After all, those people were carrying some rather old automatic rifles, whose effective range was generally around 600 meters.
Zhou Ziwei opened the roof of the car, then jumped up and stood on the seat. With a cold face, he glanced at the slopes on both sides of the valley ahead, then raised his hand and actually picked up a very advanced sniper rifle from underneath.
This sniper rifle was a trophy they captured yesterday after an enemy attack. It belonged to a small gang of bandits, but surprisingly, they had two skilled snipers among them.
Fortunately, Zhou Ziwei's scouts discovered the two men's presence. Ladybug took action, piercing their heads before they could even fire a shot.
The sniper rifle was pretty good, with a theoretical range of 1,500 meters. Moreover, they had captured quite a few bullets, so Zhou Ziwei planned to use it to play around with those idiots who were blinded by greed for a while.
Before this, Zhou Ziwei had basically confirmed the approximate location of those guys' hiding place through Kun Chong's soul memory. Then, he suddenly increased his vision to more than ten times. With such super vision, Zhou Ziwei could see the patterns on even a leaf a thousand meters away. How could those bandits hidden in the sparse grass and trees escape his eyes?
Zhou Ziwei calmly chambered the bullet, then released the safety and slowly raised it...
With barely any aiming, Zhou Ziwei simply held the rifle with one hand and fired a shot out of thin air.
A gunshot rang out, followed by a short scream from the distant hillside.
Then, without hesitation, Zhou Ziwei slightly swung the gun barrel and pulled the trigger again, followed by another scream that echoed from afar...
This old-fashioned sniper rifle could only hold five rounds at a time, and Zhou Ziwei fired almost one bullet per second, killing five bandits who were lying in ambush on the hillside ahead in just five seconds.
"Xiao Fei... the bullet..."
Zhou Ziwei opened the magazine and gave a soft shout. Liu Xiaofei, who had already received his instructions, responded immediately. Instead of passing the bullets up one by one, she simply tossed the five bullets she had prepared in advance into the air at the same time...
"Whoosh whoosh whoosh..." Zhou Ziwei held the gun with one hand, freed the other, and gently waved it in the air. All five bullets were ejected into the magazine at once.
"Bang, bang, bang..." Five more gunshots rang out in succession, and screams from the opposite hillside immediately followed.
This scene left everyone, both on and below the mountain, speechless.
It's reasonable that snipers have better marksmanship; a sniper being able to hit a target a kilometer away... that doesn't seem too difficult.
But... no matter how good your marksmanship is, you still have to aim before you fire, right? The recoil of a sniper rifle is terrifying. When did it become possible to hold it with one hand and fire it in mid-air?
Moreover, those people on the hillside ahead were clearly hiding behind trees or in the bushes. How could Zhou Ziwei, being so far away, accurately pinpoint their hiding places?
After the third group fired five bullets, everyone saw that on a rocky cliff about 1,400 meters away from Zhou Ziwei, five fully armed bandits were blasted out of their hiding place almost simultaneously and fell off the cliff.
This shocked everyone once again. Those familiar with firearms could see that the sniper rifle Zhou Ziwei was using could theoretically shoot at targets more than 1,500 meters away, but in reality, its effective range was only 1,000 meters. This was because after the bullet left the barrel, it was affected by factors such as gravity and wind speed, so the bullet's trajectory was actually a small parabola.
The so-called effective range is basically the range in which the angle of deflection of the bullet due to gravity and wind is almost negligible.
Once the bullet flies out of its effective range, as its speed gradually decreases, the influence of gravity and wind on it will become increasingly greater until it finally falls to the ground.
It's not that bullets outside their effective range have no lethality, but once a bullet exceeds its effective range, there are simply too many factors to consider. This requires careful calculation to achieve a relatively accurate result; otherwise... it's all down to luck.
Zhou Ziwei could hit five people almost simultaneously from over 1,400 meters away in an instant. If anyone said that his marksmanship was all based on luck, then even the five newly deceased souls probably wouldn't believe it.
But if Zhou Ziwei didn't rely on luck... then that means that in that instant, Zhou Ziwei had actually considered all the factors that could cause the bullet's trajectory to deflect, such as the angle of the bullet's shot, gravity, and wind direction and speed.
Is this person even human?
