The First Order

Chapter 844: The hunter and the hunted

The bloody mist that erupted from the barbarian’s head was still lingering in the air. However, this shot did not seem to have frightened off the remaining barbarians.

There were still another three barbarians who had laid in ambush in the river. Holding the large axes in their hands, they were like ghosts of the river.

When the chow squad came to the river to fetch water, they did not even bring along their most basic of weapons. To be honest, they really did not expect enemies to be hiding here.

A barbarian shouted, “Don’t retreat! We can’t escape anymore since there’s snipers here. Kill as many as you can!”

Behind them was the river. Even if they jumped back in, it would take some time. So the barbarians knew very well that they would definitely die here. But before dying, they wanted to drag a few of their enemies down with them.

The remaining three barbarians continued chasing after the chow squad with their axes. They moved extremely fast, but before they could even take a couple steps, two more sniper bullets flew over and pierced their chests.

The chow squad was so frightened they wanted to throw away their water buckets. However, they realized that only one of the four barbarians who had just emerged from the river was left in the blink of an eye.

While they were still in a state of shock, the platoon commander of the chow squad said ruthlessly, “Don’t fucking scare yourselves. There’s only one barbarian left. If even he can scare us, it’ll be too embarrassing when we get back to the camp. Let’s attack together and kill him!”

The morale of the chow squad was lifted. Although they had never fought in battle before, they were still soldiers who had undergone proper military training.

With these words spoken, the soldiers no longer retreated. Instead, they slowly approached the remaining barbarian. In just five seconds, they had formed a battle formation.

That barbarian stared coldly at everyone and sneered with his axe in hand. A second later, he suddenly charged forward.

The platoon commander of the chow squad roared and burst forward. “Kill him!”

However, the snipers did not intend to give them a chance to show their worth. The three explosive gunshots that sounded out in the distance did not stop and continued ringing in their ears. In the end, blood spurted out from the remaining barbarian’s chest again. His fur coat blew up like a ragdoll.

The battle ended as quickly as it started. The group of soldiers from the chow squad stood there in a daze. It ended just like that?

The platoon commander said to a soldier, “Hurry, report back to the commander. Tell him that we encountered an ambush by the barbarians here!”

With that, two chow squad soldiers sprinted back towards the military camp. Within ten minutes, they brought P5092 and his troops to the riverside.

A group of soldiers surrounded P5092 with riot shields in their hands. They were afraid the snipers hiding somewhere would be up to no good.

However, P5092 waved it off. “Get out of the way. You guys are shielding me so well that I can’t see anything.”

His adjutant said anxiously, “Sir, your body can’t withstand a sniper’s shot either.”

P5092 pushed aside the soldiers around him and said with a laugh, “Don’t worry, those two snipers are not our enemies. There’s no need to be so scared.”

At this moment, Ren Xiaosu saw P5092 crouching next to the barbarian corpses through his spotting scope in the distance. He muttered, “Isn’t that P5092? He doesn’t seem to be afraid that there’s snipers around. He’s really quite bold.”

P5092 crouched down next to the barbarians and asked calmly, “You guys mentioned they suddenly appeared when you came down to fetch water, right? Two of you T4s, go into the river and see if there’s any tracks.”

So two T4s took off their uniforms and dove into the bone-chilling water. Shortly after, they came back ashore and said, “These barbarians were probably lying in ambush here for a long time. There’s even some fish bones that have recently been gnawed on on the riverbed.”

The fish were caught by the barbarians in the river, and they had eaten them live without any preparation.

P5092 nodded. “These bastards really like ambushing people. They must’ve guessed we would have people coming to the river in the morning to replenish our water supply, so they lay in ambush down here. Pass my order around that everyone who leaves the campsite in the future must be armed with loaded guns and grenade launchers. When the cooks, engineers, and other technical soldiers make a trip out of the camp, I want them to be escorted by two platoons.”

“Roger that.” His adjutant made a note of this.

However, P5092 was even more puzzled. “The four barbarians were each killed by a single shot. Even we didn’t know there were barbarians hiding here, so how did those two snipers predict this?”

It felt very strange. It was as though the barbarians were on a hunt, yet they never expected they would end up being the hunted.

The barbarians had been hiding in the mountains and saw themselves as very experienced hunters. Their attitude almost seemed like they were just messing around with the Central Plains people, but how could they have expected there to be an even more experienced hunter than them in the mountains who also regarded them as prey? Moreover, that person was even aware of what they were after and could guess where they were hiding.

P5092 looked up at the opposite bank of the river and actually waved in the direction where Ren Xiaosu and Yang Xiaojin were hiding to express his gratitude. Ren Xiaosu was amused. “That P5092 is quite skilled. Let’s go and continue looking for the other barbarians.”

Ren Xiaosu was sure P5092 could not see them as even he had to use the spotting scope to get a clear view of him. P5092 must have determined the trajectory of the shots through the bullet holes on the barbarians’ corpses.

The adjutant next to P5092 looked at his superior waving and wondered, “Sir, did you spot the two snipers?”

“I didn’t.” P5092 smiled. “But I know they must still be there. Alright, let’s head back now. We’ll enter the mountains again to search in an hour’s time and cover another 12 zones by the end of the day. We’re gonna shepherd those barbarians to the vicinity of Longtan Canyon.”

“Are we just gonna ignore those two snipers? With such an uncertainty appearing on the battlefield all of a sudden, it might disrupt our battle plans. At the very least, we should make contact with them. It would be even better if they cooperate with us,” his adjutant asked.

“Leave them be.” P5092 teased, “Don’t you think that with those two around, a lot less of us will die? That’s the most important thing. Remember, our real battlefield is at the northern defensive line. The barbarians here are just giving us a chance to warm up before the real thing. Before we reach the northern front line, I want our soldiers to be prepared to face the cruelest scenarios.”

An hour later, when the main forces entered Mt. Dashi again to complete their encirclement mission for the day, they discovered something strange.

“Sir, we got news from the front line that three barbarian bodies have been discovered at Python Ridge in Zone 17.”

“Sir, an update from the front line! Two barbarian corpses were found at Kun Gully in Zone 15.”

“Sir…”

In just half a day’s time, the main troops in charge of searching the mountains around Mt. Dashi at the front line had discovered more than 20 barbarian corpses in one go. Of these corpses, some of them were killed by a sniper rifle, while the others were killed up close by a sharp weapon.

A total of seven barbarian bodies were discovered in the area where the bodies were the most numerous. They had clearly encountered an open battle with someone, but all of them still ended up dead. In other words, the people who were helping clear out the barbarians in the mountains possessed the strength to kill seven of them in a face-to-face encounter.