Chapter 68

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Seeing their comrades treated so cruelly, all the Soviet soldiers were enraged. They could tolerate their comrades dying in battle, but they could not tolerate such cruel treatment.

Skinned! And completely alive, how could this be human behavior! It was worse than beasts!

Gilkochagin was furious. Although the guerrillas had fled on horseback, they might not be faster than he was. The snow was so heavy that the horses would soon be exhausted, and two of them were riding on one horse; they definitely couldn't get away!

The clear hoof prints in the snow were the best guide!

"Calling Baghram, requesting Hind support!" Gilkochagin, though angry, had not lost his reason. His mission was to search for the guerrillas. Now that he had found their trail, he had to pursue them relentlessly and also call for air support. With the Hind's strikes, victory was almost certain.

In the Soviet company, individual combat was emphasized the most. This company was equipped with only two radios, one of which was given to the infantry squad escorting the prisoners to communicate with the helicopters. It was destroyed in the recent battle. The other radio was carried by the communications soldier next to Gilkochagin.

"Baghram, reconnaissance company calling, Baghram, reconnaissance company calling." The communications soldier called several times, but only static was heard.

"Report, the mountain signals are too complex, no response from the radio." The communications soldier said while running.

"Continue calling until contact is established." Gilkochagin said.

The ammunition belt kept bumping against his hip as he ran, and his chest began to feel short of breath. On the plains, sprinting would lead to oxygen deprivation, but in these mountains, at high altitude and in the cold, their heavy clothing made their physical exertion even more rapid.

But their will remained firm. The brutal death of their comrades spurred them on. Each one of them burst with the greatest effort, quickly following the hoof prints.

One mountain, then another, after running over three mountains, their legs finally gave out.

Two legs could never catch up to four legs. In a speed contest with horses, Gilkochagin had to admit defeat.

Everyone squatted on the ground, gasping for breath. They were all top performers in physical training, but they had never undergone such intense running in such a cold, high-altitude area.

Gilkochagin wanted to order them to continue the pursuit, but seeing the reactions of his men, he had to give up.

After resting for five minutes and gradually recovering their strength, they heard hoof sounds from the side.

What's going on? Gilkochagin looked at the distance in confusion. A group of cavalry was galloping out from the side valley.

"Prepare to fire." Gilkochagin shouted.

Without waiting for his order, all the soldiers raised their guns, AK-74s, RPKs... If the enemy continued to approach, they would shoot without hesitation.

At this moment, the lead rider seemed to notice something and suddenly pulled the reins. Then, the group of riders turned around on the mountain and galloped back.

This is the guerrilla group I was chasing! Gilkochagin immediately realized. And this guerrilla group was not attacking them; they fled upon seeing them, clearly unprepared for battle.

What is this? Gilkochagin quickly understood. The guerrillas were not lost; they knew he was chasing them and deliberately circled to exhaust his soldiers. But they ran too fast, and he chased too slowly, so they encountered him again while circling.

Those horses must be exhausted after running for so long! Thinking of this, Gilkochagin was suddenly filled with courage: "Chase! Eliminate them, avenge Askov!"

Thinking of Askov's tragic state, everyone was immediately filled with fighting spirit. They caught up with the fleeing riders.

"Whoa..." Suddenly, a horse stumbled and threw the guerrilla off.

The nearby riders pulled the fallen guerrilla up, but the horse lay on the ground, unable to get up.

Indeed, they are exhausted! These horses have no endurance. Chase them, eliminate them!

Seeing this, the Soviet soldiers were excited. If not for the goal of eliminating all of them, they could have opened fire long ago.

They didn't notice that the canyon on both sides was flanked by high mountains.

"Instructor, those fools really followed us!" Durani said to Muhamed while riding.

"Attention, we are about to enter a minefield, S-shape!" Muhamed shouted to the galloping guerrillas, ignoring Durani.

