Chapter 895: Shooting

Chapter 895: Shooting

"Thanks." With their help, Li Huowang quickly strapped on the bulletproof vest.

Facing an uncertain enemy, wearing this gear made him feel much more at ease.

"Don't thank us; Qing Wanglai prepared it for you. You certainly wouldn't have brought one yourself."

Seeing Li Huowang look his way, Qing Wanglai, who was busy loading his pistol magazine, nodded at him with a smile.

"Fifth Sister, do you really trust Qing Wanglai? You can't tell me you haven't seen what kind of person he truly is," Li Huowang said, looking at Wu Qi, who seemed more normal than the others.

"Of course I've seen it." Wu Qi picked up a helmet and placed it on Li Huowang's head.

"But don't you think dealing with someone like him is quite simple? As long as you can understand how he operates."

As she spoke, Wu Qi reached out and tapped Li Huowang's helmet. "Li Huowang, don't think Zhao Shuandian is any better; there isn't a single normal person here."

Hearing this, Li Huowang said nothing more and turned his gaze toward the weapons carried by Wu Qi and Zhao Shuandian.

Wu Qi didn't seem to be carrying a weapon, but rather a medical kit; it appeared she intended to act as a battlefield medic this time.

As for Chen Hongyu, she pulled a spiked mace from the trunk.

"We're about to engage, and this is what you're bringing?" Li Huowang asked.

Chen Hongyu shook her head with an indifferent expression. "It's fine, I don't rely on this; I have special abilities."

Li Huowang lowered his head and let out a deep sigh, moving away from her.

He approached Zhao Shuandian, watching her adjust the scope of her sniper rifle. "What's the next move?"

"Follow her." Li Huowang followed the direction of her red-nailed finger toward the thin, frail little girl standing to the side, whose face twitched from time to time.

Unlike the others, she carried no weapons, instead pulling out a tablet and tapping rapidly on the screen.

Everything was ready, and with everyone assembled, she reiterated to the group: "Remember, from this moment on, you follow my commands. No questioning, no rebuttals."

"No matter what the world looks like to you right now, first remember a few things: we are all in the same boat, and you must never betray your companions."

"And don't be soft-hearted. Any hostile presence is to be eliminated without exception."

"Finally, remember this: we are currently outside the Elephant, and they are inside."

With that, Zhao Shuandian nodded at the little girl, who immediately pulled out a VR headset connected to the tablet and strapped it over her head.

Wearing the headset, she began to search the pitch-black Gobi Desert.

Although it was night, it wasn't entirely dark; everything around them existed in a state between total invisibility and hazy blur.

Li Huowang trudged in the lead, his heavy gear weighing him down, his hands gripping the hilt of his blade, ready to charge at any moment.

"Is this really going to work? Can we really reach other Elephants this way?"

Li Huowang remained skeptical of Zhao Shuandian's claims.

But doubt aside, he intended to give it his all, trusting only what he could see with his own eyes.

Until he saw something truly exist, he would treat everything they said as mere hypothesis, not reality.

Yet, to Li Huowang's surprise, the search took a long time—an agonizingly long time. They walked through the Gobi for nearly an hour without encountering anything.

Just then, Li Huowang saw something. He snatched the flashlight from Zhao Lei and shone it at the ground. "Wait!"

Hearing Li Huowang, everyone gathered around. "Look! There are footprints here, and they're our own! We've been walking in circles!"

Zhao Shuandian lowered her sunglasses an inch, looked at Li Huowang's face hidden beneath the helmet, and said, word for word: "Follow the commands."

Li Huowang said nothing more, tossed the flashlight aside, and buried his head to continue walking.

He couldn't understand how walking in circles outside the Elephant would ever lead them inside.

Another hour passed, and Li Huowang began to feel the fatigue. Even at a slow pace, the gear he wore was incredibly heavy and cumbersome.

"Pop!" A gunshot rang out, instantly banishing Li Huowang's exhaustion. He turned quickly to see Zhao Shuandian lowering the sniper rifle she had been resting on Ba Shengqing's shoulder.

Li Huowang immediately gripped his weapon and charged toward the direction of the muzzle flash.

A large pool of blood on the ground shocked Li Huowang. Given the volume of blood, a person should have been drained dry; that they could still escape under such conditions was inconceivable.

Zhao Shuandian dipped a finger into the blood on the ground and sucked on it. "They know we're here."

"Be careful, our enemies aren't just on this side. We don't yet know from which direction they will attack."

"Ling, how is it? Are we almost there?" Zhao Shuandian looked at the little girl, who was still wearing the headset.

"The Elephant is formless."

The moment she spoke, a bullet shredded her tongue and exited through her mouth.

The little girl's entire head exploded, and half of her terrified face slumped directly onto Li Huowang's boots.

"Get down! They have anti-materiel rifles!" As the headless corpse hit the ground, almost everyone dropped to the floor, save for Chen Hongyu, who stood there channeling her energy.

"Mm-hmm!" Chen Hongyu, deep in meditation, was tackled to the ground by Li Huowang. "Are you trying to get yourself killed?"

"Don't stop me! Let me unleash my power!"

Li Huowang, pressing Chen Hongyu firmly into the dirt, cursed Qing Wanglai a thousand times over in his heart. Why bring a lunatic like this? She was completely useless.

"Let her go, she has a way to solve this." When he heard Qing Wanglai say this, and Zhao Shuandian repeated it, a hesitant Li Huowang rolled off Chen Hongyu.

Lying on the ground, Li Huowang watched Chen Hongyu scramble back up, desperate to know what method she could possibly use to resolve this crisis.

"Click, click, click." Flashlights were turned on, all aimed at Chen Hongyu, making her incredibly conspicuous in the pitch-black environment.

Just as Chen Hongyu hovered in the air, channeling her power, a gunshot rang out, and she fell to the ground.

"Eleven o'clock!" No sooner had Zhao Shuandian spoken than everyone with a gun turned and fired in that direction.

When the shooting stopped, a red flare was tossed over, illuminating two corpses in the distance.

Li Huowang looked at the motionless Chen Hongyu on the ground, grinding his teeth as he glared at Zhao Shuandian and Qing Wanglai. "So, your 'way to solve this' was to use her as bait?!"

"No, she has special abilities. I chose to believe in her," Qing Wanglai said to Li Huowang with a smile.