Chapter 637: Speculation

Chapter 637 Speculation 

“Sniper!”

Seeing Jaina fall, Duan Gang became shocked. However, he quickly shouted, “There are Irregularities here!”

The double-ended blade of light in Duan Gang’s hand, which had been turned off earlier, shone out once more. He turned to look at Sebast with a twisted expression. “Mr Sebast! Where is that fellow hiding?” 

“Not necessarily an Irregularity.” Sebast maintained a calm demeanour and waved at Duan Gang.

Duan Gang was stunned. Then, Sebast stretched out his hand to point. “See?”

The flying skateboard rapidly turned to fly toward the falling Jaina, catching her in mid-air. Flipping herself, Jaina stood upon the skateboard once more.

“The attack did not pierce through her protective suit. It is just an ordinary sniper rifle. These things can be found easily enough in instance dungeons.” Sebast looked at his life signature device. “The life signature detector cannot differentiate between Irregularities and Awakened ones. I also do not know where that sniper is hiding. However… … I am feeling curious about that sniper.”

“You… … what do you mean?” Duan Gang did not understand.

“You don’t understand?” Sebast smiled and looked at Duan Gang. “We initiated a sudden attack, but the sniper did not panic. Instead, that person immediately counter attacked. This means… … that sniper must have seen someone else performing clearing duty.”

Up in the sky, Jaina, who was on her flying skateboard once more, pulled herself up higher. She no longer hovered in the same spot. Instead, she kept moving around.

Likewise, she was no longer aiming and firing her rocket launcher indiscriminately at the running crowd. Instead, she looked around to check for potential sniping locations.

However, no other shots were fired after that earlier shot.

“Silent and calm, hiding when there are no opportunities. This is definitely unlike an Awakened who only has the memories of an ordinary human.” Sebast nodded slowly. “I want to find this fellow. As for you, Duan Gang… … you are responsible for finding those here who are still alive. Don’t kill them. I need more survivors.”

…

Carrying his rifle, Yang Lin ran under the cover provided by the houses. Occasionally, he would raise his head to look through the gaps above at Jaina, who remained in the sky.

Daniel and Grace were following him. Despite the intensity of their movements, their faces looked pale.

Yang Lin now carried with him an old bolt-action rifle, the M1903 Springfield. There was a scope on the rifle.

The sounds of explosions continued to echo around them non-stop. The sounds were moving closer and closer to their location.

After firing a shot just now, Yang Lin immediately started running into another house. After less than half a minute, Jaina fired out another warhead into the house that he was hiding in, reducing it into smithereens.

“Hey, Yang Lin! Where are you running to? Why are we getting closer and closer to the centre of the town? We should be running away!”

When Yang Lin was leaning against the wall to check his surroundings, Grace, who was gasping for breath, took the opportunity to ask.

“Run?” Yang Lin turned back to give her a glance. “Did I ever said I was running?”

“You… … don’t want to run? Then, what do you want to do?” Grace widened her eyes, suppressing the volume of her voice as best she could so that it did not become a scream.

“Running, we won’t make it.” Yang Lin smiled. There were both tiredness and nonchalance on his face.

He recalled the conversation between him and Bluesea.

…

“You are going to leave us just like this?”

“At any rate, we will die anyways. Be it dying in the hands of the Irregularities or the system, in the end, it is the same. Me staying behind or not, what difference does it make?”

“Since there is no difference between staying behind and leaving, why do you want to leave?”

“The person that Chen Xiaolian wants to find is the daughter of an old friend. Since I will be dying in the end, why not do something for him before that?”

“Those so-called Irregularities, they will find their way here eventually? What should we do?”

“Think about it… … what can you do? Rather, even if you do something, then what?” Bluesea’s face was filled with fatigue.

“You are right.” Yang Lin sighed.

“Then, I am leaving.” Bluesea turned around and made his way to the door. “Take care.”

“Hey.”

As Bluesea was about to reach for the door handle, Yang Lin called out.

Bluesea halted his steps and turned to look at Yang Lin.

“You… … were a soldier, right? How did you die?”

“A bomb in a live-fire exercise detonated ahead of time,” said Bluesea coolly. “What about you?”