All of this was Muhamed's plan. When the Soviets were enraged by the corpse, they would pursue them recklessly. However, individual stamina could not compare to horses. If they kept running, they would lose the Soviets, but stopping to wait would make the Soviets suspicious, thinking it was a trap.

Muhamed created a false encounter and used a horse to pretend that their horses were exhausted. The Soviets fell for the trap and followed.

They didn't know that Muhamed was leading them to death.

The minefield was ahead, and Muhamed needed to lead the guerrillas through it.

Regular troops would simply bury mines underground, but special forces had various methods. Experienced enemies would dismantle the mines, so how to deceive the enemy and make them fall for the trap required skill.

Muhamed simply had the guerrillas lay the mines in an S-shape, not along the S-shape, but leaving an S-shaped path through the minefield.

This was the path to survival.

A dozen horses gradually formed a line, crossing the minefield in an S-shape.

The Soviets following behind immediately noticed something was wrong with the guerrillas' path!

"There might be a minefield ahead!" a platoon leader said, stopping.

"Guerrillas having a few mines is already a lot. How could they have enough to form a minefield!" Kryshevich shouted from behind: "In this cold, how could they lay mines?"

"Follow the guerrillas' path!" Gilkochagin ordered.

Although he was skeptical about whether the guerrillas could set up a minefield, he had already lost an infantry squad and couldn't be too cautious.

Regular armies set up minefields, but these Afghan guerrillas at most set up roadside bombs. With this thought, Kryshevich followed the hoof prints and pursued.

After a while, Kryshevich realized that the guerrillas were following an S-shaped path, which was a waste of time. If they went straight, they could easily catch up!

Damn Afghan guerrillas, they must be bluffing!

The surrounding area was covered in snow, and there were no visible marks. How could they lay mines without leaving footprints? Kryshevich kept judging as he ran.

Bold, meticulous, and sometimes with the gambler's temperament, this was Kryshevich. His body burned with the blood of a warrior; he was not afraid of death.

After running a kilometer, Kryshevich finally took his first step. He didn't continue along the S-shaped path but went straight through from the side.

"Kryshevich!" Gilkochagin shouted, seeing his most courageous subordinate openly disobeying his orders.

"There is no minefield here!" Kryshevich said: "The guerrillas are fooling us!"

Kryshevich had already walked ten meters from the S-shaped footprints, unharmed.

At this moment, the guerrillas a few hundred meters ahead suddenly changed their path, converging into a straight line and rushing to the other side of the valley.

Seeing Kryshevich boldly walking through the supposed minefield with no issues, and the guerrillas speeding away, Gilkochagin gritted his teeth: "Charge!"

Two legs could never catch up to four legs. Seeing the guerrillas about to escape, Gilkochagin finally couldn't hold back.

Following the S-shaped path, they had already run two kilometers. How many mines could be laid in such a distance? Three hundred? Five hundred? Gilkochagin felt deceived. Where did the guerrillas get so many mines?

Chase!

No longer caring about the S-shaped footprints, they charged straight ahead, stepping on the snow. They ran for dozens of meters without stepping on any mines.

Damn! Cunning Afghan guerrillas! The Soviet soldiers, feeling deceived, couldn't hold back. If they had just walked straight through the S-shaped minefield earlier, they would have already caught up!

Kryshevich was the fastest, surpassing the others by ten meters. As long as he passed the mountain pass ahead, he could set up his gun and sweep across.

At this moment, Kryshevich felt his foot step on something hard. Under the soft snow, there was something so hard.

Is it a rock? No! It's a mine!

Seeing the obvious marks in the snow around, Kryshevich immediately knew he had been tricked.

The minefields ahead were all fake; only this one was real!

"Boom!" Two seconds after Kryshevich stepped down, a loud explosion came from under his feet.

With the explosion, a blast of air shot up from his feet. He didn't feel pain, only numbness. Kryshevich saw his thigh fly up.

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