Chapter 47: Tiger of the Dense Forest (Part 2)

The cool spring water surged into his stomach, and most of his body heat disappeared. Zhan Xiaoge couldn't help but feel a jolt run through him. He simply reached out to scoop up a handful of mountain spring water from the pool and splashed it on his face. The cool and refreshing sensation made every sweat pore in his body contract instantly. Just as Zhan Xiaoge stood up and wiped the water droplets from his face with his sleeve, suddenly a hand that wasn't exactly thick but absolutely strong gripped his chin hard. A sharp, cold gleam flashed before his eyes, and the gleam flowing along the blade of a 154cm steel hand-polished combat saber instantly stung his eyes.
Zhanxiage screamed in his heart: "Damn, this is bad!" ”
The hand gripping his chin was not only strong but also very skillful. His five fingers gripped Zhan Xiaoge's chin and philtrum tightly. The pain felt like steel claws digging into his body made Zhan Xiaoge lose all strength to resist for a moment. With a "sizzle," the sharp military knife sliced fiercely across his throat.
There was no imagined blood, no rustling sound of the wind scraping through the treetops in martial arts novels, and no taste of the bitterness of blood. Without hesitation, Zhan Xiage, desperately grabbed the other person's hand holding the knife and twisted it fiercely. The other party didn't resist and threw the knife away with a forceful twist. Then, his arm curved like a snake's body, forming an unimaginable curve that ordinary people could never imagine, easily escaping from Zhan Xia Ge's grasp.
Before Zhan Xiaoge could even release the frustration in his chest, he suddenly felt his throat tighten as someone wrapped a rope around his throat from behind. Immediately, a knee pressed firmly against his spine. The other person pressed the knee against Zhan Xiaoge's body, then tightened the rope with all his strength and yanked it backward. Zhan Xiaoge suddenly opened his mouth wide, his tongue involuntarily spitting out like a hanged ghost, revealing a large blister on his tongue from biting off the fuse of the explosive charge.
This is a technique only soldiers use on the battlefield—an absolutely effective strangler. A normal person would instinctively use both hands to protect their throat when strangled like this, but faced with such a pure killing trick, no matter how much they resisted, they would suffocate to death in just fourteen seconds.
Zhan Xiagoge's face flushed red. In this situation, as a soldier who had undergone the strictest training and had instinctively integrated military skills into his own instincts, his survival ability was finally fully displayed. He could actually endure the suffocating sensation of his throat being strangled by the rope, reaching out to draw his tiger-tooth combat saber. Before he could swing the blade to cut the rope, Zhan Xiage's right arm suddenly tightened, and the assassin behind him tightly wrapped his right hand with the rope.
"Bang!"
A crisp gunfire rang out from the dense forest, startling several birds into scattering in all directions.
In this situation, Zhanxiage made a snap decision, quickly abandoning the Tiger Fang Combat Saber in his right hand. Before his left hand could be wrapped in a rope, he drew the self-defense pistol from his left leg pouch and shot himself in the neck with a backhand.
Having grown up in the mountains and jungles, the assassin instinctively sensed danger. He quickly tilted his head, and a pistol bullet flew close to the neck and face of the hero and assassin. The scorching sensation of metal flying at high speed made them smell the aroma of roasted meat in the air. At the same time, the assassin felt his grip loosen—his 'strangulation rope,' soaked in tung oil and woven from old vine and bark fibers—so much so that even a tiger couldn't break free—was actually snapped by a single shot!
Caught off guard and with the assassin's center of gravity slightly shifting, Zhanxiage bent his left arm of the self-defense pistol and slammed his elbow hard behind him with all his might.
"Smack!"
Zhanxiage missed the enemy's body. The assassin raised his knee in time, and both sides engaged in a flawless clash of elbows and knees, which could only be described as weapons. Terrifying power erupted from their explosive bodies, and Zhanxiage involuntarily lunged forward, while the assassin was forced to retreat a step by his full-force elbow strike.
Using the force of the opponent's knee strike, Zhanxiage lunged forward with all his might, shrinking into the smallest spherical shape before hitting the ground. After rolling swiftly along the ground for four or five meters, Zhanxiage suddenly pushed himself onto the ground, his body unleashed in midair, and miraculously shifted to face the ambusher from earlier.
The assassin was gone. Zhanxiage only saw a bamboo tube bomb spinning in the air, billowing white smoke and flying toward him. Zhan Xiaoge took deep breaths of the air that had nearly strangled him to death and could no longer breathe, then quickly stepped forward, reached out, grabbed the still-sparkling homemade bomb, and pressed it down with all his strength into the soft, oversaturated soil beneath his feet.
