7 Chapter 7: Danger Everywhere

Three Empire soldiers pursued for a while, before decisively losing track.

The one who got hit by the stone earlier was fairly disgruntled.

In his view, the enemy who had killed his comrade was clearly provoking him.

Didn't this make him seem like a pushover?

So, when the other two suggested to go back and inform the others to conduct a comprehensive sweep of the area, this Empire soldier, filled with rage, raised his objection:

"No way. If we retreat now, that guy might have run off somewhere else by the time we return."

"While this guy might still be around, we should get going, split up, and search. If we get him, that'll be a significant accomplishment."

The other two Empire soldiers, upon hearing this, were indeed somewhat swayed.

Not just because the reasoning was sound.

As newly recruited soldiers of the Empire, which one of them didn't dream of making a significant contribution to their nation and returning home with high honors?

In the end, they decided to split up and search, adopting a triangular formation.

What they didn't know was that within the forest, a figure, upon witnessing this scene, let out a sigh of relief.

Shen Congfei lured the three of them over here, firstly, to put distance between himself and the enemy's main forces, and secondly, to defeat them separately.

If the three of them didn't choose to split up, he might have had to worry a bit.

Consider taking one or two down first with a gunshot.

However, without any hunting skills at present, Shen Congfei was somewhat worried about his marksmanship.

Now things are looking up; these three fools are coming up one by one.

When the time comes, if it's like playing "gourd baby saves his grandpa", they can't blame him for being ruthless.

Thinking of this, he slowly lowered his head, looking at an Empire soldier who had arrived under the tree.

Shen Congfei hid behind the tree leaves about two or three meters off the ground, his hunting knife gleaming in his hand, before taking a deep breath and jumping down.

The Empire soldier, hearing the sound from above, only managed to turn his head and look up when a figure dropped down, and he was immediately knocked to the ground.

He only felt something heavy pressing on him, and by the time he opened his eyes again, a chill ran towards him.

However, to Shen Congfei's surprise, this Empire soldier threw his gun away and grabbed Shen's knife-wielding hand with one hand, while using the other to block Shen's arm and prevent Shen from putting more force into it.

Even though the situation had turned into this, Shen Congfei was not willing to give up.

Continuing to push the knife downwards with his right hand, and slapping the end of the knife handle with his left, he used both hands to force the tip of the knife ever closer to the other's eyes.

The Empire soldier, pinned to the ground and watching the tip of the knife inching closer and closer to his eye, gritted his teeth, resisting with all his might, then opened his mouth and yelled:

"Come quick, he's here!"

Upon hearing the yell, Shen Congfei's heart skipped a beat, and the Empire soldier seized this opportunity, putting force to the side.

With this added leverage, the hunting knife deviated from its trajectory, leaving only a gash on his face.

The Empire soldier cried out in pain and, raising his hand, landed a punch on Shen Congfei.

Although Shen Congfei had gained the Hunter Profession, his physique was still that of a twig, and the punch knocked him flat on his back.

The Empire soldier, seeing the enemy who'd pinned him down now lying flat, wasted no time in reaching for his automatic rifle lying beside him. He was about to aim and fire when a sickening grinning...moments before, was suddenly frozen on his face.

"Bang!"

Shen Congfei, lying on the ground, was holding up a pistol, its faint, invisible smoke slowly dissipating.

He sat up, wagging his tongue.

Fortunately, before nearly blacking out with the Empire soldier's punch earlier, he bit his tongue hard to forcefully wake himself up.

As for the pistol, it was pretty much always ready to fire without the safety on, in fear of such emergencies and a lack of time to react.

It seemed he did have some self-awareness after all.

Shen Congfei got up from the ground, nursing his face, that punch landed with quite a bit of strength.

Just when he was about to walk away, his feet were still a bit sore; it seemed jumping down from such a high tree did take a toll on his body after all.

Sigh, his physique really lacked training.

Next time, better choose a Profession related to strength.

Limping away, Shen Congfei approached the body of the Empire soldier.

The bullet hole in his forehead was clear as daylight.

"Beep, precisely killed an Empire paratrooper, earned 100 reputation."

"Current World Reputation Level upgraded to Level 2, the probability of triggering events has slightly increased."

Upon hearing the system prompt, before he had a chance to celebrate a bit and was about to loot the spoils of war, the sound of a gunshot rang out.

"Bang!"

Shen Congfei, startled, quickly ducked his head and squatted down, looking at the bullet mark scraped off from the side of a tree, his heart pounding with fear.

That was close.

But while he was feeling relieved, the Empire soldier who had fired the shot from the other side was cursing in the dark.

If it wasn't in the forest, how could the shot have gone astray?

After all, he was a new recruit named Wayne who was rushed through a thousand-hour crash training camp by the Empire.

His mind filled with pride for the Empire, this soldier lifted his gun and rushed over.

However, when he arrived on the scene, there was only a comrade's corpse on the ground. The enemy had disappeared.

"Damn it!"

The Empire soldier cursed, squatting down to check his comrade's body.

At that moment, he heard a sound.

It sounded like...the clicking of a trigger.

Just as the idea popped into his head, a gunshot spot appeared on the Empire soldier's chest.

Shen Congfei walked out from behind the tree, he hadn't left earlier, but hidden behind the tree. He was ready to activate his ability before coming out to fire.

"Hmm, is this the effect of hunting? A 20% bonus to accuracy."

Murmuring to himself, he squatted down to look at the two fallen bodies.

However, just at that moment, Shen Congfei quickly lay flat on the ground, his Hunter skill catching the presence of the third man.

In his black-and-white vision, a luminescent human shape was holding a gun, taking cover behind a tree, the muzzle aimed directly at him.

"Bang!"

A spray of blood spattered from the body in front of him.

Shen Congfei lied behind the bodies, not daring to move.

This guy was rather clever, knowing to hide behind the tree and attempt a sneak attack.

He started thinking about his next move. Undoubtedly, he couldn't delay any longer.

The sound of the initial gunfire must have attracted the enemy's main forces in this direction by now.

He must figure out a way to escape, but first, he had to take care of that guy. If this guy is allowed to keep on tailing him, his hideout might be exposed.

With that in mind, Shen Congfei didn't hesitate to prop up his automatic rifle while lying behind the bodies.

Under the Hunter vision, he sought out the enemy's weak spots.

Found it.

"Bang!"

"Ahh!"

The Empire soldier fell from behind the tree, his foot had just been shot through.

"Bang!"

Then another gunshot followed, the Empire soldier whined on the ground.

Shen Congfei quickly ran over and saw that the enemy wasn't dead yet, he was struggling on the ground.

The bullet had penetrated his lung, which was why he was incessantly coughing up blood.

"Cough… No, no, don't kill me."

Upon hearing his words, Shen Congfei shook his head:

"Sorry, I don't understand the Empire's language."

"Bang!"

...

After cleaning up the battlefield, Shen Congfei's Hunter skill sensed several targets approaching, and he quickly left the scene.

Not much later, he heard the roar of the Empire echo through the forest behind him.