Chapter Twenty-Six

  It's now 7:30 in the evening, three hours have passed since the fight earlier...

  "Hey, Hawk, can't you eat a bit more, like a woman? It's been half a day and I haven't seen you eat much?" The mountain bear, who had already wolfed down three steamed buns, was urging me on as I had only eaten less than one bowl of rice.

  "This is great!" Hearing the bear's words, he gently put down the chopsticks in his hand, looked up and gazed at him who was still devouring his food.

  "Why?" The mountain bear didn't get angry at my teasing, but instead continued to want the answer he wanted.

  "Do you want to know?" The one who spoke saw that the mountain bear had eaten all the dishes in front of him, and with a resigned shake of his head, he pushed his own dish in front of him.

  "Thanks, I'd like to know that." The mountain bear thanked me casually and then continued digging for the answer he wanted.

  "What Ou Yang said, chewing slowly and carefully, is good for my stomach."

  "Oh, I see......" The mountain bear heard my answer and saw his own bewildered eyes, realizing he had asked the wrong question, and hastily lowered his head to devour the food in front of him.

  "Wang Zhongwei, Li Paichang, good!" Just as the mountain bear was lowering its head to devour the food, and he had lost all sense of direction, this voice suddenly rang out, pulling his dazed self back to reality.

  "It's you......" He raised his head and saw that it was the person he was most familiar with among the new recruits, that young sniper.

  "May I sit here?" Upon hearing his words, my gaze began to wander around the cafeteria. Every table that could seat 10 people was already occupied by at least 11 individuals. The only exception was our table, where there were only three of us: myself, Shan Xiong, and Nalan Chun, who had quietly sat down to eat as soon as she arrived, to the point where I had almost forgotten about her presence.

  "The chair is right next to you." Seeing no one paying attention to him, I had to speak up and invite him to sit down.

  "Aren't you afraid he'll eat you up?" This time it was Nalan Chun who finally couldn't hold back her doubts about this new soldier.

  "Don't be afraid, Lieutenant Wang is very kind to us." Hearing this, I couldn't help but want to smile wryly, but I held it in and didn't laugh out loud, or else I would have scared away the only person who isn't afraid of me.

  "Is that so? I don't think... didn't he almost kill a new recruit?" The persistent person continued to ask.

  "Oh, you're talking about that? I was there too, it was that guy who provoked Lieutenant Wang first, and Lieutenant Wang didn't even fire a shot." This guy is still defending my reputation.

  "Don't call me Lieutenant Wang, just Wang will do. You can call me Hayabusa." I didn't let the still curious woman continue to indulge her curiosity, but instead cut her off and told her to shut up, while also stating my expectations for this new recruit.

  "King... Hawk, you still don't know my name, do you? My name is Zhang Feng." The person who couldn't change his habit saw the look in my eyes and immediately swallowed the last two words, quickly changing the subject. "Is my gaze that terrifying?"

  "Now that I know, is there something you want to talk about?" He had already lost interest in eating, and casually put down his chopsticks, looking up at him.

  "No, no, just... I want to tell you..." He said up to here, as if preparing for the words behind, and didn't interrupt his train of thought, but quietly waited for him to say what he wanted to say...

  "I know you've always been a lone wolf, but I...I...I want to be your observer." He seemed to have mustered up great courage to say this, and his face had already flushed with excitement and nervousness.

  "Good kid, you have a promising future, that's why I like you." Before he could even respond, Shan Xiong, who had just finished eating, slapped him on the shoulder with such force that he almost fell under the table.

  "Observer, I don't need. What is his purpose? Want to learn more things? Or want to know what he doesn't know?" While the mountain bear and he showed affection, he himself was trying hard to figure out some things.

  "Where's your partner?" After thinking for half a day, with question marks still filling his mind, he could only start asking questions.

  "I told them, and they also supported me to come here. Here, I can learn more things." Along with the sincere voice by his ear, he was staring into his eyes, seeing a pair of clear eyes that had not been tainted by gunpowder and blood.

  "Have you ever killed anyone?" He was still staring into his eyes, now seeing a hint of confusion in those clear eyes.

  "No, none." He hesitated and replied to my question.

  "I know you want to ask, but what's the point?" The person who said this saw him nod and continued to say the rest of the sentence that I didn't finish, which was also the answer to the previous question. "Can you remain absolutely calm in any situation? Even if your comrade next to you has half his head blown off by a bullet, even if a shell explodes next to you, even if you're already injured?" Instead of giving him the answer he expected, I asked another series of questions. "Don't rush to answer me, think carefully and then tell me your answer." Seeing that he wanted to answer my question immediately, I preempted his response by telling him to think carefully before speaking.

  "I think... I can." It wasn't him who was lowering his head to think about the problem, but rather himself starting to eat the rice in the bowl again. Having just eaten a few mouthfuls, he heard this voice coming from above his head, and with a resigned expression, put down his chopsticks, looked up, and gazed at him.

  "Your answer is wrong, you should know that other warriors may think: maybe yes, maybe no, or maybe. But I want you to know that as a sniper, there are no neutral answers, only yes and no, and you only have one chance to answer." The soft words were like a bombshell to him, making his breathing suddenly rapid.

  "Why? Why?! My marksmanship is among the top ten in new recruits, isn't gun skill what's most important for a sniper?! My concealment skills are also excellent, why do you want me to leave just because of one sentence?!" He was stimulated by my words, his rationality began to slip away, and he stood up angrily, loudly questioning me.

