A sudden turn on the road, an uninvited observer

More than a dozen military vehicles slowly drove out of Li Family Village in silence.

There were no farewells, nor any curses.

Villagers crowded the village entrance, watching with numb, conflicted expressions as the convoy kicked up dust, watching the girl they had once regarded as a "bastard" ride farther and farther away in the jeep at the very front.

In the front of the jeep, Su Mingfeng held Nuannuan securely in his arms.

In her other hand, she clutched a small bundle wrapped in military canvas.

Inside were her mother's decaying belongings, along with her own heart-shaped stone.

Though the clothes and shoes were already in tatters, Nuannuan treasured them beyond measure.

Because they carried her mother's scent.

She did not turn back to look at the village where she had been born and raised (by her adoptive mother), but which had also brought her endless suffering.

She simply watched the rearview mirror in silence.

In the mirror, the dusty little village and those familiar yet unfamiliar figures rapidly grew smaller and blurrier, until they finally disappeared around a bend in the mountain road.

The moment the village vanished completely, Nuannuan's tense little face suddenly relaxed.

She let out a long breath, as though a crushing burden had been lifted from her shoulders.

The convoy traveled along the winding mountain road for roughly two hours.

The winter sun hung lazily overhead, dispelling the morning chill.

Inside the jeep, Su Mingfeng took off his heavy military greatcoat and draped it over the sleeping Nuannuan.

Everything seemed so peaceful and serene.

Yet just as the convoy passed through a narrow mountain valley, Nuannuan, who had been sleeping soundly, suddenly opened her eyes without warning.

Her body went rigid, her little face filled with agitation and unease.

"Uncle..." Her small hand gripped Su Mingfeng's arm tightly, her nails paling with the force.

"What's wrong, Nuannuan? Did you have a nightmare?" Su Mingfeng immediately noticed the change in her, slowed the jeep, and asked with concern.

Nuannuan did not answer. She merely tilted her head, as though listening to something.

Her brows were tightly knitted, her large eyes filled with fear.

Su Mingfeng followed her gaze, but outside the window there was nothing except bare rock faces and withered yellow grass.

"Nuannuan, tell me what you heard." Su Mingfeng's voice was steady and calm, with a reassuring strength.

He knew this was far more than a nightmare.

Nuannuan's little mouth trembled. Pointing at the slope outside the right-hand window, she spoke rapidly in a near whisper:

"A bird... a bird is calling..."

"It says... there's a bad man..."

"There's... there's a gun... that's a gun!"

She practically screamed the last two words.

A gun!

Su Mingfeng's pupils instantly contracted into dangerously narrow pinpoints!

He did not hesitate or even ask why. His combat instincts had already kicked in.

"Stop!"

With the briefest command over the radio, he brought the entire convoy to a halt.

Screeech-!

More than a dozen military vehicles let out piercing squeals of brakes almost simultaneously, coming to firm stops on the narrow mountain road.

"All personnel, stay alert! Enemy presence!"

Su Mingfeng's voice reached every vehicle through the radio.

In less than three seconds, every soldier in the guard company had reacted.

They opened the doors and took cover behind the military vehicles, raising their rifles in unison, their dark muzzles pointing in every direction.

In an instant, the moving convoy became an airtight battle fortress.

In the back seat, Su Mingzhe immediately drew the pistol at his waist, disengaged the safety, and surveyed their surroundings with a grave expression.

"Nuannuan, don't be afraid." Su Mingfeng sheltered her tightly in his arms. With one hand, he picked up the high-powered military binoculars on the passenger seat; with the other, he lowered his voice and asked as quickly as he could, "Tell me, where's the bad man?"

Nuannuan trembled all over with fright, but she forced down her fear and struggled to make out the crow's panicked cries in her mind.

The crow's cries were jumbled and shrill, filled with fear of some kind of long metal object.

"Three o'clock!" Nuannuan cowered fearfully in her uncle's arms as she accurately translated the coordinates the crow conveyed. "On... on the mountaintop, on that... bald tree branch!"

Three o'clock! The mountaintop! A bald tree branch!

Su Mingfeng immediately raised the binoculars and looked in the direction Nuannuan had indicated.

