The Battle Begins (2)

"Okay." Fanxin nodded without hesitation, drew the gun at his waist, and aimed at Clark and began shooting.

Bang, bang, bang...

Fanxin fired several shots in succession, aiming every one at a vital spot on Clark's body.

Although Clark wasn't particularly strong, he had a keen sense of danger. As soon as Fanxin opened fire, he began dodging and avoided most of the bullets. In the end, though, one hit him in the shoulder.

The bullet had been aimed at his neck, but he had shifted to the side, so it hit his shoulder instead.

He then hid behind a large tree, neither showing his head nor making a sound.

Fanxin snorted coldly and, weapon in hand, slowly approached the tree.

The surrounding beasts, under the little fox's control, also slowly closed in on the tree. If Clark really was out of bullets, he would have to face attacks from more than a dozen beasts and Fanxin at the same time.

I'm out of bullets. What do I do? Behind the tree, Clark first took out a strip of cloth and tied it tightly around his wounded shoulder to stop the bleeding. He had no time to treat it now, so this would have to do for the moment.

Then he searched all his pockets and found that the ones that had originally been full of ammunition were now empty. He couldn't find a single bullet. He immediately grew anxious, because close combat wasn't his strength!

Even if he did know how to fight up close, more than a dozen beasts and a human youth made for a very powerful combination. It would be difficult for him to win.

"That bastard little fox looks like it wants to kill me this time."

Clark was furious. The little fox had once been his hired muscle, and whatever he wanted it to do, it had to obey without question. Now, however, it opposed him at every turn and even wanted to kill him. That made him extremely unhappy.

"Hmph, little fox, since you're determined to see me dead, even if I die, I won't let you have an easy time of it."

Clark gritted his teeth and said viciously, "Although you've gained freedom now, your lifeline is still in my hands. All I have to do is destroy that collar, and you'll be blown to dust and cease to exist. Your soul may be powerful, but surviving that would be next to impossible."

"But it hasn't come to the end yet. I won't take that step for now. I'll talk to him first and see whether the little fox will submit to me. If it won't, it won't be too late to kill him then," Clark muttered to himself.

He didn't want to die, because he was a coward. But if he were driven into a corner, he would have no choice.

And now that he held the little fox's lifeline in his hands, he believed there was still room to turn things around.

After pondering for a moment, Clark stepped out from behind the tree and stood openly before Fanxin and the beasts.

He looked at the little fox in the distance and said, "Little fox, you should understand that although you've gained freedom now, it isn't true freedom. Your lifeline is still in my hands, and I can kill you without leaving you a place to be buried at any time. Of course, if you're willing to listen to me, I won't do that. Well?"

The reason he had never destroyed the little fox's lifeline was that he needed it as his hired muscle. With the little fox around, his overall strength was much greater.

He had also discovered the little fox's new ability: it could actually control beasts. If he regained control of the little fox, all those abilities would belong to him.

With so many benefits at stake, he naturally didn't want to destroy the little fox's lifeline. But if he truly had no choice, he wouldn't hesitate any longer.

"Hmph, Clark, stop playing tricks on me. I'm telling you, I'm not afraid. Go ahead and destroy my lifeline if you can! Even if you destroy it, I won't die. The one who dies in the end will definitely be you," the little fox said with a light snort, completely unconcerned.

It had already found someone with extremely powerful soul power, and he was right in front of it. So what if its body was destroyed? It could immediately dart into Fanxin's body and rely on him to achieve an alternative form of rebirth.

So it didn't care about Clark's threat at all. His threat no longer posed any threat to it.

"Oh? You're really not afraid?" Clark frowned slightly at that and repeated his question.

"Go on, do it. I'm waiting," the little fox replied, looking at Clark expectantly.

Clark was baffled. How could the little fox be so calm? He controlled its lifeline and could kill it at any time!

"Are you sure you're not afraid?" Clark still didn't quite believe it and asked again. As he did, he assumed the posture for chanting a spell. Of course, he didn't actually chant it. He was deliberately trying to frighten the little fox, because he wanted to see whether it really wasn't afraid or was just pretending.

Faced with Clark's threat, however, the little fox sat leisurely in a large tree, completely unconcerned.

"All right, Clark, stop trying to scare me. It's no use. I'm not afraid of you anymore," the little fox said with a chuckle. "You're the one who should be afraid now, because you're out of bullets. You have to defeat these dozen or so ferocious beasts and this formidable youth. You're no good at close combat, so you'd better be careful, or you'll be torn to pieces. Hehe."

"Bastard, since you won't submit to me, I'll destroy you completely." Clark snorted coldly and hesitated no longer, immediately beginning to chant a spell. More than ten seconds later, he stopped.

He pointed at the little fox and said just one word: "Explode."

As soon as the word left his mouth, the collar around the little fox's neck began to glow, changing from silvery gray to blood red. A moment later, it exploded.

The blast covered a wide area. Everything within a ten-meter radius of the little fox was caught in the explosion, and the surroundings were left in ruins.

"Hey, little fox, how are you? Are you all right?" Fanxin's expression suddenly changed. Instead of attacking Clark, he rushed toward the little fox.

Although he had a poor impression of the little fox—it had tricked them as soon as it came over—they were on the same side now, and he didn't want to abandon a companion.

"All right? Like hell it's all right! It's been blown to pieces and has already left this world." Clark burst into laughter, his face so twisted it looked terrifying. "It deserved it. I told it to follow me, but it wouldn't listen. In that case, all it could do was die."

Fanxin ignored Clark's nonsense and searched around. He found several chunks of flesh, but they were only the size of fingertips. Most of the corpse was nowhere to be found.