Sniper Showdown

Su Lixiao hid behind the cover.

She could feel the leader gradually closing in, and she could also guess his intention.

Indeed, her stamina had been greatly consumed, but that didn’t mean she had lost the ability to fight back.

But suddenly, every hair on her body stood on end, because she felt a sharp force coming from afar, drilling straight into her brow.

Almost by instinct, Su Lixiao dodged.

“Bang!”

A sniper bullet struck the cover behind her, while a few strands of her hair floated weakly down.

This squad had a fifth member—the sniper who had not yet revealed himself.

And now, he finally appeared, delivering an extremely lethal strike.

The leader had been waiting for the moment Su Lixiao dodged.

Using the strength of his exoskeleton, he leapt several meters, pressing down on Su Lixiao from above.

Just like how Su Lixiao had ambushed him at the start, now he attacked her in the same way.

This strike was unavoidable.

But Su Lixiao had no intention of dodging.

She even put away her tactical dagger and quickly assumed a martial arts stance.

Seeing Su Lixiao’s stance, the worst possibility flashed in the leader’s mind.

He was midair, and his exoskeleton had no thrusters—so the one who couldn’t dodge, in truth, was him.

The two machine gunners continued to suppress with firepower, unaware of what was happening behind the cover.

They only saw something fly out of the exploding smoke.

When they looked closer, they realized it was their own captain.

Su Lixiao had redirected his downward force into a horizontal direction, using minimal effort to overcome great force.

After all, brute force wasn’t her only tactic.

“Boom! Crash—”

The leader was blasted back dozens of meters, crashing into a broken wall that barely stopped him.

But the impact also destroyed the wall, burying him in rubble.

Thanks to his exoskeleton cushioning the fall, he wasn’t severely injured.

Covered in dust, the leader struggled to stand from the debris.

He shouted at the gunners:

“Full fire! Use up all the coolant! Even if your guns burn out, leave her here!”

By now, the leader had lost all calm judgment.

But it was understandable.

He never expected Su Lixiao to not only be strong and fast, but also skilled in martial arts.

What kind of troublesome freshman was this?

Physically, there was no way to subdue her anymore.

The only option was to weaken her shield below 10% and count it as a “knockout.”

As the two machine guns prepared to unleash their firepower, a blue laser shot from a nearby building, precisely hitting one of them.

That laser gun was already overheated from continuous firing.

The blue beam was like a spark igniting a powder keg.

“Bang!”

“Ahh!”

The energy weapon exploded violently.

One gunner screamed in pain, his shield shattered to a thin layer—almost marked as “knocked out.”

“It’s a sniper! Everyone down!”

The enemy sniper’s appearance cooled the leader’s overloaded brain.

He immediately thought of his deputy and shouted into comms:

“Vice-captain! Where are you?”

“…I… (zzzt)… got ambushed… (zzzt)… forget it…”

The static-filled voice told the leader the deputy had been hit by EMP.

The blue laser fired again, striking the second machine gun.

But this gunner had learned his lesson.

The moment his weapon was hit, he threw it away and ran, avoiding his shield getting destroyed.

This time, the leader caught a glimpse—the laser came from the upper floor of a building.

At that angle, bullets couldn’t reach.

Unless they used heavy weapons to demolish the building, they had no way to deal with this sniper.

It seemed this defeat was inevitable.

Still, the leader wasn’t ready to give up.

He made a secret hand signal again.

Su Lixiao felt the suppression fire stop.

As she peeked out from behind cover, she sensed a sharp presence moving in the distance.

The sniper!

But this time, his target wasn’t her.

It was Ye Lan, hidden in the building.

Su Lixiao’s heart tightened like a clenched fist.

“Lan!” she shouted.

But even she didn’t know if Ye Lan could hear her amid the chaos.

…

Inside the building, Ye Lan had just fired two shots to relieve Su Lixiao’s crisis.

But as he was about to breathe a sigh of relief, his heart suddenly pounded.

A rush of adrenaline screamed danger.

That sharp, subtle aura told him—it was the enemy sniper.

And not just any sniper.

Ye Lan could feel a trace of killing intent in that aura.

This meant the opponent had truly killed before—not a student.