A homemade bomb a foot long was pushed into the ground by Zhan Xiaoge. He crouched on the ground, clutching his throat that hadn't leaked blood, his expression twisted and unreadable.
At this moment, Zhanxiage really shouted 'Long live the Fifth Special Forces,' and even more wanted to shout wildly, 'Long live the quartermaster of the Fifth Special Forces!'
This group of Fifth Special Forces members possessed equipment far more expensive than ordinary units. Besides having nano-scale bulletproof vests that were lighter but more defensive than regular vests, they also carried a whole bunch of strange and odd items—though small, they were absolutely useful on the battlefield.
Every soldier in the Fifth Special Forces uniform has a special cut-resistant soft steel plate embedded in the collar of their uniform. At first, Zhanxiage was very indifferent to this mandatory throat-slit soft steel plate. In his view, if a soldier trained from the Fifth Special Forces could foolishly let the enemy sneak up behind him and put a saber to his throat on the battlefield, it would only show that this Fifth Special Forces soldier was just trash who didn't train properly and only brought shame to the unit. Even if he was covered in soft steel plates, he would be finished. It would be better to just let him die early!
However, according to regulations, everyone's uniform must be fitted with such anti-throat-cutting soft steel plates; otherwise, they would be treated as defying military orders. Over time, they got used to this soft steel plate, and it became too light. Over time, Zhanxiage even forgot that such a life-saving gadget existed on him.
He reached out and touched the anti-cut soft steel plate hidden in his collar. The steel plate was left with a deep mark, almost cut in half. It was easy to imagine that if he hadn't worn this seemingly useless steel plate, his throat and the tracheal artery would have been sliced in one stroke. Not even knowing what the enemy looked like, he died by his blade. His fifth special forces fangs not only died unjustly but also in shame!
Feeling the nearness death had never been before, Zhanxiage got goosebumps all over his body and danced. How could he survive? Especially knowing that a beloved woman was still waiting for him. After living so long and never having done anything he loved, who the hell would want to die?!
The assassin hid behind a thick tree and couldn't help but roll his eyes. Damn, what kind of trick is that Chinese soldier?!
It was one thing that a steel piece was hidden in the collar at the front of his neck to prevent him from cutting his throat smoothly, but how did he look like a rubber man, with a rope around his neck, locked down by someone using a "strangling technique," yet he could still calmly judge the bullet point and shoot the rope around his neck?
This is definitely thanks to Zhanxia Ge's excellence. Among the talented Fifth Special Forces, he stands out, and every instructor of the Fifth Special Forces treats him with special respect.
When Zhan Xiaoge was sleeping in the pigeon cage, Zhu Jianjun had launched surprise attacks on him more than once, squeezing him countless times with his hands and ropes until he was unconscious, pouring a small bottle of cold water over his head, then sympathetically telling him, "Number Four, you're already dead, you're already dead!" To honor you, the fifth special forces soldier who died during the enemy's sentry raid, go run forty laps around the playground immediately! ”
At the desert terrain training ground, after receiving Zhu Jianjun's message—"This kid is tough and tough, go ahead and play," the instructor became even more aggressive, treating the war hero song as a toy that can automatically repair itself and never resists, playing with it thoroughly.
First, dig a two-meter-long, half-meter-deep sandpit, order the warlord who is tied up with ropes to roll in himself, and then the old man will really dare bury him alive!
In this situation, the instructor lit a cigarette, sat in the jeep, and leisurely finished the smoke in front of the pale, pale faces of the other Fifth Special Forces trainees. Until the minute hand on his watch had ticked eight or nine minutes, even if he could lurk underwater for five minutes, Zhanxiage's incredible lung capacity wouldn't be able to withstand such a "game." Only after nearly suffocating to death did he finally take Zhanxiage out and kick him in the chest a few times, treating it as artificial respiration for him.
Without enduring such inhuman torment, without being forced by the instructors to face death so directly, Zhanxiage could never have grown so quickly, nor qualified to continuously earn the Earth, Mountain, Jungle, Snowfield, and Courage Medals, and certainly not the third Fang in the history of the Fifth Special Forces!
Think about it: after being repeatedly tormented by the instructor for so long, yet still able to stay unyielding and lively, and can only be described as a combat machine, can a war hero song be strangled so easily by a single rope?!
Instead of stabbing the saber directly into Zhan Xiage's heart from behind, he chose the most beloved and rewarding throat-slitting assassination attempt—this was the assassin's biggest mistake!