Chapter 100: Landmine

While Sade and the others were filled with anxiety and confusion, half an hour later, Yang Jiekai reappeared before them, swaggering as he slung his sniper rifle over his shoulder, a blade of dogtail grass dangling from his mouth.

"It’s cleared out. You lot can head up now." Yang Jiekai hoisted Sade from his chair, shoved him aside, and sat down with a brazen air. "Is that pangolin meat stewed yet? I’m starving."

Zaka was ecstatic. Upon receiving the news, he rushed over, looking at Yang Jiekai as if he were staring at a mountain of glittering gold. He laughed heartily, "Mr. Yang, you’ve done me a huge favor. I’ll double your commission this time. Of course, if you’re willing, we can continue to work together."

Yang Jiekai, busy peeling a banana, replied, "Cooperation is fine, but I have one condition."

"What condition? Name it!" Zaka said readily. "Commission is no issue; tell me how much you want, and I’ll pay it."

"Let’s talk about the money later." Yang Jiekai finished the banana in two bites and tossed the peel aside. "My requirement is simple: I need full command over all your men."

"This..." Zaka’s expression shifted instantly.

Seeing Zaka’s hesitation, Yang Jiekai added, "Of course, I don’t mean to strip you of your command. What I mean is that while the movement of your troops remains under your authority, I must have absolute tactical control in certain combat situations. Otherwise, in an emergency, I cannot guarantee the outcome of the war."

"No problem, it's a deal!" Zaka breathed a sigh of relief.

Over the next few days, Yang Jiekai led this ragtag group to storm fortresses and capture territories, cracking several tough nuts in a row. Zaka was so pleased he wished he could swear a brotherhood oath with Yang Jiekai on the spot. Without Yang Jiekai even asking, Zaka voluntarily raised the commission to five million dollars.

When Yang Jiekai heard the figure, he feigned happiness, but inwardly, he sneered. Although it had only been a few days, he had already gauged the extent of Zaka’s strength. Zaka himself, while appearing bold and straightforward, was actually deeply calculating and treacherous.

Five million dollars? It sounded tempting, but Yang Jiekai knew it was time for Zaka to discard the tool once the work was done.

"Mr. Yang, help me complete one more mission, and I’ll pay you the five million in full. How about that?" Zaka asked with a beaming smile, looking incredibly sincere.

However, Yang Jiekai saw right through the dagger hidden behind that smile. This guy was a textbook "smiling tiger." But these little schemes were far too amateurish for Yang Jiekai; small-time players like this weren't even worth his concern.

The final mission was the moment the smiling tiger would attempt to dispose of him. The reason Yang Jiekai agreed so readily was that, through the fighting over the past few days, he had uncovered clues about Moska. The target of this mission was the very faction Moska was embedded in, and based on his calculations, the strategic importance of the location meant Moska was highly likely to be there.

The mission objective was a dense forest where an unknown number of enemy forces were stationed. Yang Jiekai’s task was to lead roughly a company of soldiers to wipe them out.

"Groups of three, fan out and search! If you encounter anything, use gunfire as a signal!" Upon entering the forest, Yang Jiekai immediately issued his first order.

"Yes, sir!" Sade, assigned as Yang Jiekai’s adjutant, did not dare to question the order and immediately relayed it.

Watching the soldiers scatter in pairs and threes according to his command, Yang Jiekai sighed to himself: *What a bunch of pigs!* Through this alone, he could predict that the smiling tiger Zaka wouldn't last long, because his soldiers were nothing more than swine.

In a situation where the enemy was hidden and they were exposed, splitting up was a cardinal sin in warfare. Yet, when these guys received such a foolish order, not one of them stood up to object. It would be a miracle if such a mob survived for long.

Yang Jiekai, of course, didn't care about their lives. He did this partly to disperse them, knowing they had likely already received secret orders from Zaka to shoot him once the mission was complete. More importantly, while this scattered search method was a death trap, it was also the most effective way to flush out the enemy. He only cared about how to draw Moska out.

Yang Jiekai, Sade, and one other soldier formed a trio. They hadn't traveled far into the dense forest when they were discovered.

*Bang!*

A gunshot rang out. The soldier beside Yang Jiekai took a bullet to the chest and collapsed without a sound. Yang Jiekai shifted to the side, a bullet striking the spot where he had just stood. Sade, capable enough to be Zaka’s right-hand man, possessed decent combat reflexes; he rolled along the ground, narrowly avoiding a shot.

