The waves slapped against the reef, making sloshing noises. The sea breeze blew at the forest and the leaves were lifted in a wave. Xia Lei lurked about on the reef for a few minutes before moving towards the forest. Every step he took was careful, and he watched his surroundings carefully. He had to in this sort of environment, even though he had X-ray vision. His left eye could not see through the thick forest to spot the killer hidden within.
Too bad he didn’t have heat-vision equipment. If he had, he would be able to move about in a more relaxed way.
However, he had his own special method of tracking people, and that was his left eye’s zoom-in ability. He could use his left eye to do high precision processing, so traces of a person’s passing was too easy. As long as someone entered the forest from this beach, he would be able to follow the traces left on the ground and discern where the person was hiding!
“One, two, three… Six.” Xia Lei made his analysis according to the tracks he’d spotted. ‘Six people had come out of the helicopter and they’re in this forest. They could not have gone deep, so they must be close by along this stretch. Their aim in coming here is to get the goods and kill me anyway. What I don’t know is if it’s Ahn Geungan or Ahn Suhyeong in charge.’
No matter who it was, the person had set a trap to kill him. There was no need to be civil with them anymore. Find one, kill one!
Xia Lei attached the silencer to the XL2500 as he tracked.
He had come out of the water, and it was the start of winter now so his temperature was a little lower. This was why he was not that worried about the enemy giving him trouble if they had heat-vision equipment.
Xia Lei quickly discovered the enemy’s tracks when he entered the forest. It was as he’d thought - their goal was to kill him and take away what he had brought, so they had not gone deep into the forest. However, he saw only four people. They were all Asians in combat gear and holding American M16A2 assault rifles. They also had handguns and grenades on their weapons belts. These four were wearing bulletproof vests and helmets too. Their getup was as good as the Korean Special Forces.
Xia Lei used his X-ray vision to scan his surroundings. Unfortunately, he did not spot the Hyena person his father had sketched, nor the blonde-haired bodyguard named Hoffman who he’d seen following Ahn Suhyeong around.
Xia Lei quietly raised the XL2500 in his hands and aimed at a target.
He had only to squeeze the trigger gently now to blast that person’s head apart. But at that moment, he suddenly realised something and he moved his finger off the trigger.
‘Six people came off the helicopter but there are only four here,’ he thought to himself, ‘Who are the other two? Where are they? Wait, these two can’t be Ahn Guengan or Ahn Suhyeong. It must be Hyena and Hoffman. These four are bait. Hoffman and Hyena will attack me once I shoot! One of the Ahns must still be on that helicopter. He’ll turn up to take the things from me after Hyena and Hoffman have killed me.’
Xia Lei’s gaze went to the left at that thought. Ahead of this was layer upon layer of forest, blocking his X-ray vision. He was able to see through a portion of the trees but it was not enough. Similarly, if the enemy had heat-vision equipment, it was not powerful enough to see through so many trees and discover his presence.
‘Since those four are bait, Hoffman and Hyena’s best positions to hide in are further back on the left and right. Once I start battling with those four gunmen, those two elite killers would close in on me like a net and shoot me. They shouldn’t be far from these four!’ Xia Lei’s analysis was very accurate.
He looked at the watch on his wrist - ten minutes more to the meeting time.
Would he be able to finish Hyena and Hoffman off in these ten minutes?
Xia Lei decided to give it a go. He chose to go left, and crouched over, using tree after tree as cover as he moved.
A proper target came into range after three minutes. It was Hoffman. He was hiding on a large cedar tree. The top of the tree was about 30 metres up and it was enough to give him a good view of the beach. Hoffman was hidden in the tree canopy and holding a Barrett sniper rifle which was aimed at the beach.
Fortunately, Xia Lei had approached from the reefs. If he had approached by the sea, he would have been shot by Hoffman before he even made it to shore!
A thermal imaging device hung around Hoffman’s neck and he raised it to his eyes every ten seconds or so to check the forest around himself. Unfortunately, he was unaware that Xia Lei had already sneaked past him from the side to his back.
It wasn't because Hoffman was slow to react or that he was not alert but because he was unable to use the thermal imaging device to see Xia Lei, who was over 500 metres away. He had chosen a very good location to attack from since the tree he was in was the tallest in this area, and he could see quite far into the distance in its canopy as well as shoot at targets on the beach. However, it was also because of his position that he had been discovered by Xia Lei first.
Hoffman suddenly put down his device, raised his gun and aimed at the beach.
