The First Order

“Take note of your breathing.” Yang Xiaojin said, “Breathing in will cause a rapid change to your posture. It might not be obvious, but every detail that isn’t adhered to can be fatal for a sniper.

“The hawk is flying too high, you have to wait for it to spiral down and seize that opportunity when the distance closes. But the chance will be brief.”

A sniper had to be decisive whenever an opportunity arose.

Boom. Ren Xiaosu pulled the trigger at the hawk soaring high in the sky. The sniper rifle’s heavy recoil and burst of gas from the muzzle swept a large cloud of dust and smoke up off the sandy ground around him.

This was Yang Xiaojin’s sniper rifle she had materialized from thin air to lend to Ren Xiaosu.

Today was Ren Xiaosu’s real combat training day, and he was supposed to shoot a hawk out of the sky. But right from the start, Yang Xiaojin wanted him to hit the hawk’s head, which was the highest degree of difficulty.

After he fired at it once, the hawk was unscathed and flew away after getting frightened by the gunshot.

Yang Xiaojin smirked. “So do you still think your marksmanship is quite good?”

Ren Xiaosu pretended to be puzzled. “I clearly shot it in the head, so how did it escape unharmed? Could it possibly be a mutant?”

“Oh, come on.” Yang Xiaojin curled her lips. “It’s still a hawk no matter how much it mutated. Since it’s not a product of genetic modification done by the Pyro Company, it can’t survive a sniper’s bullet. You said you hit it in the head, so why was it unharmed?”

Ren Xiaosu pondered the question. “Maybe because its head is empty and the bullet went right through?”

“Ha, ha.” Yang Xiaojin put away her sniper rifle. “We can’t do any more shooting if we advance further. The sniper rifle is too loud and will attract the attention of the bandits.”

“Mhm.” Ren Xiaosu nodded. In the past two days, he had learned a lot of advanced knowledge about firearms, but he still needed much more practical experience.

He had already delayed the journey by a day due to his target practice, but Yang Xiaojin did not seem anxious or in a rush at all. She patiently accompanied him to practice his shooting

But right now, the mission to exterminate the bandits was obviously more important, and he was not in a hurry to practice his shooting at this time either.

“If we encounter the refugee settlement, will they welcome us?” Ren Xiaosu asked.

“They probably won’t, but it’s also not to the extent of ostracizing us.” Yang Xiaojin said, “Everyone depends on a water source for farming and will grow their own crops. A lot of refugees who have just escaped here won’t have any food on them. They will use the money they saved up while working in the factories to purchase some food and seeds from the others. After all, it will take quite a while for the crops to grow. This is something the refugees at the settlement will want to see. Furthermore, new refugees will also bring news of the outside world with them.”

“It’s really strange that we never encountered any bandits along the way.” Ren Xiaosu frowned.

If they could not see any bandits in a place infested with bandits, it would be similar to not seeing any fish in the sea. Something strange must have happened out in this valley.

After crossing a hill, Yang Xiaojin suddenly pointed ahead and said, “Look over there.” There was a stream meandering across the land in front of her. Many refugees were digging ditches by the stream to get ready to irrigate the crops before spring arrived.

When the refugees saw Yang Xiaojin and Ren Xiaosu dressed in refugee attire, they were relieved.

The people here were very smart and could tell at a glance whether these were stronghold residents in disguise or not. It all depended on the details Ren Xiaosu had mentioned.

When Ren Xiaosu and Yang Xiaojin approached them, an older woman wiped away her sweat and spoke before they could say anything, “Do you want to buy some sorghum seeds? You’re just in time for the spring sowing season.”

“Yes.” Ren Xiaosu took out a bag wrapped in cloth and flipped through several layers before he found some loose coins. When the refugees saw this, they were even more relieved. Could important people from the strongholds possibly act as natural refugees?

But still others worried. “Where did the two of you escape from?”

Ren Xiaosu railed, “From the coal mine. They promised to pay us 21 yuan for every ton of coal carried, but then suddenly reduced it to 20 yuan and 60 cents. Furthermore, they even wanted to deduct some fees to cover the material cost. They were totally inhumane.”

One of the refugees laughed. “That’s even worse than the time when I worked at the coal mine.”

But at this moment, an older woman said, “But it’s not the right time for you and your wife to escape.”

Ren Xiaosu and Yang Xiaojin were both stunned. They had schemed against each other over who would be older, and it ended with Ren Xiaosu grumpily accepting that he would be the younger brother while Yang Xiaojin was to be his elder sister. But after all that discussion, their “relationship” suddenly changed the moment they got here.

Refugees tend to get married and have children at a very young age. When the children grew up, they could help out at home with some of the work. That was the mindset of the refugees. So while they might look too young to be a couple in the stronghold, they were just the right age for marriage out here.

Furthermore, no one would flee together if they were not a couple these days. If either one told on the other, the person who reported it would get rewarded.

This caught the two of them off guard. Ren Xiaosu stole a glance at Yang Xiaojin and wondered how she would react. If Yang Xiaojin insisted on clearing it up and arousing the suspicions of the refugees, they would have to retreat from this place. In any case, It shouldn’t be much of a problem for them to find another way into the valley.

However, Yang Xiaojin just smiled and did not explain their relationship. She chose to quietly accept it. She asked, “Why is it not the right time for us to come out here? Could something have happened?”

“Lemme tell you, the state of the bandits in the north is chaos right now, and many people have been killed in this period.” The older woman said earnestly, “We’re panicking and nervous at the moment and wonder if all that will affect us as well.”

“What’s wrong with the bandits?” Ren Xiaosu asked, “Why would they do anything to us when we’re only farmers?”

“I heard there’s three gangs in the north that dislike each other. They’re trying to unify the bandit gangs in the valley regardless of size. Two of the gangs are especially fierce, and there’s apparently a superhuman among them as well. If they bump into anyone who goes against them, they kill them immediately.” The older woman explained, “Let’s come to an agreement beforehand. It’s not a problem for you and your wife to stay here. We can always farm together. But if the bandits come and ask if we’ll submit to them, all of us will have to agree to it. We can’t go against them.”

“OK.” Ren Xiaosu responded, “But what if another gang comes after that gang leaves?”

The older woman waved it off. “It doesn’t matter. We’ll submit to whoever comes as long as they let us farm here.”

This was the refugees’ law of survival-give in and don’t cause trouble. The bandits could fight among themselves all they wanted, and the refugees would submit to whoever came.

In any case, the bandits no longer eyed their seeds and crops. For some reason, even though they did not have anyone left to steal from, the bandits were somehow getting richer, and their equipment and weapons were also getting better.

Last year, the Zong Consortium’s combat troops had entered the valley but left with their heads hanging after getting beaten by a few bands of bandits!

How could ordinary bandits be capable of that? If they could fucking defeat the regular combat troops, could they still be called bandits?!