666: Chapter Six Hundred and Fifty-Eight: Truly Deserved Reputation 666: Chapter Six Hundred and Fifty-Eight: Truly Deserved Reputation Gao Yang initially scoffed at the tally of combat achievements; right after that, he disregarded Jihad’s remarks, although the war record Jihad mentioned was his own, and the person whom Jihad idolized was none other than Gao Yang himself.
However, after a brief moment of intense doubt, Gao Yang simply calmed down and considered the number of bullets he had fired.
The realization startled him.
Gao Yang had fired no less than four hundred bullets, and by his hit rate, it seemed, it appeared, it might be, that the figure of three hundred enemies killed was indeed too modest…
Upon further calculation, Gao Yang felt that if he included both kills and injuries, a figure closer to four hundred seemed more appropriate…
Overwhelmed with shock, his mouth agape, Gao Yang presented a dumbfounded look in front of Jihad, as if he’d frightened himself with his own achievements.
Even killing three hundred people was astounding, just for one battle, just within a single hour.
The number was simply staggering.
The universally recognized number one sniper, White Death Simo Häyhä, had only killed 542 people.
If the era of the Winter War is considered too distant, then a more recent event might shed some light.
On February 2, 2013, Chris Kyle, an ace sniper from the U.S.
Marines, was shot and killed at a Texas shooting range, an incident that caused a huge stir and even reached Gao Yang’s ears.
Chris Kyle had ten years of sniper experience, had been deployed to Iraq four times, and had a total of 255 confirmed kills, including one where he shot a rocket launcher operator from 1930 meters away.
An ace sniper from the Marines with ten years resulted in 255 kills, while Gao Yang killed at least three hundred in one hour.
How could one even begin to explain that?
Gao Yang began to feel that he truly had done something remarkable; whether others believed it or not, he knew he was the creator of a miracle and understood that although it seemed impossible, it had genuinely happened.
Gao Yang started to feel a bit carried away, but after comparing himself to those legendary snipers with historical renown for a while, he sadly realized that his record seemed to lack luster.
The Finn Simo Häyhä is a legendary figure among snipers, killing 542 people with his Mosin-Nagant rifle.
Why is Simo Häyhä considered the undisputed king of snipers?
It’s because of the extreme value of his combat achievements.
During the Winter War, the Soviet Union had an overwhelming advantage with large military formations, heavy artillery, and a multitude of aircraft.
When Simo Häyhä killed a Soviet soldier, he would attract countless bullets and even artillery fire, which is why he had to run for his life after each shot taken, killing 542 people under such circumstances.
The number one sniper in the German Army, Mathias Hetzenauer, has a verifiable record of 345 kills; Gao Yang’s semi-mentor, Fedor, also had confirmed 113 kills and was indeed an ace sniper.
Many question Mathias Hetzenauer’s record, not because it is exaggerated, but because it is far less than the actual number.
This discrepancy is due to the unique way the Germans tallied combat achievements, as they only counted defensive sniper engagements, and any kills achieved during offensive operations, or when there was no second person to witness the sniper’s actions, would not be included in the sniper’s records, no matter how many were killed.
Therefore, Mathias’s real achievements must certainly exceed 345, and the same goes for Fedor.
Their actual numbers are definitely much higher than recorded, potentially double or even more, as the Germans were mostly on the offensive in the early stages of the war.
The combat achievements of snipers in World War II are recognized because of the environment they operated in—whether they were German, Soviet, or American, a single sniper shot would attract riflefire, machine guns, artillery, tanks, planes, and every available means of attack.
Thus, the survival conditions for snipers could hardly be called favorable.
As for modern times, if Gao Yang dared to fire at a squad of American soldiers, the basic sequence of events would be that he could get off one to two shots, at most three before his targets would take cover.
Then they’d call for support, with ground and air reinforcements barraging his hiding spot with rockets and even laser-guided munitions as if they were free of charge, until they completely obliterated his location.
