Chapter 220: First Confrontation

Checking the radar, Bei Tai realized that someone was quickly approaching!

However, Bei Tai was shocked to see that the green dot on the radar was approaching at an unbelievably rapid pace! It was so fast that it seemed as though the radar was having a hard time tracking down the green dot’s movement. Looking at the radar, it almost seemed as though the green dot was jumping through the radar!

The normal range of the radar was generally one km.

However, the speed shown by the green dot…

“That cannot be right! Not even a speed type skill could reach that kind of speed!”

Six seconds!

Bei Tai only had six seconds of time to react.

As a veteran, Bei Tai quickly made the proper decision. He tossed away his sniper rifle and both his hands quickly moved to pull out a military knife each.

Weng!

The air before him suddenly twisted and Bei Tai felt an attack lashing out toward him.

Subconsciously, his eyes widened into a stare and he positioned the two military knives into a cross to block the incoming blow…

However, that move of his resulted in nothing!

The attack that he had expected did not materialize.

At the same time, a voice sounded out, causing Bei Tai’s heart to sink.

“Not a bad reaction. A pity you are too weak.”

The voice had come from behind, right beside Bei Tai’s ears!

How is that possible?

That was the first thought that appeared within Bei Tai’s mind.

How could he be that fast?

Bei Tai subconsciously lashed out with a backhand attack.

His military knife slashed back and he felt it stabbing into something hard, which caused it to become stuck. Bei Tai did not hesitate. He sent his other military knife to the back as well. This time however, Bei Tai’s shoulder shook. A powerful force had clamped down onto Bei Tai’s shoulder like an iron plier.

“You’re dead.”

The cold voice fell into his ears.

The powerful force threw Bei Tai away!

At the same time, a “ka” sound rang out! While his body was being tossed into the air, his left arm was cut off!

Bei Tai fell to the ground and howled out in pain… … the sound of from this howl was strange and resembled a broken bellow.

Blood sprayed out from his neck!

Bei Tai subconsciously used his right hand to cover his throat. However, blood continued to spray out from the gap between his fingers. As for his left arm, the amount of blood spraying out from the cut off area was even more terrifying.

Culkin stood behind the very spot that Bei Tai was just standing on.

He was dressed in fully black clothes and his hand held onto a small and slender knife. The blade of the knife was as thin as a layer of onion.

…

Bei Tai was on the verge of dying.

His cut off arm and throat impacted him severely and almost caused him to lose consciousness on the spot. However, he possessed an abundance of combat experience. In that moment, he made one last move.

His final decision was not to struggle or get up. Instead, he lay on the ground, exerting his all to cover up the wound upon his throat. At the same time, he retrieved a Healing Beast Blood from his system.

The Healing Beast Blood fell on the ground before him. Bei Tai’s facial features distorted as he struggled forward through the ground.

The Healing Beast Blood was just beside his mouth. He struggled to extend his head out; he opened his mouth and tried to swallow it…

“You have commendable spirit.”

Culkin had a faint smile on his face as he stepped forward. His knife was ready and was about to descend upon Bei Tai.

At that moment, his face suddenly turned taut! His expression turned serious and his body quickly dodged back.

Xiu!

A beam of light flew toward them from the distance like a meteor!

Seeing the incoming flash of light, Culkin was quick to dodge away.

A “pu” sound rang out as a short spear stabbed into the ground before him. The spear stabbed down to a depth of over half a metre and the handle of the spear quivered.

That was… Chen Xiaolian’s Fearless War Spear!

…

Chen Xiaolian was already exerting his all to run back.

He watched from far away as Bei Tai was flung up and had his left arm cut off before falling to the ground.

He also caught sight of the man in black.

Due to how far away he was from their location, he would not be able to catch up in time even if he were to give it his all. All he could do was to bring out Fearless War Axe, which had now become a short spear. Then, he tossed it forward with all his might as one would a javelin!

At the same time…

“Garfield!”

…

Back then, in their fight against Lancelot, Garfield suffered from severe injuries. He only had two doppelgangers left after the fight. Although he had returned into the system to recover, the limited amount of time was insufficient for him to fully recover.