“During an operation, we got the wrong intel and suffered from a terrorist ambush. I ran out of bullets.” Yang Lin smiled. “You know as well, we cannot let ourselves be taken prisoner. Thankfully, I did leave a glory grenade for myself.”  [1]

“So, you’re special forces.” Bluesea nodded. “No wonder, the air around you felt similar to ours.”

“Originally, I had thought that there would be nothing after death. Unexpectedly, when I re-opened my eyes, here I was. However… … if I die again here, it will really be the end, right?”

“Yes, I think… … that is the case.”

“Goodbye.” Yang Lin smiled at Bluesea and performed a military salute.

Bluesea turned to face Yang Lin. He too, performed a standard military salute. Next, he pushed open the door and walked out.

“No matter what, we will have to die in the end… …” Yang Lin turned around and pushed open the window to look at Bluesea, who moved farther and farther away. Then, he watched as the Devourer fighter aircraft rose into the sky.

“Then, before dying, do something to help others!”

…

“Hey! Are you listening? If you have no way of running away, you should have spoken up earlier! I don’t want to die with you!”

Grace’s words interrupted Yang Lin’s thoughts. His face contorted.

“Miss Grace, I don’t recall asking you to come with me.” Yang Lin gave Grace a glance. “You are the one who wants to follow me. If you want to run, go ahead. Assuming, of course, you can run away.”

Grace bit her lip as she glared at Yang Lin.

Yang Lin no longer paid any attention to Grace. Instead, his eyes were attracted to a figure flying through the sky.

A blond youngster in fine clothing had flown up to the sky some time just now. The blond youngster hovered beside the woman on the flying skateboard.

A pair of thin wings protruded from his back and they flapped slowly.

When he approached the woman on the skateboard, she stopped moving. At the same time, she also stopped firing warheads down. She appeared to be chatting with the blond youngster.

Since firing the first shot, Yang Lin had not found another opportunity to fire another shot. Firstly, Jaina had begun utilizing her rocket launcher to suppress his ability to open fire. Secondly, she had appeared uninjured.

Yang Lin looked down at the M1903 in his hands and sighed to himself.

Although it was a century-old antique, it was the best sniper rifle he could find in the town’s gun shop. For his first shot to actually hit the woman earlier was already a fair bit of good luck on his part.

A mere 7.62 mm bullet did not possess enough firepower. Although the woman had taken a shot, she appeared completely unharmed.

If only I have a 12.7 mm anti-materiel rifle right now…

However, there was no time for Yang Lin to dwell on the impossible. Seizing the opportunity provided by the two figures hovering still up in the sky, he raised up his rifle again and took aim.

Since he could not break the woman’s defence, might as well try… … the blond youngster.

The blond youngster’s mouth continued moving as he spoke to the woman on the skateboard.

Yang Lin adjusted his breath, making it even. His index finger moved to rest upon the trigger as he shifted the crosshair on the scope to centre on the blond youngster’s head. Estimating the size and distance, he made a few adjustments to his aim.

Slowly, he exerted more force with his index finger as he stabilized the rifle muzzle…

Bang!

The trigger was pulled and the bullet shot out.

At that very moment, Yang Lin’s whole body stiffened.

The very instant that the bullet shot out from the rifle muzzle, Yang Lin, who was looking through the scope, saw the blond youngster turn to face him.

At that moment, there were at least 500 metres between the two of them. The moment he pulled the trigger, neither the bullet nor the sound from the bullet could have reached the man yet.

How… … did he find me?

All of that happened in an instant. The next moment, Yang Lin watched as the blond youngster put up two fingers before him.

Although he could not see it clearly, Yang Lin was certain that the two fingers the blond youngster put up must have caught the bullet that he had fired just now.

After that, the blond youngster extended his hand toward Yang Lin and made a marble flicking gesture.

Yang Lin was stunned. He swiftly pulled himself back, but before he could even turn his head, an intense slamming sensation spread out from his shoulder.

A fine hole had appeared on one of the wooden planks covering him. The impact of the thing slamming into his shoulder threw him down to the ground.

Yang Lin gritted his teeth in an attempt to straighten himself and pull out the handgun in his chest area. However, his entire right arm felt numb and he was unable to exert any force through it.

Lowering his head, he saw that a bloody hole had appeared on his shoulder. His whole shoulder appeared on the verge of breaking apart.

