Nightmare, Shattered!

After carefully studying the information, he discovered that he had already shot nine Flame Black Beetles and four Flying Flame Beetles. His current "Basic Gunmanship" proficiency was 87%.

Taking a deep breath of scorching air, Meng Chao made a desperate gamble.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

He swung the muzzle around and fired at the Flame Black Beetles on the ground.

These low-level creatures had already formed a dense black insect tide in the Small Plaza. Meng Chao did not even need to aim; Bullets immediately blew open several Black Beetles' carapaces.

Some unlucky ones were hit in their flammable mucus sacs and turned into fireballs one after another.

The area before Building Nineteen became a sea of fire.

As the flames surged, the Strange Fire before Meng Chao's eyes became even more resplendent:

Flame Black Beetle killed. Contribution Points +1, proficiency +1%, reached 88%.

Congratulations, Flamebearer. You have completed your first combat mission, "Alien Insect Hunter." You defended your civilization with powerful force and received 1,500 Contribution Points. You may raise any current basic skill by one level. Upgrade immediately?

"Wait!"

Meng Chao held his breath and continued his mad slaughter. As Bullets screamed through the air, Flame Black Beetles were blown apart one after another.

The Strange Fire before his eyes blazed wildly:

Proficiency +1%, proficiency +2%, proficiency +3%!

Congratulations. Ordinary Level "Basic Gunmanship" proficiency has reached 100%. Upgraded to "Expert Level."

It was as though enlightenment had been poured into his head. All manner of firearm-related information instantly surfaced in his mind. Bio-current surged from his central nervous system all the way to his nerve endings, granting every muscle fiber greater mastery over gunmanship.

At that moment, the dense gunfire also drew the Ghost Eye Golden Winged Flame Beetle's attention.

The super beast turned one hundred and eighty degrees. Golden dust glittered on its wings, its ghost eyes opened wider, and its terrifying aura became almost tangible as it locked firmly onto Meng Chao's family's window.

Crack!

The reinforced glass could not withstand the impact of the super beast's aura, and spiderweb-like cracks spread across it.

"Whose home is that? Are they tired of living?"

On the ground, the Bayonet Squad also sensed the super beast's fury.

Li Dayong and the neighbors could not help breaking into a cold sweat for the crazed shooter.

Now! Dump all the Contribution Points into "Basic Gunmanship" and blast its proficiency through the roof! Meng Chao roared inwardly.

Teaching the Wild Bull Technique had earned him over thirty Contribution Points, lowering his little sister's probability of turning dark had earned him 500, and completing the "Alien Insect Hunter" mission had earned him 1,500. More than two thousand Contribution Points in total—all of them went into "Basic Gunmanship."

His proficiency immediately shot upward at breakneck speed.

15%, 26%, 48%, 55%, 78%, 99%!

He felt as though both his brain and hands were burning. Countless fragments of memories from firing guns in his previous life shone brilliantly, like burning meteors bombarding him wildly and engraving themselves deep into this life's cerebral cortex.

Congratulations. Expert Level "Basic Gunmanship" proficiency has reached 100%. Upgraded to "Master Level."

Crisp, pleasant gunshots rang out in his mind.

Amid agony so unbearable it felt like his brain was being torn apart, details ten times richer than those of Expert Level came flooding in.

No, this was not enough.

Meng Chao clutched his scorching head, feeling as though his brain matter would burst from all seven orifices. Yet he still gritted his teeth and roared inwardly, Now I can claim the reward for "Alien Insect Hunter." Raise Master Level "Basic Gunmanship" by another level!

First combat mission reward confirmed. Congratulations, your "Basic Gunmanship" has been upgraded from Master Level to "Perfect Level."

Basic Gunmanship, Perfect!

"Ahhhhhhh!"

In that instant, Meng Chao's brain nearly exploded.

The incomparably violent torrent of information did not merely pour all of his shooting experience from his previous life into him.

It was as though the shooting experience of hundreds of old soldiers who had died alongside him when Dragon City was destroyed had also been crammed wholesale into this life's brain, nearly turning into magma that would shoot out from his seven orifices.

Beyond how to finely adjust every muscle fiber and even every cell to perfectly wield the vast majority of ordinary firearms,

hundreds of monster anatomy diagrams also surfaced in his mind, including their weak points and the best ways to fight them.

Aside from the Ghost Eye Golden Winged Flame Beetle, there were many monsters that the people of present-day Dragon City had not even seen, yet he knew them like the back of his hand.

It was as if, in his previous life, he had stood before an operating table and personally dissected countless monsters.

This is the feeling!

Suppressing the pain of his brain matter threatening to burst forth, he used hands that seemed about to catch fire to load his final Armor-Piercing Bullet magazine.

Without even looking, he fired another three-round burst.

This time, however, the Armor-Piercing Bullets ricocheted off the Ghost Eye Golden Winged Flame Beetle's curved carapace.

Not only had they failed to penetrate its shell, they had thoroughly enraged the super beast.

The Ghost Eye Golden Winged Flame Beetle swooped above Meng Chao's apartment building.

Screech!

The piercing shriek tore through every resident's eardrums.

Its mandibles opened, and a dark crimson fireball, nearly purple in color, rapidly gathered within.

The super beast before him overlapped with the scene from his nightmare.

Meng Chao seemed to see how this beast had ravaged everything, how it had torn humans into pieces, how it had burned to ashes the home where he had lived for seventeen years, how it had harmed his mother, father, little sister, himself, his neighbors—everyone in Tianfu Garden.

