There was a shower of bullets flying at them. The Russo and Grey sisters could barely lift their heads without a bullet whizzing past them every few seconds. The four ladies returned fire, occasionally looking in Xia Lei’s direction.
Xia Lei still hadn’t appeared. Maybe he was… constipated.
“Damn it!” roared Rosa. “Mister Xia, why are you still hiding?”
“They’re approaching fast! Do you want us to die here?!” shouted Theresa.
However, no matter how anxious they were, it was as if Xia Lei had disappeared from the face of the earth.
“Damn it, that asshole must’ve left us here and ran off on his own!” Stella’s fist struck the ground in front of her, a dent forming in the snow.
He’d lied to them.
Xia Lei had indeed left. This was the first time he had ever abandoned a partner on the battlefield. However, the Grey and Russo sisters lied to him first. They were working with Arthur to harm him. Was there really a need for him to stay and fight alongside them in battle?
Poof! Poof! Poof!
Snow and soil flew around Giovanna. A sudden bullet almost killed her. It stung when the soil hit her face. As she lowered her head, the anger building in her heart finally exploded. “Xia Lei! Fuck you!”
It was life or death here, yet Xia Lei had abandoned them. At this point, even a saint would cuss!
Rosa suddenly popped her head out, lifting her gun to shoot. An FA shooter that had suddenly appeared from behind a tree collapsed. In the next second, a few bullets whistled past her scalp.
Boom!
There was an explosion, two shooters firing at Rosa were blown up into the sky.
Reinforcements finally arrived but Xia Lei was nowhere to be seen. These were mercenaries and assassins excited by the prospect of monetary reward.
“Kill!” Giovanna raised an arm and screamed. “Kill them all! Mister Xia offered thirty million dollars as a reward!”
“Fifty million dollars!” Theresa screamed.
It wasn’t their money, they did not care.
Money made brave men, a large group of greedy shooters were now hurling themselves at the FA quarters.
Bullets, grenades, bombs, missiles and pieces of wood flew in the air like a swarm of drunken locusts, flying in every direction. Some people collapsed, some people flew in the air, some lost their limbs, some cracked their heads.
A few hundred meters away on a thirty-meter-tall needle pine tree, Xia Lei used his left hand to block the sunlight, watching the battle from afar. When he saw an FA shooter collapse after his legs were blown off, he couldn’t help but snicker. “This is impressive! With this terrain, this bunch of hellish rogue soldiers are like tanks! The FA’s too weak, they can’t hold up at all.”
If the mercenaries, assassins and fighters heard him, how would they feel?
A lady suddenly appeared in his field of vision. In almost a second, the XL2500 in his hand was locked on the lady. However, he did not fire. The lady was a shooter from FA but she was not Dark Mona. His goal was Dark Mona, not her subordinate. He did not want to expose his location just to kill a subordinate.
The transmitter vibrated with a soft beep.
Holding it in his hand, he said, “I’m 001, speak.”
“005 has already brought the prey away. We are in position.” It was Sa'im.
“Very good! We will now wait for her to appear. Over.” Xia Lei kept his device.
All preparations were in place, now he only had to wait for Dark Mona to appear.
His gaze fell on the battlefield.
Although there were a few hundred meters between them, he could see everything clearly.
While the FA shooters were all highly-trained, the Knights Hospitallers’ random mix of fighters had the advantage of larger numbers and more equipment. In just a short time, the FA soldiers were down to their last legs and were retreating.
Dark Mona still did not appear.
Xia Lei furrowed his brows. “Is that bitch hiding somewhere, watching the battle like me? Is she looking for me, waiting to snipe me down in a headshot? Or she has some other plan I don’t know about?”
Xia Lei’s mind was racing as he observed the development of the battle, analysing Dark Mona’s intentions, strategies and possible hiding spots.
At this moment, one of the fighters from Knights Hospitallers had his head exploded by a shot. One bullet was enough to blow his entire head apart. On his neck, what was left of his head was just his lips!
It was not a rifle bullet, that was an anti-materiel rifle (AMR) bullet!
Xia Lei’s gaze moved to the slope of the mountain.
A dense blanket of vegetation covered the slope. His vision could not penetrate the thick snow covering the trees. The higher parts of the mountain, near the peak, had no vegetation but it was only steep cliffs. Some parts were covered in snow, most of it was impossible to climb.
