Chapter 292 - 20: Where are you going?
SWOOSH!!
He shot out like a bolt of lightning, a brown magnetic light swirling around him.
He became a blur, instantly bursting from the smoke and dust and charging forward through a hail of gunfire.
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! The sleeves on his arms were shredded, revealing silver arm guards underneath. He also wore an inner armor of silver steel covering his chest and abdomen.
The alloy armor seemed fused with his bionic prosthetics. Even small-caliber bullets could only leave shallow marks and scratches, unable to penetrate it.
"What the—!"
Witnessing this, the expressions of the several Team Five members in the building below changed. One of them, hiding behind a black sedan, felt his vision go dark and scrambled to take cover.
"Die!!"
A cold roar reached his ears as Ma Kui charged right up to him and threw a punch.
The full-force blow, wreathed in brown magnetic light, tore through the air. The fierce wind kicked up dust and debris as the punch flew toward the team member’s head, ready to smash it to pieces.
At the critical moment.
THUD!!
A figure landed, having leaped from the third floor.
Gao Hu’s face was ice-cold. His round, leopard-like eyes blazed with ferocity and killing intent as he moved to block the team member.
ROAR!!
He unleashed his full power, even using a Martial Skill.
The sound of a tiger’s roar swept across the ground, as savage and violent as a wild Mutant Beast, interfering with Ma Kui’s mind and consciousness.
His Fist Seal, covered in Martial Arts Power, was like a tiger pouncing on its prey as it smashed forward.
BOOM!!
Fist met fist as the two men clashed head-on.
A ring of white vapor exploded out from between them. Their clothes flapped wildly, and the shockwave shattered the windows of the nearby black cars.
It seemed to be an even match.
But in the next instant.
STOMP! STOMP! STOMP!
Gao Hu slid back, each heavy step making the ground tremble.
His expression was grim. He could feel a sharp, stabbing pain in his right arm, and his muscles and bones ached intensely, trembling uncontrollably.
Ma Kui, implanted with higher-sub-grade prosthetics, had nearly surpassed the theoretical limits of the Elite Level. His combat power was infinitely close to the Superpower-tier.
’Even using a Mid-Level Martial Skill, I can barely block him.’
"You’re really asking to die."
SWOOSH!!
The cold words reached his ears. The moment Gao Hu slid back, Ma Kui had already shot forward like an arrow, lunging in for the kill.
The cybernetic lines on his face and neck flickered visibly. His foot slammed down like an iron hammer, shaking the ground, and his right fist once again shot through the air like a lightning bolt.
BOOM!!
The air cracked. Arcs of brown light flickered like electricity, twisting and weaving.
A jet of white vapor could be seen shooting from his elbow, boosting the power of his punch even further.
In that instant, a chill rose up from the depths of his heart.
Gao Hu’s expression was grim. He had no choice but to punch out again, using offense as defense in a desperate, life-or-death struggle.
THUD!!
As their fists collided, the concrete ground beneath their feet cracked with a shudder.
Clouds of dust and grit were blown away by the gale. Then, Gao Hu’s body trembled, and he slid back several more steps, crashing into the wall of the concrete building behind him.
CRACK!
Cracks spread across the wall behind him and the concrete ground under the eaves. At the same time, the sound of bone cracking came from his arm, which fell limply to his side.
This left him wide open. Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth, his face was pale, and he had all but lost the ability to fight.
He could only watch as Ma Kui gave a contemptuous smirk and stepped forward for the kill once more.
"It’s a real shame I only managed to kill that guy named Zheng last time."
"This time,"
He threw a punch, a savage grin on his face. "I’ll just kill you too!"
BOOM!!
A fierce wind howled, carrying a bone-chilling cold, as the fist headed straight for Gao Hu’s head.
"Ma Kui, you motherfucker!"
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!!
Several members of Team Five roared in anger, aiming at different parts of his body and pulling their triggers.
The dense spray of bullets made Ma Kui frown. He had no choice but to change his attack, retracting his fist and raising his arm to block.
The crisp CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! rang out again as a stream of sparks erupted on his cybernetic arm and inner armor.
His killing intent grew stronger. He shifted his cold gaze, his eyes peering through the gap under his arm toward the entrance of the concrete building several meters away.
The other members of Team Five had, at some point, rushed down from the second floor. They were now positioned on either side of the first-floor entrance, continuously firing at him.
"You sons of bitches must have a death wish."
"One by one, I’m going to kill every last one of you today!"
