Fatal Shot

As the people from Veterans Tribe dealt with the few that got away—Roaring Dragon Ruinous Star and company—something thrilling was happening on Feng Luo’s side.

After the people from Roaring Dragon Mercenary Group ran away, Feng Luo and company quickly picked up the few pieces of equipment dropped by a few Mutant Grasshoppers and some Roaring Dragon Mercenary Group players. After that, just as everyone prepared to continue with their journey, sounds of gunshots suddenly came from the direction where the people from the Roaring Dragon Mercenary Group had escaped.

“Huh?”

Feng Luo and Black Panther subconsciously glanced toward the direction of the gunshots.

Although the dense forest had plenty of trees and vegetation blocking the path, the sound was very clear. It was probably the sound of some type of submachine gun! However, they remembered quite clearly that no one among the five Roaring Dragon Mercenary Group members had the Scout profession.

And then, at that moment—

Bang!

An extremely unexpected gunshot rang through the air. It was the sound of a sniper rifle ringing out. After that, a 7.62mm armor-piercing bullet flew out from the center of dense vegetation beside them and hit Lin’s chest.

No one would have thought that Roaring Dragon Mercenary Group would have a Sniper hiding on the side, let alone for the Sniper to have gone undetected by the recon meter. Then, just as everyone’s attention was pulled toward the gunshot, this Sniper who had hidden like a poisonous snake fired a fatal shot on one of the mission NPCs: Lin.

The situation took everyone by surprise. Not only did Neutron Star, White Crescent, and the others’ expressions change, but Feng Luo was also just as surprised. After all, Lin was connected to his hidden mission.

Moreover, the integration of the virus and the gene agent inside his body had not yet ended. A problem might arise by the time it ended, and, at the very least, he would have liked to have had an NPC, whose approval he had acquired, to be available to solve it.

But now, a single thought flashed through Feng Luo’s mind.

It’s over!

Although Lin was at Level 45, she was a non-combat profession; none of her equipment gave her additional HP, so the long-awaited and well-planned shot had a 100 percent chance of killing her.

Both sides failed to gain any advantage after so much trouble. But while everyone else went in the face, Red Queen’s face remained unchanged. Instead, she focused her gaze and turned toward the direction of the Sniper.

The reason why she was so calm was because…

Bang!

The bullet struck the location of Lin’s heart, but just as the bullet reached her body, there was a flash of white light, and then, she was perfectly fine.

However, Big Pineapple, who was standing beside her, had a super high damage of −5,600 appeared overtop of his head. He let out a suffocating groan.

“Motherf*cker!” Big Pineapple cursed.

He immediately raised the backup alloy shield in his hand that he had been wielding since the earlier battles and put it in front of Aike and Lin.

Bang!

The Sniper from the Roaring Dragon Mercenary Group clearly had not expected a situation like this, and his second shot was a little slow. In the end, it was blocked by the shield.

And he did not have the chance to fire his third shot because Feng Luo and Black Panther, who had recovered from the initial shock, had already quickly locked on to him. Two armor-piercing bullets hit his chest and head consecutively. Before the fireball in Red Queen’s hand could even be unleashed, the Sniper, who almost succeeded in his ambush, had turned into white light.

After killing the Sniper, Feng Luo could not help but think, This person was definitely sly enough. He just lacked a bit of luck!

It was clear that he had gotten closer by relying on the chaos of the battle and then, using the Level 30 Sniper skill Ambush, had avoided being detected by the recon meter. He had then seized the opportunity to initiate his sneak attack.

His guts and his cunning were strong; the only thing was that he had been one step behind Red Queen.

Only after scanning the area with Black Panther—both with rifles raised—did Feng Luo walk over.

“Mr. Big Pineapple has a rare skill,” explained Red Queen. “After the skill is cast, the fatal damage dealt on the target will be doubled and transferred to him.”

It was then that Feng Luo understood why Red Queen would spend 20,000 credits to hire Big Pineapple. Apart from his amazing defense, this rare skill was probably even more important. He was definitely the best choice in the bodyguard industry.

And Big Pineapple had been effective this time. Lin was probably more important to Red Queen’s mission than Aike.

As for Feng Luo, he definitely owed him one.

“The gunshot just now was a little odd,” Black Panther said in a low voice. “There was no Sniper among those who escaped!”

“That means that their backup is here. Why are you still so calm!?” exclaimed Big Pineapple in response. Half his HP had already been replenished by White Crescent.