When the fourth round of bullets was fired and five more corpses appeared on the opposite slope, the bandits who had been lying in ambush on both sides of the valley finally collapsed completely.
No one wanted to die, even though they were all greedy. Although there are many people in this world who would sell their lives for money, such fools are few and far between. So when the bandits realized that the man in front of them exuded a heavy killing intent and that he could quickly take five lives with a flick of his gun, they all knew that if they continued the stalemate, this murderous star would fire a few more rounds, and their mere fifty-odd people would be harvested like wheat.
More than fifty people—in their eyes, using such overwhelming force against a convoy of only a dozen or so was like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut. But now, facing that ruthless killer, all those fortunate enough not to have been targeted by Zhou Ziwei realized… that in front of this terrifying man, even an elite force of over a hundred might not pose much of a threat…
These people had been given a strict order beforehand: they must wait until the target entered the middle of the valley before firing three shots to kill the raw stone merchants.
However, now that it's a matter of life and death, everyone understands that waiting in the same place will only lead to death, so naturally no one will be foolish enough to lie there and wait to die.
As if they had planned it in advance, almost everyone jumped out from their hiding places at the same time. Then, some of the more aggressive people started charging towards Zhou Ziwei with guns in their eyes, while most of them were terrified by Zhou Ziwei and turned to flee towards the mountain.
With Zhou Ziwei's scouts and assassins lurking around the bandits, Zhou Ziwei naturally wasn't worried about them escaping. He simply snorted, reloaded his ammunition, and began firing again. The difference was... he had been shooting at stationary targets before, but this time he was shooting at moving targets.
For ordinary people, moving a rake is naturally more difficult, but since Zhou Ziwei can calculate the effects of wind speed, wind force, and Earth's gravity on a bullet with perfect accuracy, now it's just a matter of calculating the movement speed of an escapee.
In fact, with their souls scattered, those people were all running at their fastest speed, so their running speed was relatively even. Therefore, this calculation was not difficult for Zhou Ziwei at all.
A series of five gunshots rang out almost in quick succession. The five fastest runners were the first to suffer, their heads accurately struck by Zhou Ziwei's bullets, which seemed to have eyes...
Thus... in the blink of an eye, a team of more than fifty elite soldiers lost half of its manpower due to Zhou Ziwei's fierce sniping.
How can this war continue? What's the point of fighting any longer?
The men running at the front heard the gunshots ring out again and turned around abruptly. Sure enough, five more of their comrades had fallen... The men at the very front, who seemed to be the fiercest, suddenly froze, then looked at each other, and simultaneously raised their weapons high and knelt down on the ground...
Watching the six dilapidated jeeps leading the convoy move forward at a snail's pace that was enough to drive anyone crazy, Zhou Ziwei felt a mixture of amusement and exasperation.
This was the first time he had accepted prisoners in Myanmar. The previous bandit gangs had barely had time to react after launching their attacks before being smashed into mincemeat by Yelü Huage and his men. In fact, even if someone wanted to surrender, they didn't even have a chance to speak before being wiped out by Zhou Ziwei's fierce generals.
This time, because the distance between them was too great, no one could get involved except for Zhou Ziwei's sniper rifle. Zhou Ziwei also didn't want to reveal too much of his extraordinary abilities, so he killed people more slowly, giving them a chance to beg for mercy. In the end, he had no choice but to accept so many prisoners at once.
However, these prisoners were not captured in vain; at least Zhou Ziwei managed to extract some relatively important information from them.
It turns out that the reason they had been constantly harassed and attacked by the gang these past few days was actually because they were being instructed by someone behind the scenes.
This person was the leader of a local army in northern Myanmar, whose status was equivalent to that of a warlord who controlled a region.
Myanmar's security is actually quite good, and the people are relatively honest and simple. Although the northern border is indeed a bit chaotic, there are only some sporadic bandit incidents. The biggest source of chaos actually comes from the military and government.
In other words, it is a conflict between the government forces and the anti-government forces, that is, between the ruling party and local armed forces.
The leader of the local armed forces named Bamo usually didn't bother with legitimate jadeite rough merchants, but this time he somehow learned that Zhou Ziwei and his group possessed a rare piece of the Heart of Flame, which is why he was tempted by greed.
