.
Soon after the relevant departments back home received this critical intelligence, they immediately reported to the top leadership. The news quickly reached the Minister of Defense, who was so excited about the capture of a U.S. "Mjolnir Exosuit" that he couldn’t sleep. He issued orders for the General Staff’s military intelligence to prepare security measures and notified the Xinjiang Military District Commander to stand by. As soon as the "valuable cargo" arrived at the Khunjerab Pass on the China-Pakistan border, they would be ready to receive it.
Once Sherry Shawn had successfully coordinated with the relevant departments back home, all the handover tasks began to unfold swiftly and methodically. In the end, the Chinese ambassador to Pakistan stepped in to handle some behind-the-scenes arrangements, and it was basically set that the "valuable cargo" would be sent to the border by noon the next day.
The "Mjolnir Exosuit" and the captured "Black Eye" were loaded onto a large truck, parked inside a warehouse at a wholesale market. For safety, Fiona Tang and Colonel Hank Han negotiated through the embassy, paid a sum to temporarily rent the entire market, and assigned the Dragonforce Battalion to guard it, setting up layered defenses. Now that they were inside Pakistan, Big Beard Akhbar said his goodbyes and immediately headed to the Pakistani intelligence department for mission handover and reporting. Since Fiona Tang hadn’t fully recovered her strength, she rested in the warehouse quarters.
The special team from back home hadn’t arrived yet, and it was confirmed they wouldn’t set out until noon the next day. With half a day to kill, Colonel Hank Han dragged Xiao Yuan out—both dressed in casual clothes—to do some "shopping." Normally, Han wasn’t one for shopping, but in Peshawar, he was actually interested. Xiao Yuan was intrigued too, since their destination was the countless gun shops scattered throughout the city. Let’s be real: what man doesn’t like guns? Unless... unless he’s not a man!
Peshawar is a world dominated by Pashtun men. They may not have Schwarzenegger’s physique, but they’re tough as nails—naturally brave and fierce. North and south of Peshawar stretch the world’s largest tribal regions, where the Pakistani government has zero control. Here, it’s the Pashtun elders who call all the shots.
Pashtuns have never bowed to any dynasty. Even the mighty British, who made all of India submit, were defeated by the Pashtuns.
Walking down the city streets, people everywhere carried guns—mostly powerful automatic rifles, semi-automatics, and shotguns. Every stall on the street sold firearms and ammo; cheap pistols went for just a few dozen yuan, while pricier automatics cost only seven or eight hundred RMB. Colonel Hank Han and Shawn Young strolled through this gun-filled world, absolutely thrilled. They planned to grab a bite and then hit the stalls to hunt for cool guns to add to their collection.
With guns everywhere, it wasn’t uncommon for arguments or minor disputes to erupt into shootouts. In Peshawar and much of Pakistan, this was just everyday life.
Han and Shawn also got a real taste of Pakistani hospitality toward Chinese visitors. Walking down the street, locals would eagerly greet them, and even girls wrapped in traditional Arab burqas—what the British call "walking tents"—would shyly come up to say hello. At a restaurant, the owner, upon learning they were Chinese, insisted their meal was on the house, so they ended up with a free feast.
After their meal, the two wandered around the gun shops at the festival, picking out firearms. The shop owner even sold them two antique Mosin-Nagant Rifles from his private collection at half price, making the blond, blue-eyed Westerners shopping nearby green with envy.
The funniest part? Each of them bought a Mosin-Nagant Rifle. On their way back to their lodgings, two Pakistanis who’d gotten into a street argument and started shooting at each other stopped firing as soon as Han and Shawn walked by. They smiled from their hiding spots and gestured for the two to hurry along so they wouldn’t get caught in the crossfire. Only after Han and Shawn had left did the shootout resume!
The two wandered around the city, soaking in Peshawar’s unique exotic vibe. Soon it was dusk, so they headed back. As they neared the warehouse market, a sudden burst of gunfire erupted outside—"bang bang bang," a lively racket. The gunshots spread through the area, making it sound like the whole city was in a firefight. An Islamic resistance fighter, wrapped in an Arab headscarf, came out of the market, shouting excitedly and firing his AK-47 into the sky until the magazine was empty. Han and Shawn tensed up, thinking something serious had happened.
Chapter 239: Serious Impact
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Just then, an Arab girl with a slender figure, her face veiled, came down from upstairs and approached them. She pulled down her scarf, revealing the smiling face of Fiona Tang. Shawn quickly asked, “Hey, Fiona, what’s going on? Why all the gunfire all of a sudden? Don’t tell me the U.S. military showed up!?”
