About two seconds later, Mist saw a few tufts of dust kicked up on the concrete barrier beside Abu more than a kiloter away through the scope.
The dust and debris floated in the air like tiny smoke, especially noticeable in the sunlight.
Abu was clearly startled by the sudden attack. He instinctively tried to throw himself to the right to dodge the deadly bullets coming from behind.
Just as Mist thought Abu would dodge the attack with agile movents, and as Song Heping's bullets seed to veer off course and miss the target, suddenly, a large spray of blood burst from Abu's body.
The blood burst like a blooming red flower, all the more striking against the bleak backdrop of the sky.
Right after, Abu disappeared from the scope, as if swallowed by darkness.
"OH! MY GOD!"
Mist turned away from the scope and looked at Song Heping, his eyes filled with shock and disbelief.
He couldn't believe what he had seen, nor could he believe that Song Heping had managed to hit a target with an antiquated Desheka Heavy Machine Gun at such a distance.
Song Heping had thought he really missed, so he asked indifferently, "Missed? I tried my best, seems like our luck isn't great."
His tone lacked any hint of pride or excitent, as if all this had nothing to do with him.
Mist shook his head forcefully, exclaiming loudly, "No, you hit him! You damn well hit him!"
His tone was full of shock and admiration, imnsely impressed by Song Heping's marksmanship.
Song Heping sighed in relief and went to the side, dragging a chair to sit down.
He didn't appear overly thrilled or excited by hitting the target, instead, he seed very calm and composed.
"Good that I hit him."
He said lightly, as if it was all to be expected.
However, Mist couldn't remain as composed as Song Heping. He walked up to Song Heping, opened his hands wide and swung them vigorously in the air, making an emphatic gesture.
He excitedly said, "Song, aren't you astonished at all? You hit a person over sixteen hundred ters away with a heavy machine gun, and by visual aiming! It's like Hillary calling to ask to go have a hotel rendezvous with her tomorrow, it's simply impossible!"
Song Heping smiled and replied, "That's not necessarily impossible. Her husband has had an affair; she might indeed call you in revenge."
His response made Mist burst out laughing, lightening the mood in the room considerably.
At that mont, Chris's voice suddenly ca over the radio.
He shouted excitedly, "Boss, I hit him! I hit the sniper, the Mosul Reaper!"
Mist frowned, picking up the radio and asked, "Chris, what are you saying?"
His heart was full of confusion and incomprehension, having just witnessed the mont Song Heping hit the target.
"I said I hit the sniper, the Mosul Reaper!" Chris confird again.
"What?!" Mist instinctively glanced at Song Heping, searching his expression for answers.
However, Song Heping simply smiled lightly without any reaction, unaffected by Chris's belief that it was him and not Song Heping who had hit Abu.
"No, it wasn't you who hit him, it was Song. He took that guy down with the Desheka Heavy Machine Gun!" Mist declared determinedly.
He trusted what he had seen with his own eyes and believed in Song Heping's capabilities.
Yet, Chris could not accept this conclusion.
In his view, the Desheka Heavy Machine Guns used by the mbers of the Resistance Organization in Mosul didn't even have optical sights installed, which ant Song Heping had taken out a top-tier sniper over a thousand ters away with a chanical sight.
Such a notion sounded like a complete fairy tale, like hearing a story from One Thousand and One Nights.
"I witnessed it with my own eyes!" Mist stressed: "I'm not blind, Chris!"
"No, boss, right before I found the enemy sniper's position, and he just appeared in my crosshairs. I imdiately pulled the trigger, and I saw blood splash on him. I took down the Mosul Reaper!"
Chris was equally adamant about his judgnt, describing everything he had done before in an attempt to prove his point.
However, Mist wasn't entirely convinced by his words.
He knew that on this battlefield, anything could happen, and it might indeed have been a coincidence.
The two ended their conversation.
Mist said apologetically to Song Heping, "Song, this might be a misunderstanding."
Song Heping had been listening to their conversation and showed no discontent or complaint. He understood that on the battlefield, misunderstandings and coincidences were common occurrences.
He too fell into thought, pondering over the turn of events.
Maybe it really was a coincidence! He had fired, alarming the Mosul Reaper, who, while trying to evade, accidentally exposed his position, and Chris had been lying in wait at a distance, potentially finding him by sheer chance.
This explanation seed plausible.
"Whether it's a misunderstanding or not doesn't matter." Song Heping said nonchalantly: "Even if it's proven that I did it, are there rewards?"
His tone revealed his unconcern, as if such honors and rewards were not important to him.
Mist shook his head, "No rewards. But you really take it easy."
He was surprised at Song Heping's indifference and nonchalance.
Song Heping chuckled, "I'm a rcenary. If Chris took down the Mosul Reaper, he would receive comndations, maybe even an extra dal on his chest, right?"
