That Dice

Earlier, Pang Jinghe had assumed Wen Jifei was about as useless as he was. He didn't know Wen Jifei was a Dice; his judgment was based on something very simple—the guy used a gun. In this hidden world of source energy, people hadn't feared firearms for far too long. Inertial thinking had long since hardened into a conditioned reflex, rapid enough to automatically reject any further thought. On the other hand, Wen Jifei hadn't even activated his apparatus when he climbed onto the bluestone platform. He simply carried his rifle in one hand, arm swinging naturally, complaining and venting with an air of dejection as he walked toward Qu Zongxing. The danger in this sequence was something that defied prior calculation or retrospective terror. Perhaps the slightest false impression of preparing to draw a blade would have meant his death. Perhaps merely walking over like that would have prompted Qu Zongxing to suddenly decide to swat him dead with a single palm, just to put pressure on Han Qingyu and Wu Xu. In short, the initiative lay entirely with Qu Zongxing, hanging on his single whim. To counter this, Wen Jifei had laid another piece of groundwork: he was pretending to talk Wu Xu down. That pretext bought him just enough time to speak a few more words. He reached the word "Qu." The instant the syllable fell, the natural swing of his gun-carrying arm happened to carry it upward. Arresting his breath on the first half of "Zong," Wen Jifei raised his arm, pushed the rifle forward, turned his wrist downward, and fired. *Bang!* Between the already negligible distance and that forward thrust of the long rifle, the muzzle was less than fifty centimeters from Qu Zongxing's heart. It was fired almost point-blank. The crack of the shot gave everyone a sense of sheer absurdity. What was he doing? Firing a gun? Firing a gun at a super combat power?! Whether enemy or the Azure comrades beside Wu Xu, every person present felt the exact same way. But no one had time to speak. Because on the bluestone platform, the real Qu Zongxing—the super combat power Qu Zongxing, who had just made his stunning reveal—was already flying backward with the shot, tumbling off the stone platform. The very first source-energy-powered dead iron bullet ever fired at a super combat power in the source energy world entered Qu Zongxing's completely undefended chest, pierced through his heart, and erupted out his back. Blood sprayed in midair. Wen Jifei stood there. After waiting two seconds, his face expressionless, he lowered his rifle and turned around, calm and utterly unfazed. Yet he was the one who had made the kill. The very first super that Stream Vanguard had ever faced—killed by him. Killed by a Dice. And there hadn't been any need to charge in and hack away in a bloody, desperate brawl like those noobs Major Qing and Lieutenant Wu. When Second Lieutenant Wen acted, all he needed to do was stroll over, fire a shot, and be done with it. As the saying went, there was always someone more shameless than the next. It took a scoundrel to grind down a scoundrel. The contest between ambush and counter-ambush had been waged since time immemorial. Amid the stunned gasps across the plaza, Qu Zongxing landed, staggered to his feet, and slowly lifted his head. First, he looked blankly at Wen Jifei's back; then, looking down, he saw the bloody hole in his chest. "I..." Qu Zongxing used his life source energy to temporarily lock in his fading vitality. He was a super. Yet he was still going to die! If he had possessed even a shred of advance vigilance and source energy defense, or if he had been a pinnacle figure among super combat powers, this shot, even if it landed, would most likely not have been fatal. Yet all hypothetical scenarios were meaningless now. The bullet had torn straight through his heart. This situation was at least better than having the bullet detonate inside his heart; it allowed him to hold out a little longer. Still, unless Qu Zongxing had the miraculous fortune of Rusty Sister—undergoing modification and successfully establishing an internal source energy circulation system—the moment his frantically draining life source energy ran dry, he would die on the spot. "What... what is this?" the old man muttered. He seemed somewhat dejected, but even more so, filled with incomprehension, disbelief, and bitter resentment. Wen Jifei looked back and said flatly, "A gun." Qu Zongxing mumbled, "A gun?" "Yeah. The world is always progressing, Village Chief Qu... and I am progress." Wen Jifei gave a faint smile. Only now did the rest of the people on the plaza finally snap out of their daze. Their performance tonight seemed rather shameful, as they had stood by watching the entire time without offering any substantial help. Yet they could hardly be blamed. Every single development had come too abruptly, caught them completely off guard, and reversed the situation far too quickly. Should they charge forward now? Qu Zongxing wasn't dead yet, but even if he threw his last remaining breath into a desperate fight, he wouldn't be able to kill anyone. There were two other capable fighters on the opposite side—and besides, wouldn't that man turn him into a sieve? That gun... could kill a super combat power, everyone thought in horror. "Holy shit, brother, that was incredible!" Pang Jinghe came running down the side steps, calling