“Why is there a deserter?” Some of the Company Leaders asked doubtingly.
Shangguan Bing’er and Xiao Se naturally recognized Zhou Weiqing instantly, and Xiao Se smiled and said: “Aiyo, isn’t this the Battalion Commander’s Personal Aide Little Fatty Zhou? What happened to him? How ……”
Before Xiao Se could finishing speaking, the complexion of all the Company Leaders suddenly changed. This was because just as Zhou Weiqing had started to run away, right behind him, at least 30 to 40 arrows blotted out the sky behind him, clearly targeted at him.
Zhou Weiqing seemed as if he had eyes on his back, and just as he had dashed 7-8 meters to the front, he suddenly dove and rolled forward, and then executing a quick roll of his body to the side; his movement was rapid and coordinated, looking as if he had practiced this a thousand times before. The 30 to 40 arrows that were aimed at him were actually mostly hitting the area which he had been in, and by running, he had already dodged the majority of them. In addition to that, his dive and roll, he only heard a ‘Duo duo’ sound as arrow after arrow hit the ground behind him, and not a single one hit their target.
Xiao Se said in surprise: “What did he do that brought about the wrath of god and the resentment of men*? Why was he targeted by the enemy salvo?”
*TL – 天怒人怨 Direct translation – basically just meaning ‘What did he do to piss them all off?
The archers from the First and Second Battalions who had targeted Zhou Weiqing earlier were the most outstanding recruits of the 2 Battalions, and this salvo actually gave the opportunity for the 70 remaining recruits of the Third and Fourth Battalions the breathing room to recover a little, and this was the first that their losses were actually lower than their opponent’s.
Zhou Weiqing had rolled about 3-4 meters away, and his body quickly bounded up from the ground, and you could only see this fellow plant the tip of his feet onto the ground as he jumped up in a swift motion a whole meter high, and with a whizzing sound, another arrow was launched from the Purple Dawn Bow.
Due to his running and rapid dodging movements, he had attracted the attention of all the military officers observing the fight. At this moment, all of them also wanted to take a look at his accuracy. After all, this sort of instantaneous jump-shot was extremely difficult to pull off, especially since the time he had to aim was extremely short. The reason that he had to jump up was to avoid all the soldiers from his side in front of him.
Whizz. It was almost as if whenever Zhou Weiqing moved his Purple Dawn Bow, a soldier from the opposing side would drop down. The Company Leaders looked at each other blankly; many of them were experienced archers themselves, and with some self-examination, they realised that even if they were in Zhou Weiqing’s place, they might not necessarily do better.
The Company Leader in charge of directing the First and Second Battalions was very experienced, and on discovered Zhou Weiqing’s skill, he immediately changed target again, ordering the next round salvo to focus once again on the remaining soldiers in the Third and Fourth Battalions instead. The idea was very simple, since Zhou Weiqing was very accurate, he would just ‘kill’ off the all the others first, and leaving him for the last before they all targeted him.
Immediately, misfortune fell upon the remaining recruits of the Third and Fourth Battalions. As if having received a huge stimulation from the display of Zhou Weiqing, the archers from the First and Second Battalions displayed an improved accuracy. Originally. the Third and Fourth Battalions only had around 70 left standing, and after this salvo, 40 of them had unexpectedly fallen. On the other side, there were still 80 recruits standing, and it was a very obvious contrast on both sides.
Zhou Weiqing saw that the opposing side had been distracted from him, and quickly tried to make the best use of this time to shoot. However, just as the Company Leader directing the First and Second Battalions had judged earlier, no matter how accurate he was, he was just one single person. By the time the rest of the Third and Fourth Battalions besides Zhou Weiqing had been annihilated, the opposing side still had more than 50 people remaining.
“Holy S***!” Looking at the rain of arrows blotting out the sky and raining down towards him, Zhou Weiqing turned his head to run again, feeling extremely gloomy in his heart! The quality disparities between the recruits of both sides were just too big. He had at least killed 16 to 17 enemies just by himself, but they still had almost 50 till alive, how could this be possible?
A Company Leader from the First Battalion shouted out loud: “Chase him and shoot him down! Whoever manages to shoot him down, Your Father, I, will bestow on you the best archery recruit of today.”
At this time Zhou Weiqing no longer had other recruits to cover him, and the situation was much more dangerous than earlier. The massive amount of arrows showering down from the sky had such a coverage on the battlefield that it seemed like an artillery barrage, and it was much more difficult for him to dodge like he had earlier.
This scenario actually displayed Zhou Weiqing’s superior physique after Awakening his Heavenly Jewels; even without actually making use of his Heavenly Jewels, his speed and strength already far surpassed those ordinary soldiers. As he ran, he kept spinning around and switching directions unceasingly, trying as much as possible to not run in a predictable manner so that the opposing side would not be able to catch him. However, for the soldiers from the First and Second Battalions to catch him, they not only had to chase him, but also had to stop in order to shoot. After Zhou Weiqing had managed to dodge and run with much hardship through two salvos of arrow rain, the distance between both sides had widened to about 300 yards. This distance was already beyond the accurate distance of those outstanding recruits, and they could only fire high up into the air to attempt to cover the area where Zhou Weiqing was with projectile fire.
Seizing the chance to catch his breath, Zhou Weiqing managed to turn around while running to shoot, and he quickly managed to take down another 7-8 enemies.
“Is he kiting them? This recruit is really too strong, Company Leader Xiao, you mentioned earlier that he is the Personal Aide of the Battalion Commander? That boy is really quite good!” One of Company Leaders standing beside Shangguan Bing’er couldn’t help but exclaim.
Kiting was basically a type of hit-and-run technique that archers used very effectively, but generally speaking it was used to deal with melee units, making use of the firing distance of arrows and now allowing their enemies to attack them. However, Zhou Weiqing was relying on his superiority of strength and the power of the Purple Dawn Bow, and actually using this disparity in prowess and range with the other archers to kite them around, and that indeed made these senior veterans impressed and appreciative.
One of the Company Leaders of the First Archery Battalion couldn’t help but say: “Shang Gong Battalion Commander, how about letting us have this little brother? Not mentioning the rank of Squad Leader, with this this brothers’ abilities, he can even be my deputy.”
Shangguan Bing’er smiled faintly, thinking secretly in her heart: That Little Fatty Zhou is a Heavenly Jewel Master, let alone being your deputy, as long as we report it up the ranks, he is more than sufficient to be my deputy.
“A gentleman does not seize another’s love*, Company Leader Li, I cannot agree with that.”
*TL -君子不夺人所爱 – literal translation, it’s an idiom describing that she won’t give him up. She isn’t actually saying she loves Zhou Weiqing
Xiao Se smiled at the side, saying: “Does that mean that the Battalion Commander has fallen in love with him?”
Shangguan Bing’er expression turned cold, “Company Leader Xiao, please have some self respect.”
The other Company Leaders knew the grudge between Shangguan Bing’er and Xiao Se and they did not try to speak and intervene. At this point, that Company Leader Li from the First Battalion said doubtingly: “What is this Little Fatty Zhou doing? He was just about to reach the woods for cover, why did he turn around and come back?”
Just as Company Leader Li had said, Zhou Weiqing who had already pulled away and increased the gap had unexpectedly turned around to charge towards the First and Second Battalions, facing more than 40 people.
The others also did not understood what was happening, but Xiao Se quickly grasped the situation: “He is out of arrows!”