Thus, when Chen Xiaolian summoned out Garfield, only two doppelgangers appeared.

Even so, Garfield was much faster than Chen Xiaolian.

Garfield’s Agility was at [A-] class!

…

Unleashing a roar, Garfield pounced onto Culkin who was standing beside the short spear.

A sneer appeared upon Culkin’s face and he simply took one step backward. Next, he made a surprising move.

His stature suddenly disappeared!

Garfield’s charge ended up hitting empty air.

The next instant…

Chen Xiaolian who was running back suddenly felt a faint warning ringing out from his mind.

Something’s wrong!

A cold wind seared toward him!

Showing no hesitation, Chen Xiaolian quickly leapt forward like a tiger, his body pouncing away from where he was standing.

He had pounced in the direction of the ground.

Shua!

An icy sword flash slashed out, grazing past the back of his head!

Chen Xiaolian fell to the ground. A clump of hair that was attached to the back of his head gently floated down.

“That reaction is not bad!” Culkin spoke out from behind him.

Chen Xiaolian was in no position to care about his posture. He pushed his body and rolled on the ground, putting a distance between them before hastily getting up and backing away.

It was only then that Chen Xiaolian was finally able to confront the enemy from up close.

The moment his eyes fell upon the enemy, Chen Xiaolian became shocked.

“Qiu Yun?!”

…

The man before him had a gaunt stature and was dressed completely in black clothes…

However, his appearance and the appearance of the now dead former Meteor Rock Guild Leader, Qiu Yun… appeared exactly similar!

Chen Xiaolian who had participated in an instance dungeon together with Qiu Yun was very familiar with his appearance.

The man standing before him possessed a profound and calm temperament and his eyes exuded a trace of seemingly non-existent familiarity and solemnness.

If one were to simply look at his temperament, he was pretty much Qiu Yun!

In that moment, Chen Xiaolian became lost in thought.

…

“Qiu Yun?”

Culkin’s expression changed and his eyes subconsciously narrowed as he cast a profound gaze at Chen Xiaolian. Then, he said, “Ah, I know who you are now!”

Shua!

His black-clad figure swept forward and the blade flashed out toward Chen Xiaolian!

Chen Xiaolian’s pair of eyes stared widely.

Then…

He turned around and ran!

…

What else could he do but run?

Garfield was still far away while he himself had no weapons. His one and only weapon, Fearless War Axe had been thrown forward.

His sword skill, axe skill and spear skill… … he was unable to display any of them!

The cool down period for summoning Bai Qi had yet to end.

What else could he do but run?

Stay there and get gutted?

…

Chen Xiaolian ran, taking huge strides as he ran toward Bei Tai!

With his [B] class Agility and [B+] class strength, Chen Xiaolian was able to cover a distance of over tens of metres in merely a few steps.

He was not far away from Bei Tai.

Bei Tai was still lying on the ground. He had already snagged the Healing Beast Blood with his mouth and vigorously gulped it down…

At that moment, Bei Tai saw Chen Xiaolian running toward him. A flash of determination and resolution flashed across his eyes!

This fellow suddenly let go off his right hand! He let go off the hand that was covering his slit throat!

He snatched up the military knife that he had dropped onto the ground and threw it toward Chen Xiaolian!

…

Chen Xiaolian strode forward, leapt into the air and caught the military knife.

In that same instant, Culkin had already reached his back!

Chen Xiaolian’s body that was in the middle of the air suddenly twisted around. Gripping onto the military knife…

Charging Stinger skill!

The Charging Stinger skill instantly raised his Agility to [B+] class. While this increase in Agility alone may not make him stronger than Culkin…

However… the sudden change in rhythm caused Culkin to become shocked!

Keng!

Sparks scattered out.

The military knife and the extremely fine short knife in Culkin’s hand collided and Chen Xiaolian abruptly felt his hand becoming light.

The military knife had been cut in half. However, he did not retreat. Instead, he howled out and continued to charge forward!

Pu!

…

The sharp fine blade of the knife slashed across Chen Xiaolian’s chest!

He could clearly feel the tip of the knife cutting through the Meteor Rock Protective Suit that he was wearing.

