Chapter 11: The Outsider's Bullet (Part 2)

The description of particle 1 "skillful hands" appears on a separate line on the wanted poster, as if it is another characteristic different from those possessed by demons. Chu Hengkong guessed that this might be a certain criterion used by the locals to judge strength.

He gripped the darkened iron ring tightly as he ran, and asked the senior warrior beside him, "Does the enemy have the ability to break through the water curtain in the sky?"

"He's just dreaming," Ji Huaisu said dismissively. "You couldn't disrupt the water curtain even with a thousand skilled hands. He seized the tower most likely to modify the salvage device like he did the Riptide Gun, turning it into a giant water cannon."

Chu Hengkong recalled the scene of the salvage operation. That white column of water was enough to touch the weapon stream in the sky. If a super-sized water bomb exploded in the weapon stream...

“Knives will rain from the sky.”

"Yes, so we should speed up," Ji Huaisu said. "I'll take over the next battle. You said you can do more than just kill, right? Then tell us the enemy's location."

Ji Huaisu's request was sheer nonsense. The gray stone tower was laid out in the shape of a Chinese character "回" (U). The "口" in the center was a defunct elevator. The two men were running through the square corridors. The bandits were either hiding on the upper floors or in darkened rooms, making them impossible to find in the dim environment.

Ji Huaisu's shield was the brightest source of light in the tower, so they could hit him simply by pouring bullets into the light. In this kind of environment where the enemy is in the dark and we are in the bright, even professional commandos would use a thermal imager to search for the enemy, but Chu Heng had no professional equipment, not even a pair of glasses.

"Three people are lying in ambush three meters to the right, and one person is ready for a surprise attack five meters in front." Chu Hengkong said.

Chu Heng's position reading was as fluent as if he were reciting a line. He clearly didn't glance to the right, yet he was confident in his conclusion. Three meters ahead was a lounge with a closed door. He knew two people were lurking by the window, ready to shoot to attract attention. The last one was hiding behind the door, waiting for Ji Huaisu to pass so that he could shoot from behind. Ji Huaisu only had a shield in his hand, which he reserved for defense against the hail of bullets from the left corridor. He was eager to know how the other party would launch their attack.

Ji Huaisu shifted his shield to his right hand. A layer of faint light formed into a spherical energy shield, replacing the main shield for defense. As the shield changed hands, the translucent light shield rapidly deformed like a colloid, its lower half thinning to form a "short handle," and the cut portion rising to the top to form a shield-shaped "hammer head."

She single-handedly grasped the alien-shaped light hammer and smashed it against the right door. The wooden door shattered, sending the ambush soldier's head bleeding. The unfortunate man was sent flying by the sudden blow, but Ji Huaisu didn't even pause. She charged forward with reckless abandon, the light hammer shattering the stone wall and glass with unstoppable force, sending the other two occupants flying as well!

This couldn't even be described as a battle; it was pure demolition. The blonde's fury was like a golden storm, crushing the environment and its enemies into smithereens. After rushing through the room, a resounding roar echoed from the front of them. A massive iron spike smashed through the ceiling of this floor, striking Ji Huaisu directly in the crown of his head. Ji Huaisu swung his light hammer upwards, sending the spike repelling. The attacker on the upper floor was knocked unconscious by his own weapon.

Chu Hengkong squinted his eyes: "Someone just said that law enforcement officers should show mercy."

"If I were serious, they would have been minced meat long ago." Ji Huaisu said, "Their ability to locate targets by sound is not bad. Are all the assassins in your hometown so professional?"

“I’m the industry leader.”

Chu Hengkong leaped up first, using one hand to hold onto the edge of the hole and clambering to the upper level. Seeing no enemies within sight, he gripped the perception pendant tightly and struck the stone wall with the gray iron ring, sending a crisp echo through the corridor.

Ding. Ding.

He filtered out the gunfire, ignored his own breathing and other noises, and focused solely on the knocking. In a fraction of a second, the sound pattern had swept across the floor. The shifting vibrations faithfully reflected everything in the environment. He could "see" the ambush in the next room, as well as the creeping enemy approaching from behind.

Locating by sound. This was a common tactic used in dark environments, but even someone as perceptive as Chu Hengkong couldn't achieve such incredible precision on his own. The key to his understanding of the environment lay in the perception pendant in his hand. This relic enhanced his senses, including sight and hearing. Even a single enhancement lasting only one to three seconds was enough for him to create a simple map in his mind.

"If you want to save time, let me lead the way." Chu Hengkong's hammering became faster and faster, and the color of the iron ring gradually turned black. "Turn around and keep rushing back. There are two on the left and five in front."

Ji Huaisu, who had caught up, nodded. This time, she transformed the light back into a shield and charged directly to the front, where the enemy was most numerous. She ran as fast as the wind. When the bandits in the left room, attempting to ambush, tried to probe their guns, she had already charged into the enemy formation with her shield, knocking down five of them with a single blow of her shield. Chu Hengkong followed closely behind her, his voice steady as usual as he announced the location: "The floor above is cracked. Hit it directly."

Ji Huaisu transformed her light shield into a hammer and threw it upward. The already broken stone floor was shattered by the strange force. She leaped lightly into the air, stepping on the light hammer and leaping to the upper floor. As she landed, Ji Huaisu whistled. The stairs leading to the top floor were right in front of her. The bandits guarding the stairs looked as if they had seen a ghost.

"You are definitely more than just a killer."

"If I were to lead the way, we'd have arrived early now."

When Chu Hengkong jumped upstairs, the bandits guarding the stairs had been knocked unconscious by the light shields. The two temporary partners rushed to the top floor one after the other. The moment they ran out of the stairs, black water bullets hit them like a storm.

