Forty-nine rules of the end times

Chapter 83 Enemies Meet on a Narrow Road? Then Let's Start the Slaughter!

In a small town in the southern part of the Holy Grail Island, there are occasional figures moving about.

Sometimes, even when two teams collide head-on, they won't immediately start fighting. Instead, they'll stare at each other and then back off.

The chaos was most severe when people were first dropped onto the island. As time went on, the teams that were not yet eliminated became extremely cautious.

Apart from a few teams whose overall strength far surpasses that of other teams, most teams now adhere to the principle of "avoiding matches if possible".

Because no one knows what items or abilities the opponent has, just when you think your team can win easily, the opponent might suddenly pull out some strange item and turn the tide.

Therefore, many teams now avoid other teams when they encounter them, and only really fight when they are fighting for the supply boxes they find.

Once the operation begins, one cannot get too engrossed, otherwise a situation of "two sides fighting over a supply crate while a third party benefits" may occur. It is not uncommon for two teams to fight to the death over supply crates, resulting in casualties on both sides, and in the end, a fully-staffed third team emerges to pick up the leftovers.

However, some teams went against the grain and carried out a very domineering "clearing" operation.

"puff!"

Inside a stone house, a sharp scimitar pierced the chest of the last member of a squad, signaling the squad's complete elimination.

The man holding the curved sword sneered, "Only 4 points? What a piece of trash."

Defeating someone grants 1 point, while the remaining 3 points are earned by plundering the defeated player's points, indicating that the latter has only defeated three players so far.

"Captain, this area has been cleared; there are no other teams left," someone said as they entered the room.

The man holding the scimitar nodded, his tone revealing a hint of barely concealed anxiety: "To the next area!"

If Guan Tong were present at this moment, he would recognize from that curved sword that this guy was the squad leader who confronted him in the industrial park that day.

His name is Gu Fei.

The Post-Apocalyptic Rules and Countermeasures Research Center invested resources to create five post-apocalyptic squads, with Gu Fei serving as the captain of the third squad.

He had been furious ever since the last mission to eliminate the "Screamers" failed.

It wasn't just because he failed to kill the "Screamer," but also because after the rules were broken, local armed soldiers in Yunhua filed a collective complaint against him. They complained that he abused the power granted to him by the Countermeasures Research Office, demanding that soldiers perform irregular actions.

This collective complaint from the soldiers was no joke, especially since Gao Liangwei, the head of the countermeasures research office, was a senior colonel with a military background and took such incidents very seriously.

Although Gu Fei didn't hear it with his own ears, Dr. Zhang, who was in charge of selecting them, relayed it to him. Because of this complaint, Gao Liangwei was very disappointed with the third team and had already considered disbanding them.

Upon learning of this, Gu Fei was extremely flustered.

He knew he could not accept being laid off, especially after enjoying so many benefits from being part of the "official team," it was hard to go from luxury to frugality.

Imagine if he were no longer the captain of the third squad, would he still have multiple professional researchers working on item combinations for him? Would he still have thousands upon thousands of Ascension Coins invested in him?
Gu Fei felt a chill run down his spine just thinking about it; he absolutely couldn't afford to fall. Therefore, he had to secure a top-three finish in this challenge! Or even first place!

Gu Fei calculated that his team had been heading towards areas with more people since landing. During this time, they had eliminated more than twenty teams, accumulating a total score of over 300.

But that's not enough! We need to eliminate even more, ideally everyone except our own team!
The other members of the team understood Gu Fei's thoughts, and they felt the same way. If the higher-ups were to cut staff, the entire team would be laid off, so everyone had a stake in the matter.

After clearing the small area, the third squad immediately moved on to the next area of ​​the town.

Upon arrival, the team members dispersed, each taking out a small reconnaissance drone and choosing to use it.

Several drones flew into the air to detect human targets within a 100-meter range.

As an officially funded team, each member carried a ton of equipment, including drones and lockpicks. The team had dozens of drones in total, their purpose being to find someone to fight as quickly as possible.

Soon, several team members returned with the scan results to inform Gu Fei.

"More than a dozen people were scanned in the east direction, but only one person was scanned in the south direction."

“There are quite a few people on the east side.” Gu Fei licked his lips. “I’ll take three people to the east to clear the area. Jianming, you go and take out that lone guy on the south side.”

"Yes, Captain."

The two teams split up, and the team member named "Jianming" quickly arrived outside a three-story earthen building. According to the drone scan results, the target was inside this earthen building.

He took out his mental power artifact, a crossbow.

Before the apocalyptic rules were implemented, he was a senior member of the archery club, possessing exceptional archery skills. After the rules were implemented, he obtained this crossbow, which could generate bolts by consuming mental energy, and its power was considerable.

It was precisely because of this crossbow that he was the second attacker in the team, similar to a secondary DPS.

At this moment, Jianming quietly approached the entrance of the Tulou with a crossbow and used a scanning drone again to determine the target's exact location in real time.

The scan results showed that the target was on the second floor. Upon seeing the results, he immediately stepped onto the first floor.

However, the moment they stepped inside, a figure rushed out from the left side of the entrance!
Roll!

Although Jianming was caught off guard, his reaction was quick; he rolled away to avoid the sudden attack. After crouching up and taking a closer look, he realized that the person who had attacked him from inside the door was a human with red eyes.

No, this isn't human; the drone didn't even detect him! Pale red eyes… is he a living dead from the previous rule? Why is he here? Is it the effect of some kind of item?
"Roar!"

