Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Title Translator’s Note: The chapter title refers to a scene in the 2013 Wong Kar-wai movie, “The Grandmaster”. The protagonist, Ip Man, was eager to hear the ‘priceless sound’ of metal brushing against the weapon of a rival kungfu master. It indicates that Ip Man was faster than his rival, and his rival’s attack was successfully blocked.
Bang!
Lead flew out of the muzzle of the shotgun!
Thud thud thud!
In the blink of an eye, the rooftop railing was riddled with black holes like a wasp’s nest.
Unfortunately, or rather, fortunately, Liu Zilang managed to jump over the railing before Billy had fired his shotgun; none of the lead shots hit him.
“Wow! That was a close encounter with death.”
“The situation hasn’t become any better for him. Oh! Billy King has jumped over the railing as well!”
“It seems like Billy King is determined to kill him.”
“That’s to be expected. I mean, if you picked up a gun after touching down and encountered someone without one, you’d chase him across several streets too.”
The rooftop of the three-story building was not too high. Therefore, the damage sustained from jumping off the rooftop was minor.
Liu Zilang could still feel the lead shot that had brushed past his head when he landed on the ground. The feeling sent chills up his spine.
There was no time to relax. He heard hasty footsteps coming from above and behind him.
He lifted his head.
He saw a black silhouette descending from above him!
‘Give me a break!’
‘Why are you chasing me? I don’t have Jizhi Cough Syrup!’ 1
Liu Zilang cursed in his heart but dared not slow down his footsteps. Noticing a wall in a side alley, he hastily ran toward and climbed over it.
Thud!
Billy landed on the ground. He saw Liu Zilang climb over the wall but did not give chase immediately.
He inserted another 12 gauge shell into the chamber of his shotgun and licked his lips.
‘Running away?’
Liu Zilang was already over the wall. He shuddered as he heard the shotgun behind him being reloaded.
His original plan was to look for a gun in the house nearby. However, judging by the distance between them, his opponent would catch up with him and shoot him in the back by the time he reached the house.
Even if he was lucky enough to dodge the shot, he was not guaranteed a gun in the house. Not to mention, he was not guaranteed the luxury of time to load the gun even if he found one.
In a flash, he went through all the possibilities in his mind.
After having done so, he abruptly stopped running forward. Then, in an unexpected turn of events, he ran back toward the wall.
The live audience members and live stream viewers were stunned by his seemingly ‘repentant’ move.
“Why did he turn back?”
“F*ck! Don’t tell me he’s going to bring a sickle to a shotgun fight?”
“That’s a little arrogant, no? If he beats Billy King’s shotgun with a sickle, I’ll eat sh*t for a month!”
“Tsk tsk, young people nowadays have such exotic palates! This guy probably hasn’t seen Vic’s streams before…”
“…”
The live stream chat room bustled with activity.
In the game, Billy raised an eyebrow when he saw Liu Zilang who was still holding only a sickle, turn back to face him.
‘Interesting!’
He liked men who did not back down from a challenge and despised those who ran away at the sight of a gun.
The wielder of the S1897 and the wielder of a sickle looked at each other from across the wall.
Billy made the first move.
He tried jumping on the spot. However, the wall was neck-high. Unlike a low wall, it would block his bullets even if he jumped before shooting.
After trying several times in vain, he gave up on the idea.
Immediately after, both of his hands gripped the top of the wall. He then lifted himself and brought his legs over the wall.
As he landed on the ground, his eyes grew wide!
While he climbed over the wall, Liu Zilang did the same thing in the opposite direction.
They exchanged positions.
The wall still stood between them.
‘F*ck!’
Billy was unhappy. He immediately turned around and climbed over the wall again.
He was fast but Liu Zilang was equally as fast.
Once again, they exchanged positions.
“‘I’ll climb again!”
‘”I’ll climb again too!”
‘”I’m not stopping!”
‘”Me neither!”
…
Both of them climbed over the wall four times in a row. Every time Billy climbed the wall, Liu Zilang immediately followed suit.
Their positions swapped continuously.
The only thing that remained constant was the wall that stood between them.
Billy: …
He fell silent for a moment before he stretched his arms to grip the wall once again.
Liu Zilang quickly followed suit.
However, this time, Billy canceled the animation just when he was about to heave himself over the wall.
‘Gotcha!’
Billy was going to shout, “Surprise, motherf*cker!”. However, after he had happily lifted his head, he became cross-eyed.
Liu Zilang had also canceled the animation.
Billy fell silent once again. He had never been toyed like that by a man before!
His eyes turned red, and his breathing became heavy.
‘You’re dead meat, man!’
Meanwhile, the live audience members and live stream viewers laughed out loud as they watched the two players climb over the wall continuously and even did ‘pull-ups’ in the end!
The bullet screen exploded with activity!
“Turtles! Vic is very naughty this time!”
“I think Billy King is having a mental breakdown, ‘Why did I have to meet such a cunning opponent?'”
“Billy King: Stay there if you have balls!”
“Vic: Come after me if you have balls!”
“You can stop with the antics now! Bahaha!”
“…”
The standoff was not going to end any time soon.
Suddenly, gunfire was heard coming from the northern side of Rozhok!
Swish swish swish~!
A series of bullets pierced through the air.
“Oh! It’s SmaK from team TSM. He was looting the rooftops in northern Rozhok and noticed the scene.”
“Heheh, well, they’ve been climbing for ages. It would have been more surprising if no one spotted them.”
“SmaK is wielding a VSS. It’s not very accurate.”
“That must be good news for Vic. SmaK’s first target is Billy who has the shotgun.”
“So Vic can take the chance to escape!”
“Wait a second! Vic isn’t running away? What’s his plan?”
“…”
On the caster’s camera, from God’s perspective.
Billy was seen to be suddenly under attack by an external force. Typical players would immediately dive for cover. Evidently, this was not the case for Billy. He climbed the wall once more, attempting to divert the attention to Liu Zilang.
Whoosh~!
Billy’s hands gripped the wall once again, and he climbed over it in one clean motion.
Splat splat!
SmaK landed two hits on Billy’s body with his peashooter, and it sliced off a chunk of his health.
Billy had expected Liu Zilang to climb over the wall and exchange positions once again.
He had not expected Liu Zilang to take two quick strides toward him, pull out his sickle, and then attack him with a ‘Cross Slash’!
‘Oh sh*t!’ Billy’s eyes widened.
Billy’s feet had not yet touched the ground. It has to be said that a player could not fire his gun during the wall-climbing animation. Otherwise, Liu Zilang would have successfully expanded several lives by then. Billy could only watch helplessly as Liu Zilang’s sickle was swung in his direction!
Slash!
Blood spurted out from Billy’s body as the blade cut across him!
Being at unequal heights, Liu Zilang could not attack Billy’s head. That was why Liu Zilang did not attack him earlier when he was climbing over the wall.
Billy had already lost quite a bit of health after taking two bullets from SmaK. With Liu Zilang’s sickle attack, another huge chunk of his health was cut off, and his health was brought to the critical level.
However, at this time, Billy’s feet touched the ground. He immediately lifted his shotgun!
At the same time, Liu Zilang swung his sickle again!
Which was faster, the sickle or the shotgun?
The live audience waited in anticipation for the sound of a shotgun.
If the sound of a shogun was heard, it meant that the sickle was slower.
However…
Billy’s shotgun was never heard.
…