Chapter 320: Adrenaline will make the choice for you

The bird was startled by the gunshot, flapping its wings and flying away.

Staring dumbfounded at the smoking barrel, the man felt a ringing in his ears.

He saw the man called Kui Ge moving his lips, but couldn't hear what he was saying at all.

Only when Kui Ge's little companion pulled out a pistol and ran toward the distance did he understand.

What Kui Ge had said earlier was no joke, nor was it meant to intimidate this newcomer; someone really was tailing them.

"Hit."

The little guy went to that patch of grass to check, then waved at them.

The man glanced at the monkey beside him, then followed Kui Ge over there.

Parting the dense weeds, a few drops of fresh blood remained on the leaves, proving the earlier bullet had hit someone.

Kui Ge looked around, saw a sapling in the distance sway slightly, and snorted: "You're running pretty fast, huh?"

"Want to chase?"

"No need, just scare them off."

Kui Ge aimed again at that man, while the little guy pressed his pistol to the man's chin, snarling: "Betraying us?"

The man panicked, explaining: "I didn't, I really didn't, I didn't know anyone was following behind, I, I truly didn't know!"

The monkey hurried to interject: "It's not Lao Sun's fault; at the time, the People's Armed Forces Department was who he took me to, the two soldiers at the gate were the ones he knocked down, the gun and ammo were also taken by him—he had no reason to betray us!"

"Exactly, please believe me—I'm with you to make money; if I go back I'm dead, how could I deliberately bring someone along?!"

Lao Sun knelt on the ground begging for mercy; Kui Ge naturally knew he wasn't lying, and had the little guy put his gun away.

"Lao Sun, huh? From now on stay alert—working this line, you gotta be careful about everything."

"Thanks, thanks, Kui Ge, thanks, Kui Ge."

"From now on we're family—share blessings, share hardships. Let's go; this place isn't good to linger."

Kui Ge led the three away quickly, while Lao Sun, still uneasy, glanced back at the bloodstains left on the grass.

All along he hadn't noticed a thing, nor did he know when that guy started tailing them, or whether he'd given away their position.

"Kui Ge is amazing—I, with military training, couldn't even spot someone following behind, yet you saw it at a glance."

"With your half-baked skills, you're not even worthy to be mentioned alongside Kui Ge."

The monkey seemed eager to make up for their earlier mistake with a couple of flattering words, hurriedly laying on the praise.

"Kui Ge once served as a soldier in Yue Nan, and was even the most dangerous scout!"

"Later he also went to Old Nest and Gold Mountain Corner to stir things up, before eventually falling in with Hao Ge."

"You only worked a few years as an arms keeper, fired a few rounds, got some basic military training—but Kui Ge truly licked blood on the battlefield, rolling out of piles of corpses!"

Lao Sun was greatly shocked—no wonder seeing that man gave him an intense sense of familiar danger; turns out he'd been a reconnaissance specialist in Yue Nan.

Places like Old Nest and Gold Mountain Corner constantly erupt in armed clashes—definitely not somewhere ordinary people can just go adventuring.

"This Kui Ge is definitely a tough character, which only makes me more curious about what kind of person the leader, Hao Ge, really is."

"Back when the monkey found him, he just asked if he wanted to make a fortune, without giving much detail."

"Still, Lao Sun held his patience, waiting until he returned to the Yangcheng General Association to meet."

The monkey curiously asked: "Kui Ge, who's the guy tailing us—could it be the police?"

"Probably not." Kui Ge said without turning: "Police don't have that kind of skill; likely it's a soldier."

Lao Sun's face darkened—though he knew this would cause a stir and surely draw military pursuit.

But back then, out of blind confidence and a single-minded desire to get rich, he hadn't thought about any of that.

Now he knows a soldier has been tailing them all this way, and deep down he still feels uneasy.

Lao Sun now suspects it's likely because when he earlier killed that old man, the gunfire drew the attention of nearby searching troops, causing them to tail him all along.

But this also fills him with a hint of fear—what if he can't escape, or gets surrounded and suppressed, what then?

The monkey shares the same worry now: "Kui Ge, will our movements be exposed?"

Kui Ge said coldly: "If that guy earlier had a gun or accomplices, he couldn't have just run off; if they were going to encircle, they'd have done it already—how could they let us run?"

"Don't worry—before coming we'd already scouted the surroundings. At most the police know you're hiding in the mountains, but not your exact spot."

"Now we're heading exactly opposite their search area—once we lose the tail, we......"

Before he finished speaking, Kui Ge suddenly stopped, scanning back with eagle-eyed sharpness.

Seeing this, Lao Sun immediately grew tense, asking what was wrong.

"Nothing."

"My shoelace came loose."

Kui Ge squatted to tie his shoelace, then stood and continued leading everyone forward.

Behind them, in a sunken pit of earth.

Lu Yang's back pressed against the slope, his chest rising and falling heavily.

His back was soaked with cold sweat; the enemy's anti-reconnaissance awareness far exceeded his imagination.

This was Lu Yang's first encounter with such a dangerous opponent—at this distance, he could still sense his presence?

Originally, Lu Yang merely suspected the guy might have had military training, but now he could be absolutely certain that the man called Kui Ge, with his protruding mouth, had served a long time.

Combining Kui Ge's and the skinny guy's accents when they spoke earlier, it's basically clear they're Southeast Asian, though exactly which country is uncertain.

But he definitely had been on the battlefield, killed people, and not just one; Lu Yang even suspected this guy might be some kind of mercenary.

"Hiss......"

Lu Yang pressed one hand against the outside of his shoulder.

Blood seeped through his fingers, making his hand sticky.

Earlier, if he'd reacted quickly enough, he could have taken a dodging step in advance.

Otherwise it wouldn't be a chunk of flesh scraped off his shoulder, but his neck pierced by a bullet.

He pulled out his phone, glanced at it; the battery was low, and there was still no signal at all.

There are no more than three possibilities; if he kept following, only two routes would be left before him.

Continuing to follow could likely get him discovered and then blown apart by random gunfire.

Leaving immediately would surely let him survive, but those four people would probably escape capture.

To follow or not to follow, that was a hard choice.

Everyone fears death, and Lu Yang is no exception.

After much hard work he finally became Platoon Leader, a pride to his parents, a role model in his comrades' eyes, and the hope of the Company Commander and Regiment Commander...

Honestly, even if Lu Yang left now, there would be no trouble when he returned, and he might even be commended by the battalion.

But a soldier's mission and duty do not allow him to crawl for survival.

If those few guys were let loose, who knows how many innocents would suffer.

He barely hesitated; the surging adrenaline had already made the choice for him.

Yet this time, Lu Yang was even more cautious than before, keeping a greater distance and leaving himself enough safe space to flee.

"Split up."

"Huh?"

"You two, go left; we go right, and meet at that spot ahead."

"Kui Ge, why is this?"

Kui Ge gave Shou Zi a cold glance, signaling him to shut up.

Lao Sun grabbed Shou Zi and hurried left, lowering his voice: "The tail is still following; Kui Ge wants to eliminate that guy and erase any future trouble..."