Copying Risk

Luo Jun was extremely nervous. He covered one of his ears with his hand. His ear bled a little, but it was just grazed by the bullet's heat and shockwave, not seriously injured.

"Damn, almost got sent to the netherworld!"

Luo Jun regretted letting his guard down.

He didn't think the mysterious people on this island would be so cautious, right?

After all, if they were really that cautious, shouldn't the corpses and snake meat have been left alone instead of disposed of to keep up the ruse that no one had been there?

If it wasn't for the sea breeze and the sniper targeting his head, he wouldn't have narrowly escaped death.

Experience told Luo Jun that a seasoned sniper would never aim for the head unless they were completely confident of the shot. They would target the body instead.

Since this sniper had staked out the coast for two days and nights, they were clearly no ordinary sniper. The fact that they aimed for his head meant that something about his position prevented them from targeting his body.

Luo Jun had been crouching behind a boulder earlier. There was a very tall rock behind him. As he skinned the snake, his head bobbed up and down. It must have become exposed during those movements.

"Two o'clock direction!"

Based on the bullet's impact point and his prior position, Luo Jun deduced the sniper's location.

But that was just a small hill over there, with a jumbled pile of rocks on the protruding knoll.

Snipers often built up a few stones in front of their rifle muzzles in that kind of terrain, leaving just a firing slit and viewport. It would be extremely difficult for Luo Jun to quickly spot and shoot them.

Plus, he didn't know how many opponents there were, or if they had a spotter.

Luo Jun glanced at the distance to the woods. A full twenty meters. No way he could make a mad dash there now. A rookie sniper might miss him, but these were clearly no rookies.

Luo Jun was certain they had seen through his group's faked footsteps from that night.

If they had only noticed the missing guns from the corpses, and the midnight escape, it wouldn't be enough to warrant this kind of ambush.

So it had to be that they had detected the ruse with the footsteps and concluded he was no ordinary person!

Otherwise, they wouldn't have left the snake skin as bait and staked out the spot for two days and nights!

What puzzled Luo Jun was why such an experienced sniper would have let people clean up the corpses and even take the snake meat from the rocks?

If not for his carelessness, just those two details would have made him refuse to risk checking out the snake skin.

The sniper hidden behind the rocks chewed gum, his cheeks constantly moving.

"This guy has some skills. If those idiots hadn't taken away the snake meat and corpses, he definitely wouldn't have noticed anything amiss!"

The man muttered. The spotter lying next to him seemed disdainful.

"If he had noticed something wrong, he wouldn't have come out for the snake skin. If that rock hadn't blocked his body, he'd be a dead man already," the camouflaged spotter said, also chewing gum.

"He probably got careless too. And they must really lack warm supplies, otherwise they wouldn't have risked coming back for the snake skin."

The sniper replied. The spotter's brows furrowed.

"It's weird. If they aren't ordinary people, why would they come to the island so unprepared?"

"I find it strange too. They look like shipwreck or plane crash survivors."

"Survivors?"

"What, aren't we survivors too?"

"Dammit, we aren't like them. We had a mission to come here. This freaky island wrecked our ship, and the surviving crew have disappeared one by one!"

"How can you be sure they don't have a mission like us?"

"Because there are women with them!"

"Maybe those women are scientists?"

"You saying these people are scientists and bodyguards here to study the island?"

"Very possible."

"Damn fools. If the Luxier Family hadn't paid us a fortune, I'd never agree to come to this island. Those people are idiots!"

The spotter cursed. The sniper's mouth also twitched.

By this time, Luo Jun was no longer behind the boulder.

Through his analysis, he knew the ambushers were formidable foes. He raised his alertness to the max.

So he'd rather slip into the frigid seawater and feel his way along the reef than risk that twenty meter sprint into the woods.

The only difficulty after sneaking around the reef was a stretch of sandy beach beyond, the very spot where Luo Jun's group had left tracks that night. The wide open view there meant certain death if he didn't make it across in one breath!

And it was a full seven hundred meters long!

The human record for freestyle underwater swimming was only 172 meters!

So making it across in one breath was impossible.

The sniper had chosen an ingenious sniping spot, because the open sightline completely cut off any chance of flanking from the sea. All they needed to do was cover the reef with their muzzle to prevent anyone from rushing into the woods.

In other words, Luo Jun could either shiver in the cold water until nightfall, or take a suicidal dash out in the open.

But they still underestimated Luo Jun's combat experience!

He directly removed the M16 barrel, over 50 cm long. It was an invaluable breathing tube. The danger was that reassembling the gun after soaking would greatly reduce accuracy.

But Luo Jun would gladly accept that bit of loss over death.

Besides, the gun could be restored after drying out.

Luo Jun repeatedly practiced underwater breathing behind the reef until he was completely used to swimming face up with the pipe. Only then did he begin.

Luo Jun knew the enemies' attention was surely fixed on his prior position, just twenty meters from the woods. They couldn't risk missing a shot if he suddenly sprinted over.

So the probability of him being spotted underwater here was very low. Still, he remained extremely careful, keeping the pipe exposed just 10 cm or so.

To prevent too much error, he tied a snake skin section at the 10 cm mark on the barrel.

That way he wouldn't accidentally lift the barrel too high underwater, or let it dip and fill with water. Either could easily cost him his life.

Luo Jun shuddered uncontrollably in the frigid seawater.

He knew his current constitution was far from his peak. Otherwise he wouldn't need to worry about his stamina underwater.

After a few minutes, Luo Jun had gone twenty meters. The discomfort made things very difficult.

He had to keep his eyes open to maintain his bearings and ensure he stayed on course. Otherwise a wave could smash him into shore, leaving him helpless like a beached shark.

Each breath, he plugged the barrel with his thumb, then swam forward about ten meters before tilting back to take another breath and repeat.

After half an hour, Luo Jun was fifty meters from the blind spot in the enemies' sightline.

Just then, he noticed a 1-meter long black and white banded sea snake following beneath him. This snake's venom was exceptionally lethal - its bite was certainly fatal!

"Dammit!"