Munitions Empire-Chapter 749 : Sniper in the Ruins of 708

Upon entering Xicong, the Dahua military soon realized the battlefield had taken on a different appearance: the Tang Army's camouflage uniforms were extremely difficult to identify within the city, and the combat became brutally vicious and bloody.

The Tang Army's automatic firepower held a pronounced advantage in urban warfare, with small units infiltrating the city's streets and alleys, proving a hundred times more agile and a hundred to a thousand times more formidable than the Dahua troops.

The grenadiers moved freely among the ruins, familiar with the terrain and easily entangling with the Empire's forces.

In an inconspicuous pile of rubble, a Tang sniper hidden in the corner was observing a squad of Dahua Empire soldiers that had just arrived through his scope.

These soldiers were completely off their guard; they also did not know that in a nearby corner, someone was watching them with an icy gaze.

They chatted and laughed as they began to prepare their lunch, and some even sat on piles of rocks, taking off their helmets. They had just fought a tough battle and eliminated a Tang soldier who had not managed to retreat in time.

The helmets of the Dahua Empire were quite distinctive, closely resembling those of the Germans, with a sharp spike on top—it was unclear whether this was for decoration or practical use in combat.

However, the quality of these spiked helmets was very poor, far from exquisite. Their protective capacity wasn't great either; the only advantage was that they were easy to recognize.

Therefore, it was very simple for the soldiers to identify each other; they just had to look for a spike on the top of the enemy's head.

Since it wasn't raining today, the Dahua soldiers did not wear the dark green raincoats—following Tang Country, many nations had started to design their military uniforms in green or khaki colors to improve their soldiers' concealment.

Those military uniforms in bright yellow, vibrant green, bright red, and sky blue from earlier years had disappeared, and everyone had started down the drab path of practical combat wear.

"Did you see that? I just killed a Tang Country soldier," boasted a young Dahua soldier, tidying his rifle while showing off to a comrade beside him.

On his wrist was a watch, clearly not his property. Judging by the model, this watch appeared to be a commemorative gift issued to infantry by the Dahua Empire upon completing one year of enlistment; it was likely that the Dahua soldier had stripped it from a dead body.

"I saw," replied the Dahua veteran, taking off his helmet and fiddling with his hair, answering absentmindedly, "He was surrounded and wouldn't surrender, so you got lucky."

Killing a Great Tang soldier was rewarded with a gold coin; anyone who managed to kill more than ten could be discharged and return home. It was an unlikely possibility, but such a reward system indeed existed within the Dahua military.

"I always feel a sinister presence here," complained the Dahua platoon leader, warily surveying his surroundings, to a squad leader by his side.

The squad leader nodded slightly, agreeing, "It's as if Tang soldiers are hiding in every building; I'm on edge to the point of insanity."

On their way, they encountered Tang soldiers in many inexplicable places, and fierce battles erupted at any moment, with considerable losses on both sides.

In fact, if it weren't for the higher-ups prohibiting retreat for any reason, they would have already broken down—here, there was no way to escape, and even surrender wasn't easy.

The distance of engagement was extremely short, requiring instant reactions—you could be tossing up your hands in surrender while your opponent had already thrown a grenade at your feet.

While they conversed, the sniper positioned above had already aimed his gun at the chest of the platoon leader, who had just felt the vicinity to be unsafe.

From the subtle differences in clothing, he could discern the enemy's rank. Cut down the commanding officer first, then the rest, a disorganized crowd, would be easy to handle.

"Bang!" Without any warning, a sudden shot rang out, and the platoon leader, who had just been talking to his subordinate, shook the water bottle in his hand before it dropped in front of his shoes.

The water flowing from the bottle mingled with the mud on the ground, splashing onto the leader's filthy boots.

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A second later, the seated platoon leader slumped over, cradling into the embrace of the squad leader. The Dahua squad leader saw the fresh blood on his superior's chest and instinctively looked toward the direction of the gunfire, forgetting to take cover in his shock.

Then he caught a glimpse of a glint in the corner of a window on the second floor of the ruins, and right after, his head was penetrated by a bullet.

It was at this moment that others began to realize that they might have been ambushed by a Tang sniper. They frantically started looking for cover, but couldn't find a completely safe spot right away.

"Bang!" The third shot echoed, and a Dahua soldier who stood up to run collapsed, clutching his stomach and writhing, trying to move away from the dangerous area.

