Tracked on Camera

Heading back felt noticeably more dangerous. He had no idea what anyone else would think, but if Gao Fei had failed to take out a single enemy with eight consecutive drones, he would definitely keep striking with a ninth and a tenth. As long as there were drones left, he would keep attacking. Even though drones were in short supply on the Ukrainian side as well, they wouldn't have just a few left. Gao Fei craned his neck looking up until it grew sore. Without having to carry Sokholov on the return trip, their pace had picked up considerably. But against FPV drones, no matter how fast a man could run, it was pointless—no human could outrun a drone anyway. The first half of the trek went relatively smoothly, without a single drone showing up. There was no telling whether the enemy had been frightened off or had run out of drones entirely. Yet halfway through the journey, after covering a bit over a kilometer along the path and advancing a few hundred meters in a straight line, that familiar buzzing suddenly returned. "Drone!" Samir gasped in alarm, dropping the bucket in his hands. All three looked up vigilantly into the sky. There was nothing in the sky. The buzz was coming from down low. Gao Fei immediately pinpointed the sound's origin and spotted the drone only two or three meters off the ground, barely three or four meters away at his side. Gao Fei raised his gun in a flash, but before he could fire, the drone whooshed away into the distance. Instead of swooping in to blow Gao Fei up, it ascended backward and flew off. It looked almost as if it had been scared away. "What was that about?" Gao Fei quickly lowered his shotgun. He wouldn't keep holding it in an aim, as doing so would only hurt his reaction time and slow down his turning speed. Samir said hurriedly, "That drone looked bigger than the ones earlier." "It is bigger. It can carry more explosives—kilograms of explosives. It's a suicide drone specifically meant for tanks and armored vehicles." Puzzled, Gao Fei scanned the surroundings warily, still deeply confused. "But why didn't it attack? Why did it just fly off?" Andrey said with absolute confidence, "You definitely scared it off." It sounded ridiculous, but since the drone really had flown away, there was no point dwelling on it. Gao Fei spoke again. "Let's move. Stay sharp." That drone had been lying in ambush just now—sitting grounded, waiting for a target to appear or draw near before suddenly taking off. To conserve drone battery life, many drone operators did exactly that. The three pressed on. After winding their way through several more bends, Gao Fei heard the drone's buzz once more. "Drone!" "Front and back!" Samir's voice quavered slightly. Gao Fei spotted one drone directly ahead along their route, at least fifty meters away. At first he could only hear it, and only after looking closely could he tell it had just taken off, shooting straight up into the sky. Yet there was another drone behind them, and by the time Gao Fei turned around to look, it was already out of sight. "Two drones! They must have realized sending one at a time wasn't working, so they grouped two together to attack you at the same time!" The reasoning was straightforward and easy to guess. In the past, even if they had multiple drones, they wouldn't attack a single target simultaneously because that was far too wasteful. Now, however, if the enemy didn't muster as many drones as possible for a coordinated strike, it would only prove they were brainless. In that instant, Gao Fei genuinely felt a tinge of fear. If two or more drones attacked simultaneously from different directions, even godlike marksmanship wouldn't save him—he would need three heads and six arms. "Watch my back. The moment you spot a drone, tell me." Gao Fei's word was law now. No sooner had he given the order than Andrey shouted urgently, "Behind you!" Gao Fei spun around quickly and saw a drone hurtling toward him at breakneck speed. He raised his shotgun, not bothering to take careful aim, and squeezed off a shot in the drone's general direction. The drone suddenly banked, causing Gao Fei's first shot to miss. With his left hand pulling the forend, Gao Fei swung the barrel at high speed. The drone was also shifting laterally, but no matter how fast it flew, it couldn't beat the speed of someone tracking it with a muzzle. His second shot missed as well. Gao Fei had led the target too far, and a spray of pellets whistled ahead of the drone without bringing it down. The drone was still flying, and Gao Fei was still turning. A moment ago the drone was behind him; now it had reached his left. His formidable dynamic vision and extraordinary ability to track moving targets were on full display right now. Anyone else who missed those first two shots would have struggled to reacquire the drone, but Gao Fei kept his eyes locked onto it the entire time. On his third shot, Gao Fei paused ever so slightly. Having gauged the drone's flight speed, he fired ahead of its path. Then, the drone erupted with a deafening boom in midair. Gao Fei was already leading his targets. You learned fast on the battlefield, because if you were even a fraction too slow, you were dead with no chance left to grow. Having downed one drone, Gao Fei didn't wait for a warning. He kept pivoting, and sure enough, the other drone was already less than ten meters away from him. Two drones attacking simultaneously from front and rear—anyone could have predicted it. Gao Fei fired, but this shot missed again. For the drone hadn't continued charging toward him; the moment Gao Fei turned, it suddenly pulled into a vertical climb, rocketing skyward