Cold.
Bone-chilling cold.
Chu Hang felt as though the blood throughout his body was about to freeze into slush. He leaned against the damp, frigid reeds. Every breath felt like swallowing a handful of shattered glass, scraping from his throat all the way into his lungs, leaving behind a searing pain.
Gabe was in even worse shape. His trembling had changed from the violent shudders at first into faint, nearly imperceptible spasms. Chu Hang knew this was not a sign of recovery. It meant Gabe no longer even had the strength to generate heat by shivering. At this rate, Gabe would become a cold corpse in half an hour at most.
And Chu Hang himself would not last much longer either.
The Healing Factor was powerful, but it was not a perpetual-motion machine. It needed energy too. In such extreme cold, the pitiful amount of energy in his body was draining away rapidly like oil leaking from an engine.
What now?
Wait for death?
Chu Hang's gaze passed through the swaying reeds toward the distant ridge, where artillery fire cast flickering light.
Captain America, Steve Rogers.
That muscular man carrying a pot-lid shield, hailed as the embodiment of justice, was over there now, surrounded by Hydra's main force as tightly as dumplings. His situation was probably no better than Chu Hang's.
Expecting him to save them? That was pure fantasy.
But...
What if they did not need him to save them?
It was as if lightning split Chu Hang's mind, illuminating the darkness shrouded in cold and despair.
His nearly frozen brain began racing at an unprecedented speed.
An idea surfaced uncontrollably—an idea so insane that even he found it absurd.
Why should I wait for him to save me?
Why couldn't I drag him in with us?
"Gabe." Chu Hang's voice was hoarse as he shook his teammate, who was nearly unconscious. "Wake up. Listen to me."
Gabe managed to lift his eyelids into a narrow slit. There was no light at all in his unfocused eyes.
"I... have a plan." Chu Hang leaned close to his ear and spoke quickly, low enough that only the two of them could hear. "A plan that can keep us both alive. But it's crazy. So crazy that one wrong move will get us killed without even a grave to lie in."
Perhaps the words "stay alive" stirred something in Gabe. At last, a faint flicker appeared in his eyes.
"You... talk..." He squeezed the words out of his throat with all the strength he had.
"Listen," Chu Hang said at a rapid pace. "Right now, Hydra's entire main force is focused on Captain America at the western ridge. And that damned Hound has been tricked by us into going upstream. That means the area we're in is a massive troop vacuum! It's our disadvantage, but it's also our greatest advantage!"
"We'll use that vacuum to 'invite' Captain America out of that damned encirclement!"
Gabe's eyes widened sharply. He seemed not to understand what Chu Hang meant.
"How do we invite him?" A savage smile curled across Chu Hang's lips, especially chilling in the cold night. "Hydra's way, of course!"
He patted the cold metal box tucked against his chest—the radio transmitter.
"We used it to trick the Hound once. Now we'll use it to trick them again! But this time, we're going to fool Hydra's entire command system!"
Gabe's breathing suddenly quickened. He finally understood what Chu Hang intended to do. This plan was a hundred times crazier than their earlier diversion!
"You... you're going to impersonate a Hydra commander?" Gabe's voice carried terrified disbelief.
"That's right!" Chu Hang's eyes gleamed with a light called madness. "I'll impersonate a senior officer and issue a fake order to the troops surrounding the western ridge! An order they'll have no choice but to obey!"
"I'll order them to open a gap in the eastern encirclement—the defensive line near the riverbank on our side! I'll say the Allies' main force has been spotted in the south and urgent reinforcements are needed! That way, as long as Captain America isn't an idiot, he'll definitely spot that one opening! He'll fight like hell to break out in our direction!"
Gabe was completely stunned by Chu Hang's wild plan.
This... this was dancing on a knife's edge! And with the hardest moves possible!
"But... but won't that expose us too?" Gabe said with a shiver. "That Hound and Hydra headquarters will know you did it the moment they compare orders! Then we'll become everyone's target!"
"That's right! We'll be exposed!" Chu Hang nodded without hesitation, but his gaze became exceptionally firm. "So what? Gabe, listen carefully. We're like two people who fell into an ice hole. If we sit still, we freeze to death. If we try to climb out, we don't have the strength. The only way is to drag down the strongest guy standing on the shore! Once he falls in, he'll make a huge commotion. Maybe he'll alert everyone else!"
