A burst of flame erupted from the depths of the jungle. Trees as thick as thighs snapped clean in half from merely being struck by a single bullet.
Six or seven massive trunks collapsed from various directions, yet their target was singularly focused: the muddy pit where Satan was hiding.
Rumble, rumble, rumble...
As the trees crashed down, Satan leaped clear of the mire.
A faint smile touched his lips. Those rounds, he knew, could have easily been aimed directly at the pit. With the sheer penetrating power of the M134, he could have been cleanly bisected in the mud, caught completely unaware.
That burst of shooting was a warning, a calculated display of intent.
It was a posture of absolute, unyielding resistance!
“What a headache,” Satan scratched his bare scalp. “If my opponent were some green recruit, I’d have shot him dead instantly. But it has to be this recruit. He captured two of my men alive, and used mud to kill another. And just now, he used bullets indirectly to tell me he’d killed me hiding in the muck. Facing a kid like this, if I choose to shoot him dead instead of taking him alive, I might as well go home and start farming!”
“You little slippery devil, let’s see how you handle paint marker rounds.” Satan took a grenade launcher attachment from a subordinate and instantly fitted it onto his M16, firing a round directly at Qin Fen’s position!
Boom... Dust billowed, thick with splatters of vibrant yellow paint flying everywhere.
Qin Fen looked down at the stubborn paint staining his fatigues and gave a wry smile. He understood this was Satan’s message: if those had been mercury grenades instead of paint, his small squad would have suffered massive casualties.
One chance each? Qin Fen chuckled. That seemed rather fair, didn’t it!
“Fair? Fair my foot!” Satan seemed to read Qin Fen’s thoughts. He cursed under his breath, “You took out three of my men. We still need to settle this slate clean.”
Listening to Satan’s ‘praise,’ Qin Fen glanced down at the weapon in his hands. Could his current ammunition and coordination truly allow them to break through?
“Captain, there are six of them!”
“Six?” Satan was momentarily surprised. “Three more than before?”
“That’s right, three extra—and they are troublesome—all skilled in tight-knit coordination. Maybe they just happened to cross paths?” The voice on the other end of the comm continued, “Among these six, one specializes in small-team command and maneuver. Their positioning and coordination look suspiciously tight.”
“Is that so?” Satan instinctively began rubbing his smooth head again. “Could it be that slippery kid again? Is he some kind of all-terrain super-recruit?”
Rat-a-tat-tat-tat-tat...
Several weapons suddenly spat fire from different locations. They managed to pin down Old Gun Skill, who had been trying to assault their position using superior evasion maneuvers. “He can target us without causing injury…”
A single gunshot interrupted the old soldier’s report.
After a pause of several seconds, the old soldier’s voice returned through Satan’s earpiece: “Captain, we still have seven here. I’ve been killed, so I’m applying to exit combat.”
This time, it was Satan who was perplexed. His soldiers were all seasoned veterans of jungle warfare; their hidden positions were undoubtedly top-tier. How could they be taken out by just one shot…
Suddenly, Satan felt an immense wave of danger. Every hair on his body stood erect. His body reacted faster than his mind, executing a lazy roll just as he heard a synchronized gunshot.
Immediately following that, [Xiaoshuo520.**]* near where Satan had just been positioned, another bullet impact point materialized.
Satan didn't need to look to know that the bullet hadn't been aimed at him, but at a spot near where he had just been.
It was a language spoken through gunfire, and Satan understood it perfectly. The shooter was saying: This bullet could have hit here, or it could have hit your head—killing you instantly with one shot.
“Flick-shot?” Satan’s eyebrows twitched uncontrollably at a rate of three times per second. “Is this really a recruit? Who the hell trained this recruit? Did they send him specifically to sabotage me?” He finally understood why his subordinate reported being killed—his head had been blown off by a single flick-shot.
“Flick-shot? Captain! Are you joking?”
“No way? They can’t be new recruits…”
“I really should have looked at the files, seen which training camp he came from.”
“Alright, quiet down, all of you,” Satan commanded his chattering team members. “Be careful. Dodge immediately the moment you feel anything!”
Satan drew his signature jungle pistol from his waist, his sapphire-blue eyes flashing with excitement akin to precious stones. “Interesting… [Xiaoshuo520.**]/\ In a jungle thick with trees like this, you can still trace the trajectory of a shot. Kid, don’t think you’re the only one who can pull off something like this.”
The light in his two sapphire eyes suddenly contracted, and the gun in Satan’s hand fired. Qin Fen instantly unleashed his Dragon-Elephant Prajna Power, launching himself backward like a leopard ambushing prey in the rainforest, retreating with astonishing speed.
