This Isn't Germany's Army, It's Hydra!

After a crisp snap, it felt as though even the wind in the entire forest had stopped, leaving only Chu Hang's own rebellious heart beating wildly, thump, thump, thump, in his chest, so loud that even he found it noisy.

His body made the most instinctive reaction in an instant.

The M1A1 submachine gun in his hand was gripped tightly by him, the cold buttstock pressed against his shoulder, the muzzle steadily pointing toward the direction the sound came from, his index finger already resting lightly on the trigger.

Friend or foe?

This thought flashed through his mind.

He dared not move, even slowing his breathing to the absolute limit. In an environment like this, any extra movement could turn himself from a hunter into prey.

The snow was the fairest thing of all; it would record the footprints of every visitor and expose anyone attempting to hide.

He strained his ears to listen, the hearing enhanced by his healing factor allowing him to capture subtle sounds ordinary people could not perceive.

"Sand... rustle..."

That was the sound of feet stepping on thick snow. The sound was very light, very cautious, and there was more than one person. It sounded like at least three or four people were moving in a loose formation, searching in his direction.

Chu Hang's heart sank little by little.

The members of the Howling Commandos were each unbridled, fierce men, and even in caution, they could never walk with such disciplined footsteps. Especially that guy Logan; the noise he made when walking made him wish everyone within a radius of one kilometer knew he was coming.

So, the ones coming could only be enemies.

Damn it, his luck really wasn't average. The moment he dropped from the sky, before he could even catch his breath, he ran headfirst into a German Army patrol.

What to do?

Run? Are you kidding me. Running in this snow left extremely conspicuous footprints, and with a few bursts of fire from the enemy, even with his healing factor, being beaten into a sieve would still hurt for a long time.

Fight them head-on? There were many of them, and they definitely had automatic weapons. Although his physical fitness far exceeded ordinary people, at the end of the day he was still flesh and blood, and a bullet to the head would still kill him.

Chu Hang's brain raced at this moment, just like when he was debugging code in his past life, frantically analyzing all possibilities in an attempt to find that single plan for survival.

He quickly scanned the surrounding terrain. His current location was in a relatively flat forest clearing with no decent cover. A dozen meters away to his left, a massive pine tree blown down by wind and snow lay horizontally across the snow like a natural breastwork.

That's it!

He made a split-second decision in his heart.

Without a shred of hesitation, he immediately lowered his body, his entire person nearly hugging the snow as he scrambled on hands and knees toward the fallen tree. His movements were extremely light, trying his best not to make a single sound.

The short distance of a dozen meters took him less than ten seconds to crawl. He silently hid behind the thick trunk, exposing only his eyes to stare fixedly ahead through the gaps in the branches and leaves.

Soon, several black figures appeared in the dark forest.

A total of four people. They wore white German Army snow camouflage uniforms, holding MP40 submachine guns, their muzzles pointing alertly in different directions in a standard diamond-shaped search formation as they advanced slowly.

Their movements were very professional, maintaining a mutually supportive distance from one another—at a glance, they were well-trained elites.

Chu Hang's heart beat faster. He pulled his body lower still, not even daring to breathe heavily.

The four German soldiers drew closer and closer, Chu Hang even able to hear their heavy, labored breathing caused by the cold, as well as their brief, lowered-voice communication in German.

Although he couldn't understand what they were saying, Chu Hang could sense that they seemed to be searching for survivors of the plane crash.

An opportunity.

Chu Hang's eyes narrowed slightly. He knew he couldn't keep hiding like this. This area was only so big, and sooner or later they would discover the footprints he left and the parachute previously hanging in the trees. He had to preempt them before being discovered!

He was going to launch an ambush!

His gaze fell upon the soldier walking at the very rear of the formation. Catching the thief by catching the king first was foolish at a time like this; the best method was to start from the back and silently take them out one by one.

He pulled the K-BAR combat knife from his waist, holding it with a reverse grip, the cold hilt instantly calming his palms, which had grown somewhat warm from tension.

The four-man squad passed the fallen tree where he hid, coming within less than five meters at their closest. Chu Hang could clearly see the frost on the muzzles of their guns and their noses reddened by the freeze.

His heart leaped into his throat; he felt as though every beat of his heart was like the pounding of a drum.

The three people walking in the front had already passed, and the final soldier was about to pass his hiding spot.

Right now!

The exact moment the last soldier's back was completely exposed to him, Chu Hang moved!

His body sprang forth instantly like a fully drawn bow! There was not a shred of sound, only a gale mixed with snowflakes.

The German soldier seemed to hear the wind coming from behind and instinctively wanted to turn his head.

But it was too late.

Chu Hang's left hand reached out from behind like lightning, tightly clamping over the soldier's mouth to prevent him from making any sound. At the same time, the cold combat knife in his right hand had silently and precisely stabbed in from the side-rear of the neck, then slashed with force!

"Mmph..."

The soldier's body stiffened abruptly, his eyes widening like copper bells, all struggles and sounds firmly muffled back by Chu Hang's iron-vise-like hand. Warm blood spurted out, splashing all over Chu Hang's hand.

Chu Hang did not let go, instead using his own body to steady the man, slowly lowering him onto the snowy ground without making a single extra sound throughout the entire process.

A fatal strike!

Just as he wanted to breathe a sigh of relief, the three German soldiers walking in front halted their steps at almost the exact same time.

Discovered?

Chu Hang's heart tightened violently.

He saw the one walking at the front, who looked like the squad leader, raise a hand to make a gesture to stop advancing, then scan the surroundings vigilantly. They had obviously discovered that their teammate was not following.