This was a position to take when he was going to shoot someone. This meant that a target he wanted to shoot had arrived on the beach!
‘Oh no!’ Xia Lei suddenly thought of a person - Jiang Ruyi.
Xia Lei grew anxious immediately. He swiftly raised his gun and aimed at the back of Hoffman’s head.
Hoffman steadied his gun and moved the index finger of his right hand to the trigger. His mouth curled in a cruel smile.
Pow! There was a sound of a sharp object hitting a human head, and half of Hoffman’s brains were separated from his skull. Brain matter and blood spurted through the air like sauce and his corpse dropped from the tree canopy.
Xia Lei was on the move right after killing Hoffman. He turned towards the beach. He could have completed his quiet assassination easily but it had now become a race against time!
If Jiang Ruyi had really followed him then she must be on the beach now. This was a terrible thing indeed, because if Hoffman could spot her, then Hyena could spot her too.
Xia Lei quickly got to the edge of the forest.
The speedboat had just come to a stop and Jiang Ruyi jumped off to wade through the water and head to the beach.
Jiang Ruyi seemed to be on the alert too. She held her gun as she waded and surveyed the beach and the forest.
‘This girl…’ Xia Lei had a terrible headache. If this was an exercise, he would have dashed forward to press Jiang Ruyi to the ground and give her a thorough spanking - till her buttocks were swollen!
But from another perspective, Jiang Ruyi had followed him because she was worried about him. A woman showing so much concern for you… She did the wrong thing, but could you bear to berate her?
Jiang Ruyi got to shore and looked about, then continued walking towards the forest.
‘This girl!’ Xia Lei sighed, and abruptly raised his gun to fire at the beach in front of her.
Ptu! The bullet struck the beach and sent up a shower of sand.
Jiang Ruyi got a scare and threw herself to the ground.
Xia Lei turned the muzzle of his gun around and shot into the forest edge. A gunman who had charged out of the forest to capture Jiang Ruyi was killed by a head-shot. He was wearing a bulletproof helmet but the XL2500 bullet had entered from his cheek. With gunmanship like that, it was useless even if he wore ten helmets.
Xia Lei fired again. This shot did not kill a gunman but the bullet hit a tree. The remaining three gunmen were startled and immediately rushed out to the beach to capture Jiang Ruyi.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Gunshots rang out.
The three gunmen did not dare leave the forest due to Xia Lei’s suppressing fire but they kept firing at Jiang Ruyi on the beach.
Bullets kicked up sand on the beach and Jiang Ruyi held her head, terrified.
“Crawl over!” Xia Lei shouted anxiously. He had to show himself to yell at Jiang Ruyi.
She heard his voice and it was like seeing hope in the midst of despair. She moved her limbs and crawled towards Xia Lei like a wet noodle.
Krak! A bullet suddenly hit the trunk of the tree Xia Lei was hiding behind.
This shot had come from the left and the bullet shook the tree. This was a powerful sniper rifle!
This shot also posed a problem. That terrifying killer had discovered his location and made his move!
Xia Lei instinctively threw himself to the ground. A bullet hit the same spot just after he did, and this bullet actually went through the trunk to hit a tree behind Xia Lei.
A chill ran over Xia Lei’s heart - Hyena was using armour-piercing bullets!
“He’s over there!” shouted someone in Korean from the edge of the forest. “He can’t get away now. Kill him!”
Bang bang bang! The sounds of gunfire from M16A2 rifles came afterwards. However, the three gunmen’s bullets were unable to get through the layer of forest and become a threat to Xia Lei.
Krak! An armour-piercing bullet hit the trunk Xia Lei was hiding behind, just three feet high!
Xia Lei rolled away to avoid it and a second bullet hit the same spot just as he left his hiding place. That bullet went through the tree trunk and hit the ground. If Xia Lei had not rolled away, he would have been in that spot and his head would have exploded!
These four shots had confirmed Hyena’s location for Xia Lei. He was not on the right, but on the peak behind the forest. He was even higher up!
Xia Lei did not believe that Hyena had X-ray vision like him. Hyena had found his location through the warning shots he had fired earlier. He had fired four shots and two of these shots had been threats. This Hyena must have had unimaginable amounts of experience!
King of the world of killers - this was how Xia Changhe had evaluated him. This evaluation spoke volumes of Hyena’s might.
Hyena was miles ahead of Xia Lei in terms of experience!
Up against an opponent like this, and with a stupid battered girl crawling towards him, Xia Lei was not able to relax at all.