Chapter 22: 22, Gun!

The battle on the wilderness was fierce, and the mercenaries had not anticipated encountering the wolf pack so soon—those wild wolves seemed to have been lying in ambush there all along, ferocious and cunning.

At first, they believed that firing their guns would scare the wolves away, but they were wrong. This pack of wolves did not panic at the sound of gunfire!

When those wild wolves approached them, the mercenaries realized, these wolves were even larger than they remembered, as if they were wild buffalo!

Wait, these wolves had attacked the factory first and then guarded the mercenaries' only path forward. Why did it seem as if their very target was these mercenaries?

However, the mercenaries were trained. They quickly tightened their formation and began to defend as soon as the initial casualties occurred. Human firearms, after all, were superior to the fangs and claws of beasts!

The mercenaries and the wolf pack had clashed more than once. It was only in recent years, under orders from above, that they had gradually relaxed their efforts to exterminate the wolves. Of course, this gave the wolves time to breathe.

Ren Xiaosu, hearing the gunfire in his ears, did not know why he found the crisp sound so pleasant that his adrenaline began to surge, and he became exhilarated.

He did not go to sneak a close look at the battlefield; he only knew that if the wolves and mercenaries were fighting now, then the factory side was safe.

Ren Xiaosu ran across the wilderness like a leopard. It was his first time fully experiencing his newfound strength and agility.

Muscle fibers tensed and then relaxed repeatedly, and the feeling could only be described as exhilarating.

As he approached the factory, Ren Xiaosu finally slowed down. He crept silently through the night, and at that moment, he discovered many refugees' corpses. They seemed to have tried to flee toward the settlement, but one by one were caught by the wolves.

Only a few lucky ones managed to escape, at the cost of their companions' lives.

Ren Xiaosu deliberately observed their wounds, which appeared to be direct bites to the neck, killing them outright. The wolves had not eaten the bodies, as if they were in a great hurry.

After a moment's thought, Ren Xiaosu did not enter through the main gate but climbed up the pipes outside the factory. Every time he passed a window, he carefully checked if there were any survivors inside.

When Ren Xiaosu reached the top floor, his heart turned cold. It seemed there were no living souls left in the factory—the wolves had swept through the entire place, leaving no survivors.

Where were the weapons hidden? Ren Xiaosu pondered. The factory manager would not have placed them where others could easily access them.

Ren Xiaosu smashed the glass on the top floor and leaped inside. He looked around, and the corridor was filled with blood and corpses. The vast factory resembled a purgatory.

However, Ren Xiaosu suddenly noticed something amiss: all the corpses seemed to be facing the same direction, as if something were guiding them.

In a crisis, what could draw people to run in the same direction?

Ren Xiaosu formed his own conclusion—that place was either the weapons' storage location or a hiding spot.

He followed this route downward, all the way to the basement. What was this place? An emergency shelter?

The further he went, the more corpses there were. Ren Xiaosu could imagine the chaos of everyone fleeing from the wolves, trying to reach a safe place, only to be outpaced by the wolves.

Ren Xiaosu arrived at an iron gate. Indeed, people had fled here, hoping to enter through this iron gate. Even if the wolves had evolved, they were still flesh and blood, and breaking open a gate several inches thick would be difficult.

He wondered if there were still people inside. After a moment's thought, he raised his fist and knocked three times on the door.

At that moment, someone inside shouted joyfully, "Are the army here? You finally came to save me, I'll open the door now!"

The knocking rhythm was clear, not the habit of beasts, so the person inside mistook Ren Xiaosu for a rescuing army.

With a creak, the iron gate swung open, revealing a middle-aged man inside. His leg was wounded, his trouser leg stained red with blood, and even opening the gate required him to support himself on one foot.

However, the moment the gate opened, both of them moved. Ren Xiaosu crouched and charged forward, while the middle-aged man, realizing the intruder was not the army, instinctively raised his gun!

The air suddenly froze. Ren Xiaosu stopped before the middle-aged man, for the dark muzzle was pointed at his forehead.

"Heh heh," the middle-aged man laughed, "So it's a little thief come to take advantage of the chaos. I recognize you, Ren Xiaosu from the settlement."

Ren Xiaosu also recognized him—this middle-aged man was the factory manager, Wang Dongyang.

"I know you too," Ren Xiaosu straightened his back and said nonchalantly, "Why are you the only one inside? No, wait—you were the first to flee here and closed the gate, leaving the others outside!"

As Ren Xiaosu spoke, a chill ran through his heart. No wonder there were bloodstained handprints on the iron gate outside—it was the refugees frantically knocking, and once the gate was sealed from within, it could not be opened by normal means.

Wang Dongyang said with a smile, "Don't worry about such things. If you take me back to the settlement, I'll spare your life."

"What if I don't?" Ren Xiaosu laughed.

"Then I'll just shoot you and lock the door, waiting for the army to come save me. I'm a person from the refuge stronghold; they must come to rescue me," Wang Dongyang said.

"You must be afraid I'll expose your act of saving yourself while sacrificing everyone else," Ren Xiaosu continued laughing.

Wang Dongyang sneered, emboldened by his gun. He was fearless now: "How do you know?"

Ren Xiaosu fell into thought: "Do you know the child better than the father?"

Wang Dongyang: "???"

The factory manager suddenly became angry: "You think I won't dare kill you?"

"I also know one more thing," Ren Xiaosu said slowly.

"What?" Wang Dongyang felt an ominous premonition.

"I know your gun isn't on safety, and you're already too late to turn it on now."

Wang Dongyang's pupils suddenly contracted. He had assumed the outside was the army and hadn't thought much of it. When he saw Ren Xiaosu charging in so decisively, he hadn't had time to turn on the safety!

He had thought he could easily intimidate Ren Xiaosu, believing that a refugee like him, who had never seen a gun, wouldn't understand its structure and would only fear it.

But Ren Xiaosu, of all people, understood guns better than most in the 113th refuge stronghold!

……

Thanks to Zhong Kui's account, Nan Nian Liu Yi, Shehui Bi's you, and Jiangong 010 for becoming the new alliance leader of this book.