Vol 18 Chapter 12-4 (1/2)
Heng sighed at the gun. He let out a bitter smile and said, “I used to be scared of dying but I really wanted to die. Now that I am not scared of dying, I don’t want to die. How ironic.” He closed his eyes.
The fake Xuan moved like the real Xuan in every minute detail. He slowly raised the gun. As he was about to pull the trigger, a man appeared out of thin air between the two of them. It was so unexpected that both Heng and Xuan were taken aback, and so was the person who appeared. Then Xuan pulled the trigger.
A series of tat-tat-tat sounds echoed but the man’s head wasn’t smashed as expected. A rippling barrier popped up by his head and blocked the bullets.
ChengXiao shouted, “You mad? I am ChengXiao! Did you forget who I am?”
Heng saw ChengXiao was about to step away and yelled, “Don’t move! My dragonshard is out of energy! This Xuan is fake. He isn’t the real Xuan. He’s a copy Freddy created from Zheng’s mind!”
Several needle bullets flew by the sides of ChengXiao and hit Heng’s barrier. It scared him so much he immediately moved up to ChengXiao’s back. ChengXiao grabbed the Gauss pistol but he didn’t attack without a clear idea of what was happening.
Xuan reacted beyond his expectation. He rotated his hand out from ChengXiao’s grab and pushed him off. The other Gauss pistol was placed by on ChengXiao’s temple. Another round of fire followed. Despite the barrier, the force from the bullets knocked ChengXiao over. Xuan aimed both pistols at Heng again.
Heng complained to himself that how could Xuan’s gun-kata even beat ChengXiao who knew martial art?
ChengXiao had entered the unlocked mode the moment he lost balance. He landed with one hand on the ground and propelled himself back up. His fists punched Xuan on the abdomen one after another, not giving Xuan a chance to breathe.
“He’s not Xuan! Xuan’s gun-kata is way stronger than this!” ChengXiao shouted.
Heng thought to himself how strong was the real Xuan when the fake one was already so strong? And then he received a kick from ChengXiao which sent him straight into the bar. Heng nearly threw up after the kick despite ChengXiao controlled its force
Gunshots sounded from outside the bar. Its door and windows were shattered. Heng looked out from a gap and saw ChengXiao’s fists repeatedly aimed for Xuan. Yet, the Gauss pistols stopped their advances each time. ChengXiao did not get any hit in while Xuan shot back at his fists and their barrier.
ChengXiao did practiced martial art. However, he was much more interested in medicine and Gu in comparison so he never got to learn the profound martial arts. He only knew of one better boxing technique.
(Xuan mentioned gun-kata operates on the calculation of vast data of close and long range combat. It calculates every possible direction of incoming attacks. So I can either attack him from a direction that isn’t supposed to initiate an attack, which wouldn’t cause much damage even if the attacks hit, or go for his fatal spot and pierce his defense with power and speed!)
Once ChengXiao made up his mind, he kicked toward Xuan. The pistols fired at him and with the force from the shots, he leaped into the bar. He put on the rank B gloves while he was still in the air. The moment he landed on a table, he leaped at the entrance again.
Xuan just ran through the entrance. His gun-kata proficiency had been rising steadily. Its speed and accuracy were almost at the same level as real Xuan, which evidenced the convergence of his power to the real Xuan and Zheng’s collapse.
“Orbital Taiji!”
ChengXiao charged up to Xuan the instant Xuan stepped into the bar. His steps moved in a interwinding pattern. ChengXiao punched Xuan on the shoulder with far greater force and speed that he had shown. Xuan’s pistol did not move in to block on time.
(Great!) ChengXiao said to himself. He revolved around Xuan while his fists struck in a flurry as though they were stuck together. Never once did their distance grew further than thirty centimeters. At the final strike, ChengXiao punched Xuan on the chin and knocked him back out of the bar.