Chapter 8

At this moment, the battle took another turn. Although Fang had been temporarily forced back, as soon as he steadied himself, he grabbed a nearby rock and hurled it fiercely at Thornton. As he wound up for the throw, the muscles on his arms bulged one after another, glistening with sweat, showcasing explosive power.

Thornton was still dizzy and disoriented. The rock struck his forehead with a sharp crack, and he cried out in pain, staggering backward with blood streaming down his face.

While throwing the rock, Fang also kicked a nearby Lincoln Navigator. With his monstrous strength, the car flipped into the air, rising seven or eight meters, tumbling with a roar as it bore down on Gale. Glass shattered everywhere, and the sheer force was like a mountain crashing down, awe-inspiring!

Fang Linyan also noticed a detail at this moment: although Fang seemed to be dominating the fight, there was a price to pay.

His chest was visibly sunken, and a large amount of bloody mucus flowed from the corner of his mouth. Not only that, but when he kicked the Lincoln Navigator, the motion aggravated the wound on his abdomen.

That wound had been caused by a direct hit from Thornton's bullet—a bloody hole the size of an orange, with flesh and blood mangled. As he exerted force with the kick, a torrent of blood sprayed from the hole.

For an ordinary person, such injuries would be severe, likely leaving them writhing on the ground in agony. But Fang not only ignored these wounds, he fought even more fiercely, single-handedly suppressing two powerful enemies!

Because of this, Fang Linyan felt that he must be like a berserker, possibly possessing an ability where the heavier the injury, the stronger the power. That would explain it.

Therefore, the best strategy for Thornton and Gale now would be to stall and fight a delaying battle. If they did that, they would surely be the ones laughing in the end.

To be honest, Fang Linyan's thinking was sound, and Gale actually agreed with him. But the problem was that while Gale wanted to fight a delaying battle, Fang gave him no chance at all. Fang's attacks came like a storm, suffocating him!

Facing the rolling car bearing down on him, Gale could only dodge aside. But what followed was Fang's claw, striking like a ghost, forcing Gale to raise his shield to block.

With a sharp clang, Gale was completely overpowered in strength. Although he blocked Fang's attack, he was inevitably forced to stagger backward. Worse still, after taking another heavy blow, a crack appeared again on the surface of the blue-and-white Five-Star Shield.

Gale barely managed to regain his balance and stop retreating, but Fang was already closing in again, launching another series of storm-like attacks! Finally, after repeated heavy blows, the shield shattered with a crack.

But at that moment, Gale leaped backward, using the force of his punch and the momentum of his jump to cross a distance of over ten meters, landing directly into the nearby sea. He was remarkably calm, retreating without panic, even managing to escape with the momentum.

After hitting the water, Gale swam away, diving and swimming through the turbulent waves with smooth, effortless movements, clearly an excellent swimmer. The surrounding light was dim, and if Fang Linyan hadn't been looking down from a height, he wouldn't have been able to track his movements.

But then, Fang also took a few quick steps and dove into the water like a fish!

Fang Linyan's pupils instantly contracted! Because Gale's performance in the water was already impressive, at the level of a professional swimmer. However, once Fang entered the water, he was like a torpedo, moving forward at an astonishing speed, surrounded by faint black illusory runes, with a white wake trailing behind him due to his incredible speed!

This completely surpassed the realm of "diving." It was as if Fang had a built-in propeller. In just over ten seconds, Fang caught up to Gale underwater. Even then, Gale refused to give up, grabbing the side of Da Fei's boat and climbing up, drenched and bedraggled, rolling onto the deck.

But at that moment, Fang burst out of the water with a splash, leaping like a large fish straight onto Da Fei's deck. He punched Gale in the chest, his claws easily piercing through, with the bone-yellow tips even protruding from Gale's back!

Gale's face twisted in agony. Just as he was about to speak, Fang's lips curled into a cruel grin. He swung his left hand, and his claws swept across, sending Gale's head flying into the air. The scene was gruesome.

