"Impossible? How is this possible?" Every time the thought crossed the old soldier's mind, he shook his head violently, trying to force the idea out of his brain.

Bang!

From the disturbed pile of straw, a dark mass suddenly sprang out. The old soldier recognized it as a clump of mud and quickly sidestepped. As the flying mud passed the level of his head, it abruptly exploded into nothingness, splattering countless tiny droplets across the old soldier's face.

"Damn it..."

The old soldier reached up to wipe the muck from his face and saw a piece of wood beneath the separated straw. In neat regular script carved upon it were the words: You've been fooled again.

Beside the meticulously carved script, there was also a small carving of a child sticking out its bare bottom.

Seeing this image, the old soldier's entire face began to contort.

For a recruit to have the time to set a trap while being pursued, and moreover, to have the leisure for such a prank, this was nothing less than a blatant, slap-in-the-face provocation.

The old soldier's contorted face gradually smoothed out. In his completely calm eyes, chilling glints began to emerge, and a curl of disdainful laughter lifted the corner of his mouth: "Kid, trying to enrage me? To find my weakness? You're clever, but far too green. If you hadn't left that sign, or if you’d pulled a few more stunts like this, I might actually have been driven to distraction. But now... Hmph hmph... it seems you were too eager to provoke me. Perhaps you’ve run out of trap ideas?"

On the other side of the screen, there wasn't a trace of a smile on Satan's face. His two golden eyebrows were tightly drawn together above his brow: "There's something odd. This little slippery character always destroys the pinhole monitor immediately after setting a trap wherever he goes. Why didn't he destroy it this time? Did he not notice? Unlikely. Unless..."

A sudden flash of astonishment shot through Satan’s eyes, mirroring the alarming image relayed from the monitor. Just as the old soldier regained his composure, wholly absorbed in calculating how to counter his prey, six black muzzles of an M134 Minigun were pressed against his back.

"Senior, would you mind slowly placing the weapon in your hand onto the ground?"

Qin Fen’s voice was filled with courtesy. Yet, the fact that he was holding a weapon capable of turning a man into pulp made the gesture seem less than polite.

The old soldier’s body went stiff. He paused, and the smile playing on his lips carried a hint of bitterness: "So, the trap you laid wasn't meant to anger me, but to make me calm down. Calm enough to focus entirely on dealing with you, letting my guard down regarding my surroundings."

"Senior, you are truly astute," Qin Fen didn't stint on his praise. "You saw through my little trick so quickly. //\ May I ask, can you now slowly drop the gun in your hand? Oh, and the grenades on your person, please discard those on the ground with care too. I’m a very timid fellow; any sudden movement might accidentally cause the M134 to start roaring."

The old soldier sighed. He didn't quite follow Qin Fen’s instruction to discard things slowly. Instead, he decisively threw his weapon to the ground, then swiftly tossed his grenades, field survival knife, and everything else in a heap.

This decisive action put Qin Fen further at ease. The old soldier’s movements clearly signaled to him that he admitted defeat.

"Kid, you did well," the old soldier said to Du Peng, who now walked out, after having confiscated all his gear. "In a real jungle fight, I might not have lost to you. I confess, I underestimated you this time, taking you for just a recruit."

Qin Fen offered no rebuttal; he had already won. Why provoke the old soldier further? If he truly wanted to fight back, not only would Qin Fen have to expend considerable effort, but it might also attract other veterans, leading to a net loss.

Watching the screen, Satan began to applaud slowly, unhurriedly: "Interesting, truly interesting. This slippery character is tougher to deal with than imagined."

Satan’s clapping hands suddenly froze mid-air; his eyes glazed over completely. An image from another location on the screen showed another veteran defeated. \

Compared to the veteran who lost to Qin Fen, this one’s defeat was even swifter. He hadn't even managed to prepare any defense before being struck squarely in the lower abdomen with a kick, instantly losing all fighting capability.

"This little girl..." Satan slightly turned his neck. "She's got talent. Pretending to fall for a trap, then striking the moment the opponent lets down their guard."

On another side of the screen, Qin Fen had already bundled up the first old soldier. He spoke with a hint of apology: "Senior, I'm afraid I'll have to trouble you one more time."

The old soldier was now completely calm, watching Qin Fen with genuine interest, eager to see how this recruit planned to use him against the other veterans.

Qin Fen led the captured old soldier and Du Peng forward several hundred meters, finally stopping beneath a large tree.

"Thirsty?" Qin Fen looked up at Du Peng.

"Huh?" Du Peng started, then nodded repeatedly, "Dying of thirst."

