Night of Despair

Chapter 69: The End

Hiss!

Six deep claw marks unexpectedly appeared on the trunk of a large tree, cutting through over half of it, causing the tree to lose its balance and lean sideways as it fell.

Boom!

The large tree collapsed.

On either side of the fallen trunk stood a figure.

On the left was a black giant, his whole body encased in undamaged heavy bulletproof gear. It was the butcher, Xu Fan, who had just completed his ambush. He stood silently, clasping his alloy gloves, shaking off the blood from the spikes on his gloves and letting out a contented, low chuckle.

On the right was Zhao Zhenghong, half-kneeling on the ground.

One arm hung limply off his shoulder, unable to move. Starting from the corner of his mouth, cheek, and extending to the edge of his lips were three sharp gashes.

Blood trickled down from his chin, drop by drop.

And that was not all; beside him on the ground were the bodies of two teammates, each cut into several pieces, similarly gushing out copious amounts of blood, staining the ground red.

Boom!

A bomb that had just been thrown exploded with a deafening roar, also igniting a larger forest fire.

“Butcher…I’ll give up now, can you let me go?” Zhao Zhenghong slowly stood up, blinked the blood from his eyes, and stared intently at the figure opposite him.

“That will depend on what the employer says,” Xu Fan replied, touching his chin and turning his head towards a cave not far away.

In that instant, Zhao Zhenghong swiftly produced a handgun in his hand, and fired directly ahead.

Bang!

The moment the gunshot rang out, Xu Fan’s chest burst into flames, the explosion’s impact causing him to stagger slightly, his vision momentarily obscured.

Bang!

Then came the second shot. @@novelbin@@

Xu Fan raised his arms high, shielding his chest, but he underestimated the power of this bullet.

The second bullet was armor-piercing!

The bullet penetrated the outer metal layer of the gloves and burrowed into the chest’s bulletproof alloy plate, denting it inwards.

But that was all.

Xu Fan quickly lowered his hands and when he looked forward again, Zhao Zhenghong was no longer in sight.

“Anna!” he frowned slightly, inquiring in a deep voice.

“Ten o’clock direction,” a faint female voice came through the earpiece.

Xu Fan was about to pursue.

“Wait, no need,” Anna’s voice came again.

“Why?”

“Someone’s stopped him.”

*

*

*

At the edge of the blaze, red light flickered and thick smoke billowed.

Zhao Zhenghong staggered as he madly fled into the distance; the wounds on his face had been temporarily staunched, but the fracture in his right hand and the sprain in his shoulder severely affected his condition.

Taking advantage of the ambush and shooting at Xu Fan, he had finally found the perfect moment to escape.

As he fled, he recalled the scenes of his subordinates dying one by one, and the mad fury in his heart burned his rationality to a scorching black crisp.

“Xu Fan…I will kill you!! I will kill you!!!”

“Ah-ah-ah-ah!!!” His eyes bloodshot, he roared hoarsely, exerting all his strength to run forward as fast as he could.

Suddenly, he halted in his tracks, dodged to the left with a roll to release his momentum, rose to his feet, and looked forward.

In front of him in the forest, stood a tall, dark figure, at some unknown time.

The figure wore a full set of black bulletproof gear, resembling armor, with legs as thick as tree trunks; his build was only slightly smaller than Xu Fan’s not so long ago. But it was clear that it was because the suit was too bulky, not because the figure was too robust.

“You seem to be badly injured,” Yu Hong said, “You’ve lost a lot of blood, you must be very weak now, right?”

“…Who are you?” Zhao Zhenghong, enduring pain and increasing fatigue due to blood loss, stared intently at the figure.

“I am a poet,” Yu Hong made up on the spot. “I just happened to pass by and saw that you were badly injured, it seemed like you might need help.”

“….” Zhao Zhenghong kept his mouth shut, thinking he had encountered a lunatic.

Suddenly, he found the voice of the figure before him somewhat familiar, and the build a bit recognizable; his memory was always good, and now facing him directly, his mind recalled something, and he immediately thought of something.

“Is it you!?”

“Hm?” Yu Hong didn’t expect to be recognized, and just as he was about to speak, the figure before his eyes blurred, and Zhao Zhenghong, with a quick dash, closed the distance of several meters and charged toward him.

Swish!

A silver knife tip fiercely stabbed at Yu Hong’s abdomen, but the tip was blocked by an inner alloy plate, slid to the side, twisting the attacker’s wrist and causing him to lose balance.

At that moment, Yu Hong drew the Wolf Fang Club from behind and smashed downward.

The club hit nothing as it was dodged. He wasn’t surprised; with his skill and reflexes, it would be abnormal if the strike hadn’t been dodged.

Immediately, he changed his smashing move into a sweeping one, striking across a fan-shaped area in front of him.

Whoosh!!

With the sound of the wind whooshing, the Wolf Fang Club swept over the crouching figure of Zhao Zhenghong, severing a swath of branches.

At this point, Zhao Zhenghong’s body was hunched and tightly coiled, like a ball.

After dodging the horizontal sweep, he planted his hands on the ground, inverted himself, and his legs kicked out towards Yu Hong, aiming for his head.

The position was quite bizarre, akin to performing an acrobatic move, yet his boots’ heels were reinforced with metal, and the power of the legs far surpassed that of the arms; if a kick landed, it could break bones.

Whoosh.

At that moment, Yu Hong didn’t dodge or avoid; he stood in place, allowing his forehead to be kicked.

Simultaneously, Yu Hong’s right leg shot forward like lightning.

Low sweep leg!