Fiona Tang shook her head and smiled sweetly. “Oh, no, it’s just people celebrating.”
"Celebrating? Today isn’t some major holiday in Pakistan, is it? What are they celebrating?" Now it was Colonel Hank Han’s turn to be puzzled.
"Oh, just come with me up to the market office and you’ll see," Fiona Tang teased, keeping them in suspense before heading upstairs.
Curious, Han and Shawn couldn’t help but follow her. Upstairs in the corridor, dozens of armed Islamic Jihad Organization resistance fighters stood at attention. As soon as they saw the two men, they gazed at them with admiration, lined up along the hallway, weapons raised skyward, backs straight as if welcoming a formal inspection.
Han and Shawn exchanged confused looks. At that moment, Fiona Tang poked her head out from an office at the end of the corridor and waved them over. Inside, several bearded Arab men—leaders of the Islamic Jihad Organization—sat in the center, weapons in hand. Nearby, a resistance fighter waited with a DV camera, ready to film.
In the middle of the living room was a big Chinese-made color TV. Everyone watched with excitement, cheering now and then. Han and Shawn saw that the broadcast was showing scenes from Wolf Valley—the bodies of dead U.S. special forces, piles of mercenary corpses with a burning American flag stuck in the heap, a military Humvee wrecked by explosions, and footage of a V-22 Osprey crashing, all surrounded by burning debris and thick, black smoke.
Turns out, after the big retreat, the battlefield in the valley had been "technically processed." The Islamic Jihad Organization leaders had their men film the scene with a DV camera and sent the footage to Al Jazeera, the most influential TV station in the Middle East, which aired the news special during prime time.
On TV, the Islamic Jihad Organization leaders appeared with their faces wrapped in headscarves, boldly claiming credit for the "jihad victory" and making stern statements demanding the U.S. military withdraw from Afghanistan and the Middle East—or else there’d be more "jihad" coming their way!
After Al Jazeera aired the special, other stations picked it up, and the news spread across the internet. The whole city erupted in celebration, with Afghan refugees in Pakistan calling friends to restaurants to toast the resistance’s "historic victory."
The news spread like wildfire, quickly reaching the U.S. military’s main base in Bagram, Kabul. Once confirmed, the whole base went wild—like cold water hitting hot oil. Every soldier sprang into action, even the top commander put on his helmet and personally led 30,000 troops, all available tanks, helicopters, and fighter jets, surging toward Wolf Valley like a massive black cloud.
The first to arrive at Wolf Valley were the Delta Force, air-dropped by Black Hawk helicopters. They tried to surround the valley from both entrances and the slopes, but the Islamic Jihad Organization resistance fighters had already anticipated the U.S. response. They’d split up and slipped away long before the heavy troops arrived.
Inside Wolf Valley, only the ruined corpses, the burnt American flag, the mangled Humvee, and the wreckage of the V-22 Osprey remained!
Deeper in the valley, there was a huge crater—dozens of meters wide and several meters deep—clearly blasted out by a massive explosion. All around, within hundreds of meters, lay scattered armor debris made of titanium alloy and ceramic—no doubt the remains of the destroyed Mjolnir Exosuit! Strangely, after a thorough search by Raytheon’s weapons experts, they confirmed this was only the wreckage of one Mjolnir Exosuit.
This left the top commanders of Bagram Air Base and Delta Force utterly stunned. They knew it meant the new weapons test was a total failure. Worse, they had no idea how the resistance managed to take out the Mjolnir Exosuit—and the worst part: one Mjolnir Exosuit was still missing! If it fell into the hands of the Islamic Jihad Organization, things could get wild. Even a single part of the exosuit on the black market would spark a scramble among military departments and a spy war between intelligence agencies worldwide.
Then came more bad news from the Air Force base intelligence and JSOC: Colonel Jackcott and his Delta Force team, sent on a secret recovery mission, had lost contact two hours after deployment. Two Shadow Intelligence Division specialists with them were also missing!
Upon hearing this, both the base commander and Delta Force chief went pale. They knew exactly what mission Colonel Jackcott’s squad and those two Shadow Intelligence Division specialists were on. Frustrated, the Bagram Air Base commander rubbed his forehead, then turned to his intelligence staff and ordered, "Get me a direct line to the President—now!"