Strongest Soldier King

"Stay put and rest," Lan Xue said, leaning against a tree to catch her breath, obviously also quite exhausted. Seeing Luo Zheng with a puzzled look, she explained, "They've retreated. We can't catch up now."

"Retreated? We've killed their men, and they just leave like that?" Luo Zheng asked in surprise.

"What else?" Lan Xue replied, impatiently. Seeing Luo Zheng still looking confused, she explained, "They're from the Wild Wolf Mercenary Corps. Mercenaries work for money. With the target dead, they won't get paid anymore. Why would they stay and fight to the death? Besides, almost all their men are gone, what can the remaining ordinary grunts do?"

"Wild Wolf Mercenary Group? Grunts?" Luo Zheng was surprised and after thinking for a moment, he asked, "Are they really all dead?"

Lan Xue did not answer Luo Zheng's question but seemed to be lost in her thoughts, a pained expression on her face as she looked up at the sky and muttered something to herself. Luo Zheng didn't know what had happened but was about to ask when he saw the pained expression on Lan Xue's face. The question he had on the tip of his tongue was swallowed back down, deciding some things were better left unasked.

After a while, Lan Xue suddenly said, "Thank you. There were fifteen of them in total. Ten were taken out by us before you appeared. You took out three and I took out two. The remaining grunts, I don't know their identities but I guess they were here for support. With the target gone, they would naturally retreat. That's all I can tell you, I'm sorry."

"No need to be courteous. I should be thanking you for the opportunity to get vengeance. As for the truth, I'm better off not knowing. I understand discipline. You mentioned 'us' earlier, so you have comrades, right? Is it that person who sacrificed himself that I saw?" Luo Zheng asked seriously, pointing to the Type 88 sniper rifle in Lan Xue's hands.

"Yes, he was my comrade. Tell me, how did you kill them?" Lan Xue's face flashed with pain as she deflected the topic and curiously looked at Luo Zheng.

Luo Zheng wasn't ungrateful and seeing that Lan Xue didn't want to elaborate, he didn't press further. He awkwardly gave a brief overview of the situation and then added, "It was all luck, perhaps my fallen comrades in heaven were watching over me."

Lan Xue gave a noncommittal smile, looking up at the sky, lost in her thoughts.

After a good while without any sign of pursuers, Luo Zheng felt that the situation was probably as Lan Xue had said and the enemy had indeed retreated. He relaxed completely, and seeing Lan Xue still unmoving against the tree, lost in her somber thoughts, he couldn't help but remind her, "It's about time. Shouldn't we?"

"Huh?" Lan Xue, her eyes cold as frost, flashed a moment of confusion but quickly regained her composure. Checking the sky and her weapon, she said, "Let's go."

The two headed eastwards, and after walking for a while, Lan Xue suddenly said, "Are you really just an ordinary soldier? Honestly, I doubt that identity of yours. With your potential and perception, it makes no sense that you'd be unnoticed during basic training. You shouldn't have been assigned to a border post."

"Really? Am I as good as you say?" Luo Zheng replied sheepishly, a trace of helplessness crossing his face. Which man doesn't want to stand out?

"It seems there's a story there. Alright, I won't ask any further. I owe you for the revenge we got this time. You've earned a great merit and there will be rewards from above. What do you want?" Lan Xue asked, curiosity glinting in her eyes.

"Me? I'll just follow the organization's arrangements," Luo Zheng gave an ambiguous answer.

Seeing Luo Zheng being evasive, Lan Xue chuckled inwardly, her expression still cold. She continued, "I'm sorry, but I can't reveal my true identity to you. Perhaps we'll meet again in the future. To thank you for your help and since we have some time on our way back, let me teach you some sniping. You have good potential; don't waste it."

"Really?" Luo Zheng asked eagerly, stopping to inquire further.

"Of course. You still have two magazines, right? I have three here. There shouldn't be any danger coming up, so keeping the bullets would be a waste. Better to use them for practice and see how much you can learn," Lan Xue said, as if pulling three magazines out of thin air.

Luo Zheng had no idea where Lan Xue had hidden her magazines but happily agreed. A sniper was one of the core elements of the Special Forces, capable of influencing the outcome of a battle. What Luo Zheng wished for most was to join the Special Forces and become a mysterious and powerful sniper. Unfortunately, his aspirations had been thwarted, and he had become a border defense soldier. Though he might never have the chance in this lifetime, the opportunity to learn sniping still excited him.

"For urban, mountainous, jungle, or grassland terrains, the first thing to learn in sniping is estimating distance. Only by clearly knowing the exact distance of your target can you carry out an effective snipe," Lan Xue began explaining seriously, "After a bullet is fired, its trajectory follows a parabolic curve. Pistol bullets start to deviate in a noticeable way at 15 meters, and rifle bullets around 70 meters, so you must judge the deviation based on the distance. Let me first teach you a few ranging methods. I'll only say it once, so how much you learn will depend on your perception."

"Understood," Luo Zheng nodded earnestly, listening attentively.

Suddenly, Lan Xue stopped, looked ahead, and raised her right thumb, squinting with her left eye and said earnestly, "I'll teach you the Jump Eye Method first. It's a rough estimation method by guessing the apparent width at a glance. The distance between two pupils is about one-tenth of the length of your arm. Multiply the apparent width of the object by ten, and that gives you the distance from your standing point to the target."

Luo Zheng watched Lan Xue surprisingly, reminded of the war movies he had seen before, where artillerymen would raise their thumbs and then confidently give the firing range. He had thought it a bit far-fetched, but hearing Lan Xue explain it, he realized it was true and his interest grew.

"The way to measure is to stretch your arm out, raise your thumb, close your left eye, and line up your right eye along the edge of your thumb to the left side of the target as a reference point. Keeping your head and hand steady, then close your right eye, use your left eye to look through the same side of your thumb, and remember the spot on the ground that you align with. Estimate the width from the target's left reference point to that spot, multiply by ten, and that gives you the distance from your standing point to the target," Lan Xue explained with gravity.

Luo Zheng picked a target and observed it with his thumb raised. He found that sure enough, viewing with each eye separately, there was an interval. After estimating the width of the interval and multiplying it by ten, he found that the resultant distance was indeed quite close to his actual distance from the target. He couldn't help but be delighted and laughed, "It really works! I've seen artillerymen in TV shows confidently raising their thumbs and then calling out ranges. It turns out there really is a trick to it."