Counterfeit Hero Chapter 106

Hopkins was startled. There was an expert in the Federation who could enter stealth within a moving distance of 30 meters? No wonder all the Leray commandos left the scene! It seemed that they had deployed a sniper who was someone they thought could defeat him.

Hopkins sneered. Bring it on! A sniper that did not enter the battlefield would remain a rookie regardless of how formidable he was. Others need not be said, but just now when he heard the sounds of footsteps from the eavesdropping equipment, it had revealed the true combat power of this supposed expert.

Fatty concealed himself within the tall grass, doing his best to conceal himself by becoming one with the grass. The simulated camouflage clothing did not have much effect at night, just that it could prevent him from being seen on infrared target lens. The enemy lurking in the dark was truly calm and collected; his action of beating the grass to scare the snake [1] did not lead to him firing. That was his most extreme limit, and if he was slower by a bit, he might not be able to evade from the snipe of the enemy.

The commandos had received the orders to retreat, as it was not necessary for there to be too many people to confront a sniper. Instead, if there were too many people, they might be a hindrance. Fatty was worried for a moment that after the commandos retreated, Hopkins would have long left. However, during that short burst of feeling he had previously, he knew the enemy did not leave and had set him down as his target.

That was a feeling which could not be explained; the danger reached an extreme stage and had even caused the hair on his body to stand with fear!

Such a sense of danger was something every outstanding sniper has to have. Using the black bear instructor's words, regardless of how you all termed it—sixth sense, seventh sense, eighth sense, ninth sense, it was something that one had to train and develop! Even for those idiots who could not develop it, if they were fortunate enough to not die on the battlefield, then it might just appear and save their lives during the most crucial of moments!

Fatty understood that this danger sense was exactly his instincts! That black bear instructor was truly too uncultured!

When he left the cover of the forest, Fatty had clearly felt a pair of eyes closely staring at him! It was akin to a venomous snake flickering out its tongue, cold and dangerous.

Fatty's trembling body had already returned to normal after entering the forest. The rate of his heartbeat had decreased to the degree that a sniper had to have. When the terror disappeared, he was constantly reminding himself of responsibility! Right now in his eyes, there was only the enemy! Once he found him, he would hold him back or kill him!

The vegetation of the hill behind the academy was dense; before the war erupted, the academy was formerly prepared to turn this area into a garden. Several small paths were constructed to a distance of a few kilometers, yet in the end, the project was stopped. The hill was not tall, though it covered a wide expanse of area. There was a small river and several waterfalls, where the water in them was clear and distinct. Beside the river, there were a few flat grasslands that were the favorite places for camping to the cadets in the past.

The academy was to the west of the largest hillside. South of it was Jialipalan's urban district. North of it, though, was a continuous area of mountainous forest. This river had come from the north, flowing down to a lake to the east before meandering through the mountainous forest, falling down a few precipices that became waterfalls before finally encircling the academy and flowing onwards to the south and converging into a huge river eastwards of Jialipalan's urban district.

The enemy was moving northwards from the academy until this point. If he continued escaping even further north, trapping him would be tough.

Fatty lightly used a branch and a stone to make a marking. He had to anger this enemy of his. According to Russell's explanation and his understanding of the situation when he was on his way here, Fatty could probably guess what this sniper was thinking. Maybe he did not have such a rich experience in battling when compared to this assassin who killed till he was numb to killing, but Fatty still felt that he had the advantage in terms of psychological state. Using psychology to snipe the enemy would sometimes be a better solution than using a bullet!

Until now, that sniper who was called Hopkins had not made as a single mistake as a result of his anger; he was too calm and collected and had remained in a distance which he could escape from anytime. Sniping down a few dozen Federation soldiers was done in a completely casual manner for him and was considered just nothing too troublesome.

And for him to anger him, there was only one way—to challenge him in the area he focused on the most, one-shot kill!

Fatty had almost wiggled himself as he retreated backwards, yet the sound from the fracture of a dried branch betrayed his position. Moving even faster than a frightened deer, Fatty had jumped up at the same time a sound was heard, grasping every single road there was in the forest to escape with his life. A soundless and nearly invisible bullet had shot at the area he was previously crawling at.

That fracture sound from the branch had been captured by his eavesdropping equipment. Hopkins had somehow targeted the area Fatty was hiding in at the next moment and pushed down on the trigger. At the moment the bullet tunneled through the grassland, Hopkins could see the signal formed from the stones and branches and his lungs had almost exploded out with anger! The message from the signal was: "F*** your mom, rookie! Stupid Weibo swine!"

