Chapter 14
Meng Chao investigated the notifications carefully and found that he had already killed nine Flaming Black Beetles and four Flying Flaming Beetles. At that moment, his Skillfulness with Basic Gun Technique was at eighty-seven percent.
Meng Chao sucked in a deep breath of hot air and decided to stake everything on one last chance.
Bang bang bang bang!
He adjusted the muzzle and fired at the Flaming Black Beetles on the ground.
The low-grade creatures formed black insect hordes on the field. Meng Chao did not even need to aim. The bullets immediately blew open a few of the Flaming Black Beetles’ shell.
Some of the unfortunate souls had their flammable liquid sacs shot, and they were reduced to fireballs.
A sea of fire raged in front of Block 19.
Flames rose into the air, and the strange flame before Meng Chao’s eyes burned even more magnificently.
[Killed a Flaming Black Beetle. Increased contribution point by 1. Skillfulness of Normal Level Basic Gun Technique increased by 1%. It is now at 88%.]
[Congratulations to the Fire Relayer. You have completed your first battle quest: Hunter of Foreign Insects. You used great strength to protect your civilization, and you obtained 1,500 contribution points. You are also allowed to increase the level of any of your current basic skills. Would you like to immediately level up one of your basic skills?]
‘Wait!’
Meng Chao held his breath and continued to fire at the insects madly. As the bullets whistled, the Flaming Black Beetles were shot through and burst apart.
The strange flame in front of his eyes burned fiercely.
[Skillfulness increased by 1%. Skillfulness increased by 2%. Skillfulness increased by 3%.
[Congratulations. Your Skillfulness with Normal Level Basic Gun Technique has reached 100%. It will now be upgraded to Specialist Level.]
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All sorts of information regarding guns instantly appeared in his head. His bioelectricity went from his central nervous system to the ends of his nerves, allowing every muscle fiber to be in control of even better gun techniques.
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At that moment, the numerous gunshots attracted the attention of the Ghost-eyed Golden Winged Flame Beetle.
The superbeast did a one hundred and eighty degree turn. The golden powder on its wings sparkled, and the ghost eyes widened. The terrifying presence it gave off seemed to have gained substantial form, and it stared at Meng Chao’s window.
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Crack!
The strengthened glass could not withstand the charge of the superbeast’s breath. Intersecting cracks that resembled a spider’s web appeared on it.
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“Whose house is that? Do they want to die?”
The Bayonet Team on the ground had also noticed the superbeast’s rage.
Li Dayong and the neighbors could not help but break into sweat for the crazy sharpshooter.
‘Now! Pour all my contribution points into Basic Gun Technique! Increase its Skillfulness to the max!’ Meng Chao shouted in his heart.
He had obtained more than thirty contribution points for teaching Reckless Bull Technique, five hundred contribution points for reducing the possibility of his younger sister being corrupted, and one thousand and five hundred contribution points for completing the Hunter of Foreign Insects Quest. When they were added up together, he had more than two thousand contribution points, and he poured all of that into Basic Gun Technique.
His Skillfulness instantly started flying up at a crazed speed.
15%, 26%, 48%, 55%, 78%, 99%!
His brain and hands began burning. Countless memories of shooting in his previous life sparkled brilliantly like burning meteors exploding madly. They were all burned into the surface of his mind in this world.
[Congratulations. Your Skillfulness with Specialist Level Basic Gun Technique has reached 100%. It will now be upgraded to Master Level.]
A clear and pleasant gunshot rose in his mind. It was accompanied by a pain of his mind tearing apart, and it was a pain worse than death. Details that were ten times greater in number given to him for Specialist Level Basic Gun Technique poured into his mind.
‘No. This isn’t enough.’
Meng Chao held his burning mind and felt as if his brain was about to gush out of his mouth, eyes, nose, and ears, but he still gritted his teeth and shouted in his mind, ‘Now, I’ll redeem the reward for the Hunter of Foreign Insects Quest! Increase the level of Master Level Basic Gun Technique!’
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[Reward for the first battle quest confirmed. Congratulations for increasing Basic Gun Technique from Master Level to Perfect Level.]
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Basic Gun Technique, Perfect Level!
‘AAAAAHHHHHHHH!!’
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Meng Chao felt as if his mind was about to explode.
An incredibly violent stream of information surged into his mind. Not only did it give him the shooting experience he obtained in his previous life, it also gave him all the experience of the hundreds of veterans who had died with him when Dragon City was destroyed. All of it was stuffed into his brain in this life, and he felt as if it was about to turn into magma that would surge out of the seven orifices of his body.
Aside from the knowledge of how to micro regulate every bunch of muscle fiber and even every cell and the perfect knowledge of controlling most normal guns, the body structure charts of hundreds of monsters also appeared in his mind, including their weaknesses and the best way to shoot them.
Aside from the Ghost-eyed Golden Winged Flaming Monster, he also received information about many other monsters. They were all creatures that the current Dragon Citizens had not seen before, but he knew very well.
It was as if he had stood in front of an operating table in his previous life and personally dissected countless monsters.
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‘Yes, it’s this feeling!’
He endured the pain of his brain wanting to spill out of his body and used his hands, which were about to combust, to put in his last armor-piercing cartridge.
He did not even look and fired three consecutive shots.
The armor-piercing bullet flew off and hit the Ghost-eyed Golden Winged Flame Beetle’s curved shell.
It did not pierce the shell, but it did manage to completely enrage the superbeast.
The Ghost-eyed Golden Winged Flame Beetle reached the area above Meng Chao’s unit.
“Screech!”
The piercing screech tore at all the residents’ eardrums.
It opened its mouthpart, and a red fireball so dark in color that it was almost purple quickly formed.
The superbeast in front of Meng Chao overlapped with the creature he had seen in his nightmare.
