When it came to shooting, Xiang Qian was certainly qualified to laugh at Vector. With a Type 06 Pistol in hand, Xiang Qian displayed skill on par with the military's top marksmen. He could even deliberately weave himself into the others' firing rhythms.
The assault team members were spread across different firing positions. Thanks to the understanding they had built through long years of cooperation, they controlled their firing rhythms and formed a crossfire network around Saber. This effectively suppressed the dozen or so armed men behind Temugin, leaving Saber free to focus entirely on fighting Temugin. They soon discovered that Xiang Qian, their relatively "unfamiliar" temporary partner, could coordinate with them seamlessly, too.
Xiang Qian didn't shoot quickly, and a small pistol was no match for more than a dozen automatic rifles. But he always managed to use his comrades' fire to find an opening, and each shot landed precisely in a gap in their firing. Whenever one of their positions needed to pause and reload, making the enemies think they had a chance, any armed man who stuck his head out would hear two crisp, consecutive shots—"pop, pop"—before falling dead, his eyes wide with disbelief. To an onlooker, it looked as if the armed men were deliberately exposing themselves to Xiang Qian's gun.
The intermittent "rat-a-tat... rat-a-tat" of gunfire continued for two minutes. The dozen or so armed men who had followed Temugin into the depths of the camp were wiped out, more than half of them falling to Xiang Qian's double-tap shots. By the time he confirmed that every enemy was down, Xiang Qian still hadn't emptied his last spare magazine.
Vector, who had witnessed Xiang Qian's incredible marksmanship firsthand, was utterly captivated.
After the dozen or so armed men were taken out, the eastern camp fell quiet. The surviving soldiers from the guard force endured the searing flames as they hurried forward to seize positions and seal the gap in the defensive line, trapping Temugin in the depths of the camp. The elite force Temugin had led wasn't large. His decapitation strike, meant to distract the defenders with an attack elsewhere, had run straight into the Spear Bureau Special Task Force's iron wall. What he had thought was a brilliant plan now seemed like a joke. Worse still, Temugin himself was now in the dire position of having no one to back him up.
No matter how brave the Ten Rings' warriors were, they were still no match for an elite special forces unit trained and equipped by a global power.
Xiang Qian turned his gun toward Temugin, who was still locked in combat with Saber. He hesitated for a moment, then lowered his arm.
"Guys, we agreed earlier: taking down Temugin is our Major Saber's solo act. Nobody steal his spotlight!" Xiang Qian said cheerfully over the comms. "We backup singers are all done here, Saber. What's taking you so long to bring down the headliner? Can't handle it? Just say so. There's no shame in asking your teammates for help."
Saber said nothing, but he was plainly speeding up his strikes. Stifled laughter came over the comms.
"You look like you're putting on a good show, but it's all flash and no substance. Did you learn that swordplay from some street performer?" Xiang Qian soon started chattering again. "Maybe you should quit the special forces. Tell your captain you're retiring. For your captain's sake, I'll introduce you to a martial arts troupe. With those flashy moves of yours, you're guaranteed a medal in the weapons division at the national championships."
Saber still didn't reply, but the laughter over the comms was becoming impossible to suppress.
Vector was struggling to hold it in. She had lost count of how many times she'd rolled her eyes at Xiang Qian. What kind of person had a mouth like that? If she were Saber, she'd have been furious by now.
Vector said to Xiang Qian with all seriousness, "I think the only reason you managed to grow up was that everyone feared the law." Laughter erupted over the comms. Vector tried to hold it in, but finally turned away and burst out laughing.
Amid the laughter, the situation suddenly changed. Temugin broke away from the ongoing struggle and opened some distance from Saber. Before Saber could pursue, Temugin swept out a hand, setting off a series of small explosions between them.
It was a dangerous move. The close-range explosions could hinder Saber's pursuit, but they could hurt Temugin, too. He had no choice. His followers had been wiped out in an instant, and he was gradually losing ground in his one-on-one fight with Saber. If he didn't find a way out, he'd never escape—but he had to choose his route carefully.
He couldn't retreat the way he'd come. The defenders had sealed the breach, and his dual-sword-wielding opponent was hounding him at every turn. If he went back that way, he'd be caught between two forces. He couldn't head west to join his allies, who were still fighting, either. He'd have to cross the defenders' entire line, risking concentrated fire at any moment, and Saber would pursue him as well. Looking around, the weakest point was where a man and a woman were chatting.
Facing a small pistol and an unarmed woman was much safer than facing dozens of semiautomatic and automatic weapons. More importantly, the two of them were less than ten meters away. They seemed to be talking, their attention divided. If he charged through them, the three of them would be so close together that the others wouldn't dare shoot freely.
Temugin worked all this out in just a few seconds, then acted at once. The explosions drove Saber back and won Temugin an incredibly precious opportunity. It would vanish in an instant; he couldn't afford to hesitate. Ignoring the tightness in his chest and abdomen from the blast wave, Temugin seized the moment while Saber was retreating and sprinted toward Xiang Qian.
Their attention really wasn't on him. They probably wouldn't have time to shoot—Temugin decided to take the gamble.
Ten steps, five, three—the other side really didn't have time to shoot! Temugin was overjoyed. He roared and threw a punch. He had just set off a series of explosions and couldn't immediately activate the ring's power again, but he had confidence in his fighting skills. There couldn't be that many skilled fighters around, could there?
As these thoughts ran through Temugin's mind, he suddenly saw the young man holding the pistol smile for no apparent reason. Years of fighting had taught Temugin to sense danger on instinct, but everything happened in a flash, and he had no time to react. The man's gun hand was still lowered, but he turned slightly sideways, dipped his shoulder, and slammed into Temugin at even greater speed.
His lunge and punch left Temugin's front wide open. Xiang Qian's shoulder slammed squarely into his chest.
Baji Quan: Mountain-Leaning Strike!
Xiang Qian had been plotting this blow for a long time. He had been preparing for it ever since he started taunting Saber. He had to make sure he captured Temugin alive. Xiang Qian had no doubt Saber could defeat Temugin, but he wasn't sure Saber could take him alive. The psychological profile drawn up by the profiling team described Temugin as aggressive and reckless, but also as someone with a strangely pathological sense of honor. When cornered, he might well kill himself to avoid capture.
Xiang Qian had to shatter Temugin's ability to resist in a single blow while he still had hope—and completely rob him of the ability to take his own life, too.