Life-and-Death Standoff (3)

The battle had finally entered its bloodiest and cruelest stage: cold weapons.

Xia Lun drew a short sword from the weapon belt at his right hand, gripped it in reverse, bent his knees and lowered his waist, pressing himself tightly against the wall.

At that moment, he seemed to meld into the darkness.

Boom!

Thunder suddenly exploded, and pale lightning flashed through the round porthole, illuminating the corpse Xia Lun had arranged by the wall.

The footsteps outside grew clearer and clearer. They were about to come in!

The lightning faded, and everything once again sank into darkness as deep as an endless night.

Bang!

The wooden door was kicked open, and in the next instant, a spinning double-handed axe flew in and smashed the head of the corpse leaning against the wall!

Blood splattered everywhere!

"Die!" The first mate's brother charged into the room with bloodshot eyes and a howl, rushing toward the headless corpse on the floor. The other two followed close behind.

But in the next instant, the first mate's brother felt a sudden, inexplicable unease.

Before he could think further, a fierce gust carrying the scent of rust struck from behind him!

A large, bony hand clamped down on his left shoulder. His body sank, and then a cold blade stabbed fiercely into the side of his neck!

Squelch!

Bright red blood sprayed across the tabletop, staining the curled edges of the nautical chart.

Hearing the sound, the first mate abruptly looked behind him.

In the darkness, his brother stood frozen like a puppet, a short sword buried in his neck!

Terror and unwillingness still flickered in his brother's eyes. Behind him stood a man whose face was covered in blood, expressionless, his dark eyes fixed mercilessly on the first mate.

It was the prisoner who had shot his younger brother!

He had been hiding in the corner all along!

They had been careless!

The first mate's eyes nearly split with rage. He raised his gun, but the man ducked behind his brother. At the same time, a flintlock pistol extended from the side, aimed directly at his face.

The first mate froze. He reflexively sidestepped half a pace, but Xia Lun did not fire.

"Let him go!"

"Don't move." Xia Lun's voice was icy. "If I pull the sword, he dies."

"Demon! He came out of the shadows... We're doomed..." The mentally broken pirate choked out.

The three of them now formed a triangle. However, there was little room for Xia Lun to maneuver behind him, and warm blood trickled down the sword hilt, dripping through his fingers onto the floor.

The first mate seemed to notice something. He drew his short sword and charged forward, but Xia Lun gently twisted the hilt in his hand.

"Heh... heh..." The first mate's brother rolled his eyes back, a dying rasp squeezing from his throat.

"Stop," Xia Lun said in a low voice. "Take another step, and he dies immediately."

The first mate abruptly halted. He glanced at the mentally broken pirate, then slowly shifted left. The pirate seemed to understand and trembled as he shifted right.

"If he dies, you'll be buried with him." The first mate moved as he threatened darkly. "Put him down, and we can talk about anything else."

As if to narrow their defensive angle, Xia Lun slowly backed away. "Sure. Drop all your weapons, and I'll let him go."

"Are you joking?" The first mate's voice grew increasingly sinister.

A faint smile entered Xia Lun's tone. "Aren't you?"

The next moment, he suddenly thumbed back the flintlock's hammer.

Click.

At the sound, the first mate jolted in alarm and slid sharply to the right, but Xia Lun still did not fire.

The first mate sneered, thinking he had found Xia Lun's limit, then continued moving left.

He soon reached the wooden table, while Xia Lun had backed up against the wall. As for the mentally broken pirate, his expression grew uglier and uglier.

"Why don't you keep backing up?"

"If I retreat any farther, your brother dies." Xia Lun's tone became calmer and calmer. "He's your last brother, isn't he?"

As he spoke, he twisted the sword hilt again.

The dull sound of metal cutting flesh was especially clear in the dark, cramped room.

"You yellow-skinned monkey, what the hell do you want?!" The Black first mate seemed to have reached the end of his patience. He panted heavily, his eyes bulging, his face as savage as a ghost. "Keep pushing me, and I'll shoot my brother and you together! Ten seconds. Put him down!"

"I don't believe you." Xia Lun chuckled, then his voice turned cold again. "No need to wait ten seconds. Shoot now—you dare?"

The first mate's expression immediately turned extremely ugly. He truly did not dare gamble with his own brother's life.

The situation fell into a stalemate. No one could move. In the murky air, only increasingly heavy breathing remained, along with the patter of blood dripping.

But at that moment, a rustling sound of a monster writhing suddenly came from outside, growing clearer and clearer.

