Strongest Soldier King

"Not good, get down!" Luo Zheng suddenly sensed something was amiss, and without a second thought, he leaped up and tackled Golden Eagle to the ground from behind just as a bullet whizzed past, striking a large tree and creating a hole with wood chips flying in all directions.

"Sniper, be careful!" Shan Hu shouted loudly.

Luo Zheng rolled behind a tree, cradled his gun, and not far away, the now well-hidden Golden Eagle was gasping for breath, forcing himself to calm down. The close brush with death was an unpleasant sensation. He nodded gratefully at Luo Zheng, who returned the nod and gestured for Golden Eagle to stay put as he crawled forward.

Seeing Shan Hu about to shout, Golden Eagle urgently gestured for everyone to stay still. Shan Hu calmed down and understood what Luo Zheng was planning to do; he bent his elbow and raised his hand to his head, making a fist while hooking his index and middle fingers, then swayed them back and forth. Everyone saw the gesture clearly and began rolling and crawling on the spot, quickly forming into double column formation.

Shan Hu raised his hand above his head again, bent the elbow, and covered his crown with his palm. As everyone saw this covering motion, they opened fire violently in four different directions, while Shan Hu, seizing the moment like a cheetah ready to pounce, sprinted forward, quickly reaching over a hundred meters before ducking behind a large tree.

The shooting stopped, and as everyone saw Shan Hu signal to disperse and hide and wait for orders, they spread out and concealed themselves. At that moment, Shan Hu noticed Luo Zheng had crawled out twenty-odd meters and was leaning against a big tree, catching his breath. Luo Zheng curled his hand, mimicking holding a cylindrical object up to his eyes as a sniper would through a scope, and then pointed straight ahead, extending four fingers to indicate the four o'clock direction.

Shan Hu lifted his wrist to cheek height and made a fist, palm facing the initiator to show understanding, then gestured an attack to the others, finally extending four fingers as well. Everyone got the message, nodding toward Shan Hu, who then extended three fingers, retracting them one by one.

When the last finger was retracted, everyone opened fire ferociously toward the four o'clock direction, with Duke of Thunder even tossing out two grenades. The sound of gunfire mingled with the explosions, weaving a deathly symphony. Luo Zheng did not fire but stayed well-concealed, waiting patiently until he abruptly spotted a bush moving swiftly. At first glance, it seemed empty, but how could a bush move on its own? Without hesitation, Luo Zheng fired at the bush.

"Whoosh." The bullet roared away.

Almost simultaneously with the shot, Luo Zheng keenly noticed the bush suddenly leapt into the air. A shadow flashed and, before he could react, it had vanished. Stunned, Luo Zheng watched the slowly falling bush, which turned out to be a decoy made of dry grass woven to resemble a real bush—a highly skilled tactic.

"Damn it, he got away," Golden Eagle rushed over, backed up against the tree, and exclaimed, seeing the look of disappointment on Luo Zheng's face, he called out in surprise, "Zhengzi, are you alright?"

"Oh, I'm fine," Luo Zheng recovered and said with a wry smile.

Shan Hu asked everyone to cover him as he ran up and picked up the deceitful camouflage suit deep in thought. As a Special Combat Elite, he naturally knew quality when he saw it and looked at the camouflage suit with a serious expression. He returned to everyone, crouched down, threw the camouflage suit on the ground, and spoke in a low voice, "He's an expert indeed. Zhengzi was right, our opponent is not simple."

As connoisseurs themselves, everyone recognized that only a skilled sniper could achieve such a miraculous feat from decay. Recalling Luo Zheng's earlier warning, they looked at him once again. Golden Eagle, not wanting any misunderstandings, kindly said to Luo Zheng, "Zhengzi, tell your brothers the truth, did you notice something beforehand?"

Luo Zheng bitterly smiled and said, "Remember the ambush? Even then a sniper had me cornered. Fortunately, I crawled out of the Jili suit in time. As soon as the fight started, the Jili suit and helmet were shot up. Look." Saying this, Luo Zheng took off his helmet and handed it around, then stripped off his camouflage suit.

Everyone then noticed the shattered area and their suspicions about Luo Zheng dissipated. Golden Eagle breathed a sigh of relief and smiled, "Zhengzi, you saved my life this time. I owe you one."

"We're all brothers," Luo Zheng said politely.

"Right, we're all brothers," Shan Hu chimed in to smooth things over to prevent any real misunderstandings. He looked at Luo Zheng and asked, "The opponent is a master, can you confirm that these two are the same person?"

"I can't," Luo Zheng definitively shook his head and said, "These guys mean no good, their sniping skills surpass mine, and they're not easy to deal with." The image of Lan Xue appeared in his mind, and he thought to himself, if she were here, there definitely wouldn't be any problems.

"Never mind that for now, let's continue heading west," Shan Hu said decisively.

Everyone packed up their belongings. The sound of pursuers from the north and east getting closer. Duke of Thunder stayed behind to set up trap mines while the others quickly pressed on. As Luo Zheng left, he didn't forget to pick up and examine the camouflage on the ground. The disguise was simple, composed of crisscrossing vines with various wild grasses and branches inserted, which, once placed on the ground, looked just like a real bush.

After studying it for a moment, Luo Zheng roughly grasped the weaving technique, tossed the camouflage to the side, caught up with the rest, and kept a watchful eye on his surroundings, alternating cover as they moved forward. The jungle could hide dangers anywhere, and they absolutely couldn't afford any carelessness, just like the sniper earlier, no one knew where he had been hiding.

A few hundred meters onwards, Golden Eagle, who was scouting ahead, quickly retreated. Everyone crouched down and hid. Just as Golden Eagle was about to say something, a series of explosions sounded behind them. Clearly, the pursuers had reached the location where they had confronted the sniper and triggered the trap mines. They were already very close, which cast a somber mood over everyone.

Golden Eagle whispered, "About three hundred meters ahead, there's a group resting, not easy to bypass. Now, we have pursuers behind us who are holding on tightly and won't let go. There must be experts among them, otherwise, they wouldn't be able to track us this closely. I suspect we're already exposed, and more pursuers are closing in from all directions. Captain, what do we do next?"

Surrounded on all sides, Shan Hu didn't know how to respond. He gritted his teeth and said, "If push comes to shove, we'll just have to break through. Check your equipment, everyone."

"Yes," all of them understood what that meant and promptly began to check their gear.

Luo Zheng could now be certain that it was the Wild Wolf Mercenary Group targeting him. So many people coming over, it was probably for him. As for why the Wild Wolf Mercenary Group would collaborate with Kuntai's men, that was unclear. Looking at his comrades' determined faces, Luo Zheng felt a guilty smile brewing and, gnashing his teeth, made up his mind, "Captain, I'm going to scout south real quick and will be right back. "

"No need, just head south to the Miao Village. It's just about burning something, having a meal on the house, right? Declare our identity, let the government send someone to pay the ransom, it's not a big problem," Shan Hu said, looking down.

"Zhengzi, don't go," Golden Eagle saw Luo Zheng had already run off, and hurriedly shouted.