Fatal Shot
chapter-22

Pang!

A Level-25 Mutant Wild Boar's head was burst open by the 5.0mm AE bullet of the Desert Eagle. Feng Luo, wearing his camouflage combat uniform, walked out of the Forest of Exiles.

Relying upon the twofold movement speed increase from the rare combat boots and his Desert Eagle, Feng Luo completed the return journey within an hour. The thing he needed to do right now was to quickly head into town and submit the mission completion request and remove his red name status. However, the moment he exited the forest, he noticed a person standing in a bush beside the intersection, waving at him.

"Yellow-tooth?"

Feng Luo was dumbfounded as his eyes narrowed. After that, he remembered that his map was from Yellow-tooth, so he guessed that Yellow-tooth had probably deduced his point of exit from that. But why would Yellow-tooth be waiting for him here?

At first, Yellow-tooth crouched on the roadside and smoked his cigarettes. The moment he saw Feng Luo, he stood up and got straight to the point. "I say! Brother, did you offend someone from the Roaring Dragon Mercenary Group?"

Feng Luo frowned. The Roaring Dragon Mercenary Group moved faster than he expected. They actually pursued him all the way to the Town of Exiles just from one incident of conflict, were they not over exaggerating a little? Could it be that that guy called Roaring Dragon Ruinous Star actually had a unique status in the mercenary group?

"Why?" he asked. "Have people from the Roaring Dragon Mercenary Group reached the Town of Exiles?"

"Not to this extent…" said Yellow-tooth. "However, they already sent out wanted posters to everyone. They put a 5,000 credit reward on you. A lot of people in the Red City are looking for you right now." He looked at Feng Luo and used his middle finger to flick his cigarette with a playful expression. "Brother, you sure have bad luck. The Roaring Dragon Mercenary Group is a group that seeks revenge even for the smallest grievances. Moreover, they're kind of reckless in how they handle things—"

"You waited for me here specifically," Feng Luo cut in. At the same time, his eyes scanned the surrounding quietly. "It can't be that you're here just to give me a reminder, right?"

"Heh! A situation like yours is relatively common in Red Cities," said Yellow-tooth. "So there are people who specialize in the protection business, receiving a certain amount of money to ensure that you aren't killed while you are in the Red City. I can be your intermediary!"

After stating his objective, Yellow-tooth cracked a wide smile and exposed his signature row of yellow teeth.

"Oh? And what's the price?" Feng Luo said, wondering if he was being overly suspicious since he saw no traces of an ambush in his surroundings.

"10,000 credits to ensure that you are safe within the vicinity of the Red City and the town for one day," said Yellow-tooth. "They require 50 percent as a deposit. Apart from that, I will take 1,000 credits as commission."

Hearing the words from Yellow-tooth, Feng Luo was genuinely interested. "11,000 credits? This sure is profitable for you guys!"

He was now a red name. If he were to be killed by someone, he would drop one level and most certainly drop equipment. Moreover, if he was killed while he was a red-name player, after revival, he would have to be placed inside the federal prison for a while—a bit like a ban in other games.

Whether the cost was in time or experience, the loss of credits was huge! But the critical factor was that he still needed to enter the Town of Exiles to complete his mission, and he was most certainly going to receive the blueprint of the Eye of the Thunder gun barrel. There was definitely a risk of getting killed.

As for why Yellow-tooth chose to protect him rather than to kill him, this was easy to understand. It was because although the Roaring Dragon Mercenary Group promised 5,000 credits per level if one were to kill him, at most, one would earn 5,000 credits. Feng Luo's place of revival was in Silvermoon City. In addition, a red-name player would be imprisoned for some time after revival, so, in the short term, one could only kill him once, at most.

By comparison, choosing to protect him would ensure Yellow-tooth a profit of 10,000 credits. As such, in terms of believing the words of Yellow-tooth, Feng Luo was about 70 percent convinced!

Of course, Feng Luo did not believe Yellow-tooth's words when it came to the Roaring Dragon Mercenary Group informing everyone in the Town of Exiles that he was wanted. The wanted orders of players could not be communicated through a system announcement. At most, they could announce it in the forums or perhaps in a public chatroom. With the high flow of players within the Town of Exiles, the number of people paying attention to the news would be limited.

The words of Yellow-tooth were mostly attempts to intentionally make the matter seem more serious than it was so that Feng Luo would be willing to pay for his peace of mind. This type of sales method was very old-school! However, considering the importance of the Eye of the Thunder gun barrel blueprint, Feng Luo indeed wanted to avoid an accident. He was prepared to agree to the terms. After all, compared to the blueprint of a piece of Rare-grade equipment, 10,000 credits wasn't that expensive!

