Chapter 48: Chapter 44 Narrow Path Meet
Outside the Black Market Casino, a fierce firefight was erupting.
The people from the casino’s direction were pinned down by gunfire, as Heavy Mecha had already gone through a round of strafing. A line of armored gunmen continued to sweep crazily forward, and on both flanks, numerous City State Guards clad in Battle Armor, each holding a Source Power Weapon, were slaughtering those trying to escape to the sides.
Xiao Qi and his group could see the battle raging over there from a distance. The casino side used to be Qin Zhong’s stronghold, where many people exploited by Qin Zhong had gathered.
Somebody spotted Xu Mo and his party coming out, turned around, and opened fire on them. Ye Qingdie shouldered the rocket launcher and fired without hesitation.
“Boom…” The powerful heavy weapons sent a line of people flying.
“Xiao Qi, come out,” Xu Mo said to Xiao Qi, as the hatch on the mecha’s back opened, and Xu Mo replaced Xiao Qi.
Ye Qingdie moved forward, shouldering the rocket launcher.
“Boom, boom, boom…”
More individuals were blown away.
Meanwhile, Xu Mo in his mecha charged forward. The moment the energy activated, streams of Energy Light ran across the mecha’s surface, and blue Energy Flames burst forth from its feet. Propelled by the powerful energy, the mecha tilted its frame and skidded forward at a terrifyingly high speed.
People in front turned to face the mecha and opened fire, but Xu Mo completely ignored these ordinary attacks. The mecha made noise but was not affected in its advance.
“Hss…” The mecha surged forth, and the giant Energy Battle Blade swept through, leaving a trail in the wake of its formidable energy drive. Everyone in its path was slashed and killed instantly, with blood and flesh flying in all directions.
At that moment, the Heavy Mecha turned around, its cannons swiveling towards Xu Mo.
Xu Mo, too, fixed his gaze on the Heavy Mecha but didn’t retreat. Instead, he accelerated and charged forward.
“Boom!”
The heavy cannon fired, but Xu Mo’s mecha dodged deftly to the side at an astonishing speed, avoiding the cannon attack, with a loud explosion sounding off in the distance behind him.
As the heavy cannon continued to fire, Xu Mo dodged left and right, rapidly closing the distance to the Heavy Mecha.
Behind Xu Mo, Ye Qingdie, Ying, and Xiao Qi all watched intently, anxiety visible in their eyes.
Especially as Xu Mo got closer, their tension reached its peak. They saw Xu Mo’s mecha drawing an arc, then soaring into the air with blue Energy Flames jetting from beneath its feet.
Ye Qingdie and the others followed the mecha’s ascent with their eyes, witnessing the descent of the massive figure as the War Saber cleaved towards the Heavy Mecha’s cannon mouth.
A grating, high-pitched noise rang out as the cannon mouth was split open. At the same time, the mecha’s foot kicked at the Heavy Mecha, the tremendous Power flipping it backwards. However, as it flipped, another cannon shot hit Xu Mo’s mecha.
“Boom…” A loud boom and Xu Mo’s mecha was thrown to the ground, with a shattered and caved-in chest plate.
Xu Mo’s body rose again, and his mecha’s colossal form stood upright once more.
“Cool,” Xiao Qi’s eyes gleamed.
“Phew…” Ye Qingdie also let out a breath, feeling relieved. Although Xu Mo had trained for quite some time, this was his first actual combat, and he had performed so perfectly.
Xu Mo felt a bit sore all over after performing at his limits. If it weren’t for the evolution of his brain realm that gave him enhanced neural reactions and perception to assist his body, he would not have been able to complete these maneuvers, given it was his very first time engaging in real mecha combat.
Xu Mo was all tensed up; he had succeeded.
He raised the War Saber and advanced, cleaving open another cannon mouth of the Heavy Mecha, and then strode towards the others.
“Bang, bang, bang.” The others shot wildly at his mecha’s damaged areas, causing the cracks to widen. Xu Mo sped up and charged forward.
Ye Qingdie fired again, while Xiao Qi and Ying also charged forward, only to hear Xiao Qi shouted towards those in the direction of the casino, “What are you waiting for?”
The others snapped out of it and began to take action.
The City State Guard looked bewildered as Xu Mo advanced, slaughtering his way. The Underworld was incredibly strict on the control of such powerful military weaponry.
As for the mechas, only the people at the very top could get their hands on them as they were military weapons of war.
In the hands of ordinary citizens, the most they could circulate were firearms, and even those were quite common ones. They would never be allowed to possess such heavy firepower weapons.
Where had this mecha and rocket launcher come from?
The mecha continued to reap their lives. The giant War Saber was unstoppable, their firepower insufficient.
Soon, the area was cleared out.
But Xu Mo’s mecha had also sustained numerous cracks. Even if the enemy’s firepower wasn’t that fierce, the mecha wasn’t invincible.
Moreover, the energy was also significantly depleted, so Xu Mo shut down the energy.
