Bai Ye Is Still Firing!?

"What are we waiting for? Boys! Follow your commander out of the city to meet the enemy!" Bai Ye waved a hand and strode toward the city gate at the forefront.

He could no longer wait to test the power of the forbidden artifact.

King Snake and Tan Jie exchanged a glance. Without a word, they gathered their men and followed Bai Ye out of the city.

Before long, the group of over thirty marched grandly out through the gates.

The underlings gripped their guns nervously, their eyes darting uneasily around them, afraid a hyena might suddenly pounce from some corner.

They formed a circle around Bai Ye, King Snake, and Tan Jie, protecting them as they advanced inch by inch.

The distant hyenas remained motionless in response. Only after the group had moved a hundred meters away from the city wall did several hyenas in the bushes suddenly begin barking wildly.

Roar! Roar! Roar!

More and more beastly roars rang out. At the horizon's edge, yellow sand billowed through the air, and dense black dots slowly emerged from within it.

One, two, three... twenty!

More than twenty hyenas came charging from afar. They were far larger than ordinary hyenas, nearly as big as adult bulls.

A dense pounding like drumbeats echoed across the ground. The earth trembled faintly, and with it, the hearts of Tan Jie and the others shook as well.

"Fire!!" Tan Jie roared. His gun fired first, like a signal flare, and battle erupted in an instant.

Facing the charging hyenas, the thirty-odd people raised their weapons and fired madly. A dense barrage of bullets wove into a net of fire that swept toward the hyenas.

No one conserved ammunition, and no one retreated, because they all knew perfectly well that if they could not deal with these hyenas, they would sooner or later be trapped to death in Gray Soil Town.

It was precisely this life-or-death crisis that had made the commanders of the east and west districts join forces without reservation.

The torrent of bullets slowed the hyenas' charge. Bai Ye, standing among the crowd, did not fire. The distance was too great, and his marksmanship was not especially good. He could not waste his vitality using the forbidden artifact and had to wait until the hyenas came closer.

He watched silently, gaining a direct sense of just how powerful these mutated beasts were. Their distorted flesh-and-blood bodies simply did not fear bullets fired from ordinary guns.

The bullets could only pierce the hyenas' skin. Blood sprayed everywhere, making for a gruesome sight, but the wounds were superficial and not fatal. Unless a massive number of bullets focused on a single hyena at once, or someone got lucky and shot one in the eye socket, it was difficult to kill them.

Tan Jie and the others had only a few dozen guns in total, and their ammunition was limited. They could not maintain heavy firepower suppression and could only rely on the devastating power of [Breath of Bones].

After a round of volleys, everyone hurriedly reloaded while the hyenas used the opening to rapidly close the distance.

Just then, a hyena suddenly burst out from behind a dead tree to the side and viciously clamped its jaws around the arm of a man from the east district.

"Aaaahhh!!" The man screamed miserably. He had not noticed the hyena silently circling behind them.

Panic and terror instantly spread through the crowd. The difference between trained and untrained people became glaringly clear at that moment. In their panic, people instinctively opened fire. They missed the hyena and instead shot the bitten man dead.

"Bai Ye! Fire, now!" Tan Jie shouted in fury and alarm.

Bai Ye calmly chambered a round. His icy gaze and the barrel of his gun locked onto the hyena at the same time.

"Call me Deputy Commander Bai."

Bang!

The roar of [Breath of Bones] rang out alongside his cold voice.

A bullet glowing scarlet tore through the air like a blood-red meteor, trailing a long tail as it struck the hyena with brutal force.

Boom!

The hyena's head exploded instantly, like a watermelon falling from the tenth floor. Blood and chunks of flesh splattered everywhere.

So this was the power of a forbidden artifact?!

Tan Jie looked horrified. As a genetically modified human, his physical abilities far surpassed those of ordinary people, but if that shot landed on him, there was absolutely no way he could withstand it.

His killing intent toward Bai Ye intensified once more, but when he saw Bai Ye's pale face and ragged breathing, he relaxed inwardly.

Fortunately, such tremendous power came with severe side effects. With that brat's physique, he could not possibly sustain more than a few shots.

Bai Ye panted heavily. The instant he had fired, he felt as though his body had been hollowed out, as if he had donated blood for three days straight. If he had not replenished himself by eating meat these past few days, he might have blacked out and collapsed.

Fortunately, after the hyena was shot dead, a warm current flowed from [Breath of Bones] and spread throughout his body.

In an instant, not only was his lost vitality restored, it even seemed to grow a little stronger.

That exhilarating feeling of his physical abilities improving made his spirits surge!

So he raised his gun and began firing at the nearest hyena.

Bang!

The gun thundered again, and the scarlet bullet struck the hyena with flawless accuracy. It was not that Bai Ye's aim was good; this charging hyena had already been hit several times, and its movements had slowed.

The warm current swept through his body once more. Bai Ye's eyes grew brighter, and the wildness and arrogance in their depths were completely ignited.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

He fired without pause. More and more corpses lay nearby, some belonging to hyenas and others to their underlings.

As more and more hyenas closed in, the two commanders, who had been holding back for the sake of their status, joined the fight as well.

King Snake tore off his shirt, revealing a mechanical arm gleaming with cold metallic light. The hydraulic rods let out a sharp whine, and the silver-white alloy framework suddenly unfolded. The mechanical arm completed its energy charge in 0.3 seconds.

He threw a punch, and the force of it compressed the surrounding air into transparent ripples. Bang!

A hyena's skull caved in instantly, sending it flying several meters away.

Though severely injured, the hyena fearlessly climbed back to its feet and continued charging.

Tan Jie roared repeatedly as the hair on his body rapidly thickened and hardened. Each strand of black bristle became perfect armor, allowing him to fight the hyenas in close combat without falling at any disadvantage.

With his defenses, Tan Jie even had the spare attention to observe Bai Ye.

Seeing Bai Ye fire again and again, he was overjoyed. Had this idiot gone blood-mad? Using [Breath of Bones] at such intensity—he'd probably be drained into a dried-up corpse within days.

He had originally thought that if Bai Ye deliberately slacked off, he would force him to act even if he had to put a gun to Bai Ye's head. He had not expected Bai Ye to work so hard.

Tan Jie sneered inwardly. At this rate, I won't even need to deal with Bai Ye afterward. This brat will get himself killed!

But after laughing to himself for a while, he could no longer laugh.

Because Bai Ye was still firing!?

Was this brat trying to get himself killed? The twenty-some hyenas that had appeared weren't all of them, and the Hyena King still hadn't shown itself.

Looking at Bai Ye's deathly pale face and swaying body, Tan Jie felt his heart leap into his throat. He had never intended to wipe out the hyenas in one go. He had planned to fight a war of attrition, killing a few each day and gradually wearing down the pack.

In his eyes, Bai Ye could die, but he absolutely could not die now! There were still several more days of fighting ahead!

"Bai Ye... no, Deputy Commander Bai, today's results have been excellent. We can withdraw and fight again tomorrow!" Tan Jie shouted.

He had assumed Bai Ye would listen, but the pale-faced youth snapped angrily, "Withdraw? The enemy hasn't been dealt with yet. Let's see who dares take even one step back! Kill them!"