Near where Qin Fen had taken cover, the impact of the bullet kicked up a spray of earth, the resulting crater large enough to fit a man’s fist.
The moment Qin Fen’s feet touched the ground, his gun barked again. Satan, whose massive frame towered over two meters, moved with the agility of a jungle fox, pulling himself out of Qin Fen's attack range a step ahead.
Within the dense cover, a monotonous rhythm of gunfire sounded as they traded shots.
The seasoned veterans flanking Satan were stunned speechless. What kind of recruit was this? Satan wasn't unleashing the full extent of his martial arts power, restraining his movement and firing speed, but this was too much! He was matching the Captain blow for blow!
Snake Head even pulled out a notebook from his pocket and rapidly sketched the scene. This unknown recruit who had seemingly appeared out of nowhere was incredibly formidable!
Big Rock and Mute were also watching with rapt awe, momentarily forgetting the need to defend. Fortunately, the attacking veterans were equally absorbed in this fierce exchange and temporarily ceased their assault.
Lin Ling was the quietest of them all. Her expression was as calm as still pond water under the night sky, her hand resting steadily on the pistol at her hip.
She was waiting, waiting for the perfect moment! This was Qin Fen’s plan: deliberately risk exposure to issue a challenge, baiting the enemy’s strongest fighter into the open, drawing everyone’s attention, and then striking suddenly at the optimal second for a breakthrough!
Qin Fen felt he was reaching his limit. Performing consecutive flick-shots in this dense, tree-choked jungle was exponentially harder than in open terrain.
Furthermore, these flick-shots couldn't actually hit the target; they had to land on a specific spot that signified the kill. This demanded the most precise calculation—one mistake, and the bullet could actually hit the man.
Intense concentration drastically drains physical energy. Qin Fen hadn't even recovered from the stamina drain of his wild retreat before plunging into this high-intensity duel. Sweat beaded on his skin as Du Peng’s hand instinctively rested on the M134, sensing the single opportune moment was about to arrive!
“Fire!”
Not far behind the veterans, Du Zhanpeng’s long cry startled birds that hadn't even been moved by the gunshots. Dozens of stones flew in from different angles, hurled by the various martial arts techniques displayed by the new recruits.
The veterans, who had been focused on observing the battle to learn combat experience, were jolted awake. They instantly executed the most precise evasive maneuvers...
This surprise caught everyone—both engaged sides—completely off guard. No one expected the new recruits who had been scattered and fleeing to suddenly regroup under Du Zhanpeng’s personal power and launch a counterattack.
These recruits had guts that were too audacious! The veterans paid the price for underestimating them.
The heavy metal roar of the M134 began its symphony. Du Peng had already calculated the sweeping arc of the Vulcan cannon—a trajectory aimed at a spot some distance from the veterans. His role was fire suppression.
Lin Ling, who had been waiting patiently, finally moved. Her muscles showed no apparent change, but the soft earth beneath her feet suddenly gave way, and she vanished from her half-crouching stance. Her gun fired simultaneously.
The veterans were each responsible for covering a sector to prevent Qin Fen and the others from escaping. The instant they were dodging the stone attack, Lin Ling’s opportunity truly arrived. The veteran guarding her escape zone could no longer rely on merely four-star strength for defense!
Suddenly, five-star, six-star!
With sequential leaps in power level, the veteran’s speed surged astonishingly. The stones were no longer a threat, and even Lin Ling’s shot suddenly seemed to have lost its impact...
The veteran raised his gun, a victorious smile forming on his lips...
Qin Fen, moving at high speed, suddenly slammed to a halt. Completely disregarding the muzzle Satan had aimed at him, he snatched a high-explosive incendiary grenade with the pin pulled in his left hand. His Dragon-Elephant Prajna Power made his arm momentarily thicker than a normal person’s calf. The grenade, swung with tremendous force, shot out—its speed not far behind a bullet!
Before the veteran could fully raise his rifle, his eyes registered a black shadow tearing through the air.
A grenade!?! He was insane! The veteran’s eyes widened until they felt like they would burst. The grenade’s trajectory perfectly blocked the vital areas of Lin Ling. Even if he shot it, he couldn’t kill her! The man who shot would be utterly annihilated by the grenade!
Rumble, rumble, rumble...
Firelight pierced the rainforest straight toward the sky. The veteran managed to escape the grenade’s blast radius instantly, and in that same moment, Lin Ling completely breached the previously unbreakable encirclement.