Chapter 8: A Man's Pain (Fourth Update, Monthly Ticket Bonus)
"Looks like Carl didn't die in vain. I should get serious too."
The revolver-wielding man stopped retreating, put his fingers in his mouth, and blew a sharp whistle.
A hawk's cry sounded from afar. A white-headed eagle swooped down from the sky and landed on the revolver man's shoulder.
The white-headed eagle spread its wings, shook its body, and a dozen pure white feathers fell. These feathers glowed with a faint white light, gradually dissolving into the air.
As the feathers merged into the air, the revolver man's figure suddenly vanished without a trace.
Su Xiao looked around. The dangerous feeling was still there. This wasn't a spatial ability; the revolver man had turned invisible.
He closed his eyes to sense his surroundings but found nothing unusual. He focused his hearing but heard no footsteps.
Su Xiao suddenly lunged forward, charging to where the revolver man had been and slashing out with his blade.
The slash missed, as expected. The revolver man was indeed invisible. An invisible gunman was a terrifying enemy.
Su Xiao immediately narrowed his perception range, shrinking it down to five meters. At this distance, his senses were sharpest, giving him a buffer even if a bullet came flying.
After shrinking his perception range, Su Xiao immediately sensed something wrong. A patch of blood suddenly appeared on the ground. He could confirm that there had been no blood there before.
Looking around, Su Xiao noticed another anomaly: all the bloodstains left by the revolver man had disappeared.
This could no longer be explained by mere invisibility. A person could turn invisible, but blood that had already fallen to the ground certainly couldn't.
It wasn't invisibility. The revolver man might have blocked his perception. At this moment, in Su Xiao's senses, the revolver man simply didn't exist—neither in sight, hearing, nor perception.
To Su Xiao, the revolver man was currently nonexistent, so of course he couldn't find where he was. This was the eagle's ability.
However, this ability had a flaw. After Su Xiao narrowed his perception range, his sensing intensity increased significantly. If the revolver man came within five meters of him, he would detect him.
Just as Su Xiao was about to search for the revolver man, a sound of something cutting through the air came from behind him. He immediately tilted his head.
Whoosh~ A bullet grazed past Su Xiao's cheek, even snapping a few strands of his hair.
Su Xiao's expression wasn't pleasant. This bullet had appeared suddenly from outside his five-meter range. Outside his perception circle, the bullet simply didn't exist.
The bullet was also "invisible," only appearing once it entered his perception circle.
The battle fell into a stalemate. This fight left Su Xiao somewhat speechless. He felt that the opponent wasn't here to claim his Scarlet Card or avenge Carl, but simply wanted to fight him. There was no grudge involved. No wonder everyone else feared the Phantom Troupe so much.
Su Xiao gained some understanding of the Troupe's members. Carl might have been one of the more normal ones among them.
The battle continued. Su Xiao wasn't a pushover. Since the enemy had come to him, the best way to handle it was to cut off his head.
The revolver man didn't fire again. He seemed to realize that Su Xiao could dodge his shots and was now charging up some kind of skill.
Su Xiao quickly moved across the open ground, using his perception circle to search for the revolver man. The bloodstains on the ground were the best guide.
Pfft. A spray of blood blossomed from Su Xiao's back. He had been hit.
Su Xiao rolled his shoulder, wincing in pain. As long as he wasn't shot in the head, a few hits to the back were nothing. His health was high, and Bubuteni's aura was still steadily restoring his HP.
Su Xiao wasn't worried about Bubuteni's safety. The dog...
Suddenly, an idea struck Su Xiao. The revolver man had disappeared from his perception. Could Bubuteni detect him?
He quickly ran over to Bubuteni. The dog immediately dashed out from an old ship and stood in front of Su Xiao.
"Bubu, can you see the enemy?"
Su Xiao's question clearly startled Bubu Wang. Bubu Wang looked helpless. In his view, his master was inexplicably circling around an enemy he couldn't see, occasionally taking a bullet.
Pfft. A burst of blood erupted from Bubuteni's rear. Bubu Wang let out a howl of pain. The revolver man was trying to kill the dog.
