Chapter 65: Sniping (Part 1)
May 7th, dusk.
The clouds at the horizon were dyed crimson by the sunset and shone brightly, changing into various shapes from time to time in the gentle breeze of early summer.
Three days, a whole three days. Ah Su's only pastime was to watch the clouds rolling in the sky, the sunset and the moon rising. Sometimes he really believed that if he kept watching for another ten or half months, he might become what his master called a "philosopher". According to his master, it was a state close to that of an immortal... But Ah Su didn't have that kind of wisdom. In comparison, he would rather see Ah Lan's dull and lifeless scarred face.
But in these three days, apart from a few mounted messengers galloping along the Yongdao Road to report back and forth, there was no movement at all.
Waiting, dry and endless waiting. This reminded Art of his teenage years when he followed his uncle to go hunting. At that time, they also waited for two days and two nights, but in the end, they only harvested a squirrel. Now Art has broken his own hunting record, he just hopes that this time's result will not be like that one...
At this point, Ah Shu couldn't help but shift his gaze towards Di Lie -
For three days, the master had been nailed to the edge of the dilapidated two-story foundation like a nail. When hungry, he would eat something, and when sleepy, he would roll up his animal hide and sleep with his clothes on. Except for going to the bathroom and exercising every morning on the pile of rubble at the bottom of the tower, the rest of the time was spent motionless, observing the situation in the tunnel and the military camp through that magical "magic mirror".
Every time Ah Su saw that motionless figure like a boulder, he would waver in his recognition of the master's "Your Highness" status - such perseverance, tenacity and willpower could only be possessed by the best hunters. How could a pampered prince possibly have such abilities? But no matter what the person's true identity was, he was now his own master. So, he was a prince! On this point, Ah Su not only couldn't doubt it, but also wouldn't allow others to doubt it.
His gaze drifted with the clouds, and he couldn't help but recall what his master had said with a smile during lunch: "Don't look at my current struggling appearance, it's actually much better than before when I was training and on missions. At that time, for several days and nights, I couldn't move at all, my whole body was stiff, and my face was crawling with all kinds of insects, but I wasn't allowed to blink... Moreover, there were icy glaciers, scorching deserts, swampy mud, and tropical jungles with countless death traps... Compared to that, being a sniper now is simply bliss."
Ah Chu only remembered that at the time, his facial muscles twitched like toothache for a long time before squeezing out an awkward sentence: "So, if Ah Lan doesn't show up within five days, what should we do?"
Di Lie's answer was: "A qualified sniper will always have a backup plan."
So Ah Su didn't ask any more, he just lay on the stone pile covered with animal hide, propping his head up with his arm, and stared blankly at the clouds in the sky. Today might have passed like this...
Just as Art was lost in thought, a voice suddenly came from beside his ear: "Get up quickly, something is happening at the Golden Camp!"
I must have fallen asleep, even in my sleep I was thinking about work, I'm so dedicated!
Atsu's self-hypnosis hadn't ended yet when he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his head, and with a jolt, he jumped up, only to be kicked down again. He heard Diligent's clear and severe voice beside his ear: "What are you jumping around for? Take this scope and quickly follow the parallel line of this stone tower to the starting point of the corridor, and see what the situation is!"
Ah Chu quickly regained consciousness, took over the "magic mirror" that was both afraid and wanted to see. Then crawled out of a small hole at the bottom of the stone tower, using the tall weeds as cover, and ran quickly to the side.
Di Lie and A Shi hid in this ruined stone tower, standing alone in a withered bush thicket, without any signs of human habitation around. Instead, there was a chaotic burial mound behind the stone tower, about 100 steps away. Due to the desolation of the place and its distance from the school grounds, it had exceeded the Jin army's surveillance range, so the two hid here for three days and nights without being discovered by anyone.
The location of the stone tower is approximately in the middle and rear sections of the corridor, with a straight-line distance from the corridor of about 1,380 meters, roughly less than three miles. From the starting point of the corridor to the midpoint of the section where Di Lie was hiding, it's about two miles. This means that if the target starts from one end of the corridor, they will have to walk for two miles before entering Di Lie's sniping range.
The scope of this sniper seems not small, but in fact, Dili only has three chances to snipe.