People inside the casino watched the mecha that seemed to have descended from the Heavenly Gods, utterly astounded. Who was this?
“Where’s Lao K?” Xu Mo stepped forward and asked them.
The crowd parted, and a figure wearing a Lao K mask appeared. Xu Mo focused on the person and said, “Take off the mask.”
The person hesitated but still removed the mask.
Indeed, it wasn’t Qin Zhong.
“Who are you, and why did Lao K have you impersonate him?” Xu Mo asked coldly.
Upon hearing Xu Mo’s words, the hearts of those around him pounded. It wasn’t Lao K?
“How do you know?” The other stared at Xu Mo, “What else do you know?”
He also realized something was amiss.
“We’ve all been betrayed by Lao K. His goal was to incite a riot. The true identity of Lao K is that of a man from the newly appointed councilman, and now, he’s outside with his guns pointed at us,” Ye Qingdie told them, leaving everyone’s faces pale.
“This is impossible.”
“I don’t believe it…” For those involved, it was a tremendous shock; it was the collapse of beliefs.
They looked at the person impersonating Lao K.
“Lao K told me we would be heroes of the Underworld. He needed to take a risk to negotiate and said that he would let us walk out proudly. To avoid any unstable emotions, he had me impersonate him,” the person impersonating Lao K explained, filling everyone with despair upon hearing this.
The reinforcements behind came rushing and opened fire from afar, killing several people instantly.
“No time to waste talking, grab their weapons, put on their armor, and let’s fight our way out. Lao K wouldn’t want us to live. He wants to wipe out everyone involved, including the fake Lao K here, while he assumes a different identity,” Xu Mo said to them, his voice grave: “Any more delays, and we all die.”
Had they not woken up yet?
The crowd came to the realization that, regardless of their despair, the task at hand was to fight their way out.
They had also recognized that they had been deceived; they just didn’t want to admit it.
“Boom…” A rocket launcher-like heavy weapon like the one Ye Qingdie carried fired over, exploding in the center of the crowd and sending many flying.
The mecha activated once more, and Xu Mo charged toward the oncoming crowd.
Ye Qingdie continued to fire, while Xiao Qi’s mechanical arm shot out lightning beams.
The rest grabbed weapons from the corpses and donned armor, following Xu Mo in a counter-charge.
The oncoming attackers faced the mecha and directed their firepower at Xu Mo, and soon guns and cannons were all targeting the mecha.
Xu Mo moved with incredible speed, becoming more familiar with the mecha after the recent battle. With the aid of energy boosters, the mecha slid close to the ground.
He dodged the heavy firepower as much as possible. As for attacks from the energy light and bullets, the mecha could largely ignore them.
However, the concentrated fire still caused significant damage to the mecha.
As Xu Mo approached, the attackers rapidly dispersed.
The mecha slid along the ground, its War Saber sweeping out and cleaving through figure after figure, like a tiger entering a flock of sheep.
“Grab their weapons,” Ye Qingdie shouted loudly to the people around her.
Those hiding in the shadows also rushed out to pick up weapons and joined the charge, seeming to see hope, the hope of survival.
Under the context of what had just occurred, all in the Black Market were in despair; it had been a massacre, and they were disorganized, lacking a backbone.
Previously, Lao K would direct the fighting within the Black Market, but he had slipped away, withdrawing the combatants from their deployment which led to the massacre they were no match for.
As more and more people gathered, even after being through a bloody massacre, there was still a significantly larger population in the Black Market than that of the invaders.
With large numbers of people snatching up weapons and coming together, they had begun a counter-offensive. The law enforcement team and the City State Guard personnel who encountered them in direct combat were immediately cleared away.
The attackers realized this and began to retreat, switching from offense to defense, consolidating toward the entrance of the Black Market.
Along the way, the two sides were continuously in a firefight, the Black Market people mustering the courage to come out and picking up weapons from behind. It was their last chance — not charging meant certain death.
In the Black Market, corpses lay everywhere, some from the law enforcement team and the City State Guard, but mostly the people of the Black Market.
Blood stained the ground red, turning it into a scarlet Purgatory.
“Boom, boom, boom…” The ground shook, and Xu Mo and his group stopped in their tracks. They could now see the entrance of the Black Market, but in the left and right directions, a Heavy Mecha appeared on each side, leveling buildings as they came to reinforce the area.
At the entrance of the Black Market, the retracting troop and those guarding the gate joined forces, forming a strong power. Additionally, the Heavy Mechas stood guard there.
Qin Zhong, wearing Set Armor, stood in the middle, his dark armor flowing with Energy Light, particularly dazzling to the eyes.
His gaze fixed on the mecha driven by Xu Mo and the large group of attackers coming their way, his eyes under the helmet flashing with cold murderous intent.
This was supposed to be a simple slaughter. Yet, the enemy had fought their way here and had even gathered into a formidable force.
The one piloting the mecha, who was it?
It didn’t matter; they were just a rabble.
Xu Mo, too, stared down his opponents. When enemies meet on a narrow road, there is no way back!