There only were a few hours left until daybreak.
He would not be able to last until then if he did not come up with a plan.
He was not a hundred percent sure that the central command was at the top of Mt. Thunder either.
However, the top of Mt. Thunder was logically a very strategic location.
If he was the commander, he too would choose to construct a temporary command center there.
That was because it was surrounded by cliffs on all sides. Not only that, it had a vantage point that was easily defensible.
After getting a grasp of the situation, James began formulating his plan.
He closed his eyes, trying to remember the routes he had taken to deduce his current location and distance relative to the top of Mt. Thunder.
Relying on memory alone was not a very reliable measure, but it was close enough.
His main conundrum now was that the enemy’s main forces were slowly cornering him. He needed to think of a way to break the encirclement and he needed to do it fast.
It was no longer possible for him to sneak away unnoticed.
On the flip side, getting to the top in his condition would be quite the task if he showed himself now.
He chose to remain hidden.
Meanwhile, the sky filled with more combat aircraft. Their bright spotlights pierced the night sky like sweeping lasers.
James knew he was running out of time.
The area he was in was already in everyone’s crosshairs. If he did not leave in time, an army of a hundred thousand men would be there to confront him in battle. Once the enemy launched a pincer attack from all sides, there would be no escape for him.
The moment the spotlight disappeared, he swiftly leaped down the tree.
Just as he landed, the spotlight once again returned to light up the trees.
He got on the ground in the bushes and lay motionless.
Only after the spotlight had left the area did he continue moving forward.
He slowly sneaked in the direction of the army and then attempted to go around them.
He eventually reached an area with many men surrounding him.
These fully-armed men wearing LED flashlights on their heads were conducting a blanket search of the area. They systematically moved forward and shrunk the encirclement.
James could tell from just the lights that there were at least a thousand men there.
Finishing them off would not have been too difficult a task. The problem he faced was the helicopter circling in the sky searching for the slightest hint of his whereabouts. Once the battle commenced, he’d be immediately exposed to the relentless bombardment and machine gun fire of the helicopters.
He lifted his head and squinted the sky.
There were at least ten helicopters.
“Tch, how annoying.”
James clicked his tongue under his breath.
With the sniper rifle on his back, he surreptitiously made his way to a cliff and hid in the bushes near a rock.
Then, he pulled out the rifle and set it up.
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