Life Game In Other World
Chapter 1216: Ignition (Seeking Monthly Pass)

Chapter 1216: Chapter 1216: Ignition (Seeking Monthly Pass)

The entire sequence happened within an incredibly short amount of time—from the figure cloaked in optical camouflage stepping out from the right side of the rock, to the dense crowd of figures emerging simultaneously behind him.

Then, as the leading figure turned his head to glance at the two men hiding behind the rock—the stocky man and the wiry one—all of this transpired within a mere ten seconds.

But the moment that figure turned his head, the two men behind the rock were already prepared.

The stocky man reached behind his waist and grabbed two iron hammers, spinning his body like a massive bowling ball, and charged headlong into the crowd.

The people—or rather, the soldiers—were all dressed in uniform exoskeleton armor, their reaction speeds lightning fast, as they immediately raised their Gauss rifles, aiming squarely at the stocky man.

But before they had the chance to react, the stocky man barreled into them, knocking them apart like bowling pins, scattering them and sending them tumbling to the side, instantly breaking their balance.

At that moment, the leading figure lifted his gaze, watching the stocky man charge into the crowd and begin closing the distance towards him. He crouched down and reached toward his trouser leg.

He wasn’t wearing exoskeleton armor, yet his movements were swift and precise, clearly indicating that his physical prowess far exceeded that of an ordinary person.

However, just as he crouched down, a wiry black shadow silently emerged from the darkness, wielding a slender blood-grooved spike, striking towards the back of his neck.

The crouched-down leader glanced at the dormant, mirror-like surface of his wristband.

Through the surface, he faintly discerned the figure in the dim night creeping up behind him.

The instant the spike was about to pierce his neck, he suddenly sprang up, his leg rising high as his body rotated like a spinning compass. A blade protruded sharply from the tip of his shoe, gleaming coldly, aiming for the wiry man’s neck behind him.

A faint smirk curled at his lips, as if mocking the wiry man’s overestimation of his capabilities.

BANG—

Yet, in that instant, a heavy thud resonated from behind him, and an intense pain surged from his back.

Unbeknownst to him, the stocky man had already arrived behind him, swinging his hammer straight into his spine.

The leader’s body stiffened, the force of the blunt impact rendering him temporarily immobilized as his torso uncontrollably leaned forward.

At that moment, the wiry man in front raised his spike, plunged it into the leader’s neck.

Blood gushed violently, spraying onto the snow as the leader’s eyes widened, his body frozen mid-motion.

The wiry man didn’t stop, pulling the spike out and driving it once more into the leader’s chest. After retracting the spike, he swiftly sidestepped away.

With more blood splattering onto the snow, the leader’s corpse tilted forward and collapsed heavily to the ground.

"Hey, not bad!"

The stocky man raised his head, glanced at the wiry man, and waved his hammer with a grin. "You owe me one, you know that, right?"

The wiry man ignored him, instead lifting his gaze to look behind the stocky man.

The stocky man followed his gaze, turning to look behind him as well.

The soldiers who had been knocked over earlier were now slowly rising, haphazardly standing back up, some even lying prone on the ground while aiming their Gauss rifles at the two figures.

"Take this hammer!"

The stocky man let out a hearty laugh and stormed back into the fray.

The wiry man followed right behind him.

As flashes of light streaked through the air, exoskeleton armors crumbled under each hammer swing, breaking apart in mere moments.

Within a short span of time, the small squad of soldiers had their armors shattered and lay sprawled across the ground.

Both the stocky man’s and the wiry man’s clothing were largely tattered, their bodies bearing various wounds; the stocky man even suffered a gunshot wound from a Gauss rifle at close range, leaving blood pouring from his abdomen.

"Damn it,"

The stocky man pulled out an old and worn hemostatic gun, pressed the barrel against his wound, bent over and cursed hoarsely, "Why do they all aim for me? Just because I’m a bit fatter, huh? Makes me an easier target?"

THUD—

Not far from him, the wiry man shoved his spike through the neck of a soldier holding a radio and preparing to report in, then slowly stood up, surveying the corpses scattered around.

