Chapter 16: Life and Death

This was the first time Qiao Jia had faced such a tense situation. For an ordinary person, a scene with bullets flying everywhere would be terrifying, but strangely enough, Qiao Jia felt a sense of comfort in it. 

As the fear gradually subsided and Qiao Jia completed his first kill, locking onto the area around the vehicle through his scope, he felt an odd sensation—as if everything within the crosshairs was under his control.

Qiao Jia had never arrogantly considered himself a sharpshooter; in fact, he always felt he could do better. But when the real combat began, when he looked at the outside world through the scope, he couldn't shake the feeling that he could dominate everything.

The sniper was hiding in a clever spot. No matter how Qiao Jia shifted left or right, he couldn't see him because the area of the hillside was too small, and moving recklessly could lead to a counterattack. This forced Qiao Jia to remain patient, but the survivors from the first car that was stopped weren't so lucky.

Three men, each holding AR rifles, were charging toward Qiao Jia's position while firing blindly. 

Firing blindly into the dark had little effect, and Qiao Jia could tell by the sound of the bullets whizzing by that they were far off target. Lying flat on the ground, he was completely out of their line of fire.

Qiao Jia decided to abandon his focus on the sniper near the vehicle and instead aimed at the gunmen advancing toward him.

Instinctively, he lined up the crosshairs on one man's head and decisively pulled the trigger.

With a sharp crack, one of the gunmen collapsed to the ground mid-run. 

The remaining two gunmen were startled, and just as they were about to dive for cover, another bullet found its mark in one of their heads.

"Sniper!"

As the man's skull was blown open, the last gunman let out a terrified scream, rolling and crawling toward the vehicle for cover. But as he neared the car, a bullet hit him in the head.

The 5.56 full-power rifle round entered through the gunman's cheekbone, and his face looked as though it had been struck by a sledgehammer. The cheekbone caved in, and the back of his head was blown out, leaving a hole the size of a fist.

Through his scope, Qiao Jia saw the sniper, who had been preparing to counterattack, give up his assault. The sniper reached out as if to pull the dead man to safety, but realizing he was already dead, the sniper abandoned the idea and crouched behind the rear wheel of the vehicle.

Qiao Jia had no idea what the sniper was thinking, but at that moment, he definitely didn't want to leave his position. He just hoped that Kaman would act quickly—even firing a few shots to flush the sniper out—so he could take the shot.

Thoughts of blood, death, killing, or fear didn't even cross Qiao Jia's mind. He knew that it was either the enemy or himself—there was no room for hesitation.

The African night wasn't completely dark. Thanks to the untouched environment and lack of industrial pollution, the African night sky was incredibly beautiful. Under the starlight, the savannah appeared dim and patchy, but it was just bright enough to make out some shapes.

After waiting quietly for five minutes, Qiao Jia began to worry about Kaman's whereabouts. When he noticed another set of vehicle lights in the distance, he couldn't stay still any longer.

He wasn't a professional sniper, not even a professional soldier. He had never been good at the patience game.

Without professional guidance, Qiao Jia's self-devised training made him overly aggressive in the face of danger because all he knew was shooting. Sitting still made him anxious.

The distant convoy suddenly stopped where the first vehicle had flipped over. After some of the men got out to investigate, about a dozen of them hurriedly ran towards the sniper's location.

Qiao Jia could hear the static crackle of a radio over the corpses lying on the savannah, and he immediately understood that his previous suspicion wasn't just a case of nerves—someone had indeed planned to ambush him on the road.

Judging by the direction these vehicles were traveling, it was clear they were coming from the opposite direction, likely in a search-and-destroy operation.

Thanks to Kaman's help, they had avoided the ambush, but they had ultimately run into the search convoy coming from Wau.

Qiao Jia had no idea what had earned him their enmity, but he knew that if Kaman didn't make a move soon, he'd have to retreat.

Through his scope, Qiao Jia saw that among the newly arrived gunmen, one carried an RPG, while two others lugged heavy machine guns.

These men moved with remarkable speed, ducking and weaving through the tall grass, stopping every few steps in a rhythm that seemed almost deliberate.

Qiao Jia immediately knew these were professionals. If the sniper pointed out his location, with machine-gun suppression followed by a couple of RPGs, his life might be forfeit.

Half a minute later, Qiao Jia was convinced his "premonition" was right.

As the group neared the 400-meter mark, their machine gunners began laying down suppressing fire, making it impossible for Qiao Jia to lift his head. This was immediately followed by an RPG round that struck the upper part of the hill, giving Qiao Jia, who had never faced such a situation before, quite a scare.

As the gunfire eased up, and just as Qiao Jia instinctively raised his rifle to return fire before retreating, he caught a glimpse of Kaman in his peripheral vision, moving like a ghost toward the rear of the vehicle. With a swift slash of his hunting knife, Kaman decapitated the sniper who had been searching for Qiao Jia.

After making his kill, the old African quickly retrieved the night vision gear and backpack from the sniper's body, slung the sniper rifle over his shoulder, and with a strange motion that seemed almost like gliding across the ground, disappeared into the nearby grass.

Qiao Jia watched Kaman's direction, glanced at the gunmen closing in on him, and decisively shot down one of their machine gunners. He then retreated a few meters under the cover of the hill, finally leaping up and sprinting towards Kaman.

When they met up, Qiao Jia saw that Kaman was holding a monocular night vision device.

Seeing him clumsily trying to use it, Qiao Jia guessed that the old man wasn't very familiar with such equipment.

He quickly helped Kaman adjust the head strap of the night vision device, then whispered, "We need to find a place to hide. Do you have any good suggestions?"

Kaman led Qiao Jia, using the hill as cover, and they sprinted for several hundred meters before stopping at a patch of bushes.

As soon as they reached the bushes, Kaman gestured for Qiao Jia to stay still. He carefully hung the backpack he had taken from the sniper on one of the bushes, then used a transparent fishing line to tie the backpack to a branch below.

He then pulled Qiao Jia along, carefully skirting the bushes for over fifty meters before circling around a large tree and breaking into a full sprint across the savannah.

Qiao Jia was in decent shape, but compared to Kaman, he was falling far behind.

After running for twenty minutes, having neither paced himself properly nor adapted to the savannah's terrain, Qiao Jia was starting to tire.

Kaman, being an experienced veteran, knew they couldn't keep going.

As Kaman paused to scout their surroundings, Qiao Jia, gasping for breath, asked, "Why did you leave that backpack behind? If they decide to pursue us, the backpack will point them in our direction."