I 'absorbed' the ammo my latest kill dropped to replenish the ones I used in the earlier firefight.

Lea joined my side while looking around the corridor, making sure there weren't any more enemies hiding around the corner.

"Seems like we got everyone," I commented, standing back up.

Lea relaxed slightly, "It does look like it. I noticed that you have gotten quite a number of kills on your own, Captain."

"Just luck," I half lied, not exactly feeling the need to tell her about my past experience with these types of games.

Instead, I nodded at her, "Do you know that we have a map function? You just need to raise your arm parallel to the ground and face your wrist towards you."

She blinked at me and did exactly as I told her, prompting said map to appear in front of her.

"Oh, it even shows where the other two are. Is this what you used to find me?"

"Yeah. It doesn't say who the particular team mate is on the map but I figured that it was you from the kill feed and the fact that those people were being sniped."

"How did you know about this map, Captain?"

"Ah… I saw someone else do it."

She nodded and did not question me further on it.

Lea looked back down on her map, "What's our next course of action, Captain?"

"Well, the circle would be shrinking soon so it'll be good to meet up with Amber and Ries since the other teams would most likely be doing the same as well."

"Hmm… One of them is just a few blocks north of us inside the city area while another one is on the other side. Though judging by their movement, they seem to be heading towards the city area as well."

"I guess that means it would be better for us to meet with the one inside the city area first and wait for the other one to reach us?"

Lea hefted her rifle in her arms, "I think that's a good idea. But I had been spying on the city from here and there's a lot of fighting going on in there. Seems like quite a lot of people have already gathered there so we would be going into the thick of it."

Well, that's expected, especially since the map showed that the next circle would be around that area as well so most of the surviving contestants would be heading there too.

I turned to Lea, "I guess before we head there, let's consolidate our loot first."

She agreed so we went to one of the rooms and hid ourselves inside so that we had time to react in case anyone else came along.

I brought out the sniper I looted from the industrial area, "I got this sniper rifle, not sure if it's better than your current one but it doesn't have a scope on it though."

Her eyes widened slightly when she saw the rifle I brought out, "Oh! This one is definitely better. In fact, I'm surprised they have this in here. This one's also a coil rifle, Captain, definitely better than this pellet shooter that I have right now."

The pellet shooter that she was using to score headshots on people just minutes ago… Sure…

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"I'll swap you for it then, can your scope be used on this gun?"

"Of course, Captain. But you can keep the scope, I can make do without it for this gun."

I raised an eyebrow, "Are you sure? I'll most likely be using the assault rifle instead of the sniper though? So that scope might be wasted with me."

Lea thought about it for a moment, "In that case… Please allow me to take the scope, Captain."

"Of course. Do you have a sidearm? Or at least another weapon that you can switch to in case of a close combat fight?"

"I don't need one, Captain."

I frowned, "What do you mean you don't need one? We were literally in a close combat gunfight just now. Wouldn't you be in trouble if those guys stormed into this room and caught you here? Your sniper rifle wouldn't be able to deal with so many people at once, can it?"

The corner of her lips curled up slightly into a smile, "That's assuming I would be put in a situation like that in the first place, Captain. And do not worry, I have my own ways of dealing with close quarters combat."

"Still… Isn't it better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it? Which reminds me, you don't have a sidearm on you outside of this game too. Perhaps we should get you one? We still have some spare weapons from those pirates we killed the last time."

She paused for a moment before nodding, "I suppose it would be better to have one just in case, Captain."

"You're talking about both here and outside, right?"

"Yes, Captain."

I chuckled, "Alright then, we'll get one from the drops outside for you. Do you have any skill cards?"

She showed me her waist where a single card was slotted in it.

"It's a passive skill," She explained without prompting. "If I stay still, I would slowly adapt to the surroundings and slowly turn invisible over time."

Right… So that's a skill where you can literally turn invisible by staying very still…

"Is that what you meant when you said you had your own way of dealing with close quarters combat?"

"That's one of them."

I pulled out my Target Marking skill card and handed it to her, "In that case… I think this might help you as well."

She took it from me and gave it a short read before nodding, "It certainly would help me, Captain. May I take this?"

I nodded for her to go ahead and watched her slide the card into an empty card slot on her waist.

It seems like these skill cards were pretty rare since all the contestants we've killed earlier didn't have any skill cards equipped either.

Or maybe these people were all new and didn't even know about the existence of skill cards? That's possible too.

As I got ready to leave, I heard a soft thump coming from outside the room which made both of us pause.

And here I thought there wasn't anyone around anymore.

I tightened my grip on my rifle and prepared to ambush whoever was outside the room when something rolled into the room.

It took me an instant to realise that it was a grenade and reacted by kicking the grenade back out through the door before diving back into the room right before it exploded.

The shockwave of the blast sent me rolling away further than I would have normally but I managed to absorb the impact with the roll and get back into a crouch with my gun pointed at the door.

Thankfully, my shield took most of the damage which only lowered it by half so I was still able to fight.

It was clear that I did not manage to kick the grenade far enough since an enemy quickly rushed into the room after the explosion and his gaze locked onto me almost immediately.

I was just about to squeeze the trigger when Lea's shot pierced through the side of his head, shattering the shield and dropping his health to zero with that single bullet.

It also looks like he was part of a team because three other people immediately rushed in after him from behind, all of them pausing for a moment when they realised one of their own got destroyed the moment he stepped in.

That gave me the time I needed to gun down the one on the right, his shield quickly breaking upon my onslaught before his health got depleted by the next few shots.

I was worried that Lea would be in danger because of her close proximity with them and, sure enough, one of them was already raising his rifle to aim at her.

I tried to swing my weapon to aim at him first but Lea suddenly did a backflip, evading the bullet that her opponent shot at her.

I got to watch her line up her sniper with her target and take the shot while she was still midflip in the air.

The bullet pierced through the first guy's head and continued its path to shatter the shield of the last remaining guy.

Without his shield, a quick burst from my assault rifle was enough to finish him off before he could even decide whether it would be better for him to run or fight.

Lea then landed in the classic three point landing, looking like she didn't just execute that crazy stunt just now.

She stood back up and smiled at me, "That was what I meant when I said I had my own ways of dealing with it, Captain."

Ah… Ok, that was really cool. I kinda want to see that again…