“No! If someone had come to support them, the few from before would definitely not have run away so quickly,” reasoned Black Panther. “Instead, they would have tried to delay us. Moreover, there was definitely no need for the Sniper to expose himself to try to kill the mission NPC…”

“No matter what, we should leave first!” said Red Queen, making a decision after a moment of silence.

Indeed, no matter what had happened, the best choice was definitely to leave.

However, at that time, the two NPC ship crew members who had survived suddenly stared at the recon meters in their hands and said, “Someone is closing in from behind. Moreover, they’ve specifically turned on the public communication channel. They are currently 40 meters away!”

Recon meters had a unique function. They could directly detect a special frequency band of the public signal and determine the location of the other side through it. As such, players would use a certain behavior or activate such public signals as an action to signal that they have no ill intentions. However, the communication range of this variety could only work within a 50-meter range.

“Good day. We are not your enemies,” said a deep, hoarse voice from the other side of the public channel. It sounded very familiar to Feng Luo. “We just want to let you know that people from the Roaring Dragon Mercenary Group are probably in pursuit. We advise you to leave as soon as possible.”

“Dan Hen? Older brother?” Feng Luo ventured.

“And you are…?” Dan Hen clearly did not recognize Feng Luo’s voice. His tone was a little suspicious.

“Big bro Feng, is that you?” asked another voice coming from the public channel.

“Skynet?” Feng Luo asked.

“So it’s younger brother Feng,” said Dan Hen. “I never would have thought it was you!”

Dan Hen never would have expected Feng Luo would be one among the group of people who had helped them destroy an important mission of the Roaring Dragon Mercenary Group.

“Friend?” Red Queen asked softly in the party channel.

“Yes, friend,” said Feng Luo. “I’ll head over for a bit. You guys can go ahead. I’ll catch up.”

He did not ask Dan Hen and the rest to come over because he was currently employed by Red Queen. Although he trusted Dan Hen and did not believe this group would be detrimental to the mission, he still had to minimize all risks. It was an issue of professionalism.

However, Red Queen was very magnanimous and said, “No need. Ask them to come over.”

******

“Younger brother Feng, I never would have thought that we would actually meet here!”

After half a minute, Dan Hen’s team of six walked over after putting all their weapons in their backpacks. When they saw Feng Luo, all of them had bright smiles on their faces.

When they found out that Feng Luo had been there previously, their first reaction was shock because all of them knew that Feng Luo was wanted by Roaring Dragon Mercenary Group. But this time, the vital mission that the Roaring Dragon Mercenary Group spent half a month preparing for had been thwarted by Feng Luo directly. This kept them wondering about what had happened in the meantime, which made them admire Feng Luo and become more curious about him at the same time.

“Brother Feng!” Ion Flame nodded to Feng Luo. His eyes scanned past Red Queen and the others, and when he saw their equipment, his eyes showed that he was quite surprised.

“Brother Feng!” Skynet, wearing a brownish-green camouflage combat uniform with his face painted with oil paint, greeted Feng Luo joyously.

“Brother Feng!” Grassy, who carried her medical box on her back, called out softly. She was very introverted, and as she saw the faces of so many people, she showed a slight trace of fear on her face.

This exchange of words concluded with the introduction of some key information.

“You’ve really helped our guild big time this time,” said Dan Hen seriously. “Anyway, we’re extremely grateful. The Veterans Tribe will definitely remember what you did for us today. If you encounter our ship when you’re leaving, you can mention our names!”

Whether or not Red Queen had really helped them or not, to have sent an elite team from Roaring Dragon Mercenary Group packing with their tails between their legs—and without losing anyone with just this team of expert players—was enough for Dan Hen to express his kind intentions. Everyone knew how to deal with things in a game.

“Then we’ll thank Mr. Dan Hen!” replied Red Queen. “Since everyone’s ship is parked on this side of the island, why don’t we travel together? If the people from the Roaring Dragon Mercenary Group catch up, there will be more insurance with the two teams together.”

“All right!” Dan Hen nodded decisively.

After the two parties teamed up, Grassy suddenly asked Feng Luo, “Brother Feng… Uh, why do you look a little weird?”

“Do I?”

As Feng Luo said this, he suddenly felt dizzy. It was as if the world was spinning and the surrounding trees and plants had lost their colors. He fell backward with his body still straight.

The last thing he saw was the people from both sides rushing and running toward him in surprise. After that, the light surrounding everything dimmed, and everything turned dark. And in his system logs, the “Integration” time of the Evolution Virus and the gene agent dropped to exactly one hour!

(P.S. The next chapter should be the most important chapter of the book.)