NOVEL WEB Chapter 434: Counterattack
The question of whether to attack Black Snake and his men no longer required contemplation.
Everyone looked to Li Yu, ready to charge at any moment.
...
At this time, gunfire erupted on the mountain, and Black Snake stood behind a big tree, aiming and firing a shot at someone across the way.
He hit a member of the opposing team.
Black Snake's group, with over a hundred men, were desperadoes, far more brutal than the average person. In this doomsday world, they held no fear for anything.
They charged up madly.
At this moment, Captain Luo and his men, limited by their low ammunition, were suppressed by Black Snake's firepower, but even so, they were soldiers after all.
Their shooting accuracy and discipline were much higher than that of Black Snake's men.
Amidst the hail of bullets, many on Black Snake's side were quickly hit, with about thirty people shot, from an original count of just over a hundred.
Nearly a third were casualties all at once.
Captain Luo's side was also in a bad spot, despite taking advantage of the terrain, nine were shot; and with some protection, only five died, while three or four were seriously injured, still struggling to fight.
At this moment, even Black Snake's desperado followers began to show signs of fear after seeing so many dead and injured.
Despite being outnumbered and firing fewer shots, Captain Luo and his men were excellent marksmen, and every time Black Snake's men almost made it close, they faced a fierce counterattack.
The battle reached a stalemate.
In front of Rock Mountain, Captain Luo's eyes were bloodshot as, in just under five minutes, half of his men had been killed or injured.
They had also used up a lot of ammunition in the fight.
At this moment, everyone had no more than ten bullets in their magazines, and some had only three or four left.
With so few bullets, they'd run out after a few shots.
"Captain, Ahua is gone too," Xiao Liu's eyes reddened, and there was some mist in his eyes, but he tried hard to tilt his head back, not to let his tears fall.
Captain Luo took a deep breath.
Inhale – Exhale –
"Check how many Hand Grenades we still have," Captain Luo told his men.
Xiao Liu did a count, and aside from the Hand Grenades used to blast open the cavern entrance at the start, they had 8 Hand Grenades left.
"There are eight left."
Captain Luo peeked out, looked far into the distance at Black Snake's unmoving men.
After contemplating briefly, he said, "If they charge again, throw all the Hand Grenades at once.
They are also on the verge of collapse now; perhaps giving them a barrage with the Hand Grenades could provoke internal chaos."
His men obeyed the order, but they felt exceptionally pained seeing their fallen comrades beside them.
...
Meanwhile, on Black Snake's side, seeing his adversaries withdraw, he was infuriated.
Standing at a distance, he had clearly seen that half of Luo's group had been killed or wounded, and just moments ago, they could have closed in, but his men had retreated.
Damn it!
Black Snake was enraged and said to his underlings, "I'll keep an eye out from behind – if anyone dares to retreat again, you keep watch too. If anyone dares to retreat, shoot them.
Among Black Snake's men were some prisoners who had been coerced into joining; they were unarmed and had to rush to the front lines.
Those carrying guns at the back were Black Snake's loyal followers, who sustained fewer casualties as they followed behind shooting.
The remaining prisoners felt some anger, finding it unfair to be used as cannon fodder at the front lines.
Sensing the gloomy mood, Black Snake said, "Whoever charges forward first when we attack, I'll make him my second in command. Moreover, if we manage to win this, I guarantee half the spoils will be divided among you all."
Black Snake first coerced them, and then offered up a seemingly unimpressive sweetener.
Everyone was actually quite indifferent; the supposed benefit that Black Snake mentioned held no allure at all.
However, if they retreated any further, Black Snake's loyal subordinates would truly open fire.
With no other choice, they could only charge forward.
From the previous charge, they had discovered that Captain Luo and his team were at the end of their tether.
Charge again?
"Follow my command, charge!" Black Snake shouted and then dashed forward. After taking a few steps, he abruptly stopped, turned his head to look back at the people behind him.
Seeing them still hiding behind trees and not moving, Black Snake became furious, directly firing a shot at one of the people behind.
He ran back and yelled at them: "Move it, or die right here. Xiao Liu, you keep watching. Whoever doesn't charge forward, you shoot them dead."
At this moment, Black Snake could no longer care about the potential future problems his actions might cause.
The fruit of their labor was just ahead, with the arrow nocked, they had no choice but to release it.
Retreating now, returning without any achievement, would be an even bigger loss.
Bang bang～
Black Snake fired two shots into the air, and finally, the team moved.
A dense crowd surged forward; it was only because Captain Luo and his team's gunfire wasn't very fierce that they hadn't been scattered.
This time, they charged from the left, center, and right.
Captain Luo, seeing them getting closer, stretched out his right hand toward his teammates, using hand signals to indicate.
Three
Two
One.
"Throw." Captain Luo bellowed a command and stood up, hurling the Hand Grenade in his hand.
But in the moment he threw it, Xiao Liu and other armed men lurking behind the crowd on Black Snake's side, directly opened fire on Captain Luo and his team.
In an instant, four people were hit, even Captain Luo's arm was shot.
Hiss.
Captain Luo clenched his teeth, disregarding the wound on his right arm, and took hold of his gun with his left hand.
On the other side.
The charging prisoners, less than twenty meters from Captain Luo and his team, watched helplessly as eight Hand Grenades flew over.
Tracing a beautiful arc through the air.
Boom boom boom～
Numerous prisoners were blown to the ground. In a short span, dozens of prisoners were killed.
Under the setting sun, tree branches were laden with severed limbs and indistinguishable flesh.
In the dull yellow sunlight, blood sprayed onto the leaves, reflecting a red glow.
The remaining prisoners, trembling, scattered wildly, completely ignoring Black Snake's warning.
Bang～
Black Snake shot a prisoner directly, using this to stop others from retreating.
But the carnage from that wave, for those prisoners at the very front, was simply too much to bear.
They watched helplessly as a corpse exploded before their eyes.
This was only because they had experienced the apocalypse; had they not, seeing so many people die before their eyes would have broken them long before this.