13: Silent Sniping

"Hum—"

An extremely faint hum, like the vibration of a mosquito's wings on a summer night, flashed and vanished.

The small pebble, which had been entrusted with "high hopes," disappeared the moment it left the leather pocket.

Yes.

Disappeared.

It didn't trace any visible trajectory, nor did it stir even a trace of wind.

It was as if it had never been shot at all.

Shangguan Zhibiao blinked subconsciously, a look of blank bewilderment on his face.

Was it shot?

That's it?

He even wondered if Chen Xi's hand had slipped just now, dropping the pebble on the ground.

The live stream's bullet chat, after a brief silence, began to surge again.

【That's it? All talk and no action.】

【Shot into the void?】

【LMAO, I feel like I make more noise than this when I'm using a slingshot to hunt birds.】

But in the next second.

All the mocking bullet chats came to an abrupt halt.

Because, through Chen Xi's live stream lens—which was as steady as if mounted on a tripod—

Everyone clearly saw...

Three hundred meters away, behind that broken wall.

The head of that Japanese Army Machine Gunner, who was firing frantically, was struck hard as if by an invisible bullet.

A soft "thud."

The sound was very light, as light as a ripe tomato hitting the ground.

His helmet dented inward violently right in the center, and then a fist-sized hole exploded out.

Red, white, and viscous liquid, mixed with skull fragments, instantly spewed out, drawing a short, eerie arc in the air.

His body, like a sack with all the bones removed, slumped forward limply, pressing down on that scalding hot type 92 heavy machine gun.

The machine gun's roar came to an abrupt halt.

The entire northern side of the battlefield fell into an eerie, suffocating silence.

The Assistant Gunner froze for half a second before trying to push his companion's body away in terror.

But as soon as his hand touched it, the corpse slid to the side, revealing that transparent, steaming blood hole that went straight through from front to back.

"Boom!"

It was like a bolt of divine lightning from the nine heavens had struck everyone's skull.

The gun in Shangguan Zhibiao's hand hit the ground with a "clatter," but he didn't even notice.

He just stood there with his mouth open, eyes bulging like a dead fish, staring fixedly at the motionless figure slumped over the machine gun; strange "gurgling" sounds came from his throat like a broken bellows, wanting to say something but unable to utter a single word.

Several Soldiers behind him collapsed directly onto the ground, their faces filled with expressions as if they'd seen a ghost, their crotches soaked wet.

And Xie Jinyuan.

This iron-blooded scholar-general, who had never changed his expression no matter what desperate situation he faced since the war began.

At this moment, the hand he was holding the binoculars with was trembling violently and uncontrollably to a visible degree.

The image he saw was clearer and more terrifying than anyone else's.

He saw with his own eyes how that tiny pebble silently tore through the air and then easily drilled into the Machine Gunner's head like it was drilling through tofu.

No explosion.

No firelight.

Only pure, savage, and completely unreasonable physical penetration.

In the live stream room.

After a full ten seconds of absolute silence, without even a single punctuation mark—

The bullet chat completely flooded the entire screen like a tsunami.

【HOLY SHIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!】

【Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck!!! What just happened?!】

【Headshot... a headshot? From 300 meters? With a pebble? Through a helmet?!】

【Fake! This is definitely fucking fake! Does physics not exist anymore?! Newton's coffin lid can't hold him down anymore!!!】

【What kind of hack is this?! Aimbot? Auto-aim? Bullet tracking? No! This is a fucking causal-law weapon! If I say you die, you die?!】

【I take back what I said! Master Xi! You are the true immortal! You are the Jade Emperor! I'm kowtowing to you!】

Chen Xi ignored the commotion behind him and didn't look at the carnival in the bullet chat.

There wasn't a hint of joy on his face.

Only coldness.

Like the eternal ice deep beneath the Siberian permafrost.

He slowly picked up another pebble from the ground.

Same size, same smoothness.

He placed the pebble in the leather pocket and pulled the red slingshot taut once again.

This time, his target was the Assistant Gunner who was just reacting from the shock, scrambling and crawling in an attempt to escape.

"Hum—"

Another soft hum.

The Assistant Gunner had only run two steps when his body suddenly stiffened, as if slammed into the ground by a giant invisible hand.

At the center of his back, a blood hole of the same size was gurgling blood outward.

Two shots.

Two lives.

One machine gun position, completely neutralized.

Chen Xi's movements didn't pause.

The third pebble was loaded into the slingshot by him.

This time, his sights were aimed at the type 92 infantry gun that was still emitting green smoke.

【Target Locked: type 92 infantry gun barrel】

【Analyzing structural weaknesses...】

【Analysis complete. Suggested attack point: the weld seam in the middle of the barrel.】

Release.

The pebble disappeared again.

In the ruins, the Japanese Army Artillery Chief, who was holding binoculars and commanding, suddenly felt something fly past his ear with a "whoosh."

Before he could react.

He heard a crisp "ding."

The sound wasn't loud, like someone had lightly tapped his beloved infantry gun with a small hammer.

He lowered his binoculars in confusion.

Then, he saw that the sturdy barrel—forged from the Empire's finest special steel and capable of withstanding thousands of firings—had a fine crack appearing in the middle.

The crack spread rapidly like a spiderweb.

"Crack... crack..."

Under the horrified gazes of the three gunners, the entire barrel snapped into two pieces and fell to the ground with a "clang."

This moment brought an even greater shock than the headshot just now.

To kill, one can use guns, cannons, or knives.

But from three hundred meters away, using a pebble to break a solid steel cannon barrel?

What kind of concept was this?!

This was a myth!

A power that only gods and demons in legends could possess!

"A monster... it's a monster!!!"

The Artillery Chief completely broke down; he threw away the binoculars in his hand, let out a scream that didn't sound human, and turned to flee.

But Chen Xi did not give him the chance.

Like an emotionless God of Death, he began the final roll call.

The fourth pebble.

The Artillery Chief's left knee exploded into a cloud of blood. He fell forward, screaming.

The fifth pebble.

A gunner who was about to help him had his chest pierced and fell backward.

The sixth pebble.

The last standing gunner was hit directly through the neck, blood spraying like a fire hydrant.

Having done all this, Chen Xi finally lowered the slingshot.

He didn't look again at the Artillery Chief with the broken leg, who was writhing and howling on the ground like a maggot.

He slowly turned around.

He looked at the group of compatriots behind him, who had completely turned into stone statues.

"Done."

He said softly.

The voice wasn't loud, yet it was like a heavy hammer slamming into everyone's heart.