Xia Lei stuck out a thumb at the peak. He was about four to five thousand meters to the peak. It was out of range, even for the XL2500 sniper rifle he assembled personally.
The XL2500 sniper rifle was the world’s best sniper rifle. There was no other rifle that could rival its quality. This did not mean it was the rifle with the longest range in the world. There were AMRs that could shoot something three to four thousand meters away. At the moment, there was a 14.9-millimetre long-range sniper rifle that could reach an astonishing five thousand meters. Its barrel was also a shocking 14.9 millimetres, plus its bullet could maintain supersonic speed at five thousand meters!
Xia Lei’s heart skipped a beat. “Does Dark Mona have the American 14.9-millimetre rifle? She’s hiding somewhere out of my range to shoot at the Knight Hospitallers from afar?”
It was a huge possibility!
They had crossed paths many times, how could she not know how impressive his shooting skills were? The safest way to fight against him was to stay outside the range of his XL2500 sniper rifle. To do that, she would need an extra-long range sniper rifle that could shoot up to four, even five thousand meters away.
Just as he was mulling over the possibility of this, there was a muffled explosion from the peak of the mountain. Two seconds later, a grenade exploded in the middle of the crowd of charging Knight Hospitallers. Several mercenaries and shooters were blown into pieces, their intestines were strewn across the ground!
Not only did she have an extra-long range rifle, but she also had a custom-made grenade launcher. She shot from the peak of the mountain too, her grenades successfully neutralising her target in a projectile motion!
Xia Lei looked up and soon locked on one spot. It was the highest point of the mountain, about four to five thousand meters from where he currently hid. This was also the limit of his left eye’s vision. He could see, but not very well.
His eye swept across the peak, then backed up to lock on a target. It was some snow on a boulder but it was not snow, it was camouflage attire. This boulder was at the highest point of the peak. Snow would never be able to settle there with the wind raging at an all-time high. Also, it was huge and had a large surface area. It was brown everywhere else, why was there just one patch of snow? This was not normal.
Then, he saw the sniper rifle peeking out of under the camouflage. It was almost two meters long It was definitely the 14.9-millimetre rifle he guessed!
While he did not see her face, he could confirm that the patch of snow on the boulder was Dark Mona!
Dark Mona had finally appeared but Xia Lei had a problem. She was hiding out of the range of his XL2500. He could not kill her from here, yet she could shoot him with her rifle from there.
He was so relieved he did not shoot the lady just now. It would merely expose his location and with Dark Mona’s weapons, Xia Lei and the tree he was on would’ve been blown up by now!
“You’re shooting at Knight Hospitallers. Are you trying to lure me out or do you just want to weaken the Knight Hospitallers? I don’t care what your intentions are. You’re dead now that I know where you are!” Xia Lei wasted no time, sliding down the tree.
Boom!
Another grenade exploded among the crowd. A mercenary’s leg had been blown off, another person was sliced open by shrapnel and his guts spilt out.
“Damn it!” roared Rosa. “I can’t see the sniper at all! He’s using an AMR!”
“It must be Dark Mona!” came Giovanna’s voice. “She’s out of our range. We can’t do much about it.”
“Should we still let our people rush up the peak?” Theresa asked, panicking. “We’ve lost too many people already. If this continues, we will all die!”
“Where did that bastard Xia Lei go? He’s the best sniper we have here, but he escaped!” Theresa was furious. “If I live today, I’ll snap his neck myself!”
Boom!
Another grenade exploded. A shooter flew in the air, a leg flew in an arc and landed on the screaming Theresa’s head. Fresh blood splattered across her face and the man who was just blown apart landed right in front of her.
“Ahh!” Theresa was going mad.
“Everyone hide!” Giovanna finally gave the order, “Wait for my order!”
The Knight Hospitallers stopped charging and the FA organization took this opportunity to retreat back up the slope. Their numbers had halved but so were their enemies. In terms of losses, this was a failed mission for the Knight Hospitallers.
At the same time, a silhouette sprinted up the slope of the mountain. He only had one XL2500 sniper rifle, one viper pistol and one army knife on him. He’d tossed most of his weapons in exchange for speed.
“I have located Dark Mona. She's at the peak of this mountain. She has a 14.9-millimetre extra-long range sniper rifle and a grenade launcher. I’ll be going up first!” Just as he finished, he sped up. He looked like a cheetah hunting down a prey.
Target acquired! The hunt begins!