Chapter 26: Hunting and Killing

  Shaking my head, I chuckled to myself. It seems I'm still not qualified to be an excellent hitman, as I was distracted by the death of my enemy! I put the shell casing into my pocket. Glancing at the luminous watch on my hand, it's only 1:30 now. Even if someone comes from the nearest government army base, it'll take more than an hour! I have plenty of time to retreat. Taking a look at the Jeep, which was engulfed in smaller flames, I slowly withdrew the warning trap I had set up and quietly approached the vehicle. The fire on the car had been extinguished, and looking down at the corpse on the ground, the injured soldier had already been blown to death.

  I looked at the first guy I took out, slowly flipped over the only intact corpse, pulled the safety pin on the grenade on him, then flipped his body back, used my body to press down the safety lever, and slowly laid the corpse flat, quietly leaving the sniper scene.

  "Boom!" A loud explosion came from the jungle behind. Looks like someone moved the corpse, wonder who's so unlucky!

  I glanced back at the road I came from, and smiled coldly. They didn't come quickly, but I turned my face and continued to venture deeper into the dense forest. Swinging the US cavalry saber in my hand, I cut through the vines in front of me. According to the map, after walking for another hour, it would be one of the government army's garrisons. A month of fighting had already formed a long firing line of tens of kilometers in this area, and behind the firing line were garrisons and supply points. In the direction I was heading, there should be a medical supply station, and in that area, there should be many scattered soldiers and small-scale troops.

  Swinging machetes, cutting through the vines blocking my way, the original African forest is all undeveloped virgin land, with no roads. As I move forward, small animals keep darting out of the grass and fleeing in all directions, a scene of freedom and competition among all living things. Except for the heavy humidity that makes me feel sticky all over and having to be careful not to step on venomous snakes as I walk, everything else is pretty good.

  I can be sure that there are pursuers behind me. Although the military quality of these African government troops is not high, many people have grown up in the jungle since childhood, so they are very skilled at tracking in the jungle. Although I was careful to cover my tracks when I left, I don't dare guarantee that no one has discovered them, so I need to speed up and cross over the mountain opposite before dawn.

  The first ray of sunlight spilled from the treetops to the ground when I had already climbed over the mountain and walked along the slope following the river for a while. I looked at my watch, it was 8 o'clock, daytime comes late in the mountains. I estimated that the pursuers wouldn't chase me this far just for one sniper, I had been walking all night too, I was a bit hungry, sitting under a tree, I opened my backpack, took out some food, didn't dare to eat much since I didn't bring dried rations, only took out a small energy bar, ate it and drank some water, then rested for a while.

  During my break, I partially disassembled the gun and gave it some maintenance. As I stroked the icy barrel, I remembered a phrase that everyone in our unit often says - "A gun is a soldier's life!" Some even give their guns names and treat them like their own children! It wasn't until I picked up my gun and started fighting that I truly understood this feeling!

  After resting for ten minutes, I took out the GPS positioning system and map to check the coordinates, and then I continued on.

  Standing on the mountain slope, looking at the bridge in front of me, the bridge is not big and the government army has set up a simple bridgehead fortification. However, it may be far from the frontline in the rear, the soldiers standing guard are very relaxed, and a large group of people are surrounding the middle of the road leaning against the railing smoking and chatting! Only one person is sitting in the machine gun bunker still intently reading a book, with his entire upper body exposed. The machine gun bunker has only one South African SS-77 light machine gun.

  Such an opportunity, how can I let it go. Slowly lying under the tree, I roughly measured it with a scope (the scope of the quick machine does not have infrared rangefinding), and the distance of over 700 meters is not close, this is my first time to snipe a target at such a long distance. I took out the rangefinder, aimed at the target for precise measurement. 753 meters! Based on the measurement result, I adjusted the gun's sight. In order not to alert the enemy outside, I first aimed at the machine gunner in the bunker, pulled the trigger, hit the target! The machine gunner fell onto the machine gun, and due to the distance and the special silencer on the barrel, people outside didn't notice anything.