Grace screamed and took a few steps backward. Daniel had a look of shock on his face, but he quickly rushed forward to help Yang Lin up.

“Gun! Draw your gun… … sigh, never mind.” Yang Lin clenched his teeth and growled at Daniel in a hushed tone. Halfway through, though, he sighed and shook his head.

Unknowingly, that blond youngster had appeared before him.

He had retracted the pair of black wings on his back, leaving not a trace of its existence. There was an enigmatic smile on his handsome face as he regarded Yang Lin’s shoulder.

“You could not dodge the bullet that I shot. Considering that, you should be just an ordinary Awakened.” Sebast walked forward until he was standing right before Yang Lin. Looking down at the wound that he had left on Yang Lin, he asked, “Does it hurt?”

Yang Lin looked up and stared back at Sebast. There was no fear in his eyes. “The Hell do you care?”

“You’ve got guts.” Sebast smiled. He crouched and reached out with a finger to tap Daniel lightly on his shoulder.

Daniel had no time to even react. Next, he felt as though a train had slammed him. That one tap sent him flying tens of metres away before he landed heavily on the ground.

“Don’t worry, I did not kill him.” Seeing the change in Yang Lin’s expression, Sebast extended one finger and waved it. “I have some questions for you fellows. Before getting the answers, you fellows will not die.”

“Since I know I will die after telling you, why should I tell you? Do you take me for a fool?” Yang Lin sneered. He brought up his remaining good arm to prop himself up, using the wall beside him to support his body.

“Maybe, after you tell me everything, I might let you live?” Sebast smiled.

“Let me live and wait for this junkyard to automatically clear us?” Yang Lin sneered. “You are better off spinning this lie to others.”

“As expected…” Sebast gave Yang Lin a profound look. “You know what is going on with World’s End. You also know what we are doing.”

A whistling sound could be heard as Jaina, who was up in the sky, descended to the ground. She stood behind Sebast.

“Mr Sebast?”

Jaina was puzzled to see that Sebast had not killed off the three Awakened ones there.

“Did you hear about the emergence of an Irregularity traitor in World’s End?” Sebast turned to look at Jaina.

“There is… … such a thing?” Jaina was startled. With a face filled with shock, she said, “Mr Sebast, the traitor that you are talking about…”

“Stand right there!” Sebast abruptly snorted out as he snapped the fingers on his right hand.

Grace, who was standing behind the two of them, had been carefully shifting her feet backward, hoping to secretly leave. However, after Sebast snapped his fingers, the ground beneath her feet turned into adhesive the colour of blood. No matter how hard she tried, she was unable to shift her feet at all.

Grace paled. As she was about to give it her all to run away, the blood-coloured layer of adhesive seemingly came alive. It shot up along both of her legs, wrapping itself tightly around them like jelly.

She opened her mouth to scream, but the layer of adhesive crawled up to seal her mouth.

Both Yang Lin and Daniel were also enveloped by the layer of adhesive. Daniel, like Grace, had his mouth sealed by the adhesive. Yang Lin was the only one who was not. Only, all four of his limbs had been restrained by the layer of adhesive.

“Looks like you don’t know enough, Jaina.” Sebast ignored Grace and Daniel. Smiling at Jaina, he said, “Kreo, Ka Huang, and Viper. Those three had died inside the instance dungeons that they were supposed to be clearing up. Do you think Awakened ones who have lost their abilities and memories could kill them?”

“I have not heard the first two names before. However, Viper was quite the expert,” replied Jaina with a whisper.

“Correct.” Sebast nodded his head. “Thus, the one who killed those three must be an Irregularity.”

“But why… … why would anyone do that? I do not understand, Mr Sebast!” Jaina gritted her teeth. “If the Development Team discovers what is going on here and switch to manual clearing, would the traitor be able to remain unscathed?”

“That is what I want to figure out.” Sebast sneered and turned toward Yang Lin once more. “I think, the Irregularity who is going against the Coalition must have uncovered a secret that others do not know of. And that secret… … would allow him or her to escape the Development Team’s manual clearing move!”

…

[1] Glory grenade. In order to not be taken prisoner and suffer humiliation, certain members of military forces take themselves out with a grenade. The grenade is called glory grenade.