Chapter 16: 16 Life and Death

Joe Ga was facing such a tense situation for the first time. Bullets whizzing by could be terrifying for the average person, but Joe Ga felt a strange sense of ease.

As fear gradually subsided, as Joe Ga completed his first kill, as he aimed and firmly locked onto the area around the car, he felt an extremely weird sensation—as if everything within the reticle was completely under his control.

Joe Ga had never arrogantly considered himself to be a marksman. On the contrary, he always thought he could do better.

But when actual combat began, as he looked out through the scope, he felt a sense that he could dominate everything.

The position where the sniper hid was very cunning. No matter whether Joe Ga shifted left or right, he couldn't see him given the hillside's limited area. Moving rashly might even provoke a counterattack.

This forced Joe Ga to remain patient, but the survivors in the car that was stopped first weren't so lucky.

Three guys armed with AR rifles were shooting at the mound where Joe Ga was while charging in his direction.

The blind shooting in the darkness was highly ineffective. Joe Ga could tell by the sound of the bullets passing by that they were fairly distant, and lying on the ground, he was completely out of their trajectory.

Joe Ga gave up on keeping an eye on the sniper by the car and instead aimed at the gunmen running forward.

Subconsciously putting the crosshair on one guy's head, Joe Ga decisively pulled the trigger.

With a "pop" of gunfire, a gunman suddenly collapsed to the ground while moving forward.

The other two gunmen were startled. Just as they were about to dive for cover, another bullet found one of their heads.

"Sniper—"

When that guy's skull was lifted off, the last gunman let out a terrified scream and scrambled towards the car in search of cover, but as he neared the vehicle, a bullet struck his head. Searᴄh the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

The 5.56 full-power rifle bullet entered through that guy's cheekbone, hammering his face in. After the cheekbone caved in, the position at the back-left of his head was pierced, blowing out a hole the size of a fist.

Through the scope, Joe Ga saw the sniper, who might have taken the chance to counter-attack, gave up his attack and tried to reach for the guy. But realizing he was already dead, the sniper abandoned the idea of rescuing his comrade and honestly huddled behind the car wheel at the rear side.

Joe Ga didn't know what the sniper was thinking, but he definitely didn't want to leave his current position now. He just hoped that Karman would circle around faster, even if he just fired a few shots to force the sniper out, Joe Ga was confident he could take his life.

Issues of blood, death, killing, fear—Joe Ga was completely unaware of them. He only knew that right now, it was either the enemy dies or he himself perishes. There was no room for even the slightest negligence.

The nights in Africa weren't completely dark, thanks to its pristine ecology. Without industrial pollution, the starry sky in Africa was incredibly beautiful. Although the grasslands appeared dim and patchy under the starlight, one could still make out a little of what was there.

Quietly waiting for five minutes, as Joe Ga began to worry about Karman's whereabouts and vehicle lights reappeared in the distance, he became somewhat restless.

After all, he wasn't a professional sniper, not even a professional soldier. Competing in patience had never been his strong suit.

Without professional guidance, the so-called training Joe Ga devised for himself led to excessive aggressiveness when facing danger. Since he only knew how to shoot, sitting idle made him anxious.

The convoy in the distance suddenly stopped at the location of the turned-over car. Then someone got out to check and, after a while, about a dozen people jumped out of the cars and rushed towards the direction of the sniper.

Joe Ga could hear the 'zzt zzt' sound of the radio from the corpses lying on the prairie and immediately understood that his previous suspicion was not unfounded paranoia; indeed, someone had attempted to ambush him on the road.

From the direction these people's vehicle was heading, it was clear they were coming from the opposite direction, and their goal was definitely to search and surround.

With Karman's help, he had managed to evade their ambush, causing their attack plan to fail, but he ultimately ran into their search team departing from Wau.

Joe Ga did not know where he had offended the other party, but he knew that if Karman did not act soon, it was time for him to retreat.

Through his sight, he spotted among the newcomers some gunmen, one of them carrying an RPG, and two big men hugging machine guns.

These people moved very quickly, crouching and using the cover of the grasses, pausing every three steps, then five, moving without a pattern but with a strange sense of rhythm.

Joe Ga immediately knew that these were skilled fighters; once the sniper pointed out his location, with the machine guns suppressing and a couple of RPG rounds coming in, his life would not necessarily be safe.

Half a minute later, Joe Ga was moved by his own 'premonition'.

As that group entered within 400 meters, their machine gunner started suppressive firing, the dense bullets preventing Joe Ga from even raising his head, followed by an RPG hitting the top of a mound, startling Joe Ga who had never encountered such a situation before.

Just when he felt the opponents' gunfire ease and he subconsciously wanted to raise his gun to fight back and then retreat, he caught a glimpse from the corner of his eye of Karman appearing like a ghost behind the vehicle, waving his Hunting Knife and chopping off the head of the sniper who was aiming to find him.

After landing a successful strike, the old African quickly took the night vision gear and backpack from the sniper's body and even carried his sniper rifle on his back, then with a movement that looked strange to Joe Ga, he crouched and rhythmically shifted his legs as if gliding across the ground, and stealthily entered the grass next to him.

Joe Ga observed Karman's direction of movement, glanced at the rapidly approaching gunmen, decisively shot down one of their machine gunners, then before the Storm arrived, he moved back a few meters, then using the cover of the mound, he jumped up and ran towards Karman.

The moment the two met, Joe Ga saw Karman holding a monocular night-vision device.

Watching him clumsily trying to make use of the night-vision goggles, Joe Ga guessed the old guy was not adept at using such equipment.

He quickly helped him wear the night-vision device, adjusted the strap for a snug fit, then whispered, "We need to find a place to hide. Do you have any suggestions?"

Karman, pulling Joe Ga and using the mound for cover, sprinted several hundred meters before finally stopping in a cluster of bushes.

Upon reaching the bushes, he first motioned to Joe Ga to stay still, then he carefully hung the backpack he had taken from the sniper on the bushes and connected the backpack to a lower branch with a clear fishing line.

Then, leading Joe Ga carefully along the edge of the bushes for over 50 meters, they finally circled around a large tree and began to sprint wildly across the grassland.

Joe Ga was in decent physical shape, but he was no match for Karman.

After running for 20 minutes, Joe Ga, who had not learned to distribute his energy efficiently and was unaccustomed to the terrain of the grasslands, was beginning to feel winded.

As an experienced old man, Karman knew they couldn't keep going.

Watching Karman halt and start looking around for something, Joe Ga, gasping for breath, said, "Why did you leave that backpack behind? If they decide to pursue us, won't the backpack give away our escape route?"