  I ejected the shell, took aim at my second target, who was borrowing a light from a soldier on the side. I hit him in the ribs and he fell to the ground after stumbling for a moment. By the time others realized there was a sniper, I had already taken out my third target. Watching people take cover behind a machine gun nest through my scope, I ejected my third shell. The only thing that left me unsatisfied with the SSG69 is its slow rate of fire. If it were a semi-automatic sniper rifle, at most two of these seven people would have escaped. But its accuracy truly lives up to its reputation as "precision-guided munitions on wheels"! With a silencer and scattered shots, the spread was still so small - when I get back, I'll have to get one too!!

  Everyone has hidden, there is no chance now. I slowly retreat to the back of the tree, listening to the occasional faint sound of gunfire behind me. I slowly draw out my military knife and add new scratches on the shell casing before putting it back in my pocket. Silently and slowly, I withdraw along the original path, now only heading upstream to cross the river.

  I feel like I'm not a sniper anymore, but a hunter, constantly moving and killing. And I don't know why the fast machine gave me such a strange task. Snipers are usually in pairs, one observer and cover hand, one sniper. Single-handed hunting is rare, only in urban warfare would there be situations where individuals fight alone, how did this kind of crap happen to me?

  I grumbled as I held the rifle over my head and waded through the waist-deep river, never thinking that a rookie like me would be given such a troublesome task.

  Crossing the river, lying on the mountain ridge, I saw the medical station. The people inside were in a panic, probably having heard about the shooting at the bridgehead. The camp was full of patrols with live ammunition, and there were also lookouts in the watchtower. It seems that it's not good to show off, as it's too easy to expose myself during the day. I need to wait! Wait for the right moment! Wait for the arrival of nightfall!

  It's 11 o'clock in the morning now. After selecting the best cover position and setting up the formation, all I need to do is wait for the arrival of night!

  I crouched on the ground, preparing to shoot everything I needed. 600 meters away was a barracks full of soldiers, but in my eyes it was like a big cake with candles inserted, attracting me. If someone asked me what's the most uncomfortable thing now, it would be seeing a delicious meal in front of me and not being able to pick up chopsticks. Although I'm not a refugee, I can feel my longing.

  Waiting is a very hard thing, especially in the scorching African weather, lying in the grass full of ants and bugs. Although the camouflage paint on my body has insect-repelling properties, there are always some small ones that get through and bite me, making my skin "burst open". And I couldn't move, the itchy feeling was really unbearable, I even learned to twitch my muscles like a horse. After the itchiness slowly passed, a warm and not uncomfortable feeling came instead.

  "Learn to enjoy the pain!" I muttered to myself, if you can't ignore the pain, then go ahead and enjoy it.

  Soon I was soaked from head to toe, like a watermelon, but there were some benefits at least no small creatures crawled on my body. The downside was that the bitten areas were soaked in sweat and hurt like needles!

  "Learn to enjoy the pain!" I muttered to myself, gritting my teeth.

  Time passed minute by minute in the waiting, nine hours finally came to an end after a long wait. The sky gradually darkened day by day. There was no power supply system in the jungle, and only a few lighting lamps supplied by the generator in the military camp were lit around the campsite. Now the visibility is sufficient to cover my figure, I slowly move my slightly numb legs. During the day, I had observed the entire campsite thoroughly to kill time for nine hours, even the sign on the toilet door, I looked at it three times. I took a bite of chocolate to replenish my energy, pulled out a straw from my collar, and drank some water that I had refilled in the river today. Originally, I thought it was only a two-day task, so I didn't fill up my canteen with water, just filled a little in my water bottle. Now the situation has changed, so I can only take some water from the river, purify it, and use it to replenish my supply. I took a sip of the water that was full of purification powder flavor, held it in my mouth, and slowly swallowed it. The unpleasant taste of sodium hypochlorite (bleach component) made me feel nauseous.

  To have the strength to retreat for a while, I ate more. Looking at the dwindling rations, I could only smile bitterly and had no choice but to make more "achievements" in this battle! Although this action is very dangerous, I think that if you don't enter the tiger's den, you can't get the tiger's son.

  With everything ready, I started work. According to plan, I first took out the observation hand in the watchtower, and then the searchlight! Just as the lighting equipment was extinguished, a small patrol team happened to walk into my position. The sudden darkness made everyone temporarily lose their visual ability. A group of people stood there rubbing their eyes like a group of blind people. A row of people standing opposite me were like balloons facing me when playing air guns in the park as a child.

