Chapter 274: Cunning
Licking Rabbit put down the walkie-talkie in his hand and was just about to change positions when he saw a cold white light flash ahead.
The white-haired kid with the long saber seemed to have found Xiao Ba’s position and was charging madly across the battlefield.
It scared Licking Rabbit so much that his heart skipped a beat.
He suddenly grabbed the walkie-talkie and shouted, “Squad Eight, immediately enter the first trench. Squad Two, stop withdrawing. Squad Nine, enter the second trench. Squad Ten, cover Xiao Ba’s retreat.”
A youth’s calm voice came from the walkie-talkie, “Too late.”
Licking Rabbit crawled out of the trench, ignoring the stray bullets on the battlefield, and ran madly toward Xiao Ba’s position.
Dense bullet rain mixed with one or two cold blue lights covered the battlefield, but that white-haired Yin Yuan dodged most of the bullets by weaving and dodging behind various obstacles like a rabbit. Occasionally, a few bullets hit the exoskeleton armor but didn’t even chip the paint!
It was as if the armed soldiers were firing blanks.
“Eighth Master, retreat, retreat now!”
A captain crawled out of the trench and directly blocked in front of Xiao Ba, performing fire suppression on Yin Yuan.
The firepower of ten soldiers was enough to suppress a squad, but it had no effect on this Yin Yuan. In the flashes of gunfire, that fierce saber light grew closer and closer.
A pair of cold eyes locked dead onto Xiao Ba sitting in the wheelchair.
“Eighth Master, run!”
A soldier hurriedly shouted.
“Two of you, take Eighth Master and go!”
Seeing the enemy getting closer and Xiao Ba showing no intention of moving, the captain immediately grew anxious.
The two at the end of the team put down their rifles and turned to lift Xiao Ba’s wheelchair.
But when they tried, they found they couldn’t lift it.
“You can’t stop him.”
Xiao Ba, sitting in the wheelchair, had a cold expression, but his voice was exceptionally sincere.
The surroundings were all metal fortifications he had constructed. He had plenty of chances to retreat, but the soldiers inside these steel fortifications could not.
He guessed that Yin Yuan’s ability was something like embrittlement.
The soldiers’ evolutionary abilities were mostly in the “Defender” direction. Facing a Tier 1 close-combat expert, they would only be crushed, and the steel fortifications could not provide effective shelter for them.
Once he broke through, the armored train’s frontal battlefield would collapse immediately.
Now that He Jie was wounded and withdrawn, he was the only pillar of the frontal battlefield.
Anyone could retreat, but not him.
The two exerted all their strength but still couldn’t move the wheelchair. Looking down, they saw that Xiao Ba had welded the wheelchair to the ground.
The captain turned his head and saw Xiao Ba still not lifted away, his eyes turning red with anger.
“You two good-for-nothings!”
“It’s not their fault. It’s me who doesn’t want to go.”
Xiao Ba activated the steel to move himself to the foremost position of the line. Metal walls gathered in front of him, forming a massive iron wall that protected everyone behind it.
Yin Yuan looked at the youth sitting in the wheelchair ahead with slight surprise but still leaped into the air.
The long saber in his hand slashed down without hesitation.
The soldiers’ eyes bulged with rage, but Xiao Ba had only left them a row of shooting ports.
They could only watch all this helplessly, unable to do anything.
The youthful shoulders were slightly slender, unable to fill out the black shirt, yet they raised a massive steel arm, slapping fiercely toward Yin Yuan in mid-air.
“Ant shaking a tree!”
The Yin Yuan man snorted coldly, his long saber slashing down.
“Clang!”
The metallic clang overwhelmed the nearby gunshots, making everyone’s ears itch.
“Xiao Ba!”
Licking Rabbit, who had just run over, happened to see the moment the long saber slashed down, and his heart trembled instantly.
Everyone’s vision blurred as the long saber split the wheelchair in two.
“Hm?!”
Yin Yuan let out an incredulous grunt.
He looked up to the top, where the youth leaped into mid-air, hands spread like wings to maintain balance. The soft black hair clinging to his ears all floated up from the descent, as if weightless.
With a slap, both feet landed on his shoulders.
It really was like having no weight.
He couldn’t even feel a person standing on him.
Stronger than that sensation was the intense stabbing pain in his body.
The exoskeleton that had originally protected his body from harm now became the sharpest blade stabbing toward him.
If not for this betrayal coming so fiercely, even if Xiao Ba trained diligently, it would be impossible to jump onto him the instant the saber edge slashed down.
Blood trickled from the corner of Yin Yuan’s mouth, his pupils shaking. “You…”
“Just kidding.”
A sly smile unique to youth appeared on Xiao Ba’s face as he jumped to the nearby open space and hopped demonstratively.
