King Of War: Starting with Arms Dealer
Chapter 1164 - 1016: The Stalker

After Joe and his team left, an inflatable boat drifted quietly from upstream to the riverbank near the temporary campsite.

A few men dressed in black combat uniforms, holding SCAR rifles, slowly slid into the water, then silently approached the camp...

Yossi had been using the thermal imaging scope on his gun to search for people inside the camp, but he soon discovered the camp was empty.

Carefully reconnoitering the jungle around the camp using the thermal imaging, Yossi frowned and made a few hand signals to the person beside him...

The four men in black silently nodded, moved upstream along the river about 40 meters, entered the jungle, and then turned back towards the camp, forming a pincer movement.

Yossi and two other companions crouched on the riverbank and took aim to provide cover...

It wasn't until the four men in black entered the plane and searched a bit that Yossi confirmed Joe and his team had already left.

Seeing his companion signal that it was safe, Yossi stood up and activated the radio: "This is 'Team Duma', I'm Yossi, the target location is empty, 'Mammon Team' converge on me."

After notifying his companions, Yossi ordered them to search the rainforest and establish a defense line, then he removed his night vision goggles, turned on the tactical flashlight on the SCAR's side, and began carefully examining the temporary campsite...

A Water Bear plane had landed, with a tent tied to one of its wings.

The spot for the fire had no warmth, and inside the tent apart from some clothes left behind, there was nothing else.

As Yossi turned to inspect the plane, he felt he was stepping on something, he cautiously squatted down to check and found it was a few bullets.

Picking up the bullets for a closer look, Yossi frowned and activated the communicator, saying: "Everyone, be aware, the target is carrying automatic weapons..."

A man in black heard the report, walked over to Yossi, frowned, and said, "The intelligence indicated they came to conduct aerial reconnaissance, how could they have weapons?"

Yossi stood up, showed a 5.56 caliber bullet and a 9mm bullet in his hand, shook his head, and said: "This is high-quality subsonic ammo, the opponent not only has automatic weapons, but the weapon sound will be very quiet.

The intelligence indicates that the Hu Lang prefers using an HK416...

No one could find them faster than us, so the only possibility is that guy never parts with his gun."

The man in black's gray eyes flickered, he said: "Boss, there's a problem with the intelligence, why do you think they left here?"

Yossi looked towards the northwest rainforest and said: "I don't know, I just know we must find him, then kill him."

Speaking, Yossi looked towards the river, saw another inflatable boat silently approaching the bank, he said to the man in black: "Saban, go hide the inflatable boat upstream.

We might need to spend some time in the rainforest..."

The man in black Saban looked at the few people disembarking from the inflatable boat, spat towards the side, and said: "Shit, out of 20 people disembarked, 2 killed and 1 severely injured...

These bastards can't even get the intelligence right, simply useless."

Yossi reached out and patted Saban's shoulder and said: "We are soldiers, soldiers don't ask why, they make choices.

The intelligence indicates four people on the other side, Hu Lang, Elephant, Doctor Bird, and an unknown technician.

Apart from the technician, the other three are very formidable, especially Hu Lang.

According to information from Iraq, that guy's shooting ability is extremely strong.

But this is a jungle, shooting ability isn't the main skill here..."

Saban listened, nodded, and said: "I'll move the inflatable boat, then leave Yitai and the wounded to monitor here..."

While Saban was speaking, a few men in black who had ventured into the jungle returned, waved at the forest's edge, and said: "We've found their tracks, the traces are fresh, they should have left here this afternoon.

Boss, if we hurry overnight, maybe we can catch them before dawn."

...............

When Edward Foundation's people arrived at the temporary camp, Joe was just 4 kilometers away.

They set off at 3 PM and walked for nine full hours, advancing less than 3 kilometers.

The hostility of the Amazon Rainforest towards humans refreshed Joe's perception of the jungle.

Originally thought with the Congo Rainforest as a base, the Amazon Rainforest wouldn't be much different.

But in reality, without Karman's help, Joe and his team traveled many unnecessary routes.

Though they didn't get lost, to avoid various swamps, they took long detours.

By the second half, Tony was almost dragged along by Doctor Bird.

This technician had never experienced such a difficult trek...

Initially Tony was enthusiastic, Talus's exoskeleton helped bear some of the weight, allowing him to travel easily.

But the oppression, heat, humidity, mud, and the myriad of poisonous insects in the rainforest quickly drained Tony's stamina under the pressure, even causing dehydration.

In the later stages, it was always the medic bird using a towing rope to drag Tony, who looked like a zombie, along...

Joe Ga glanced at the time on his watch, then turned to look at the almost collapsing Tony. He smiled, shook his head, and said, "We'll rest here for 6 hours.

Three of us will take turns. I'll take the first watch..."

