Long Zhan's open ridicule ignited Murphy's irritation into full-blown anger. Fixing his gaze on Long Zhan, Murphy snapped, "What are you laughing at? Do you have an issue with what I said?"
"Why am I laughing? Because your ignorance is just too funny."
Murphy, a kid raised in the "big city," had no clue how shepherding was done in rural areas. Long Zhan had to give them a proper on-the-spot lesson.
Without sparing Murphy any face, he straightened his expression and said seriously, "Herding sheep is not like city folks walking their dogs—taking them out for a stroll, letting them pee, and then heading back.
"Shepherding is a livelihood for Afghan farmers. It's hard, time-consuming work.
"To make sure the flock is well-fed and fattened enough to fetch a decent price for survival, they have to get up early and work late, letting the sheep graze as long as possible. The more grass they eat, the faster they grow.
"So these shepherds don't come back before sunset once they're out with the flock.
"And as long as the shepherds haven't called back, or no danger like gunfire shows up nearby, the villagers don't even come looking.
"This way of herding has continued for hundreds of years—they've long since gotten used to it down to their bones."
Long Zhan paused, then to reinforce his point, walked over to the old shepherd.
He yanked off the cloth bag hanging from his waist, opened it, turned it upside down, and shook out two pieces of baked naan—each a bit longer than a palm.
Pointing at the naan on the ground, he said, "See these? Why did he bring two pieces of naan? Do you think he brought them as snacks to munch on the way? Just to kill time?"
Long Zhan's rapid-fire questions hit Murphy dumb.
He really thought herding was just a quick walk around, so seeing the shepherd out here, his first reaction was to move the observation point.
Only then did he think about how to keep the squad from being exposed.
He had no concept and couldn't imagine that in this mechanized era, such an inefficient way of feeding livestock still existed.
No matter how many kinds of lamb meat he had eaten growing up—too many to count—Murphy still couldn't grasp this alone.
He wanted to question this feeding method, but seeing those two pieces of naan on the ground, no matter how reluctant, Murphy knew Long Zhan was telling the truth.
This naan, made by grinding wheat, barley, corn, dried mulberries, and peas into flour and baking it, was the staple food of poor Afghans.
Not a main dish with side dishes—this was the only thing that filled their stomachs.
Murphy had tried it before—hard, dense, terrible taste, but extremely filling. He couldn't eat even a whole piece at once.
You only needed to bring two large pieces like these if you planned to be out all day.
Deetz, Matt, and Marcus looked enlightened. They had understood herding only after hearing Long Zhan's explanation.
They realized there was a way of life called "work at sunrise, return at sunset."
Having learned about herding from Long Zhan's briefing, they didn't need him to explain more—they all had ideas.
If shepherds only returned at night, their operational window was huge.
No need to leave the area, no need to risk a military tribunal by killing two shepherds before leaving.
They could simply control the shepherds and then proceed with their mission.
Assuming a communication window every two hours, in these nine hours until dark, they had four chances to talk with command.
They could finish all communications with base within this time.
Once night fell…
Even if villagers noticed the shepherds hadn't returned and sent people to look, it wouldn't affect them.
Because after dark, the ones who needed to worry about their lives weren't Murphy's team hiding in the mountains.
It was the village of Katadaku, about to be hit by a military strike.
When Shah and his armed men were attacked, barely able to save their own skins, who would have time to care about two dead shepherds?
"Alright, looks like you're right."
Murphy was open-minded enough to admit his lack of experience. Being corrected didn't make him resent Long Zhan.
Instead, he was grateful Long Zhan stepped up and shook him out of his fog.
Acknowledging Long Zhan was right, Murphy guessed that since Long Zhan had challenged him, he must already have a good plan.
So he said straight to Long Zhan, "Long Zhan, lay out your plan. You know Afghanistan better than I do. Your approach must be more suitable."
"Man, you really are our lucky star. It's the first time I've felt having external help is so good," Matt said bluntly, lavishly praising Long Zhan.
Marcus sighed in relief and agreed with a smile, "That feeling is definitely great."
Deetz, who was stressed out by the radio traffic, joked, "This mission's been cursed with problems all around. Long, you must be the one breaking the curse, haha."
Westerners were straightforward—if they liked someone, they never hesitated to exaggerate praise.
Even the seasoned Long Zhan felt his face might not hold up under such compliments.
He laughed and cut them off, "I'm not as great as you say. I just like reading—knowledge is power."
Humbly teasing himself, Long Zhan continued, "My approach is straightforward.
"The flock follows the lead sheep. We just control the lead sheep, and the flock won't return early to the village. Then there won't be any issues here.
"As for the two shepherds, killing them doesn't benefit me at all. It would only bring trouble. Better to keep them alive.
"My suggestion is to tie them up here and treat them as if they don't exist.
"After that, we have two tasks.
"First, contact the base to report our reconnaissance.
"Second, find a way to get command to act and launch a military strike against Shah as soon as possible.
"At the latest, we need to deploy the quick reaction force to attack Katadaku village before dark.
"Otherwise, if the shepherds don't return after dark, it'll alarm the village's armed personnel. If they send people to search, we won't be able to stay hidden.
"Even if we use the darkness to conceal ourselves and retreat safely,
"if Shah senses trouble and moves again, and the quick reaction force fails to take him out, our mission will still fail.
"I don't want to put in so much effort just to come up empty-handed in the end."