Although his legs weren’t healed, he hadn’t given up on physical training. Whatever training other soldiers could do, he could do too, and more, more standardly!
All for the sake of regaining control of his body with the exoskeleton.
Though the strength was far inferior to a Tier 1 “Defender,” the flexibility was much stronger than ordinary soldiers.
Yin Yuan wanted to say something, but opening his mouth spat out a large mouthful of blood, unable to speak. He could only point at the exoskeleton on his body.
“Even though it contains evolution materials, it still has metal in it.”
Xiao Ba scratched his temple.
He wasn’t unable to manipulate the exoskeletons of these Black Kite people, but it was like manipulating the new materials synthesized by Yu Jing—it required more energy and had a distance limit.
Using it dozens of meters away in advance wouldn’t achieve effective kills and would alert the opponent, so Xiao Ba had held back until now to use this move.
Yin Yuan, with his organs pierced, could no longer hold on and collapsed to the ground.
Xiao Ba excitedly clenched his fist.
After training for so long, he had been waiting for this day!
“Boom.”
Xiao Ba, who hadn’t been happy for long, was tackled down by Licking Rabbit.
Bullet holes appeared in a row on the metal wall.
Soldiers also circled out from behind the iron wall, surrounding for vigilant shooting and suppressing enemy firepower.
Licking Rabbit, “Awesome, Eighth Master!”
“Uh, you… why are you tying my hands?”
The shy smile hadn’t faded from Xiao Ba’s face as he looked blankly at the sullen-faced Licking Rabbit.
Licking Rabbit hoisted Xiao Ba onto his shoulder and crouched low to jump into the trench.
Xiao Ba regretfully looked at the wheelchair left on the battlefield.
‘It could still fool people after a fix…’
Upon seeing the relief soldiers, Licking Rabbit shouted viciously, “Men, lock up this kid who disobeyed orders on the battlefield! When I get back and report to the Train Conductor, he must be severely whipped!”
The battle had started less than five minutes ago, and the armored train had consecutively withdrawn two grand generals.
But the Black Kite side wasn’t faring well either.
A full ten special operations squads, plus two hundred ordinary special operations personnel, totaling three hundred people.
Except for the thirty left in the theater, the rest were all fighting the armored train.
At first, when covered by cannon fire, they felt a shameful fury like being bitten by ants. As they fought, it turned into frustration—not that they couldn’t win, but the opponent’s cannon fire was too fierce.
They weren’t without heavy firepower, but who the hell would haul something like a railgun all the way here?
The armored train carried the base’s entire firepower with it.
So Black Kite fought with extreme frustration.
They planned to regain the upper hand through ability suppression in direct contact.
Ten squads meant at least ten Tier 1 Evolvers, plus some strong squads, totaling thirteen Tier 1 Evolvers.
Before they could show their power, two were taken out by He Jie on the front.
Then one was killed by Xiao Ba.
Two people had taken out three.
Plus two who wanted to lead a team around the back for a direct strike, but hadn’t returned yet.
……
“Boom—”
The first floor of the mall next to the theater suddenly shook violently.
The floor tiles, already riddled with holes by the mutated plant, became even more shattered. A Yin Yuan wearing an exoskeleton lay in the center of a large pit, his exoskeleton twisted and deformed like a crushed empty can.
Yin Yuan struggled to raise the muzzle in his hand.
A flash of despair passed through his scattered pupils.
A door-sized black shadow whistled down.
“Boom! Boom!”
Two consecutive thuds, and a hulking man like a small mountain slightly bent his knees.
Even the mutated plant extending its tendrils was scared back by this terrifying vibration.
Liang Kuan slowly stood up from the shield, blood evenly splattering from the shield under his feet to all sides.
Armed soldiers quickly gathered around.
Seeing this violent scene, they couldn’t help but feel their throats tighten.
“Captain Liang…”
“Have the others been dealt with?”
A rumbling voice came from Liang Kuan’s chest cavity, like thunder.
Goat wiped the blood from his mouth and gave a thumbs up. “Three Tier 1! We’ve long heard Old Liang you’re insanely fierce, but didn’t expect you to be this fierce. Let’s go back and kick that old dog He Jie down, support you to be Old Da!”
Liang Kuan just shook his head slightly at Goat’s joke and picked up his shield.
The Yin Yuan below was already mixed with the exoskeleton, indistinguishable in shape.
Liang Kuan carried the shield and walked toward the ruins of the theater outside.
“Continue the assassination task.”
Walking out of the mall, several corpses lay scattered outside. On the theater plaza directly opposite, a group of special operations personnel stood warily behind special vehicles. Seeing Liang Kuan emerge, the mortar mounted on the vehicle roof instantly fired.