If he had several seconds to react, then Hopkins would certainly tell himself to calm down and suppress his anger and that that Leray Federation hybrid was deliberately angering him.

But it was too fast. When the first shot did not hit its target, Fatty's flashing figure appeared on the target lens once again. Hopkins could not control his emotions, and in that moment of anger, he shot for the second time.

The second bullet crossed by Fatty's figure that was changing direction constantly and ended up hitting a big tree. This shot had also revealed the position Hopkins was hiding at!

Sure enough, Hopkins only had the time to lower his head before a bullet shot through the rock in front of him, releasing a crisp sound. Hopkins knew he could not continue to hide in this location. If his position had been ascertained by the enemy, then he could only hide himself in this location and wait for other commandos to come and capture him just like a chicken in the coop.

Helplessly, Hopkins exerted all his strength into his legs and leapt out from the mound of soil before hurriedly turning to the side. Once Fatty's bullet pierced through a hole in the soil ahead of him, he had similarly gained enough speed to evade the attack.

A battle to their death was started in this forest. This was one of the two most terrifying situations a sniper could ever encounter. The first terrifying situation was when the sniper had his position locked down under a veneer of silence. The moment he revealed his head, he would be killed without knowing how he died. And the second was having his location locked down while moving. At this moment, none of them dared to stop, as the moment he stopped, it would spell his death!

The two of them moved quickly while firing at each other. They used all sorts of objects in their surroundings as cover; every single tree and every single rock were used. At this moment, they had no choice of entering stealth since both of them had locked down on each other's positions. Whoever stopped would be dead and whoever had been shot first would be dead too. It did not matter which location was hit, as long as the other party's movement speed was reduced just by a tiny bit, he would certainly be sniped!

Every outstanding sniper was a hunter with the calmest of hearts. They could conceal themselves under a pile of snow in a world of snow and ice and conceal themselves in the grass amidst mosquitoes and bugs. The moment they concealed themselves in any location, they could stay there without moving for days. They could even eat and drink using the slightest of movements. Regardless of whether there was an enemy in front of them or if there was an enemy sensed by them with their instincts, they would force themselves with the strictest of concealment standards!

They were not afraid of concealment! What they were afraid of was precisely this type of moving battle! In an open war, several thousands of bullets would merely be exchanged for a single ordinary soldier's life. More bullets would be wasted in suppressing and inaccurate shots. To a sniper, this was entirely a waste. When they killed someone, only one bullet was required! Thus, their rifle was not one that could spam bullets and was instead a technical sniper rifle that was meant for precision and long-range firing.

Using a rifle with such a slow firing rate in a moving battle was easier said than done!

But accurately shooting a target while moving was still within the training of a sniper, especially so when this was an apex sniper. In between the movements of the figures that occurred irregularly, the bullets would remain biting at each other tightly.

Fatty and Hopkins had already put forth their best efforts. Moving irregularly was truly a tiring affair, and nobody could maintain this state for a long period of time. Modern snipers had a brain that was even more accurate than computers and could use a single glance to determine the moving patterns of their opponent while on the move! If the sniper was located on the right rear of the enemy and there was a large tree to the front left of the enemy, then it would be impossible for him to head to the big tree without dying. Other possibilities would be for him to run while turning back constantly towards the tree to the left. Running in the direction of the sniper was even more impossible, as it was akin to remaining immobile. In the end, the enemy did not have much choices left, and there were even fewer choices he could make in order to ensure unpredictable movement! All he could do was to use the greatest time gap and the most energy consuming speed to change direction to ensure effective dodging.

Thus, these two snipers that were moving in high speed while shooting at each other would first have to ensure they could maintain their target lock on the opponent as they shot at them while maintaining an understanding of their surroundings so that they would not run into their grave; they had to change directions continuously using a movement without patterns to evade the bullets from the enemy.

Hopkins could practically hear the sound of panting from his opponent. He felt some admiration for this Federation sniper for he could maintain this state of high-moving battle with him for such a long period of time, and that was a first for him! Furthermore, he was even so fat!

What did being fat mean? It meant that his physical capabilities would be weaker than his, he would consume more energy, and his willpower and control would not be as good as his! Hopkins could hear the sounds of panting by this fatty. Revealing a grin, he believed this person would still die under his rifle after a few minutes!