"Sniper!" Sade roared, hiding behind a tree.

At the same time, sporadic gunfire erupted throughout the forest—the other groups had also been spotted by the hidden snipers. After one round of fire, Yang Jiekai estimated that at least half of the men he brought were already down.

"Mr. Yang, what do we do?!" Sade panted behind the tree. Although the sniper couldn't hit him behind the trunk, his position was compromised, and he knew the enemy infantry would soon be closing in.

Yang Jiekai leaned against a tree, his expression completely relaxed.

"Know how to handle a sniper rifle?" Yang Jiekai asked Sade.

Sade, gasping for air with sweat beading on his forehead, didn't know why he was being asked this, but he nodded.

"Good." Yang Jiekai tossed the sniper rifle to Sade. "I'll draw the snipers out; you handle the kills."

"This..." Sade caught the rifle, astonished. Generally, once a sniper had locked onto your position, drawing them out was impossible.

But before Sade could react, Yang Jiekai moved!

A single motion left Sade’s jaw hanging. Yang Jiekai lunged from behind the tree like a hunting leopard, then rolled along the ground. Finally, he curled his body into a ball, rebounding off the ground at an incredible angle.

*Bang! Bang! Bang!*

The hidden sniper fired three consecutive shots, all of which Yang Jiekai evaded without his momentum ever faltering. One moment he was lunging like a leopard, the next he was rolling, then springing like a rubber ball.

Sade, having spent years on the battlefield, knew at a glance that this man wasn't just an expert—he was a freak of nature! A gap of 0.8 seconds between two tactical evasion maneuvers was considered top-tier; yet, the gap for this freak was at most 0.3 seconds. It was simply inconceivable!

*Bang!*

Sade’s rifle fired, and a figure dropped from a tree in the distance.

Under Yang Jiekai’s constant evasive maneuvers, the hidden sniper kept firing. Even if Sade were a pig, he would have spotted the target by now. If he still missed, Yang Jiekai would have torn him limb from limb.

"Nice shot." Yang Jiekai stood up and brushed the dust off his clothes as if he had just done something mundane. "Let's go. Keep moving."

Yang Jiekai took the sniper rifle back from Sade and, ignoring the man’s still-gaping mouth, strolled forward leisurely. Sade stood stunned for a long moment before snapping out of it and hurriedly following.

What happened next made Sade realize that those tactical maneuvers were just the beginning for this freak. This guy didn't even use the scope!

Every so often, as if he knew exactly when someone was about to shoot, he would tilt his body, dodge the bullet, and fire a single shot with the rifle held in one hand—every time, a hidden sniper would fall.

When they encountered infantrymen rushing over with AKs upon hearing the gunfire, Sade began to wonder if he was dreaming. Yang Jiekai dodged left and right as if he could actually see the bullets. With at least a dozen AKs firing dense volleys, this guy didn't even look for cover. He rolled and evaded on the ground while firing back with his M4 carbine, never missing a shot.

Throughout the ordeal, Sade didn't fire a single round; he simply hid behind cover and watched the performance.

"Why are you dazed? Let's go. These are just small fry; the big fish is still ahead." After finishing them off, Yang Jiekai slung the rifle over his shoulder, chewed on a blade of grass, and continued to stroll deeper into the forest.

Looking at him, it didn't seem like he was in a war zone; it was more like he was on vacation.

"A piece of advice: always maintain the most relaxed posture possible on the battlefield. Never get tense, or your muscles will tighten, which ruins your reaction speed and accuracy. The more relaxed you are, the higher your chances of survival." Yang Jiekai offered some pointers while walking.

Sade, however, could only offer a bitter smile. *Relaxed?* Of course you can be relaxed. Do you think the whole world can execute tactical evasion maneuvers with a 0.3-second interval like you? I'm just a normal person; what the hell am I supposed to relax?!

After walking a bit further, Yang Jiekai’s brow suddenly furrowed.

*Something’s wrong.* By all logic, since they had exposed their positions, the enemy should be closing in constantly. Yet, they had been walking for half an hour without a sound.

"Mr. Yang, there’s a landmine here." Sade pointed to a patch of grass in front of them and prepared to walk around it.

Yang Jiekai turned to look. As soon as he saw the poorly buried mine, his pupils constricted into dangerous pinpricks, and he roared, "Don't move!"