Chapter 65 - Deadlock (1)

Yang Zhang took a deep breath and shook his head, "I won't let myself die like Thomas and Martha Wayne. You're going down, Mr… whatever your name is."

The man smirked and prepared his stance, "Wrong choice, kid."

Yang Zhang didn't know what stance he should take since he wasn't adept in martial arts. The man in front of him seemed to have some experience with martial arts, though, and it intimidated Yang Zhang so much.

'Okay, Yang Zhang, don't lower your guard. You might not be able to fight him toe-to-toe, but you have mutated pets and your gauntlet gun! I can do this!' Yang Zhang tried to encourage himself because this would be his first fight against a seemingly dangerous ability user.

Yang Zhang noticed that all his pets were peeking to see the enemy.

"Chirp!"

"Squeak!"

"Vii! Vii!"

"Pii!"

"Oh no, you guys, don't do anything rash without my command. This guy in front of us is serious trouble. He will seriously kill us all!" Yang Zhang scolded his pets, that were about to prepare themselves for the battle.

"Squeak?"

"Yeah, I don't know this guy. This guy is not as forgiving as the old lady in that settlement. Let's see what he can do first, okay?" Yang Zhang said.

The man looked at Yang Zhang's interaction with his weird pets. It seemed that this kid could communicate with those mutated animals.

But none of them seemed to pose a serious threat for him. Combined with that non-threatening man, this would be easy.

"Heh, goofy-ass kid, that bag full of medicines will be mine!" The man dashed straight towards Yang Zhang with a knife ready to slash.

"WHA!?" Yang Zhang was caught off guard, he tried to back off to dodge, but the man was so quick. So he ducked, and the knife almost hit his hair.

Yang Zhang pushed the man and ran away, distancing himself from him again, "Geez! What's wrong with you? I'm not ready yet!"

"Pii! Pii!"

"See? Even my pet said it's not fair!"

"Do you think I will wait?" The man chuckled. "Well, I guess you do have a good reaction. The next attack wouldn't miss. I will not go easy on you."

The man dashed again with a knife in his right hand, but this time, he threw another knife towards Yang Zhang while running, so the latter's attention would diverge.

Yang Zhang didn't want to continue fighting in this situation. He would lose since the man was quick and adept at using knives.

Yang Zhang jumped to the side and opened his palm towards a tree, "Ivy!"

"Vii!"

Little Ivy stretched two vines and grabbed the tall branch. Yang Zhang was pulled towards the tree and sat on the branch, "HAH! I have the high ground now!" Yang Zhang said while sticking his tongue out to mock the man on the ground. He prepared his gauntlet gun and loaded the regular pea bullets since he could freely shoot the man from above now.

The man stared at Yang Zhang sitting on a branch while loading something that seemed to be a gun. This goofy kid has some unique tools, it seemed.

The man licked his lips, and his smirk grew wider, "So many unique things. Killing you will give me many unique things, HAHAHA!"

The man threw a knife at Yang Zhang, and Yang Zhang dodged by ducking.

"WHAT!" Yang Zhang got up and hid behind the tree to avoid the second knife.

"Damn it, this man is seriously adept at throwing his knives," Yang Zhang mumbled. He wanted to attack, but when he tried to peek from behind the tree, the man quickly threw another knife, not giving him a chance to attack.

He could also clearly see Yang Zhang's location, even behind the tree with lots of leaves covering him.

Yang Zhang suspected that the man had an ability that compliments his throwing skill, probably a sharp eyes that could see through things.

"I need something to divert his attention," Yang Zhang looked at his pets and then decided to use Chestnut since the squirrel was also adept in the tall tree branches.

"Chestnut, try to divert his attention by running from one branch to another, so I have an opening to attack him," Yang Zhang said.

"Squeak!" Chesnut readied itself to jump, Yang Zhang waited for another knife throw, and once he heard another knife hit the branch, he commanded.

