Great! I'm surrounded by villains!
Chapter 223 - 143: Using a Man’s Way

Chapter 223: Chapter 143: Using a Man’s Way

The wind is tight, hurry up.

The moment the ability to dissolve cognition vanished and the Dreamland world began to shatter, such a thought surged in Eli’s mind.

Although he had heard some rumors about the Transcenders from He Ya, he did not have a concrete concept of them; he even entertained some wild thoughts in his heart—after all, they were the elite of this planet, having developed Life Energy to an unprecedented level.

In the Wangxu, whether it was the potential of his ability or the proficiency with which he used his Barrier, he was second to none.

Maybe the Transcenders weren’t that much stronger than they were.

If he had been allowed to activate his ability first, even the Transcenders would have fallen into a dream without realizing it, just like the others.

But just now, Eli was scared.

Without the clash of Barriers, and without any help from outside the Dreamland world, Duan Mingyuan simply raised his hand and drew gently with his finger. The Barrier of the Dreamland, which was borrowing He Ya’s energy, was shattered in the blink of an eye.

Now, Eli finally understood why He Ya had advised them not to antagonize the Transcenders.

"Isn’t it ready yet?"

He couldn’t help but urge, as the data core of the underground exchange continued to flash dizzying data streams—that was the purpose of their journey to the Wangxu.

Duan Mingyuan was on his way, and he didn’t want to stay in this damn place for another second.

"It’s ready,"

the voice of a young girl came through the earpiece, "but there’s a problem."

"I don’t want to hear bad news,"

said Eli.

"You don’t need me to tell you, you’re about to find out,"

she replied. Before her words even ended, a deafening explosion blew off the doors of the data vault, and a towering man, his body augmented with mechanical parts, walked out from the thick smoke. His index finger twirled an old revolver and with his other hand, he adjusted his cowboy hat that had been knocked askew by the blast wave.

An anachronistic man, armed with a weapon of yesteryear, had blown away the security door of the Shanqi Commerce Association data room with a single bullet.

The man was also wearing an earpiece. The roaring from the other end of the earpiece was so loud that it could be heard from meters away.

"You mend your own broken stuff; I was hired to be security personnel, not a fucking mechanic, and this is the least powerful weapon in my arsenal,"

the man retorted, uninterested in appeasing his employer. It seemed the employer wanted to add more, but the man unilaterally cut off the connection.

Eli felt the pressure mounting just from the man’s glance.

Earth Wolf Twelve, a former Long Branch Guard reserve.

Such a simple title was enough to put everyone on this planet on high alert.

The spinning revolver came to a halt. Earth Wolf Twelve didn’t move right away but took a cigar out from the inner pocket of his cloak. The tip of his index finger shot out a light blue flame to light the cigar.

This was undoubtedly the worst-case scenario.

The Transcender was on his way there, and Earth Wolf Twelve was blocking his path. According to their original plan, the former Long Branch Guard should have remained immersed in a sweet dream until they left. Encountering him awake would make it much harder to pull him back into the world of Dreamland with Eli’s ability.

"Your ability is quite interesting,"

Earth Wolf Twelve mumbled with the cigar in his mouth, his speech muffled. He seemed to be a chatty person, complaining, "Just now, two hot girls showed up in my room. I opened a few bottles, and was about to have one of them sit on my lap, but before I could even kiss her, cracks appeared in the room, and then I was woken up by the alarm. Would you call that a dream interrupted?"

"Seems you were quite satisfied with the gift I prepared for you,"

said Eli, attempting to sound composed.

"Satisfied? More than satisfied. It’s been a while since I had some fun, a shame it was so short,"

replied Earth Wolf Twelve.

"If you wish, I can continue it for you,"

offered Eli.

"Forget it. I’m getting on in years, and jobs are hard to come by these days. Do you know what unemployment at my age would mean?"

"Money is no issue,"

Eli responded.

"Money can be earned back, but reputation cannot. Seeing as your ability is so interesting, I’ll give you a chance,"

said Earth Wolf Twelve, smelling the cigar. "In my homeland, it’s a tradition that men use this to settle their issues."

With that, he holstered the revolver on his waist in front of Eli.

Despite the destruction of Hot Sand Star early in the "Cocoon" process, Earth Wolf Twelve still adheres to the traditions of his homeland, and Rangers were born out of these very customs.

"The rules of the duel are simple, weapons are unrestricted, means are unrestricted, until one party falls—I’ll give you six seconds. In these six seconds, you can choose to attack me or you might use the time to run. Six seconds later, I will draw my gun."

Earth Wolf Twelve kindly reminded, "I suggest you draw your gun like a man, all those who have tried to run up until now have never outpaced my bullets."

Six seconds!

Eli didn’t know whether Earth Wolf Twelve was bluffing or if his opponent was simply that arrogant.

In a battle between equals, six seconds was an excruciatingly long time, long enough to determine the life or death of a party.

This was an opportunity!

"Seems like you’ve accepted."

With a slight smile, Earth Wolf Twelve found it rare to encounter someone as interesting as Eli on Blue Star, whose ability even managed to affect his psyche and mind.

The rivals he had previously encountered from the Shanqi Commerce Association, without exception, were all unworthy even to be considered a warm-up.

"Then, the timing will start now."

"Wait a moment."

An uninvited guest intervened in this heart-stopping duel, and Earth Wolf Twelve looked toward the voice with suspicion. He hadn’t noticed when this figure had appeared or by what means they had silently arrived at his side.

Mercenaries hired by the Chamber of Commerce?

"Buddy, I don’t know how much bounty they promised you, but this guy was my target first, and Rangers don’t like it when someone steals their goods."

The moment Eli saw the figure, darkness enveloped his vision.

It was still too late!

This was not an oppression on the same level. Although it was not a grand entrance, it immediately plunged him into despair.

Eli was confident in making good use of the six-second window provided by Earth Wolf Twelve, but he couldn’t come up with a way to overcome a monster that could shatter Barriers with bare hands.

"No worries, I have a suggestion."

Duan Mingyuan heard the tradition proposed by Earth Wolf Twelve and thought it was a decent way for men to solve their problems.

No trash talk, once the gun is drawn, it’s time to act.

That seemed to be the style of the Hot Sand Star Rangers.

To end this performance in a cowboy fashion seemed to add a retro finish to the entire show.

"I’ll be your opponent."

As Duan Mingyuan spoke, he moved back, estimating the distance until there was enough room for the two to move freely.

With a thought, the rubble at his feet transformed into a sheathed Flying Sword.

"Oh? Is this your weapon?"

At the sight, Earth Wolf Twelve’s mouth split into an excited grin. First was Eli, and now an unexpected guest had sprung up from nowhere; the situation brought back the thrill of excitement he hadn’t felt in a long time.

It was like being back on the battlefield, facing opponents from different civilizations with different abilities.

This was the destiny of a Ranger.

In that moment, he and Duan Mingyuan were of one mind, simultaneously saying, "Come on, let’s resolve this the way men do."

Eli didn’t respond to them.

And he was totally unmoved by this retro movie-like scene.

He didn’t want to duel with either of the two men.

He wanted to go home.