  Relying on the convenience of night vision, I shot bullets into their bodies like a shooting gallery, and emptied the 10-round clip in 13 seconds. A row of corpses lay neatly on the ground, and when people rushed out of the barracks, I had already reloaded and started killing the patrol team members who regained their sight and fled. After sniping two, I shifted my target to the guys who just rushed out of the barracks.

  Time and again, birds that had flown out of the barracks fell to the ground, and in no time at all, I had fired two more magazines, hitting twenty-eight people and confirming twenty-three kills. The results were unexpectedly good!

  No one else rushed out of the barracks, and after I pulled two guys from the window with the light on, all the lights in the barracks went out. The entire camp was suddenly as quiet as a morgue. I knew they were confirming my position. My tense heart was stuck in my throat. Fifteen seconds passed, and suddenly flames burst out of one of the barracks. An RPG rocket flew out of the window with a long tail, but it wasn't flying towards me, it exploded 100 meters to my left. It seemed that they had confirmed that the shot came from this direction, I needed to prepare to retreat. Before I could move, a burst of gunfire suddenly erupted, countless bullets poured out of the barracks like water, and countless tracer rounds flew towards me with a glowing light. Although the aiming point was not here, there were still many bullets hitting the tree trunk where I was hiding. The familiar "Bang! Bang!" sound told me that at least these few bullets didn't hit me.

  The gunfire continued, and I didn't dare take my eyes off the scope. I knew this was either a blind shot or a cover-up shot. Sure enough, as soon as the gunfire started, a group of people rushed out of the nearest small house, five big men surrounding a figure hastily running towards the barracks in the back. It turned out there was another big shot! I gritted my teeth, propped up my upper body, and took aim at the figure, firing a shot. This shot was fired in haste, and as a result, it hit one of the big men on the side. The big man fell, tripping over the figure in the middle, who stumbled and rushed out of the crowd. I quickly ejected the shell and reloaded, but by the time I took aim again, the group of bodyguards had already surrounded him, and all I could see was a pair of legs sticking out from the crowd. I had to settle for second best, firing a shot at his butt, originally intending to hit his waist, but somehow it veered off a bit.

  Just as I was getting ready to shoot, the group of people had already rushed into the back of the barracks with that figure. Damn it! I cursed. A good opportunity was missed! The enemy's shooting area has moved here, and the bullets are flying everywhere in front of me, making the mud fly. I crouched down on the ground, not daring to move. Rockets kept exploding around me, and the blast waves blew away all the leaves on my camouflage uniform. After a while, the sweep had already passed me and moved to the side. I slowly crawled back from the ambush position, every time I moved, my heart tightened, afraid of being discovered by someone, then I would be dead for sure.

  As I slowly retreated over the ridge, I finally breathed a sigh of relief. At least now my chances of being hit were very small. This sneak attack was still quite successful. I didn't immediately retreat, but instead lay on the ridge and observed for a while. Still, no one dared to come out! I was curious why that guy took such a big risk and rushed out from that small hut. After taking a closer look, I discovered that there were oil barrels all around the hut. He probably ran out because he was afraid I would hit the oil barrels. Alas, what a pity! But now it's not too late to know this. I raised my gun and aimed at those oil barrels. Although we were already 1300 meters apart, I thought hitting such a large pile of oil barrels shouldn't be a problem. However, I first removed the silencer, as using it at this distance would greatly affect the firing speed and accuracy.

  "Boom!" With the sound of my gunshot, the oil tank in the base exploded, and two nearby military camps were affected, both catching fire. Many soldiers ran out of the burning camp, and I tried to shoot at them as they fled, but it was too far away and only hit two unlucky guys. Just as I was sneaking a smile, suddenly there was the sound of artillery behind the camp, and the big tree next to me was blown in half. Shrapnel rained down on me. Damn! How did the medical station have artillery? If I had known that, I wouldn't have fired those shots, revealing my position. Turning around to run down the mountain, before I could take two steps, a shell landed where I had just been lying. The ground shook violently, and I lost my footing, tumbling headfirst down the slope...

  Click to view picture link: Actual effect of the world's highest level night vision instrument photographed by AN/PVS-14