Yin Kuang!

Time rewound to before the chain explosions.

Not far from the alley, Yin Kuang suddenly stopped crawling between the cars and looked suspiciously toward the alley on his right. His brow furrowed. "What's going on? Why does it feel like there's someone over there? Is it just my imagination, or...? Forget it. Now's no time to let my mind wander! If I don't hurry, they'll get away."

In his left hand, Yin Kuang gripped a grenade. In his right, he held the silenced Type 54!

He had stripped the grenade from a dead Umbrella Corporation security guard. He'd wanted to take the rifle, too, but he didn't know how to use it, so he'd had to leave it behind.

He lowered his head until his cheek was against the ground. Looking beneath several cars, he spotted two pairs of feet in the firelight. Come on, faster! Just a little farther... Keep going! I can't let them get away, or I'm as good as dead! I can't!

Not far away, Blue Whale and Sagittarius gave their weapons one last check.

"Two magazines left! That'll be enough to hold them off for a while," Blue Whale said. "The boss and the others are running low on firepower. Now's our chance."

"Yeah," Sagittarius replied coolly. Then he added, "Blue Whale, if I die, you can have my cross."

Blue Whale gave him a long look. "Thanks. Same to you, buddy. If I die, you can have my photo. I wish I could see the Great Wall of China again. It's so beautiful..."

"The photo of that Chinese girl?"

"It's a photo of me with a Chinese girl. On the Great Wall..." Blue Whale corrected him.

Click!

The magazine slid into the gun. "It's time."

Blue Whale sprang to his feet and unleashed a furious barrage. The long, cold street was bathed in the red glow of muzzle flashes!

The bullets swept through Li Shuangmu's hiding place again. He curled up as tightly as he could and avoided being hit, but the flying chips of stone pelted him painfully.

At the same time, Sagittarius dropped prone. His beastlike eyes fixed on Yin Kuang, who was crawling nearby, and the cold muzzle of his gun pointed straight at him. "Oriental boy, this is as far as you go!"

Rat-tat-tat!

The instant Yin Kuang saw Sagittarius drop down, he knew he'd been spotted. He rolled away without a second thought.

The frenzied bullets struck the spot where he'd been, sending sparks and chunks of concrete flying.

"Argh!"

A bullet tore through the back of his hand and knocked the gun from his grip. "It hurts... It hurts like hell!" Yin Kuang grimaced, sucking in ragged breaths in the hope of dulling the agony. But the pain in his palm made his whole arm spasm, and every nerve in his body tensed.

"Damn it!" Yin Kuang was furious. "What do I do... What the hell do I do?!"

Suddenly, he grabbed the grenade. No time to worry about anything else! Even if it doesn't hit them, I just need to interrupt their gunfire. Otherwise, I won't have a chance of getting close. And if I force them out of cover, Zeng Fei might be able to kill them from the shadows.

The thought flashed through his mind. Yin Kuang bit down on the grenade's pull ring, yanked hard, then sprang up and hurled it!

Boom!

The grenade exploded. Then, whether by sheer luck or not, the blast set off several nearby cars. The overlapping explosions reverberated down the street, and blinding flames lit up half the sky.

Yin Kuang curled up beneath the massive tire of a truck, feeling the heat wash over him. Are they dead? Are they dead? They must be... If they survived an explosion like that, there'd be no justice in the world!

But before he could breathe a sigh of relief, a flash of silver darted into view.

At the same time, a bone-chilling cold crept through his nerves.

Yin Kuang reacted without thinking. He suddenly drove his foot against the tire, using the force to shift his body a few inches to the side.

Clang!

Sparks flew. Metal seemed to strike metal.

Yin Kuang looked up and saw a tall, heavily armed white man. A centipede-like scar lay across his face, made even more terrifying by the leaping flames.

The Combat Knife in his hand was as cold as his expression!

The scarred white man said nothing. His eyes seemed utterly devoid of emotion as he stepped forward and thrust the Combat Knife straight at Yin Kuang's throat.

If that strike landed, it would pierce Yin Kuang's throat and pin him to the ground!

Yin Kuang didn't want to die like this. He didn't!