There was a hint of sarcasm and resignation in his words, suggesting that the honors and rewards on this battleground of Illigo were all illusory.
He didn't bother to argue about such things, as it was aningless.
Song Heping never did things without aning; he focused only on the mission and objectives at hand.
An hour later, the gunfire in the city finally began to subside.
At last, the sound of armored vehicles and tanks' engines ca from downstairs, and the coalition soldiers started to enter the city, checking each room along the streets to ensure no ard personnel were hiding inside.
Mira ran upstairs, soaked in sweat, saying that coalition troops had appeared downstairs, and it looked like they were coming in to search.
Being a local and still holding a weapon, he was afraid he'd be mistakenly killed as a combatant.
Now, the nerves of those US soldiers were so frayed that incidents of mistaken identity and killing were rife, no wonder he was a bit tense.
Song Heping looked at the panicked Mira, feeling a trace of sadness in his heart.
The Illigo Freedom operation...
Song Heping was increasingly feeling the irony in the operation's codena.
Mist went downstairs himself to contact the Alliance forces' squad that had advanced to their location, then borrowed a Humvee to take both Song Heping and Mira to the building where Abu had been shot dead.
Upon reaching the ground floor, they happened to run into Chris, who arrived for the sa reason, to check the scene.
Without wasting words, they went straight upstairs and finally found Abu's body on the rooftop.
Ascending to the rooftop, they were greeted by the stench of blood in the air.
"Over here!"
Mist pointed to a pile of debris.
Although Abu's body wasn't yet in sight, a long trail of blood seeping from behind the pile of debris had already begun to congeal.
The group carefully approached from two sides, and all breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing Abu's body.
There was no way he could still be alive.
Two 12.7 caliber bullets had pierced through Abu's upper body, leaving behind two massive blood-soaked cavities, tearing out muscle and organs, with many splattering directly onto the heap of iron rods and wooden planks.
Mira frowned, her stomach churning; she quickly turned her head away, unable to bear the sight.
The scene was just too grueso.
Chris's face was ashen.
It was quite clear that Mist wasn't wrong, Song Heping's Desheka Heavy Machine Gun had hit Abu.
Because he had only fired once with his TAC-50 sniper rifle.
And he was very sure of that.
Now there were two bullet holes.
This ant that at least one shot had been fired by Song Heping, beyond doubt.
He instinctively looked in the direction of the building where Song Heping and Mist had been hiding.
He could barely make it out, but not clearly.
That China person had actually hit the Mosul Reaper hiding here from nearly sixteen hundred ters away with a Desheka Heavy Machine Gun using only iron sights...
How could he have clearly seen a human figure?
Is this guy even human?
Mist walked over and squatted beside Abu, intending to pick up the modified SVD sniper rifle that had fallen next to him.
He found that Abu's hand was clutching it tightly, impossible to pull free.
He had to use his other hand, exerting a great deal of effort before he could finally take the rifle.
"This is yours now, Song."
Mist kept his word; he had promised Song Heping that if he hit Abu, the rifle would belong to him.
Song Heping took the rifle, ejected the bullet from the chamber, examined it closely for a mont, and then lightly tossed it in his palm.
"It's him."
He sighed and his gaze returned to Abu, whose upper body had been almost shattered.
"Pity, he was a sharpshooter."
Then he walked over to Chris, extended his hand, "Congratulations on taking down the Mosul Reaper."
Chris was stunned.
He did not move.
Nor did he understand what Song Heping was implying.
Song Heping said, "Two bullet holes, one yours, one mine. Let's say we hit him together, but I don't need the credit. Don't ntion when you write your report."
Having finished speaking, Song Heping turned and left, heading downstairs.
It took Chris a while to regain his composure, and when he turned back, he found that Song Heping was already gone.
"What does that an?"
Chris asked Mist.
Mist shrugged: "He said he doesn't need that kind of rit."
Chris had indeed planned to argue it out; he had thought...
After all, there were two bullet holes, and both the Desheka and the TAC-50 fired 12.7 caliber bullets.
After the brief ntal void that he had experienced earlier, he realized that he had to claim that one of the shots was his.
But Song Heping had no intention of disputing with him and had given the credit to him directly, even telling him not to ntion his na.
This left Chris feeling like he had mustered all his energy to throw a heavy punch, only to find his opponent had vanished without a trace...
And still it made him feel ashad and angry, yet with a slight heartfelt admiration...
He turned around in a daze and silently left the rooftop.
At the entrance to the stairwell, Mist called out to him.
"Chris!"
"Boss..."
He turned around, gazing blankly at Mist.
Mist squatted beside Abu's body, seemingly pondering a difficult decision; eventually, he steeled himself, pulled a face, and said, "Both shots ca from behind, exiting through the front."
Having said that, he stood up and left the rooftop before Chris could recover, leaving Chris alone amidst the disordered wind.
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