At the same time, about sixty meters from the main battlefield.
A shadowy figure moved cautiously through the woods.
Due to the dim light and the low visibility of the forest, the figure weaved through the trees like a phantom, making it difficult to detect.
This person was Mo Ling!
Her mission was arduous: to find a hidden sniper in the forest.
The difficulty was no less than searching for a needle in a haystack.
But she was Mo Ling. While seemingly everywhere in the forest offered a hiding spot, she knew that to also be able to snipe a target, the number of possible locations was severely limited.
This was precisely why Song Qiao had assigned this mission to her.
If anyone among them could complete this task, it had to be Mo Ling!
Using her advanced reconnaissance skills, she systematically searched the potential spots after separating from Song Qiao.
Finally, she found her target!
It was a large tree, occupying an absolute vantage point!
However, this position also sealed the target's escape route, leaving them with no way out!
Mo Ling leaned against the tree, forcefully stabilizing her breathing.
She stealthily drew a pistol from her waist.
Aim, fire!
*Crack!*
A branch broke silently. The sniper was jolted awake, but it was too late to react.
*Bang!*
The heavy sniper rifle, which had only managed to fire a single bullet, plummeted from the tree branch.
Accompanying it was a corpse clad in camouflage!
"Mission complete!" Mo Ling reported into her earpiece to the others.
By the time she finished her task and rejoined the group, she found that Song Qiao and the others had also completed their objectives.
More accurately, they had completed the entire operation!
The Shan Shui team was annihilated, leaving no one to stop them!
"Well done!"
Seeing Mo Ling return, Song Qiao, sitting on the ground, chuckled as he glanced at the large sniper rifle in her hand.
"I knew you'd be able to find him!"
Mo Ling casually tossed the sniper rifle to the ground and snorted, "Naturally!"
"I was already playing with guns when he was still..." Mo Ling suddenly remembered Song Qiao had been poisoned once and anxiously inquired, "How are you?"
Song Qiao waved his hand dismissively and replied, "I'm fine."
"Let me see quickly!" With that, Mo Ling rushed to Song Qiao's side.
A trace of anxiety flickered across her face.
Song Qiao blinked, a wicked smile appearing on his lips. He playfully hefted his belt and replied with feigned difficulty,
"Now? So soon?"
"Let's wait until we're alone?"
"You!" Mo Ling's face instantly flushed. Gritting her teeth, she angrily retorted,
"I don't care about you anymore!"
Mo Ling turned back to take a headcount.
She noticed that apart from Deng Hui, who had only sustained minor scratches, everyone else was injured.
Lu Wei was covered in blood, making it impossible to assess his injuries.
However, the excited expression on his face indicated that he had thoroughly enjoyed the battle.
Despite his heavy breaths as he sat on the ground, he showed no signs of exhaustion.
He seemed to be out of immediate danger.
Chen Chen, on the other hand, was completely different. A bare arm was bleeding profusely.
One gash was shockingly turned outward, revealing bone and sinew!
"How are you? Can you still fight?"
Seeing this, Mo Ling hurried forward, asking with concern.
"Do you need me to call for reinforcements immediately?"
Chen Chen, while bandaging his wound, winced involuntarily from the intense pain.
Upon hearing Mo Ling's question, he lifted his head, shook it, and replied,
"It's alright, Captain Mo. It looks worse than it is; it's just an external wound."
"I can manage. You should go check on Wei Feng."
Mo Ling nodded, knowing that the members of their team were sensible and wouldn't push themselves unnecessarily after a battle.
"Wei Feng, how are you feeling?"
Before Mo Ling could ask, Song Qiao had already placed his hand on Wei Feng's leg.
He used his internal energy to expel the shrapnel embedded within and then asked,
Wei Feng grinned and replied,
"It's nothing, Boss. This kind of injury is trivial."
"I'm just exhausted; I'll need a moment to recover."
Song Qiao nodded.
Compared to the impact of their injuries, everyone was near exhaustion, slumped on the ground, gasping for air.
Mo Ling was no exception.
She sat next to Song Qiao, her eyes scanning their surroundings.
The ground was littered with evidence of their fierce battle.
Several patches of earth were scorched black by gunpowder and still smoldering with dying embers.
Beyond that, there were bodies everywhere!
Song Qiao and a few others were intact; all the corpses belonged to the Shan Shui team and their auxiliary fighters!
"It's brutal, and also... a pity,"
Mo Ling murmured with a hint of reluctance in her eyes.
Song Qiao heard her but offered no words of comfort.
Even if he hadn't intended to annihilate the entire Shan Shui team initially, in the heat of the battle, no one dared to hold back!
Doing so would have likely meant their own annihilation.
Wei Feng felt this most strongly.
Even though the battle was over, he couldn't help but swallow hard as he recalled the events.
"This battle was so damn tough. I truly admire these people today!"
The others, looking at the sea of bodies, felt the same.
Song Qiao remained silent. He walked over to the corpse of the Japanese warrior who had fallen to his blows.
He turned the body over and removed the mask from its face, noting that its eyes were positioned closer to the nose bridge than those of a typical Chinese person.
"He was indeed a warrior from Japan."
Hearing Song Qiao's words, Mo Ling nodded slightly.
She pointed to the long sword still clutched in the corpse's hand and said,
"That's a katana, very common in Japan."
Song Qiao looked down at the sword and fell into a brief contemplation.
"I think I've seen this person's swordsmanship..."
He meticulously recalled every detail of their previous combat.
Suddenly, Song Qiao's eyes conjured a matching image.
Although their exchange of moves was not extensive, the samurai's swordsmanship exhibited a very distinct style.
Especially the strike that parried the pebble he had kicked, Song Qiao found it incredibly familiar!
"Tao Yingcai?" Suddenly, a name appeared in his mind, and he blurted it out.
"I remember! When I fought Tao Yingcai before, he used the same moves!"
"If it was Tao Yingcai..." Mo Ling's expression turned slightly surprised. After a moment of thought, she said,
"This style... could it be the Rock-Breaking Flow?"