Beyond the Smoke

Chinese engineer Lin Yue is stationed in Juba, South Sudan, to build communication base stations. Three months later, his name appears on the presidential palace's wanted list with a bounty of 500,000 South Sudanese pounds. He is not a soldier, not a spy, just a military enthusiast engineer who knows how to dig trenches and calculate ballistics. When the compound is besieged by rebels and local workers fall in pools of blood, he chooses to stay. When a peacekeeping armored vehicle is pierced by an RPG, he rushes into the fire zone and drags out four wounded soldiers. When the wanted list is broadcast on the radio, he knows he can never go back. This is not a story of a hero's return. It is a story of how an ordinary person chooses, survives, and faces the promise he couldn't keep in war. Hardcore military realism, cold and hard style, ensemble growth. Completed 350,000 words, complete outline, daily updates, never dropped.