539 Chapter 539 - Almost Crashing into a Tree (1/2)
Gu Fei focused on noting his left and right. He saw nothing, and he was unable to sense any killing intent, either. However, that did not mean that Broken Water Arrow had left, or that he no longer had his eye on Gu Fei. Gu Fei knew that Broken Water Arrow was also armed with the knowledge that a professional kung fu practitioner like himself would be able to locate his position through his senses alone, but the area of this perception he had was not large, and the range a Sharpshooter could attack easily surpassed that. Thus, Broken Water Arrow could completely keep himself hidden somewhere far beyond where Gu Fei could sense him, even as the former continue to spy on the latter from a distance.
Having no choice, Gu Fei could only focus on his hearing in hopes of catching the slightest sound Broken Water Arrow would make when he moved. The jungle ground had plenty of twigs and dried leaves, so it would not be easy to conceal the sound of footfalls.
”D*mb*ss, over here!”
This sudden shout caused Gu Fei to jump in his skin. Even though Broken Water Arrow was the enemy, he was not the sort to trash-talk like this. He turned to look in the direction of the shout in his astonishment, and this was when Gu Fei realized his mistake. They were in the training grounds of Deep Freeze, and the direction where this shout had originated from had a group of players setting up their traps. As they were dealing with a monster, it was only natural for them to have no fear that their shouts and calls would be heard by the monster. Brazenly yelling to one another so openly, that 'd*mb*ss' cry was from the group's leader who was chiding a member for his incorrect positioning.
The jungle was not in the least bit quiet; trying to discern Broken Water Arrow's footsteps from the noise around here would be no more than a fantasy.
Just as Gu Fei was feeling troubled, he saw Deep Waters wave right over at his end. The noisy group in the distance suddenly went silent, looking over in their direction and nodding before they abruptly disappeared.
Furthermore, in a short period of time, even the vague din a good distance away from them all went silent. Gu Fei was stunned. He realized that Deep Waters had probably sensed his difficulties, so he helped out by clearing the area. Gu Fei quickly thanked the man with a quick glance.
Unfortunately, Deep Waters was still busy sending out his messages, so he did not catch his look of appreciation. Gu Fei did not bother harping on this any longer than he had to. Concentrating once more, he carefully listened for any movement in his surroundings.
Quiet! There was not a single sound made, and the silence he heard was akin to that of the dead. Gu Fei believed that in such a setting, as long as Broken Water Arrow made even the slightest sound, there was no way it would escape his ears. With that thought in mind, he slowly closed his eyes and devoted everything to his hearing, so as not to let his sight distract him.
CRACK!
This sound suddenly registered in his ears, and Gu Fei, who had attuned all his senses to his hearing, immediately determined where the sound had come from. Opening his eyes to look over, he Blinked with a wave of his hand and looked all around him. He was confidently thinking that this would force Broken Water Arrow out from his hiding spot, but what he saw, instead, was a crossbow bolt flying right toward him.
This bolt was very sudden, and Gu Fei was unable to block it in time, so he could only turn to the side and let it fly past. This bolt streaked past him, but a second one soon followed, flying straight at the position he had stepped into. Gu Fei turned his body to dodge it once more, causing him to turn consecutively for three rounds. As he corrected his footing each time, bolts came brushing past him one after another.
Whoosh! At the fourth shot, Gu Fei was finally unable to continue dodging in this fashion. A tree was blocking the path he kept turning toward, and another turn would have him crashing into it. This sudden obstruction that came out of nowhere disrupted Gu Fei's tempo, all while his opponent's firing pace remained unchanged. Thus, that fourth shot found its mark without any contention.
Gu Fei took this bolt head on and followed along its trajectory as he leaned backward. With his feet still firmly planted to the ground, Gu Fei felt another bolt graze past his cheek. Gu Fei propped himself with his palm on the ground for support and bounded back upright. Just as he flipped himself in reverse, the enemy's attack suddenly stopped.
Gu Fei did not dare to relax and just hurried to hide behind the tree. The damage he had sustained from that shot just then was not insignificant. Out of the five shots that Broken Water Arrow had released, the fourth bolt happened to be a Snipe, and it was that very shot that succeeded in finding its mark thanks to the tree…
”That guy!” Hiding behind the tree, Gu Fei munched on a loaf of bread he was holding. To think he was not attempting to replenish his mana during battle but to recover his HP, instead; this was essentially the first time he was thrusted into such a situation while attempting to PK someone. He realized that he truly could not afford to underestimate Broken Water Arrow, as that man had plenty of advantages over Gu Fei in this dense jungle. It was almost similar to how Gu Fei had his kung fu to bully the average player.
Take what had happened before as an example; that first cracking sound Gu Fei had heard was not Broken Water Arrow exposing his position out of folly. That man must have also noticed their surroundings becoming quiet and immediately tested the waters, drawing Gu Fei into a position where it was convenient for him to attack. That first crack was probably a shot that Broken Water Arrow had intentionally fired at a tree.
As for the series of dodges that Gu Fei did in response, he did not believed that Broken Water Arrow was so omniscient as to have predicted that. Still, the fact that Gu Fei's tempo was interrupted while he was dodging and the man's ability to capitalize on it to fire off a Snipe was truly a feat worthy of praise. Using the parlance of kung-fu practitioners like Gu Fei, he had accidentally revealed a flaw in that moment thanks to the tree getting in the way, and Broken Water Arrow instantly seized that opportunity and exploited it. It was just a pity that his attack power was limited. Had his power been at that insta-killing level that Gu Fei possessed, that one mistake Gu Fei had made could very well be what sent Gu Fei to his death.
Therefore, even though Gu Fei had managed to hold on to his dear life by hiding behind that tree and munching on the bread, he was not happy about it in the least. To him, he had already lost in that previous exchange. The only reason why he could still carry on was entirely because this was a game. If this were in real life, he would quite possibly lose his life taking that blow, and he would most likely be dying from a loss of blood if he stayed here.
”What a pity…” Hiding somewhere, Broken Water Arrow regretted that he was unable to take down Gu Fei with that one shot. He had already done all he could when he used his Snipe with that fourth shot and firing that fifth shot as soon as he could. Unfortunately, Gu Fei had simply reacted too quickly, such that he had been able to evade that fifth bolt despite his circumstance. Furthermore, his actions afterward made it such that even if Broken Water Arrow could fire another bolt, there was no way he would be able to hit him again.
A single shot to fool the opponent, while the other five were fired in rapid succession, yet only a single shot found its target… This was simply too fearsome. Broken Water Arrow realized that, even when he held such overwhelming advantage over Gu Fei, taking the man down was still hardly even easy. The key factor here was that this was a game. Had it been real life, and the weapon he was holding was a gun…
Broken Water Arrow sighed and softly removed the magazine cartridge to reload the bolts in it. The entire process had to be done carefully and without a sound. At the same time, he continued to watch what Gu Fei was doing as he needed to maintain a certain distance from the man. He was well-aware that, after some of these kung-fu practitioners had honed their kung fu to a certain degree, they were capable of detecting where people were hiding just through their senses alone. To think that this 'Thousand Miles Drunk', young as he was, had already attained this level of accomplishment. Broken Water Arrow had no idea what his real name was, but he was certain he was not just a nameless hick.