Dorian and the medic bird were old buddies. They decisively nodded and quickly cleared a spot, putting up hammocks between a few large trees, drank some water, cuddled their guns, and fell asleep.

Joe Ga glanced at Tony, who started snoring almost instantly. He smiled, shook his head, stationed himself around a large rock for a while, and then sat on top...

The rainforest at night was extremely lively. The sounds of insects, monkeys, and occasionally some bone-chilling screams told Boss Joe that something had been killed...

Generally, people would be very scared in such situations, but Boss Joe didn't feel any fear.

The long-term pursuit of thrill, and being immersed in high pressure and slaughter for extended periods, made him almost forget the feeling of 'fear'.

Once a person loses fear and is free from psychological disturbance, the senses in the jungle feel magnified, allowing attentive appreciation and listening to the surroundings...

A few beautiful blue butterflies flitted and fluttered in the jungle, while a strange-nosed, entirely black creature, resembling a pig, passed by not far away...

It locked eyes with Boss Joe for a moment, probably feeling this two-legged creature posed no threat, so it munched on the grass and plants on the ground for a while...

This goofy, charming creature didn't even notice that just above a nearby big tree, a pair of eyes were fixed on it.

Joe Ga casually picked up a clod of dirt and threw it at the mysterious creature just as the leopard was about to pounce, scaring it away.

After the prey escaped, the leopard jumped from the tree to the ground, measuring the distance from Boss Joe, about 10 meters away, tilting its head to size up the two-legged creature in front of it.

Boss Joe did not want to wake Dorian and the others, so he gestured silence to the leopard, quietly watching this big guy...

The leopard had never seen a human. Once it confirmed Boss Joe wasn't in its diet, it deeply regarded the peculiar two-legged beast in front of it before slowly turning and merging into the jungle.

Joe Ga didn't know why, but he felt he had touched upon some key in interacting with animals...

Two hours flew by, and the medic bird, like it had set a clock, woke up right on time, sat up from the hammock, and exchanged positions with the boss holding their guns.

Joe Ga didn't waste words; he lay on the hammock, shut his eyes, and quickly fell asleep.

It wasn't clear how much time passed when the groggy Joe Ga suddenly felt something fall onto him. He opened his eyes and sat up...

Seeing the medic bird also sitting up next to him, Joe Ga then looked at Dorian, who was making gestures not far away...

He nodded, pointed in Tony's direction, signaling the medic bird to check, then grabbed his backpack, shouldered it, and activated the Talus micro drone...

The jungle vegetation was too dense, and the micro drone couldn't fly high enough to find anything suspicious...

However, compared to machines, Boss Joe trusted Dorian more.

Joe Ga disengaged the HK416's safety, spread out from Dorian to establish a simple crossfire, then softly asked, "What did you notice?"

Dorian looked up at the distant treetops of the rainforest, gently shook his head, and said, "I'm not sure. There was some commotion over there earlier; a flock of birds was startled."

Joe Ga gazed toward the direction Dorian pointed, swiftly controlled the micro drone with gestures to elevate slightly, flying several dozen meters in that path...

This time, the drone's camera revealed something...

The morning sunlight bathed the rainforest, penetrating the canopy to form numerous speckles.

A few men in black combat clothing were moving slowly, pausing every few steps to scrutinize their surroundings. Joe Ga immediately realized these were the ones tracking them.

Both sides were now less than 200 meters apart, but the dense rainforest vegetation made it impossible to see each other.

If it wasn't for Dorian's alertness, and if it weren't for the micro drone barely functioning in the rainforest, maybe they would have sneaked up just within a dozen meters before being noticed...

Joe Ga observed for a few minutes, confirmed these men were indeed following them, then turned to Dorian and said, "Grab two Broad Swords, let's give them a surprise..."

With that, Joe Ga looked at the medic bird, who had already woken Tony, and said, "Medic bird, take Tony and go first. We'll catch up with you soon."

The medic bird knew that leaving Tony here would be a burden, and helplessly nodded, patting Tony's not yet fully awake face, saying, "Grab your bag, follow me..."

Joe Ga took one last glance at the direction the medic bird and Tony headed, dug out two smoke grenades from his backpack, found an appropriate spot, quickly buried them in the ground, and tied a transparent fishing line to the grenade pin...

Seeing Dorian had already used Broad Sword to set up a fire network, Joe Ga signaled him, then retreated while sweeping the ground with branches, covering fishing lines with foliage to also erase any footprint traces...

Once confirming the enemy's approach direction, Joe retreated to behind a large tree, gathered copious leaves into a heap, and crawled into it...

After completing a simple camouflage, Boss Joe glanced toward Dorian's position, activated the communicator, and said, "A1 in position!"

"A2 in position..."