"They’re probably the reconnaissance squad from the mercenary corps nearby. We can’t let them relay back any information."

"Yeah, yeah,"

The stocky man set down the hemostatic gun, glancing at the barely-clotted wound, before kicking a nearby soldier’s corpse and spitting in disdain, "I’m killing them, aren’t I? Unlike you, not getting targeted at all. Look—I just stopped the bleeding once the fight ended."

As he spoke, he squatted and swept his hammer across a damaged piece of optical camouflage clothing scattered on the ground.

"Damn! I’ve only seen this stuff in city magazines before—they say it costs a fortune and sells for just as much. A single piece is worth a good amount of money. These corporations sure have deep pockets; tossing out a dozen or twenty pieces in one go.

"Tsk, but it’s all busted,"

He shook his head, his gaze drifting toward other spots with remnants of optical camouflage clothing. He quickly strode over, a grin creeping across his face, "There’s gotta be intact ones here. If we find two of them in perfect condition, selling them on the black market would mean counting cash for days!"

As he spoke, he began wielding his hammer to rummage among the corpses, searching eagerly.

"According to the leader’s rules, this qualifies as spoils of war."

The wiry man kept walking toward the stocky man’s direction and casually remarked along the way.

"Oh come on, we can sneak a couple pieces out. Nobody would know—besides, the leader’s not here right now,"

The stocky man paused mid-action, looked at the wiry man, and chuckled, "We’ll just claim they were damaged."

Seeing the wiry man’s indifferent expression, he finally shrugged, somewhat resigned, "Alright, fine. We’ll take them back and let Xiya or Suote divvy them up."

He glanced back down at the damaged optical camouflage clothing, a pang of regret flashing across his face, "Ugh, this stuff’s so damn pricey; each piece goes for tens of thousands at market price, a couple million on the black market."

"If you like it, you can take one and keep it,"

The wiry man hesitated for a moment and spoke softly, "I’ll cover the missing cost on this one."

"No, forget it,"

The stocky man waved his hand, "I was just joking; I’d never pilfer war spoils. I was testing you to see if you’d think about pulling something, ahem,"

He cleared his throat, "Anyway, the ones we killed—they’ll make sure we’re taken care of during the split,"

He raised his hammer and pointed it at the wiry man standing in front of him, "And don’t forget: you owe me a favor. Don’t think you can smooth it over with some ’bribe.’"

The wiry man glanced at him briefly, not responding, then turned away and quickly stated, "These reconnaissance soldiers move too fast. We need to send a message back."

"Yeah, well, be quick about it,"

The stocky man swung his hammer once, "You should head ba—"

Before he could finish his sentence, the wiry man lunged into him, shoving him sideways into a large nearby rock.

A dazzling laser shot through where they had just been standing, melting snow and igniting tree branches along the way. In this frigid winter night, the flames roared wildly.

The stocky man, shaken by the close call, climbed to his feet in fear and looked towards the direction behind them.

In the pitch black night, figures emerged from the darkness, shedding their optical camouflage gear, revealing a densely packed mass of soldiers.

The laser had been fired by one of the spider-like robots bristling with mechanical legs and armed with weaponry, its cannon-style barrel charging once again with energy.

The robot, too, appeared to be equipped with active optical camouflage.

"What the hell? Did I buy a ten-year-old magazine?"

The stocky man’s eyes widened in disbelief at the sight of the dozens of soldiers materializing from the shadows. "Or did these camouflage suits suddenly go on clearance sale? Damn, how much did all this cost?"

"It’s from Stars Pharma’s mercenary corps."

The wiry man dusted off his clothes as his eyes fell on the overturned ocean-shaped emblem stamped on the dead soldiers nearby.

"Figures. Those medical corporations rake in so much dough,"

The stocky man spat disdainfully.

The spider robot’s cannon flared anew.

Both men leapt behind the rock, narrowly avoiding another fierce laser beam which vaporized snow and charred the soldier corpses lying scattered on the ground.