It was the move he had practiced for a long time—low sweep leg.

Bang!!!

The two struck each other at almost the same moment.

Zhao Zhenghong was kicked in the chest, his body flew backward, violently crashing into a tree trunk before rolling to the ground, where he spat out a mouthful of blood on the spot.

Yu Hong stood his ground, having taken a kick to the face, but he merely swayed on the spot, shook his head, steadied his body, and emerged unscathed.

No, not entirely unscathed, at least his goggles now bore two cracked indentations.

Pu pu pu pu.

He strode forward, approaching the other man, reaching out to grab him.

Suddenly.

Bang!

A gunshot exploded at close range.

Yu Hong’s body shuttered, his chest bursting into flames—it was an explosive bullet!

Immediately following the burst of flames, another gunshot sounded.

Bang.

An armor-piercing round struck Yu Hong’s helmet directly, but the bullet, capable of piercing thin steel plates, hit the 25-millimeter-thick heavy alloy helmet and only left a dent without doing any further damage.

Yu Hong was given quite the scare by the two gunshots, but realizing he was unharmed after the light faded, he became enraged and charged forward with a powerful kick.

This kick was fueled by anger, with burst of Inner Qi.

Bang!!

It hit Zhao Zhenghong’s gun-holding arm squarely.

The arm fractured with a snap, slamming back against the tree trunk, flesh and blood flying.

By now, Zhao Zhenghong had lost too much blood; he was weak and powerless, the last two shots having been a desperate struggle.

“If it weren’t for my…grave injuries…” he growled feebly.

“If it weren’t for your injuries, do you think you’d even have a chance to see me??” Yu Hong cut him off righteously, then delivered another fierce kick to his already broken other hand.

Zhao Zhenghong was too weak and dizzy from blood loss to put up any resistance, pinned against the tree by the kick.

His final burst of resistance had already depleted the last of his strength.

But even so, his opponent did not let up. Two more kicks shattered both his legs.

Zhao Zhenghong screamed in agony, collapsing to the ground, devoid of the strength to resist any further.

All he could do was lay on the grass, writhing in pain, as blood flowed freely from his wounds.

But Yu Hong kept kicking him relentlessly.

Bang bang bang bang!!

This time his kicking was frenzied, targeting the stomach, head, arms, legs—every exposed area was hit.

While kicking, Yu Hong also cursed non-stop. This guy had caused him several scares, made him set up surveillance all over the place, and lain in ambush for multiple surprise attacks.

He had been harboring a bellyful of anger, which he was now unleashing.

After a round of savage beating.

“Okay, okay, that’s enough venting. If you kill him, we won’t get any information.”

Yu Hong wanted to continue his assault when Li Rushan’s voice finally echoed from the woods to the side.

Catching his breath, he took a step back and looked at the battered Zhao Zhenghong.

“Alright, I could use a break.”

“…” Li Rushan was speechless. He had been called in as backup for this kid, to support his engagements and fight against this fleeing man, but he had not expected the victory to come so quickly, the foe defeated in just a few moves.

Pocketing his slingshot, Li Rushan examined Yu Hong’s equipment.

“All set, the guy’s taken care of. I’ll interrogate him now to see if anyone’s slipped through the net.”

“Fine with me.” Yu Hong squatted down, grabbed Zhao Zhenghong’s head, shook it to make sure the man was close to his last gasp, then dropped him and stepped aside for Li Rushan to come over.

Compared to him, Old Li had many more tricks up his sleeve.

He walked to the side to check if he had any injuries, then waited behind a tree for Old Li.

It wasn’t long before Old Li came back, clapping his hands.

“Done, got it all.” He smiled. “This guy is Zhao Zhenghong, the one who has been after you for the Large Pyroxene Stone technology, sending people three times. He was the commander of the allied forces of a nearby town with a bunch of men under him.”

“So that means it’s settled?” Yu Hong blinked.

“Yeah, once he’s dead, it’s over. The whole thing was pretty simple, just a small-time leader who coveted your technology and wanted to snatch you, so the men he sent never tried to kill you,” explained Li Rushan. “Actually, when you think about it, it makes sense. Big powers can directly get good deals on Aurora City’s production quotas for the Luminous Stone technology. It’s only small-time forces or independents like us who would need it.”

“I see… Will I face similar troubles in the future?” Yu Hong asked. He knew he couldn’t avoid trading some of his secrets for resources, but once revealed, without showing enough martial power or force, it would inevitably invite attacks.

“That’s why you need some helpers.” Li Rushan grinned. “Next up, let’s talk about the payment. You promised the travel expenses and the Blue Whale Suit upgrade.”

“Just give me the stuff, I’ll check it first and then talk to them to see about the upgrades.” Yu Hong sighed with relief. It was good that things had been resolved.

The aftermath had to be dealt with promptly.

Soon after, half an hour later.

Li Rushan, Yu Hong, and the mercenary Xu Fan were all gathered in front of the stone hut that served as a post office.

“Is this the employer?” Xu Fan scrutinized the large figure standing opposite him.

Upon closer inspection, the man wasn’t particularly large; it was just that his suit was thick, and coupled with the helmet, he appeared taller and bigger overall.

Xu Fan noticed bullet marks and scorch marks on the man’s helmet and chest but there were only minor signs of damage on his armor.

This level of protection… was impressive.

Xu Fan felt reassured.

The man knew he was wearing a Blue Whale Suit and still took the job, which clearly indicated competence. Setting aside everything else, just this unfamiliar suit he was wearing was no inferior to a brand-new Blue Whale Suit.