A soldier who was just about to start cooking nearly tripped over his mess tin. As he bent down to pick it up, a bullet struck below his ribs, sending him crashing into his own pile of wood.

"Save me!" the soldier clutching his stomach wasn't dead yet, lying on the ground pleading to his comrades hidden in the distance, who dared not raise their heads.

But no one paid attention to him; everyone was frantically searching for the sniper who had attacked them, filled with hatred and ready to make the enemy pay.

Unfortunately, in the area they could see, there were gaps everywhere, collapsed walls, and rubble and debris scattered all around.

Clothes and bedding of various colors belonging to the civilians, along with some bedside wooden cabinets, were strewn among the ruins. To find a deliberately hidden enemy in such a short time was not an easy task.

However, the Tang Army sniper who had been observing from the shadows for quite some time was different; he almost remembered the location of every enemy, so it was easy for him to identify those men amid the colorful wreckage.

So he took aim calmly and fired again, hitting an enemy who was watching his position.

The Dahua soldier's head drooped powerlessly, leaning against the cover he was hiding behind, his helmet rolling off to the ground, still smudged with bright red blood.

The Dahua soldier who had been cooking no longer made a sound; just moments ago he had been crying and shouting, but now only his body could be seen heaving with rapid breaths.

The Dahua soldier clutching his stomach and calling for help was lying not far away. However, his condition was relatively okay, and he kept calling out annoyingly and restlessly.

The remaining Dahua soldiers had probably guessed the hiding spot of the Tang Army sniper, and so some of them had aimed their gun barrels toward the only half-remaining window in the ruins on the second floor, and many had even pulled their bolts back.

The first Dahua soldier who peeked out and took aim was shot directly in the forehead; the rest couldn't help but start firing at that window.

The dense bullets hit the wall around the window; some pierced through the remaining glass on the window ledge, making a sharp crackling sound.

After a round of intense shooting, the soldiers of Dahua started to advance cautiously, with those at the front continuing to fire, while the old soldier, bragging about his military exploits to a youngster, went around the low wall from the side, closing in on the two-story ruins that hadn't completely collapsed.

They climbed carefully onto the second floor, peeking at the position of that window. There was no one there anymore, though a few shell casings were still scattered on the floor.

"Don't shoot anymore! He's run off!" the old soldier didn't dare approach the second floor and shouted from a distance.

The young man following him found a neatly crafted mess tin in the corner, still steaming with hot soup.

He swallowed hard, walked over excitedly, and had just picked up the mess tin left behind by the enemy when he heard a crisp yet subtle click.

"Don't!" the old soldier wanted to stop the young man from touching the mess tin, but it was too late; everything he didn't want to see had already happened.

A grenade fell from behind the mess tin, its surface etched with horizontal and vertical lines like a piece of chocolate. Before the old soldier could take any defensive action, the grenade exploded violently amidst the ruins.

The old soldier was flung out by the shockwave, smashing through the window from which the sniper had fired, and plummeting straight down to the ground level outside.

The young man was also blasted away; one of his arms sent flying a great distance, still wearing the commemorative watch he had stripped from a corpse.

The soldiers from the Dahua Empire outside ceased firing; they assessed their losses. Both the squad leader and the section leader were dead, and the soldier who had been cooking had also taken his last breath.

The one with the stomach wound seemed to have a chance of survival, but whether he could wait for a medical officer to save him was anyone's guess. There was no need to check on the soldier who had been shot in the head; his brain matter had already sprayed out.

Both men who went after the sniper had been blasted away by the grenade; the young soldier was certainly dead, and the old soldier ejected was also dead.

A cunning 'booby trap' grenade took the lives of both men, also teaching the remaining Dahua soldiers a lesson: Don't rashly chase a retreating enemy; they might have already prepared an exit route.

They could no longer stay in this place; the Tang Army's artillery could cover the area at any moment. So, dragging along the unfortunate wounded, the remaining soldiers of Dahua left, leaving behind a field of corpses.

And on the street next to this battleground, the wrecks of more than twenty Dahua tanks, destroyed by anti-aircraft guns a few days ago, still lay scattered about.

The burning flames had been extinguished by the rain, and the charred, twisted bodies could still be seen inside the scorched tank hulls. In the distance, the rumbling of artillery fire never ceased, as if demons whispered incessantly in one's ears.

The battle of Xicong had just begun, but for the soldiers of the Dahua Empire, hell had already appeared before their eyes. This place was a trap meticulously prepared by the soldiers of the Great Tang Kingdom, where every corner could hide a lethal danger.