with a whoosh. The drone evaded Gao Fei's blast this way, but it also squandered its chance to strike. The drone streaked overhead above them. Just as Gao Fei swept his shotgun in an arc to keep tracking it and fire again, the drone banked once more and vanished without a trace. "Ha, haha, even the drones have to steer clear of you!" Andrey's voice trembled, his laugh sounding more like a sob. Gao Fei scanned around for the drone's whereabouts, worried there might be others nearby. Having missed that drone, he spun around rapidly like a top. To be fair, he genuinely looked a lot like a rotating radar right now. He didn't spot any other drones, but before long, the one that had flown away came right back. It was still facing Gao Fei, but this time it didn't charge straight in; instead, it hovered in midair. What was it doing? Gao Fei raised his gun immediately, but the distance was too great. He didn't know if the small birdshot pellets would still retain enough lethal force at that range. Samir suddenly said, "It looks like this drone is filming you. Didn't you guys notice? It's not trying to blow us up—it's trying to get a clear shot of Rex's face." Samir's observation made sense. Gao Fei's first instinct was to quickly cover his face. He didn't want to get famous, nor did he want anyone posting his likeness online. Fame might be a good thing for some, but it would cut off Gao Fei's path back home. He absolutely could not let anyone capture a full, clear shot of his face. Where had Gao Fei's knowledge of the Russo-Ukrainian war come from in the first place? Wasn't it from military influencers filming videos while fighting? And, of course, official combat footage. Either way, the possibility that this drone was trying to film him was very real. Gao Fei instinctively raised his left arm to block his face. He was wearing a helmet, so his black hair wouldn't show. His facial features were East Asian, but Russia had plenty of Asian minorities, so that alone wouldn't expose his identity—as long as they didn't get a clear look at his entire face. The drone hovered about fifty meters away for a moment, then suddenly accelerated laterally. Just as Gao Fei was forced to swing his muzzle along with it to prepare a shot, the drone swooped straight toward him again. Gao Fei was about to fire, but the drone banked again and zoomed straight into the sky. Samir shouted in frustration, "Fuck, this drone is toying with us!" "Why do I feel like it's just trying to find a good camera angle? If I had to guess, it's definitely going to fly away now and only come back when our guard is down." Andrey, on the other hand, sounded rather excited. He told Gao Fei, "They want to film your face! I can tell! They want to get your face on camera!" Sure enough, the drone quickly vanished into the sky. Too afraid to get close, only circling around—this didn't look like combat; it really looked like someone chasing a subject around to film them. "Keep moving," Gao Fei ordered. He gave the command, but he dared not let down his guard, so their pace slowed considerably. After walking for less than a minute, Gao Fei spotted the drone again. The drone was hovering ahead in the air, seemingly waiting for Gao Fei. The moment he saw it, he raised his shotgun. "Ha, haha, it's hovering to get a clear frontal shot! Did it get you?" Gao Fei had no idea whether his face had been caught on camera, but the instant he saw the drone, he shouldered his gun and fired. At forty meters, it was well within range. Just as Gao Fei raised his gun, the drone accelerated instantly. Even though it was an FPV drone, a larger frame meant it wasn't quite as fast, and a larger profile made it an easier target. The drone pulled up into a climb, then dove—dispensing with any fancy maneuvers, simply utilizing the difference in elevation before hurtling straight toward Gao Fei at maximum speed. Relatively speaking, drones had their limits: maneuverability required cutting down on speed, while flying at top speed sacrificed agility. But Gao Fei had no ceiling. As long as a target entered his effective range, he could hit it. While he couldn't claim faster targets were easier to shoot, speed certainly didn't frighten him. With just one shot—a single blast—Gao Fei brought down the drone that seemed intent on a final showdown. Once again, it detonated in midair. A scene that should have been astounding and terrifying had played out so many times that it barely elicited any reaction now. Gao Fei lowered his shotgun. Samir let out a long breath, while Andrey said excitedly, "See that?! Did you guys see that?! That drone was just trying to film you! It kept adjusting its angle just to get a clear shot of you!" Gao Fei snapped irritably, "And then what? Once they know what I look like, they'll hunt me down with even more drones. What's there to be excited about?" Andrey offered a dry chuckle. "Twitter, Facebook... uh, isn't it good to be famous? Getting famous means making big money—" It was true that fame could bring in big money, but you needed to stay alive to spend it. For one, Gao Fei didn't want fame; for another, he didn't want to become a prime target for the enemy, having drones hound and bomb him wherever he went. Having a drone follow him around to film him was anything but a good thing. He couldn't exactly negotiate with the enemy and ask them to stop filming, so he would just shoot down every single drone that showed up. Fortunately, they were almost at the forward position. Once he blended in with the crowd, there was no way a drone could pick him out with certainty. Still, had they caught a clear shot of his face just now? Probably not, right?