The [B] class protective suit was only able to block off a portion of the strength behind the knife attack. Even so, it was still cut open!

The ice-cold blade of the knife sliced the skin and muscle on Chen Xiaolian’s chest… and connected with his bone!

Chen Xiaolian let out a muffled grunt and his body staggered backward. He gripped onto his chest tightly…

Thankfully… … it was on the right side. His heart remained unharmed.

However, after cutting through the ribs the sharp qi within the knife also punctured his lung area!

Instantly, Chen Xiaolian felt intense pain wracking his chest while a burning sensation welled up. It became hard for him to breathe.

Culkin stood at the same spot, unmoving.

He observed the young man who had been heavily injured by his knife attack and he watched as Chen Xiaolian staggered backward.

Then, Culkin lowered his gaze.

The military knife had been stabbed into his shoulder.

“Humph!”

Culkin harrumphed and moved his hand up to pull out the military knife.

Just now, the military knife had already been cut off, leaving only a small portion intact. Out of this small portion stabbing into Culkin, only about three or four cm was piercing into his flesh.

For someone like Culkin, an injury such as this was negligible.

“Very courageous and decisive.”

Culkin gave a faint smile and he tossed the blood stained military knife onto the ground.

There was not even a frown on his face despite the blood trickling down from his shoulder. He allowed the blood to flow out, soaking his clothes. “You took over Qiu Yun’s position, that is quite interesting.”

Chen Xiaolian retreated; he had already swallowed a Healing Beast Blood.

The powerful aura released by the man before him caused Chen Xiaolian’s heart to sink.

Although they had only exchange blows for an instant, he was very clear on the fact that he was merely a hair’s breadth away from death just now!

He retreated a few steps. After he reached Bei Tai’s side, he turned to look at Bei Tai.

Blood had stopped flowing out from his neck. Bei Tai maintained a tight grip onto his neck and he shook his head in the direction of Chen Xiaolian.

Fortunately, it would appear that he was not going to die.

Chen Xiaolian continued falling back. In the process, he pulled out the Fearless War Spear that was pierced into the ground.

He stared intently at the black-clad man standing before him. Although he was shocked by the danger he felt earlier…

Yet… after carefully checking his surroundings and Bei Tai who was lying on the ground…

A strange illusory thought was conceived within Chen Xiaolian’s mind.

This black-clad man’s strength… somehow, he doesn’t feel that powerful…

Even though the man’s attacks had managed to heavily wound Bei Tai and himself…

Yet… his feelings told him that this opponent was not one who held an overwhelming advantage over them.

“Who are you?”

With Fearless War Spear in hand, Chen Xiaolian felt somewhat emboldened. He stood by Bei Tai and Garfield, and pointed at Culkin.

“How unfortunate… … failed during the last step,” said Culkin who gave a faint smile while shaking his head.

He cast a profound gaze at Chen Xiaolian and said, “You have a bit of potential. Just now, you were lucky. That might not happen again next time, young man.”

After saying that, Culkin revealed a peculiar smile on his face.

Then, he turned around and… left?

Chen Xiaolian was momentarily shocked. He quickly took a few steps forward utilizing the Charging Stinger foot movement and stabbed forward with the spear!

“Thinking of leaving?!”

Shua!

Chen Xiaolian watched as the tip of his spear stabbed into Culkin’s back…

However, what it stabbed into was only the afterimage of his back!

Culkin’s body had disappeared before his very eyes!

“That’s not right!”

Chen Xiaolian was quick to check the system radar. On the surface of the radar, he could see a green dot appearing a hundred metres away from him. With another flash, it jumped a distance of another hundred metres…

He really left? Just like that?

Additionally, this incredible movement speed…

“This is not a speed type skill!” Chen Xiaolian became startled. Then, he glanced at Bei Tai who was on the ground and he quickly recollected himself. He ran toward Bei Tai.

“How are you?”

Bei Tai’s throat wound had yet to fully heal and he could not speak. He waved his hand at Chen Xiaolian and shook his head. Then, with an anxious expression on his face, he pointed to the distance and uttered out a hoarse and near incomplete voice to say, “My, my bro…”

…

Chen Xiaolian carried Bei Tai and entered the forest. He dared not leave the injured Bei Tai alone.

