The density of vegetation in the forest depends on the extent of sunlight penetrating through the upper canopy of trees.
Luo Jun had just discovered the spot where Jones's tether line was, with an extremely dense vegetation cover, making it a fairly good concealed route, but absolutely unfavorable for sniping.
However, if an infantry unit were to lie in ambush here, it would be quite difficult for Luo Jun to break through.
Yet they had not set an ambush here, likely due to insufficient manpower, or because they had specific intelligence on Luo Jun.
Knowing that he was alone, there was no need for a major operation.
"Could it be that Jones has already betrayed me?"
Luo Jun now needed to figure out his situation, only then could he formulate a strategy to respond accordingly.
For now, he would assume that Jones had betrayed him.
After all, for an assassin, as long as there was value in betrayal, he would do so without hesitation.
Luo Jun crouched and wove his way through the dense vegetation.
As a sniper, he was well aware that fighting in the forest required finding high ground, where multiple key points along the path could be observed.
If high ground was not available, he would have to find areas with an open line of sight, but such spots were scarce, and the observable straight-line distance was very limited.
By applying these principles of jungle warfare, the sniper's position could also be broadly mapped out.
To find the enemy snipers, Luo Jun had to keep moving forward, attempting to locate any other traces they might have left, until the trails disappeared, and then pinpoint the possible ambush locations of the snipers.
For now, Luo Jun could not move too quickly, because if those snipers had gone ahead, there might be traps along the way.
After all, they had entered the forest fully armed, so carrying mines and grenades would not be surprising.
So, after three hours of walking, Luo Jun had not gone far.
Before long, he discovered new footprints on the damp ground. Previously, he had not noticed any particularly obvious tracks, but this time, he found a complete shoe print.
With just a glance, Luo Jun knew the owner of the shoe was a burly man over 1.8 meters tall.
After spotting the footprint, Luo Jun did not follow the trail forward. They had been heading in the 11 o'clock direction, but Luo Jun moved diagonally towards 3 o'clock.
He carefully traversed through the extremely dense vegetation, sneaking towards a small hill about 300 meters high on the other side.
After moving another 500 meters or so, nearing the valley bottom, there were many tall trees, their canopies shrouding the ground in shadows. The scarcely sunlit ground had sparse undergrowth, with vines clinging to the tall trees. Luo Jun cut some green vines with his knife, crushing the leaves to extract a dark green juice.
Then, he mixed it with a handful of fine, gray, damp soil.
He applied this blended liquid to the high points on his face, such as the nose bridge, cheekbones, ears, and chin, with darker shades on the more protruding areas.
The reason for mixing in the gray, damp soil was that even the darkest areas of human skin would still reflect light due to secreted oils.
Without mixing in the fine, damp soil, the dark green juice would not be as effective.
In the valley, it was easy to find this gray, damp soil, formed by the decomposition of fallen leaves mixing with mud, and then soaked by rainwater.
However, when using plant juices, one must distinguish between poisonous and non-poisonous leaves, or applying them to the face could cause skin irritation.
Proper camouflage paint not only serves a concealment purpose but can also repel insects.
Unfortunately, Luo Jun did not have any such material.
Luo Jun quickly climbed up the side of this mountain and observed the surrounding terrain. He noticed that the area resembled a human character, with the valley he had just passed through forming the lower part of the "human" shape.
Based on the footprints left by the mercenary snipers, they seemed to have headed towards the other mountain forming the upper part of the "human" shape.
The farthest distance between Luo Jun's mountain and that mountain was over 1,200 meters, with a gap of about 800 meters in between.
Luo Jun remembered that the route Jones had given him led to this valley.
If the mercenary snipers had marched through the night, they should have already set up an ambush on that opposite mountain, and their main force would advance through the valley, following a path that curved around that mountain.
Therefore, for better visibility and escort coverage, their snipers would not position themselves on this peak where Luo Jun was.
Luo Jun carefully climbed to the summit, where the trees were sparse and rocks were scattered.
He chose an elevated spot with a clear view, carefully cutting down a small tree and placing it behind him as a camouflage backdrop.
Many snipers would not set up a background, only piling stones or trees in front of them.
This might work against ordinary snipers, but not against experienced ones, who would compare the camouflage with the surrounding environment.
If only the front was camouflaged, their position would easily become a focal point for observers.
On the other hand, snipers who camouflaged their backdrop blended into the environment, causing the human eye to unconsciously overlook that area.
Even for a meticulous observer, in order to avoid visual fatigue, they would have to exclude certain observation points.
It was impossible to scrutinize every single spot.
After camouflaging his surroundings, Luo Jun carefully poked his rifle barrel through a gap between two rocks, crouched down, and opened the lens cover.
Soon, the distant mountain top was reflected in Luo Jun's sight.
The distant peak also had sparse trees and slightly more rocks than this side, with various shrubs and grasses growing around the rocks, facilitating concealment.
With an 8x scope, it would be difficult to identify a target at one kilometer away, unless it was moving. A stationary, camouflaged sniper would be hard to spot with an 8x scope.
Of course, high-end optic sights are coated with three to six anti-reflective layers, greatly enhancing resolution without the distortion of ordinary telescopes. Paired with a meticulous sniper and observer, they could detect snipers with subpar camouflage.
Luo Jun did not need to worry about this, as he had chosen such a distant mountain because he possessed the best scope.
The scope on his Barrett rifle was top-of-the-line, not only coated with six anti-reflective layers but also with 12x zoom.
If he wanted, he could observe any detail on the opposite peak.
Moreover, even Jones did not know he had such a rifle, so even if Jones had betrayed him, he could turn the tables with this advantage.
However, since the two sniper rifles in his possession had different configurations, Luo Jun would use the Barrett's scope to locate the target, but have to shoot with the SV-98, resulting in various errors.
Many people do not know that the hash mark adjustments on high-precision sniper scopes have different increments.
For instance, the hash mark adjustment on his SV-98 was 0.25 milliradian per click, while the Barrett's was 0.07 milliradian per click.
This difference was substantial – for the former, the point of impact would shift by 15 centimeters every 600 meters, while for the latter, it would be 10 centimeters every 1,500 meters.
For a sniper, this was a world of difference.