His eyes showed impatience and his expression was furious. He decided to deal with them first.
However.
SWOOSH!!
A sudden ripping sound tore through the air from above, rapidly approaching.
Ma Kui froze. Standing under the eaves of the concrete building, he looked up.
The white clouds suddenly broke apart.
A silver-gray hovercar sped into view, diving through the sky and finally arriving at the battlefield.
Many people in the buffer zone looked up, their eyes filled with suspicion. Members of the Iron Sand Army also sensed something was wrong and looked up as well.
The circular hexagram symbol on the hovercar’s fuselage was particularly eye-catching, searing itself into everyone’s vision.
Then,
Before they could react.
RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!!
Muzzles flared. Gun turrets on the left and right sides of the hovercar spun, unleashing a torrent of firepower.
SPLAT! SPLAT! SPLAT! SPLAT!!
Caught completely off guard by the sudden heavy fire, several members of the Iron Sand Army hiding behind street-side cover were gunned down.
Blood splattered and a mist of red exploded in the air.
Furthermore, a stream of bullets targeted Ma Kui, forcing him to dodge backward in alarm and anger to create distance.
’How could they be so fast!’
His eyes were filled with shock and fury as a series of bullet craters appeared on the ground behind him.
The RAT-A-TAT-TAT of gunfire was incessant. The hovercar was now directly above the district, suppressing all hostile fire not originating from the Superpower Bureau.
At this moment, Ma Kui’s expression flickered. He could no longer be bothered with dealing with Gao Hu and the other members of Team Five.
The speed of the Superpower Bureau’s reinforcements had completely exceeded his expectations. Without a second thought, he burst forward with explosive speed, smashing through the window of a concrete building and diving inside.
He vanished from the street, intending to escape completely.
"Damn it!"
Half-lying under the eaves of the concrete building, Gao Hu’s face was ashen. He tried to get up but stumbled and fell, his fractured arms hanging uselessly, unable to muster any strength.
Intense frustration welled up in his heart. ’Am I really going to just watch him escape like this?’
SWOOSH!!
A whistling sound answered him.
A figure had leaped from the hovercar at some point, landing on a rooftop.
Then, he became a blur.
He sprinted across the walls of the buildings, moving as if on level ground, dashing straight in the direction Ma Kui had disappeared.
"That’s..."
Gao Hu’s expression was one of surprise as he noticed something unusual.
He then saw Chen Xiao jump out of the hovercar, gun in hand. Standing on the rooftop, Chen Xiao looked at him, smiling and nodding as he spoke into his headset, "Don’t worry, Vice Captain Gao."
"The Captain’s here. That son of a bitch isn’t getting away."
...
CRASH! CRASH! CRASH!!
The street-side stalls and wooden crates in the district were smashed to pieces. Ma Kui, his face a mask of alarm and fury, fled without daring to stop.
’Run!’
’Run!!’
A powerful intuition welled up inside him. It was a primal instinct that had saved him countless times in the past.
This time was no different.
’They even deployed a hovercar.’ He was certain the Superpower Bureau’s reinforcements were no ordinary matter.
SWOOSH! SWOOSH! SWOOSH!!
Instantly, his figure flickered repeatedly.
Brown arcs of light swirled around him, and the cybernetic lines on his neck and face glowed brightly, as if some kind of Biological Energy was being rapidly consumed.
One hundred meters, three hundred meters, five hundred meters...
He became a blur, darting through the concrete alleyways of the buffer zone, getting farther and farther away from the Prosthetic Clinic.
’As long as I can escape toward the wilderness, I can get away through the secret passages.’
In his peripheral vision, the concrete walls on both sides rushed past. The dilapidated shacks and sheet metal hovels grew closer.
The reinforcements from the Superpower Bureau had clearly been left behind. The intuitive threat in his heart also began to fade, as if he was about to make a clean escape.
In that instant, some of his anxiety dissipated, and Ma Kui gradually regained a bit of confidence.
He was just about to burst out of the alley and take a detour into the even more chaotic shantytown on the edge of the wilderness.
SWOOSH!!
Suddenly, a sound came from the wall to his left. His eyes narrowed, and he quickly looked over.
TAP! TAP! TAP! TAP!!
A figure ran parallel to the ground, feet planted on the wall, bypassing all pedestrians and obstacles. They moved like a Gecko, swift and fluid, in hot pursuit.
Three hundred meters, two hundred meters, one hundred meters...
The distance between them shrank rapidly until, finally, the figure was right alongside him.
"Where... are you going?"