Chapter 50 Death Fatty

Raising his binoculars for a lengthy observation, Xiang Weiguo finally lowered them and waved his hand gently.

Gao Yuan and Luo Xingyu followed behind Xiang Weiguo, with the three maintaining a bit of distance between them as they moved forward slowly.

On the fifth day after launching the rescue mission, Gao Yuan and his team arrived at the outskirts of Liu Jiahui Village ahead of schedule, but the set time to actually implement the rescue with Yu Shunzhou was five days later, which meant tomorrow.

However, that didn't hinder the reconnaissance, nor did it prevent the possibility of starting the rescue mission earlier.

It was only near the village that the lay of the land became apparent; to the south of the village lay a small hill, and to the east, a river. To enter the village, one must cross a bridge.

Xiang Weiguo observed the bridge for a long time, and only after confirming there was no one on it did he consent to cross.

After crossing the bridge, a short walk led to an uphill path, which was not conducive to observation. If someone had been stationed at the top of the slope as a lookout, it would have been easy to spot Gao Yuan and the others.

Xiang Weiguo started to demonstrate the qualities and abilities of a reconnaissance soldier. He instructed Gao Yuan and Luo Xingyu to hide themselves behind him while, with his gun ready, he quickly reached the top of the slope using cover from various objects off the road.

"Come over."

Xiang Weiguo's voice came through the walkie-talkie, and Gao Yuan and Luo Xingyu no longer needed to hide. They ran up to the top of the hill with their guns ready at a brisk pace.

At one end of the hilltop was the beginning of an aqueduct, with a channel entering it here and spanning across the river.

Looking down, the situation became clear at a glance.

Gao Yuan had always suspected that the people who trapped Yu Shunzhou might have cleared all the zombies from the village, but now he realized that the house under the aqueduct was a water station, which was not within the village at all, but at least a kilometer in a straight line away from the village.

Xiang Weiguo and Gao Yuan both furrowed their brows.

It was unknown if there were still zombies in the village, but if there were, firing a gun at this distance could very likely attract them.

"What should we do?"

Xiang Weiguo raised his binoculars again, and after looking through them for a while, he said in a low voice, "Take a look, how many houses have smoke coming from their chimneys?"

This was too easy to spot; there were a total of four smoking chimneys, which definitely meant that four houses had fires lit.

"Four rooms," Xiang Weiguo said, appearing relaxed. He spoke softly, "Nine people in total, add Pipe and that's ten, four rooms, the numbers match. As long as the enemy is unaware that our objective is to rescue Pipe, his situation should be quite safe. Thus, we now have multiple options."

"Multiple options?"

"We could launch a frontal assault, bursting in and eliminating everyone except Pipe. Or, as soon as you lay eyes on Pipe, immediately secure and protect him, dispensing with the rest. However, if Pipe comes out with the others, first identify and distinguish Pipe from them, and when he separates from the others, seize the opportunity to wipe them all out."

Gao Yuan was simply curious and asked, "Isn't there an option to capture them alive?"

Xiang Weiguo didn't turn back, but replied indifferently, "Is that necessary? If you think Pipe is lying, we could capture a prisoner for interrogation. If you believe Pipe has told the truth, then don't bother capturing any prisoners. This is a rescue mission, not a prisoner capture operation."

"Alright, understood."

"Now we need to locate Pipe first. We might need to get closer for surveillance. Wait, someone is coming out."

Xiang Weiguo stopped talking as a person walked out of one of the houses and came into view of Gao Yuan and the team.

"Red hat, that matches the agreed-upon signal. Confirm whether it's Pipe."

Xiang Weiguo handed the binoculars to Gao Yuan, who after taking a look through them, said with puzzlement, "I see it, but... the face isn't clear. I can't tell if it's Pipe."

Xiang Weiguo was somewhat surprised and said, "How could that be? Aren't you two very familiar with each other?"

"We are very familiar, but this person... is too thin. Pipe is very fat, and by the looks of this figure, it doesn't seem like Pipe..."

Gao Yuan was puzzled, because the distance was too far, and they couldn't see the face clearly through the binoculars. However, the physique was very distinguishable, but the problem was that this person was much thinner than Yu Shunzhou in his memory.

"Unable to identify?"

"Judging by the walking posture, by the... disgusting way he spits, it should be Yu Shunzhou, but he is just too thin. I think it probably is."

"Don't say probably. Are you sure?"

"I am sure, but not completely sure."

Luo Xingyu said softly from the side, "You guys haven't seen each other for a few months. He must have starved and thinned out, right?"

That made sense. Gao Yuan and Yu Shunzhou had not seen each other for a few months, enough time to starve a fat person thin.

But Xiang Weiguo was still not satisfied and he said softly, "We must make sure it is Yu Shunzhou. Words like 'seems', 'possible', 'probably' must not occur. Let's get closer. If he is Pipe, then there would be no threat."

After saying this, Xiang Weiguo looked at Luo Xingyu and whispered, "Xiaoyu, would there be any problem with making a precise shot from this distance?"

Luo Xingyu was full of confidence and said, "Absolutely no problem."

"To increase the hit rate, you can fire in bursts. Xiao Yuan and I will start moving closer to the target, you stay here to provide support, and if you receive the signal to fire, or if you spot any danger, then open fire."

Luo Xingyu flipped open the cover of her scope and set up the machine gun. Then, after a glance through the scope, she said softly, "No problem."

Gao Yuan couldn't help himself and said, "Don't be nervous."

"Why be nervous? I'm not the one going over there; what's there to be nervous about just shooting from a distance?"

That made good sense.

Now the only one feeling nervous was Gao Yuan. He took a deep breath, picked up his machine gun, and said to Xiang Weiguo, "Let's go down."

Xiang Weiguo picked up his machine gun and said, "Move out."

Gao Yuan followed behind Xiang Weiguo, the two spread out, keeping a distance of about seven or eight meters from each other, and briskly walked down the slope.

After descending in altitude, Gao Yuan soon lost sight of the man in the red hat. He needed to go down and then turn a corner, getting past the water station blocking his view, before he could see the man suspected to be Yu Shunzhou again.

The two moved quickly. Once they reached behind the wall of the water station, Xiang Weiguo signaled for them to advance slowly, and Gao Yuan, following behind Xiang Weiguo, moved swiftly along the wall.

Xiang Weiguo gave a signal to stop moving, and he alone came to the corner of the wall. He peeked around the corner, and then quickly waved, signaling Gao Yuan to move forward.

"Confirm it."

Xiang Weiguo pointed at his own eyes, then pointed outward, signaling Gao Yuan to confirm it. As soon as Gao Yuan peeked his head out, he saw the man in the red hat turning his head around.

There, looking around, was none other than Yu Shunzhou.

Gao Yuan could hardly contain his excitement; he immediately turned back and nodded at Xiang Weiguo.

Just then, they heard footsteps in the courtyard, and Yu Shunzhou also turned his head back to look at the courtyard. Simultaneously, someone in the yard shouted loudly, "Fatty, what the hell are you doing? You're not trying to run, are you?"