His eyeballs burned with pain, and bullet-like flames burst from the depths of his pupils.

"This life, die for me!"

Bang!

Just as the super beast spewed its flame of destruction,

the final Armor-Piercing Bullet left the barrel.

"Basic Gunmanship," Perfect Level, activated!

Meng Chao and his gun became one. The light in his eyes and his unyielding intent to kill all wrapped around the Bullet.

In an instant, the Bullet tore through the void.

It precisely pierced the Ghost Eye Golden Winged Flame Beetle's mandibles, detonating the fireball before it could be unleashed.

Boom!

The Ghost Eye Golden Winged Flame Beetle's mandibles instantly exploded. The organs around them were blasted to pieces as well, spraying vast amounts of pale golden viscous fluid. Like a kite with its string cut, it fell helplessly from the sky.

"Someone blew up the super beast!"

Inside the buildings and on the ground, countless residents let out ecstatic cries.

The Ghost Eye Golden Winged Flame Beetle was the monsters' commander.

The commander had fallen, and the insect swarm immediately became headless.

Not only did the Flying Flame Beetles crash about like headless flies, the surging insect tide also fractured into pieces. The Black Beetles spun in circles like ants on a hot pan, trembling beneath humanity's roars.

"It seems to be Building Nineteen, Unit Three, Room 704—Old Meng! He used to be a sharpshooter in the military. Who would have thought that old steeds still had vigor!"

Both shocked and delighted, Joint Defense captain Li Dayong waved his war blade and shouted at the top of his lungs, "The monsters are collapsing! Residents, for Tianfu Garden, for Dragon City, for Earth—charge!"

The howling Bayonet Squad charged into the beast horde like hungry tigers pouncing on sheep.

The Black Beetle swarm, which had been too timid to advance, immediately scattered like rats fleeing with their heads in their hands. Their formation collapsed as they tried to flee back Deep in the Mist.

But the Space Fissure had already closed. Like fish in a cauldron after the firewood had been removed, they had nowhere to escape.

"I..."

In Room 704, Meng Yishan could hardly believe his eyes.

The super beast had clearly been blown apart by a Bullet fired from Building Nineteen, but aside from him, there was no better shooter here!

Could it be that, in his desperation, he had sprayed wildly with his submachine gun, exceeded his limits, and a blind cat had stumbled upon a dead mouse?

He vaguely felt that something was wrong, but he could not say what was strange.

Thud.

A sound came from beside him. His son had collapsed to the floor.

"A Chao!"

Meng Yishan was horrified. He hurriedly went forward and held his son, only to find Meng Chao's skin scorching hot, as though he had a forty-degree fever, while every muscle in his body convulsed wildly.

"..." Meng Chao could not speak. Nosebleeds surged out like a faucet had been twisted open, while his brain felt as though a Main Battle Tank were repeatedly crushing back and forth over it. The pain made him want to cry.

With the frail body of a seventeen-year-old, instantly awakening so many memories from his previous life had nearly caused the flood of information to stuff his brain cells until they burst. It was practically suicide.

Fortunately, he had won the gamble with that final Bullet.

The earlier three-round bursts had merely been a tactic to lure the enemy.

They had been meant to make the Ghost Eye Golden Winged Flame Beetle face him head-on and expose the only fatal weakness deep within its mandibles.

Then, using the final Armor Piercing Bullet to disrupt the formation of the super beast's killing move, he had triggered a chain reaction that caused the Spiritual Energy within the Ghost Eye Golden Winged Flame Beetle to completely lose control.

It was not his Bullet that had killed it, but the super beast's own violent power.

That was called "perfect."

Meng Chao closed his eyes and discovered that the scene of the Ghost Eye Golden Winged Flame Beetle ravaging Tianfu Garden in his nightmare had shattered into fragments, rapidly dimming and dispersing. Before long, it vanished with the wind.

Sure enough, nightmares can be shattered, the future can be changed, and destiny ultimately lies in my own hands. He smiled inwardly.

A sudden sweetness touched the tip of his tongue. Bai Jiacao had pried open his mouth and carefully poured in a Medical Potion.

"Brother, you mustn't die! I haven't taken revenge yet—no, I haven't repaid you yet. How can you just leave this world like that? Wuwuwuwu!" The little girl cried as though her heart and intestines were breaking.

"Who said I..." Meng Chao weakly opened his eyes.

"Brother, you're okay?" Bai Jiacao broke into a smile through her tears and seized the chance to give Meng Chao's face a hard pinch. "How is it? Can you feel it? Is your consciousness still clear?"

"Ow, ow, ow! Let go!" As expected of the Black Night Witch—truly wicked.

"A Chao, are you all right?" His father, mother, and Grandma Wang all looked at him with concern.

For the moment, Meng Chao did not know how to explain things to everyone.

He was also too exhausted to say anything.

He could only barely raise a thumb. "I'm fine, just a little weak. Dad, you took down the super beast. Amazing."

Meng Yishan's old face reddened.

Looking at his trembling son, utterly exhausted, he thought for a moment and raised his own thumb before Meng Chao's eyes.

"Son, you're amazing too. Get some rest. We're all here. Don't be afraid." The middle-aged man spoke with utmost seriousness.

"That's right. With me here, no demons or monsters will ever think of bullying you!" Bai Jiacao added.

Meng Chao chuckled and closed his eyes.

A moment later, he suddenly opened them again.

Something was wrong. If he had killed the Ghost Eye Golden Winged Flame Beetle, why had no information appeared to tell him how many Contribution Points he had gained?