"Now, Chesnut!"

"Squeak!"

Chestnut started jumping from one branch to another, hiding behind the leaves. Chestnut intentionally shook the branch to ensure that its master's enemy noticed the movement and attacked Chestnut instead.

When he heard the branches rustling, the man was holding a knife, ready to throw it again. He squinted to see who was running in the branches since the leaves were a perfect hiding spot.

Thanks to his ability, the man could easily see a squirrel jumping around to make a noise.

"You think I don't know your dirty little trick?" The man said in a low voice. He saw that goofy kid was still hiding behind the trunk, waiting for an opening.

The man decided to take another knife and threw one towards the squirrel, he knew he'd miss it because the squirrel was so agile and small, but the goofy kid reacted by jumping another branch and aiming at him with his unique gun, much to the man's expectation.

"I saw you, kid."

**

Yang Zhang waited for the man to throw the knife towards Chestnut. Once, he heard the knife hitting on a branch near Chestnut's position. He jumped to another branch and aimed at the man with his gauntlet gun.

But before he could attack, the man had already thrown a knife in his direction, and it was too late for him to dodge.

"ARGH!"

Yang Zhang winced in pain when the knife stabbed his arm. He lost his balance and fell from the tall tree.

"VII!" Little Ivy quickly grabbed the branch with two vines, ensuring her master wouldn't get hurt.

It took a moment for Yang Zhang to recover from the pain. The stinging pain was still there, but he knew he couldn't wail in pain here. Because this was a life or death situation.

The man chuckled and threw a knife aimed at Yang Zhang's head, and Little Ivy helped by swinging Yang Zhang from one branch to another, so they could avoid the knives.

"So unique, I see that your pets are actually helpful," the man commented while he kept throwing his knives.

Yang Zhang gritted his teeth and grabbed the knife planted on his arm.

"Urrrghh! RARGH!" Yang Zhang grunted as he tried to endure the pain. His jacket was now bloodied around the arm, but he didn't care. He had to kill this man first.

Chestnut rejoined after seeing their master get hurt.

"Ivy, continue swinging!"

"Viii!"

Yang Zhang endured the pain when he lifted his arm to aim at the man. His hand was shaking because of the wound, and he started shooting the man while he was swinging around the man.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

The man saw a pea bullet propelled in his direction. He raised his eyebrow because he thought he saw it wrong.

'It really is a pea. Why would he shoot a pea at me? What a goofy kid. Does he think the apocalypse is some sort of a comedy show?' The man thought. He didn't move when the pea bullet almost hit his arm.

But when the pea bullet actually hit his arm—

"ARGHHH!"

The man screamed because the pea was almost like a steel bullet pierced through his skin and wounded his right arm, right at the same spot where he hit that goofy kid.

"Yeah! Arm for an arm!" Yang Zhang screamed victoriously. He saw the man was wounded, so he continued the attack.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

The man gritted his teeth. He dodged the pea bullets this time. He started bleeding. The sensation was eerily similar to getting hit by a steel bullet.

'How could that kid create a pea with the toughness of a steel bullet?' He pondered.

But there was no time to think right now because Yang Zhang continuously barraged the man with pea bullets, ensuring that the man could not attack him anymore.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Clank! Clank! Clank!

The man started deflecting the pea bullet with his knife. But he was in the losing spot here because he couldn't hit that goofy kid, thanks to the swinging plant.

"Alright, time to activate my trump card," the man dodged rows of pea bullets before he closed his eyes for a three-second and opened it.

"Deadlock," The man said in a low voice, and his eyes changed their shape, turning into a '+' sign and automatically aimed at his target.

He could easily read the pea bullets projectile in this mode and dodged without even using his knife.

He took a knife from his pocket and looked at Yang Zhang. He could automatically aim at Yang Zhang's head, but instead, he aimed at the vine that helped him swing continuously.

"I got you in my sight."