Before everything goes out

"Hold."

"I shouldn't have smoked it if I knew it was going to rain; it was a waste of one of my cigarettes."

After the captain finished speaking, his lips twitched and his fingers loosened.

The damp cigarette butt spun as it fell, and the instant it touched the ground, it seemed to receive some pre-ordained signal...

Bang!

A shot rang out.

None of the four ringmen present raised their guns, but a deafening gunshot rang out from the woods on the side of the camp.

Abrupt, startling.

Judging from the sound, Li Fei knew it wasn't a pistol or rifle, but a large-caliber sniper rifle—the only sniper among the five rings who hadn't shown himself.

I couldn't see anything clearly.

A few meters away, Liu Yongxiao was sent flying backward, rolling several times on the ground before crashing into a tree at the edge of the camp.

Turning his head, Li Fei was almost stunned.

The large-caliber sniper bullet, powerful enough to shatter 90% of carbon-based life forms in two, only left a finger-sized hole in Liu Yongxiao's chest.

Blood gushed out, but not turbulently.

Now he understood why Liu Yongxiao didn't care at all about the MP5 in his hand.

The team leader is right.

Guns were indeed not very effective against Liu Yongxiao, even sniper rifles were like that, let alone the 5mm caliber guns in his hands.

"Kill the dog first!"

Taking advantage of Liu Yongxiao's brief fall after being shot, the captain gave an order.

The ringmen all raised their guns, and then a burst of gunfire erupted, instantly drowning out the sound of rain like thunder.

The battle has officially begun.

Dogs are agile, but they can't outrun bullets.

On this open ground with no cover, under the well-trained burst fire of the ringmen, the mongrel dogs were unable to get close to anyone and could only fall one after another while fleeing.

It's said to be a battle...

It was more like target practice, or a massacre.

"Hide with me! They're not after you!"

The incident happened suddenly.

In the chaos, Li Fei instinctively dragged Niu San towards the nearest boulder.

He didn't care whether Liu Yongxiao lived or died.

But he at least needs to save Niu San. As for the "hidden corrupting entity" and such, these people's claims aren't necessarily true. Even if their claims are correct, they can work on countermeasures later...

Snapped!

A tremendous force returned to his hand, and he was forcefully shaken off the hand that was holding Niu San.

"Your acting is very good, but I won't fall for it again."

Niu San gave him one last disappointed look, then strode off in the opposite direction.

This is the end.

The trust built up over the past two weeks has collapsed.

"I..."

Looking at Niu San's retreating figure, Li Fei opened his mouth as if to explain something, but was quickly interrupted by the sound of gunfire.

Bang!

Bang bang bang!

The gunshots were deafening.

Li Fei had no choice but to scramble and crawl behind a big tree in a sorry state.

Turning around, Liu Yongxiao, who had been knocked down, was unharmed. In fact, he had already rolled over and jumped up in the blink of an eye, and was lying on the ground in a very low position.

The counterattack begins.

It charged forward on all fours, its target being the nearest captain.

Its momentum was astonishing, like a mad dog.

The barrage of bullets, which had been wandering around, was drawn to his charge and turned to fire at him.

Puff puff.

The bullet hit its mark, but it wasn't Liu Yongxiao.

Before the barrage of bullets could catch up with its form, several large dogs surrounded it and blocked all the bullets.

Like Liu Yongxiao himself, these large dogs had extremely thick fur, so even if they were hit by rifle bullets, only a few bloodstains would appear.

Several bursts of gunfire failed to halt their advance.

Under the cover of several large dogs, Liu Yongxiao's charge continued.

50 m.

30 m.

10 m.

Until he rushed up to the captain, just a few steps away...

boom!

Two concealed Claymore mines were detonated on the spot.

Flames shot into the sky as thousands of steel balls were ejected, blasting Liu Yongxiao and several large dogs away.

Amidst the strong smell of gunpowder, the smoke and dust dissipated.

When Liu Yongxiao got up from the ground again, Li Fei saw that his clothes were tattered, every inch of his skin was studded with steel balls, and his face was covered in blood.

He was seriously injured, but not fatally.

But the stray dogs that charged with him were clearly not having an easy time.

"Lu Tiao, Ma Yuan, Tong Zi..."

Liu Yongxiao's gaze swept over his feet, his eyes trembling.

Apart from the two large dogs, one black and one yellow, the rest of the dogs that covered his charge were now lying on the ground beside him, barely alive.

Some were disemboweled by bullets, while others had steel balls driven into their heads through their eye sockets.

Let's broaden our perspective.

The smaller dogs also suffered heavy casualties.

From the first shot to now, in just one minute, almost all of his dogs in the entire camp have been wiped out.

In the mud.

Whimpering sounds filled the air, and the mangled dog carcasses lay scattered haphazardly. The few remaining dogs that were still struggling were on the verge of death.

"I didn't expect this day to come so soon..."

Liu Yongxiao wiped the blood from his face and gritted his teeth in excruciating pain.

He couldn't hold on any longer.

The sniper rifle pierced his chest and abdomen, which felt like a black hole, constantly sucking away his remaining strength.

His legs gave way and he collapsed in the mud.

The bullet whistled past my ear, and mud uncontrollably crawled into my mouth...

At this moment, what welled up in his heart was not anger or pain, but his almost forgotten memories of the past.

About the local dog, about family.

Regarding the various efforts he has made to get to where he is today over the past ten years.

What flashed before his eyes were the simple, smiling faces of his fellow villagers, everything he had painstakingly believed he could protect.

"In that case, I'll give you one last push."

Liu Yongxiao muttered to himself.

Like a final burst of energy before death, he swayed and got up once more.

Unbeknownst to everyone, including himself, his resolute gaze was replaced by something else this time, followed by his black pupils rapidly expanding until they filled his entire eye socket.

...

...

"To be honest, these third-tier corruptors aren't all that great!"

front.

The burly man with the heavy machine gun fired while laughing triumphantly.

"Heh, tactics and weapons, that's what distinguishes us from the monsters. This time, we're really grateful for that..."

In the headset.

Before the other person could finish their reply, they abruptly choked back their words.

next second.

Several rings' eyes trembled, and their hands, which were constantly pulling the trigger, froze at the same time.

in view.

At the far end of the camp, in that blood-soaked, muddy finish line, Liu Yongxiao, who had already collapsed, staggered and got up once again.

As it moved, the steel balls embedded all over its body rolled off, creating small craters in the mud.

To be precise, Liu Yongxiao merely got up; nothing really changed...

The strange thing is...

The people who witnessed this scene suddenly felt their hair stand on end. A nameless fear crept up from the depths of their hearts, making their throats tighten and their fingers stiffen.

next second.

Under the horrified gazes of several eyes, a visible darkness rapidly spread out from Liu Yongxiao's center.