At that moment, Fang Linyan noticed something extremely strange: after Gale died, his body began to gradually turn transparent. Countless semi-transparent, pale blue numbers—0s and 1s—danced within it. Then it rapidly shrank, collapsed, and dissolved into specks of light, finally coalescing into a blood-red, peculiar key, which Fang directly collected.

Watching all this from the side, Fang Linyan broke out in a cold sweat. Everything happening here was beyond his understanding. His right hand tightly gripped a rusty fruit knife he had found in a nearby pile of junk, the handle already soaked with sweat from his palm.

--

Although Fang Linyan himself knew very well that if he were discovered, this fruit knife would be utterly useless.

Seeing his companion die, Thornton immediately turned and fled. His vision had actually recovered when Gale's shield was destroyed, but with Fang and Gale locked in combat, he had no chance to shoot. Now, he knew clearly that staying would be pointless, only costing him his life. Watching this, Fang Linyan silently screamed in his heart for him to run, to get as far away as possible.

If that happened, Fang would chase after him, giving Fang Linyan an opportunity. Taking everything from the box was unrealistic, but grabbing a handful and escaping was feasible.

However, it seemed Fang Linyan's luck had been bad lately, and his prayers went unanswered. After fleeing about thirty meters and turning behind a nearby building, Thornton, who had been running, suddenly stopped.

Fang Linyan could see that both of Thornton's hands, gripping the gun, were glowing. His expression was twisted, his face flushed, and the veins on his neck bulged like coiled green snakes!

Then, he made a peculiar move! He swept both hands outward, as if throwing the gun itself. In the middle of this sweeping motion, he suddenly fired. The pale blue muzzle flash even extended over a foot!

Witnessing this, Fang Linyan was baffled.

Because at this moment, Thornton and Fang were separated by a building. They couldn't even see each other. Firing directly would only hit the wall.

If it were a tank's main cannon, Fang might be hurt. But even if this bullet was powerful, there was no way it could penetrate two or more concrete brick walls and still injure someone.

Yet, what happened next left Fang Linyan stunned. The bullet fired from this shot traced a bizarre arc, exactly like a banana kick in soccer curving around a wall of defenders. It bypassed the brick wall in front and hit Fang, who was closing in!

Gun-Fu: Curved Trajectory!

A spurt of blood erupted from Fang's body!

Although his momentum didn't diminish, his body tilted and crashed into a nearby dilapidated warehouse. A clatter of noise followed, and then silence.

Having landed the hit, Thornton gasped heavily, drenched in sweat, as if that single shot had drained all his energy. His hands hung limply, as if he could no longer even hold the silver-white pistol. A fierce glint flashed in his eyes as he took a few steps outside, looking toward the broken warehouse Fang had crashed into, muttering to himself:

"See if you don't die now!"

This battle had been full of twists and turns, thrilling and heart-pounding. But in the end, it seemed Thornton's stunning shot had put a period to it.

To be honest, Fang Linyan had anticipated this outcome, but he wasn't satisfied. Thornton now only seemed to have some minor scrapes. If he revealed himself and fought for that silver-white box, he'd likely be shot in the head. Or Thornton might just kick him and take half his life.

Thornton didn't approach the warehouse where Fang had fallen. Instead, he quickly retreated backward while tossing a incendiary grenade inside. Immediately, flames burst forth, roaring and blazing.

Then he sprinted toward the remains of a nearby abandoned tower crane. This was the highest point for hundreds of meters around. If he took control of it, he could either jump into the sea to escape or dominate the area with his shooting from above, gaining the upper hand.

But just as Thornton was sprinting, a figure covered in flames suddenly stood up from the warehouse window. It was Fang. A normal person covered in fire would be rolling and screaming in agony, but this figure was eerily calm.

In Fang Linyan's eyes, Fang even stood silently in the flames for a few seconds, as if the sizzling of his flesh wasn't his own. Then, his eyes locked onto Thornton's figure.

Fang suddenly raised his left hand. It only had four fingers—the little finger was missing. He grabbed his left ring finger and yanked it off. Then, he gathered strength, his entire body tensing like a drawn bow, while muttering something under his breath.

