Chapter 28 A Catastrophe Worthy of Historical Epic
Translated by: kevin1782, Ciel (translator-checked)
Edited by: Isalee
Peeking up over the roof, Gao Yang surveyed his surroundings and didn’t see anybody on the rooftop.
He let Fedor come up only when he felt that the coast was clear. When Fedor did, the first thing he did was observe everything once again. It was out of a pure sniper’s instinct. He pointed out four high locations where snipers could possibly be hiding. After letting Gao Yang scan the four points with his binoculars, he then signaled for Gao Yang to crawl to the edge of the rooftop with him.
The rooftop was environed by a short-wall. It was half a meter tall and enough for a cover. Gao Yang squatted on the floor and used the binoculars to look at the garret[1] that he was most concerned about. He could already see the entirety of the hotel’s rooftop now. Even though he couldn’t see the garret’s entrance, he could see the stairway leading up to it.
Gao Yang’s heart began to race again when he saw the garret. That excitement quickly turned into worry. He was a good friend of Tribo’s; He was like a real brother. Whilst playing wargames, the two were often on the same team. They played together almost every single time. It was the same when they went out of town and they traveled across many lands together.
The reason why Gao Yang gave him the nickname “Hare” was because he was too good at running. When they first met, they were in a game that took place in a huge courtyard. Tribo’s team was almost wiped out. But even while Tribo was the only one that remained, he ran ‘all over the world’ with his “toy” air-sniper rifle. He took out the six people on the other team with his simple “toy” by tiring them out. Out of sheer disbelief at his audacity, Gao Yang gave him the nickname.
His legal name only invoked more teasing[2] and misunderstandings since it was so odd.. Hence, he was more willing to have others call him “Hare”, or even “Animal”. Just not “Tribo”.
Tribo’s greatest wish was to become a sniper. His body was very suitable, but sadly his eyes had very bad myopia. It was impossible for him to enlist in the army. He could only use the game as an alternative to partially satisfy his desire. When they became acquainted with each other, Tribo was still a student. His family condition was quite mediocre. When he got into the wargame, he even scrimped for two months, “biting buns” in fact [3], just to buy the cheapest “toy”. He was persistent in getting the gun model.
He couldn’t stay calm just thinking about how he would reunite with a brother whom he had not met for a long time in this sort of situation. He hoped that the one hiding at the top of the garret would be his good brother. He also hoped not. He was strongly conflicted on the inside.
Fedor noticed his anxiety. He patted him once as his voice sank. “You have to calm down. Take a deep breath. Do not let your emotions control you. Calm down.”
He took a few deep breaths and forced himself to calm down. He nodded at Fedor and gestured to him that he was alright. He then scanned the street on both sides.
The main street was already deserted. Even if there were people, they dashed by quickly and disappeared immediately. Gunshots rattled the streets; Gao Yang pa.s.sed the binoculars to Fedor. He took his chances by sticking out his head and glancing around quickly. What entered his view were three bodies at the main entrance of the shop right before him. There was also a barrel of diesel tossed at the side. He saw no guns on the ground, however.
Shrinking back his head, Gao Yang put the gun on the short wall. He tried to aim at the staircase. He had a clear line of fire and a pretty comfortable shooting position. He could easily lock onto the stairway by just adjusting the scope a.s.sembly properly.
After glancing around again, Fedor put down his binoculars and grimly said, “It’s the tranquility before a great storm. Soon this place will become the main battlefield. We are too close to those rioters and the main street. That hotel could better control the whole main street. I think those mercenary troops wouldn’t give up the hotel as a stronghold. Also, you see that house opposite the hotel? You have to be attentive to that house, ‘cuz they’re definitely gonna try and control that location, and form a crossfire point.”
He took the binoculars and focused on surveying the building opposite the hotel. Although there was no visible human activity, Gao Yang felt what Fedor’s words made a lot of sense. Unless the mercenaries were idiots, that place would have been taken as a point. This way, the two lines of fire would be able to lock the main street and even supply firepower support for each other.
After he was done observing, he said in a low tone, “You have to zero her. Even though it’s very dangerous, now that the gunshots are very concentrated, zeroing her won’t attract any attention. Just find a spot near that hotel. In this case, if you ever need to save your friend, the accuracy will be much higher.”
Gao Yang nodded and targeted the advertis.e.m.e.nt board beside the hotel. There was a huge human portrait on the board. It was perfect for zeroing.
After telling Fedor his target, he aimed the gun at the person’s left eye and fired. He was not eager to see the result. Instead, he reloaded quickly and used the scope to find where the bullet had landed.
“The shot’s at the 11 o’clock direction, a meter away.”
Fedor became Gao Yang’s spotter. Gao Yang quickly found the bullet’s location. He adjusted the gun and fired after aiming again.
“11 o’clock, 10 millimeters away. Very close.”
He shot the portrait’s left eye without any error with his third shot. It was right in the left eye. In order to ensure that the scope had been adjusted to its finest, Gao Yang shot two more times. Both hit the bull’s eye.
