Chapter 37: Armed Bandits and Prosthetic Brigands

Chapter 37: Gun-Toting Bandits, Prosthetic-Limbed Highwaymen

The night was cloudless, the moon full.

Upon the vast, boundless, yet exceptionally desolate high plateau west of Chengdu Prefecture, a black off-road vehicle sped along the post road.

The vehicle's superior streamlines reduced the plateau's fierce wind resistance to a minimum; coupled with the powerful engine's explosive output, it resembled a black panther sprinting beneath the black night sky.

Elegant and alluring, yet thoroughly wild.

At this moment, in the darkness untouched by moonlight, a lean man with deep-set features bearing distinct foreign characteristics listened intently to the engine noise carried on the wind.

"That sound... sounds like the Black Yu from Shuntian Prefecture's Divine Mechanism Military-Industrial Group? Fine carriage. Looks like the nobles of Chengdu Prefecture are sending money again."

The man slowly wiped the greedy smile from his face, took a deep breath, and only then slowly loosened a gap in the tightly wrapped thermal isolation blanket, extending a crudely manufactured gun barrel out through the slit.

Such an incomparably simple action, yet the man performed it with extreme slowness, even pausing inexplicably for long stretches.

His cautious demeanor suggested countless beasts lurked in the surrounding darkness; should he make the slightest sound, he would be dismembered on the spot.

By the time he had the carriage framed in his scope, the Black Yu was already three hundred meters out.

This was the man's most confident shooting distance.

At this range, he didn't even need the scope's assistance to achieve perfect accuracy.

Yet despite this, the man had no intention of firing; his right index finger didn't even rest on the trigger.

He was waiting—waiting for those hunters like himself to move first, to test the mettle of this fat sheep.

This post road was the only rapid passage between Chengdu Prefecture and Songpan Guard; it had never lacked for fierce, desperate gun-toting bandits and prosthetic-limbed highwaymen making a killing here.

Even men from Chengdu's major conglomerates only dared pass through in large groups.

For this Black Yu to appear here alone, there were only two possibilities:

Either a newborn calf unafraid of tigers, or a man-eating tiger itself.

But regardless of which the Black Yu's owner was, he was destined never to reach Songpan Guard today!

"You lot holding back this well today?" the man mused inwardly.

The thought barely formed when, a hundred meters ahead, a patch of grass suddenly spat conspicuous muzzle flash, followed by a deafening gunshot tearing the silent night sky!

"Son of a bitch actually has mimetic gear! No wonder I didn't spot him!"

The shirt on the man's back was instantly soaked in cold sweat. Cursing inwardly, he looked toward the Black Yu.

In his view, the Black Yu's driver-side windshield was cracked like a spiderweb, yet showed not the slightest sign of shattering.

Holy hell, it's bulletproof glass!

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The gunman who fired first noticed this too, immediately continuing to pour shots. Scorching bullets bored into the windshield one after another, impacts clustered almost in a single spot, the spiderweb cracks deepening with a thunderous roar.

Vroom!

The Black Yu's engine suddenly howled, the vehicle lurching forward like a rabid beast, charging straight toward the source of the muzzle flash.

The immense pressure forced the lurking gunman to finally break cover, scrambling up with his body pressed low, nearly on all fours, fleeing laterally to the SUV's charge.

*Keng!*

A wildly violent gunshot rang out. The gunman's body flew forward as if struck by a cannon shell, his chest exploding into a vast mist of blood.

The Western Barbarian saw it clearly through his scope: a through-and-through hole the size of a fist appeared in the gunman's chest, his upper body nearly severed in two, shattered viscera sliding out from the gap.

Dead beyond dead.

Yet the Black Yu's speed didn't diminish in the slightest, roaring as it crushed over the gunman's corpse!

*Crunch!* The sound of bones grinding was distinctly audible in the night sky.

The owner's ruthless act nearly instantly enraged every hunter lurking on this plateau.

In an instant, bullets descended like a rainstorm. The Black Yu's sturdy body was instantly gnawed into countless pits. Even the bulletproof windshield shook precariously under the massive impact.

"Done for. Car's shot to hell, no profit this time again."

The Western Barbarian lamented inwardly, simultaneously awed by the owner's ferocity. "What's this guy's background? How is he even more ruthless than us?"

*Screech!*

The SUV suddenly braked to a halt, then the driver's door was kicked open, a figure bursting out.

Simultaneously, several rocks scattered near the figure suddenly moved!

Three robust, fierce bandits threw off their camouflage and stood up. Mechanical prosthetics on their arms reflected a chilling gleam in the moonlight, illuminating the bloodthirsty grins on their faces.

These incomparably fierce prosthetic-limbed highwaymen ignored the stray bullets flying around them, raising their weapons and roaring as they charged.

*Clang!*

Amidst the gaps in the gunfire, a clear, high-pitched blade hum suddenly rang out!

The Western Barbarian didn't even see what happened before he noticed the three prosthetic highwaymen freeze in place, their weapons *thudding* to the ground.

Then their throats became like open sluices, blood gushing wildly.

Prosthetic highwaymen, renowned for their prowess in close-quarters combat, had their throats slit in the blink of an eye!

This scene shocked who knew how many gunners hiding in the dark; even the dense gunfire came to an abrupt halt at this moment.

So this Black Yu owner wasn't a fat sheep wandering into a wolf pack, but a true man-eating tiger!

Bang! Bang! Bang!

After a brief silence, gunfire rang out again.

But this time the shots were far sparser than before; it seemed many had already chosen to quietly withdraw.

Such thin fire posed no danger to that figure. The man suddenly blurred, then vanished from his spot.

So fast that even the Western Barbarian, maintaining a constant lock, lost his target.

For a time, the high plateau fell into dead silence; even the rustling of insects vanished.

"Ah!" A sudden scream was exceptionally eerie in the silence.

A gunman had been located!

Screams followed one after another, each source separated by no small distance—at least a hundred meters apart.

This meant the Black Yu owner's running speed was terrifying, and he could precisely pinpoint the positions of those who had fired earlier.

If even the prosthetic highwaymen were instantly killed in close quarters, these gun-toting bandits would die even faster.

Cold sweat beaded on the Western Barbarian's temples. He no longer dared search for the target through his scope, retracting the muzzle, tightening the thermal blanket, and wriggling slowly backward like a worm.

Once he'd put enough distance between them, the prone Western Barbarian finally dared stand, breaking into a frantic sprint without pause.

*Bang!*

A dull thump suddenly sounded in the air; someone had fired a tracer round slowly rising into the sky.

The fleeing Western Barbarian halted as if possessed, turning back to look at that brightening patch.

In the fading light, a black-haired youth stood there, posture straight, gaze cold.

The blood-slicked long saber in his hand seared the eye with terrible insistence.