It was a mountaintop roughly eight hundred meters from the road as the crow flew, bare except for a few jagged, oddly shaped rocks and a dead tree that had lost all its leaves.

Through the binoculars' powerful magnification, he clearly saw a tiny, distinctly unnatural glint at the fork of the dead tree's highest branches!

That was... a sniper rifle's scope!

It was catching a slight glint of sunlight!

Without Nuannuan pinpointing its location, and without his top-grade military binoculars, spotting that detail from so far away would have been impossible!

Someone was watching them through a sniper scope!

Su Mingfeng's heart sank.

The other party had chosen an exceptionally tricky position, high above them with an open field of view that offered a clear look at the entire convoy.

Moreover, eight hundred meters was beyond the effective range of the vast majority of standard rifles of the time.

This was definitely an expert!

"Brother, what's going on?" Su Mingzhe had also realized how serious the situation was.

"There's a fly," Su Mingfeng said, lowering his binoculars, his eyes as cold as ice. "Watching us."

Not a large-scale ambush, just long-range observation.

Su Mingfeng immediately made his assessment.

They weren't looking to exchange fire. They were trying to confirm something.

Confirm what?

That letter!

It was one of Green Pine's people! They had caught up!

They must have noticed the unusual activity in Li Family Village and realized the dead drop might have been exposed, so they had sent someone to investigate!

What a fast response!

A chill crept up Su Mingfeng's spine.

He glanced at Nuannuan trembling in his arms, and an overwhelming killing intent surged through him.

Daring to target his niece-they were courting death!

He did not order anyone to pursue.

Recklessly pursuing a professional sniper through unfamiliar mountain terrain was extremely dangerous.

Besides, he had another plan.

From beneath his seat, he pulled out a Type 85 sniper rifle, likewise fitted with a scope.

This was his personal firearm, specially tuned for accuracy and range far beyond standard equipment.

He did not get out. He simply rolled down the window and rested the barrel on it, completing the movement in one fluid motion.

Through his scope, he quickly locked onto the glint.

He did not aim at the person. The distance was too great and the wind too unpredictable for him to be completely certain of the shot.

Instead, he aimed at the tree trunk about half a meter below the glint.

He was not shooting to kill, but to warn!

It was a counter-reconnaissance shot!

He wanted to tell the fly hiding in the shadows: You've been exposed!

Bang!

A crisp gunshot shattered the valley's silence.

The bullet whistled through the air, speeding precisely toward its target eight hundred meters away.

Almost at the very instant the shot rang out, the shadow lurking behind the branches on the mountaintop jolted in alarm.

He saw a bullet skim his scalp and slam into the tree trunk before him, sending wood chips flying.

The chill of death instantly shot from his tailbone to the crown of his head!

He'd been spotted!

Their group had a sharpshooter too! Someone capable of such precise shooting from so far away!

The hidden observer did not dare linger another moment. Like a startled monkey, he swiftly packed away his sniper rifle and scrambled out of sight over the other side of the ridge.

Through his scope, Su Mingfeng watched the figure flee in disarray, a cold smile curling his lips.

He put away his rifle, picked up the radio, and issued a new order.

"Threat cleared. Proceed at full speed! Notify logistics: change the planned route. We're not returning to the capital. Head straight for the western suburbs military airfield!"

"Yes, sir!"

The convoy set off again, moving twice as fast as before.

Su Mingzhe looked at his eldest brother's calm, decisive profile and asked, "Brother, why are we going to the airfield?"

As he drove, Su Mingfeng said coldly, "That fly got away. He'll definitely go back and report. We're too conspicuous on the road. There's no guarantee they won't set up a roadblock or an ambush ahead. We'll requisition a military transport at the western suburbs airfield and fly back."

"Fly... fly back?" Su Mingzhe froze.

He was actually going to deploy a military transport just to evade possible surveillance?

Wasn't that... making far too much of a minor issue?

But Su Mingfeng did not think so.

He lowered his head and glanced at Nuannuan, who was still shaken in his arms, his voice carrying an uncompromising resolve.

"From now on, anything that could possibly threaten Nuannuan must be completely strangled in the cradle, with the highest level of response and the most extreme measures."

"I will not allow any more mishaps."