Ren Xiaosu had only entered Stronghold 63 because he wanted to take a look at the commotion that would be happening. After all, he would not get any reward for completing the A-rank mission. Meanwhile, it was clear the Anjing House had had a feud with the Pyro Company for some time. As such, he was unwilling to get embroiled in this dispute.
But that member of the advanced fighting force from the Pyro Company had to make that provocation and even sent someone after him. This could not be tolerated.
Ren Xiaosu put away his sniper rifle and relocated to another position. As he left, he continued observing Xianyang Street. He was surprised to see an old sugar painter[1] sitting by the roadside boiling sugar syrup to make snacks for children. He suddenly reached into the pot with his ladle and scooped out a spoonful of caramelized sugar. Then he quickly painted something on an aluminum plate in front of him with the large ladle.
In the blink of an eye, the old man finished drawing a lifelike peacock. Right after, the sugary peacock on the aluminum plate suddenly flapped its wings and flew up into the sky!
The peacock drawn with sugar syrup had actually come to life.
The amber-colored peacock flying in the sky immediately pounced in front of the remaining three members of Midnight.
However, the old man did not stop there as he reached into the pot with his ladle again. He scooped out another spoonful of golden syrup and painted a dragon on the aluminum plate!
Ren Xiaosu was taken aback for a moment. This was the first time he had seen such a magical superpower. It seemed possible to draw anything as long as one believed it was alive!
When he was observing through his scope earlier, he thought the old man was just a normal artisan. There were even many children who went to buy the old man’s sugar paintings, and everything looked very normal at that time.
But now, he displayed an even more magnificent side of the superhuman world to Ren Xiaosu!
The amber dragon did not attack Midnight but stood close guard next to the old man. Then he started drawing a tiger.
However, Ren Xiaosu felt the old man might be reaching his limits soon. He seemed to be having difficulties as he painted the tiger.
At this moment, five people suddenly jumped out of a window from a nearby residential building and surrounded the old man. Ren Xiaosu was shocked. This should also be the Pyro Company’s contingency plan, right?
In that instant, Ren Xiaosu realized the Pyro Company’s Midnight squad had actually been used as bait to capture the superhumans who came to encircle them!
Across the entire Alliance of Strongholds, everyone knew the Pyro Company was particularly interested in superhumans. And Ren Xiaosu had already faced Midnight before. What they really wanted was the genetic data of superhumans. They wanted to create even more powerful human beings, and this was the evolutionary path they had chosen.
Therefore, this mission might appear on the surface like it was the Anjing House looking to exterminate the Pyro Company. But actually, it was a trap set by the Pyro Company to kill their superhumans.
Although the Pyro Company used to have a presence in the Southwest, Qing Zhen had clearly expressed his disgust for them. He even fought a tough battle with the Pyro Company and drove them out of the Southwest.
Hence, the influence the Pyro Company had in the Southwest was extremely weak. The enemy they faced there was Qing Zhen, someone who controlled an entire military and was skilled at war.
But here in the Central Plains, the Pyro Company called this their territory!
Furthermore, the Pyro Company seemed to have an endless number of genetically enhanced soldiers. They possessed a stable way of creating superhumans, and it was an advantage no other organization could compare with.
Actually, only the Qinghe Group could compare with them. However, it seemed the Qinghe Group didn’t possess a lot of superhumans, and they did not really care about the competition for resources in the region either. Usually, they would not attack others unless they were provoked. Furthermore, they did not hold any political stances.
Ren Xiaosu had already jumped over to another rooftop. He could hear footsteps behind him shuttling between the roofs, and they belonged to the members of the Pyro Company who were chasing after him.
His opponents were getting closer and closer.
The entirety of Stronghold 63 was in chaos now. When the residents on the streets who were enjoying their nightlife heard the gunshots, they quickly fled from the scene of the assassination while screaming.
The night became chaotic, and even the colorful neon lights suddenly appeared dull and depressing.
All of a sudden, Ren Xiaosu came to a stop. He pulled out his large, black sniper rifle again and aimed it at the members of the Pyro Company who had surrounded the old man.
As he was moving at a very rapid pace while fleeing, his heart rate had increased.
He took a deep breath.
The moment before the sniper pulled the trigger, the hormones, blood, muscles, and heart in their body would all have to serve the will. At that time, even the chaotic night sky would come to a standstill.
Ren Xiaosu pulled the trigger and a thick layer of smoke burst out from the muzzle with a bang. As the bullet passed through the rifling of the barrel, it started spinning rapidly, carrying with it a huge amount of kinetic energy.
In the rifling, the grooves were the spaces that were cut out, and the resulting ridges were called lands. In the black sniper rifle’s barrel, the perfect angle and twist rate made the bullet start spinning the moment it was fired out of the chamber, This allowed the bullet to break free from any external restrictions with its immense kinetic energy and let the shot go further and more accurately.
It was breaking free from fate!
The elongated bullet passed through the gap between two buildings and squarely hit a member of the Pyro Company. The spinning bullet quickly penetrated through his muscles, and the massive friction of the bullet ripped the muscle fibers like it was cotton!
Death!
Through the scope, Ren Xiaosu saw a young man in a black suit and white shirt on Xianyang Street break off the pole of a metal street lamp on the side of the road with a wave of his hand. Then it floated over next to him as though it were a weapon.
But before he could rush to the old man’s rescue, he realized a sniper was helping them kill their enemies.
The young man was stunned for a moment before asking through his earpiece, “Did we send any other snipers here?”
Someone replied through the earpiece, “No, there’s only one A-rank sniper who accepted the mission, but he’s already dead. But the sniper who opened fire just now avenged him.”
“That’s strange. Where did that sniper come from then?” The young man looked in the direction of where the bullet came from, but that building was already empty.
Suddenly, another three figures flashed across the roof of that building. The young man said worriedly into his earpiece, “I’ll take care of the Pyro Company members on Xianyang Street first. The sniper to my 7 o’clock is being pursued by three members of Dusk. Can anyone go to his aid?”
“It’s too late. He’s too far away from us.”
Everyone stopped talking. Due to the distance, they could only pray the sniper would get lucky and not be caught by the members of the Pyro Company.
The battle was chaotic. Even the Anjing House members could not fully understand what was happening on the battlefield. There were not many talents like Qing Zhen in the world who were strategic geniuses, after all. Most people only knew how to adapt their plans as the battle developed.
It didn’t matter if it was the Anjing House or the Pyro Company; they were all the same.
However, neither of them could have expected that the sniper who had appeared out of nowhere would become the key to turning the tide of the situation.
At this moment, Ren Xiaosu was frequently jumping across various buildings as he fled all the way west. But a second later, he halted in his tracks.
It was not that he could not run anymore, but that he did not want to continue running.
[1] Sugar painting (糖画) is a form of traditional Chinese folk art using hot, liquid sugar to create two dimensional objects on a marble or metal surface. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugar_painting