Thankfully, Chen Xiaolian was able to find Lun Tai inside the forest.

Appearance wise, Lun Tai appeared unharmed. However, it seemed that he was somewhat in a daze. Only after seeing Chen Xiaolian carry Bei Tai over did his expression return normal and he became anxious.

Just then, his expression was one brimming with anger. However, there was a dazed look in his eyes.

It was as though his mind had turned blank.

Seeing his injured younger brother, Lun Tai was quick to regain his state of mind. He ran over and took Bei Tai from Chen Xiaolian. He placed Bei Tai down beneath a tree.

“He had already taken a Healing Beast Blood.” Chen Xiaolian’s face was ugly to behold. “The fatal injury on his throat have been healed up somewhat. He won’t die… … but his one arm…”

Lun Tai’s expression was even more unsightly and he fiercely clutched his own hair. ‘Damn it! Why did I run out just now? I… how could I have made such a mistake?”

After saying that, he brutally slapped himself in the face!

“Enough!”

Seeing how Lun Tai was planning to continue beating himself, Chen Xiaolian quickly caught him arm. “Something was wrong with what happened earlier! You must have been hit by some special skill. Your consciousness was disturbed and you would not respond to me no matter how I tried to call out to you. All you did was charge out.”

Lun Tai panted for a bit. However, he did calm down. After thinking about it carefully, he said, “Yes… just now, I feel like my mind was in complete mess. I don’t even know what happened. All I could feel was an extreme feeling of hatred. There was also an impulse to rush into the woods to find the bastard and kill him… … besides that thought, it seems that all other form of thoughts had left my mind.”

“You are not someone who would usually do something like this. You are someone who does things carefully.” Chen Xiaolian sighed. “That is why; I believe that you must have been hit by some form of skill.”

An expression of self-blame was etched upon his face as he looked at his injured younger brother. “You…”

Bei Tai forced himself to squeeze out a smile. Despite the intense feeling of pain, he did his best to hold back the desire to cry out.

Chen Xiaolian sighed and knelt down beside Bei Tai. He retrieved the medicinal substances and bandages that he had prepared beforehand.

Healing Beast Blood was not capable to healing everything.

The one that Bei Tai swallowed was certainly not some low-class goods. It could be [Mid] class or even [High] class Healing Beast Blood.

However, Healing Beast Blood could only heal wounds. It could not allow the cut off arm to regrow; neither could it regrow any internal organs.

Thankfully, the only thing Bei Tai lost was one arm. If one of his internal organs were cut off… … not even the Healing Beast Blood could save his life.

That was because it could only close up wounds.

Wounds upon the internal organs could probably be closed up. However, if the organ were to be completely cut off… then, there was no way to save him.

Bei Tai lost one arm; however, he was not in a critical situation.

Chen Xiaolian inspected Bei Tai’s wounds and saw a clear knife wound on his throat. Just now, the enemy had sliced his throat. At the moment, the wound had closed up. At the very least, the flow of blood had been stopped. The flow of blood had also been dammed for the cut off area of his arm.

Chen Xiaolian produced a roll of bandage and started bandaging the wounds on Bei Tai’s neck and arm.

“The wounds are closing up rapidly… but, the cut off arm… …” Chen Xiaolian said with a frown.

Lun Tai gritted his teeth and said, “In the Exchange System, there are many items that can regrow broken limbs or internal organs… … those items can all be exchanged out. However, the price is not low. Still… at least he is alive. We’ll think of a way to earn some points and exchange out some good items to let him restore his cut off arm.”

After saying that, Lun Tai shook his head. He said with a grim expression, “However, those props are very expensive. Bei Tai and I do not have much in terms of savings…”

“Don’t say that,” said Chen Xiaolian. He looked into Lun Tai’s eyes and said, “We are all partners. Bei Tai’s matter is everyone’s matters! If your points are not enough, all of us will help gather points for you!”

“This… is all my fault!” Lun Tai violently threw a punch at a tree trunk.