Bubuteni could see the enemy. Su Xiao could now confirm this.
"Bubu, hide behind me."
Su Xiao's intention was clear: have Bubuteni take cover behind him to avoid the shots. This had two advantages. First, Bubuteni's safety was guaranteed. Second, if Bubuteni was hiding behind Su Xiao to dodge the enemy's attacks, it meant the enemy was directly in front of the dog.
Bubuteni ducked behind Su Xiao's side. Su Xiao suddenly lunged, charging in the opposite direction.
After a few quick steps, an arm holding a gun appeared within his perception range. He had finally caught the enemy.
But at that moment, the revolver man's arm vanished, and his figure disappeared again. Su Xiao stopped in his tracks. Bubuteni quickly ran back behind Su Xiao.
Su Xiao whispered a few words to Bubuteni and showed him something. Bubuteni barked twice.
Su Xiao began to wander aimlessly across the open ground, not caring even when he occasionally took a bullet.
The revolver man was puzzled. He didn't know what Su Xiao was doing, but he could vaguely smell a scheme.
"Featherbrain, how much longer can the soul misdirection last?"
The white-headed eagle on the revolver man's shoulder chirped twice. The revolver man nodded. It seemed his beast language skill was quite high.
Pfft. Blood burst from Su Xiao's body. His health had dropped to a dangerous level. The enemy had stopped aiming for his head—if his head was attacked, he could dodge—but his torso was much larger, and the range for dodging left or right was smaller. Su Xiao simply stopped dodging.
Just as Su Xiao took two more hits, Bubuteni behind him barked loudly.
Su Xiao's heart leaped with joy. Finally, the moment had come. After taking so many bullets, it was time for revenge.
"Detonate," Su Xiao murmured.
Boom! Several plumes of fire shot into the sky. The shockwave from the explosion spread outward. Su Xiao had detonated seven Alchemy Bombs, each placed in a different location.
He raised his left hand to shield his face. The crimson bracer on his left arm could block a small portion of the attack.
This explosion was what he had instructed Bubuteni to do earlier.
He had thirty-one Alchemy Bombs in his storage space. Su Xiao took out over a dozen, using his own blood to cover these bubblegum-like bombs. Every time he was hit, he dropped one on the ground.
When the revolver man got close to these Alchemy Bombs, Bubuteni would bark loudly.
Bubuteni had just barked, and Su Xiao immediately detonated the bombs.
The flames of the explosion quickly receded. The revolver man's figure was falling through the air, a tattered shield around him, one arm blown off.
When Su Xiao saw where the revolver man was falling, his expression darkened. The man was heading straight for a waterway, which led to the bottomless ocean. If he dove into the sea, Su Xiao wouldn't be able to find him among the abandoned buildings beneath Water Seven.
The revolver man's landing spot wasn't accidental. The white-headed eagle was flapping its wings, helping him change direction.
How could Su Xiao let it go so easily? He had taken many bullets.
He wrapped the Realm Severing Thread around the hilt of Dragon-Slaying Flash, adjusted his grip, spread his legs apart, and the muscles in one arm bulged slightly.
Taking a deep breath, Su Xiao hurled Dragon-Slaying Flash with all his strength.
Whoosh~ Dragon-Slaying Flash cut through the air. The revolver man in midair had an expression like he'd just been screwed over.
A pained groan rang out. Dragon-Slaying Flash pierced straight through the revolver man's lower abdomen, just a bit lower and it would have hit his manhood. The revolver man splashed into the sea. Before he disappeared beneath the surface, Su Xiao faintly heard him shout: "My bladder!"
Su Xiao tightened the Realm Severing Thread. When it went taut, he yanked it hard to the side, inflicting secondary damage on the revolver man.
He pulled the thread to drag Dragon-Slaying Flash back out of the sea. A patch of seawater gradually turned a faint red.
The revolver man in the sea was going mad with pain. The Azure Steel Shadow energy had invaded his urinary system. What frustrated him even more was that his mana had suddenly dropped significantly for some unknown reason. He hadn't even been able to unleash his ultimate move.
PS: (As usual, asking for votes)