Chapter 55: Playing the Pig to Eat the Tiger

The Tiger Squad quickly located the camp described by the man. To avoid alerting the enemy and to gather sufficient evidence, the squad chose not to launch a frontal assault. Instead, they established an observation post on the upper floors of a high-rise building not far from the camp, allowing them to survey the entire encampment through high-powered military binoculars.

It was a sprawling construction site with many unfinished buildings. The occupants had clearly used construction materials to reinforce and heighten the perimeter walls, where fully armed sentries patrolled back and forth. Guard towers had been erected at the four corners of the wall, making the entire camp resemble an ancient fortress.

"A bunch of rabble," Saber said coldly. Armed men carrying rifles strutted arrogantly among the ordinary survivors. While ordinary people might not be able to tell the difference between formally trained soldiers and armed thugs, every member of the Tiger Squad could instantly deduce their opponents' identities from their weapon-handling techniques and walking postures.

"Sniper." Saber swept the scope of his PG-1 back and forth. For a sniper, the most dangerous enemy is an enemy sniper; thus, immediately eliminating every suspicious target had become Saber's second nature. "Target distance 230 meters, 11 o'clock direction."

Hearing Saber's warning, Zhao Qiang instantly ducked behind cover. A sniper was no laughing matter. Zhao Qiang had seen with his own eyes how zombies were torn apart by bullets fired from sniper rifles, and he certainly didn't want his own head to explode like a watermelon. "Damn it, why is there a sniper in a shithole like this?" Zhao Qiang whispered.

"Don't be so tense." Saber still held his rifle steady, showing no intention of dodging. "We're facing into the glare; he can't spot us." Saber had absolute confidence in the position he had chosen. Only then did Zhao Qiang cautiously poke his head out and peer carefully in the direction Saber indicated. At a distance of 230 meters, even with high-powered military binoculars, Zhao Qiang almost missed the slender rifle barrel protruding from the watchtower. "Can you take him out?" The observation post served a dual purpose: monitoring the camp's movements and providing fire support for the subsequent infiltration operation. Zhao Qiang had no desire to have a stranger's sniper rifle trained on his head.

"No problem," Saber said nonchalantly. Although the sniper was well-hidden, Saber had no intention of changing his firing position. To Saber, an exposed sniper was little different from a dead man.

"Alright, proceed according to plan." Zhao Qiang waved his hand. The combat plan was already set: Zhao Qiang would change into casual clothes and infiltrate the camp disguised as a survivor. Once he gathered enough intelligence, they would decide whether to completely wipe out this scum, while the Tiger Squad's job was to provide him with necessary fire and intelligence support.

To avoid unnecessary trouble, Zhao Qiang put on casual clothes he hadn't worn in months and left behind almost all his heavy gear, keeping only two unassuming Gurkha knives and a compact CF07 pistol concealed on his body.

The perimeter of the construction site had been thoroughly cleared by the camp's occupants, with only a few zombies wandering in areas shielded from the sniper's view. Soon, Zhao Qiang lured a small pack of zombies toward the heavily guarded construction site, intentionally slowing his pace to make himself look like a hapless fellow closely pursued by the undead.

Zhao Qiang stumbled toward the site, occasionally turning back to put up a desperate struggle against the small group of zombies behind him before turning and fleeing again. Making such a commotion was meant to draw their attention; according to the information provided by Xiaojie's father, these people generally did not shoot at fleeing survivors.

Saber had locked his crosshairs firmly onto the sniper hidden in the watchtower. At the slightest sign of hostile movement from the target, he would unhesitatingly gun down the blissfully ignorant fool.

"Bang!" The dull report of the Type 85 sniper rifle reverberated among the buildings, and a massive spray of blood burst from the head of a zombie pursuing Zhao Qiang. The plan had succeeded! Saber thought to himself. He had long since anticipated the enemy sniper's target from the orientation of their barrel, which was why he hadn't stopped them from firing. Even so, he did not lower his guard, knowing the enemy could change their mind at any second.

Gunshots rang out in rapid succession, and bullets whizzed over Zhao Qiang's head, accurately piercing the skulls of the zombies trailing right behind him.

"Not a bad shot," Zhao Qiang judged without looking back. Bullets hitting different parts of a zombie produced distinct sounds. Soon, the zombies behind Zhao Qiang were completely annihilated, yet Zhao Qiang kept running toward the site.

"Bang!" The Type 85 rang out once more. This time, the sniper's target was less than a meter in front of Zhao Qiang; the soil kicked up by the bullet splattered half a meter high. Startled, Zhao Qiang immediately came to a halt.

"Don't shoot, I'm not a zombie!" Zhao Qiang shouted at the top of his lungs.

"We know you're not," a voice called down from the perimeter wall. "Otherwise, we would've used you for target practice long ago."

"Can you help me out?" Zhao Qiang cautiously emerged from behind his temporary cover, thoroughly disliking the feeling of being tracked by a scope. "I'm all alone, and I'm exhausted. Could you let me stay here for the night?"

"Get inside and talk," the people in the camp said after a long silence. After sizing him up for a moment, they finally unlatched a small side door and let Zhao Qiang in.

"Thank you, thank you!" Zhao Qiang nodded and bowed all the way. With his chubby build and completely harmless facial expression, he looked nothing more than a particularly lucky homebody.

"Hold on, we haven't agreed to let you spend the night here." The sniper brandished his rifle, the muzzle tracking slowly with Zhao Qiang's head.

"Big brother, I'll just stay for one night. I'll leave as soon as dawn breaks tomorrow, I won't cause you any trouble." Zhao Qiang smiled ingratiatingly, cowering away from the rifle barrel.

"Trouble?" The sniper spat on the ground. "Trouble? You motherfucker already brought us trouble. Do you have any idea how much a single bullet costs? Do you know how many rounds we just wasted because of you?"

"Hehe, well, big brother, just name your price, I'll pay for it." Zhao Qiang placated him with a smile. "Say, could you move that thing away just a little bit? It might go off by accident."

Watching Zhao Qiang's performance, the sniper burst into loud laughter, and the armed thugs behind him joined in the chorus. "Money? What good is that stuff?"