Because of the height of the walls and the obstruction of vision, from Di Lie's position, he could only see a small part of the top of the corridor, unable to get a glimpse of the whole picture. These days, there have been Jin army cavalry coming and going in the corridor, but he could only see the iron helmet tassels on their heads. In such a situation where even faces can't be seen, it's generally impossible to shoot arrows. Fortunately, the rammed earth wall of this corridor was too old and had not been repaired for many years, with many gaps and cracks, the largest one being as big as half a door panel.
In Di Lie's sniper scope, there were three embrasures, the size of a washbasin. Through these embrasures, one could see the upper part of the head and face of people riding horses. These were Di Lie's three chances. If it weren't for the existence of these three embrasures, Di Lie would have given up this sniper point and adopted a backup plan.
However, before this, it is more important for Al to confirm the target.
Art ran very fast, firstly because he was already familiar with this route after running it for several days, secondly... he had been holding back for too long and finally found an outlet to release his pent-up energy.
Ah Chu ran to the No. 1 observation point designated by Di Lie, from which you can observe the starting point of the tunnel and part of the military camp, but it's just too far away from the target, a straight-line distance farther than the stone tower to the tunnel, over three miles away. If you get closer, it will be more effective. But there is no way, in this observation point, there are weeds for cover, and if you go forward a little further, it's an open field with no shelter, easy to be seen by the Jin army sentry on the watchtower.
Looking at a person from three miles away, even on a clear day with good visibility, the person would not look much bigger than an ant. Wanting to make out someone's facial features is impossible, even with 2.5 vision. Normally, this would be an impossible task. Fortunately, Ah Su has a "magic mirror".
Arthur was the first to come into contact with this magical mirror during this operation. When he saw the objects in the mirror for the first time, Arthur was frightened and shouted loudly. Of course, he was immediately covered by Dili's prepared leather bag. It took Arthur a whole day to adapt, and he respectfully called the aiming mirror "magic mirror" in his heart.
Ah Ci always thought that this magic mirror was attached with a spell, otherwise it would be impossible to explain how it could bring distant and minute objects closer and enlarge them, and also make visible all sorts of strange phenomena at night. When using the magic mirror before, he was still following his master's side, even if he was afraid, in his heart he still had some reliance. But now he was going to use it alone, which really made Ah Ci's heart tremble with fear.
But time waits for no man, and now, relying solely on the naked eye, it can be seen from a distance that the Jin army camp is indeed making a significant commotion. The gate of the camp is wide open, and scouts are sent out in all directions, extending to the outer perimeter of the camp two miles away, laying down a warning line, which continues to move towards both sides of the mountain pass.
This situation only indicates two possibilities: one is that a large number of troops have departed from the military camp, transporting along the road to the city wall for defense. To prevent enemy scouts from spying, sentry riders are dispatched to patrol both sides of the road; or there are high-ranking officials of the Jin army inspecting the city defenses, and these sentry riders serve as a warning.
At this time, the Taixing Yi Army had just been beaten and was hiding in the deep mountains and old forests to lick its wounds. There were no remaining Song army troops or powerful enemy forces nearby. Therefore, it is unlikely that it will be the first case. Then, could it be the second case...
Ah Chu thought of this and couldn't care about being afraid anymore, using his trembling hands to open the dust cover of the sniper scope, gritting his teeth, and putting his eyes up...
Di Lie didn't have to wait for long before Ah Shu came running back, drenched in sweat. Behind him, surprisingly, was a tall and handsome man.
Di Lie was surprised, and just as he was about to ask how Gao Liang had appeared here, Gao Liang spoke up: "Guan Big Brother and Liu Second Uncle have been waiting for several days without seeing any movement from you, fearing that something might go wrong, so they sent me to take a look..."
Di Lie hadn't had time to speak, when Ah Shu grabbed the hem of his clothes and shouted in a loud voice: "Quick... quick... Ah Lan... has appeared..."
Di Lie snatched a glance through the aiming mirror towards the entrance of the tunnel, and saw a flag representing the main general slowly moving...
Di Lie put down the scope, re-fixed it on the sniper rifle's rail, and turned to Gao Liang with confidence: "Go back and tell Er Dang Jia and Liu Ye - Ah Lan will definitely die today!"
