Preemptive Strike

Su Shijie lowered every muzzle, making sure not to aim directly at them and trigger their danger instincts, while still ensuring he could fire at the first opportunity. Hidden in the tree, he had calculated every angle.

With his back against the trunk, he avoided facing the enemy head-on to prevent them from shooting at him or launching a sudden frontal attack. He relied entirely on the drones to monitor and lock down their positions.

Watching silently through the drones, Su Shijie found that things were indeed as his father had said. They had not noticed that the two of them had stopped and were still tracking them at their original pace.

However, through the high-definition camera, Su Shijie saw the bald man who seemed to be a scholar constantly surveying the surroundings. His brow was furrowed, as though he had vaguely sensed that something was wrong.

Though he could not hear their conversation from this distance, if his guess was right, the drone surveillance had still triggered something in that scholar, giving him the feeling that he was being watched.

But because Su Shijie was weak, and because he was observing indirectly through a drone, that feeling of being watched would not be particularly strong.

Su Shijie had danger instincts too. He knew exactly what that feeling was like.

This was the jungle. There were plenty of small animals. Being watched by other beasts or even Spirit Beasts along the way was perfectly normal...

"What is it? Something wrong?"

"I keep feeling like something is watching us. Tsk... Having instincts that are too sharp isn't always a good thing."

The bald scholar felt a little uneasy when he heard his companion's question.

"Come on, you just haven't been to the jungle enough. Make a few more trips and you'll get used to it."

The man who spoke carried a Gatling-like machine gun and wore an ammunition box on his back, yet he still moved nimbly through the forest.

"This employer is really generous. And way too cautious. Such a huge operation for two Awakened Ranks, even calling both of you in."

Another man, a black man carrying an assault rifle and wearing goggles, bared his gleaming white teeth in a grin.

"Yeah. I wish it had just been me and the black guy taking this job so we could split it evenly. You two Transformation Tiers don't care about this little bit of money anyway, right?"

The last of them was a fit woman with short golden hair. Her features were above average, but her figure was scorching hot.

"There are plenty of cases of people getting killed in the wilderness. You two had better not end up getting hunted instead."

The bald scholar was still distracted with making judgments and did not speak. The gunner with the Gatling casually spoke while chewing gum.

"This Su Ren used to be a Level Four Transformation Tier and was suspected to have the Knight Bloodline. He was a ruthless man who had fought his way up from the bottom. But his mercenary group was attacked for unknown reasons. Some died, others scattered, and he failed to break through during combat. His genes collapsed, and his rank fell."

The gunner recited the information he had gathered.

"His genes collapsed and he still didn't die? He really was blessed. Too bad he ran into us."

The black man with the goggles no longer talked about keeping all the money for himself.

Though he and his lover were Awakened Rank Seven and Awakened Rank Nine respectively, if the other side really was a ruthless fighter who had clawed his way up through bloodshed, then even after falling in rank, he might still be able to kill them both in a counterattack.

"He's the main problem. Even the two of us would be in trouble if we took an M-7 hit head-on. I don't want to survive this job only to end up crippled and regressed like him."

"The other one is supposed to be around Awakened Rank One, right? Nothing unusual about him?"

It seemed that after the gunner emphasized once more how troublesome Su Ren was, even saying that he himself might be caught off guard, the two Awakened Ranks following the group grew more cautious and could not help asking about the Awakened Rank One.

Hopefully he was not another person who had fallen in rank. Otherwise, his marksmanship and experience alone would make him quite a headache.

"He should be Su Ren's son. He just completed his certification and probably used drugs to advance. He's no threat. Though the records say Su Ren also has an adopted daughter and adopted son at Awakened Rank Five. Doesn't matter. Just watch out for sneak shots."

The gunner casually checked the display on his Personal Terminal again before speaking indifferently.

"Heh. A little rookie with no combat experience who just stepped into the Awakened Rank? Even if I stood right in front of him and let him shoot, he still couldn't hit me."

Relaxing, the black man immediately showed a mocking smile.

"If he advanced with drugs, he probably hasn't even fired a gun before. Hahaha."

The short-haired woman let out a flirtatious laugh with a double meaning.

"Those ruthless, battle-hardened types really are troublesome. But those theory-focused little rabbits are far inferior."

All four were mercenaries who lived by the blade. When they had jobs, they took them. When they did not, they moonlighted as raiders.

They drifted between the various Floating Cities and had made a modest name for themselves in the mercenary world's gray areas.

After all, any Transformation Tier willing to do so could easily find themselves a rather good position in any city or faction.