He saw how this bastard went on a rampage, how it tore humans apart, and how it burnt his home of seventeen years to a crisp, how it hurt his mother, father, younger sister, himself, his neighbors, and all the people in Blessed Heavenly Garden.
His eyes burned with pain, and a spark that was similar to that of a bullet gushed out from the depths of his pupils.
‘This time, die!’
Bang!
Just as the superbeast spat out destructive flames, the final armor-piercing shell exited the rifle.
Basic Gun Technique, Perfect Level, activate!
Meng Chao was now one with his gun. The light in his eyes and his intent to murder the creature were bound to the bullet.
It sliced through the air in an instant.
It accurately pierced the Ghost-eyed Golden Winged Flame Beetle’s mouthpart, igniting the fireball that it was about to spat out.
Boom!
The Ghost-eyed Golden Winged Flame Beetle’s mouthpart instantly burst apart. The organs next to it were also blown to smithereens, and a large amount of sticky, faint golden liquid gushed out. Then, like a kite with its string snapped, the monster fell to the ground.
“Someone blew that superbeast apart!”
Countless residents in the buildings and the ground let out ecstatic cheers.
The Ghost-eyed Golden Winged Flame Beetle was the monsters’ commander.
Once it fell, the insect swarm was immediately left without a leader.
Not only did the Flying Flaming Beetles fly around and crash into random places like headless flies, the surging insect swarm split up into multiple groups. The Flaming Black Beetles ran around in circles like ants in a hot pot while humans roared.
“I think it’s from Block 19. It’s Unit 3, No.704’s Old Meng. He was once an ace sharpshooter in the army. I didn’t expect that he would still be as fit as a fiddle despite his age!”
Joint Defense Captain Li Dayong was surprised and delighted. He swung his saber and shouted at the top of his lungs. “The monsters have fallen apart! Residents, for Blessed Heavenly Garden, for Dragon City, for Earth, charge!”
The Bayonet Team roared and charged into the insect swarm like a hungry tiger pouncing on sheep.
The Flaming Black Beetles were hesitant to advance, and after seeing the humans, they fled in a panic. Their army collapsed, and they tried to run back to the depths of the fog.
But the dimensional rift had already been sealed. They were creatures bound to be destroyed. They had nowhere to run.
“I…”
At No.704, Meng Yishan could not believe his eyes.
The superbeast had clearly been shot by a bullet from Block 19, but there was no other sharpshooter greater than him over here!
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Could it be that when in a panic he had sprayed bullets all over the place with his submachine gun, he was able to perform even better than he usually did, and it was out of sheer luck that he shot it?
He had a vague feeling that something was off, but he could not tell what about it was strange.
Thud.
The sound had come from next to him. His son had fallen limp on the floor.
“A’chao!”
Meng Yishan was shocked. He quickly went up to hold his son, only to notice that his skin was burning. He was around forty degrees Celsius, and all his muscles were twitching madly.
Meng Chao could not say anything. His nose bled as if a tap was open to the max. His mind felt as if a tank had run over it, and it hurt so much that he wanted to cry.
Instantly awakening so many of his past life’s memories meant that his brain cells were stuffed full of information, and with his weak seventeen-year-old body, that was practically suicide.
Fortunately, he succeeded in his gamble with the last bullet.
The three consecutive shots earlier were all to lure the enemy.
It was all to make the Ghost-eyed Golden Winged Flame Beetle face him and reveal the depth of its mouthpart, which was its only fatal weakness.
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Then, he used the final armor-piercing shell to interfere with the formation of the superbeast’s killing move. It created a chain reaction, causing the spirit energy in the Ghost-eyed Golden Winged Flame Beetle’s body to run out of control.
His bullet was not the one that killed the superbeast, but the superbeast’s rampaging energy was the one who did it.
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This was what was meant by “perfect”.
Meng Chao shut his eyes. The scenes of the Ghost-eyed Golden Winged Flame Beetle running rampant in Blessed Heavenly Garden in his nightmare had shattered. They swiftly turned dark and scattered away. Very soon, they disappeared with the wind.
‘I knew it. The nightmares can be shattered. The future can be changed. In the end, fate still lies in my hands.’ He smiled in his heart.
Suddenly, he felt a sweet taste on his tongue. Bai Jiacao had pried his mouth open and stuffed a medicine inside it.
“Big Brother, don’t you dare die. I haven’t taken my revenge— I mean, I haven’t repaid you. How could you just die like this? Boohoo!” The girl cried so much that she looked like she was about to cry her lungs out.
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“Who’s talking about me?” Meng Chao opened his eyes weakly.
“Big Brother, you’re okay?” Bai Jiacau broke into a smile and seized the chance to pull Meng Chao’s face violently. “So? Can you feel anything? Is your mind clear?”
“Ow! Let go!” As expected of the Dark Witch, what an evil girl!
“Chao’er, are you okay?” His father, mother, and Granny Wang looked at him worriedly.
Meng Chao did now know how he should explain things to them. He was also too tired to speak.
He forced himself to give them a thumbs up. “I’m fine, just a little out of strength. Dad, you killed the superbeast, you’re so awesome.”
Meng Yishan blushed.
As he looked at his son, who was trembling head to toe and was completely drained of strength, he thought about things for a moment before he gave Meng Chao a thumbs up as well.
“Son, you were awesome too. Rest well. We’re all here. You don’t have to be afraid,” he said in all seriousness.
“That’s right, with me around, no monster can dream about bullying you!” Bai Jiacao said as well.
Meng Chao giggled and closed his eyes.
A moment later, his eyes flew open.
That’s not right. If he killed the Ghost-eyed Golden Winged Flame Beetle, why did the notification not pop up and tell him how many contribution points he obtained?