Curious, Ren Xiaosu asked, “What kinds of medals are the most valuable? And who buys them?”
In Ren Xiaosu’s opinion, who would be interested in these things other than soldiers in the military?
“There are loads of buyers who want them.” Zhang Xiaoman said with a laugh, “Some of them are those who aspired to be soldiers but couldn’t pass their physical, businessmen collectors in the fortress, or parents who buy them for their children as a coming-of-age gift. The entire Fortress 178 has a population of more than 2 million people, so don’t underestimate their purchasing power.”
Ren Xiaosu finally understood why the residents of Fortress 178 had a strange sense of respect for those in the military profession. Perhaps it was because these soldiers had always been protecting them.
Zhang Xiaoman continued, “However, some of the medals can’t fetch a high price, like those that were given out to many soldiers, or the ones awarded for winning unimportant battles. Normally, families will only buy the medals that are worth a few hundred yuan for their children. But only the collectors are willing to seek out the kinds of medals like the ones we have. Shichuan Village was the opening battle of this war, and the number of people awarded with the medal isn’t that many either, so there’s definitely a much higher collection value to it.”
“Then if our Razor Sharp Company achieved great things again in an individual battle, wouldn’t we be awarded an even more valuable medal?” Ren Xiaosu asked.
“But of course.” Zhang Xiaoman chuckled and said, “But how easy is it to do that? That would cost people their lives!”
Ren Xiaosu remained silent. The journey to Beiwan Bridge was a bumpy one. Along the way they passed by Shichuan Village, where the fire had extinguished. The entirety of the ruins were covered in a hazy darkness, making it seem like a purgatory of monsters.
Zhang Xiaoman looked at the town from afar and said, “I wonder what the world was like before The Cataclysm. Alright, stop watching! Everyone, go on alert! Who knows when we might stumble upon the enemy and end up in a battle?”
Shichuan Village was located more than 200 kilometers away from Beiwan Bridge. They would have to enter a mountain range first before they could stealthily infiltrate Beiwan River from here.
According to the intelligence reports, some of the Zong Consortium’s combat troops were scattered through the mountain range as part of the concealed sentries and guerrillas.
The Razor Sharp Company had to try to avoid them, not kill them. But if they could not avoid them, then whoever was braver would emerge victorious in battle.
Two hours after passing Shichuan Village, the Razor Sharp Company arrived at the foot of a mountain. The mountain range here looked very odd, with the sunny side of the mountain covered in shrubs while the other side was the bare yellow body of the mountain itself.
But at this moment, Ren Xiaosu suddenly crouched in pain with a frown. Right after, a loud crack came from the mountains. Zhang Xiaoman was startled. “Everyone, scatter and take cover. There’s a sniper!”
The difference between the sound of a sniper rifle and a normal rifle was enormous. So when the gunshot rang out, Zhang Xiaoman immediately reacted.
Zhang Xiaoman dragged Ren Xiaosu with him towards some rocks nearby. However, he wondered what made Ren Xiaosu react before the gunshot had even sounded.
Ren Xiaosu reacted like he was the one who had been shot. However, there were no injuries on him.
What Zhang Xiaoman did not know was that the sniper’s target was not actually Ren Xiaosu, but his shadow clone!
Ren Xiaosu had discovered that if a bullet went between the shadow clone’s brows, the backlash from the shadow clone would cause an even more intense pain to him. So he constantly controlled the shadow clone to make it move forward cautiously in case it was shot right between the eyes.
As for what would happen when it got hit between the eyes, even Ren Xiaosu didn’t know. All supernatural beings were still in the process of exploring their superpowers.
However, it was different this time. While the shadow clone was scouting a few hundred meters ahead, a sniper headshotted it squarely between the brows.
After the shadow clone was shot, it turned into a ball of black mist and dissipated. At the same time, the black mist reappeared within Ren Xiaosu’s mind palace and slowly started taking shape again.
From the looks of it, if the shadow clone were hit between the brows, it would result in the shadow clone dissipating immediately. Furthermore, it would take a long time for it to reform, taking around three days to get back to its original state.
The sniper’s marksmanship was great. This should be an advance-level, or perhaps even a master-level, sniper.
After the shadow clone got shot, Ren Xiaosu did not even know where the opponent was. He could only roughly determine that the enemy was to his 12 o’clock.
However, now that his opponent had hit their target, he wondered if they would shift to another location.
Ren Xiaosu panted, “This shot was aimed at a target from 400 meters away, and the sniper’s to our 12 o’clock, but I’m not sure if we’re still within their effective range.”
The effective range of a sniper rifle was really far. When deployed in the forested mountains, it had an intimidating and unpredictable power.
Next to him, seemingly unconcerned, Zhang Xiaoman said, “I didn’t expect the Zong Consortium to actually have a sniper waiting here in this mountain range. This is gonna be a tough nut to crack!”
Their entire company split up as the soldiers hid separately behind some rocks. Fortunately, the presence of the sniper was revealed in advance due to the gunshot that cracked. Otherwise, one of their platoons could have been wiped out by now.
Then Zhang Xiaoman took off his helmet and slowly poked it out from behind the rocks.
Bang! The helmet was sent flying by the formidable sniper bullet!
“Dammit.” Zhang Xiaoman said, “We’re within the enemy’s range!”
Jiao Xiaochen, who was ten meters away, shouted from behind the rocks, “Captain, what do we do now? This is a game of cat and mouse, and all we can do is hide here. Think of something, Captain!”
“You’re the fucking mouse, dammit!” Zhang Xiaoman was also upset. But how could he have any good ideas? If he revealed his head even a little, he would fucking be dead!
The supremacy of a sniper on the battlefield was perfectly displayed at this moment. A single person could suppress an entire company and keep them hiding behind some rocks while waiting for their deaths. This was a situation where the enemy could hit you but you couldn’t retaliate at all.
That was unless Zhang Xiaoman was willing to sacrifice his comrades as cannon fodder. By sacrificing a group of soldiers, the other troops could shift to a good tactical position.
Someone suggested, “Why don’t we contact the FOB and get them to send some reinforcements?”Zhang Xiaoman sighed and said, “They’d be too late. It’ll take at least three days to get here from the FOB. By then, this sniper will probably have called for support from the Zong Consortium’s guerrillas here in the mountain range as well.”
“Why don’t we wait and see who’s more patient then, us or the sniper?” Jiao Xiaochen said, “Or we can take advantage of nightfall to move away from here?”
“You’re such a fucking genius! You actually want to compete with a sniper on patience?” Zhang Xiaoman was so angry he laughed. “Since the sniper’s hiding in this jungle, his scope will definitely be optimized for night vision. Gunning you down will be a game for him!”
What could he do? Did this mean that someone would have to die out here?
Ren Xiaosu took a deep breath. When Zhang Xiaoman saw Ren Xiaosu’s chest heave, he knew this was going to be bad! But in that instant, he saw Ren Xiaosu’s pupils turn crimson.
‘City Crusher! Activate!’
A second later, Ren Xiaosu dashed out from behind the rocks at an unbelievable speed!
When Ren Xiaosu ran out, a sniper’s bullet flew in as expected. But because Ren Xiaosu was moving too fast, the sniper’s shot missed its target this time!
