Heng sighed at the gun. He let out a bitter smile and said, “I used to be scared of dying but I really wanted to die. Now that I am not scared of dying, I don’t want to die. How ironic.” He closed his eyes.
The fake Xuan moved like the real Xuan in every minute detail. He slowly raised the gun. As he was about to pull the trigger, a man appeared out of thin air between the two of them. It was so unexpected that both Heng and Xuan were taken aback, and so was the person who appeared. Then Xuan pulled the trigger.
A series of tat-tat-tat sounds echoed but the man’s head wasn’t smashed as expected. A rippling barrier popped up by his head and blocked the bullets.
ChengXiao shouted, “You mad? I am ChengXiao! Did you forget who I am?”
Heng saw ChengXiao was about to step away and yelled, “Don’t move! My dragonshard is out of energy! This Xuan is fake. He isn’t the real Xuan. He’s a copy Freddy created from Zheng’s mind!”
Several needle bullets flew by the sides of ChengXiao and hit Heng’s barrier. It scared him so much he immediately moved up to ChengXiao’s back. ChengXiao grabbed the Gauss pistol but he didn’t attack without a clear idea of what was happening.
Xuan reacted beyond his expectation. He rotated his hand out from ChengXiao’s grab and pushed him off. The other Gauss pistol was placed by on ChengXiao’s temple. Another round of fire followed. Despite the barrier, the force from the bullets knocked ChengXiao over. Xuan aimed both pistols at Heng again.
Heng complained to himself that how could Xuan’s gun-kata even beat ChengXiao who knew martial art?
ChengXiao had entered the unlocked mode the moment he lost balance. He landed with one hand on the ground and propelled himself back up. His fists punched Xuan on the abdomen one after another, not giving Xuan a chance to breathe.
“He’s not Xuan! Xuan’s gun-kata is way stronger than this!” ChengXiao shouted.
Heng thought to himself how strong was the real Xuan when the fake one was already so strong? And then he received a kick from ChengXiao which sent him straight into the bar. Heng nearly threw up after the kick despite ChengXiao controlled its force
Gunshots sounded from outside the bar. Its door and windows were shattered. Heng looked out from a gap and saw ChengXiao’s fists repeatedly aimed for Xuan. Yet, the Gauss pistols stopped their advances each time. ChengXiao did not get any hit in while Xuan shot back at his fists and their barrier.
ChengXiao did practiced martial art. However, he was much more interested in medicine and Gu in comparison so he never got to learn the profound martial arts. He only knew of one better boxing technique.
(Xuan mentioned gun-kata operates on the calculation of vast data of close and long range combat. It calculates every possible direction of incoming attacks. So I can either attack him from a direction that isn’t supposed to initiate an attack, which wouldn’t cause much damage even if the attacks hit, or go for his fatal spot and pierce his defense with power and speed!)
Once ChengXiao made up his mind, he kicked toward Xuan. The pistols fired at him and with the force from the shots, he leaped into the bar. He put on the rank B gloves while he was still in the air. The moment he landed on a table, he leaped at the entrance again.
Xuan just ran through the entrance. His gun-kata proficiency had been rising steadily. Its speed and accuracy were almost at the same level as real Xuan, which evidenced the convergence of his power to the real Xuan and Zheng’s collapse.
“Orbital Taiji!”
ChengXiao charged up to Xuan the instant Xuan stepped into the bar. His steps moved in a interwinding pattern. ChengXiao punched Xuan on the shoulder with far greater force and speed that he had shown. Xuan’s pistol did not move in to block on time.
(Great!) ChengXiao said to himself. He revolved around Xuan while his fists struck in a flurry as though they were stuck together. Never once did their distance grew further than thirty centimeters. At the final strike, ChengXiao punched Xuan on the chin and knocked him back out of the bar.
“Nice!” Heng yelled. He held the silver bow in preparation to run out. However, ChengXiao grabbed his shoulder and dragged him in the opposition direction. He was panting heavily.
Heng asked while the ran, “What are you doing? We should shoot him while he’s down.”
ChengXiao showed Heng his fist. Its skin was cracked as if ChengXiao had punched a piece of steel. Even punching steel wouldn’t injure it so much given his physical capability.
Heng was confused. ChengXiao explained, “That last hit felt abnormal. Yes, it was like I hit an impenetrable barrier or something. He has gained the Lambda Driver. Not the complete version but it has begun…”
The two rushed out from the backdoor. A peculiar wave occurred behind them and then the whole bar collapsed. If they were one second late, they would be buried under the building now.
“Shit. That’s overpowered. Why did I never feel the psychopath is this strong? And he only showed it when he’s an enemy.”
Heng and ChengXiao nearly bit their tongues. The met eyes with each other then simultaneously began running. Neither person wanted to fight Xuan again.
“Heng! Where’s your Charged Shot? Kill that psychopath. Freaking. What is he trying to become a humanoid machine instead of a strategist?” ChengXiao shouted.
Heng counted the time then replied, “It’s not Charged Shot. I can use the more powerful Lightning Shot, but in two more minutes… I don’t want to die!”
“Two more minutes? Can we make it through two more minutes?”
No one, not even the two of them knew if they could survive for two more minutes. Though on the other side, WangXia, TengYi and LiuYu might not even make it through thirty more seconds.
Freddy’s strength seemed to have really grown. After being killed twice by WangXia and Heng, the sound of running engine echoed from the distance within ten seconds. WangXia, TengYi and LiuYu looked out to see three demolition trucks driving toward them. Inside each truck was a Freddy. The one in the front most truck held out his head and laughed madly.
TengYi and LiuYu both looked to WangXia, who instantly yelled, “Run! I have nearly used up all my demon energy just then. I only exchanged the early enhancement for Bomb Dominator. I was triggered when I saw Freddy and used up my demon energy at once. It will take at least one to two minutes to recover some. Hurry and run!” He picked up LiuYu and headed the way. TengYi was shocked for a moment before he followed after WangXia.
The three people entered a narrow alley. They did not dare to run on the wide streets due to the trucks. After they had run some distance, they could hear the sound of buildings collapsing coming from behind. The trucks drove after them into the alley and crushed every building on their way. This slowed down their speed but they were not letting the three people get away.
Strangely, even though the three were running toward the busiest area of the town where the streets should be laid out in more complex designs and buildings should be taller and more densely packed, that was the exact opposite of what they were seeing. The views became emptier as they ran. They increased their pace since since turning back was the same as running up to death. They had no other choice but to follow along the path they had chosen to the end. The only thing they could do was run faster.
“Something’s not right. This is near where our house was at! It’s an empty land surrounding our house!” WangXia suddenly cried.
The other two also got a clear view of the surrounding. They saw the house they lived in not far away. No one knew what tricks Freddy played on them to pull them back to this place. There was nowhere to hide.
The trucks were driving closer and closer. The only place they could run to was back into the house, even though they knew it was difficult to run away once inside. The trucks behind weren’t giving them any other choice. They were coming at a speed similar to regular sedans.
Twenty meters left. Ten meters. On the near truck, its crane swung the wrecking ball at the three people.