Blind Spot
Chapter 188 - 177 Struggle for One

Chapter 188: 177 Struggle for One

Wolf Cave.

The spacious cavern, black as pitch, was illuminated with rows of temporary white lights.

The native darkness had been chased away, revealing the undulating rocks and streams inside the cave in crisp clarity.

Standing deep within the cave, Andy was accompanied by a bizarre figure clad entirely in black, adorned with various pieces of loose equipment.

The two gazed calmly at the cave floor deep within, where a shallow stone pit lay.

In the pit, stream water gathered, forming whirling eddies.

Silently, they waited, watching intently.

Suddenly, the dark red crystal floating above Andy’s shoulder began to morph.

"Ados and White Wax are gone,"

he said softly.

"Someone’s coming up, quite capable."

"I’ll take care of it," the man in black responded with a heavy voice.

He took two black components from the outside of his thigh, assembling them with both hands as he walked.

In seconds, he had combined them into a nearly two-meter long black firearm.

Stepping out from Wolf Cave, he looked down from his vantage point.

Within the forest, a shadowy figure clad in purple and black was quickly approaching, and would probably arrive in about ten seconds or less.

If it weren’t for the complex terrain and numerous obstacles, the speed would likely be even greater.

’Target lock completed.’

A red locking reticle appeared in the eye of the man in black.

’Wind direction calculated successfully, temperature calculated successfully, humidity comparison complete.’

He quickly squatted down, lifting the firearm to aim.

Bang!

A blast of air exploded from the muzzle.

*

*

*

Li Chengyi’s footsteps abruptly halted.

His body flew backward as if struck by a vehicle, retreating over ten meters and crashing into a tree trunk, shedding a large amount of branches and leaves.

From rushing forward to abruptly retreating.

This sudden change took less than a second.

Sharp pain radiated from the center of his chest.

’I’m injured!?’

This was his first thought after being shot.

Considering he was wearing the Wisteria Floral Dress, to have it penetrated and even sustain an injury was unthinkable!

’This isn’t ordinary bullet weaponry!’ Realization flashed through his mind instantaneously.

Li Chengyi kicked off the ground, bending low to hug the earth, quickly weaving in a serpentine pattern toward his objective.

He had learned these basic tactics in the dodging course for firearms set up by his boss.

But...

Bang!!

Another thunderous sound erupted.

His body was struck hard again, flying sideways through the air and breaking a small tree before flipping over to kneel on the ground.

Standing up, Li Chengyi exhaled a breath and his heart chilled.

’To hit me under these circumstances... definitely no ordinary marksman!’

Common marksmen reach their peak with high precision, but their performance falters with dynamic targets.

Yet someone could hit a high-speed moving target like him with such precision; this sniper was either a sharpshooter deity or assisted by top-tier AI.

He leaped into a sloping thicket, avoiding the enemy’s line of sight.

It was only then he discovered two bullet craters the size of eggs on his chest.

The skin and muscles underneath were swollen and indented, with traces of blood seeping out.

’Military-level anti-materiel sniper, perhaps?’ Educated in firearms himself, Li Chengyi knew that common weaponry wouldn’t do much damage to his Floral Dress.

He had estimated that only the most powerful anti-materiel sniper weapons could threaten him based on penetration and impact force per unit area.

And now...

Such weaponry had finally made its appearance.

Digging out two hot, deformed black bullets from the craters, he tossed them aside.

Li Chengyi took a deep breath and released his Radiance Field; soon, the wounds healed, no longer bleeding.

But the damage to the Floral Dress could not be mended.

’That’s why I hate this feeling of being sniped at from a distance...’

This sniper was different from any he had encountered before, wielding a firearm of great power.

If the previous hits were to the chest, a hit to the face would have been truly disastrous...

Elsewhere.

At the mouth of Wolf Cave.

The man in black frowned slightly as he observed the target who seemed unscathed even after two shots.

’Did I miss? Or did I use the wrong bullets?’

Doubts arose in his mind.

Given those two shots, even a fully reinforced human would suffer severe, fatal injuries.

But that person in the purple-black armor seemed to have only minor injuries and still managed to agilely seek cover.

’Could it be a thick-armored reinforced human?’ The man in black hesitated and quickly replaced the magazine, pulling out a delicate black bullet case from his pocket.

Inside the case, there were sharp-pointed, palm-long silver bullets.

"Then let’s use the Special Razor. Treat you like a tank. You should be as good as dead."

This type of ammunition, aptly named Razor, had a penetration three times greater than the previous bullets.

In addition, upon severe impact, it would create a secondary explosion, causing segmented internal detonation damage within the target.

"One shot to end you," the man in black, steadying his firearm and aiming, activated the assistive program in his eyes.

His vision zoomed in as the targeting reticle concentrated.

He waited for the moment his opponent emerged to fire.

At such close range, with the bullet speed at least six times the speed of sound, no one could dodge it.

So... he was guaranteed to win!

Suddenly, a fist-sized rock flew out from where the target hid.

The man in black didn’t move. He let the rock fly towards him, landing on a slope about thirty meters away.