"Captain America is that strongest guy! As long as he reaches our area, Hydra's pursuers will follow! Then this place becomes a new battlefield! A chaotic battlefield! Only in chaos do we have a chance! A chance to fish in troubled waters and survive!"
Chu Hang's words were like a shot to the heart, driven hard into Gabe's chest, where his heart had nearly stopped beating.
That was right. Death awaited them either way.
Rather than freezing to death miserably and without dignity in these reeds, they might as well make a grand gamble!
If they won, they lived!
If they lost, it was still better than this!
"Fine... let's... let's do it!" Gabe gritted his teeth. A spark of survival reignited in those eyes that had lost all their light.
"Good!" Chu Hang took a deep breath. He knew that from this moment on, there was no turning back.
He retuned the transmitter to Hydra's public command channel.
A cacophony of static and shouted German instantly flooded in.
"Increase firepower on the west! Don't let him break out!"
"Medic! Where are the medics?! We have wounded here!"
"Repeat, the target is moving east along Hill Three! Requesting fire support!"
Listening to the chaos on the channel, Chu Hang knew Captain America's side had reached its fiercest point.
Now!
He closed his eyes and tried hard to recall the tone and cadence of the Hydra officers he had heard issuing orders before—that lofty, unquestionable arrogance.
He imitated the accent of the Hydra squad leader he had killed.
He cleared his throat, then pressed the transmit button.
"Silence!"
A short German rebuke, filled with authority, came from his mouth. He deliberately lowered his voice, making it sound steadier and older.
In an instant, the entire noisy communications channel truly fell silent.
Everyone had been stunned by the sudden, unfamiliar voice.
Chu Hang's heart leaped into his throat. He knew the most critical moment had arrived.
"This is the Observer." Using a fabricated callsign that sounded weighty enough, he continued, "I have just received Commander Schmidt's highest-order directive. The Allies' main force has been sighted in Sector A7 on the southern line. They are attempting to outflank us. All Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Squads responsible for the eastern encirclement are ordered to abandon their current positions immediately and assemble at full speed in Sector A7 on the southern line to establish a new defensive line! Repeat, this is the highest-order directive. It must be carried out within ten minutes!"
After saying that, he immediately released the transmit button.
The entire channel fell into deathly silence.
Chu Hang could even hear his own heartbeat and Gabe's pounding like war drums.
Did it work?
Would they believe him?
Time passed second by second.
Just as Chu Hang was about to lose patience and shout another order, the voice of a young officer, clearly doubtful, sounded over the channel.
"...Understood, Observer. But if we withdraw, there will be a huge gap in the eastern encirclement. That American..."
"Idiot!" Chu Hang pressed the transmit button again before he could finish, roaring in furious, disappointed rage. "Are you questioning Commander Schmidt's decision? Is one American soldier more important than the security of our entire base's flank? I don't care how you do it—carry out the order! If the southern line falls, I'll personally twist your head off and kick it around like a ball!"
That roar, mixed with threat and fury, clearly had an effect.
The young officer no longer dared to question him.
"Yes! Yes! Understood! We'll execute it immediately!"
Soon, the sounds of troops assembling and vehicles starting up came through the channel.
It worked!
Chu Hang and Gabe exchanged a glance, and both saw a wild joy of surviving disaster in the other's eyes!
They had truly used a fake order to move Hydra's troops!
Yet before they could celebrate for more than three seconds—
A cold, emotionless voice filled with endless killing intent suddenly sounded over the communications channel.
Chu Hang and Gabe would never forget that voice for the rest of their lives.
It was the Hound.
"What a splendid performance, my little rats."
"Not only can you dig holes, you can even imitate your master's voice."
The voice paused, as though savoring Chu Hang and Gabe's fear, then slowly spoke in an almost cruel, word-by-word tone.
"But it seems you forgot one thing."
"I am in charge of reconnaissance on the southern line."
"There is nothing there but wind and snow."
"Now, I know where you are."
"The game is over."
Before you continue