Chapter 10: The Bullet of the Outsider (Part 1)
Chaos reigned beneath the gray stone tower where the salvage crew was recovering the relics. Bandits wearing sackcloth hoods suddenly appeared, seemingly emerging from the ground. They seemed to be more familiar with the terrain than the salvage crew, attacking from behind obstructions and blind spots, easily driving the salvage crew out of the stone tower.
Most of the salvagers fled on the spot, but a few with some backbone still defended the entrance. A young salvager brandished a stick to fight off the thieves, his young face filled with shock and anger.
"Brother, are you crazy? We are all colleagues who just hang out at the workshop, what are you doing for no reason?"
This was the third attack this month. Though the bandits had covered their faces with sacks, he recognized familiar figures. Most of them were veteran salvors who had worked at Ansa Workshop. When he first started, they'd taught him the ropes, and at the farewell party after he resigned, he'd toasted each of them. But after just a few months, how could these honest salvors have gone this crazy?
The attacking thief with the sack had a ferocious look in his eyes and punched the young man fiercely in the corner of his eye, making him see stars.
"Bullshit colleagues!" the bandits roared. "Wearing found clothes and using change earned from selling garbage, there's absolutely no way for outsiders to survive in this shabby city. Even if we pick up garbage for ten thousand years, we still won't be able to return home!"
He snatched the club and immediately began to beat the poor young man. The young man's head was bleeding and he was knocked unconscious. The defenses at the entrance completely collapsed. The bandits, their eyes red, rushed in. The bandit leader rushed to the front, not forgetting to encourage his men as he attacked.
"The government is forcing us, the homeless, to be used as livestock! They're exploiting foreigners to death!" the bandit leader shouted. "How long are we going to stay here? If we don't take action now, how can we ever return to our own island?"
"Break the curtain! Leave the city! Return home!" The bandits responded in unison, like an army. "Break the curtain! Leave the city! Return home!"
Most of the bandits followed their leader into the Gray Tower, while a few remained to establish a defensive perimeter. Four bandits armed with long-barreled rifles scaled the perimeter wall and took up firepower, while the remaining bandits cautiously surveyed the surroundings. The bandit furthest from the entrance saw two figures rushing toward the stone tower. He immediately raised his gun and took aim, but before he could pull the trigger, a dark figure struck him in the chest. His breathing ceased instantly, as if he had been struck by a rhino!
The next moment, a silver tentacle swept away the bandit's long-barreled gun, and a precise knife strike knocked him unconscious. Chu Hengkong picked up a black stone; it was this little thing that had interrupted the bandit's shooting.
"If you hit the head, there's no need to waste time on finishing off the enemy." Chu Hengkong said.
"If you hit them in the head, I'm afraid you'll blow their brains out!" Ji Huaisu shouted from the side, "Remember, you are a law enforcement officer now. You are not allowed to kill unless it is necessary."
"I'll do as you say, Captain." Chu Hengkong dodged a water bullet by turning his head. "Let's disperse now. It will be very troublesome if you get hit..."
The bandits were far more capable than Hugos's thugs; they were organized, well-planned, and clearly trained, knowing how to seize commanding heights and hide behind walls to fire their weapons. The two men moving side by side were a large target, and he wasn't sure he could attack and protect Ji Huaisu at the same time.
"No need, just follow me."
However, the girl refused to listen. Without taking any defensive measures, she rushed out, facing seven specially crafted water bombs! The explosive force was enough to send an adult man flying a hundred meters. The same attack repeated seven times would shatter even a bone of steel in mid-air.
Chu Hengkong quickly curled his tentacles around Ji Huaisu's waist, attempting to pull her to safety. But he sensed a golden glow emanating from Ji Huaisu's hands, a light several times brighter than when gliding high above. With almost no delay, the golden light solidified into a translucent knight's shield.
Those powerful water bullets were directly bounced away by the light shield, and they couldn't even make Ji Huaisu retreat a step!
"Fuck, that's..." "The Disaster Knight!" "The crazy woman from the Resurrection Corps!"
"Why does she have a tail?!" "Look carefully, she's connected to the man behind her. That witch must be using some magic to absorb energy!"
The bandits gasped, and different exclamations came one after another. Ji Huaisu slowly looked at the tentacles around his waist, and the blue veins on his forehead were faintly visible.