In fact, American soldiers really don’t need to spend money on bombs—the military budget covers that, and their own lives are at stake, so they don’t mind using missiles worth millions or even tens of millions of US Dollars just to kill a single sniper.
If Gao Yang’s opponents were Russian instead, the result would be much the same.
Russia doesn’t have the same aerial firepower as America, but Russia has a preference for artillery.
Discover a sniper, and prepare to be bombarded, with heavy caliber artillery like machine guns, mortars, and howitzers greeting your head as if they cost nothing to fire—60-mm caliber weapons wouldn’t even be considered.
In reality, the Old Russians don’t spend money on artillery shells either.
They would rather expend ammunition produced in the 1950s rather than pay to dispose of expired ordnance, so using it up by firing it off is a preferable option.
As for Huaxia, it’s pretty much the same as America and Russia.
In fact, any decent military force in the world shares the same attitude towards snipers, summoning any and every heavy weapon to completely level any place where the sniper might be hiding.
If instead of Syrian Rebel Army soldiers, Gao Yang had killed American soldiers or Russian troops, then his achievements wouldn’t be considered miraculous but divine—no, not even God himself could accomplish that.
The rebels from the ISI.S Front, indeed, I don’t know where they derived their courage—no matter how much they were attacked, they didn’t fear.
At the beginning, they used a couple of light cannons and utilized car bombs, as well as rocket launchers.
And after those were neutralized, for the time following, other than machine guns, they scarcely had any weapons with a decent range left.
In such circumstances, charging towards Gao Yang’s rifle was nothing but a suicide mission.
If the rebels hadn’t actively delivered themselves into his sights, Gao Yang killing 30 men would have been quite an achievement—bullets can’t bend around corners, so how could he shoot them if they hid behind cover?
For Gao Yang to kill several hundred people on his own, those rebels were indeed talented.
Even if one thousand pigs were put in front of Gao Yang, he wouldn’t be able to kill three hundred in a single go; pigs know to run away when shot at, yet those rebels did not retreat—Gao Yang simply couldn’t just not shoot them.
However, on the flip side, though Gao Yang’s achievements might lack in value, what he accomplished was still a miracle—killing at least three hundred in one hour is not something just anyone can achieve.
Gao Yang was just in a relatively safe shooting environment, didn’t need to worry too much about enemy heavy fire, and didn’t face effective suppression, which allowed him to keep firing without restraint.
Yet, even with a secure environment, hitting the enemy was not so simple.
Even on a shooting range, how many could shoot as accurately and rapidly as Gao Yang did?
And to think of doing so on the battlefield against living targets that move—after all, the rebel forces just didn’t retreat; they weren’t fixed targets that stayed still.
So, all things considered, even if the quality of his enemies was lacking, Gao Yang still accomplished a feat that is unimaginable for most people.
He deserves to be called the Gun God.
Having thought through the key issues and realizing he was indeed incredibly awesome, Gao Yang felt proud.
However, he suddenly considered a problem—he had just killed at least three hundred people; he wondered if he could now be categorized among executioners with hands drenched in blood.
But after a brief moment of contemplation, Gao Yang put the issue aside.
It’s hard to say about others, but these extreme terrorists truly are a cancer to humanity.
It would be best if they were wiped out; a mere three hundred…
Gao Yang felt that the number he killed was actually too few.
Completely standing on the side of what he believed was just for humanity filled Gao Yang with pleasure.
Faced with Jihad’s admiring gaze and under the awe-stricken watch of the surrounding soldiers, he no longer felt any unease because he knew he had accomplished something remarkable.
For Jihad, and for the government soldiers who had watched Gao Yang perform his miracle from beginning to end, Gao Yang’s status was much higher than he imagined.
Those government soldiers wouldn’t consider the worth of his achievements.
Few of them knew about those legendary snipers of the World War II era.
They only knew that someone before their very eyes had killed three to four hundred terrorists in an hour, and if such a person wasn’t a Gun God, then who else could be?
(To be continued.
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