However, General Bamo's troops were stationed quite far from Zhou Ziwei's group's route. Under normal circumstances, General Bamo's troops might not be able to intercept them even after they crossed the border back to China.
Therefore, General Bamo used his influence to mobilize all the bandits in northern Myanmar to ambush and kill Zhou Ziwei and his men on the road.
If the bandits succeed, General Bamo will only want the Heart of Flame; he will not take any of the other valuables or jadeite. All of it will belong to the bandits who carried it out.
Moreover, those bandits would have the opportunity to be recruited into General Bamo's armed forces...
If these bandits couldn't succeed, General Bamo hoped they could buy as much time as possible so that the large force he dispatched could intercept and kill Zhou Ziwei and his group within Burma's borders...
After hearing the intelligence confessed by the prisoners, Zhou Ziwei's initial eagerness to return home subsided.
At this moment, he really wanted to give General Bamo a chance to see what kind of strength the leader of this local power had and how he planned to take the golden jade from his hands...
However, Zhou Ziwei's desire to meet with General Bamo was not out of curiosity or competitiveness, but rather because he was not afraid of the trouble.
In fact, his goal was the same as that of General Bamo, and what he did was also the so-called Heart of Flame.
Is this thing called the Heart of Flame?
Zhou Ziwei gently picked up the golden jade that had shrunk considerably in his palm, and a hint of undisguised longing involuntarily appeared in his eyes.
Since this golden jadeite also has another name, Heart of Flame, then obviously... this thing is not unique. That is to say... before this, there must have been at least one other golden jadeite similar to the one in Zhou Ziwei's hand in this world.
Before obtaining this golden jade, Zhou Ziwei couldn't appreciate its value. Now, feeling the soul power in his sea of souls growing rapidly almost daily, he couldn't imagine how he would bear the terrifying feeling of his soul power remaining stagnant or constantly diminishing due to its use once the golden jade in his hand completely disappeared after exhausting its energy.
Since General Bamo is so eager for the golden jade in Zhou Ziwei's possession, he must know something about it, and perhaps... he might even have another piece of golden jade in his possession...
Even if General Bamo didn't have such a rare treasure, he must have known something about it, right?
Looking at the few dilapidated jeeps slowly moving forward like snails, Zhou Ziwei's lips twitched slightly... Now is the time for this hunting game to officially begin. Let's see... between General Bamo and himself, who is the hunter and who is the prey.
Volume Two: The Assassin's Nightmare, Chapter 317: Pointing Wrathfully at the Sky
The rumbling of thunder faintly echoed in the sky, and in the blink of an eye, it transformed into a series of enormous roars that seemed to suddenly explode in everyone's ears.
The raindrops, which started sparsely and gradually became denser, soon covered the entire visible world, enveloping the entire mountain area in a white mist.
Zhou Ziwei frowned and immediately issued an order to halt the advance without hesitation.
For Zhou Ziwei, rainy days are the least safe weather, because his scout team members are all winged insects, which are unable to fly in the rain, especially in heavy rain. If they are not allowed to find a safe place to take shelter in time, their lives may be threatened.
Once all the Kun beasts controlled by Zhou Ziwei are hidden away, he will essentially become deaf and blind.
Zhou Ziwei was probably used to the feeling of being in control of everything, and now this feeling of being completely unknown about the surrounding environment and the enemies that could appear at any time made him feel very uncomfortable.
Perhaps out of instinct, Zhou Ziwei felt that if General Bamo had already arrived, he would not miss this opportunity no matter what. So he carefully explored the surrounding area and finally chose a high place far away from the dense forest as the temporary camp for the caravan.
The view from here is relatively open. Although stopping here makes us an easy target for the enemy, it's not to the point where we'd be completely unaware until the enemy gets right up to our doorstep.
The entire convoy formed a ring, with the six captured vehicles on the outermost edge. Zhou Ziwei did not cruelly mistreat the prisoners, but he had no qualms about using them as cannon fodder in battle.
The rumbling thunder in the sky never stopped, and the noisy rain was like popping beans, constantly ringing in Zhou Ziwei's ears, severely interfering with his hearing. Under such terrible conditions, he didn't even dare to increase his hearing to more than six times, otherwise he was worried that his auditory nerves might be directly broken by the noise that filled the world.
