Book 2 Chapter 2.2 - Profit
Li's mouth opened. The cigarette that was only half smoked slowly fell, bouncing on her voluptuous chest before falling reluctantly onto the ground. However, Li who was addicted to smoking didn't seem to realize what had happened. She only stared at the figure that gradually closed in without saying anything.
Li Gaolei continuously rubbed his chin that was full of stubble. Using a voice only he could hear, he muttered, "I knew that it was definitely this fellow. Only someone like him would use a sniper rifle to such a freakish level…"
"Hand over a smoke!" Li suddenly reached out her hand towards Li Gaolei, her eyes still focused on Su's figure that gradually closed in.
Li Gaolei silently placed a cigarette into Li's palm. Without even giving it a look, just from what she felt from her palms, she threw the cigarette back at Li Gaolei and said fiercely, "Don't try to fool me with those cheap things! Hand over your secret stash!"
"From today on, there's only this." Li Gaolei spoke in a rather meaningful and tired manner. He then handed the cigarette back to Li.
Li was suddenly startled. This was the first time she heard Li Gaolei speak to her in such a manner, and this was the first time he clearly had good tobacco on him yet handed the inferior items to her. She wanted to flip out in anger, but she suddenly realized that she didn't really have any reason to be angry. Why did Li Gaolei have to give her the good stuff? Thinking back, Li already took it for granted.
"You…" Li's eyes finally withdrew her eyes from Su's body and looked at Li Gaolei, not knowing what to say.
"Come on, don't look at me like that." Li Gaolei rubbed his bearded chin forcefully, and his smile was somewhat ambiguous as he said, "Look, either way, the one that can give you money and tobacco in the future has come, so I have to leave the good tobacco for myself from today on. I can't always suffer such losses!"
Li's sharp eyebrows stood up straight, and she really wanted to flip out in anger, but Li Gaolei's words instead made her heart jump somewhat quickly. Her blood pressure quickly rose, immediately affecting her injuries, making her groan in pain.
Su's appearance threw the Roxland soldiers into a state of chaos. They didn't know what this fellow that suddenly appeared was trying to do, but they recognized that the equipment Su carried was clearly of advanced era technology. In a frenetic manner, they all pointed their weapons at Su.
Su was stumped for words. The feeling of being pointed at by so many weapons did not feel good, and the feeling of danger immediately caused his light golden hair to dance about. Su suddenly stopped, and then he erupted with force, leaping forward like lightning!
Ta ta ta! Concentrated gunshots sounded throughout the valley. Su's movements made the new soldiers who were already nervous to the extreme press the trigger, and their firing triggered even more fire from other soldiers. However, Su's sudden movement made all of the bullets hit empty air, bringing forth large amounts of earth in the ground where Su previously stood.
In that instant, Su had already entered a predicament, and the location where he stood at was a hillside without any cover.
Su rolled on the ground, and when he got up, he was half leaning on the ground, his body continuously sliding to the side. Holding the rifle, the muzzle leaned slightly and fired twice!
Two highly explosive bullets separately blasted into the earth of two hilltops, landing a meter away from the Roxland soldiers. The tremendous force of the explosion caused large amounts of earth to erupt, covering the heads and bodies of the soldiers. Their line of sight was immediately completely blocked.
After firing two shots, Su used force to jump up again, leaping diagonally several meters away. While in the sky, his rifle already pointed at the Roxland soldiers on the other hill. Su was definitely not someone who liked to take a beating without retaliation. The first two shots were warning shots, and if the soldiers fired again, Su would teach them what kind of stuff these highly explosive bullets that could blast one's waist apart were made of.
"Stop, all of you!" The battle broke out too fast, and by the time Li shouted with all her strength, the two sides already exchanged a round of fire.
Su's eye was deep like the sea. He once against shifted to the side, his rifle still aimed at the Roxland soldiers at the top of the hill, but he didn't fire. Li's voice possessed enough penetrative force, and only after the message was passed to the various troops' walkie-talkies were the Roxland soldiers that still wanted to open fire finally stopped.
Su slowly stood up, lowering his weapon bit by bit. Then, he looked towards Li. Li fiercely scratched her hair, but her beautiful maroon hair was almost glued together by blood, causing her to curse under her breath.
Li Gaolei saw the unremarkable looking symbol on the shoulder of Su's combat clothes, and with a 'yi' sound, he looked at it carefully through his small binoculars and said, "Hah, turns out this fellow already became a great figure! Li, this time, our spring has come!"
Li looked at Li Gaolei in a somewhat confused manner, however, Li Gaolei didn't clear up her confusion. Instead, he roared angrily towards the walkie-talkie on his collar and said, "You idiots still aren't lowering your guns? Are you fuckers looking to die?!"