  Ignoring his shouting, he continued to speak in a lukewarm tone, "You just said you'd maintain absolute rationality, and now you're getting angry. Alright, I'll give you another chance. Suppose you're on a battlefield, the enemy has a sniper, and you're lucky they haven't spotted you. A comrade next to you took your place as a scapegoat, but there are many other noises on the battlefield - gunfire, explosions, shouting. The only way you can judge the opponent's position is by looking at your comrade's corpse." Seeing the "impossible" information in his eyes, he could only resign himself to lowering the difficulty of the question again, "Let's assume you've already judged the opponent's position, but you only know their approximate location, roughly 600 meters ahead. You have to judge the wind direction yourself. The enemy sniper has also discovered your approximate location. From when you peek out to aim and fire, you only have a little over one second. Otherwise, there will be an extra hole in your head. And you only have one chance to shoot. Tell me, what would you do?"

  "I will first use an anemometer..."

  "Want to measure the wind direction and speed? I'll tell you, on the battlefield, never bring that thing." He didn't let him finish speaking, but interrupted his words, said what he hadn't finished saying, and then casually killed off this possibility.

  "I will..." The last word "will" was dragged out for a long time before he finished speaking, but there was no answer afterwards, only his head bowed in contemplation.

  Time has passed for 5 minutes, and I have already finished the rice in my bowl. Looking at him, it's impossible for him to get out of this predicament. "I can tell you the answer, but you will lose your chance." I can only help him with words, although it will make him lose the opportunity to follow me, but it will also make him understand a lot.

  He thought for a while, seemingly having made up his mind. He looked up at me and said, "Please tell me." His voice was firm with determination, without any hint of despair, only unwavering resolve.

  "First, I would carefully consider the scope of his observation. If there is still a mobile position next to me, I would place my helmet on the edge of the trench, of course, only exposing a little bit, so that he can see that someone is here, but cannot guarantee a shot at me. Then I would leave and look for the next sniping point. If there isn't a place where I can move around, I would use my own helmet as bait to lure him into firing. If he really fires, if it's a manual bolt-action sniper rifle, I would have about 4 seconds of time. If it's semi-automatic, I would have 3 seconds of time..." Before I could finish speaking, someone couldn't help but interrupt me.

  "What's the use of such a short time? It'll be gone in an instant."

  "Nalan Chun, you're a medic, the sniper's sense of time is different from yours. If you want to listen, then keep listening, if not, then leave with Mountain Bear." He gave her an explanation, just to save face for Mountain Bear, and then shut her up completely with one sentence.

  "Don't worry about the four seconds, I'll think I only have three seconds. When my helmet is hit, I can accurately judge whether my opponent is still there or has moved to a new location based on the angle and direction of the flying helmet. At this time, I will immediately raise my gun and use one second to find him. In the next second, I will send the bullet into his brain." My words were finished, but he was still confused. "If you don't understand, you can ask." I could only say these words, and as I spoke, I couldn't help but smile wryly, 'Why is my heart so soft now?'

  "Is one second enough time to find his location?"

  "That's enough, we already know his general direction. Just stick the gun out and it will take about 0.4 seconds to consume, then you can see the opponent's position from the sniper scope. Move the muzzle to where your opponent is most likely hiding or where you think they are least likely to hide. If you can't find your opponent and the other side also has a trench, then I congratulate you, he has already dodged into the trench and gone up to reload. You can wait slowly for his appearance because he thinks he's already killed you."

  "What about the wind speed? 600 meters is enough to blow the bullet off its original trajectory."

  "This is the intuition of being a sniper, of course, experience is also needed, and you can roughly judge the wind speed at that time. You can grab a handful of dry soil and let it flow out slowly from your hand. The distance the soil drifts away can roughly determine the wind speed. If you have time, try more often to get familiar with the drifting degree of soil under different wind speeds. Of course, the composition of the soil is also a factor, sandy soil sinks a bit, and loess is much lighter."

  "How did you judge then?"

  "I haven't used the ground to gauge wind speed for a long time now, I rely on intuition and experience."

  "Listening to you, intuition, this word appears the most, can you explain it?"

  "As a sniper, the most important thing is your intuition as a sniper, or you can say it's your sixth sense. With this, you can judge when to fire, the approximate position of the enemy, and even when you appear in the opponent's scope, being locked onto by someone will give you a feeling that tells you, you're being aimed at." After finishing speaking, he left himself there to think, then stood up and prepared to leave.

  "There are many things that can't be understood just by thinking about them, only those who have been on the battlefield can understand what I'm saying. My final advice to you is don't trust your intuition too much, because it's not always accurate, and don't rely too heavily on your scope, as it can also deceive you at times. Finding a balance between these two things is something you need to grasp for yourself. That's all I have to say, I hope to see you become a true sniper." My last words were selfish, because I saw the clarity in his eyes, and I didn't want him to be tainted by the smoke and blood of the battlefield.

  As I walked to the door, I suddenly remembered that there was something I hadn't told him. Leaving behind a puzzled Shan You and a bewildered Nalan Chun, I quickly walked back to his side. "There's one thing I forgot to tell you, consider it advice from someone who's been through it - when killing someone, it's best not to look into their eyes..."