Showing His Might

Ding—

Like the sound of a coin scraping against an aluminum alloy bowl, it kept echoing beside Zhou Zhengde's ear.

He could hear his own rapid heartbeat.

His vision was blurry. Agonizing pain and a tearing sensation came from his abdomen. Zhou Zhengde knew he had been wounded by shrapnel. Although the anti-armor rocket had hit the vehicle in front, he had still been injured.

Was he... going to die?

Zhou Zhengde tried to make a sound, but he had no strength left in his body. His mouth was full of a rusty taste—the blood welling up.

"Captain! Captain!"

Along with the sting of a needle piercing his skin, a cool liquid entered his veins.

Gunfire erupted all around them.

In Zhou Zhengde's blurred vision, several nearby figures fell one after another.

Is the Black Fire Gang trying to kill me outright?

The scene from moments ago flashed through Zhou Zhengde's mind.

A truck had suddenly driven out from a dark intersection and blocked the convoy's path. A rocket had exploded directly at them, while dense gunfire had erupted from the three-story building beside the road.

This was Silver Party and City of Joy territory. He had hired the Silver Party's and City of Joy's elite thugs to come here and negotiate with the Black Fire Gang's boss, only to be ambushed by the Black Fire Gang?

Why?

Did the Black Fire Gang not know who stood behind him?

Zhou Zhengde suddenly froze.

Perhaps the Black Fire Gang knew exactly that, which was why they had seized this chance to kill him...

Ah, the 13th Institute.

The Black Fire Gang had always been the 13th Institute's local contact in Fortress 76, providing the 13th Institute with experimental materials... He had actually overlooked that...

The injection took effect quickly.

Zhou Zhengde shook his head sharply. His mind began to buzz with excitement, the ringing in his ears faded, and his blurred vision cleared once more. Even the pain in his abdomen lessened considerably.

Beside him, a young man in a light-blue Security Team uniform—his assistant, Lin Tao—was rapidly treating Zhou Zhengde's wound.

Several vehicles wrapped in thick steel plates formed a triangle, temporarily shielding them.

There had initially been more than a dozen Silver Party gang thugs who had survived the first rocket attack. Now, only six remained.

They were completely suppressed by more than a dozen Black Fire Gang thugs firing at full force from the roadside building, hiding behind the vehicles without even daring to raise their heads.

Lin Tao pressed his lips tightly together. His young face was utterly serious as he used disposable forceps to grip the shrapnel in Zhou Zhengde's abdominal wound and yanked hard.

Zhou Zhengde groaned in pain but clenched his teeth and did not cry out.

Lin Tao immediately took out a thumb-sized spray from the medical kit and sprayed a thick layer over the wound, temporarily stopping the bleeding.

"Lin Tao, call for backup..."

"The signal's jammed, Captain!"

The moment Lin Tao spoke, his fear showed.

His voice trembled.

Bullets struck the roof of the vehicle, and the young man instinctively covered his head.

Zhou Zhengde pulled out his pistol from his waist and labored for breath.

The burly Silver Party men beside him kept shouting into their radios for help. It was equally useless. They received no response and could only wait for Silver Party reinforcements to arrive on their own.

They tried to poke their heads out and return fire, but without professional military training, they were nearly always hit by the barrage of bullets the instant they exposed themselves.

The last six Silver Party members quickly dwindled to four.

Zhou Zhengde looked around.

This was the main road connecting the nightclub district and gambling district. The earlier explosion had damaged the Lower City's fragile, chaotic electrical grid, and this entire area had lost power.

The three-story building to the north was already dark. It looked like a hotel, its sign flickering on and off.

The three-story concrete building to the south was like a fortress. More than a dozen enemies occupied seven windows across its upper and lower floors, using three high-powered searchlights to illuminate the middle of the road.

To the east, in the direction where the main road extended, the truck blocked the way ahead. Behind it stood another five or six Black Fire Gang gunmen.

They were now completely pinned down by the enemy's L-shaped Firepower Net.

Counterattacking was simply impossible!

Zhou Zhengde, who had served in the military for several years and trained on the front lines outside the basin, swiftly reached a somewhat despairing conclusion.

It seemed... they were doomed.

Instead, Zhou Zhengde calmed down. Amid the hail of bullets around him, he even smiled and looked up to ask:

"Are you afraid of dying, Lin Tao?"

