…
“Reporting! Chief, people are moving into the barracks next door. They are Japanese,” a special forces scout in charge of guarding the camp reported to Huo Shaoheng.
Huo Shaoheng already knew about this when Natasha mentioned it the day before.
He nodded without any surprise and said, “Vigilantly keep guard. This is a restricted military zone, so any trespassers will be killed without question or exception.”
“Roger, Chief!”
Huo Shaoheng harshly eyed the special forces soldiers standing before him and continued in an icy tone, saying, “You are representing our nation and military by coming here to attend this competition. Since you’ve come here, we need to fight for first place! Military competitions do not begin when you arrive at the competition grounds and wait for someone to blow the whistle. The competition has begun from the moment you came to this place and disembarked from the flight! Remember this!”
“Roger, Chief!”
The voices of the special forces’ soldiers shook the room, so even the others in the nearby base could hear them.
However, the Japanese base was as silent as if no one was even there.
After Huo Shaoheng finished his speech, he went to a small building that was used as a guard tower in the base. He observed the Japanese special forces soldiers across from them.
Although they were not very tall with an average height of 5’6″, they had resolute and vigilant expressions on their faces. They watched others with intent eyes like they were looking to see if there was anything happening around them at all times…
Huo Shaoheng looked ahead with a deadpan expression for some time, then said to the soldier in charge of the guard tower, “Pay attention to what is happening over there. We are in a completely enclosed training camp, and I will have to give you military punishment if anyone trespasses in here.”
“Roger, Chief!” The special forces soldier in charge of sentry duty squeezed the gun in his hand.
Although this was a military competition similar to practice, there were sometimes casualties. This was not always an act.
Huo Shaoheng looked back at the Japanese special forces’ soldiers, squinting his eyes slightly as he quietly came down from the guard tower.
…
On the second night after the Huaxia Imperial special forces soldiers arrived in Moscow, they finished a day full of training and were so exhausted they immediately collapsed on their beds.
When it was almost midnight, the entire camp was silent. Dozens of strong and fit young men were quietly sleeping.
April nights in Moscow were very cold. The wind howled past the glowing moon in the sky, with trees swaying gently below. The tall fence was silently bathed in the moonlight while the barbed wire on it gleamed harshly.
Large trees grew next to the fence, and they were finally growing new leaves after the previous ones had fallen in the winter. Although the foliage wasn’t dense, it was enough to conceal someone in the branches.
A man in a camo suit quietly climbed up the tree.
These trees grew next to the fence that encircled the Huaxia Imperial special forces camp. When someone climbed up these trees, they could directly look into the entire training camp.
The man observed with binoculars for a while but didn’t notice anything amiss. He had already taken a few photos in the daytime, so he was able to confirm that Huo Shaoheng was their commanding officer.
The news had already been reported, but he was still adamant about conducting further observations.
It was also nighttime, so the other party was asleep.
If he could sneak into the base and take the opportunity to kill off Huo Shaoheng, then they wouldn’t have to worry about failing the mission in India…
As long as Huo Shaoheng was eliminated, Gu Nianzhi would be helpless to their attacks. They could kill her off whenever they wanted to.
The soldier grew excited when he imagined this, his hand beginning to tremble.
He waved downwards to signal at the men he had brought along with him. He planned to get them to climb up the tree as well, then jump from the trees and into the Huaxia Imperial special forces camp. That way, they could bypass the barbed wire on the enclosing fence.
When he picked up his binoculars again, he was shocked to see a pitch-black muzzle appearing in the crosshairs of the lenses!
Oh no! He had been discovered!
However, this man didn’t have a chance to think twice before the other party had pulled the trigger.
Bang!
The dull sound of a gunshot broke the peaceful silence of the night.
Boom!
Someone fell down from the tree and into the completely enclosed Huaxia Imperial camp.
“Alert! Everyone must gather!”
The special forces soldiers in the Huaxia Imperial camp were awakened by the guards, so they quickly grabbed the guns by their bedsides and got into battle mode.
They rushed toward and hid in various positions, quietly keeping watch until the sun rose, but no one dared to spy on them again.
The sky was bright, sunlight reflecting on the tender green leaves on the trees. White clouds floated in the blue sky, and the air was refreshing as birds sang amongst the branches.
“Dismissed. Continue with the scheduled training.” Huo Shaoheng looked around and walked toward the corpse that fell from the tree last night. “Notify the Russian authorities that someone trespassed into our completely enclosed camp yesterday. We took the necessary actions.”
Soon afterward, a Russian representative notified by both Japan and the Huaxia Empire showed up.
The personnel arriving to take care of the situation was Korchagin’s secretary, Natasha.
“What happened here?”
“Ms. Natasha, one of our special forces soldiers disappeared last night. We request the right to search the Huaxia Imperial camp!” The Japanese representative was indignant and had scrawled the words, ‘must kill’ and ‘kill’ on a piece of cloth tied around his forehead.
Huo Shaoheng folded his hands behind his back and replied casually, “Why are you searching our camp if you are missing a soldier? Didn’t you see the sign over there?”
The sign was black and written in Russian, Chinese, and English. It said, “Completely enclosed camp, restricted military zone.” There was even an eye-catching white skull drawn on it.
The leader of the Japanese Special Forces choked, but he refused to back down. Brandishing his fists, he said, “…But this is a matter of life and death! You can’t detain our men before the competition has even begun.”
