Strongest Soldier King

The valley, cloaked in the gathering darkness, was ablaze with the fierce firefight between Luo Zheng's team, taking cover behind the trucks, and the ambushing enemy. The East Yi Yun Members, suffering heavy casualties after nearly encircling Luo Zheng's group, were not about to give up easily. Reinforcements kept arriving to assist them. Had it not been for the team's precise shooting skills, ample ammunition, and the cover provided by the trucks and two machine guns, they would have been soundly defeated long ago.

On an unremarkable slope, a sniper clad in a camouflage suit made his way swiftly and crouched down, hidden. With a cold gun barrel pointing forward and eyes shining with a Wild Wolf's gleam, his icy, unfeeling face betrayed no trace of emotion. It was Fox Wolf, come for revenge.

Having accepted a contract from the East Yi Yun Members, Fox Wolf had personally led the team because of Luo Zheng—and handpicked six of the most capable warriors to accompany him. Tragically, all of them had fallen in battle. He himself had nearly been picked off by a sniper. If not for his sharp senses that detected danger just in time for him to retreat half a beat before avoiding a deadly strike, it would have been a total annihilation. The substantial loss tortured him like a knife twist to his heart, and he was consumed with the desire to slaughter all of his opponents to defend the honor and prestige of the Wild Wolf Mercenary Group.

Of the six mercenaries, aside from the one killed by Monk, the other five perished at Luo Zheng's hand—one during a night reconnaissance mission, another shot dead by Luo Zheng at close range during a night camp scouting, a sniper taken out by a counter-shot from Luo Zheng, one whose throat was slit by Luo Zheng's Finger Knife, another sniped by Luo Zheng while leading away the pursuers, and one accidentally killed by a grenade thrown by Luo Zheng during a night raid, which Luo Zheng himself was not even aware of.

The loss of six elite warriors was a fatal blow to the strength of the Wild Wolf Mercenary Group and it would now be difficult to maintain their standing in the Mercenary World. Fox Wolf directed all the hatred toward Luo Zheng. Fortunately for Fox Wolf, he was unaware that Luo Zheng was responsible for the deaths of five out of the six, otherwise, he would have been furious enough to cough up blood.

After dodging Luo Zheng's sniper fire, Fox Wolf commanded the East Yi Yun Members who caught up to throw grenades down into the valley. After witnessing the horrific explosion, Fox Wolf was convinced that Luo Zheng could not possibly have survived. Clouded by vengeance, Fox Wolf did not intend to descend into the canyon for confirmation but rather hastened to the valley to avenge his fallen comrades, unaware of the events that unfolded afterwards.

Through his sniper scope, Fox Wolf locked onto the machine gunner. Eliminating the gunner would enable the East Yi Yun Members to charge and annihilate everyone in the valley. A savage killing intent crept across Fox Wolf's icy face as he placed his finger on the trigger. But at the moment he was about to fire, a sense of unease surfaced. This intuition about impending danger had saved his life on more than one occasion. Realizing he was being watched, he was seized with alarm. Without a second thought, he clutched his rifle and performed a rapid roll several meters away.

"Bang!" The bullet narrowly missed Fox Wolf's back, striking the earth and kicking up a spray of dirt.

Having narrowly escaped the bullet, Fox Wolf caught sight of a dozen or so people charging towards his position out of the corner of his eye. With their formation spread out, they ran while continuously taking down hidden East Yi Yun Members. Shocked, Fox Wolf realized that the enemy's reinforcements had arrived. The opportunity for battle lost, Fox Wolf gripped his gun and sprinted away from the side, while the urgently arriving reinforcements focused on charging and attacking the East Yi Yun Members on the hilltop.

The East Yi Yun Members, fully engaged in the valley assault, were caught off guard by the attack from behind and suffered heavy losses, thrown into disarray with plummeting morale, they scrambled to turn their guns and retaliate. But the incoming attackers were numerous, running with practiced Bullet Avoidance Steps and firing accurate, controlled bursts, quickly downing about twenty men.

The East Yi Yun Members fell into complete chaos and began to scatter in retreat. The sudden arrivals were other competition teams who had rushed to the sounds of battle. Surrounding teams passing by and hearing gunfire naturally could not stand idly by. As the East Yi Yun Members retreated, everyone gave chase without a moment's hesitation.

Soon, someone with sharp eyes spotted Fox Wolf, dressed as a sniper. Snipers, seen as harbingers of death on the battlefield, were prime targets to be eliminated, and several impassioned warriors did not hesitate to shoot at the fleeing Fox Wolf. As the second-in-command of the Wild Wolf Mercenary Group, his formidable strength allowed him to quickly disengage from the battlefield and disappear into the vast wilderness.

The sudden appearance of someone disrupted the East Yi Yun Members' ambush, and seeing the situation was lost, they broke and fled in panic. Each score plate was points, and no one wanted to miss such a great opportunity, so they pursued the fleeing East Yi Yun Members, charging and striking at them fiercely.

In the valley, the Scholar and others saw the enemy retreating and did not join the pursuit, but instead gathered together. The Scholar pointed in a direction with an anxious expression and said, "Brothers, I just heard gunfire and explosions from over there. Brother Luo Zheng went to ambush there. Could something have happened to Brother Luo Zheng?"

"It's possible that enemy reinforcements were coming from that direction and were discovered by Brother Luo Zheng, who then drew them away. Quick, let's go check it out," the Monk also called out anxiously.

"What's the situation?" asked the captain of a small team that had been rescued, running over.

The Scholar briefly explained the situation, and the captain, who had also heard the gunfire from the other direction, said without hesitation, "Your brother drew the enemy away to save us; we can't just ignore that. Let's go."

All of them were men of valor; upon hearing the news, they checked their weapons and followed the Scholar who took the lead, running ahead. Even the Farmer, dragging his injured leg, kept up, praying continuously in his heart with a face full of anxiety. Soon, they arrived at the hilltop where Luo Zheng had been sniping and saw the corpses of the officers and Wild Wolf Mercenary Group members; the battle had been fierce, and no one had time to clear the battlefield.

The group tore off the score plates and quickly followed the footprints to find the hollow where Luo Zheng had counterattacked his pursuers. The bodies on the ground were already cold, and the signs of the explosion were clearly visible. The Gardener looked and said, "This was caused by a grenade detonation; with such good gun skills, it must have been Brother Luo Zheng's doing."

"Makes sense. Move out fast," the Scholar said, his face ashen with urgency.

They followed the footprints and bloodstains in a mad chase. Other warriors who had caught up gathered the score plates. After summarizing them, one of the warriors caught up to the Scholar and handed them over. Score plates were proof of points, but soldiers all had their pride and dignity and would not covet others' achievements.

The Scholar acknowledged with thanks and signaled everyone to spread out and search carefully. From the footprints on the ground, it was not hard to estimate the number of the enemy. Thinking of nearly a hundred fully armed pursuers encircling Luo Zheng, they all felt incredibly anxious, their faces ashen, heads lowered as they raced ahead, and an atmosphere of mournful fury pervaded amongst the warriors.

"Brother, you must stay alive." The Scholar, the Gardener, the Farmer, and the Monk all silently prayed. Along the way, Luo Zheng's actions of facing danger alone had deeply impressed the proud group, and worry was written all over their faces.