Ji Huaisu used her shield again, but this time she couldn't advance immediately. The black water bullets attacked in an intense manner, and two extremely thin water lines were mixed in with the water bullets. The attack seemed weak, but it brought an extremely strong impact. Ji Huaisu retreated half a step, and even the light on her shield was weakened by the attack.

Chu Hengkong realized the true nature of the attack. An ultra-high-pressure water jet released a stream of pressurized water through a small hole, the impact powerful enough to cleave wood and even metal.

The two streams of water emanated from the wanted criminal's deformed wrists. From the elbows downward, his arms had transformed into bony structures resembling water droplets, with water jets emanating from the "tips" of the two droplets. Behind the jets, what were once fingers had transformed into ten transparent tubes, each connected to a strangely shaped machine gun.

The short man stood with his back to the salvage device, a smug gleam in his small eyes.

"Hey country bumpkins, this is the firepower blanketing tactic!" Sansen Wangxiang laughed shrilly. "It doesn't matter if we don't have gunpowder. We'll overwhelm you with numbers and momentum!"

Ji Huaisu didn't move, not because he didn't want to, but because he couldn't. Ten water-jet machine guns and two water jets laid out a blanket of barrage, leaving no room for escape on the top floor of the Gray Tower. The spherical shield couldn't hold out for even a second against such intense firepower; the light shield was necessary to hold the line. But simply defending wouldn't solve the problem. The salvage device behind Sansen Wangxiang was vibrating violently, its cylindrical surface stretching and contracting like breathing. Even an amateur like Chu Hengkong could tell something was amiss.

Sansen Wangxiang laughed loudly: "Prepare for death! In a few seconds, you will witness the shocking cannon of the broken curtain!"

Chu Hengkong's eyes swept across the support frames of the ten machine guns, and he held the last hidden weapon with two fingers.

"I have one more stone," he said.

"Throw as many times as possible." Ji Huaisu raised his voice, "Throw!"

Everything that followed happened in an instant. Chu Hengkong flicked his fingers, and the last stone flew out into the hail of bullets, piercing the gap between the two water jets and shooting straight at Sansen Wangxiang's throat. Ji Huaisu's shout alerted Sansen Wangxiang to the danger, and he quickly brought his wrists together, attempting to destroy the hidden weapon with the water bullet.

At the same time, Ji Huaisu pressed her hands against the shield, and the brightness of her light shield increased rapidly. The sudden burst of strong light was like a miniature sun. The sun reflected into Sansen Wangxiang's eyes, exploding like a bomb in his eye sockets!

Sansen Wangxiang screamed in terror. The intense light itself wasn't lethal, but at such a short distance, the burst of light could practically burn his retinas. The sudden pain blinded him. He repeatedly told himself to stay calm and not move, but a moment later, a familiar sound of piercing air echoed from all directions.

Snap! Snap! Snap! Snap!

The sound was identical to the sound of Chu Hengkong firing stones. Sansen Wangxiang perceived it as four deadly hidden weapons launched from outer space. Sansen Wangxiang panicked, frantically moving his machine gun to deflect the weapons, hoping to crush them with a barrage of bullets. However, a heavy vibration erupted from the front, accompanied by a powerful light and a powerful impact!

With the enemy disoriented, the water jets and barrage of bullets were no longer a seamless defense. Ji Huaisu effortlessly dodged the intersecting water jets, using only her light shield to block the nearest barrage. In a flash, she reached Sansen Wangxiang and delivered a brilliant uppercut, sending the wanted criminal soaring over ten meters.

"ah--!"

The ten pipes that controlled the machine guns were torn apart by the force of the punch, and the water bullets in the air suddenly stopped. At this moment, Chu Hengkong, who was behind him, leaped up with all his strength. He transformed into a black iron ring and wrapped it around the tentacles. The front end of the tentacles was wrapped with the Silver Eye Book.

The power-charging bracelet faded, and the power stored in the ring exploded. The tentacles that fell from the sky turned into a silver hammer. The corner of the big book crashed through the iron wall and smashed the cannon that was about to be fired into a pile of scrap metal!

Bang! Bang bang bang!!

An ominous rumble echoed from within the damaged cannon, and pure white water erupted from the cracks like a fountain, sending a small, torrential downpour down the graystone tower. Sansen Wangxiang took two seconds to descend, crashing into a pile of broken iron sheets. Ji Huaisu didn't even glance at him; she summoned a spherical light shield to shield them both from the rain.

The girl hid one hand behind her back, and the shadow that was about to take shape in her hand silently dissipated. She looked at Chu Hengkong with a smile, and her words were full of praise: "Good reaction! I was worried that you didn't have enough strength."

"I carry this book with me because it's tough enough." Chu Hengkong retracted his tentacles and sighed, "Next time, please tell me about your abilities in advance. My eyes are sore."

The tentacle flicked in mid-air like an electric shock, making a crisp "snap" sound. The "hidden weapon sound" that Sansen Wangxiang heard was just Chu Hengkong swinging his whip a few times in the air.

Whether you can distinguish the subtle differences between different sounds, whether you can think of ways to use sounds, whether you have the ability to think with sounds as a breakthrough point... The "yes" and "no" answers to this series of questions are exactly the gap between professionals and laymen.

Chu Hengkong rubbed his sore eyes. Perhaps the previous flash was too strong, and he saw a strange shadow in his white vision.

The phantom floated out from Sansen Wangxiang's body, and from the bodies of dozens of bandits inside and outside the gray stone tower, and gathered into a bone-white seahorse on the top floor of the gray tower.

(End of this chapter)