Only now did the soldiers who were scolded lower their weapons. It wasn't that they wanted to defy the order. The ones that could still move right now were all experienced veterans, so they obviously knew the importance of the order. They weren't willing to lower their weapons because they felt instinctive fear, fear that they would immediately be killed by Su once they lowered their weapons. They originally occupied terrain advantage, and Su seemed somewhat weak, but for these veterans that already possessed an instinctive sense for danger, they felt like they had surrounded a vicious beast that they definitely couldn't deal with.
The sky quickly darkened.
The surviving Roxland soldiers created a bonfire in the valley, and they set up a military tent. A vacant space was created in the valley, and over a hundred corpses were piled up. Before the sky darkened, Roxland's soldiers did everything they could to gather the bodies of their dead comrades. The price they paid for doing so was heavy, and two individuals died under landmines that had not exploded yet.
The corpses of the Blue Scorpion soldiers were placed into another pile. All of their equipment were removed, and their corpses were placed inside of corpse bags with antiseptic gas.
There were already people who drove back through the night to Pendulum City. The distance from this place to Pendulum City was just too far, exceeding the distance of wireless communications. They could only send people back to request more trucks over. The soldier carrying vehicles they had right now couldn't carry back so many corpses. It would likely be daybreak before the trucks could return here, and only then could they completely leave the battlefield.
Apart from a few large companies, most of the people surviving in the wilderness would rot where they died if they fell on the battlefield. When Li took up the post of being the leader of Roxland's military, she established the military rule that if possible, all of the corpses of their comrades would be brought back.
On the hilltop of a northern hill, Su, Li, and Li Gaolei sat in a circle. The reason they stayed here was to monitor Blue Scorpion's movements, because there were two tanks that fled after all, and no one knew when they would return. Only two things were clear. One was that they were definitely going to return, and the second was that when they did, they would definitely be even more difficult to deal with.
Blue Scorpion's maneuverability was too great. Ordinary soldiers were completely useless, and only those like Su, Li, and Li Gaolei with relatively higher levels of ability could notice them ahead of time. That was why the three of them sat on this hilltop with a relatively better field of view to guard against possible attacks.
Li looked at the soldiers that were busily working in the valley below. Perception wasn't her strong suit, and moreover with Su here, there was absolutely no need for her to try and detect anything. While hugging her knees, she raised her head and looked at the murky darkness of the night sky before saying, "You are saying that you came here just for us to become your subordinates?"
They already sat on the hilltop for a while, and Su who wasn't particularly good at eloquence finally revealed his future plans. Of course, encountering Blue Scorpion really was a coincidence.
After thinking for a bit, Su calmly said, "That is indeed how it is. Right now, Pendulum City has become extremely unsafe. Roxland's level of technology cannot compete against Blue Scorpion's, and only the Black Dragonriders can put up a resistance."
"If we don't rely on the Black Dragonriders, are we doomed to die?" Li maintained her posture and continued to stare at the sky.
"Correct. This is unless you all abandon Pendulum City and return to Headquarters." In Su's opinion, the answer to this question was extremely clear. From the Blue Scorpion's level of technology and equipment, this was most likely a scouting troop. Just this scouting troop almost wiped out a branch of Roxland's military, so the power of the troops that would come later was self-evident.
"I won't leave. This place was the result of many years of construction, so we cannot give it to someone else." Li's voice was extremely soft, but it was also resolute.
Su frowned. From his perspective, Li's persistence was extremely strange. In the vast and limitless wilderness, the number of humans was pitifully low. Even though Pendulum City's construction wasn't bad, 99% of construction was eventually abandoned. In addition, even though Pendulum City's location wasn't bad, the surrounding resources were quite scarce. For a company like Roxland which possessed water treatment technology and equipment, establishing a base better than Pendulum City would only be a year's worth of work.
The concept of homeland had long been buried in the ruins of the olden era.
Li suddenly turned around, her sparkling eyes staring at Su as she spoke, "If we don't become your subordinates, then you won't care about this matter regarding Blue Scorpion anymore, right?"
Su was momentarily startled. After thinking for a bit, he said, "Blue Scorpion is an exception. In reality, this place is too close to the Black Dragonriders. In addition, there is temporarily no better resupply point than Pendulum City, so even if Blue Scorpion didn't come, there will be a Black Dragonrider or some family that will be interested in this area."
"Subordinate, subordinate. Once we become subordinates, you have to protect us, right?" Li asked. Her expression was a bit strange, revealing both disappointment and a bit of gratitude.