Looking toward the sound, Song Heping saw Kael.
The guy stood with his arms crossed over his chest, eyeing the British Army Captain with a teasing look.
Song Heping didn't expect Seal Team to be practicing at the nearby shooting range; he nodded slightly to Kael as a way of saying hello.
Kael responded with a smile and gave Song Heping a aningful look.
Of course, the British Army Captain recognized Kael as a mber of Seal Team.
Currently, Illigo had plunged into a law enforcent war, and Seal Team along with other US Special Forces mbers were deployed across various cities.
Their mission was to establish sniper teams to assist the Army and Marine Corps in patrolling the cities, setting up sniper watch posts at checkpoints or sensitive areas, and to instantly snipe mbers of Illigo Ard Organizations who took potshots at Arican soldiers.
But the Captain was not about to concede defeat.
Because conceding wasn't an option.
If he conceded, where would the Royal Navy's face be?
"Alben! You're up!"
The Captain turned and signaled to soone in his team, and a sergeant stepped forward.
"This is our sniper."
He said to Song Heping, "Who are you sending up?"
Song Heping pointed to himself, "."
A hint of unease flickered in the Captain's eyes.
Because of the remark Kael had just made.
Everyone imdiately spread out to clear the firing position, eager to see the outco of this encounter.
Many of the present US Army personnel were fairly familiar with Alben, as the coalition forces often worked together, and they had seen each other around.
This was a well-known sniper within the 3rd Assault Brigade.
His best sniping record was killing an Ard Organization rocketeer at a distance of 1,200 ters.
Being able to kill an enemy at 1,200 ters was already an outstanding achievent, although not the highest sniping record on the Illigo battlefield, it could still be categorized among the elite standards.
Alben was using the AWP sniper rifle, a favorite of the British forces.
This model of sniper rifle was extrely precise, with a 100% hit rate at 600 ters, ranking it among the world's finest rifles.
In his heart, the Captain had his own calculations.
"Musician Defense" was a newly rising PMC company, and although it was gaining montum lately, its core team mbers were not many.
PMC companies also valued heritage.
The Captain felt that even though "Musician Defense" had gained support from US military contacts, its own training level was only so-so.
The incident where Song Heping confronted the "Grim Reaper" in Mosul was only known internally by Seal Team, with no one else aware that Song Heping played a pivotal role in killing the "Grim Reaper."
Therefore, in the Captain's view, having a crushing advantage in equipnt was also a strength.
Under everyone's watchful eyes, Song Heping returned to his SUV, opened the trunk, took out a large black case, and carried it to the firing position.
"Guess which rifle he's going to use?"
"A PMC company, huh? Remington?"
"It's probably just an MK11 or sothing."
"Use those for long-range shooting? Are they up to it?"
Amidst the doubtful murmurs, Song Heping opened the large black PVC case to reveal the weapon inside.
"FUCK! What kind of rifle is that?"
"Looks like an SVD."
"Right, look at the receiver cover; it's an SVD."
All the Arican and British soldiers present could tell what it was.
Having been old hands on the battlefield, they were very familiar with Soviet-style firearms.
Especially in Illigo, where Soviet firearms were commonplace, and many even liked to collect these weapons to send back ho as souvenirs.
Seeing Song Heping's rifle, the Captain breathed a sigh of relief.
SVD?
He couldn't help but smile.
"Are we going for a long-range sniping contest?"
He asked Song Heping, full of confidence.
Song Heping, crouching and checking his rifle, didn't look up, "Whatever you want."
Hearing Song Heping's response, the soldiers nearby beca even more unsettled.
"Has this guy lost his mind? Why not stick to a distance of 600 ters?"
"Too arrogant, surely, whatever? You're joking, right? Set the target beyond 1,000 ters, with that rifle, even if it's modified, it doesn't have that kind of accuracy, does it?"
Among everyone, only Kael showed a look of envy on his face.
He recognized that rifle.
In Mosul, during that sniper duel, a total of two modified SVDs were captured.
He wanted them, but Mist had promised them to Song Heping, giving them all to Song Heping.
At that ti, Kael hadn't dared to say a word.
On the battlefield, whoever earned the credit took the spoils.
Although the credit for killing "Grim Reaper" was attributed to him, he knew that Song Heping's Desheka selective fire might have been the real ga-changer, and he'd only received the final record because he was a Seal Team mber.
A sniper's record is very important, the longest kill shot, the highest number of confird kills...
These are all a matter of reputation.
More important than a rifle.
So at that ti, Kael had scored a great deal and didn't press the issue over the two SVDs. Mist likely gave the rifles to Song Heping mostly as a gesture of appeasent.
What they didn't know was that, in Song Heping's eyes, the rifles were more important than any record.
Records ant nothing to him.
"Fine, you're bold enough!"
The Captain couldn't contain his joy anymore and his face was filled with smiles.
"Let's set it at 1200 ters then!"
He turned to his soldiers and commanded, "Go, set the target at a 1200-ter distance."
After speaking, he suddenly rembered sothing and shouted, "Wait!"
The soldiers who were about to set up the targets stopped in their tracks.
The Captain asked Song Heping, "What kind of target?"
Song Heping still didn't look up, "Head target."
Upon hearing this, the Captain was slightly taken aback.
He had thought at least it would be a chest ring target; at such a long distance, even a half-body target would be difficult enough.
This Chinese person in front of him actually asked for a head target?
The head target was so small...
He couldn't help but ask Alben in a low voice, "Are you confident with a head target?"
"It's challenging," Alben said, "With a single bullet, I've got about a 70% surety, but with two shots, I can definitely hit once."
After a pause, he added, "This guy is an idiot, right? He's using an SVD, aiming for 1200 ters and he wants to hit a head target?"
After hearing Alben's response, the Captain felt reassured.
"Good, then it's a head target!"
He turned around and sent soone to set up the target.
Then he asked Song Heping, "Do you need to zero the rifle?"
Song Heping shook his head.
The crowd of onlookers was growing.
The news had spread fast.
There is no lack of gossipers at a range, and soldiers are no exception.
If there's sothing exciting to watch, everyone wants to see.
Especially for the soldiers who perform guard duty and patrols every day, a little drama in their routine is more than welco.
No one was optimistic about Song Heping.
Everyone thought Song Heping was bound to lose.
Even Jiang Feng started to worry.
"Old squad leader, should I go back to the company and grab a good rifle? We have M24s and reloaded ammunition in the armory."
The company had indeed recently acquired 30 M24 sniper rifles, which were intended for the Illigo rcenaries, with plans to set up at least one sniper squad in each company. After all, in Illigo's current security climate, snipers were a necessity.
The reloaded ammunition was purchased at the request of Hunter and Queen because, compared to the 175 grain SMK ammunition commonly used by the M24, reloaded ammunition had higher precision, with accuracy that could be improved to within 0.5 minute of angle.
"No need."
Song Heping shook the bullet in his hand, "This is reloaded ammunition, custom-made. The charge is different from the standard 7N1 bullets used in most SVDs."
"But it's still 7.62!" Jiang Feng objected, "It can't fly very far."
Song Heping handed over the bullet, "Are you sure?"
Jiang Feng took the bullet, looked at it repeatedly, and weighed it in his hand.
"The craftsmanship is too fine, it seems heavier..."
Song Heping nodded, "What did you think? Top-notch stuff!"
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