"Having this captive is too inconvenient. How about we tie him up here temporarily, and we go find water first?"

"That sounds good. After we drink our fill, we can discuss who gets to wear that uniform. //\"

"Exactly. Once we're wearing these uniforms, even if we run into other pursuers, as long as we're careful and quiet, we should be able to slip by. Just surviving until nightfall means victory."

The two spoke in low voices and disappeared into the dense woods.

The rustling of leaves sounded from the canopy above the large tree. A recruit jumped down, a triumphant smile on his face, muttering to himself: "This is called the mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind. Neither of you need to fight over this uniform; I'm taking it."

Beneath the tree, the stripped veteran’s eyes also held a faint smile. These two recruits were indeed quite cunning; with just a few words, they exploited the greed of someone wanting something for nothing. A simple coordinated effort had fooled the intruder.

The new recruit donned the veteran's fatigues and picked up the P308 that Du Peng had discarded. He checked the magazine—twelve rounds remained—and, quite pleased, marched into the depths of the rainforest shouldering the weapon.

Strike back!

Every recruit harbored the same thought, but due to their initial lack of weapons, it only surfaced fleetingly in their minds.

Once they had weapons and an opportunity, no recruit would ever pass up such a chance.

Qin Fen and Du Peng exchanged a glance, seeing the shared amusement in each other’s eyes, and then quietly began tracking the footsteps of the new recruit.

In this rainforest where gunshots frequently echoed, tracking a recruit who was deliberately trying to find a veteran while holding a weapon was not a particularly difficult task.

Soon enough, this recruit came face-to-face with a veteran.

"Fugu, how's it going? Caught any unlucky little whelps?" the veteran greeted cheerfully.

The recruit deliberately kept his head down, casually holding up three fingers, slowly closing the distance to the other man.

"Not bad, have some fun," the veteran approached the recruit without any sense of defense. "Oh, right, that money you owe me, when will you pay it back?"

Owed money? Collecting a debt? In the moment of confusion, the P308 the veteran had been using to playfully poke people was pressed against the recruit’s head.

The icy coldness of the gun barrel traveled through the skin into the skull, and the recruit snapped out of his bewilderment, realizing he had been deceived.

"Alright, drop the gun," the veteran said with a grin. "Kid, that uniform belongs to Hishigai. Fugu is my nickname."

Click...

The recruit dropped the gun and asked, "Can you tell me why I was seen through?"

Fugu followed up with a kick to the recruit’s lower abdomen, sending him crumpling to his knees. "Don't think you’re a man just because you’ve skinned someone else’s hide. You lack the aura of a veteran; no matter how well you pretend, you're still a rookie. I genuinely don't understand how Hishigai let you fool him."

As he spoke, Fugu kicked the recruit ten more times, driving him flat onto the ground. In an instant, the recruit was entirely covered in black mud.

"You lurking back there, you come out too," Fugu’s gun barrel pointed toward the jungle. Du Peng slowly emerged from the thicket.

Fugu laughed at this moment. "I take it you’re the one who caught Hishigai? Used this kid as bait, and struck when Hishigai's attention was diverted."

Du Peng nodded with resignation. "I didn't expect the second time I used this tactic, it would fail."

Fugu’s smile grew more triumphant. His strength was usually comparable to Hishigai’s; Hishigai sinking in the gutter this time only proved his own superiority!

"Haha, I’m in a good mood today, so I'll just give you a light beating as a thank you," Fugu gestured. "Come here, let me kick you a couple of times."

"Please, be gentle," Du Peng grimaced. "There's still some time before sunset; I hope to conserve some energy."

Fugu was riding high on surpassing his peer, and he laughed heartily. "Fine, I’ll try to be gentle."

As Du Peng walked towards him, Fugu raised his right leg with a smile. The next instant, his right leg froze stiffly mid-air. A wave of hostile killing intent emanated from behind him, instantly locking onto him completely.

Most importantly, Fugu heard the sound of an electric motor coming from the person behind him locking onto him. In this current time, only one person operating a device with a whirring electric motor could be that person: the recruit who reached the destination first.

"Kid, you concealed your presence well," Fugu was disarmed by Du Peng, but his face still held a smile. "Mistaking you for a mere recruit was my error. You are truly a worthy opponent to watch."

Qin Fen stripped Fugu of his last grenade. "Thank you for the compliment."

"How do you plan to use me?" Fugu looked slightly disappointed. "Surely not the same way as before? Using the same move twice is boring. How about a new tactic?"

"No." Qin Fen bound Fugu as well. "Abandoning an effective method for one whose success is uncertain is not something a qualified soldier does."