“Just what kind of skill was that…” Chen Xiaolian changed the topic of conversation. “To think that it could cause people to…”

“It is likely some form of taunting Aura of Enmity or something like that,” Lun Tai spat out. “You’ve played a lot of games before, right? In games, isn’t there any skill similar to this? A skill that specializes in pulling aggro, attracting and taunting the monsters. A monster hit by that skill will become enraged, ignore everything else and pursue only you.”

Chen Xiaolian was momentarily stunned. Then he smiled wryly and said, “There is such a type of skill? This is a really weird skill… even so, it seems this skill is not easy to deal with.”

Pausing, he considered the matter and said, “Just now, the black-clad man who ambushed us… that fellow was even weirder. In mere seconds, he was able to cover a distance of over a thousand metres! I have seen someone with speed type movement skill before. Back in the Mausoleum of Qin Shihuang, the Black Knights Guild Leader, Alice had an speed type movement skill. But not even she had such a kind of speed!”

Lun Tai considered the issue and said, “Perhaps… … perhaps what that fellow used was not a speed type movement skill. Rather… his skill may have been of the spatial type.”

“Spatial type skill?” Chen Xiaolian was a smart person after all. After thinking about it in detail, he slapped his thigh and exclaimed. “I understand now! This was a trap!”

He took a deep breath and said, “The enemy had made prior calculations. They had long since decided to ambush us here and made sufficient preparations to ambush us.

“One of them was responsible for luring you away to disperse our battle strength.

“Then, the black-clad man would use the opportunity to execute a sneak attack.

“His skill is a spatial type…

“Within a few seconds time, he could move this far. Perhaps, it was like this…

“At a certain distance, he first used his skill to set up several spatial coordinates. Next, he would utilize his spatial skill to tear out a spatial rift. After that… he could jump over through the coordinates.

“Thus, he was able to, in a mere span of a few seconds cover a distance of over a thousand metres.

“Although this skill is very powerful, there is a weakness to such a kind of skill.

“And that is… … he will need to make preparations in advance.

“For example, when fighting against us, he needed to make a plan to ambush us here in advance. He needed to set his spatial coordinates here beforehand in order to use them to jump over.

“If the fight begins with a normal encounter… and he cannot place those coordinates beforehand, then his skill could not be of much use.”

Lun Tai thought about what Chen Xiaolian had said and felt that his words were very reasonable.

Chen Xiaolian and Lun Tai supported Bei Tai and the three of them slowly headed toward the road.

“Where is the Countess?” asked a frowning Lun Tai.

Chen Xiaolian looked at the open road. He walked along the road and found the Countess by the earthen area beside the road.

It appeared that the woman was suffering from a foot injury. She limped as she tried to flee only to fall to the ground. She struggled several times but was unable to get up.

When Chen Xiaolian ran over, the Countess turned around and screamed out in terror. She quickly pulled out a handgun from her handbag.

This time around, the gun she held was loaded!

Bang!

The woman did not hesitate to open fire.

Chen Xiaolian was shocked!

After the sound of the gunshot rang out, he quickly inspected his own body… … no bullet wound was in sight.

She had missed.

“It’s me! Do not shoot!”

Chen Xiaolian shouted loudly.

The dishevelled Countess finally realized that it was Chen Xiaolian and stopped shooting. However, she continued to hold onto the gun in her hand.

Chen Xiaolian ran over and saw that the Countess’ body had become taut with stress.

He crouched down carefully before the Countess and said, “It’s me… it’s me…”

He looked at the young woman’s eyes and slowly reached his hand out. He pushed down the muzzle of her gun and slowly took it from her hand. Next, he pulled out the magazine and bullets, and tossed them onto the ground.

“All right, everything is fine now. It’s me.”

The Countess raised her head and looked at Chen Xiaolian with a dazed look. Then, she suddenly bawled out. Both her hands tightly gripped Chen Xiaolian’s arm, unwilling to let go!

Watching the young woman crying her heart out, Chen Xiaolian sighed to himself.

Then, a puzzling question emerged.

She… … why did she not transform into Miao Yan?

…

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