Chapter 1152: Old Four, Fall Back!

No matter what, finish the mission first. Xia Qing peered through her night-vision goggles at sheets of mutated forest in the dark, clawing at the air like beasts.

Two minutes after the three scout wanderers passed, Zhu Zhenming spoke up. "The three just appeared at a spot four hundred meters to the left—suspected human invaders. Neither infrared nor low-light goggles can capture a clear image; they must be wearing new-material protective suits. Can you see them, Sister Qing?"

These two appeared outside Xie Yun's team's search range.

"I'll try." Xia Qing raised her hand and pressed a button on her protective mask, retracting the night-vision lenses. After observing carefully for half a minute, she reported, "Twelve o'clock, 2,050 meters, under that big tree—two humans. Their protective gear is completely different from the previous three's, and they're carrying submachine guns. Judging by their movements, one is an olfactory evo, the other an auditory evo."

The mountain fog blocked her view, so Xia Qing could no longer pick out further details with the naked eye.

"Still scouts. Everyone stay hidden in place. Sun Si, keep eyes on the first three. Zhao Quan, keep eyes on the two who just came over."

Xie Yun lowered her voice to report, "Captain, another evolved wolf has appeared. Looks like they're following the invaders from a distance."

Before Zhu Zhenming could speak, Tang Zhou offered a suggestion. "Brother Zhu, based on the confession of the wanderer we captured last time—the wolf packs here have a grudge against the wanderers, so we can confirm they're not in league with this batch of invaders. I suggest we don't interfere with the wolves' movements."

Zhu Zhenming had worked with Tang Zhou many times and knew he never spoke without confidence, so he agreed. "Alright, we won't interfere with the wolves for now."

"Understood." Tang Zhou answered with great confidence. His confidence didn't come from the wanderer's confession, nor from trust in the wolves—it came from Xia Qing. The reason he'd made the suggestion in the first place was that Xia Qing had just sent him a message.

When it came to understanding the wolf packs, not even the twelve people here could compare to Xia Qing, let alone that big shot from Territory Seven. When dealing with the wolves, listening to Xia Qing was never wrong.

Soon Zhu Zhenming's voice rang out again. "On the slope ahead and to the left of that big tree where the two people just appeared, six meters up—something moved. Suspected sniper. Eclipse Moon."

"Copy. Target area locked." Eclipse Moon replied calmly.

The distance from Eclipse Moon's hiding spot to the slope was about 1,800 meters—within range of a top-tier sniper, but outside the naked-eye range of Zhu Zhenming, a level-six visual evo observer. Still, Xia Qing didn't doubt Zhu Zhenming's intel; the military special-ops team must have special means or training methods to extend an observer's vision.

Once the number of invaders reached ten and no new ones appeared within three minutes, Zhu Zhenming assigned targets and gave the order: "One, two, three—attack!"

"Bang bang bang—"

Gunfire rang out from sniper points one and two, aimed at the two snipers already spotted. Tang Zhou led the rest of the team in a straight charge at the other invaders.

"Rat-a-tat-tat—"

"Bang!"

"Boom!"

The sounds of sniper rifles, submachine guns, grenades, and combat rose up. Birds flew in panicked flocks through the mutated forest, wild beasts shrieked—utter chaos.

Soon Zhu Zhenming reported the situation. "Enemy sniper down, one. Tamed bird down, one."

The fighting on Tang Zhou's side was still raging fiercely. Xia Qing lay calmly in her sniper nest, vision fully open, watching the area beyond two thousand meters ahead.

There! A red dot lit up on the cliff face 2,150 meters away! Just as she'd thought—a top-tier sniper was lying in wait!

Before the sound of the shot reached her ears, Xia Qing had already pulled the trigger four times, launching her first attack.

"Bang bang bang bang!"

After firing, Xia Qing immediately rolled over, using the cover of rocks and trees to crawl quickly forward twelve meters to her second sniper point, then attacked again at the spot where the top-tier sniper was most likely hiding.

"Bang!"

The moment she fired a round, the opponent's bullet struck the very rock Xia Qing was hiding behind with a deafening impact!

Zhu Zhenming warned, "The opponent is a top-tier sniper! Sister Qing, be careful."

"Leave the top-tier one to me. The rest of you, keep fighting." Xia Qing grabbed the dummy she'd bundled together with tree branches beside her and threw it to the left to distract the opponent's line of sight, then attacked again.

Still didn't hit the target.

Perfectly normal—the opponent was a top-tier sniper with even more experience than her, and his sniper position was better than hers, giving him the terrain advantage. But Xia Qing wasn't flustered in the slightest. Her goal wasn't to kill him but to pin him down, to stop this top-tier sniper from providing fire support to the invader squad.

Xia Qing calmly withdrew to her third sniper point. Before she could even set up her rifle and fire, she clearly heard the bullet strike and crack the rock in front of her—it wasn't thick enough.

Based on the direction that bullet came from, she could confirm the top-tier sniper was a speed evo!

Zhu Zhenming calmly ordered, "Fourth sniper spotted. Sun Si's been hit. Sister Qing, be careful. Your opponent is very likely Phantom, Hui Five's top-tier sniper—he's a level-six speed evo!"

"Copy. I'll take out the sniper on the left first."

Sun Si was hit. Of their own snipers, only Xia Qing and Eclipse Moon remained; the enemy still had three. The more critical the moment, the calmer Xia Qing got. She paused for three seconds, then suddenly burst out of cover and sprinted left.

The two enemy snipers aiming at Xia Qing, seeing her suddenly appear, thought it was another dummy and swung their barrels to the right, waiting for her to show up there.

But… this one wasn't a dummy!

Xia Qing's entire body was exposed to their gunsights. She quickly pulled the trigger, then flipped her body behind a massive boulder for cover.

Watching an enemy sniper tumble from the big tree, Zhu Zhenming announced, "Second enemy sniper down. They have two snipers left. Eclipse Moon, take the right one. Xia Qing, Phantom."

Zhao Quan from Tang Zhou's squad spoke up. "Phantom killed sixteen of our brothers before. Sister Qing, take him out!"

Observer Xie Yun reported, "Captain, the two evolved wolves are on the move. Their direction is toward Phantom, the one fighting Sister Qing."

Phantom's sniper position was excellent—one turn and he could take out the evolved wolves crawling forward!

Among the wolves advancing—was Old Four among them? Xia Qing immediately changed tactics and shouted at the top of her lungs, "Old Four, fall back! Quick!!!"

Two thousand five hundred meters away, one of the evolved wolves crawling forward paused for two seconds, then quickly retreated.

Xia Qing's teammates, hearing that shout, all had the same question pop into their heads at once.

Tan Yun reported, "The two evolved wolves have retreated."

Now the question was answered—the "Old Four" in Xia Qing's mouth was an evolved wolf!

That shout not only drove back the evolved wolves, it also exposed Xia Qing's last sniper point. She was surely locked in Phantom's gunsights now—the moment she showed her head, she'd be hit.

Switch positions? To return to the previous sniper point, she'd have to expose herself and run over, just like before. In other words, their top-tier sniper had lost her combat effectiveness!

After Phantom sealed off Xia Qing, the enemy's other sniper continued his duel with Eclipse Moon. The three invaders who had already retreated began advancing under Phantom's covering fire. Their own team members didn't dare show their heads—this mission could be judged a failure.

Just as Captain Zhu Zhenming was about to issue the retreat order, Xia Qing spoke up.