But at that moment, Feng Luo's eyes detected a flash of light.

"Huh?" Feng Luo felt a chill crawl up his spine.

For a normal person, this type of flash, which vanished instantly, would have been ignored. As a Sniper, however, Feng Luo was all too familiar with this sort of situation. It was a situation that occurred when a person's head was within the sights of a sniper rifle. The flash of light was a phenomenon created when the scope of the sniper rifle moved past the eye!

A sniper! Feng Luo's heart sank, but his face remained calm. Is it an ambush? Or perhaps is it a player just passing by.

Feng Luo immediately eliminated the latter explanation. No passerby would intentionally aim their sniper rifle at someone else's head unless he had ulterior motives. The only explanation was that they were friends of Yellow-tooth!

It seems I have underestimated the intelligence of Yellow-tooth!

Feng Luo's brain raced as he suddenly thought of another possibility. It was very likely that the real intention of Yellow-tooth was to broker a deal between Feng Luo and his friends, but after receiving his commission and the deposit, he would think of a way to sell him out and claim the reward from the Roaring Dragon Mercenary Group, too. Not only would he earn more, but it did not require much time or effort. Plus, he would not offend the Roaring Dragon Mercenary Group. Feng Luo even suspected that Yellow-tooth had ideas about acquiring his mission reward. It was possible that someone as perceptive as Yellow-tooth had deduced that the reward for the mission was uncommon based on their previous conversation.

What a well-calculated plan! thought Feng Luo. However, does he not fear to destroy his reputation?

Feng Luo felt troubled. Logically, people in Yellow-tooth's line of work needed to value their reputation; if he broke the rules and lost the trust of others, how could he continue with his work?

After a while, though, Feng Luo came to his senses. This was a game, not reality! In reality, brokers and informants in the mercenary industry who did this were certain to die. But in a game, death only meant losing one level, and if they really couldn't survive, they could easily just delete their account, create a new avatar, and go back to conning people!

As this thought passed through his mind, Feng Luo felt a chill, but his face remained still.

The accident with the reflection of the light from the scope had exposed Yellow-tooth's plan. It was a coincidence.

Yellow-tooth's profession was that of a Machine Gunner. Although he was also a Gunner, it was highly likely that he did not know it was possible to detect the reflection of light caused by the scope of a sniper rifle being aimed at someone's head.

Professional snipers usually equipped sun shields on their scopes to counteract the effect. The only problem was that doing so would reduce the brightness of the sniper's vision substantially, which greatly affected players. As such, most players chose not to use them.

A non-Sniper would most likely not notice a phenomenon like the flash, which only occurred occasionally. After all, it only affected people at certain angles, so the probability of being exposed was actually quite low.

Unfortunately for them, Feng Luo was a Sniper—a top-notch Sniper!

"What are the details of the capabilities of the group of people you mentioned?" Feng Luo asked, intentionally making it seem like he was interested but still hesitant. He tried to get more from Yellow-tooth. "Do you have some idea of their levels and stats?"

"Everyone is above Level 43," said Yellow-tooth. "The highest is a Level-47 Light Armor Warrior. Relax. Since they're brave enough to take on the job, they are definitely capable of completing it." He flicked and discarded the burnt out cigarette in his hand, smiling. He clearly felt that his plan was almost successful, so he was feeling quite happy.

"Yeah, a Level-47 Light Armor Warrior. is indeed an expert," Feng Luo said calmly. "All right, I agree to it, but I want to see the person before we get into the details!"

"No problem. I'll contact them right now." Yellow-tooth looked delighted as he lowered his head to send messages through his communicator.

Just as Yellow-tooth was in the midst of calling someone through the communicator, Feng Luo suddenly asked in a fairly casual manner, "Oh yeah, and how many people did you guys prepare to ambush me?"

"Five—you!" Yellow-tooth muttered half a sentence before reacting. He looked shocked, then immediately moved his hand toward the pistol hanging on his combat belt.

However, the ATAK tactical military knife, emanating a chilly aura, had already punctured through the defense of his combat uniform like a mad dog gnashing its teeth. Feng Luo laughed coldly. A bloodied knife tip that glittered like frost and snow emerged out of Yellow-tooth's back.

−2850!

A red damage number nearing 3,000 appeared overtop of his head. A white flash of light immediately passed through Yellow-tooth's body.

"I hate being tricked!" Feng Luo said coldly as he stared into Yellow-tooth's eyes, the knife still in his hand.