Fedor was very satisfied with Gao Yang’s display of marksmanship. For Gao Yang, he was astounded by the fact that the seventy-year-old gun could remain so accurate. Apart from that, he was very satisfied with her.
After reloading the gun, Fedor said in a low voice, “You know what’s the most important thing for a sniper?”
Gao Yang pondered before replying, “One shot one kill?”
“Killing the commander of the enemy?”
“Not being discovered?”
Every time Gao Yang gave an answer, Fedor would shake his head. Finally, he sternly said, “Those points are all essential, but the most important one is to make sure you don’t have a sniper out there against ya. If there is, get to killin’ him first before anything else. A sniper’s greatest nemesis is another one of themselves.”
Gao Yang nodded. “Got it. I will put the enemy’s sniper on my first-to-kill list.”
Fedor nodded and said, “Especially in this type of small-scaled and less intense battle, the enemy wouldn’t strike ya with artillery, nor would they strike from the air or with bombs. If this were a real battlefield, those ways wouldn’t be exaggerated. But fer’ now, ya just gotta finish the snipers off. Then ya’d be safe. ”
Fedor’s words were etched deeply into his mind. He also reviewed sniper tutorials before and knew the basics. However, he was not particularly interested in that role and thus spent less attention on it. Learning straight from the battlefield yielded the best results. Just by going through the actions once, he would engrave the experience deep in his mind.
Using the temporary tranquility, Fedor pa.s.sed on lots of information that was specific for a sniper to Gao Yang, such as: how to measure the wind speed, distance, and how to hide. All of those things could be easily learned. However, Fedor’s plethora of experiences as an old soldier was only gained through life and death scenarios. Those were not available in textbooks.
Gao Yang aimed straight at the rooftop of the hotel while Fedor consistently fed him with information. Fedor had kept this in his heart for too long. Now that he could pa.s.s it on, especially during a battle, he felt great satisfaction.
As Gao Yang was listening attentively to Fedor’s spoon-feeding style of lecturing, Fedor suddenly sensed that the situation had changed. He stopped and raised his binoculars.
The hotel was on Gao Yang’s right side. From Gao Yang’s left, approximately two hundred meters away, there were more than ten people that appeared on the street from an alleyway.
“Eleven people, let me see. Yup, they were locals. They have a machine gun, one RPG, and the rest were all AK-47s. Should be from some sort of Resistance Militias. d.a.m.n it, are these idiots gonna come here so blatantly like that?”
Gao Yang followed his gaze and saw that these men had no intention of hiding themselves. They were just straightforward with their a.s.sault. They pa.s.sed by his door and rushed towards the hotel without stopping. One of them started firing towards the main door when they were still around two hundred meters away.
When one of them fired, the rest of them seemed to get the signal. They just held onto their weapons and just fired at the hotel without even aiming. They ran while firing their weapons. Even the RPG dude fired at the hotel while running. He was knocked onto the floor sitting by the great kickback from the rocket firing. The rocket bounced off the garret and flew off to who-knows-where.
Seeing that the rocket was barely a few millimeters away from the garret, Gao Yang felt his heart beating at his throat. He really thought that the garret would be destroyed by that idiot’s rocket head in that instant.
When those eleven people rushed the remaining hundred meters to the hotel in such a jihadist manner, the hotel finally returned fire. A series of bullets poured from the hotel’s windows. Those idiots were almost packed together and so more than half went down in the rain of bullets. The remaining three or four turned and ran. They all fell within the first few steps. There were no survivors.
Fedor shook his head and gave a long sigh. “They were all civilians. I even recognized one of them. They only recently learned how to shoot and lack the most basic training. And there they go running to their own dooms. Ay, this is really a catastrophe worthy of an epic.”
After saying that, Fedor pointed to the ceiling of the hotel. “They are probably gonna take the rooftop, we gotta be careful.”
Just as he spoke, someone’s head peeked out from over the rooftop. Gao Yang did not intend on shooting immediately, but given that he had been aiming at the stairway the entire time while under great mental stress, he instinctively fired when the armed black man displayed half his body.
The man was facing Gao Yang right at that moment. His shot hit the target and the man’s crown of the man’s head was nicked by a bullet before he fell backward facing the sky, back down into the staircase that he had come from.
After firing, Gao Yang realized that he had made a mistake. Those people were just coming up to look around for a bit or maybe provide a little firepower from the rooftop. It was not to the extent where Tribo would be threatened while hiding in the garett. Yet his shot of his could have put Tribo in danger.
Translator’s notes:
[1] Garret = attic.
[2] Tribo in Chinese means (a pun of course, not the real phrase), ‘catalyst for erection’. ‘Cui’ is a common Chinese/Korean surname, but could mean to catalyze if you add a ‘man’ at the left side. ‘Bo’ means to be erected if added with the word ‘Qi’ (pun, not the real word. Sorry to disappoint. Tee hee!).
[3] ‘biting buns’: quite literally living off of bread in fact, for the West would be, ‘living off of humble pie’ cuz both the bun and the pie are cheap lol.