Fatty's speed had already started slowing down. Even though it was just slightly reduced, Hopkins could sense it. He could feel Fatty's shooting speed and accuracy was constantly decreasing. In such a confrontation between snipers, fatigue meant death!

However, what made Hopkins feel strange was that even though his opponent's speed started slowing down, the direction of his movements became even more unpredictable, seemingly as if he knew what direction Hopkins would shoot at. Furthermore, there were even a few times when Fatty had creatively made use of the trees and shrubs to cover and hide himself while dodging bullets—there was even one time when Fatty had almost disappeared from his eyes!

"Duo." Another bullet shot down in the grass ahead of Fatty. If not for the fact that Fatty had started slowing down slightly while running, then this bullet could have possibly just tore through his head. Fatty had somehow not been affected by this bullet; he did a left feint and a backwards roll before another bullet flew past his body. Fatty flipped over and squatted before firing with the Garand rifle in his hand without even aiming at his target. Hopkins' speed was truly too fast; the moment Fatty fired, he had long hidden himself behind a tree. Fatty immediately moved to the right, firing at the tree while moving. The bullet penetrated through the tree Hopkins was hiding behind—there was no one there! Fatty's instinct saved him once again as he crouched down and evaded a cold shot that came from Hopkins, who had rolled into the shrubs. "Pa", the tree branch above Fatty was hit.

Fatty continuously rolled to the right before crawling up and running. Bending and arching his back like a big, fat prawn, "duo!" "duo!", this was the sound of incoming bullets hitting the tree beside him. Hopkins had gained the advantage and Fatty was unable to fire in this state. Finally, a small slope allowed Fatty to overturn his disadvantaged state. Just like a fierce tiger leaping onto his prey, he leapt behind the slope. Hopkins was confused. The bullet shot out from his J-2011 had been done prematurely. Fatty's movement of leaping onto his prey suddenly stopped unnaturally, but he finally had the chance to start firing. Casually, that shot of his prevented Hopkins from maintaining the posture of aiming at Fatty, forcing him to roll to the side as a result of the shot by Fatty. The two of them entered a stalemate once again.

In the forest, the two figures continued to rapidly move. The wood shavings flying around after tree branches were shot were akin to leaves being hit by hail; they flew in all directions. They were continuously dodging, firing, running, and changing direction before firing again. Just like tigers that were catching each other, they would appear and disappear amidst the grassland before the trees and into the shrubs!

Hopkins discovered that this Fatty had already become muddle-headed. During their mutual fire, the direction which they were heading to wasn't the southern direction the commandos had retreated from and it wasn't the western direction which he could be easily surrounded. Instead, they were heading towards the east where there was a lake. Before reaching that lake, there was a precipice which, despite not being that high, was enough for this muddle-headed Fatty to send his life away!

If he did not jump, he would be shot to death in front of the precipice that did not have any area of concealment. If he jumped, he would be sending himself off the moment he landed.

Hopkins had merely listened to the panting sounds coming from Fatty, which were becoming louder and louder. It seemed that this was the reason for that sluggish movement of his and the lack of precision in threatening his life once only every few shots. The grin of a victor revealed on Hopkins' face. He became calmer and calmer. It seemed that this Fatty could not hold on any longer. One minute later, he would kill off this opponent who he enjoyed playing with before leaving. There was still plenty of time for him!

Fatty was trying his best to continue shooting at Hopkins to prevent him from calmly killing him off. However, his movement had gradually fallen under the control of Hopkins as he currently moved step by step towards the precipice.

Finally, he was forced on this road of death! Fatty did not give Hopkins the opportunity of killing him on the precipice. Instead, he jumped down without hesitation! Hopkins laughed. He used his fastest speed to rush over. With such a high precipice, even if that fatty did not die, he would not land without any injuries. All he needed to do was to stand on top of the precipice and use a bullet to send him off on his journey!

Hopkins' speed was truly fast. That joy of victory caused him to explode out with his final strength as he rushed like a bolt of lightning towards the precipice. The J-2011 in his hand was already propped, and in his eavesdrop equipment, the sound of Fatty landing could be heard!

Fatty's speed was even faster! In his heart, he was laughing. Damn, I've finally lured you over to this location. Let's see how I'll handle you!

This wretched person immediately jumped into the open cabin of [Logic]. At the moment the cabin doors closed, he saw that pale face of Hopkins right through the viewing windows—that startled and indignant face!

[1] Sudden action to frighten the other party.

Chapter end