A Fight to the Death

"Captain, sixty percent of the Xiaowalu Mansion is already engulfed in flames."

A member of the Elite Guard ran up to the captain, Kaminge, and reported, drenched in sweat.

"Good. The fire will spread to the rest on its own, so we don't need to burn anything else. Get out now! Surround the mansion and lie in wait for the enemy!"

The Elite Guard captain, Kaminge, shouted new instructions to the remaining ten members.

However, a loud gunshot from the roof suddenly shattered a stained-glass window in a burning hall behind them, giving everyone a massive fright.

"That was Lord Xiaowaluwen who fired! That means the enemy has already snuck up behind us!"

One of the guards shouted in a panic, quickly raising his rifle, but he only saw raging flames in the hall and could not find a single soul.

"Captain, what do we do! Should we fight or flee?"

Another guard immediately asked Kaminge for the next order.

"Flee! Lord Xiaowaluwen will provide cover fire for us; the original plan remains unchanged!"

Kaminge hesitated for a moment, but finally made up his mind. He led his subordinates in the opposite direction of the hall, charging directly toward the nearest exit.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

As they sprinted, Xiaowaluwen's bullets continued to trigger loud explosions behind Kaminge's group, and the sounds were growing clearer, clearly indicating that Ye Chen was dodging Xiaowaluwen's sniping while rapidly closing in on them.

While listening to the commotion behind him, Kaminge led his team in a mad dash, his mind continuously pondering a single question: why would Ye Chen deliberately circle around to their rear?

"That area is already a sea of fire. If he wanted to stop us from setting the fire, he should have laid an ambush in front."

"But why would he deliberately charge into the fire?"

"It's almost like... it's almost like..."

It was like a shepherd driving a flock of sheep, guiding them toward a specific location.

When this thought crossed Kaminge's mind, he immediately roared at his teammates: "Wait, stop right there—!"

But his warning was a beat too late. Two guards running at the front of the corridor had their ankles snagged by a hidden steel wire strung across the floor, causing them to fall uncontrollably to the ground.

The pressure of their weight on the wire pulled on oil bottles hung on the walls on both sides, causing the viscous liquid inside to instantly splash all over the two unlucky men.

The lighter tied to the other end of the wire was also triggered by the force of the pull.

Whoosh!

Sparks, fueled by the oil, instantly expanded into a blinding pool of fire, ruthlessly swallowing the two guards.

"Waaaaah--!"

The two guards, covered in flames, rolled on the ground, but the fire only grew more intense, sealing their fate. One of them desperately scrambled up, running forward as if he had lost his mind, only to step into a bear trap hidden in the shadows. He was clamped tight, unable to break free, and could not escape the fate of being burned alive.

Kaminge watched his two companions die a miserable death, but he dared not act rashly, and instead shouted to the remaining subordinates.

"As I thought, the enemy circled to our rear specifically to drive us into traps. The path ahead must already be filled with his devices; we cannot go that way!"

At this moment, another guard immediately proposed a different idea.

"Captain, there is a storage room on the side of the corridor with a window. We can climb out through the window!"

With that, he took the initiative to run to the small door of the storage room and pushed it open.

"You fool, wait!"

Kaminge tried to stop him in a panic again, but he was once again a second too late.

The moment the guard pushed the door open, he kicked up a mountain of flour that had been piled inside, filling the entire room with dust. At the same time, the steel wire tied to the doorknob felt the tug and immediately triggered a lighter on the wall.

Boom!

The exploding dust instantly blasted the guard several meters away, slamming him hard against the wall before he fell lifelessly to the ground.

By the time Kaminge went to lift him up, the man's face was destroyed, and he was dead.

"Ugh, ahhh! That cunning bastard! Damn it! Damn it all--!"

Kaminge dropped his subordinate's corpse, stomping his feet in grief and rage as he roared.

"Captain, what do we do now?"

The final seven members asked Kaminge, looking helpless.

At this point, they had completely lost their way and did not know what to do.

Kaminge clenched his fists, remained silent for a moment, and finally gritted his teeth as he replied: "What else can we do? I suspect all the exits have been filled with traps by that guy. The original plan is impossible, so the subsequent steps must be left to Lord Xiaowaluwen. We only have one choice left."

"If he wants to fight, then we fight!"

"Avenge our Lord Xiaowalus! Avenge our Frost White Person Lord! Brave Elite Guard, please offer up your lives! And I, Kaminge, will naturally fight to the end alongside you!"

Kaminge shouted with bloodshot eyes, his heroic declaration deeply infecting the hearts of the others, inspiring them and reigniting the atmosphere that had turned deathly silent.

"For Lord Xiaowalus! For our Frost White Person Lord!"

The Elite Guard's angry war cry echoed throughout the mansion. Everyone gripped their loaded rifles and decisively charged back toward the position where Ye Chen had been.

"Tsk, he hid in a blind spot again. This guy's level is truly too high. Are people from the outside world all this capable?"

On the roof, Xiaowaluwen muttered to himself with an unhappy expression, then loaded a new Abyss Bullet into his sniper rifle.

During the time Ye Chen had just run into his field of vision, Xiaowaluwen had fired a total of eight shots, only five of which had hit the target, and none of them had struck a vital point; this truly made him feel deeply ashamed.

However, the opponent's condition was clearly getting worse and worse, and Xiaowaluwen firmly believed that the scales of victory in this revenge battle would still tilt in his favor.

After finishing his thoughts, Xiaowaluwen noticed that the Elite Guard was returning at full speed to the location where Ye Chen was, and he quickly understood their determination to fight to the death.

"It seems that scum has sealed off their retreat."

"Very well, do your best to deplete his stamina."

"I, Xiaowaluwen, will absolutely not let your sacrifices go to waste!"

Xiaowaluwen muttered to himself, then set up his sniper rifle again, ready to fire at any moment.

"Hah, hah, hah."

Ye Chen was hiding inside a piano room, gasping for air.

The floor in front of him was covered with glass shards shattered by Xiaowaluwen's bullets.

The guest room next to him was engulfed in a raging fire, with choking black smoke constantly drifting over.

Because Ye Chen had soaked his body in the bathhouse beforehand, he was not significantly affected by the nearby fire, but the bullets fired by Xiaowaluwen from the high ground had left him covered in blood, with wounds all over his body.

During this time, if the Gold-Patterned Black Cloak hadn't continuously cushioned the power of several sniper bullets, Ye Chen would be facing a desperate situation where he could barely move, even if he weren't dead.

"Teacher, this third trial really is much harder than the first two."

Ye Chen bandaged his wounds while talking to himself, then gave a bitter smile, popped a few painkillers, gripped his Silver Revolver, and forced his painful body to stand up once again.