Volume 15 Gray Fog Forest Chapter 734: Encountering a Firefight
"The gunshot was from the TAC-50 produced by McMillan Firearms, an evergreen anti-material sniper rifle. Although it was officially retired from the army in the year 922 of the New Era, it has not been discontinued due to its excellent performance. Some snipers in the military and mercenaries often purchase this type of gun in their private names, and the number of them in their possession is not small." Thirty-three, who has many years of military service experience, said, "The 0.5-inch caliber is very useful for dealing with small and medium-sized indigenous creatures. In addition, there are more than a dozen special ammunitions with different functions, which are enough to deal with various situations in small-scale battles."
Ke Lan had also heard of the TAC-50 anti-material sniper rifle. In the old era, it had created the longest distance sniping record of 3,500 meters. Now, it is one of the few old-era firearms that can still be seen in the hands of regular troops - this also indirectly reflects the performance of this weapon... Compared with various new firearms, it may not be excellent, but it is stable and reliable.
"The source of the gunfire is due north of our advance route, 27 kilometers away from us." Asano Akira quickly reported the location of the shooter.
"Should we stop the car?" Ivan asked Ke Lan. "We don't know if they are friend or foe... Once we start a firefight with them, it will definitely attract the attention of the Ark reconnaissance unit."
Ke Lan did not answer immediately, nor did she stop the car, but she slowed down the car slightly.
"Come to think of it, the reason we're out this time is to wipe out the remnants of the heretical sect, and the intelligence also said that there are signs of activities of the remnants of the heretical sect in this area. Could it be such a coincidence that we just happened to run into them?" Thirty-three spit out the chewing gum, wrapped it in aluminum foil, and stuffed it into the garbage bag hanging in the car.
"Are the equipment of the remnants of the heretic sect so good?" Ivan asked with some doubt.
"That's hard to say. Over the past few decades, the regular army and mercenaries have lost at least 500 TAC-50 sniper rifles in the wilderness for various reasons. Even if these lost guns are damaged, we can still piece together several intact guns with the parts. This thing is not a sophisticated sniper system that needs to be connected to a computer and environmental monitoring device, so the requirements for maintenance and upkeep are not that high." Thirty-three explained, "I wouldn't be surprised if the Exiles could come up with a TAC-50... Besides, aren't the heretics connected to the top leaders of the Ark? Let alone the TAC-50, even if they have more advanced weapons and equipment, that's normal."
"The Arasaka family, the Williams family... all have close ties with the heretical sects. With the power of these big families, it is not difficult for them to provide some weapons to the heretical believers in the wilderness." Sanshisan continued, "What's more, even the 'supreme' Undead Crew has 'traitors'... Our real enemies have never been outside."
"Fortunately, this is in the wilderness." Ke Lan shrugged and said jokingly, "If it were on the Ark, I would have to cover your mouth right now... How dare you say anything? Are you going to kill yourself?"
"You are a member of the Undead Crew, so why should I be afraid of you?" Sanshisan's tone was full of a sense of being on the edge of a knife. "Can you really arrest me and shoot me?"
"Stop talking. The person who fired the gun is so close to us. Are we just going to drive past him without caring?" Ivan couldn't help but say.
"No rush, let's see who the other party is first." Ke Lan dragged his right hand on the touch screen, and a new reconnaissance drone quickly took off from the roof of the car and flew towards the direction where the gunshots came from.
But before the drone reached the area, gunfire from the TAC-50 rang out again.
"In addition to this sniper rifle, there were also sporadic sounds of automatic weapons fire," said Asano Akira.
At a distance of twenty kilometers, even the thunderous sound of the TAC-50's gunfire was weakened a lot. The gunfire of smaller-caliber automatic weapons could only be heard by people with special abilities like Asano Akira, except for professional sound collection equipment.
"How many guns are there?" Ke Lan asked immediately with an idea in his mind.
"Twenty-five, no, it's twenty-eight." Asano Akira listened for a while and replied - the off-road vehicle did not stop, and the sound of friction between the wheels and the ground was at least over one hundred decibels. Even Thirty-three could not help but look sideways at the sound of gunfire twenty kilometers away in such a noisy environment.
"They seem to be exchanging fire with each other." The next second, Asano Akira dropped another piece of heavyweight news.
"How did you determine that?" Sanshisan couldn't help but turn his head from the passenger seat and glanced at Asano Akira.
"Just when the TAC-50 sniper rifle sounded, there was a sudden interruption in the sound of gunfire," said Asano Akira. "I think the gunman was hit by the sniper rifle."
Just when Sanshisan was about to say something, the drone controlled by Ke Lan finally flew over the site of the gunfight and transmitted the captured scene back.
I saw three off-road vehicles arranged in a V-shaped defensive position on the flat ground. Several men wearing assault jackets and light tactical helmets were relying on the off-road vehicles as cover and continuously pouring fire outside. The sniper using TAC-50 was a woman. From time to time, she would stick the muzzle of the gun out from the gap of the vehicle and fire a shot out of the blue.
A little further away, there was an off-road vehicle overturned on the ground, and not far from the vehicle lay several corpses wearing clothes very similar to theirs.
The identities of the guys who were exchanging fire with these people were very obvious - they were wearing tattered and dirty clothes, various violently modified homemade guns, a wasteland-style truck covered with rivets and spikes, and three guys in black robes, huddled behind the crowd, dancing and doing something unknown... It was obvious that this group of people were the "target of this trip" of Ke Lan and his group: the remnants of the heretical sect active near the Great Basin.
"These people... judging from their attire and vehicles, they don't look like exiles." Thirty-Three pondered, "But they don't look like military personnel either... Although a few of them may have served in the military, they are definitely not active military personnel."
Ivan nodded and continued, "It doesn't look like a relic hunter. I've never seen a relic hunter carrying an anti-material sniper rifle... What use would that thing have in the ruins? Wouldn't it be nice to exchange these dozen kilograms for essential supplies?"
"Could they be explorers? But this is too unprofessional, right? The Great Basin is considered a medium-to-high intensity radiation zone, but these people don't even wear protective gear. Could it be that all of them are high-level cyborgs?"
