Chapter 1 Rumble

"Rumble—"

A thunderstorm raged, the night sky torn apart again and again by dazzling lightning, a downpour pelting down.

The rain blurred the view, severely impacting shooting accuracy. Weapons and equipment were prone to water damage. The mercenaries could only brave the wind and rain, hurriedly covering the machine guns with rain tarps and moving ammunition into the covered sheds.

The heavy rain filled the heavens and the earth, the sound of rain filled their ears. Inside the bunker, the air was thick with moisture. Han Xiao stayed away from the window to avoid being splashed. He glanced at the sky outside, raised his eyebrows, and muttered, "Such terrible weather is an obvious flag. If the next wave of powerful enemies doesn't take advantage of this opportunity, I'll immediately..."

Halfway through his sentence, Xiao Ge abruptly stopped. He was joking! How could he set up such an obvious self-destructive, toxic flag?

"Buzz—" A series of engine sounds echoed through the rain. This time, the formation was aggressive. More armored vehicles drove through the heavy rain, dense raindrops drumming on their cold armor.

"Fire!" The mercenaries of the manor roared, machine guns and grenade launchers booming.

The next moment, even fiercer firepower erupted from the enemy convoy. Several small rockets slammed into the manor's outer wall, blasting two machine guns and their operators into the sky!

As Han Xiao fired, he listened to Chen Li and the big black man roaring on the radio.

"The enemy has rockets, take cover! Machine gunners and grenade launchers, hit them hard!"

"Snipers, hurry up and shoot! Don't make me beg! Do something!"

"Enemy yachts are appearing on the river, more than twenty of them. The people on the west side, intercept them! Don't let them get close to the shore!"

"Damn it, helicopters!"

The sound of rotors came from above. Two Y-5 Winged Serpent armed helicopters invaded from the sky. The lightning flashing across the night sky illuminated the helicopters' ferocious appearance, looming overhead. The gunners, wearing windproof goggles, controlled the large-caliber six-barreled Gatling aircraft cannons mounted on the sides of the fuselage, unleashing terrifying firepower.

The machine gun bullets, nearly the size of miniature cannon shells, possessed a penetrating power and destructive force that ordinary machine guns couldn't match. The rate of fire was extremely fast, spitting out orange flames as the bullets formed an orange line, sweeping downwards. The manor's frontal fortifications were useless.

Mercenary casualties soared!

Curses, screams, roars, the sound of rain, gunfire, engine sounds, and the rumble of thunder combined into a symphony of war, grand and tragic, chaotic and exhilarating.

The helicopters were the biggest threat. Some of the machine gunners raised their guns to shoot at the aircraft.

The Y-5 Winged Serpents simply ascended, moving out of range of the ordinary machine guns. Some stray bullets couldn't penetrate the helicopters' armor.

"Snipers! Take out the pilots!" Chen Li roared shrilly.

"We'll deal with the helicopters. Other snipers, don't let the ground forces attack!" The Poison Bee brothers in the central bunker ordered over the communication network, and then the two brothers started shooting at the helicopters.

Even through the misty rain, Han Xiao clearly saw sparks erupting on the helicopters' external armor where sniper bullets hit. The cockpit windows were made of high-strength bulletproof glass; it would take seven or eight shots to penetrate them.

Han Xiao suddenly felt a sense of unease, abruptly retracted his gun, and retreated away from the sniper window.

"Don't abandon your post without authorization..." The bearded man roared when he saw this, but he was interrupted halfway through his sentence by a violent explosion. The walls of the bunker exploded violently, and the bearded man was directly blasted away by the shockwave, slammed against the opposite wall with a thud, his arm fracturing and twisting, screaming in agony.

The two Y-5 Winged Serpents carried four air-to-air missiles, directly bombing the three bunkers. The central bunker was the focus of the attack, blasted into ruins. The Poison Bee brothers died without a sound, their flesh, dust, and broken bricks thrown out together.

Three bunkers were destroyed!

Hmm... the sentence above sounds strange.

Without the threat of snipers, the helicopters became even more rampant, raining down fire and preventing the mercenaries from even daring to show their faces.

Although Han Xiao dodged, he was still shaken by the shockwave. He wasn't injured much, but the top of the bunker had become open-air, the heavy rain pouring down, directly exposing him to the enemy's view, putting him in a very dangerous situation.

The enemy had sea, land, and air forces. The manor was like a delicate maiden, being attacked from three sides.

He glanced at the tragic battle situation, his eyes darkening. "The mercenaries can't hold on."

...

"The people outside can't hold on."

In the center of the River Valley Manor, in the villa's hall, two men were watching the battle outside the window. One of them, a bald old man with white eyebrows and beard, wearing black-rimmed glasses, had both hands pressed against the windowsill.

The other man stood diagonally behind the bald old man, with his hands clasped behind his back. He appeared to be middle-aged, with thick, black, bouncy short hair combed into a slicked-back style, with only a few strands of gray at his temples. If he had any distinctive features, it was probably his temperament. He wore a faint smile on his lips, looking very kind.

The man with the kind temperament chuckled. "It seems I'll have to take action."

The bald old man nodded. "After guarding for so long, Serena should get rid of the traitors in the organization. My life is in your hands, old friend."

The man with the kind temperament nodded, and was about to walk out when he suddenly stopped, looking at the sudden changes in the battle situation, a hint of surprise in his eyes. "It seems an interesting fellow has appeared. I won't need to take action."