The mentally broken pirate immediately began trembling like a leaf. Even the hand holding his gun had gone weak.

The gunshots had drawn that monster over! That terrifying thing from the abyss was wandering nearby...

At the same time, a sound came from the ceiling, and several strands of bloodstained gray dust slowly drifted down.

Xia Lun's eyes shifted slightly. He glanced at the table behind the first mate, then at the crack above it.

The next moment, he spoke first. "First mate, there's no personal grudge between us. This conflict was entirely caused by your brother's reckless behavior—I respect you personally, so I have a proposal."

"Say it!" The first mate's voice seemed squeezed from between his teeth.

The monster's writhing outside the door grew louder, accompanied by the wet smacks of tentacles slapping against flesh and wood in the corridor.

"Let's have a fair duel with cold weapons, so the monster doesn't get to benefit for free." Xia Lun smiled, sounding utterly sincere. "I'll count to three. I release the hostage, you put down the pistol. One-on-one, sword against sword. What do you think?"

"Fine." The first mate licked his cracked lips. His gaze was unreadable, as if it had no focus at all. "Didn't think you had any guts."

He had no intention of honoring the agreement. The moment the other side released his brother, he would shoot him dead.

But the other side surely wouldn't honor it either. In the end, it would come down to whose gun was faster.

If he moved fast enough, perhaps his brother could still be saved. If he was too slow, then all he could do was avenge him.

But when it came to reaction speed, he had never lost.

With that thought, the first mate's gaze grew even darker.

Hearing Xia Lun's words, some color returned to the mentally broken pirate's face. He tightened his grip on the flintlock.

"One."

Xia Lun subtly adjusted his position, aiming the sword hilt toward the mentally broken pirate.

"Three!"

The next moment, he pulled out the short sword without warning and shoved the first mate's brother hard toward the mentally broken pirate!

Blood burst outward like a geyser. The blood spraying from the wound turned into scalding mist, splashing straight into the pirate's eyes!

The first mate's eyes nearly split apart. He let out a grief-stricken roar and raised his hand to aim, but almost at the same time, a searing pain of metal tearing through flesh erupted from the back of his knee, followed by a sudden, violent pull!

Bang! Blinded by agony, he was yanked into a stagger. Off balance, his sure-kill shot missed completely!

The first mate lowered his head in disbelief and saw a bloodied dagger—and the female captain's vicious grin.

He spun around and stabbed the captain hard in the back. She grunted, yet still clenched the dagger tightly!

"Let go!"

By then, Xia Lun had already dispatched the pirate, temporarily blinded by blood, with a clean stab and slash. He pushed off the ground, twisted his waist, spun, and lunged at the unbalanced first mate, his short sword chopping straight toward the man's face!

"Die!"

The cold hum of the blade flashed by, followed by a burst of sparks!

The off-balance first mate had no line of sight, yet he forcibly blocked the attack through sheer swordsmanship experience!

At the instant their blades met, the first mate's wrist flicked, turning his block into an upward slash. The vicious reverse edge slid along Xia Lun's blade like a poisonous snake, cutting darkly and cruelly toward Xia Lun's fingers!

Sliding Strike!

If that strike landed, all four of Xia Lun's fingers would be cut off. If Xia Lun chose to drop his sword to protect his hand, the initiative would return to the first mate.

The first mate was undeniably a master swordsman.

However, Xia Lun directly pulled the trigger with his left hand.

Bang!

The shorter the distance, the greater the danger. Crossing blades also restricted the first mate's room to dodge.

Point-blank shot!

In the dazzling flash, the lead bullet blasted straight into the first mate's skull. Blood and chunks of flesh burst outward, spraying across the wall behind him in a radial pattern like an abstract painting.

Drip.

The corpse, half its head blown away, crashed heavily to the floor like a sack of rags, splashing water everywhere as crimson blood slowly dyed the puddle red.

This life-and-death battle was finally over. The first mate was dead.

His powerful swordsmanship and exceptional physique had ultimately been reduced to nothing by a single lead bullet.

A cry of alarm came from the ceiling. In the next instant, footsteps retreated from the crack above the table—the first mate's reinforcements had been frightened off by the brief yet brutally bloody battle.

Xia Lun did not lower his guard. He quickly finished off every corpse.

A few seconds later, several clusters of gray mist burst from the pirates' corpses and flew straight toward Xia Lun like insects.

[Slaughter! You killed 6 pirates and gained 170 Memory Points!]

[Current Memory Points: 800!]