Chapter 3.3 - Soldier
Forty kilometers or so from Pendulum City, several off-road vehicles and trucks sped towards Su’s position. Su stopped to first assess his surrounding circumstances. This terrain was rather complex. Long cement elevated highways were collapsed to one side, and not far off, there were some small abandoned houses that were scattered about. Large, bizarre shaped trees grew everywhere.
Su’s figure flashed behind a broken concrete pillar and gazed into the smoke and dust rolling in the distance. At this moment, the void world that had already gradually faded away became clear again. A wave of scarlet bloody mist rose, and then the void world disappeared.
At the very front were some loading trucks, and there were Roxland markings on the vehicles. The vehicle was packed with people, most of them soldiers, but a few researchers and engineering staff as well. Most of them seemed to be wounded. Despite the rugged terrain, the loading truck was moving frantically, as if its passengers were fleeing for their lives. The direction they came from was precisely Pendulum City.
Su activated the tactical tablet to first send information back to the troops behind him. He informed them of his current position, as well as to prepare for battle and close in on his position. Then, Su bent his body down and quickly made his way through the ruins, silently taking note of various sniping locations along the way.
Roxland’s fleet quickly closed in. At the front of the fleet were three soldier transporting trucks, and at the escorted part behind them were two armed off-road vehicles. Li and Li Gaolei sat in the backseat of two different vehicles, aiming their heavy machine guns at the incoming road. The two individuals’ bodies were riddled with scars that were crudely bandaged.
“Li Gaolei, Li!” Su jumped out from the place where he was hiding at and shouted loudly towards the fleet.
The fleet slowly came to a stop, and then the off-road vehicles made a turn before heading towards Su. Before the vehicle even came to a full stop, Li already leapt over in a hurry. Jumping five or six meters should be an easy task for Li, but when she landed this time, her legs buckled and she almost fell in front of Su.
After being lifted up by Su, Li laughed in a somewhat unnatural manner and said, “I was too tired and never expected my legs to already give out.”
Even though her face was pale, the worry and anger she was experiencing was already starting to fade. Li noticed that after seeing Su, she began to feel at ease, as if there was something she could rely on. However, this type of peacefulness really didn’t match her temperament.
Su looked at Li who was covered in smoke and bloodstains, and then at Li Gaolei who hobbled over before asking, “What happened? Why did you all leave Pendulum City?”
“Who else would it be but those fellows from last time? Only, this time, they sent over even more people! Pendulum City is already theirs. Most of our men already died. God dammit! Hey, they might catch up soon, so shouldn’t we switch to a different place to talk about this?” Li asked.
When Su saw the three loading trucks rammed with quite a few engineers and researchers, he tapped a few times on the electronic map in his hands and drew out a path of advance so that Li and Li Gaolei could first take those left from Pendulum City to the designated rest and reorganization point. He himself would stop the Blue Scorpion pursuers here.
“Just by yourself?” Li’s eyes widened and hurriedly said, “I know you’re strong, but no matter how skilled you are, a single person can’t defeat a hundred scorpions!”
Su laughed. Hearing Li’s angry words made him feel quite happy.
“I do not plan on dealing with them alone. However, delaying them for a while is still possible.” While speaking, Su suddenly heard an extremely soft humming sound that sounded like the noise created by some type of engine. He immediately looked towards the source of the sound, and not far away, a small unmanned drone flew through the radiation cloud and headed in this direction.
Su dashed a few steps outwards and quickly grabbed the rifle from his back. While half squatting on the ground, the muzzle pointed at the unmanned drone in a slanted manner. A cross appeared in his green pupil, silently calculating the distance between himself and the unmanned plane. At this moment, towards this distance that was under two kilometers, he was already precise to a 1 meter deviation. This was a secret no one knew but himself.
The drone noticed the fleet that stopped alongside the road. After making a circle through the air, it whistled as it flew over. The one operating the drone had clearly received instructions from the investigation troop, so when the drone flew to roughly a meter from the stopped vehicles, it suddenly turned around, turning back towards the distance in an extremely agile manner.
However, as soon as it turned, Su’s muzzle already released fire!
With a bang, the drone in the sky turned into a ball of flame. Ten kilometers outwards, an off-road vehicle that was currently speeding over suddenly came to an emergency stop, causing some of the people inside to fall over.
“1171! Did you go crazy? Why did you pull the emergency break?” The driver turned around and roared angrily. The scorpion tattoo on his face was already a bit distorted from anger.
Four individuals sat in the rear seating of the off-road vehicle. The two sides were packed with numerous and densely packed display screens, as well as all types of switches. A man with a somewhat white face crawled up from the ground and slammed down on the white display screen, cursing, “Damn it, my treasured number three was blasted apart by someone!”
“1171, did you fly it too close? Investigational 14th platoon already said that there is a sharpshooter who isn’t bad among those insects.” Someone said from the backseat.
The face of the male referred to as 1171 became downcast. “My treasure was shot down 1000 meters from their location!”
The other three individuals quickly typed on their keyboards, and in three minutes, they received the numbers: this sniper should have over an 85% success rate within a distance of 1500 meters.
“Really is quite the excellent fellow.” One of them spoke.
“B+ grade sniper. Even those insects had that type of fellow?” There was a somewhat skeptical expression on the second individual’s face when he saw the numbers on this screen.
“Regardless of the reason, even if his luck is good, we should still send a report to the higher-ups before continuing our pursuit.” The third individual seemed to be the one making the decisions.
At both sides of the commanding vehicle were half-wheel model infantry tanks that the scouting troop from before used. This type of tank possessed outstanding defensive power, and it could also carry ten fully armed soldiers.
The fleet consisting of three tanks continued to advance forward. From the information the drone sent back, this fast fleet would be able to catch the remaining insects in just twenty minutes.
The pursuit process seemed to have gone extremely smoothly. They quickly found the traces left behind by the other party’s vehicles. As for those insects’ sniper, his bullets couldn’t do anything to the Blue Scorpion tanks’ armor, so no one was worried.
Within two slanted pillars of concrete extended a dark muzzle. Su inserted a bullet that wasn’t any longer than his slender hands smoothly into the gun barrel, and then he slowly aimed at the central command vehicle. The bullet in the barrel of his gun was even larger than the 14mm bullet, and it could simply be considered a mini artillery shell. There were a few simple engravings on top of the bullet.
Meanwhile, the cross in Su’s green pupil was calm to a frightening level.