"Hmm?" The bald old man was stunned for a moment, looking outside.

...

"Are there any snipers left alive? If we don't take out those two helicopters, we're all going to die here!" Chen Li shouted loudly into the radio, hiding in the defenses.

The two Y-5 Winged Serpents were extremely rampant, relying on the fact that no one could attack them, acting like bullies and even trying to bomb the central villa of the manor directly.

Suddenly, a fiery red bullet pierced through the rain, hitting the ammunition belt of the machine gun on the side of one of the Y-5 Winged Serpents with incredible precision. The fiery red bullet cracked open, bursting into a ball of flame even in the heavy rain.

High-explosive incendiary bullet!

"Boom!" The orange-red high-explosive gas flame seeped into every crevice, igniting the ammunition belt along the gaps in the protective device. The helicopter, which had been so smug just moments ago, exploded in an instant. The machine gun ammunition exploded one after another. The power of a single incendiary bullet wasn't great, but this was a pile of large-caliber bullets, with the power of a fragmentation mine. The crew members inside the helicopter were blown to pieces. Flying shrapnel pierced the pilot's neck, and torrential blood splattered on the cockpit window.

The helicopter spun and fell from the sky. The ground shook, startling both sides of the battle.

In the semi-ruins of the left bunker, Han Xiao, who had just fired this shot, pulled the bolt, ejecting the smoking cartridge. His eyes were serious and calm. Just now, in a moment of crisis, he had poured a large amount of experience into [Sniper], leveling it up to level nine! That was why he was able to fire such a precise shot, hitting the ammunition of the mounted machine gun from an extremely tricky angle!

This shot also had unfortunate consequences. The other Y-5 Winged Serpent immediately concentrated its firepower on the left bunker. The enemy's ground forces knew that the helicopters were the biggest trump card, so they coordinated their attacks, and a terrifying barrage of bullets shattered the rain, exploding on the left bunker!

The bearded man's face turned pale. He thought he was going to be blown to pieces. How could his short legs be faster than a cannon shell? Just as he was despairing, he suddenly felt a large hand grab the back of his collar, a powerful force dragging him away at lightning speed. The next moment, the entire left bunker was blasted into ruins.

If he had been a second slower, the bearded man would have been turned into a pile of minced meat.

After escaping danger, the bearded man found that his collar had been released and fell to the ground with a thud. He quickly turned around to look at the person who had saved him, and Han Xiao in black clothes jumped into his sight in the heavy rain.

The bearded man didn't have time to thank Han Xiao for saving his life. He was shocked and said, "How can you run so fast?!"

"Because I'm as free as the wind."

The bearded man looked confused. What the hell are you talking about?!

After spouting nonsense, Han Xiao tapped his feet on the ground, and the heels of his electromagnetic levitation shoes lit up with a faint electric blue light. Magnetic power erupted, and he slid out like he was ice skating, faster than a car. In a few steps, he stepped onto the manor's outer wall parapet. Amidst the shocked gazes of the mercenaries, he moved left and right on the parapet like a black lightning bolt, completely impossible to lock onto. The enemy's artillery fire was dodged by him.

"Eat my Shadow Shift!"

Han Xiao sniped while moving at high speed. The shooting vision here was several times wider than in the left bunker. His newly leveled-up level nine Sniper skill allowed him to control the overall situation. The mobility provided by the electromagnetic levitation shoes was very stable, not bumpy at all, and didn't require much difficult control. The difficulty was similar to that of an electric scooter, so high-speed movement didn't affect his accuracy much.

Shots were fired one after another. High-explosive incendiary bullets, armor-piercing sabot rounds, Heimdall rounds, and concussion rounds, four types of bullets taking turns, always appearing where they were needed most. A vehicle was about to fire a grenade to attack a machine gun position in the manor when a concussion round appeared at the perfect moment, the exploding flash blinding the enemy and causing them to miss.

[You are performing mobile sniping. You have comprehended some [Mobile Sniping] techniques. (1/100)]

"Triggered a new skill comprehension?" Han Xiao's eyes lit up. This was a new skill that would only be triggered at Sniper level eight or higher. He fired a few more shots and found that hitting a target was equal to one point of progress, so he shot even more enthusiastically.

Relying on the electromagnetic levitation shoes, he avoided most of the attacks, but the enemy realized his ability to control the battlefield as a sniper. If they didn't take him out, it would be difficult to move forward.

So Han Xiao felt the enemy's "enthusiasm" and was focused on again, the pressure increasing sharply. He was often hit by stray bullets and had to summon the magnetic control armor to protect his body.

The last Y-5 Winged Serpent maneuvered left and right, preventing Han Xiao from sniping its vitals. The machine guns continued to fire, causing Han Xiao a lot of trouble. Even with the magnetic control armor, it was uncomfortable to be hit by a few shots, and the worst thing was that the machine guns had a knockback effect. The kinetic energy would push him away, causing him to miss several shots.

Three more large-caliber machine gun rounds hit the armor on his chest. Han Xiao's chest felt stuffy, and he was pushed back several meters, almost falling off the parapet. He didn't take much damage. He now had more than two thousand health points, and he was extremely resistant to attacks with the magnetic control extension armor.

At this time, the mercenaries in the manor began to counterattack, actively coordinating their tactics with Han Xiao.

"That sniper, don't stand there, keep shooting like you were before. We'll cooperate with you!" Chen Li shouted into the communicator.