Zhou Ziwei's vision had been enhanced to about ten times, and every blade of grass and every tree around him was clearly imprinted in his eyes. Even the dark, dense forests were still partially visible to him until they gradually became blurry after he went more than twenty meters deeper.
Faced with this unknown situation, Zhou Ziwei suddenly felt uneasy, so he decided not to play with those bastards today. Regardless of whether General Bamo would appear later, he would go on a killing spree, even if he accidentally killed General Bamo as well.
The Heart of Flame was indeed quite important to Zhou Ziwei, but... the safety of his brothers and friends was perhaps even more important to him. So, in this situation that made him feel somewhat uneasy, he dared not continue playing.
The rain grew heavier and heavier. The mountain path, originally worn smooth by passing vehicles, had now become the source of a flood. Rainwater from the forest gathered together, completely engulfing the path and gradually turning into a stream.
In this newly formed shallow stream, heavy armored vehicles were slowly drifting downstream. The black barrels of heavy machine guns slowly turned in the heavy rain, gradually pointing towards the shadowy vehicles on the high ground ahead...
"Everyone's paying attention...everyone's paying attention..."
Lai Dong sat in the command vehicle, intently observing the situation of the group of vehicles in the distance through the window, while loudly issuing orders into his earpiece.
"Howitzers, aim at the center of the target. Machine gunners, prepare. When I count to three, everyone fire simultaneously... When I count to three, everyone fire simultaneously... One... Two..."
Lai Dong was one of General Ba Maw's trusted generals. He was Chinese, but his ancestors had lived in Myanmar for three generations, so he had long considered himself a thorough Burmese and no longer felt any sense of belonging to his homeland.
This time, he was ordered by General Bamo to come here to cooperate with the general's main force to encircle and annihilate a merchant caravan transporting jadeite rough stones. All he wanted was a small piece of the Heart of Flame.
In his view, this mission was completely overkill. The other side was just a convoy of ordinary jeeps, with only a dozen or so people in the real merchant caravan. According to the intelligence, there were also four children, and nearly twenty prisoners who had been captured by the caravan after failing to rob them.
Lai Dong shook his head inwardly, unable to understand why the attack team of more than fifty well-equipped bandits had been so inexplicably wiped out by the other side last time.
Because he couldn't understand it, Lai Dong, though somewhat disdainful of these caravans from China, still remained cautious enough.
He could have caught up with the convoy an hour earlier, but to be on the safe side, he had been directing his men to surround the area as much as possible, preparing to launch a fatal attack from the most suitable location.
Unexpectedly, a sudden downpour occurred at this time, so Lai Dong immediately changed his mind. Under the cover of the downpour, he organized the eight armored vehicles that the general had sent to him to launch a joint attack.
Eight armored vehicles...
This force would be more than enough to attack a small town! General Bamo actually wanted him to use this force to attack a caravan of a dozen or so people. Lai Dong slowly shook his head, a hint of ruthlessness in his eyes.
However, just as Lai Dong was about to give the final order to attack, he suddenly heard an angry roar in his head. The roar, like an invisible sword, pierced his fragile soul the instant it exploded. Lai Dong was horrified and instinctively tried to cover his ears, but before he could even raise his hands halfway, blood gushed from his mouth and nose like a gushing spring. Then, in that instant, his consciousness, like a fragile bubble in the rain, burst gently with a "pop," instantly vanishing into nothingness…
All eight armored vehicles, carrying more than thirty people, died almost simultaneously, bleeding from all seven orifices. However, the armored vehicles continued to move slowly forward due to inertia.
Zhou Ziwei frowned slightly. He had no choice but to unleash this soul roar. For him now, this kind of attack was no longer a big burden. However, it was a huge waste of resources. After all, once the roar was unleashed, the opponent would be completely annihilated, and he would lose the materials to make the soul bead.
However, the situation just now was really dangerous. He had been paying attention to the movements in the dense forest, but he did not expect that the eight disguised armored vehicles would silently approach in the mountain stream. By the time he noticed them, the rows of cold gun barrels were all pointed at them.
Zhou Ziwei dared not hesitate any longer, and immediately let out a powerful soul roar, directly severing the life force of all the enemies inside the eight armored vehicles opposite him...