Chapter 49 What Is a Unique Skill?

Gao Yuan put down the radio and then looked at Xiang Weiguo, saying, "You all heard it, what should we do?"

Xiang Weiguo's face was icy as he said, "Kill them all, leave none alive."

Luo Xingyu also said with a face full of anger, "Isn't that too evil? People went to help them, and they killed them? And those killed were soldiers! The soldiers must have been completely unguarded against them, those people are no better than beasts."

With Xiang Weiguo's temperament, he had been itching with hatred since hearing the news.

But at that moment, Xiang Weiguo was unusually calm, excessively so.

"The current priority is to figure out the position of this village; that is the most troublesome part."

Gao Yuan felt so excited he was close to tears, and looking at Xiang Weiguo, he said word by word, "I have a map, a Stonegate City tourist map, but it clearly shows the roads and the positions of the villages."

Xiang Weiguo laughed and said, "I've been fighting all my life and never thought there'd be a day I'd use a tourist map, but... now having a tourist map is enough, more than enough!"

Luo Xingyu said urgently, "Then when do we leave, tomorrow?"

Xiang Weiguo waved his hand and said, "Bring the map here."

Gao Yuan truly hadn't expected that one day this map would come in handy.

A folded map was opened up and spread out on the kang.

It was already pitch-dark outside, but Gao Yuan didn't need to spare the batteries anymore; the flashlight shone on the map, and Xiang Weiguo first found Nangang County, then, after not spending much time, Luo Xingyu pointed at a small dot and said, "Liu Jiahui Village, I thought it was 'hui' as in a meeting."

Gao Yuan and Xiang Weiguo's gazes shifted over, and then Gao Yuan said excitedly, "That's right, this is the village."

The map showed that the village was not far from the county seat, about twenty kilometers away; beyond that, only a river could be seen to the east of the village from the map.

After all, it was not a military map, just a tourist map showing the main roads, but for Xiang Weiguo, it really was enough.

"Keep looking, if there is more than one village named Liu Jiahui, you didn't ask clearly enough during the conversation just now. You should have asked for the second and even third distinctive features besides the village name. However, Pipe mentioned guarding a water channel, and there's a big river next to this Liu Jiahui; thus, it must be the right place. But now we're making pre-war preparations, we need to be as meticulous as possible to avoid any errors. If we find we have the wrong place when the time comes, we might waste more than just time; it could cost many lives."

It took three minutes to find Liu Jiahui Village, and half an hour to verify that there wasn't a second one in Nangang County.

Gao Yuan felt that this wasn't necessary, but he also knew Xiang Weiguo was right; wasting half an hour now didn't matter, but finding the wrong place would be deadly.

"Alright, now we're sure it's here. We are here, this is a one-to-250,000 scale map; so the straight-line distance is... 85 kilometers. If we take the shortest road..."

Xiang Weiguo gestured over the map with his hand. He simply traced the route on the map without making a comparison or measuring with a ruler, but after a moment of thought, he said, "The shortest route is 128 kilometers, not too far. According to your marching speed, we can reach the operation site in forty-eight hours."

"That accurate?"

Gao Yuan found it somewhat unbelievable, but Xiang Weiguo remained calm as he said, "If the distance I mentioned is off by more than one kilometer, I'll chop off my finger for you."

"I just feel like you didn't even measure with a ruler... No need to go chopping off fingers, Uncle Xiang, you're too ruthless, not leaving me any room to question."

Xiang Weiguo was still brimming with confidence as he said, "What do you call a special skill? This is a special skill. As a scout and a special forces instructor, if I didn't have this skill, how could I dare to teach them map recognition? Remember, map recognition is part of their academic curriculum, but when it comes to practical application, the instructors responsible for teaching map reading all have to listen to me."

"I know you're incredible, Uncle Xiang, let's not boast—no, I mean, let's not be arrogant. Please continue."

Xiang Weiguo glanced up at Gao Yuan, then shifted his gaze back to the map and said indifferently, "Xiao Yuan, you're getting carried away."

Is that a warning?

It seems to be a warning.

Xiang Weiguo slapped his hand on the map and commanded, "Alright, no need for more planning. Once the sun rises tomorrow, start charging the batteries, starting with the walkie-talkies, then the flashlights and headlamp batteries. As for the radio, no need to charge it yet. Two days should be enough. Then we'll spend two days getting to Liu Jiahui Village, and finally reserve a day for contingencies. There's plenty of time."

"That's it?"

"Yes, that's it. What more do you need to deal with a few ruthless thugs?"

Xiang Weiguo said with a calm face, "You can't be arrogant, especially not in combat. The problem is, they're just a bunch of social misfits, and I can't force myself to be unduly wary of them. In my view, I only need to go by myself and take one hour to wipe them out."

After finishing his speech, Xiang Weiguo tucked the map into his pocket, then said in a deep voice, "Time to cook and eat. No other business now. We've still got plenty of time before we set off. Don't get too excited or agitated; you need to rest well."

Avoiding arrogance and restlessness is definitely correct, and there's never a wrong time to say it, but a master has the confidence of a master. You can't expect a master to forcefully believe they're always a rookie, always needing to proceed with extreme caution.

This way, you may avoid arrogance and impatience, but you also lose a certain momentum. What kind of momentum? The momentum of being the best in the world, of being unbeatable. No matter the strength of the enemy, I must win, and I will win.

Xiang Weiguo's momentum had even Gao Yuan feeling excited, itching to head straight to Liu Jiahui Village, wipe out those bastards, and rescue the cheap guy, Fatty Yu.

After finishing the meal, Gao Yuan and Luo Xingyu lay down on the kang, but Gao Yuan, who would have usually fallen asleep quickly, began to toss and turn.

"Can't sleep?"

"Of course, I can't sleep. Just thinking about rescuing that dead fatty gets me excited, and the thought of real combat makes me even more thrilled! Aren't you excited?"

Luo Xingyu said with a sense of wonder, "What's there to get excited about? Just fire nine shots and it's all over, right? How different is it from target practice?"

Should Gao Yuan enlighten Luo Xingyu?

But on second thought, Luo Xingyu seemed to know what combat was all about. Xiang Weiguo hadn't been sparing in teaching her real combat skills.

So, Gao Yuan realized that he didn't need to enlighten Luo Xingyu; it wasn't that she was ignorant, she was just truly confident that firing nine shots would do the job— one shot per person, take out the enemies, and that would settle it.

As for how different it was from target practice, Gao Yuan really had no idea.