Instantly, faint, deathly black mist coalesced into strange patterns and markings around the severed finger, flickering in and out of existence, looking extremely eerie.

Then, Fang hurled the finger forward.

That finger shot forward like lightning, moving so fast it seemed to teleport, piercing directly through Thornton's forehead from a distance! The illusions swirling around the severed finger turned back into black mist, which then condensed into a twisted, grinning face before slowly dissipating.

Thornton's entire body shuddered, disbelief written all over his face. His eyes rolled upward as far as they could, catching sight of that bent finger seemingly embedded in the center of his brow. His pupils gradually dilated, then went slack, and he toppled sideways, finally breathing his last.

After Thornton died, the same thing happened—his body faded, dissolving into a flood of 0s and 1s before slowly vanishing, leaving behind a blood-red key.

Fang walked over step by step. Once he left the sea of flames, the fire on his body quickly extinguished, but the wounds still oozed blood. Yet his steps were steady, showing no sign of someone gravely injured.

Only after picking up that blood-red key did he pull out a bottle of pale red potion, tilt his head back, and drink it. Then he closed his eyes and stood rooted to the spot, as if resting.

At that moment, the scene was utterly silent, broken only by the sound of the tide ebbing and flowing and the crackling from the fire. Fang Linyan didn't even dare to breathe, wishing he could sew his own mouth shut. But just then, he heard a faint noise behind him.

The sound startled Fang Linyan into whipping his head around, and he found to his despair that the noise came from the woman's corpse he had checked earlier. Her hand was now groping aimlessly, and vague moans escaped her lips. Fang Linyan's heart tightened as he swept his gaze around, spotting the discarded mini syringe nearby.

Clearly, when the woman had crawled in, she knew things were dire and had already given herself an emergency shot. Now, the potion's effects seemed to have been battling death for so long that they were starting to gain the upper hand!!

Of course, this was also due to Fang Linyan's inexperience. For someone severely injured and unconscious, breathing, blood pressure, and pulse could all slow to a certain level, only to gradually recover once they rallied. So his earlier judgment—just checking for breath and declaring her a corpse—was far too hasty.

Seeing the gravely wounded woman's movements grow louder, the muscles on Fang Linyan's face twitched uncontrollably. He took a deep breath, instantly calming himself, then crawled over and pressed down on her, pinning her firmly while covering her mouth.

But things didn't go as planned. Even with her mouth covered, the wounded woman, still in a haze, began to struggle instinctively, trying to let out a series of garbled sounds. At this rate, discovery was only a matter of time.

Faced with this brutal reality, Fang Linyan pressed his lips tightly together. His gaze turned cold in an instant. The fruit knife in his right hand plunged in, slipping through the gap between her ribs and cruelly piercing into her heart, while his left hand never let up covering her mouth!

The woman's body convulsed violently, jerking like a shrimp out of water trying to spring up, but Fang Linyan held her down with all his strength. After a few seconds of stiffness, she slowly relaxed and finally stopped breathing.

By now, Fang Linyan was drenched in sweat, his vision darkening, and he felt on the verge of collapse.

A few minutes later, Fang slowly exhaled a bloody mist. His transformation state quietly faded, and he reverted to that burly black man with a scar on his chest. Somehow, with a flick of his wrist, a set of sportswear appeared in his hand. He changed into it swiftly, pulled up his hood, walked over to the silver-white box, lifted it, and left, quickly disappearing into the night.

This battle had ended like this!

Staring at the warehouse below, Fang Linyan knew he couldn't wait any longer. At night, this could be seen from dozens of kilometers away.

He gritted his teeth and whispered low into the dead woman's ear:

"Sorry. If you didn't die, I would."

Then Fang Linyan stood up, suppressing the nausea from killing, pulled out his phone, and walked straight out of his hiding spot into the scene. He lingered near the corpses for less than a minute, then moved toward the darkness as if searching for something. In total, he spent only five minutes before hopping onto his electric scooter and riding away.