Mercenary's War

When there are five helicopters in the sky, even if they don’t have machine guns mounted, you still shouldn’t bunch up together. The shooters on the helicopters would be quite pleased if you did.

On the ground, waiting to be a target is unavoidable, but you can run in different directions and stay far apart. If the enemy starts shooting, at least you won’t all be taken out at once.

According to the basic principles of ground-to-air combat, Gao Yang and Tarta were far apart, with Tarta and Vasily on another hillside. His loud shout couldn’t be heard by Tarta, so Gao Yang’s shout was intended for Justin nearby.

Justin held Gao Yang’s sniper rifle, looking confused, and said, "Are you talking to me?"

"F**k! You idiot."

Justin couldn’t be counted on, so Gao Yang let out a helpless shout and raised his gun to shoot.

The helicopter above was slowly moving, and the gunman sitting by the side hatch started firing downwards. Gao Yang raised his gun and fired at one of the shooters he aimed at, and then both of them almost simultaneously discharged their bullets.

Thirty meters away from Gao Yang, there was a soft rustling sound, and a small stone was hit by a bullet and jumped up. As for Gao Yang, the enemy he aimed at continued shooting, but where Gao Yang’s bullet went, nobody knew.

If Glolov were by Gao Yang’s side and they had a 12.7-mm machine gun, the helicopter would be in trouble. Even without a 12.7-mm heavy machine gun, a 7.62-caliber machine gun would do. But with neither Big Dog nor a machine gun, Gao Yang found it difficult to shoot.

Bringing down a helicopter with a 7.62-mm rifle would be a miracle even if it happened, so Gao Yang absolutely did not fantasize about taking down the helicopter. He just wanted to bring down the shooter sitting by the helicopter’s hatch and would be satisfied with that.

After running a couple of steps, Gao Yang stood again, raised the gun to shoot another short burst at the sky, but it had no effect at all.

Gao Yang, with gunmanship as divine, suddenly found himself struggling due to many factors. First, he was shooting upwards, and Earth’s gravity affects the bullet trajectory much more than when shooting straight ahead. Gao Yang was well familiar with the trajectory of a 7.62-mm NATO bullet, but the trajectory difference between shooting into the sky and shooting flat was unknown to him.

Moreover, the helicopter’s height was approximately three hundred meters, but the helicopter wasn’t directly above. Though it wasn’t far, the diagonal bullet would have to travel more than five hundred meters, far beyond the range of a straight-flying trajectory of a 7.62 NATO bullet.

Adding the intense downwash from the helicopter rotors, Gao Yang’s bullets would certainly differ from if he shot flat, and this little difference was enough to make him miss the target.

If the distance were closer, close enough for the bullet to hit the target before its trajectory could be affected and alter course, then Gao Yang would find it easier to hit. But now, unless the helicopter lowers its altitude, Gao Yang really finds it tough to hit.

Perhaps a bullet hit the helicopter, but Gao Yang certainly couldn’t see the tiny bullet hole several hundred meters away with the naked eye. So the true deviation of the bullet’s path, Gao Yang didn’t know. If he could observe it, he might adjust the trajectory, but without the ability to see it, he was helpless.

After firing several shots, he had to change position. Gao Yang didn’t even know how many people on the helicopter above were shooting at him, nor how many were shooting at Tarta. A bit of good news was that the enemy’s gunmanship above wasn’t very strong. Several shots landed around him but never directly struck him.

Shooting from the ground to the sky is difficult, and shooting from the sky to the ground is also surely tough. Even though the difficulties are different, there is definitely a challenge. Otherwise, America wouldn’t need to specially train machine gunners to shoot from helicopters. Though, if the enemy had used machine guns, the situation would certainly be different. But they were using rifles, which gave Gao Yang and his group a chance at survival.

"F**k f**k f**k f**k f**k!"

Frustratedly cursing several times, Gao Yang’s third shot missed, and he suddenly ran a few steps to the side, pushing Justin and shouting, "Run! How have you lived until now?"

Justin clutched the sniper rifle and followed Gao Yang running a few steps, loudly saying, "I don’t rely on shooting to make a living. I rely on my brain, and my mouth!"

"If your mouth could shoot down airplanes, you’d definitely be a legendary shooter."

Even in a busy moment, Gao Yang didn’t forget to throw in a quip. After running a couple of steps, Gao Yang stopped again, looking up at the slowly moving helicopter that continued shooting downward, urgently saying, "This isn’t working; the enemy won’t lower the height, so we can’t hit them."

Justin gasped and said, "Of course it’s not working; did you just realize? If you ask me, we should run in separate directions; forget about shooting back."

Seeing the faint dust rising up from the nearby ground, Gao Yang should have started a circle dance, turning forward and backward, running a few steps before shouting at Justin, "Don’t stop, idiot! Keep running, be agile."

Gazing at Justin holding the sniper rifle, Gao Yang suddenly veered toward him, snatched the rifle out of his hands, and while zig-zagging ran and shouted, "Don’t stop, don’t run in the same direction for more than two seconds."

Strapping the rifle onto his back, Gao Yang grabbed the sniper rifle. Just then, he heard continuous gunfire, turned to look, and saw a helicopter spewing flames. The enemy did have machine guns, though they weren’t fixed on universal mounts on the helicopter. The enemy indeed pulled out machine guns and started shooting, albeit aiming at Tarta’s side, not Gao Yang’s.

Justin shouted, "Why aren’t they launching rockets?"

"Because the opportunity hasn’t arrived yet!"

In the midst of the chaos, Gao Yang shouted back and suddenly halted, immediately aiming at the gunman using the machine gun.

Quickly targeting the gunman, Gao Yang didn’t forget to glance at the machine gun’s model, which he felt should be an M249. Watching the gunman sitting by the helicopter hatch, securely tethered so as not to fall off, laying the gun on his lap, holding the machine gun awkwardly while shooting.

A shot rang out, and the machine gunner dropped his head, blood sprayed inside the cabin. The machine gun wasn’t fixed and had no safety measures binding it in any place, so it slid out from the shooter’s hands and fell down.

Even when shooting upwards, the power and trajectory of the .338 Lapua Magnum bullet wouldn’t be affected at all, so a single-shot sniper rifle, not meant for shooting down aircraft, could pull off a miracle. Of course, in Gao Yang’s hands, it was a miracle; in others’ hands, it wouldn’t work.

Swinging the gun around and running, Gao Yang quickly slid the bolt and shouted loudly, "A larger caliber is even better; I should’ve used it from the start. F**k! Justin! You’ve exhausted the bullets!"

Justin flailed his arms as he ran, shouting, "You’re the one who told me to shoot; it was you!"