Liang Kuan quickly raised his shield, exhaled and shouted, his muscles bulging like granite, the green military uniform stretching into an exaggerated muscular form, knees slightly bent.
By the time he finished all this, the cannonball had already landed on the shield.
With a boom, the palm-thick stone bricks paving the plaza shattered violently, smoke and dust rising everywhere.
The Yin Yuan guarding the doorway watched with twitching eyelids, his instincts pounding like drums in his heart, ringing madly.
His anxious gaze glanced toward the theater.
Since the “capture the armored train” order came through, no one had come out from inside.
Compared to the battle outside, the commotion inside was even more terrifying—lightning flashes, frequent giant roars.
Those who knew were negotiating inside; those who didn’t would think gods were fighting inside.
As the smoke and dust dissipated, even the well-experienced Black Kite crowd couldn’t help sucking in a cold breath.
Two terrifying furrows extended all the way to the feet of the towering figure at the mall entrance.
Although the shield was already dented, everyone was still shocked speechless.
‘This is clearly Tier 2!’
Cold sweat instantly crawled up the Yin Yuan captain’s back, his face turning pale.
A Tier 1 couldn’t possibly tank a cannonball with flesh and blood!
Absolutely impossible.
“So it was discovered.”
Liang Kuan grunted from behind the shield, his joints emitting bone-piercing pain. Any slight movement brought stabbing pain from the muscles.
This was his body’s warning.
But under the buffs of “Pain Numbness” and “Efficient Recovery,” Liang Kuan rapidly regained combat power.
Worth mentioning, the “Soldier” profession had no active skills, and his Tier 2 profession “Steel Body Shield Guard” was all passive skills.
Including later advancements, he had no abilities that could be projected outward.
Even the General Energy that Fighters could use later, Liang Kuan didn’t have!
All energy was used to nurture this terrifying fleshly body!
He pulled his foot from the shattered floor. The tactical boots, after multiple processes, were still worn to rags. Liang Kuan frowned and stepped barefoot on the ground.
Seeing his movement, ten assault rifles’ muzzles simultaneously spat flames. Bullets tore through the air but exploded into sparks upon hitting the two-inch-thick alloy giant shield.
Goat inside the mall naturally wouldn’t just watch. He led over a hundred soldiers in counterfire.
Deadlocking over a dozen Black Kite special operations behind the vehicles.
In the hail of bullets, Liang Kuan crouched and charged, shield raised like an out-of-control train head, smashing into the scattered vehicles.
The foremost several-ton armed off-road vehicle flipped flying.
The special operations hiding behind stared blankly at the giant man like a ferocious beast before them.
The shield edge smashed the chest bone, the special operations’ body flying like a broken sack into the air. Before it landed, the second special operations’ rifle exploded into fragments.
Shield edge swept horizontally, gun barrel snapped, metal fragments burst and embedded into the third special operations’ eye socket.
The third special operations directly knelt.
Not surrendering, but his head was flicked upward by the shield bottom, flipping off the skullcap.
Brain matter splattered on the shield face, mixing with gunsmoke to steam up a stinking white mist. The fourth and fifth fired simultaneously, bullets denting the shield face but unable to penetrate.
In an instant, three special operations personnel who had cost Black Kite massive resources were pinched dead like chicks by Liang Kuan.
The Yin Yuan special operations captain could only steel himself and charge up.
Ignoring the bullet rain, he climbed onto a vehicle for a high-angle shot at Liang Kuan.
“Roar—”
Liang Kuan bent one knee, one foot stomping the personnel carrier’s engine hood, and leaped fiercely.
The shield flew out like a discus throw. The Yin Yuan captain standing on the vehicle was like a bird with broken wings, exoskeleton parts popping off cracklingly.
He reached back to grab the military saber stabbing coldly from behind the waist, his large hand covering the opponent’s horrified eyes, snapping the neck with a crack, then hoisting him over like manipulating the shield onto his shoulder, and body-slamming toward the command vehicle where Yin Yuan was!
Another symphony of metal and flesh.
Seeing Liang Kuan suppressing the entire enemy team alone, Goat ignored the shock and led soldiers to rush out and beat the drowning dog.
Soon, the remaining dozen or so Black Kite special operations personnel at the entrance were all taken out.
Liang Kuan had thought that Tier 1 Yin Yuan wouldn’t die so easily, but unexpectedly the latter was unlucky—the shield had directly smashed his head.
Dead on the spot.
The battlefield at the theater doorway was like it had been trampled by a giant beast.
One by one, several-ton special vehicles lay overturned, special operations personnel either embedded in vehicle bodies or the ground. Only three who were shot dead retained intact corpses.