"Hans?" that leader called out in a low voice in German.

No response.

In the forest, there was only the wind.

The three soldiers immediately gathered back-to-back, raising the submachine guns in their hands with muzzles aimed at the surrounding darkness, the atmosphere instantly turning tense to the extreme.

Chu Hang knew he had been exposed. The opportunity for a stealth attack only came once; now, it had to be a hard fight!

Without a shred of hesitation, the very moment the three opponents were at their most mentally tense and their attention most scattered, he abruptly stood up from behind the fallen tree, the M1A1 submachine gun in his hands roaring with fury!

"Da-da-da-da-da!"

Orange-yellow tongues of flame carved a fatal fan shape in the darkness! Bullets poured over like raindrops!

The reactions of the three German soldiers were also extremely fast; the instant the gunfire sounded, they lunged to the ground while raising their guns to return fire.

"Trr-trr-trr-trr!"

Three MP40s fired simultaneously, bullets flying past Chu Hang's head and sides with a whoosh, striking the tree trunk behind him and sending wood chips flying.

The moment he fired a single shot, Chu Hang shrank back behind the tree trunk. He was not an idiot; standing and trading fire with three submachine guns was no different from suicide.

A bullet flew past his arm, tearing open a bloody gash. A sharp pain arrived, but the healing factor immediately began to take effect, a sensation of numbness and itching washing over the wound as the flowing blood quickly stopped.

This damn ability could save his life, but the pain couldn't be reduced by even a bit! Chu Hang grimaced in pain, cursing inwardly.

He was pinned down by firepower right now and couldn't raise his head at all. He knew continuing like this was no solution, as the enemy would soon flank him.

His mind turned, and he came up with an idea.

He unhooked a grenade from his web gear, pulled the pin, counted silently to two in his head, then picked a direction and threw it hard from behind the tree trunk.

The grenade traced an arc in the air, landing in a patch of snow a dozen meters to the right of the three soldiers.

"Boom!"

A huge roar! The grenade exploded, kicking up flying snow and dirt across the sky, the firelight illuminating half the woods in an instant.

The three soldiers were clearly startled by this sudden explosion; their firepower paused involuntarily as they instinctively looked toward the direction of the blast.

This was the opening!

Chu Hang flashed out from the other side of the tree trunk, the submachine gun in his hands sounding once more!

"Da-da-da!"

This time, he was no longer spraying fire, but firing precise controlled bursts!

Two bloody blooms instantly erupted on the chest of a German soldier who was just preparing to get up, and before he could even let out a scream, he fell backward.

The other soldier reacted and had just turned his gun muzzle when Chu Hang's third bullet accurately drilled into his head.

Only the last leader was left!

That leader was also a ruthless character; without panicking, he rolled to take cover behind a large tree while raising his gun to spray blindly in Chu Hang's direction in an attempt to suppress him.

Chu Hang emptied his magazine, quickly shrinking back into cover as he swiftly drew a new magazine from his pouch to reload. The entire process was smooth and fluid, completed in under three seconds.

At that moment, he heard the enemy's gunfire stop as well. Clearly, the opponent was reloading too.

Chance!

A cold light flashed in Chu Hang's eyes; instead of opting for a firefight, he burst out from cover like a fierce tiger released from its cage, charging in a straight line toward the large tree where the leader hid!

He was going into melee!

The leader had just finished reloading, and upon looking up, he saw a black shadow charging toward him at an unbelievable speed, scaring him out of his wits. He hastily raised his gun, but it was already too late.

Chu Hang was too fast! A dozen meters of distance was crossed in what felt like the blink of an eye!

The moment before the leader pulled the trigger, Chu Hang delivered a fierce kick straight to his gun-wielding wrist.

"Snap!"

A crisp bone-fracturing sound rang out, the leader's MP40 submachine gun flying out of his hand as he let out a cry of painful agony.

Chu Hang gave him no quarter, pressing forward to slam a vicious elbow strike hard against his temple.

"Bang!"

The leader's head struck the tree trunk behind him heavily like a rotten watermelon, and without even a groan, he slid down limply, completely losing all signs of life.

The battle was over.

In under a minute.

Chu Hang stood in place, breathing heavily in great gulps, adrenaline still surging through his body. Looking at the four corpses on the ground and the chaotic snow all around, he felt no joy of victory, only the exhaustion of having barely survived a disaster.

He walked to the leader's corpse, squatted down, and began searching him. Magazines, grenades, chocolate... these were all good things that could not be wasted.

Just as he prepared to search the next corpse, his gaze inadvertently fell upon the collar insignia of the leader's uniform.

That was not the German Iron Cross, nor was it the SS death's head.

It was a small, yet incomparably ferocious metal emblem.

A black skull, connected at the bottom to several twisted things resembling octopus tentacles.

Chu Hang's pupils contracted instantly to the size of needlepoints.

His breathing stalled as well.

He tore open the leader's collar, seeing a tattoo on his neck—the exact same pattern, only larger, clearer, and carrying an eerie hint of red.

"Hydra..."

The three words spilled unconsciously from Chu Hang's mouth.

He stood up abruptly, rushing to the other corpses to check them one by one.

On every single person, in the exact same location, was the identical emblem or the identical tattoo.

He finally understood why they had drifted off course. And he finally understood why they had so coincidentally encountered a patrol right here.

This was no ordinary German-occupied territory at all.

Their parachute jump had landed them, without a single inch of bias, right into the security perimeter of a secret Hydra base!

This was Hydra's lair!