"I'm... not!"

Lin Tao pressed himself hard against the car door. Though he wanted to smile, it looked worse than crying.

"I've followed you for two years, Captain. It was worth it."

"What's worth it about that? Dying before sixty is never worth it."

Zhou Zhengde smiled bitterly.

"I just never expected that I wouldn't get you killed on the front lines, only for us to die in the darkest corner of this fortress.

"Hold your gun. Don't be afraid. Chamber a round."

Lin Tao nodded hard. After several deep breaths, he pulled out his pistol, curled his finger around the trigger guard, and racked it quickly.

Click, click!

"They should only have one rocket. That thing shouldn't be in the Lower City."

Zhou Zhengde said quietly:

"We haven't heard a sniper rifle. The Black Fire Gang's sniper should either be absent or not in position yet... Do you see that little building to the north?"

Lin Tao turned to look. What he saw was the hotel building across a sewage ditch from the main road.

"That's the only escape route."

Zhou Zhengde said in a low voice:

"I'm wounded. I can't run. I'll cover you later... Take the shortest route out of their searchlight range. Then don't look back. Don't try to zigzag. Keep your body low, lower your head, and run forward. Use the buildings for cover..."

"Captain!" Lin Tao cried, his voice trembling. "I'll carry you!"

"What would be the point if we both died here?"

Zhou Zhengde said calmly:

"You need to tell them how I died, especially my mother.

"I need you to watch over my body. Don't let the 13th Institute take my corpse away for those disgusting experiments. This may be the 13th Institute's revenge against me... Get ready. I'll cover you. Their target is me."

"Captain! Captain!"

"Get ready..."

Zhou Zhengde sucked in a sharp breath. Ignoring whether the frozen wound would split open again, he immediately prepared to roll over and rise.

The Silver Party members beside him could barely look after themselves. They had no interest in protecting their employer now and merely glanced in his direction...

Whoosh!

A figure flashed past.

A large hand suddenly pressed down on Zhou Zhengde's shoulder, firmly holding him in place.

The two Silver Party members looking their way froze. A figure had suddenly appeared before them, frightening them so badly that they nearly dropped their guns.

Not only the Silver Party thugs—even the dozen or so Black Fire Gang gunmen in green tracksuits occupying the high ground merely saw a figure dart out from the edge of the northern sewage ditch. Before they could fire, the figure had already vanished behind the vehicles.

Zhou Zhengde stared at the young man before him in astonishment.

A familiar face.

A mask stained with a little blood.

And those eyes, calm and composed as ever.

"Mu!"

Wang Jixuan smiled and shook his head, casually taking out a Blood Stopping Talisman and placing it over Zhou Zhengde's abdominal wound.

"I owe you a favor. Today, I'll repay it. Cooperate with me in a moment."

Wang Jixuan spoke softly. Then, while remaining crouched, he slowly backed away. The talismans on the outsides of his thighs glimmered faintly. A trace of energy ran through his feet, and he sprang back into the darkness to the north.

Intense gunfire erupted from the direction of the truck, but the Black Fire Gang gunmen reacted a moment too slowly. They could only see a figure leap out from the defensive line formed by the three vehicles, slip into the darkness, and reach the edge of the sewage ditch.

Zhou Zhengde blankly lowered his head and looked at his abdomen.

What... was this thing?

Warm power surrounded the wound, and even the pain had faded by nearly half.

"Ah!"

"Who is it?!"

Rat-a-tat-tat!

Several panicked cries suddenly came from behind the truck.

Zhou Zhengde lowered his head and saw several bodies lying beneath the truck.

He took them all out at once?

Those six—six gunmen! They had been killed almost simultaneously?

No, how... how had he done that? Was Mu Liang really a Psionicist? And one of the most terrifying kind—a Body Enhancement Psionicist?

A few seconds earlier.

Slay demons to defend the righteous path; let this heart forge Bodhi!

Wang Jixuan returned from the darkness, shooting along the ground from the edge of the sewage ditch and leaping directly toward the middle of the road.

His hands flicked forward in alternation. Twelve sharp, cheap blades shot out, and twelve streams of blood sprayed forth at once!

Only two of the six thugs noticed something wrong. They turned toward the dimly lit area beside them, barely saw the figure in the gray jacket, and let out two screams.

