Blood Saber’s expression was so dark it was practically dripping.
He never imagined this tracking mission would go so poorly.
His target was clearly prepared, having laid numerous traps throughout the community. Though none were fatal on their own, their cumulative effect was not to be underestimated.
After triggering several traps in a row, the Blood Saber Gang’s morale took a noticeable hit.
They started to move cautiously, even timidly, no longer daring to advance as boldly as they had before.
Blood Saber knew that if he didn’t find a solution to this predicament soon, the mission would likely end in failure.
He took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down.
"Nobody make a rash move."
Blood Saber commanded in a low voice, "Their goal is obvious. They want to use these traps to wear down our combat effectiveness and morale."
"We won’t fall for it. Let me think."
Blood Saber began to rack his brain for a counter-strategy.
He knew that if they didn’t deal with the traps, they would be completely unable to advance effectively.
"Boss, this isn’t working."
One of his men approached Blood Saber and whispered, "The guys are getting spooked. If this keeps up, I’m afraid we’ll fall apart before we even find the enemy."
Blood Saber shot him a look and said coldly, "I know. But we can’t lose our nerve now."
"They’re clearly experts at setting traps. If we advance rashly, we’ll just be walking into another one."
"We need a more reliable plan."
Blood Saber considered this for a moment, then turned to his men.
"Who here is any good at disarming traps?"
His gaze swept over them, trying to find someone skilled at disarming traps.
However, he was disappointed to find that while his men all looked as fierce as demons, they were utterly helpless when it came to traps.
"Boss, we’re all just grunts. What do we know about disarming traps?"
One of the men said awkwardly, scratching his head.
Blood Saber cursed inwardly. ’He knew these guys weren’t suited for delicate work.’
"Then who among you has the best perception?"
Blood Saber continued, "Perhaps we can use perception to detect the traps in advance."
One of his men stepped forward. "Boss, I’m fairly confident in my perception."
"Good. You, get up front and try."
Blood Saber had the man walk at the head of the party, attempting to use his perception to detect traps in advance.
However, they quickly discovered that this method was not viable.
The enemy’s traps were extremely well-concealed; even the man with heightened perception couldn’t reliably detect them all.
Furthermore, the method was incredibly inefficient, making it almost impossible to advance.
Blood Saber’s expression grew even darker.
"Boss, this isn’t going to work."
One of his men walked to Blood Saber’s side and spoke in a low voice.
"We can’t make any effective headway. If this keeps up, I’m afraid we’ll have to return empty-handed."
Blood Saber knew this as well, but he was unwilling to give up just yet.
"Isn’t there any way to deal with these traps?"
Blood Saber said through gritted teeth.
"Boss, perhaps we could try a more... unconventional approach."
One of his men came to Blood Saber’s side and whispered a few words in his ear.
Blood Saber’s eyes lit up. He thought the method might just work.
"Alright. Do it just like you said."
Blood Saber immediately issued a new order.
A few minutes later, several of his men carried some strange-looking contraptions to the front of the line.
These devices resembled canes, but they had wheels at the bottom, allowing them to move quickly along the ground.
Blood Saber’s eyes lit up when he saw these mine-clearing devices.
"Good!"
"Excellent!"
The design of the device was incredibly simple, yet highly effective.
Due to time and material constraints, the mines couldn’t have been built with much complexity, so their trigger mechanism was also very simple.
They were pressure-sensitive. As soon as the mechanism felt external pressure, it would immediately trigger the fuse and detonate the mine.
Therefore, even a relatively light tire rolling over it was enough to trigger the explosion.
The mines’ explosive power wasn’t great to begin with; at most, they could blow off part of a lower leg.
This meant that as long as one was about half a meter away from the center of the blast, they were out of range of its destructive power.
Blood Saber had his men use these devices to clear a path, rolling them ahead to trigger the traps.
This way, they could advance step by step in relative safety.
The method was crude, but effective.
As the contraptions were pushed forward, they triggered the traps along the path one by one.
Although the devices were wrecked after triggering a trap and couldn’t be used again,
these mine-clearers were simple, requiring only some old tires and iron rods to construct.
Thus, they quickly succeeded in opening a safe path for the Blood Saber Gang.
Moreover, because time had been tight and Neil’s materials were limited, the mines hadn’t been laid densely across every path. The total number was far less than Blood Saber had initially anticipated.
Instead, they were placed at key nodes on the periphery. As a result, once the more densely packed outer layer of mines was cleared, the subsequent work became much easier.
Blood Saber’s expression finally eased somewhat.
"Good. Keep moving."
He ordered his men to press forward.
However, they had not gone far before a pained scream echoed from ahead.
Blood Saber’s expression changed. ’He hadn’t expected them to have enough strength left for an ambush.’
"Everyone, pick up the pace! With me!"
Blood Saber roared, leading his men in a rapid charge forward.
However, when they arrived at the site of the commotion, they were shocked to discover the fight was already over.
The bodies of several Blood Saber Gang members lay on the ground, but their enemy was nowhere in sight.
Blood Saber’s face instantly became impossibly dark.
"The nerve!"
he hissed through gritted teeth.
’He couldn’t believe it. Instead of holing up, they’d taken advantage of the split-up teams to ambush the mine-sweepers.’
Blood Saber slammed his fist into a nearby wall, and the 10-centimeter-thick concrete cracked with a loud BANG.
"Fuck, those bastards."
"When I get my hands on them, I’ll tear them to shreds."
"Tighten the demining perimeter!"
"We have to find them!"
...
From the shadows, watching the enraged Blood Saber, a contemptuous smile touched the corners of Zhou Mei’s lips.
In such complex terrain, with her speed, picking off a few stragglers was child’s play.
As long as she didn’t get greedy and made a quick escape after each kill, she could rapidly weaken the enemy’s strength.