Chapter 037: A Good Thing

Three or four seconds later, the forest returned to silence.

The six opponents held their rifles, scanning their surroundings with vigilance, yet they could find no suspicious targets.

"What now?" one of them asked in Burmese.

As the words fell, a man signaled for the group to retreat.

But just then—*bang!*

A bullet pierced through a broad, emerald-green leaf and slammed into the back of a man’s heart just three or four meters away.

The man swayed before freezing in place. He looked at his comrade not far ahead, his mouth opening, yet no sound escaped. The light in his eyes faded rapidly, and his body collapsed heavily onto the ground.

Another man lost from their eight-man squad. In less than two minutes, they had already lost three, yet they had not even pinpointed which tree their opponent was hiding behind.

Clearly, the opponent was formidable.

Fear began to show on the faces of the five remaining men.

"Split up and run!" someone suddenly shouted.

With that, the man bolted from behind his tree. Instead of continuing south along the ridge, he headed straight for the eastern slope. The forest on the slope was dense with shrubs and vines, offering heavy cover and a change in elevation, making it much easier to escape there than along the open ridge.

Seeing him head that way, the other four abandoned all pretense of coordination and scrambled after him toward the eastern slope.

At that moment, gunfire erupted again—two shots in quick succession.

One man fell, twitched twice, and went still.

The terror in the hearts of the remaining four intensified. As one man turned back and swept his rifle in a blind spray of fire, Zhong Yuan was forced to hunker down and retreat behind a tree.

This delay allowed three of them to reach the slope.

The remaining man emptied his magazine, didn't bother to reload, and turned to sprint after the others.

Zhong Yuan immediately gave chase.

The slope was steep; no sooner had they descended than a few of them tripped and tumbled.

Seeing this, Zhong Yuan grabbed his rifle and unleashed a burst of fire. The bullets kicked up a spray of leaves and dust. Two men shuddered, slid a bit further, and stopped moving.

The final two were lucky; they scrambled and crawled beneath a dense thicket of vines and vanished.

Zhong Yuan did not rush to follow. He used the cover of a nearby tree to reload his rifle. Then, he lunged out from the other side. As he hit the slope, he slid downward, his back hitting the ground just as he fired his rifle into the tangled mass of vines.

After several shots, there was no response from within.

Zhong Yuan frowned. He rolled behind a rock and switched to his pistol.

Just then, a rustling sound echoed.

Zhong Yuan poked his head out from behind the rock and saw two figures crawling out from behind the vines, continuing their sprint down the slope.

Seeing this, Zhong Yuan pursued without hesitation.

The man lagging behind looked back, spotted Zhong Yuan in pursuit, and abruptly stopped to open fire. Bullets sprayed wildly as if they were worthless. Amidst the flickering muzzle flashes, Zhong Yuan did not stop; instead, he picked up his pace.

Two seconds later, the man’s magazine ran dry. He hesitated for a moment, then turned to run. Zhong Yuan, having closed at least half the distance, would not let such an opportunity slip.

He raised his hand and fired a single shot.

The pistol kicked, and the bullet tore through the dense, tangled forest, striking the man precisely in the head.

The man’s legs kept moving for a moment, but then his knees buckled, and he collapsed.

Now, only one remained.

Zhong Yuan’s pistol had only one bullet left. He holstered the handgun and switched back to his rifle.

The last man was running fast. He did not look back, only burying his head and sprinting down the slope. If he had kept running like that, Zhong Yuan might not have caught him. But sometimes, fate lends a hand—as it did now.

As Zhong Yuan pursued, he suddenly heard a scream from ahead! The figure, previously visible in the distance, vanished instantly.

Then came intermittent, muffled moans.

Zhong Yuan slowed his pace. Alert and with his rifle raised, he approached cautiously.

Pushing aside a cluster of waist-high shrubs, Zhong Yuan felt his heart skip a beat. Less than a meter in front of him was a precipice. The muffled moans were clearer now.

He leaned over to look. The cliff was not high, perhaps ten meters at most, with jagged boulders at the bottom. The man lay face down between two large rocks, unable to move, his groans growing weak.

Zhong Yuan scanned the surroundings.

Deep, ancient forest stretched in every direction. The bottom of the cliff was a small valley, completely isolated.

Since that was the case, he could save a few bullets.

However, Zhong Yuan waited by the edge. Half an hour later, the man’s moans were faint and intermittent; clearly, his life was fading.

Zhong Yuan picked up a stone and tossed it down to test the situation. Confident that there was no trap, he began to climb back up.

It had taken minutes to descend, but nearly twenty to climb back up. Along the way, he scavenged the bodies, finding one of the pistols he had seen earlier and a dozen rounds of ammunition.

As for the other pistol, he couldn't find it; it must have been with the man at the bottom of the cliff.

The cliff wasn't high, but getting down was difficult and time-consuming. Zhong Da and the others should be nearing the reservoir by now. If he hurried, he could meet up with them tonight.

Zhong Yuan wasn't worried about Zhong Da and Xiao Hua’s safety, but they were escorting three civilians. If something went wrong, it would be difficult for the two of them to protect everyone. Even worse, if the civilians didn't cooperate, they might become a burden.

For safety's sake, it was better to regroup as soon as possible. As for pistol ammunition, there would be opportunities later.

Moreover, the pistol he had scavenged had a nearly full magazine, and with the ten or so loose rounds, he had two full magazines.

The rifle would be hard to carry out of the mountains, but he could keep it for now. He had scavenged enough ammo to last a few more skirmishes.

With these in hand, he could handle any situation that might arise.

After packing his gear, Zhong Yuan didn't head south immediately. Instead, he crossed the ridge, descended toward the west for ten minutes, and then trekked north for a while. Along the way, he deliberately left traces—not too obvious, but hard to ignore. If anyone pursued, these marks would be enough to lead them astray.

Whether or not they eventually found his true path, the time they wasted on these false trails would be enough for him to get Zhong Da and the others safely into hiding.

Once there, they would simply wait for the embassy personnel to arrive, and their mission would be accomplished.