Yet, the killing intent felt immature, unrefined, poorly concealed.

Honestly, Ye Lan didn’t want to face such an opponent so soon.

But forced by the situation, he had no choice.

A red dot landed on Ye Lan’s forehead.

At the same time, his scope locked onto a reflection in the distance.

Both snipers pulled the trigger almost simultaneously.

“Hiss~”

A surge of heat exhaust vented from Ye Lan’s sniper rifle, its energy cell dropping rapidly, showing its immense power.

This was an [E-series Universal Anti-Materiel Energy Sniper Rifle].

Even for freshmen, its “anti-materiel” name was no exaggeration—it could damage armored units.

“Clang~”

A golden brass shell ejected from the other rifle, clattering on the ground.

This was a purely mechanical weapon using kinetic bullets, durable and unaffected by environment—still valuable even now.

The blazing laser beam and the spinning bullet crossed paths midair, like strangers brushing shoulders, each intent only on its own target.

But were their trajectories truly identical?

The instant the blue laser filled his vision, the senior sniper thought he had gone blind.

Even closing his eyes, the afterimage lingered.

The stench of burning metal rose from his rifle.

It meant he had lost.

The laser had struck his weapon, the heat causing irreversible damage.

Without his shield, it would’ve been more than just the gun destroyed.

Meanwhile, Ye Lan allowed himself the faintest smile.

Behind him, a fresh bullet hole marked the wall.

A hair’s breadth off—yet in this duel, he was the victor.

Lasers were harmless against shields, barely wounding.

But their extreme heat was devastating against bullets—eroding, even melting them.

Inevitably, the bullet’s aerodynamics would warp, diverting its path.

Ye Lan had gambled—gambling that his opponent was also highly skilled.

Otherwise, their trajectories would never have aligned.

And he had won that gamble.

Now, the senior squad had no one left to threaten him and Su Lixiao—unless the deputy’s gear recovered.

Ye Lan slung his rifle onto his back and leapt from the window.

No haystack waited below.

But he hadn’t planned to jump freely.

He had already secured a grappling hook, sliding down the rope with ease.

“Lan! You’re okay!”

As soon as he landed, Su Lixiao rushed up, checking him all over before finally relaxing.

Then, noticing the silver-white exoskeleton on his joints, she asked curiously:

“What’s this?”

“Exoskeleton. Got it off a ‘Goblin’ deal.” Ye Lan explained.

“It boosts my strength a little.”

Su Lixiao circled him with great interest.

“Next time you see a ‘Goblin,’ get one for me too?”

“That’s if I ever meet one again,” Ye Lan replied with a bitter smile.

He didn’t even know if he was already blacklisted.

Most ‘Goblin’ trades were chance encounters anyway, and usually with swindlers.

“Alright. This stage of the mission’s done—we need to move on to the next.”

Although they had secured their weapons, Ye Lan didn’t want to waste time fighting upperclassmen.

“Then let’s go!”

As if nothing had happened, Su Lixiao skipped ahead cheerfully.

Ye Lan watched the joyful girl, smiled faintly, and hurried to follow.

…

The deputy, his exoskeleton reactivated, crawled out of rubble.

He rejoined the others just in time to see Ye Lan and Su Lixiao leaving.

“Do we pursue?”

“No. If we push, we’ll lose more people.”

Though reluctant, the leader conceded.

Their squad wasn’t truly crippled.

The school would replace lost weapons.

As long as no one was “knocked out,” it was fine.

Still, for such a well-equipped team to be humiliated by two freshmen—utterly embarrassing.

“Captain, I request to leave the squad.”

The sniper, cloaked in black, holding her scorched rifle, spoke calmly.

The leader was taken aback.

“Why not stay? There’s just one day left. We can end peacefully.”

The sniper’s emerald eyes stared at him silently.

He saw unwillingness, anger, frustration—yet above all, confusion.

She wasn’t upset at losing.

She was confused—confused why she lost.

“…Alright. Go.”

The leader respected her choice, even if it cost them their sharpest weapon.

The sniper nodded, silently walking in the direction Ye Lan and Su Lixiao had gone.

The others made way for her.

[“Dark Bullet” has left the squad]