Chapter 1 Top Secret Mission (1)
Latitude 40.1872, longitude 90.8239, Tarim Basin, Lop Nur.
Temperature 46, wind direction southwest, wind speed 6.5m/s, humidity 8%...
This is the heart of the Lop Nur Canglongduan'er. The surface temperature is as high as 80 degrees Celsius. There is no vegetation and no life . It is no less than the Taklimakan Desert, which is a cliff of life.
A team of six Chinese special forces escorted two experts in the field of biochemistry and headed east at a very fast speed. Their faces were covered with sand, their dry lips were cracked with blood, and their bloodshot eyes were filled with deep anxiety.
Ten days ago, China's Northwest Special Operations Brigade received a top-secret mission to go to the depths of Canglong Duan'er in Lop Nur to search for researchers who had obtained important scientific items, and escort them all the way to Base No. 13.
A sudden desert storm destroyed their communication equipment and they lost contact with the headquarters. The storm caused the sand dunes to move on a large scale, completely changing the terrain and putting them in danger of getting lost.
Under the strong sun, the endless desert was steaming with heat waves, forming a vast water pattern. All water sources had been exhausted, and they had to walk eastward across the Tarim Basin as quickly as possible, find wet sand with a small amount of water on the edge for replenishment, and then try to contact the headquarters for rescue.
A palm-sized sealed metal box was held tightly , who walked forward with one foot deep and one foot shallow with the help of his assistant. Six special forces soldiers formed a diamond shape around them, escorting them to the center.
"Captain, this mission..." A hoarse voice was heard, but was interrupted by the captain as soon as the voice was uttered.
"Shut up!" The captain glared at the soldier who spoke, and scolded in a voice that was almost a roar: "Don't tell secrets that shouldn't be told, don't ask secrets that you shouldn't know, and don't look at secrets that you shouldn't see! Zhao Ziyang, when you go back, copy the confidentiality regulations for me a thousand times!"
"Yes!" Zhao Ziyang answered in absolute obedience, but his eyes glanced at the metal box that the biochemical expert was holding tightly against his chest.
This mission is a top-secret mission of the highest national level. No one knows why we have to come to this damn Lop Nur, and no one knows what is in the metal box on the biochemical expert's chest.
In short, everything was terrible. The sudden storm forced them into a desperate situation: the radio station was destroyed, the compass was out of order, and they could only rely on their legs and maps to go out.
A feeling of uneasiness arose in Zhao Ziyang's heart. From the captain's anxious eyes, he could see the same uneasiness as the captain.
The mysterious Lop Nur and the mysterious Canglong Broken Ear.
"Dr. Sun, we must launch the raid, otherwise we will all die in this desert." The captain approached the biochemical expert and made an unquestionable request to him in a hoarse voice.
They were at least 200 kilometers away from the edge of the basin. If they continued to move forward at this speed, it would take at least five days to get out. During these five days, without water, they would lie in the desert and become dried corpses.
Dr. Sun gave a hard smile, his bloody lips moved slightly, but he said nothing. His right hand pressed the metal box on his chest tightly, indicating that the things inside were more important than anything else.
"Zhao Ziyang!"
"arrive!"
"Help Dr. Sun and run!"
"yes!"
Zhao Ziyang immediately stepped forward to support Dr. Sun, and together with the assistant, they rushed forward with him. Deep and shallow footprints formed a string behind them, and then were filled and submerged by the sand swept up by the dry wind, completely placing them in the uninhabited sea of sand.
The scorching sun mercilessly steamed and baked them, and the dry sand wind kept sweeping away the remaining water molecules in their bodies. Their dehydrated bodies were running at high intensity, making their breathing heavier and heavier. With each deep breath, more and more water molecules in their bodies were lost. But they couldn't stop. If they stopped, they might not be able to get up and wait for thirst to take their lives.
The heat waves rising from the beach in the distance became even stronger, and even gave them the illusion that they were in the middle of a rough sea. The appearance of this illusion proved that their physical strength had been severely overdrawn, and they could only rely on willpower to continue their charge.
If I keep up this speed, maybe I can reach the edge of the basin before my body collapses, and maybe even run into a team heading to Lop Nur for an expedition...
A group of figures appeared in the southwest, becoming clearer and clearer, and even the canteens hanging on their camouflage uniforms could be seen...
Where there are people, there is water; where there are people, there is hope!
The eight people licked their lips with their tongues almost at the same time, staring at the figure walking towards them in the distance.
Their cracked lips and bloody mouths were filled with sand, which they rolled into their mouths with their tongues and chewed, using the force of chewing to dispel all negative reactions in their bodies.
People of all races, Belleville 550ST desert combat boots, desert MCCUU, M4-A1 carbine...
"Hide! Mercenaries!" The captain suddenly let out a low and rapid roar.
