Chapter 258: 258, Mysterious sniper

Ren Xiaosu carefully recalled the message Tang Zhou had told him two days prior—that the Qing family had indeed driven back the Shenji Camp, though Tang Zhou had not specified how many they had repelled.

But now, with everyone cooperating so harmoniously, neither Qing Zhen nor Tang Zhou would dare to betray him, and though Qing Zhen was proud, he had always been reliable and trustworthy in his dealings. Something must have gone wrong in between.

Ren Xiaosu observed the two nano-warriors approaching, and to his astonishment, he noticed their faces were etched with panic—an inexplicable reaction.

They were already deep within Li's territory, where Li's combat units were stationed every dozen kilometers or so. The Shenji Camp should not have retreated here in such fear.

Could it be that they had encountered other enemies along the way?

Wait—could it be Li's divine altar? Ren Xiaosu knew that Li's divine altar had vanished with an entire combat brigade. Given the enmity between Li's divine altar and Li's family, it was possible they had indeed arrived at the battlefield, ambushing the Shenji Camp from behind.

As the two Shenji Camp wounded stepped into the thorny vines, Ren Xiaosu controlled the vines to tightly bind them.

The two Shenji Camp officers were already defeated, utterly powerless to struggle.

After confirming no one else was around, Ren Xiaosu emerged from the snow, and the two officers, trembling with fear, realized someone had crawled out of the snow—this terrifying vine seemed to be manipulated by human hands!

Ren Xiaosu did not kill them immediately but approached, frowning, and asked, "Where are the others from your Shenji Camp?"

The Shenji Camp officer gritted his teeth in pain and roared, "Who are you! What do you want! Why are you wearing our Shenji Camp uniform!?"

Ren Xiaosu glanced at his own uniform and replied irritably, "Didn't you give this to us?"

The two officers froze—what did that mean?

Wait, they suddenly remembered. The youth before them was from that private force!

But why would that private force harbor someone capable of controlling such terrifying plants?

It must be a spy!

This youth must be a spy!

The two officers suddenly grasped something, and one of them bellowed angrily, "It was you who exposed our location, which is why Qing's family set up an ambush for us!"

"Cough cough, what are you talking about? I don't understand," Ren Xiaosu asked, "Let me ask you again—where are the others from your Shenji Camp? Were they ambushed by some strange force? If no one answers, I'll ask again in a moment."

"They're twenty-some kilometers behind us. If you have the guts, go see for yourself," the Shenji Camp officer snarled.

Ren Xiaosu hummed in acknowledgment, then decisively used the thorny vines to kill them. He was puzzled why the two had acted alone—perhaps only by heading further north would he find out.

He stripped the nanobots from their bodies, then rummaged through their pockets, tossing their weapons into his storage space.

The food consumed at the outpost had been considerable, and his storage space was now somewhat empty.

Yet Ren Xiaosu did not leave in haste. He dug in the snow for a long while before finally finding the dozen or so poker cards he had hidden there early on.

He had thought many Shenji Camp units would pass through here, so he had even used explosive poker cards. But as it turned out, it was all in vain, and he had wasted many gratitude coins to plant a dozen thorny vines.

Explosive poker cards could be recovered, but once planted, the thorny vines could not be uprooted.

After retrieving all the explosive poker cards, Ren Xiaosu headed north. His current location was at Tantou Mountain; heading further north would bring him into Fengyi Mountain's domain. Trudging through snow was no hardship for him, but he had to be cautious to avoid exposure.

He set out in the morning, and by the time he reached Fengyi Mountain, it was afternoon. Just as he crested a small hill, he halted—before him lay a Shenji Camp officer, his blood staining a patch of snow pink.

The blood was not flowing but had been splattered!

In that moment, Ren Xiaosu understood the oddity. The Shenji Camp officer, in retreat, had encountered a sniper—the entire Shenji Camp had perished except for the two he had just seen.

Before dying, the two officers had tried to lure him, the spy, to this sniper-ambushed battlefield. Since he wore Shenji Camp's uniform, coming here would make him a target as well.

To say the Shenji Camp officers were resolute—upon death, their first thought was not to beg for mercy, but to drag Ren Xiaosu into their trap.

But the sniper should have already left. The time Ren Xiaosu had spent standing in the snow, pondering, was more than enough for an excellent sniper to kill him. Yet no bullets came.

Moreover, the sniper's attack should have occurred long ago. There was no reason for the sniper to linger here once the mission was complete.

Yet why had this mysterious sniper appeared here? Was it Qing's? Unlikely—Qing's forces in the rear were only Tang Zhou's people, a fact Tang Zhou had confirmed.

Then who else could it be? Yang's!

Ren Xiaosu searched the snow for a long while, but when he found the sniper bullet, he was slightly disappointed—it was not the gray bullet of the savages, nor did it bear the unique patterns the savages carried...

Of course, this made sense. Yang's forces on the front lines must have been numerous, and snipers equally so. Yang Xiaojin, as a scion of the financial conglomerate, had just returned to the conglomerate to recuperate—how could she return to the battlefield so soon?

Yang Xiaojin should now be at the 88th Bastion.

Ren Xiaosu followed the trail of Shenji Camp officers, collecting more nanobots with each corpse he found.

This was a true windfall—his external armor was nearly complete.

Yet before he could locate all the Shenji Camp officers' bodies, he heard the sound of engines approaching from the southern mountain path. Ren Xiaosu frowned—those heading north now must be Li's forces, who had also seen the thorny vines and the two dead Shenji Camp officers.

Ren Xiaosu immediately suppressed his greed and fled into the snow-capped mountains. There would be other opportunities to collect nanobots, but exposure would bring grave trouble.

One of Ren Xiaosu's greatest strengths was his ability to maintain rationality even before immense temptation—for instance, when he had decisively abandoned the gold in Jing Shan.

This ambush of the Shenji Camp officers had gone far more smoothly than Ren Xiaosu had imagined, requiring little effort on his part. The mysterious sniper had eliminated 99% of the enemies.

Yet this mysterious sniper had rendered the situation suddenly strange.