Global Mercenaries: Starting from the Russia-Ukraine War

The battle lasted for about ten minutes. The enemy suffered heavy losses, with more than a dozen soldiers killed. The number of people killed on the main battlefield was actually less than the number killed by Seryozha and Lu Ye combined.

"Don't pursue!" Dmitry's gruff voice quelled everyone's excitement. "Maintain formation! Alexei, Peter, fire support! The rest of you, confirm the surroundings are safe!"

A few minutes later, both sides of the road fell completely silent, with only the blown-up trees still emitting black smoke, and the air filled with the pungent smell of gunpowder and blood.

"Seryozha, continue your vigil from the high ground and watch for any enemy counterattacks," Dmitry's order came again. "The rest of you, clean up the main battlefield. Hurry up, we don't have time to waste here!"

"clear."

Seryozha fired the gun, ejecting a hot cartridge case, and continued to survey the battlefield through the scope.

He turned his head to look at Lu Ye, his gaze lingering on Lu Ye's bleeding left arm for a second: "You're injured."

"It's just a scrape, nothing serious." Lu Ye smiled nonchalantly. "I'll go deal with those guys who came over."

"Go ahead." Seryozha nodded, and unusually added, "Well done, Lu."

Lu Ye, gun in hand, returned to the bushes where the firefight had just taken place.

Five corpses lay sprawled on the ground.

During his few days at the temporary camp, he learned that looting corpses was a common practice on the battlefield and a way to obtain money.

When he first found out, he felt a little uncomfortable, but then he thought of his parents and daughter who were desperately in need of money, not to mention that he was now in need of both money and life.

When I was a "cannon fodder" before, I never had the chance to loot corpses like this. This is the first time I've looted a corpse since I went to the battlefield.

Lu Ye carefully examined the corpse.

These guys were clearly not ordinary conscripts; they were well-equipped and had a lot of good stuff on them.

He took a valuable-looking military-grade waterproof watch from the wrist of one of the corpses and put it in his pocket; then he pulled out a roll of blood-stained US dollars and a few rubles from another man's pocket.

As Lu Ye turned over the soldier whose head he had blown off, his eyes lit up. The guy was wearing a thick gold ring on his finger.

Without the slightest hesitation, he took the ring off.

"Watches, cash, gold rings—I don't know how much they're worth, but it's still a sum of money." Lu Ye stuffed all of these items into the inside pocket of his tactical vest.

Next, he removed all the magazines from the five men, picked out a few usable grenades, and hung them on his waist.

[The inventory is not yet unlocked; loot can only be carried with you.]

The system's cold notification sound flashed by, and Lu Ye pursed his lips. It seemed he had to become a formal mercenary as soon as possible and unlock his inventory, otherwise he wouldn't even have a place to put his things when cleaning up the battlefield.

He stood up, patted the dirt off his clothes, and after making sure he hadn't forgotten anything of value, turned and walked up the slope.

Meanwhile, Dmitry and his men on the highway had also finished clearing the main battlefield.

"The convoy isn't badly damaged; Victor is checking the tires," Dmitry shouted into his headset. "Seryozha, Lu Ye, withdraw the convoy and prepare to depart!"

"Received," Lu Ye replied.

He strode up the earthen slope and saw Seryozha putting away the SVD sniper rifle that had accompanied him in countless battles and slinging it over his back.

"Finished cleaning up?" Seryozha looked at Lu Ye as he walked over, and for once, a very faint smile appeared on his lips. "Your combat skills are better than I expected."

Relieved to receive praise from this cold-faced special forces soldier, Lu Ye grinned and said, "Just lucky. Let's go, the captain's calling."

"Hmm." Seryozha turned around, supporting himself on his knee with one hand, preparing to stand up from his half-squatting position.

Just as his body straightened up.

Without any warning, a "poof!" sound rang out.

Immediately afterwards, a dazzling flower of blood bloomed on Seryozha's right chest!

The powerful kinetic energy caused Seryozha's body to fall backward violently, crashing heavily onto the earthen slope.

Only then did an extremely faint, distant, muffled gunshot drift into Lu Ye's ears on the wind.

"Sniper!"

Lu Ye's eyes widened in fury, his adrenaline surged instantly, and he grabbed Seryozha's tactical vest by the collar, dragging him back to the reverse slope of the earthen mound with all his might.

"Seryozha! Seryozha!"

Blood gushed from Seryozha's chest like a fountain, quickly staining a large patch of soil red. Lu Ye pressed his hand tightly against his wound, but blood still seeped out wildly from between his fingers.

Seryozha's eyes were wide open, his pupils dilating rapidly within seconds, losing all light and focus.

His lips twitched slightly, as if he wanted to say something, but in the end only a string of bright red blood foam gushed out. Then, his head turned limply to one side, and he stopped breathing completely.

He died, just like that, without any warning.

Lu Ye knelt on the ground, his hands still pressing on Seryozha's chest wound, but all he could feel was the gradually fading warmth and sticky sensation.

His mind went blank for a moment, as if he had been struck hard by a heavy hammer, and all that could be heard was a sharp ringing in his ears.

After arriving at this battlefield, in the cannon fodder camp, every day people were turned into cold corpses on the front lines and carried back, or their bodies were never found. To him, those people were just unfamiliar faces.

He even once thought that he was one of them, believing that he had become numb to death, but Seryozha was different.

Just over ten minutes earlier, in the bumpy transport vehicle, this stern-willed sniper was meticulously instructing him on how to become a qualified second-in-command, telling him that "wind direction, lighting, terrain, every detail is the dividing line between life and death."

Just a minute ago, Seryozha was praising him: "Your combat skills are better than I expected. Well done, Lu."

This was the kind of pure, comrade-in-arms recognition that Lu Ye received, apart from Vasily.

"Enemy attack! Snipers! All hands take cover!"

In the earpiece, Captain Dmitry's rough and anxious roar was like a bolt of lightning, splitting the chaos in Lu Ye's mind.

"Seryozha! Lu Ye! Report the situation! What's going on your end?!" Dmitry's voice echoed wildly in the channel.

"Seryozha! Lu Ye!" Dmitri's roar rang out again, and Lu Ye trembled violently, as if waking from a deep dream.

He was breathing heavily, his chest heaving violently, and cold sweat instantly soaked his back.

"Seryozha is dead." Lu Ye's voice was terribly hoarse.

A deathly silence fell over the channel, then a few seconds later, Dmitry's voice rang out again.

His voice was filled with anger, but his command was absolutely calm: "Lu Ye! Calm down! Tell me, which direction did the bullet come from?! Where is the enemy sniper?!"