That was all they managed to do.

After landing, Wang Jixuan rolled forward, pushed off with his right foot, and darted beside the truck. He pressed close against the cargo compartment, avoiding the sightlines from the building opposite.

Daoist Wang had observed from nearby for a long time. The entire battlefield was clearly laid out in his mind.

The Black Fire Gang had formed a corner assault formation.

He had easily taken the truck area through a surprise attack. The most troublesome part was still the fire positions in the small building, and the Black Fire Gang thugs inside had already noticed something unusual here.

There was no need for guesswork. Wang Jixuan heard noisy shouting from a thug's body beside him:

"Ah Gui, why did things stop on your end?! Fire! What are you hiding your heads for? What are you afraid of?! Kill that bastard Zhou, and you won't have to worry for the rest of your lives!"

Wang Jixuan examined the square little box.

Mu Liang's memories contained this thing.

It seemed to be... a radio?

This was much more convenient than a Message Jade Talisman.

Wang Jixuan unhurriedly walked to the other end of the truck, observed the enemy firepower for a few moments, then stepped back and looked at the firearms held by the six corpses.

He had two options now.

One was to save them first and get Zhou Zhengde's group out. Now that he had killed the six gang thugs behind the truck, doing so would be easy.

But he quickly chose the second option.

The Black Fire Gang had over a thousand members. The more he killed now, the less trouble he would have later.

He only knew how to use pistols at the moment, so he took two and tucked them into his waistband. Then he gathered the six assault rifles and submachine guns together, applied a little force, and tossed them over the roof of the truck.

A Silver Party member immediately shouted from Zhou Zhengde's side:

"Grenade! Fuck!"

Zhou Zhengde and the others immediately dropped to the ground. Two of them were struck in the back by the firearms falling along their arc and cried out in pain.

After discovering the firearms thrown over from this side, everyone collectively breathed a sigh of relief.

Wang Jixuan's voice carried over:

"Captain Zhou! Big guns!"

Zhou Zhengde instantly understood. He grabbed a submachine gun, raised the barrel over his head, and fired blindly at the building by feel, veins bulging in his neck as he shouted:

"Suppress them! Reinforcements will be here soon!"

—He was not sure whether any reinforcements were actually coming.

The people beside him copied him, raising the newly acquired weapons and spraying bullets wildly at the other side.

The sound of metal scraping across asphalt rang out.

Zhou Zhengde had sharp eyes. He immediately saw several more magazines slide out from beneath the truck and stop beside his leg.

Naturally, Wang Jixuan had sent them over.

Zhou Zhengde lowered his head and stared beneath the truck. He saw a pair of ordinary, cheap sneakers, as if their wearer were merely taking a stroll. Then the shoes swayed once and swiftly vanished.

What incredible speed!

Zhou Zhengde suddenly realized something and continued shouting:

"Empty your magazines! Suppress them! Keep them suppressed!"

Zhou Zhengde roared, raised his gun, and swept the building to the side, several streams of fire trailing from the muzzle.

A figure drifted silently through the darkness like a black feather, circling halfway around the rear of the truck before entering behind the building.

More than ten seconds later, the enemy gunfire suddenly weakened.

Another twenty seconds passed, and the other side fell completely silent.

The people beside Zhou Zhengde emptied the last rounds in their magazines in a frenzy. Since they did not dare raise their heads to aim, many bullets flew off in every direction.

"Cease fire! Stop!"

Zhou Zhengde shouted twice before the people beside him finally stopped in lingering fear. Their firearms were nearly empty, and they began fumbling to replace their magazines.

Zhou Zhengde looked around, picked up a mirror from nearby, and cautiously held it over his head.

No bullets came.

Using the mirror's reflection, Zhou Zhengde immediately saw corpses slumped in two windows and figures sitting collapsed behind three others.

Dead... dead?

Everyone was dead?

From the moment Mu Liang started moving to when he took down those dozen or so thugs, less than half a minute had passed?

Zhou Zhengde's Adam's apple bobbed as cold sweat began pouring from his body. His earlier movements had been too forceful, and a sharp pain came from his abdomen. But when he looked down, the pink talisman paper was faintly glowing.

No blood had spilled.

Wait, did the fortress have some new technology he didn't know about?!