The undead missed its first lunge and charged again, roaring. Jianming snorted coldly and fired a mind-force crossbow bolt, instantly killing the undead with a headshot.

At that moment, Guan Tong, who was on the second floor and searching for supply boxes, immediately realized that someone was coming when she heard the roar of the undead.

After he entered the earthen building, to prevent being ambushed from the rear, he had the living dead hide by the door and ordered them to shout and attack anyone who came in.

Because the undead are "summoned creatures," they cannot be detected by drones, making them quite well-concealed. This way, as long as he hears the undead's voice, he'll know someone has entered.

Guan Tong didn't go down the stairs. He went straight to the second-floor window, jumped down, and shot out his grappling hook, which pierced the outer wall. After swinging in the air, he landed lightly at the side window on the first floor of the earthen building.

Looking out the window, he saw a man carrying a crossbow approaching the stairs, completely unaware that the person inside had already come outside.

"That crossbow..."

When Guan Tong saw the weapon, he immediately remembered the bespectacled kid who had fought alongside the man with the scimitar to eliminate the undead in the industrial park. The latter had been holding this crossbow, exactly the same one.

Could it be a coincidence?
Not too possible.

Guan Tong could tell that this person had come to find him. Now that he was in the shadows while his enemy was in the open, he certainly wouldn't be polite.

Silver Hunter, aim, No. 2 slug ready!
"Boom!"

A shot was fired, and the bullet instantly flew towards Jianming, who was stepping onto the stairs! The latter seemed to hear the gunshot and, sensing the danger, hurriedly threw something away.

"Boom-"

A shield quickly appeared in front of him, and the No. 2 bullet seemed to have its energy dissipated when it hit it, without exploding at all.

But the shield also split apart in the next moment, shattering into pieces all over the ground.

Is it a one-time use defensive item?

Upon seeing this, Guan Tong immediately switched to firing the No. 3 round. At the same time, Jianming also spotted Guan Tong raising her gun by the window and immediately used his crossbow to retaliate.

Whoosh whoosh whoosh—several crossbow bolts formed from concentrated mental energy shot out in succession!
Boom—Silver Hunter's No. 3 high-explosive shell landed at Jianming's feet.

As the attacks from both sides arrived, Jianming realized that what the enemy was firing wasn't guns, but cannons, when the flames burst around him!
He hurriedly tried to take out all the defensive items from his backpack, but it was too late. He only managed to take out a damage reduction bracelet and put it on before being engulfed by flames.

The mental energy arrows that flew towards Guan Tong were all caught and crushed by a large black hand when they were more than a meter away from him. Then, the large hand quickly changed from solid to ethereal and slipped into Guan Tong's clothes.

It was a shadow. To facilitate timely defense or offense, Guan Tong kept it hidden in a blurred state inside his clothes after entering the danger zone. Because a blurred shadow consumes far less mental energy than a solidified one, Guan Tong could still tolerate this.

After the explosion, a figure emerged from the dust.

Jianming, lying half-dead on the ground, stared incredulously at Guan Tong, who was completely unharmed.

"You...how could you...my arrow..."

"You're still alive after a high-explosive shell exploded at your feet? Looks like you have quite a few defensive items." Guan Tong raised his gun and adjusted it to bullet number 1.

"Wait...wait!" Jianming hurriedly said, "My teammates are nearby, you—"

boom!
Guan Tong didn't want to listen to nonsense, so he eliminated the guy with a shotgun.

[Points +27]

Guan Tong was somewhat surprised: "This guy has already eliminated 26 people? It seems I haven't mistaken him for someone else; he really is that guy from the 'official team'... and his teammates might still be alive. Hmm... could this be considered a case of enemies meeting on a narrow road?"

To be honest, Guan Tong was also quite annoyed after the previous standoff, but he hadn't had much contact with this team since then, so he let it go. But now that they've met in the challenge, he wouldn't mind giving them a handicap if given the chance.

While it was alright with the others, Guan Tong really wanted to eliminate the captain with the curved sword himself.

He took a reconnaissance drone out of his backpack and launched it. The scan results showed that four people were rapidly approaching him from dozens of meters away!
Aside from those four, no one else was detected. Perhaps they cleared out all the nearby teams... Is this the strength of the official team?
"It seems they've received notification that their teammate was eliminated, and they're all coming to get revenge on me... I don't want to risk fighting four against one."

Guan Tong was clear-headed. He was not facing an ordinary team, but an official team with a lot of investment. He guessed that everyone on the team had a bunch of props.

The guy he killed with the crossbow pulled out two defensive items, and who knows how many more he hadn't pulled out... It would be unwise to fight them head-on.

Moreover, my goal is the Holy Grail, so I shouldn't get too entangled in this... I'll go first, and if they keep chasing me, I'll take them down one by one.

Guan Tong left immediately after thinking it over, and soon after, Gu Fei arrived at the earthen building with three teammates. Jianming had been eliminated and the enemy was nowhere to be found, which made him almost unable to suppress his anger.

"That piece of trash Jianming, as the secondary damage dealer in my team, actually lost to the opponent in a one-on-one match..." Gu Fei said with a gloomy face, "Everyone bring out the drones and keep scanning and chasing. The opponent must be a master to be able to take down Jianming, and he must have a lot of points. I'm going to take him down myself and steal all the points!"

(End of this chapter)