“Detain? We never detain anyone who attempts to trespass into our completely enclosed camp.” Huo Shaoheng looked up at the sky, saying calmly, “Anyone who trespasses into our completely enclosed camp is already a dead man.”
“What are you saying?!” The Japanese leader was shocked. “You’re insane!”
Huo Shaoheng glared at him, then said to the cheerful Natasha, “Comrade Natasha, please come over here.”
He took her and the Japanese military leader into the camp.
The corpse was still lying in the grass under the fence.
“Showa-kun! What happened to you?!” The Japanese leader lunged over and kneeled down at the corpse of his best soldier who had now perished abroad. He wailed with great grievance.
Huo Shaoheng and Natasha shared a look, feeling speechless.
“Which one of you killed him?!” The Japanese leader turned around and glared viciously at Huo Shaoheng. “We will sue you! We will take you to the International Military Tribunal!”
Huo Shaoheng’s lips curled as he said, “The International Military Tribunal only deals with the most heinous war criminals. For example, the ones from Japan… One man died here, so that’s not enough to warrant going to the International Military Tribunal.”
“You–!” The Japanese leader was enraged by Huo Shaoheng’s words and thought his smile was a complete eyesore.
Natasha decided to play the peacemaker, saying, “This is all a misunderstanding, I think this is a misunderstanding. It’s normal to have casualties during military practice.”
“We wouldn’t have an issue if this were actually during the competition, but it hasn’t even begun yet! This is murder!” The Japanese leader furiously stabbed a finger at Huo Shaoheng.
Huo Shaoheng spread his palms and said sarcastically, “Oh, I’m sorry, we didn’t know it was a Japanese special forces soldier. This is a completely enclosed camp and a restricted military zone. Any trespassers will be shot without question or exception, so our soldiers were only following orders. If you want to blame someone, you can just blame me.”
If Yin Shixiong and Zhao Liangze were present, they would’ve noticed that Huo Shaoheng’s tone and expression at the moment was eerily similar to Gu Nianzhi when she wanted to make someone feel like hell…
“How could this be?! This was premeditated!” The Japanese leader stomped his feet and glared angrily at Natasha. “This isn’t over yet! You must give us a proper explanation!”
“Explain what?” Huo Shaoheng vocally defended Natasha, saying, “Your soldier trespassed into our completely enclosed military camp and got what he deserved. Besides, this would be considered friendly fire in battle even if he was mistakenly killed. This often happens within the US Military, where they always end up mistakenly killing their own soldiers or allies. If you have any contrary opinion about it, you can go ask the US Military how they deal with incidents of friendly fire.”
The Japanese leader immediately shut up when the US Military was mentioned.
Stifling her laughter, Natasha nodded and said, “That’s right. According to international practice, as established by the Americans, incidents of friendly fire only require verbal apologies.”
Huo Shaoheng instantly followed up by saying, “Sorry.”
“Ok, ok. He’s already apologized, so you should hurry up and move the body away. Do you need any cremation services? This is the phone number and address for the crematorium.” Natasha instantly displayed her skills as an able secretary by providing help for the accident, cremation, and burial.
The Japanese leader could tell that the Russians were siding with the Huaxia Empire, so he viciously glared at Huo Shaoheng before ordering the corpse of the Japanese special forces soldier to be moved away.
After they left, Huo Shaoheng said to Natasha, “Comrade Natasha, please help by reporting this incident to all the special forces teams who are coming to participate in the Annual Warrior Competition. Since ancient times, the Huaxia Empire has been a very peaceful nation. We don’t want to see another incident of friendly fire happen.”
Natasha smirked and was even more impressed with Huo Shaoheng’s ability to lie with his eyes wide open.
This was the Russians’ weakness – although they typically chose to fight when they refused to back down, they were still lacking when it came to verbal arguments. As a result, they were always being beaten down by Western public opinion.
“Very well, then. I will notify all the teams attending the competition. I hope that we can re-establish a peaceful training camp for you.” Natasha quickly gave Huo Shaoheng a wink.
After this incident, all the other participating teams knew that the Huaxia Imperial camp was completely enclosed. It was truly a restricted military zone, with the Japanese special forces soldier setting the prime example for everyone.
No one else dared to spy on the Huaxia Imperial special forces camp again.
The following evening, Huo Shaoheng gave another speech to his soldiers.
He announced icily, “There are two methods of frightening the enemy – either by demanding money or threatening to take their lives. Since we are soldiers, we cannot demand money from them. We can only threaten their lives. You must remember that we need to kill our enemies whenever possible, so don’t show any mercy!”
After giving this lesson, he returned to his camp and began to pack up.
He thought to himself, what was Gu Nianzhi doing in India right now?
…
Gu Nianzhi, Speaker Long, and his team had arrived at the New Delhi International Airport two days ago.
The Speaker of the Federal Upper House of the Indian Parliament was the only one to greet them. He was also the Vice President of India.
Everyone was fully aware that the Indian Vice President was just a puppet. The Prime Minister was the one who wielded actual power.
The airport was very quiet, as there was no honor guard to receive the foreign guests. There were no nationals of Huaxia descent present to welcome them, either.
Gu Nianzhi frowned when she followed Speaker Long down the steps.
The Vice President of India came forward with a bright smile as he said, “We are very sorry, but the Prime Minister of Japan is also visiting India today. He didn’t come to our capital city but went to our President’s hometown in Gujarat. Our President and honor guard went there to greet them.”
…