"Come out now... my little darling." His gaze was fixed, unblinking, like a statue.

He had sniped at least a hundred targets on the battlefield, including armored vehicles. The tricks before him were mere child’s play.

No matter the previous zigzagging sprints or the current decoy shooting, none could disturb him anymore.

So...

Whoosh.

Suddenly, a dark object was thrown towards him again.

"What’s that?" The man in black frowned slightly, taking a quick glance.

’Probably another rock, it’s still far from me, no need to pay attention.’ He continued to focus on Li Chengyi’s hiding spot.

"Autonomous cruising mode activated." Suddenly, a blurry voice sounded.

"Wait a second!" The man in black paused abruptly, looking up at the dark object.

"A Flying Yi!?"

A sense of alarm rose in his heart; he promptly raised his gun and aimed at the mid-air, transforming Flying Yi and fired.

Bang!!

A white blast exploded.

At the same time.

Li Chengyi darted out from his hiding spot, leaping continuously from tree trunk to tree trunk, using them for momentum.

The distance was halved.

After the man in black shot the Flying Yi, and his gun barrel lowered, about to aim at him,

’Glint Flash.’

Pop!!

A blinding golden light burst forth instantly.

It was a flash comparable to a flash grenade.

The man in black’s vision suddenly blurred.

Bang!

The gunfire sounded, whizzing past Li Chengyi’s side.

He hastily lowered the gun barrel, aiming again.

But it was already too late.

An icy armored hand gripped his shoulder from the side.

Li Chengyi was already standing lightly to his left.

"Farewell."

"Wait..."

The man in black’s expression changed dramatically, and his body was seized by the head and thrown upward.

Swish!

A streak of golden light flashed by.

Li Chengyi sheathed his Golden Sword and turned to enter the Wolf Cave.

Behind him, a burst of flames exploded loudly, the glow from the exploding modules on the man in black’s body.

Entering the middle of the Wolf Cave.

Before even reaching the innermost part, he suddenly paused.

In the deepest part of the cave,

A deep red crystal suspended over Andy’s shoulder, silently guarding a pool of water.

To his right, a familiar old acquaintance of Li Chengyi, also stood atop a rock, quietly gazing at the pool, seemingly waiting.

"White Skeleton..."

Li Chengyi recognized the figure.

Cloaked in black, wearing a white skeleton mask, with two similarly masked tall figures behind him.

"So you’ve come too, Thug?" White Skeleton slightly turned his head, looking at Li Chengyi.

"Your team is not bad. It looks like... we’re destined to be enemies from now on."

"I don’t want to be enemies with anyone," Li Chengyi replied calmly. "We want peace, we want stability. We are just a group of common people huddled together for survival."

"Listen to that, Andy, doesn’t it sound nice?" White Skeleton suddenly laughed. "Thug, you kill more people in a year than I do in ten... You long for peace? We all find it laughable to hear that."

"That’s not my intention," Li Chengyi answered, "They chose their own paths to death; I’m merely fulfilling their wishes."

"..." White Skeleton was speechless. Even as a senior member of Utopia, he was caught off guard by Li Chengyi’s shamelessness.

"It seems you all want to snatch my Blue Book," Andy’s voice interrupted the conversation between the two.

"Since when did the Blue Book become yours?" White Skeleton replied coldly. "Give up. That item is not for you to possess, nor is it something that the Noel Group can handle."

"Thirteen years," Andy laughed. "Thirteen years ago, I sent people to guard it here. After that, wave after wave of people came, all drawn by rumors I spread deliberately. Whether it’s Lien or Xindela, or you. It was all part of my trial."

"And now, it’s finally going to appear..."

As he spoke, the water pit beside him started to slowly stir.

In the murky water,

An ancient thread-bound book gently floated upwards, drifting to the surface of the water.

The surface of the book was dotted with tiny dark spots.

A line of strange characters wriggled and changed like insects.

’Hidden for nine years, the book rests here, granting power to those who can touch it.’

"At last, it has appeared!!" Andy’s eyes widened, without hesitation, he reached out towards the book submerged in the water.

At the same time.

The three White Skeletons and Li Chengyi all made their moves.

"Qiong Qi!"

In a burst of ash-colored flames, a black Crescent Moon suddenly flew out, fiercely slashing towards Andy’s hands.

Li Chengyi quickly raised his hand, and a golden sword light flashed out from in front of him, shooting towards Andy.

Black and gold.

The two streaks of light crossed the distance between the three men in 0.1 second, accurately falling on Andy’s arms.

But at that moment,

The dark red crystal floating beside Andy suddenly expanded, transforming into an oval red Radiance Field, blocking the two streaks of light.

Dang!!

A massive collision sounded deafeningly loud.

"External Phase Annihilation," White Skeleton said in a deep voice.

Boom!!

Red flames poured out from Qiong Qi’s Flying Yi.

Suddenly, the Flying Yi turned into a black flaming giant tiger, slamming furiously against the dark red crystal’s oval field.

At the same time, Li Chengyi had already rushed towards Andy at high speed, his Golden Sword slashing down.

Just in a split second, the two of them joined forces, determined to seize the Blue Book first.