“What? The United States actually made a move personally as well…” The generals were not privy to the details of the operation, so when Minister Yang Guanglian revealed this news, they were all taken aback.
“Yes… The U.S., as a precautionary measure, had two F-16s take off from Kandahar Air Base starting from the moment General Zuma crossed into the Congo. They flew a huge loop to conduct a long-range strike against General Zuma in Tamatave…” Minister Yang Guanglian remarked with a gratified sigh. “However, even with their direct deployment of fighter jets, they still returned in defeat—both F-16s were shot down by our Lieutenant Colonel Xu Ze…”
“Oh… no, we should now be addressing Comrade Xu Ze as Senior Colonel!” General Yang Guanglian said with evident pride. “After hearing about this, the Chairman personally issued an order half an hour ago, conferring upon Comrade Xu Ze the rank of Senior Colonel, along with two first-class meritorious citations…”
“Shot down two F-16s?” The generals were stunned. In such a time of peace, to bring down two U.S. F-16s—and with the U.S. unable to make a public fuss about it—was no small feat.
However, they quickly grew even more astonished.
One of the major generals directly in charge of arranging the escort mission exclaimed in surprise, “Minister, aside from two anti-tank rocket launchers, the escort team wasn’t carrying any heavy weaponry, was it? Even though the F-16 is an older model, how on earth could they have been shot down? Even with rocket launchers, unless the enemy pilots conveniently parked their planes in place for you to hit, or you had an extraordinary stroke of luck, taking down one would already be a stretch—let alone two…”
Hearing the major general’s words, the expressions of doubt on the faces of the other generals grew even more pronounced.
Seeing the peculiar looks of confusion on his subordinates’ faces, General Yang Guanglian couldn’t help but chuckle with satisfaction, feeling that his decision to pull Xu Ze into the General Staff Department had been incredibly foresighted.
“Senior Colonel Xu Ze and the Wolf Fang team both performed exceptionally well. Particularly Senior Colonel Xu Ze—according to the reports from over there, he used a Barrett anti-materiel sniper rifle to bring down the F-16s. And he shot down more than just those two planes; he also took out three Black Hawk gunships…”
“Three Black Hawks? Two F-16s? Taking down Black Hawks with a Barrett might be possible, but shooting down F-16s? How is that even possible?” If this hadn’t come from General Yang Guanglian himself, the Chief of the General Staff Department, many of the generals would have scoffed at the notion.
But one lieutenant general still analyzed with clear skepticism, “Although theoretically the Barrett M107 could take down a fighter jet, that’s only a theoretical possibility—it would require the enemy aircraft to be flying at extremely low altitude, and you’d have to hit an externally mounted missile or precisely strike its central control system…”
The other generals nodded in agreement with this analysis; they were naturally familiar with such scenarios—at least, none of them had really heard of a case where an anti-materiel sniper rifle had actually shot down a fighter jet…
“Such a possibility is extremely remote—Minister, you’re not joking, are you?” Seeing his colleagues nodding in agreement, the lieutenant general continued to press General Yang Guanglian with doubt.
Faced with the questioning looks from his subordinates, General Yang Guanglian was not at all bothered. He laughed heartily and said, “Your doubts are very understandable, and I share them. But this was personally reported by Colonel Hu Qiang from the Foreign Liaison Office, who was on the ground, and attested to by Captain Bai Qi, the leader of the Wolf Fang team. They stated that Xu Ze’s marksmanship is absolutely incredible—he single-handedly covered the rear, shot down three Black Hawks that were pursuing them, and then sniped over a hundred members of the Lion Dragon Army… and even perfectly eliminated their three leaders, allowing General Zuma and his team to escape ground pursuit without a hitch.”
“They also said that Xu Ze was almost prophetic—after shooting down the two F-16s, when a Lion Dragon Army sleeper agent embedded among them tried to assassinate General Zuma, he reacted with lightning speed and sniped the traitor. And his medical skills are nothing short of miraculous—out in the rainforest, with only a small surgical kit, he performed an open abdominal surgery on a severely wounded soldier, saving his life…”
By this point, a faint, knowing smile began to appear on General Yang Guanglian’s face as he looked at the generals and asked, “Now… do you believe all of this?”
As Minister Yang Guanglian laid out each of these achievements one by one, the generals were left utterly dumbfounded. After a long pause, Vice Minister Wang finally blurted out in astonishment, “Minister… is Xu Ze really that remarkable? What exactly is his background? He’s so young, yet his marksmanship and medical skills are both extraordinary?”
“His background is actually quite straightforward—I believe most of you are already aware of his general resume,” General Yang Guanglian said, turning to a senior colonel adjutant beside him. “Colonel Yang, please give us an update on the latest information we’ve gathered…”
“Yes, Minister…” The senior colonel nodded, then stood up and announced clearly, “According to our investigation, Xu Ze is a senior student at the Xingcheng University School of Clinical Medicine. He comes from a clean family background, from a small town in Lianyang County, Xingcheng. His parents are ordinary residents who run a small, family-owned clinic. However, he is not their biological child—he was born to a pregnant woman who had wandered from elsewhere and was taken in by his parents at the time.”
