The Ultimate War Of The Apocalypse-Chapter 371 - 364: The Way of Survival

Ashraf wasn’t fast, but he had good endurance.

The enemy that could be seen was now very close, within a thousand-meter range—a distance where their machine guns posed a tremendous threat.

Yet it seemed the enemy must have noticed Gao Yuan and Ashraf by now, but there had been no movement from them.

Gao Yuan wondered if the enemy was perhaps waiting for them to get even closer before they would fire.

As Gao Yuan pondered the reason for this situation, Ashraf, who had been running all along, suddenly threw himself forward.

Ashraf dived forward, and as he fell to the ground, his right hand grabbed Gao Yuan’s arm with great force, but with Gao Yuan’s strength, Ashraf had no chance of pulling him down.

So, Ashraf fell to the ground, while Gao Yuan was left standing there—then, a spark of realization flashed through Gao Yuan’s mind and he immediately threw himself down, sprawling next to Ashraf.

Nothing happened.

Ashraf looked confused and alarmed; he turned to glance at Gao Yuan and then signaled with his hands that when he lay down, Gao Yuan must do the same, repeating the gesture several times.

Ashraf looked to the front again, his face still tense with anxiety, but after a moment’s hesitation, he finally nodded at Gao Yuan and slowly got back up from the ground.

Ashraf, resuming his calm demeanor, continued to run slowly, looking around constantly.

After about fifty more meters, Ashraf suddenly collapsed as if his legs had given out, his body uncontrollably falling forward to the left, his knees hitting the ground, gun in hand, and using the momentum of his fall, he rolled diagonally forward, cradling the gun in his arms the whole time.

It was a completely unforeseen roll from Ashraf as he was running—without any warning or sign of abnormality.

This wasn’t like the rolls in movies designed to look cool; Ashraf’s roll looked awkward and comical, yet it was fast. He quickly tumbled into a sandpit to the left front, then he immediately pressed his body into the sand and crawled forward for about two meters.

Ashraf glanced back at Gao Yuan with annoyed gesticulations, then, once Gao Yuan had also laid down, Ashraf rolled on the ground and crawled back head first.

Just as Gao Yuan was about to retreat as well, he saw Ashraf picking up a slipper from behind him on the ground; then, turning over to lie on his back, Ashraf curled up his legs in a comical pose and slipped the slipper back onto his right foot.

Gao Yuan truly had no idea what Ashraf intended to do.

Ashraf shook his head, as if pondering something. He appeared puzzled, shook his head again, and then beckoned to Gao Yuan. He first knelt up, then suddenly charged forward in a run.

Gao Yuan had no choice but to follow again, and just as Ashraf had run about thirty meters, he once again rolled unexpectedly toward the right front.

The posture was still absurd, but the speed was just as fast,

Following Ashraf on the left rear, Gao Yuan decided to go down with Ashraf, but as he was about to fall, he saw a flash on the seemingly normal sand dune to the right front, followed by rising dust, and then the sound of a bullet whistling by, with the gunshot heard last.

Gao Yuan instinctively threw himself to the ground, his eyes widening in disbelief.

Ashraf was running when he suddenly fell, then, an enemy hidden away fired a shot, the bullet was meant for Ashraf, but because he rolled so abruptly, the bullet whizzed by Gao Yuan instead.

Ashraf rolled, but this time instead of crawling forward on the ground, he performed a roll on the spot, with the difference from the previous two times being that he now held his gun in his left hand.

He rolled awkwardly on the ground instead of lunging forward because rolling is faster than first going prone then crawling forward—how much faster? About 0.1 seconds faster.

After rolling, Ashraf could immediately kneel on one knee and extend his gun, as opposed to having to use both hands to prop himself up before extending the weapon. The difference in the speed at which he could aim was much more than just 0.1 seconds.

Ashraf, after his roll, propped himself up on his left knee, with his right leg straightened out behind him, and with his upper body in an off-balance forward-leaning pose, he fired a shot.

Gao Yuan saw the enemy who fired, it was a shooter less than four hundred meters away, hidden under a camouflage net. Those who employ such disguises are either snipers or sharpshooters, but given that the enemy was acting alone, the likelihood of being a sniper was greater.

After firing, Ashraf’s body followed the momentum and fell forward onto the ground, then Ashraf quickly worked the bolt of his rifle and immediately rolled again, then he raised his rifle once more in a kneeling position, as if about to take aim.

This time, however, Ashraf didn’t fire.

Gao Yuan too was kneeling on one knee. He peeked out, but although he knew the enemy’s approximate location, he couldn’t discern whether the enemy had been hit.

The distance was still too far, without the aid of a scope, it was impossible to make out specific details about the enemy.

Ashraf held his aim for roughly two seconds, then he quickly grabbed his binoculars, raised them to his eyes for a look, and immediately put them down. He said, "Dead."

Such simple words, Gao Yuan could certainly understand them.

After saying "dead", Ashraf took a long breath, then with a tap of his index finger, he said, "Sniper."

Gao Yuan understood why Ashraf had survived to such an age in Afghanistan, because he had become as cunning as a fox.

It was all about feeling—absolutely feeling. Ashraf rolled to the ground the moment he felt something wasn’t right. He didn’t care how ungraceful his rolls were, as long as he could dodge a bullet when something felt off, that was what mattered.

If it were Gao Yuan, he certainly wouldn’t do such a thing because, for nothing else, if he did and the enemy didn’t fire, it would indeed look quite embarrassing, and Gao Yuan’s thoughts or habits represent a good portion of people.

The enemy fired that shot just as Ashraf moved. He had aimed at Ashraf, but Ashraf made an evasive maneuver the instant the enemy pulled the trigger.

If Ashraf moved first, the enemy would not fire and would just look for another opportunity to aim. If Ashraf moved a split-second later, he would have been hit. This wasn’t mysticism, it was simply the survival method of an old soldier.

As for the shot Ashraf fired after rolling, Gao Yuan knew that many were capable of making it in training, whether it was Panxin, Li Jingang, or Li Yang. Their training maneuvers included shooting immediately after rolling, and they could also hit the target.

But to see a sniper in actual combat roll and then immediately take a shot, killing the enemy with a single bullet—Gao Yuan was witnessing it for the first time, so to him, that shot was nothing short of marvelous.

It was like magic.