The special forces soldiers instantly lay prone on the sand, occupying the bunkers of sand dunes, holding their guns in shooting posture, their pupils sunken deep in their eye sockets, revealing the glow of battle.
The appearance of fully armed international mercenaries here was obviously for the iron box they took out from the heart of Canglong Duan'er.
What on earth is in the iron box that could attract international mercenaries?
I don’t know, no one knows. It ’s top secret and they don’t have any authority to know.
"No, this is fake, it's a mirage." Dr. Sun struggled to get up from under Zhao Ziyang's arm, looked at the team of mercenaries in the distance, smiled self-deprecatingly and said, "I often go into the desert, and I'm about to jump from the biochemical field to the natural field."
As Dr. Sun spoke, the team of fully armed international mercenaries gradually faded in front of everyone's eyes and finally disappeared.
Yes, it was a mirage.
The special forces who had just had a false alarm climbed up from the sand and gasped for breath. The momentary tension in their nerves just now once again consumed their remaining physical strength.
"This is a lower mirage." Dr. Sun's eyes were still fixed on the scene disappearing in the southwest, and he said with a worried look on his face, "Usually the refraction of a lower mirage is opposite. The scene that appears in the southwest should actually be in the northeast."
"Distance?" The captain asked Dr. Sun with a frown.
"Maybe several kilometers, maybe hundreds of kilometers. But the hypometeoric depth in this desert is usually 8 to 9.5 kilometers." After Dr. Sun finished speaking, he touched the metal box on his chest, glanced at the tired special forces soldiers, and sighed deeply.
With a "swish", the captain stretched out his left hand to hold the cage. The team members received the sign language instruction and immediately moved closer to the captain.
"Keep going east!" The captain said in a hoarse voice, taking a deep look to the east, "The reality does not allow us to change our route. Be prepared for encounters and ambushes!"
With a snap, Zhao Ziyang stood up, grabbed the young assistant by the collar, gritted his teeth and growled at him: "If you want to live, you'd better tell me the importance of this thing you found, otherwise..."
The assistant glanced at Dr. Sun in front of him, moved his throat hard, and nodded to signal Zhao Ziyang to let him go.
Zhao Ziyang let go of his assistant and stared at him.
"This thing has the potential to overturn the entire scientific community." The assistant said this and then caught up with Dr. Sun.
Zhao Ziyang met the captain's gaze, nodded at him, and then continued to support Dr. Sun as they moved forward, one step deep and one step shallow. All the personnel became extremely alert.
Zhao Ziyang's mind flashed with the mirage scene, and faces of people of all races appeared before his eyes. He especially noticed the symbol on the upper arm of the mercenary in the mirage: a horizontal diamond with an inverted V-shaped pattern embedded below, which looked a bit like a telescope, but also like two eyes staring at you.
This kind of pattern has never been seen before, giving people a very strange feeling. An ominous premonition hovered over Zhao Ziyang's alarm clock, and his sixth sense seemed to warn him of the existence of danger.
The group ran eastward for several kilometers and entered a basin sandwiched between two sand hills. If they wanted to pass, they had to cross the extremely low-lying basin and then climb over the sand hill on the opposite side to continue forward.
This low-lying basin made the team feel uneasy: if the enemy ambushed them on the opposite hill, they would be completely exposed to the enemy's guns once they entered the basin, and would be sniped and killed one by one without any surprise.
The captain made a stop gesture, lay on the sand hill, took out a telescope, and carefully observed the terrain in front of him.
There was dead silence, nothing but yellow sand, and no living thing.
"Zhao Ziyang protects Dr. Sun, and the rest of you take turns to cover him!"
Following the captain's order, the four special forces formed an alternating cover formation, holding their guns and moving quickly towards the basin to clear the way for the mission target behind them.
Lying on the sand hill, Zhao Ziyang bit his cracked lips, held the rifle tightly, and stared at the opposite sand hill through the sight. No accidents happened, and the captain and his five men successfully entered the flat area in the center of the basin, preparing to cross the flat ground and climb up the opposite sand hill to ensure safety.
The captain and his team became extremely cautious after entering the center of the flat basin. The five of them pointed their guns at the opposite sand hill in a fan shape and moved forward carefully with tactical steps. This kind of terrain was the most dangerous. If they had no choice, they would never enter this kind of terrain that would expose themselves completely.
"Ten o'clock is safe!"
"Eleven o'clock direction is safe!"
"One o'clock is safe!"
"Two o'clock is safe!"
The captain in the center of the fan waved his hand, signaling to continue moving forward, keeping the muzzle of the gun pointing upwards to prevent sudden ambush.
A gust of hot wind blew, and the golden sand rolled like running water under the influence of the wind, filling up the inconspicuous potholes on the sand, making it flat, smooth, and fine.