There was no reason behind what he did. In that fleeting moment, there was no time to think of one—not even to look back on his life like some character in a novel or comic, or dwell on this or that regret. That wasn't realistic for him. He had only one thought: to survive!

So instead of retreating, he charged forward!

He made a humiliating, shameful move—but one that could save his life. It was the very same move made long ago by the famed Han Xin.

He crawled between the white man's legs!

In that instant, Yin Kuang didn't know what Han Xin had looked like or thought when he suffered that humiliation. But Yin Kuang's eyes were wide open, bloodshot and blazing with a cold light he'd never shown before, along with a fire that seemed capable of consuming everything!

"Kill him... Kill him... Kill! Kill!! Kill!!!"

"Your blood will wash away this unbearable shame!"

The beast hidden in his heart had awakened.

His heart pounded like an explosion, his blood boiled, and his nerves spasmed. His clenched teeth felt ready to crack.

Raging Beast!

As the skill activated, Yin Kuang felt a new strength surge from somewhere inside him and spread through his entire body. He was consumed by madness.

It was as if he had strength to spare forever.

Raging Beast skill effect: Strength +2, Defense +1, Agility -2, Intelligence -3!

As he crawled beneath the scarred white man, Yin Kuang even forgot the agony in his right hand. He snatched up a piece of scrap metal and thrust it into the inside of the man's thigh!

Notice: You dealt 10 critical damage to "Elite Mercenary" Sagittarius!

"Raaaaagh!"

A scream ripped from the scarred white man's throat. The unbearable pain shook even his hardened will. His leg, which had been braced to turn over, instantly went limp, and he lost his balance, pitching forward.

But Yin Kuang didn't stop. He yanked out the sharp piece of metal, roared, and leaped onto Sagittarius's back. Then, with all his strength, he drove it toward Sagittarius's neck!

Sagittarius refused to simply lie there and die. The pain between his legs nearly robbed him of control over his body, but the instincts he'd honed on brutal battlefields were exceptionally strong. The moment he sensed his life was in danger, he rolled over.

Yin Kuang, who was sitting on his back, was thrown aside. But the piece of metal Yin Kuang had swung with five points of strength still struck Sagittarius in the spine!

"Raaagh!"

Notice: You dealt 15 critical damage to "Elite Special Forces Soldier" Sagittarius!

Notice: You inflicted a bleeding effect on "Elite Special Forces Soldier" Sagittarius. -2 HP per second until death.

Like a wounded, ferocious beast, Sagittarius let out a roar. There was no anger or regret in it, only a wildness, excitement, exhilaration, and yearning unlike anything he'd ever felt before. "Let's return to the Lord's embrace together!"

Sagittarius suddenly stopped resisting. He pulled out his last grenade and was about to use his teeth to pull the ring free.

But a bullet struck his hand.

The grenade rolled to the ground.

Not far away, Wang Ning had just finished off Blue Whale and rushed over, holding Yin Kuang's dropped Type 54.

But Yin Kuang didn't know. He didn't even realize Sagittarius had tried to take them both with him. Raging Beast had lowered his Intelligence by three points, and now his reason had been completely consumed by rage. He was lost in a frenzy of bloodlust.

It seemed only his enemies' blood could put out the flames of his anger.

His eyes were wide, his face twisted, his teeth bared.

He turned over and straddled Sagittarius's back again. With the piece of metal in his right hand, he stabbed Sagittarius in the neck, pulled it out, stabbed again, pulled it out, and stabbed once more! Every time he thrust and withdrew the metal, blood spurted out.

Like a frenzied, bloodthirsty beast, he savored the pleasure of tearing apart his prey.

Notice: You dealt 10 critical damage to "Elite Mercenary" Sagittarius!

Notice: You killed "Elite Mercenary" Sagittarius. Reward: 100 Study Points.

Yin Kuang paid no attention to the notifications in his ear. He continued mechanically, frenziedly stabbing Sagittarius in the neck with the piece of metal. Hot blood poured from the severed artery, staining the ground and pooling in the roadside gutter before flowing into the sewers...

Wang Ning, standing behind Yin Kuang, suddenly furrowed his brow. Gradually, the cold light in his eyes grew too intense for even his glasses to conceal.

The gun in his hand shifted slightly. Its muzzle was now aimed squarely at the back of Yin Kuang's head...