“His record is spotless—from elementary school through university, there was nothing particularly remarkable about him. The only unusual thing is that, starting from his freshman year, due to his family’s financial struggles, he began working as an apprentice at a clinic near the school. Then, in his junior year, he gradually began to demonstrate extraordinary talent in medicine. Through a stroke of luck, he cured Old Man Tang of Xingcheng… and it seems that, after being recommended by Old Man Tang, he also cured the old chief’s chronic ailment. Due to a certain classified incident, he was brought into our General Staff Department and given a ceremonial rank of Lieutenant Colonel.”
At this point, a flicker of intrigue passed through the senior colonel’s eyes as he continued, “The first time he displayed other exceptional abilities was during last year’s espionage incident in Yanjing—he demonstrated combat prowess, assisted a monk from Mount Wangwu in killing a ninja-level spy, and successfully treated a poisoned National Security agent. After that, he served as a martial arts instructor at the National Security Yanjing base for about half a month. According to that Mount Wangwu monk, Senior Colonel Xu Ze is likely also a cultivator himself…”
“Cultivators? Those reclusive hermits who rarely involve themselves in worldly affairs?” The generals were startled, but then felt somewhat relieved. If Xu Ze truly was one of those mysterious hermits with extraordinary abilities, that might partially explain his remarkable medical skills. Still, they found it odd—even for a hermit cultivator, were there any who also wielded modern high-tech weaponry? After all, while such cultivators were said to possess impressive combat prowess, capable of taking on ten opponents at once, no one had ever heard of one who could shoot down fighter jets, right?
Seeing that the doubt in the generals’ eyes had lessened somewhat, General Yang Guanglian said calmly with a smile, “Moreover, Xu Ze has demonstrated excellent character. During this mission to escort General Zuma back to his country, General Zuma intended to request from our nation to hire him as a private medical officer and combat instructor at an annual salary of five million U.S. dollars. Yet Xu Ze remained unmoved—if any of us were in his shoes, we’d probably be tempted, wouldn’t we? Haha…”
Hearing that Xu Ze had turned down an annual salary of five million dollars without a second thought, the generals all displayed looks of surprise. Given such a salary, along with the official backing of a national mission, many of them would have gladly accepted and gone over for a year or two…
“And Xu Ze was able to resist that temptation, thereby gaining General Zuma’s friendship and securing a more solid foundation for the future of our relations with both countries! A talent like this—regardless of his particular background—who is willing to risk life and limb for our country and achieve such meritorious deeds—we should place great importance on him to strengthen the might of our military!”
Hearing these words from General Yang Guanglian, the generals nodded in agreement one after another. A talent like this—if they didn’t quickly bring him into the General Staff Department, they’d be letting the National Security Bureau snatch him away, wouldn’t they?
“Minister… when Senior Colonel Xu Ze returns safely, should we appoint him as Deputy Director of the Third Intelligence Bureau?” Vice Minister Wang asked, looking at General Yang Guanglian.
At Vice Minister Wang’s inquiry, General Yang Guanglian hesitated slightly. “Given Xu Ze’s remarkable skills, it would be a bit of a waste to put him in an intelligence role…”
“Minister… how about letting him serve as an instructor for our Wolf Fang unit? If we truly had Senior Colonel Xu Ze, our Wolf Fang team might just be able to elevate themselves to the next level!” The major general from the Wolf Fang unit quickly interjected.
“Come on, Bai Qiwei—don’t even think about it. If we let Xu Ze go to Wolf Fang, the old chief probably wouldn’t agree either,” Vice Minister Wang said, chuckling and lightly scolding him.
The group was now engrossed in discussing how best to utilize Xu Ze after his return, completely oblivious to the fact that he was still a student, and whether he would even agree to their plans. With Old Man Li backing him, if Xu Ze said no, there wasn’t much they could do about it anyway…
In Lima, Africa… After a full day of rest, the Wolf Fang team was now enjoying a lavish banquet hosted by General Zuma. Having returned to power and stabilized the situation within just a few hours with his military, General Zuma was in excellent spirits and had personally arranged this banquet to honor the Chinese soldiers who had escorted him home.
Of course, the main focus was on honoring Xu Ze—otherwise, why would a head of state personally attend to thank a bunch of lowly grunts?
“Xu… come, you are our best friend in Lima. Come, let’s drink this toast…” Although Hu Qiang was quickly translating General Zuma’s words, Xu Ze had already understood the meaning from the general’s excited demeanor as he raised his glass. He clinked his glass enthusiastically with this straightforward general whom he had come to like a great deal.
If there was anything he feared, it was a competition—but when it came to drinking, he hadn’t met anyone who could match him in a long time…
Meanwhile, the other Wolf Fang soldiers were also engaging in drinking games, egged on by many African officers fluent in Chinese. It’s the same in every military—when the liquor comes out, it’s time to compete…
The Wolf Fang team, having ventured abroad and successfully completed their mission, had initially been cautious at such a high-level banquet hosted by a foreign head of state, careful not to drink too much. But with the African soldiers’ relentless cajoling, and seeing their own commanding officer already matching drinks with the head of state, they threw caution to the wind. They absolutely couldn’t let these Africans show them up—that was a loss of face they could never afford.