out, "I was worried about you guys, so I didn't leave at all! Thank goodness you're alright!" As he ran down, he suddenly looked back and pointed. "Oh, right—there's a fight breaking out up top! Someone started hacking away, I don't know who!" There were plenty of logical holes in that statement, but no one bothered to probe deeper... Han Qingyu and Wen Jifei exchanged a swift glance. "Up top? The Qu family manor?!" "Fuck! Zhu Jiaming!" There was at least a ninety percent chance that Zhu Jiaming had seized the opportunity while the fighting erupted down here to make his move on the Bone of Eternal Life up there. Over the past two days, he had surely been observing and waiting for his chance. And just now had undoubtedly been the best chance of all. What a world full of shameless bastards! Wu Xu was utterly unable to adjust; caught off balance, he turned and asked, "What do we do now?" "Go!" Han Qingyu no longer held back his blood or cared about his injuries. He spun on his heel—*pfft!*—coughing up another mouthful. Because the fact that they had killed Qu Zongxing, beyond being an incredible feat, held little practical significance for Han Qingyu. The Bone of Eternal Life was the real key. It was just like how the person swindlers and robbers feared most was never the police, but someone who had absolutely nothing. You scam and rob and exhaust yourself for half a day, only to end up with nothing to show for it. Qu Zongxing didn't have the Bone of Eternal Life on him; he had hidden it away. "Let's go," Wen Jifei called out to Lin Qiangqiang and the others. Turning around, the group prepared to leap down from the stone platform. *Whoosh!* Dressed in plain white without any adornments, a figure with disheveled hair leaped down from a high rooftop. It was nothing like the graceful lightness seen in television dramas; rather, he smashed straight into the ground like an artillery shell. Dirt and stone exploded in all directions. The white-robed old man hit the ground and sprinted forward instantly. "Zongxing!" The Qu clan elders around the plaza stared, and stared, before violently coming to their senses. Leading the way, they dropped to one knee. "We welcome the Clan Head!" The next instant, the Qu clan members fell to their knees in swathes. "We welcome the Clan Head!" Qu Zongyan of the Qu clan—Qu Zongxing's elder brother, a man whom even the village elders believed had died twenty-five years ago—was still alive. "A super," Han Qingyu said, halting his motion. From the way Qu Zongyan had crashed down from on high, he could already tell: a super combat power. Not on the level of Ye Jian, but likely stronger than Qu Zongxing. Two supers in one family. Given that the degree of source energy fusion was not hereditary, what kind of probability was that?! Thus, Qu Zongxing's ambition to contend for dominion over the world no longer seemed as naive and ignorant as they had previously thought. He truly had some capital. Two supers in a single clan was more than enough to inflate a family that had never genuinely interacted with the outside world. If they had truly been let loose, they might really have stirred up considerable waves. A pity... "Zongxing!" Qu Zongyan arrived at his side, supporting Qu Zongxing and performing a series of maneuvers to stop the bleeding. Then he spun around, his eyes wild with fury as he glared at Han Qingyu and the others. "Die!" The white robe blurred into an afterimage, charging straight toward them. Han Qingyu and Wu Xu stepped forward at once. "Watch out for the gun!" Qu Zongxing urgently warned from behind. The white shadow began to shift, varying its speed while weaving in a jagged, evasive path. Wen Jifei raised his rifle. If not for the reminder, he had almost forgotten that this was his stage. *Bang!* The instant the rifle settled onto his left arm, the bullet fired. It grazed past the white blur. A look of shock flashed across Qu Zongyan's eyes. *Whoosh!* The white blur darted into a building beside the plaza and vanished from sight. The bullet had nearly struck him. Stunned by Wen Jifei's marksmanship, he realized that dodging was unreliable under such circumstances. If he continued forward and engaged in close combat, the moment Han Qingyu and Wu Xu managed to stall him—even for a fraction of a second—he would very likely take a bullet. Qu Zongyan had no idea that the bullet wasn't inherently lethal; his judgment was based entirely on Qu Zongxing's wound. And of course, he had even less idea that Wen Jifei only had three or four shots to work with. A miss. Wen Jifei felt no regret, because that round had merely been a regular bullet. He had used it to probe and gauge Qu Zongyan's capabilities, never expecting it to hit in the first place. Following this sudden twist, silence descended upon the plaza. For once, Wen Jifei didn't utter a word. He stood atop the stone platform, at the very front of the group, standing ahead of Han Qingyu and Wu Xu for the very first time. Just like that, holding the Elegy of the Square level, his head slightly tilted behind the sniper scope, he slowly shifted his muzzle, locking down the entire plaza. The fires on the plaza continued to burn; the crowd did not dare to move. On this night. That Dice who had nearly been expelled from Regiment 425's boot camp last year stood alone with a rifle, deterring a super and holding the entire plaza at bay.