The heavy sniper round struck the target's head, like a sledgehammer smashing a watermelon—bursting apart, splattering everywhere.
Through the spider detector, Xiao Han constantly adjusted his position, stabilising his aim for precise single shots. One hidden sentry after another was quietly removed, with the kill notifications scrolling rapidly across his interface.
[Sneak attack critical bonus 200%. Hit a fatal weak point. This attack is lethal. You dealt 190 damage!]
[You have killed a Sprout reconnaissance sentry. You gained 500 experience.]
[Sneak attack critical bonus 200%. Hit a fatal weak point. This attack is lethal. You dealt 201 damage!]
[You have killed a Sprout reconnaissance sentry. You gained 500 experience.]
These hidden sentries were roughly level ten, all ordinary soldiers, similar in strength to the guards Xiao Han had encountered when escaping from the laboratory. Back then he could already crush them—now it was even easier.
One sentry after another was sniped, earning Xiao Han several thousand kill experience points.
['Dark Forest Assassin' completed. You gained 18,000 experience!]
The mission had gone rather smoothly. After killing so many sentries, reinforcements would surely arrive soon…
Oh—here they come!
The spider detector showed three fully armed rapid-response squads approaching in vehicles. They disembarked and immediately fanned out aggressively to search the area.
Each sentry wore an earpiece linked to their communication network. Silently killing one wouldn't be noticed right away—but if many posts went quiet at once, the Dark Raven Valley base would instantly react and dispatch teams to investigate.
Xiao Han had fully expected this. Once the search teams discovered multiple sentries with their heads blown apart, they would no doubt scour the area like wild dogs in frenzy—
No, not frenzy… more like heat.
Actually, forget it—wild dogs in rage.
Through the spider detector hidden atop a tree, he spotted that these squads were equipped with Jason submachine guns, high‑explosive grenades, and RPG launchers. He immediately abandoned the idea of farming another wave of kill experience… not that he had planned to fight head‑on anyway.
Time to slip away.
Xiao Han folded up his heavy sniper rifle and slung it over his back. Cloaked in a camouflage suit covered in twigs and leaves, he crept back to the pit he had dug earlier. He stored all excess equipment—sniper included—into the toolbox and left the pit unfilled for the moment.
As soon as he finished, the three search squads discovered the headless sentries. The armed guards raised their SMGs fitted with torches and cautiously spread out.
Beside the pit stood a large tree. Xiao Han hid behind it, checking enemy positions with the spider detector. He pulled a thin strand of strong steel wire from his coat, wrapped it around his gloves, pressed himself tightly against the tree trunk, and held his breath.
Footsteps—approaching, getting closer.
Just one person.
Perfect.
Xiao Han had deliberately chosen this spot. It sat on the outer edge of the search perimeter, where guards were more scattered—a high chance of only one enemy approaching.
The torch beam swept past the tree. Xiao Han slowly crouched, tightening the steel wire between his hands, legs coiled like a mantis ready to spring.
The moment the guard's foot stepped past the tree trunk—
Xiao Han struck.
He slipped around the opposite side like a phantom and appeared behind the guard instantly. The guard, having heard the faint footstep, spun in shock and opened his mouth to call for backup—but Xiao Han was faster. The steel wire looped around the guard's neck and tightened in an instant, choking the cry back into his throat.
A knee strike knocked the SMG from the guard's hands. Xiao Han took two steps back and dragged the man down, propping his upper back against Xiao Han's knee.
The pressure cut off his breath. The guard's face turned purple as he clawed at the steel wire, but it had already sunk into the flesh. His hands flailed wildly, unable to touch Xiao Han behind him. His eyes rolled back.
Xiao Han maintained the tension until the kill notification appeared.
Only then did he release the wire.
Not a single sound escaped the guard's mouth.
Xiao Han swiftly stripped off the man's uniform and put it on. The guard was a white male of similar height. Xiao Han trimmed his hair with a knife, raised the collar and tightened the sleeves to hide all exposed skin. With his complexion concealed, there would be no risk of being recognised. Then he tapped his forehead and activated the simulated mask. A triangular scanning beam flashed across the guard's face—
Scan complete. Mimicry activated.
Xiao Han's face rapidly shifted—instantly identical to the dead guard.
This was his trump card for infiltration.
He stuffed the naked corpse and discarded equipment into the pit, covered it with loose soil, and made a discreet mark. Then, wearing the Sprout guard's uniform, he strode out naturally.
