Chapter 89: Scarlet Bounty

[Loading target profile—]

The red light gathered in their vision, forming a projection.

A man stood in the sand beside the body of an enormous creature. Streaks of black blood marked the sculpted features of his faceplate. In one hand, he held a long section of pale spine, tissue and shredded flesh still hanging between the vertebrae.

The image did not move. The veterans stopped joking.

[Target: Lin Yan]

[Target Level: Mid Tier Two]

[Estimated Combat Strength: Peak Tier Two]

[Bounty Classification: Scarlet]

[Kill Reward: 50,000 Paradise Coins, 20 Free Attribute Points, Gold Loot Chest ×1]

[Special Extraction Provisions Activated.]

[Fulfill either condition below to unlock Highest-Priority Emergency Extraction:]

[1. Inflict a severe injury on the target, as verified by Paradise.]

[2. Engage the target directly and successfully impede his actions for at least 60 seconds.]

[Once unlocked, extraction may be initiated immediately, overriding the original main mission and all world-duration restrictions. The current trial will be settled upon forced return to Paradise.]

No one spoke. Heavy breathing filled the silence.

"Twenty... twenty attribute points?"

The shield bearer’s cigarette fell from his mouth. He stared at the rewards and swallowed.

"And a Gold chest... I’ve been through three worlds. The best equipment I’ve ever seen was Purple. What the fuck is a bounty like this doing in a Tier One world?"

For several of them, the rewards were beginning to crowd out everything else.

The man in the leather coat stared at the extraction clause, his eyes bloodshot.

"Paradise gave us a way out. You see that? Meet the conditions and we can leave!"

He seized the shield bearer’s shoulder, his voice rising.

"We go together. All of us. Take turns holding him off—last sixty seconds and everyone who contributed gets to go home!"

He almost laughed.

"Pull this off and I’ll never have to scrape together pocket change in a rookie trial again!"

"You really think Paradise is being generous?" Chen finally spoke. "When has an escape clause that obvious ever been the bargain it looked like—"

"I’ve been stuck at Tier One for two worlds!" the man in the leather coat snapped. "Without those twenty points, my next advancement trial will fucking kill me anyway!"

His voice dropped.

"If you don’t want in... just stay out of my way."

He turned to the woman on the ammunition crate.

"Elena. What about you?"

The cloaked woman opened her eyes and put away the cloth she had been using to polish her staff.

"The payout is worth the risk. But getting close to him is too dangerous. We use the garrison’s heavy guns."

"Exactly what I was thinking." The man in the leather coat brightened. "There are two 105-millimeter towed guns in the artillery shed. I’m on decent terms with the quartermaster. Getting a few high-explosive rounds won’t be a problem."

"How far can your Eagle Eye reach?"

"Eight kilometers."

Elena raised her wooden staff. A thin gray current wound around its shaft.

"Once he’s in range, I can hold a psychic mark on him for three seconds and relay his position to the gun crews."

"Good!" The man clapped his hands. "Get to the artillery shed! Tow those guns into position! Rookies carry shells and load. Anyone who slows us down gets fed to the fucking guns!"

They hurried to work.

Chen watched them go, then withdrew to the rear of the position. He sat down with his entrenching shovel against his chest and closed his eyes.

...

The jeep bounced across the soft sand, trailing a long plume of dust. Dunes stretched into the distance, the horizon wavering in the heat.

Lin Yan rested against the passenger seat with his eyes closed, one hand on the long sword at his hip.

[Warning: A hostile bounty has been issued against you by a Paradise faction.]

[Affiliated personnel are present in this world. Exercise caution.]

He opened one eye.

"Watch out for who?"

[Paradise Contractors. They may accept the bounty and attack you.]

"Got it."

Lin Yan lowered the faceplate he had raised earlier and closed his eyes again. Fleshseed continued repairing the torn muscles in his right arm. As the pain receded, it left a fine prickling sensation, like soda bubbles bursting deep beneath his skin. Unpleasant at first, but once he grew used to it, it was oddly soothing.

Only the engine and the wind broke the quiet in the open jeep. Neither soldier had said much during the drive. Eventually, the older man at the wheel spoke.

"S-sir, see that abandoned outpost up ahead? Once we pass it, we’ll be getting close to the airfield."

"How far from there?" Lin Yan asked without opening his eyes.

"About... six kilometers. They still have bombers and transports stationed there. Unless they’ve been destroyed, some of them should be able to fly."

The soldier in the back quickly joined in.

"Some strange reinforcements arrived a few days ago, too. Dressed in all sorts of things—didn’t look like regular troops. Most of them weren’t much use, but the ones in charge were pretty tough. From what I hear, they’re the reason the airfield’s held this long."

"Oh?" Lin Yan tapped an idle finger against his sword guard. "Strange how?"

The soldier was about to answer.

Then the tapping stopped.

Lin Yan opened his eyes.

His strengthened soul caught the sensation of someone watching him from far away, openly and without any attempt at concealment. It was nothing like an ordinary gaze. This scrutiny was so intense it almost had weight.

A warning of danger rose within him.

The driver felt the change in the man beside him and began to turn.

"Sir... what—"

"JUMP!"

Lin Yan was already vaulting over the side of the jeep as he shouted.

A piercing whistle tore down from above.

Even a simple response to sound took an ordinary person a fraction of a second. Training might shorten the hesitation, but getting out of a moving vehicle still took time.

The shell gave them less than a tenth of a second.

The driver’s hands were still on the wheel. The soldier in the back still held the radio.

BOOM!

The explosion tore through the jeep. In a tenth of a second, a violent burst of heat and pressure ripped the vehicle into flying metal. The fuel tank ruptured and ignited, flames sweeping across the sand as fragments scythed outward.

...

Several kilometers away, in the airfield watchtower, Elena lowered her staff. She was pale and breathing a little harder.

"Hit."

The man in the leather coat watched through the artillery binoculars as smoke and flame rose from the distant road. He slammed a fist into the sandbags and burst into wild laughter.

"Direct hit! Hahaha! A hundred and five millimeters! Even a peak Tier Two tank would be blown to pieces taking that head-on! Check the notification—did I get kill-assist credit?"

Beside him, the shield bearer stared at his interface, barely containing his excitement as he waited for emergency extraction to unlock.

Nothing.

No Scarlet kill announcement. No extraction authorization.

Only a warning flashing in the corner of their vision.

[Warning: This attack did not inflict a qualifying severe injury on the target.]

[Verified Impediment Duration: 0/60 seconds.]

[Highest-Priority Emergency Extraction: Locked.]

The laughter died in the leather-coated man’s throat.

"...He’s not dead?"

Far away, the wrecked jeep burned in the sand.

Metal creaked.

A black-armored hand emerged beneath the twisted chassis and closed around a bent frame rail. The wreckage heaved upward, then flew aside, crashing into the sand more than ten meters away.

Smoke parted around a tall figure walking out of the flames, a bright steel blade trailing in his hand.

Shrapnel had scored and gouged the armor. One long gash ran diagonally up his chest, across his shoulder and neck, and through the faceplate, leaving half of Lin Yan’s face exposed.

He stopped.

In the crater behind him, pieces of the driver and the other soldier lay among burning fuel and wreckage. The air reeked of charred flesh.

His exposed eye lifted toward the distant airfield. Across kilometers of windblown sand, his gaze settled on the watchtower.

"You fuckers... must really want to die."

He brought the long sword back alongside his ribs. A rapid series of cracks ran through his body as he braced to move.

Then the black-armored figure shot forward, tearing through the blowing sand.