Strongest Soldier King

"Understood," Mountain Leopard replied.

"Light machine gun?" Luo Zheng looked up in surprise; all around were trees, and nothing could be seen. He spotted a tall tree not far away, swiftly ran to it, and climbed up into its crown to hide among the branches. Looking up, he indeed saw several people on a boulder across the mountain, each armed with a light machine gun. Their fierce firepower had those in the ravine pinned down, and more were flanking from both sides. Had it not been for the precise gun skills of those in the ravine keeping the flankers in check, they would have been wiped out earlier.

"Mountain Leopard, why so slow?" Shan Hu shouted angrily.

"The distance is too far, these bastards are too fierce, I need some time," Mountain Leopard said gloomily.

"I'll give you cover fire, move up!" Shan Hu shouted angrily.

"Eh, what's going on?" Mountain Leopard saw a light machine gunner's head get blown off, and could not help but exclaim in surprise. Looking around, he urgently said, "Captain, there's a sniper helping us, could it be Zhengzi? Another one—such good gun skills; we're saved."

"Captain, Mountain Leopard, are you both alright?" Luo Zheng, after taking down three light machine gunners, said. Seeing the other machine gunners on the boulder taking cover, he curled his lip and sneered, "Captain, hurry and retreat, I'll cover you."

"Zhengzi? You're alright?" Shan Hu yelled in surprise upon seeing it really was Luo Zheng coming to their aid.

"I'm fine, if we don't run now, then I won't be," Luo Zheng said with a wry smile, noticing a large group of pursuers coming up behind him.

"Everyone listen up, we must make it back to report the situation to the battalion commander, no matter what. This is a trap, the intelligence was wrong. Also, Duke of Thunder's headset was picked up by the enemy. Everyone cut off communication to prevent the enemy from tracking our location with position radars. Meet at the old place. Got it? Everyone stay safe," Shan Hu angrily ordered, then decisively cut off the communication.

Luo Zheng also cut off communication, took off his headset, and threw it away as position radar could trace it. Carrying it would only expose his location more as the pursuers were getting closer. Slipping to the ground, Luo Zheng dashed toward the east, soon discovering another group of pursuers also moving forward and searching, heading exactly east.

"Could the meeting point be exposed too? It shouldn't be," Luo Zheng felt a surge of surprise, hiding behind a large tree to watch. The meeting point had been a last-minute decision by Shan Hu, known only to their five-person squad. The only explanation was that the pursuers had stumbled upon them by mistake. Regardless, distracting this group of pursuers was essential; if they regrouped with another pursuing force and continued eastward, his brothers would be in deep trouble.

Luo Zheng removed the bullets from his sniper rifle and loaded three incendiary bombs. These rounds, filled with thousands of incendiary particles, would produce high temperatures upon striking a target and ignite it. Then, Luo Zheng calmly aimed at a man who appeared to be the leader and decisively pulled the trigger.

"Whoosh!" The incendiary bomb hit the target accurately, instantly generating high heat and setting the man ablaze. He began screaming and running around chaotically, startling the people nearby who rushed over in an attempt to extinguish the flames on his body. However, the incendiary particles in the bombs were not easily extinguished, and soon several others were ignited, throwing the scene into chaos.

Luo Zheng sneered, quickly aimed at two more people, and decisively acted again. After firing, he ran, creating chaos among his pursuers. Nevertheless, some managed to spot the ambushing Luo Zheng and opened fire, chasing after him. Luo Zheng sprinted, using the trees for cover. At that moment, the group of pursuers behind him charged up and spotted the retreating Luo Zheng, immediately giving chase.

Trapped between two fronts, bullets flew wildly, and several times he nearly got hit. Luo Zheng dared not pause and broke into a sprint, firing at the flanking pursuers converging on him. With a distance of only five or six hundred meters, this was not much pressure for Luo Zheng, but the abundance of trees and the rapid pace of both parties made accurate aiming difficult. After killing a few people, Luo Zheng realized he could not stop the enemies' speed and decided to stow the sniper rifle and run with all his might.

Luo Zheng's speed increased sharply, and the pursuers on both sides could not keep up; he managed to break out of the encirclement. The pursuers did not give up, regrouping and continuing their chase, their speed not faltering. Luo Zheng had to shoot while retreating, downing several of the forerunners and quelling the aggressiveness of the pursuers as he continued to pull back.

Fifteen minutes later, the pursuers behind him had fallen some distance away. Luo Zheng noticed several corpses suddenly appearing ahead, all shot in the forehead. Judging by their attire, they looked like drug traffickers, which made him think his comrades might have done this. Hearing cursing from the pursuers behind him, an idea struck him; he collected all the ammunition and grenades on the ground and then surveyed the surroundings. He quickly identified a thicket.

The pursuers coming from behind would surely check the bodies, and the thicket was the most likely place they would pass through. Luo Zheng rapidly rigged the grenades as trap mines and hung them inside the thicket, placing the bullets nearby, creating a trap with a ten-meter radius.

After setting everything up, Luo Zheng could clearly hear the approaching pursuers. A cold murderous gleam flashed across his frosty face as he swiftly evacuated the area. He had only run about two hundred meters when a series of loud explosions resounded from behind. Luo Zheng stopped, looked back, saw the dense smoke filling the woods, and sneered coldly before turning around to continue his retreat.

The pursuers might have been devastated by the trap mines, as it took a while before he saw any sign of them again. Luo Zheng breathed a sigh of relief, climbed a large tree to determine his direction and route, and then sprinted ahead, moving through the jungle like a lone, agile wolf stalking its prey.

An hour later, Luo Zheng reached a mountain ridge. The tall trees on the ridge obstructed his view. The ridge connected to a mountain range where the peaks meandered unpredictably, covered in lush green trees, with no end in sight. Luo Zheng leaned against a tree, took off his backpack, and began eating the dry food inside while regaining his strength and nervously wondering about his captain and the others' whereabouts.

After resting for a while and feeling his strength somewhat restored, Luo Zheng continued along the ridge. A piece of advice from Lan Hai came to mind: In complex terrains, it is best to choose ridges with tall, sparse trees and large gaps, thickets with low bushes, to walk on. Prefer ridges over valleys, lengthwise over crosswise. When you can take long steps, do not take small ones. After tens of kilometers, this approach can save many kilometers of walking. When tired, use relaxed, slow steps to rest, rather than stopping. Remembering this, Luo Zheng felt reassured, smiled, and thought to himself, having people to care about is truly wonderful.