Voices crackled in his borrowed earpiece:
"H103 reporting—no abnormalities northwest."
"H141 reporting—no abnormalities southeast."
The unlucky guard Xiao Han had replaced was designated H222.
Lowering his voice to imitate him, Xiao Han replied:
"H222 reporting—no abnormalities."
"H223, what's wrong with your voice?"
It sounded like his superior speaking.
"Sore throat."
Xiao Han pretended to continue searching for a while before being recalled. Over twenty armed guards gathered by the vehicles, and no one seemed suspicious of him.
The man who looked like the captain asked, "Nothing found?"
"No," everyone answered in unison.
The captain frowned. "Get in. We're heading back to the base."
Xiao Han narrowed his eyes. This matched his plan perfectly—by blending into this squad, he could go straight to Dark Raven Valley Base.
…
The vehicles drove into an inconspicuous cave. After about three minutes, the space ahead suddenly opened up.
A hidden underground parking area revealed itself.
Everyone disembarked. Xiao Han followed the group to what appeared to be an ordinary stone wall. The captain reached out and pulled aside a stone block—actually a disguised metal casing, with a card reader hidden inside.
He swiped his identity card.
With a heavy rumble, the rock face slid open. Xiao Han realised the "stone wall" was actually a metal gate covered with an impressively realistic rocky texture. Without close inspection, it would be impossible to tell.
"How strange… This matches the intel the Hai Xia agents obtained."
Xiao Han was puzzled. Everything here matched perfectly with Ye Fan's intelligence report—and with the player screenshots and guides he remembered. So why hadn't the interface marked [Recon 2] as complete?
What was wrong?
Could Dark Raven Valley Base at this point in time have further secrets?
Xiao Han entered with the squad, passing two more security checkpoints, both requiring identity cards. Only then did he officially step into the Dark Raven Valley Base.
It was a concealed underground facility, steel‑structured, dominated by cold grey tones. The atmosphere felt strict and oppressive. Corridors twisted and turned, rooms lined the passageways, and numerous Sprout members hurried about, busy transporting supplies.
Xiao Han glanced up—surveillance cameras were mounted on the ceiling corners. He couldn't help shrinking his neck slightly.
A lone infiltrator, deep inside enemy territory…
Bless me, Second Master Guan*.
"What next? Wander around? Ask people questions? No, questioning others could expose me. And I don't even know what intel the mission is really targeting. Is it all down to luck?"
"No… since [Recon 2] requires uncovering specific information about Dark Raven Valley Base, there must be something unusual here. If the intel supplied by that low‑ranking officer was bait, then the people inside this base are likely unaware as well. Meaning—anyone who behaves differently from the rest is worth watching."
The thought flashed across his mind.
Xiao Han began to move casually, quietly observing everything around him.
…
"Thirteen sentries sniped?"
Ji Jie frowned. His prediction had been that the enemy, after infiltrating the outer network and obtaining false intel, would believe it completely. Why would they still attack the sentries? Were they testing the truth of the intel?
It seemed these infiltrators were more cautious than expected.
Ji Jie shook his head.
"But still too inexperienced."
The dual‑layer network setup—his own creation back when he served as the base's deputy director—was designed specifically to trap invaders. Now it was finally proving its worth.
Purely fake intel would be too obvious. To increase authenticity, Ji Jie had willingly sacrificed some of his own men as bait. The outer‑network "decoy intel" contained fragments of genuine information, including the base's location and detailed layouts of all sentries and defences from the third to the sixth perimeter rings.
With truth and lies interwoven, the enemy would step right into the trap.
The final two defence layers boasted more than ten times the firepower—and there was still a hidden trump card.
"The leader has agreed on our evacuation route. The extraction team will arrive in five days. Once they do, we withdraw… Before that, let's give Hai Xia a generous gift."
The Sprout's main presence was in the Andia continent. The hundreds of branches and bases scattered across other continents were merely outstretched tendrils—expanding in secret, accumulating resources, becoming hidden nails embedded in hostile territories. Until the right time, they must not be exposed. Once discovered, evacuation was the only option. A single isolated base could never withstand the military strength of all six nations combined.
Ji Jie had full confidence in the trap he'd built. He dared to use fragments of real intel as bait, and he didn't even care if the base's location was exposed.
His trump card was this:
Every peripheral member—
even this entire base—
could be sacrificed if necessary.
And doing so would deal Hai Xia a devastating blow.