Through acrid smoke and the sickeningly pungent scent of burned flesh, the stocky man glanced at the wiry man beside him, "So what now?"

"We’re close to the Northern Gate now,"

The wiry man responded quickly, "We can’t let them infiltrate any further—Xiya and Suote are still working on the defensive installations, and if they’re discovered now, they wouldn’t stand a chance. We can pose as wandering Wilderness Wanderers to intercept them."

"Pose as what? There’s easily over a hundred or two hundred mercenaries out there, and we don’t even know if they have any Transcendents..."

BANG—

The forceful blast shook the massive stone behind them, resonating with a deep vibration.

"That’s an electromagnetic cannon. Laser guns are energy weapons—they wouldn’t produce such kinetic force."

The wiry man murmured in a low voice.

"What the hell, they brought an arsenal of unique weapons,"

The stocky man spat angrily, "You call that surviving? We’re cannon fodder the moment we show ourselves—"

Before he could finish his thought, the wiry man decisively shoved him aside, sending him flying backward.

At the same time, the wiry man grabbed his spike and stabbed it into the stone behind him.

BANG—

The explosion burst through the snowy terrain, shattering the rock into fragments which rained down across the area.

Mid-blast, a stoic-faced officer emerged, brandishing a slender longsword, closing in on the wiry man.

The airborne stocky man watched as the wiry man feebly raised his spike to counter the attack, his eyes growing wide with alarm.

CLANG—

The wiry man’s full-force swing collided with the officer’s blade with a soft sound before rebounding under tremendous counter-force.

WHISTLE—

The spike flew through the air, whirling, and eventually embedded into the snowy ground.

Unyielding, the officer’s longsword continued its trajectory, aiming directly at the wiry man’s neck.

The wiry man tried desperately to retrieve his spike and intercept the attack, but no matter how he moved, he was too slow to catch up to the longsword’s speed.

Even his vision lagged behind, unable to fully process the blade’s swift arc.

BOOM—

The sound of impact echoed through the wintry darkness as chilling wind stirred.

Just before the blade reached its mark, a figure donning a coat appeared before the wiry man, raising a hand between him and the blade. Two fingers pinched the longsword, halting its advance.

The officer attempted to pull back the sword, using all his strength, but it didn’t budge in the slightest against those two fingertips.

He glared at the figure holding his sword, a yellow glimmer flashing across his eyes as a surge of latent power began coursing through his body.

"Order Church?"

He Ao looked directly at the middle-aged officer, his gaze unwavering.

In the next moment, as the officer’s full energy gathered at his arm, He Ao suddenly let go of the sword, flicking the blade lightly with his fingers.

SWISH—

The sword vibrated violently at a piercing high frequency, transmitting the oscillations down its length to the hilt, colliding with the officer’s gathered energy.

The two powers clashed, causing the officer’s arm to stiffen involuntarily.

Behind He Ao, the wiry man saw a coat soaring into the air before him.

Emerging from behind the coat, a crimson gleam split the night.

The officer’s eyes widened in shock before his body was suddenly bisected by a burst of scarlet swordlight.

Blood sprayed across the snow as a figure stepped forward, gripping a blood-soaked blade, and retrieved a pack of cigarettes from his pocket. He shook it lightly and nudged one loose from the pack with his finger.

In the distance, the spider robot’s cannon gathered energy once more.

The figure glanced at the glowing barrel, then bent slightly to grip the cigarette between his lips and slowly slid it from the pack.

He twisted slightly, maneuvering his body.

BOOM—

Another laser scorched past him, incinerating the branches and anything flammable in its wake—including the tip of the cigarette.

Amid the glowing embers and curling smoke, He Ao raised his blood-drenched blade and stepped onto the crimson-stained snow. Clenching the cigarette in his teeth, he faced the swarm of soldiers ahead.

In mere moments, his figure vanished, and the spider robot blazing with cannon energy was sliced cleanly in two by a flash of red light. The dismembered robot exploded into raging flames.

As blood sprayed wildly and gunfire roared, the airborne coat slowly descended, and the wiry man subconsciously reached out to catch it.