And precisely because of their rich experience, they knew clearly what kind of people were the hardest to deal with.

Those who had fought their way up through slaughter might not look high-ranked, but their marksmanship and combat experience allowed them to kill stronger opponents as easily as drinking water.

On the other hand, never mind worthless people who had taken drugs—even those little darlings who had stayed in the city training their heads off could easily be killed by someone with a much lower Evolution Rank if they came out without any experience.

But that obviously would not happen to us.

We...

"Watch out!"

The bald man beside them, who had been following their route while analyzing it, suddenly spoke in alarm.

The moment he opened his mouth, the others successively triggered their danger instincts as well, feeling the word danger pounding above their heads.

Though they all tried their best to evade, the Awakened Rank Seven woman still had one arm blown apart!

When M-7 bullets hit that Contaminated Beast before, their power had seemed unimpressive because its hard bristled armor dispersed the impact as it shattered.

But when they struck an ordinary Awakened Rank's unprotected body, their savage power was revealed in an instant.

The woman's entire arm now hung limply. Every bone in the struck area had been blasted to pieces, with only a little tendon and skin still holding it together. It looked horrifyingly tragic.

Only after the hit landed did the rapid, dense sonic booms of gunfire reach them.

But the woman was a ruthless one too. Though she had failed to evade in time and lost the use of an arm, she only let out a muffled groan before quickly continuing to dodge. She darted behind a giant tree and avoided the following fatal attacks.

At the same time, she swiftly pulled a syringe from her Protective Suit and jabbed it into the torn gunshot wound.

Da! Da! Da! Da! Da!

The furious roar of the machine gun echoed beside them.

The metal storm tore up broken branches and dead leaves.

Yet even the heavy machine gun carried by the gunner had no way of dealing with the tough trunk and absurd thickness of the Giant Brown Iron Tree.

It could only tear away chunks of bark from the giant tree Su Ren was hiding behind, sending wood chips flying as though a 3D printer were sweeping an irregular pattern across the trunk. The jagged marks interlocked like canine teeth, yet failed to penetrate it.

After firing more than a dozen rounds in a brief burst, Su Ren had immediately moved without even checking the result, giving the enemy no chance to counterattack.

The greatest effect of that barrage was to seal off Su Ren's room to evade. He could now only dodge behind the tree serving as his cover.

"The younger one ran. He's buying time."

After sweeping a glance around, the bald scholar immediately made his judgment based on the traces.

"He won't get away!"

The gunner gripped his machine gun and spoke viciously, his voice filled with rage.

Two of the four of them were Transformation Tiers, yet while pursuing two Awakened Ranks, they had actually been turned around and had one of their own crippled. It was a humiliating disgrace.

"Su Ren! Did you turn into a coward after retiring? All you know how to do is hide?"

The dark-skinned man roared with a savage expression. The one injured was his woman.

Seeing that the target did not answer, he continued provoking him.

"I know you want your son to run, but can he escape? Can he outrun our pursuit? Naive!

"He hasn't gotten laid yet, has he? Once I catch him, I'll make sure he enjoys himself! Hahaha! Better yet, I'll let you watch with your own eyes!"

Filthy words poured continuously from the dark-skinned man's mouth as he tried to force Su Ren into losing his composure.

Yet in the face of such provocation, Su Ren did not even return fire. He simply remained behind the tree, coldly waiting in silence.

Meanwhile, Su Shijie, who had remained hidden above and watched through the drones, took a deep breath and calmed his emotions.

His father's efficiency as bait had completely exceeded his expectations.

The timing of the shots, the angle of fire, and the direction in which he had drawn them while evading had all perfectly positioned the four pursuers within Su Shijie's optimal firing window.

At the same time, he had conveniently exposed traces of his own "retreat" to the scholar.

If I still can't hit them like this, I might as well slit my throat now!

The crossbow muzzles he had kept pointed away, their tips dripping with poison, turned in unison.

In that instant, the four people raging impotently below all felt a bone-chilling terror rise within them.

A sense of danger far greater than when Su Ren had aimed and fired at them earlier.

Six Star Crossbows fired at once, and the poisoned Scatter Shots flew from their strings!

From six different directions and angles, combined with the sound of rapid, continuous gunfire, they completely sealed off the entire area.

As the arrows scattered, there was nowhere to dodge!

The Star Crossbow X-6 revealed its terrifying destructive power—the kind capable of directly blowing apart a high-level Transformation Tier Spirit Beast.

Even each individual sub-arrow of the Scatter Shot still carried power far beyond an M-7!