Chapter 31: Guard Rank (1/2)
Chapter 31: Guard Rank
Translator:Editor:
“I thought he was going to fire!” Huang Jiahui uttered, still shaken.
“They’re not that foolish. We’re not holding a grudge, so they wouldn’t take that risk,” Luo Yuan expressed his thoughts calmly. To be honest, he was rather shaken by what had happened. He didn’t know what to think, but he was infuriated by the idea of falling back.
Lucky for them, the opponent had not dared open fire. They might have just lost their car but they had managed to acquire a rifle.
In fact, Luo Yuan considered himself quite fortunate; cars were not worth much these days, the petrol in the vehicle held more value than the car itself. If he ever decided to trade off the rifle though, he could potentially exchange several hundred liters of petrol, or even dozens of cars for it.
“Do you know how to use a rifle?” Luo Yuan asked Huang Jiahui.
“I’ve never handled one before, so my aim may be off.”
“Well, that’s still a better aim than mine!” Luo Yuan joked as he handed over the rifle.
She struggled under the weight of it, her arms sinking as she tried to hold it up. She shook her head. “This won’t do, it’s too heavy. Unless I can use it lying on the ground. I’m more accustomed to pistols. Too bad rifle bullets are not compatible with them.”
Luo Yuan had no experience with anything military-related. He sighed, “If I knew the bullets were different, I would have asked for pistol ammo instead. I thought all guns use the same bullets!”
“Don’t beat yourself over it. I doubt they have any pistol ammo left anyway. Besides, only battalion officers have access to that kind of supply in the army.”
“Agh! Bugger it. How far are we from that place you mentioned?”
“Hmm... I can’t be sure, but I think we might still need to walk a few stations.”
Suddenly, a group of civilians flocked out of a building in mass hysteria, screaming and running from the seven green beetles pursuing them from behind.
The leading beetle was only a few steps away from the slowest lady running at the back of the crowd. It stretched forward and bit right into her skull, sucking the grey matter and splattering blood all over while its prey twitched vigorously in a mad dance.
The crowd ran, but not a lot of them were able to get away. They were stomped, crushed, some even chewed to death, painting the ground red with their blood. The screams and scent of fresh blood attracted even more beetles that were in the area. One of them was as big as a car. It was a darker green than the others, and run so fast that it looked like a blur to the naked eye.
It was very clear that in the realm of green beetles hierarchy was very specific. The surrounding beetles momentarily cleared out and made way for the giant beetle among them.
The crowd saw where Luo Yuan and co. were and started running towards them. Luo Yuan’s face was lost its colour. “Oh, fuck.” He had never expected that there would be a bigger presence among the green beetles. Just by looking at its size, he could imagine the pressure of its body on him. Even Zhao Qianqian could see how freaked out the usually calm Luo Yuan was. It sent shivers down her spine and made her knees weak.
“Initiate E-grade Mission: Annihilate Guard Rank Green Beetles. Accept / Decline?”
The message buzzed into his mind, not helping his state of panic. “GUARD RANK beetles? F*CK!” he exclaimed. Ever since he had last levelled up, he had kept low-ranking pests (in this case, the beetles) out of his mind, but now the giant beetle had stripped him off his short lived glory. He wanted to decline the mission and run away from this monstrosity as fast as he could. He was not confident that he would be able to kill one guard rank beetle, let alone a whole army of them. Luo Yuan glanced at the rifle Huang Jiahui was holding, suppressed his fear, and made up his mind. “I accept the mission.”
“Give me the rifle.”
Huang Jiahui was startled, but she handed the rifle over without hesitation. He took the rifle, removed the magazine to check the ammo, locked it back into place, and took aim right at the giant beetle. The crowd ran amok at the sight of Luo Yuan holding up the rifle. They thought that it was aimed at them. Luo Yuan aimed directly at the guard beetle, taking deep breaths, his finger carefully pushing on the trigger.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Bullet shells rained all around him as he fired at the guard beetle. He kept adjusting his position while he fired, closing in on his target until…. BANG! He managed to get its body on his fourth try. Luo Yuan was taken aback by how unfazed the guard beetle seemed by the shot; that was when he realized how tough its exoskeleton was… The bullet had only scratched the surface of its body. Once the smoke had cleared away, he finally saw clearly that he had not made just one, but several scratches on its exoskeleton. His previous shots had actually hit the target!
The guard beetle raged and screeched, reacting violently to his shots. It rampaged through the common beetles, pushing them out of its way, and ran with all its fury towards the source of the gunshots... charging right at Luo Yuan.
Luo Yuan tossed the rifle aside and reached for his sword while he held his position. It wasn’t very difficult to suppress his urge to escape. He knew that no matter how fast he ran, he would never be able to outrun the raging guard beetle. Never in his life had he ever walked on such thin ice, and it ignited a flaming survival instinct within him.