"What's wrong with you?"
"I..." Chu Hengkong awkwardly retracted his tentacles, "Let's go, charge, give me the soldiers."
Ji Huaisu glared at him fiercely, charging forward with her shield at her head. She was an invincible vanguard. Neither water bullets nor the gravel thrown by the bandits could shake the shield, and the volleys of fire from seven specially designed water guns couldn't even slow her pace. Three bandits rolled out from behind the wall, attempting to attack from the sides and rear, but they were met with stones that seemed to have eyes. The first stone struck her wrist, disarming her. The second struck her heart or groin, injuring her. Chu Hengkong's right fingers twitched, and as he cried out in pain, three of the enemy's remaining men were gone.
In a matter of seconds, Ji Huaisu had reached the unguarded entrance, while Chu Hengkong, disengaging from behind his shield, scurried up the right wall like a shadow. The bandit guarding the elevated position was struck in the back of the head by a knife before he could even see his enemy's true form. Chu Hengkong slid around the fallen body, then, with a backhanded elbow, dispatched the second bandit.
The two guarding the right side of the entrance fell down in a single blow, and the bandits on the left wall quickly raised their guns and distanced themselves. They breathed a sigh of relief. The entrance gate was between the two walls, and even the tentacle couldn't reach that far.
Chu Hengkong indeed did not use his tentacles. He raised the snatched gun under the dull gaze of his enemies.
After two gunshots, the last two bandits were blown high into the air by the fountain-like water. Chu Hengkong jumped off the wall and returned to Ji Huaisu's side. The fight on the wall lasted less than two seconds. At this time, Ji Huaisu had just entered the gray stone tower.
"Good basic skills. I thought you were the type who didn't use a gun."
"I just don't like using guns." Chu Hengkong shrugged. "In the past, a knife was enough for missions."
"Do people in your hometown use swords more than guns?" Ji Huaisu became a little interested.
"The guns in my hometown are better than those in Huilong City. Anyone with a normal mind can use a gun." Chu Hengkong used his tentacles to roll back a few stones. "I am an abnormal minority."
The gray stone tower was pitch black. The power source had been shut down by the bandits who had entered earlier. Only a thin ray of light shone through the cracks in the stone walls. Aside from the two men's footsteps, there was no movement inside the tower. The bandits who had arrived earlier seemed to have melted into the darkness. Chu Hengkong pulled out a white power-charging iron ring and tapped it against the wall repeatedly. Ji Huaisu examined the water gun he had captured.
This gun was different in appearance from the water-buzzer pistols used by the thugs. The slender barrel was painted dark blue, making it look like a privately modified hunting rifle. Ji Huaisu glanced at it and let out a loud "tsk!"
"I know who owns the Riptide Spear modified by 'Handy'." She yelled towards the top of the tower, "Get out, Sansen Wangxiang! If you resist any further, I'll have you jailed for ten years!"
A strange man's cry echoed from above, as shrill as a bat's song. "Imprisoned? Hehe, does it make any difference? We've been locked up in this rotten city for over twenty years!"
"No one is depriving you of your freedom of movement—"
"Stop lying, I already know! It was your dear old man who shut off the outbound channel!" Sansen Wangxiang screamed, "It's shut off! It's gone! There's no going back! Apart from blowing up your damn water curtain with a single cannon, what else can we do?!"
"Break the curtain! Leave the city! Return home!"
The bandits' slogans boomed, echoing through the empty stone tower. Dozens of dark blue modified guns emerged from the darkness, and high-pressure water bombs rained down like a torrential rain. Ji Huaisu was no match for them this time. She pulled Chu Hengkong along and rushed into the side corridor. Chu Hengkong remained silent, memorizing every word they spoke, searching his mind for the name "Sansen Wangxiang."
This morning before training, he made a special trip to headquarters and wrote down every wanted poster on the bulletin board. The one belonging to Sansen Wangxiang was on the middle level, and it had a description that interested him:
[“Cluster Artillery” Sansen Wangxiang]
Reward amount: 150,000 Liuzhu.
-
A demon-possessed person holding a relic.
-
They roam around various sky islands in the workshop area and rob randomly.
-
Seismic Point One's "skillful hands"! Beware of fist cannons and privately modified weapons!
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
