All-Out Assault

Through the back alleys, Long Ming and Shi Qiang ran flat out. Shi Qiang glanced back, saw Haman and the others closing in, and shouted in alarm. "Damn it, they've caught up!" "Damn it all!" Long Ming cursed under his breath, raised the Gecko automatic pistol in his hand, and fired a shot at Haman's group. Bang! "Bastard—he's got a gun! Take him down first!" Startled, Haman and the rest immediately raised their weapons and opened fire on Long Ming. Long Ming swerved right, out of their line of sight, and bolted. Shi Qiang followed, running hard. Bang bang! Bullets slammed into the wall at the corner, sparks scattering. The two of them fled for their lives, trying to use the maze of terrain to shake their pursuers. But the pack behind them stuck to their heels like vipers, refusing to let go, firing all the while without a thought for the cost. Long Ming returned fire with his pistol now and then, but far from driving them back, it only made them chase harder. He looked as if he'd seen a ghost. Were these people that rich? Did they not care about bullets at all? His gaze sharpened. He cut left into a narrow alley. There he sprang sharply up and to the right, planted a foot on the wall, pushed off and jumped left, then stepped onto the left wall, kicking his way upward again and again, until at last he reached out, gripped the sill of an open window, and hauled himself inside. Shi Qiang gaped at the maneuver. He hastily fished a rope out of his backpack, tossed it up, and shouted anxiously. "Bro, I can't get up—pull me up!" "Are you stupid? Keep running ahead! I promise you won't die!" Long Ming snapped, face dark, looking down at Shi Qiang. If the man stayed down there, it amounted to exposing Long Ming's position outright. "Huh? You sure?" Shi Qiang asked, thrown. "Sure. Now run!" Long Ming urged. Hearing that, Shi Qiang could only throw caution to the wind and sprint ahead with everything he had. Long Ming drew back into the room and hid himself against the wall. Before long, Haman and the others came chasing up. "Boss, there he is!" Xiao Ka spotted the fleeing Shi Qiang and said to Haman. "After him!" Haman sped up with his companions and gave chase. Once they had run past, Long Ming at once stuck his head out to look. Now he could see clearly how the five were equipped: Haman in front carried a submachine gun; the two underlings beside him each held a single-shot rifle; the remaining two gripped axes. He took steady aim at Haman's back. Just then Haman felt that something was wrong. They had been chasing two men, yet only one was in sight, and he instinctively turned his head for a glance back. There was Long Ming, leaning out of the window with his gun leveled at them. Haman's face changed, and he flung himself aside! Bang! Long Ming fired right away, but the shot missed—Haman had dodged. His face darkened a shade, and he opened fire on the other two armed underlings. Bang bang! "Ahh!" Amid the screams, Haman's two underlings were shot dead, dropping where they stood. By then Haman had come back to his senses. He raised his submachine gun and sprayed fire at Long Ming. Bang bang! Long Ming ducked behind the wall. "Lord Haman, what do we do now?" one of the underlings asked, bewildered. "Monte, Xiao Ka—pick up those rifles. Help me finish this bastard off!" Haman glanced at the bodies on the ground and snapped, livid. "Yes, sir." Monte and Xiao Ka hurried to pick up the single-shot rifles lying on the ground. With their guns trained on the window, Haman led the two of them in a search for the house's entrance, meaning to storm the building and finish Long Ming off. Long Ming, meanwhile, went charging hard toward the stairs. "He's getting away!" At the sound, Haman immediately led his underlings running for the house's door. Once the three had left, Long Ming suddenly climbed out the window and dropped down, pulled his shoes back on in a hurry, and set off after Shi Qiang. Before long, he caught up. "Bro, did you take care of them?" "Took out two. Their leader's too sharp." Long Ming felt a little sour about it—he'd been a hair's breadth from wiping them all out. "So what do we do now?" Shi Qiang asked, on edge. "What else? Keep running!" Long Ming led Shi Qiang onward, running without pause—until, after all their twists and turns, they ran headlong into a dead end. A row of iron fencing barred the way ahead, and inside the fenced yard stood an elegant two-story house. "Bro, there's no road. And I can't run anymore," Shi Qiang panted. "We'll rest in there." Long Ming was exhausted too, so he and Shi Qiang went in through the front door. The two of them sat down against the wall by the entrance to catch their breath. "Bro, are you a professional player? How are you this good?" Shi Qiang asked him curiously. "Why so many questions? We're not exactly close," Long Ming replied, his tone ice-cold. Shi Qiang didn't mind in the least. Grinning, he pressed on. "Bro, looks like you don't have a guild. Want to consider joining our Giant Wave Guild? The benefits are excellent." "Not interested." Long Ming wasn't the least bit tempted. Shi Qiang was about to keep persuading him when Long Ming suddenly caught a faint sound and made a hushing gesture at once. Shi Qiang shut his mouth immediately. Listening intently, Long Ming picked up movement at both the front and the back of the house. He said to Shi Qiang, "Bad news—they've caught up, and it's more than three of them." "Huh? Then what do we do?" Shi Qiang went blank. "Upstairs!" Long Ming immediately dragged Shi Qiang into a dash for the stairs and up to the second floor. At the top, the stairway opened into an enclosed living room. The two of them hid against the walls on either side of the stairway mouth, one left, one right. Before long, Haman's group crept in—five men, exactly as Long Ming had guessed, not three. But the two who had newly joined them carried no real weapons. Monte said to Haman, "Boss, they've holed up on the second floor. What do we do?" "Damn it, they're dying today no matter what. Storm it!" "Isn't that going to be tough?" "What's to fear? There are five of us, and that guy has only one gun!" A vicious glint flashed through Haman's eyes as he spoke. "Right." Monte and the others nodded. "Go," Haman said to Monte and Xiao Ka. The two moved up front at once, single-shot rifles raised, edging carefully up the stairs. Behind the wall, Long Ming tightened his grip on his gun, his heartbeat quickening. Just as they were about to reach the second floor, Long Ming burst out from cover, raised his pistol, and fired in rapid succession. Bang! Bang! "Ahh!" Monte and Xiao Ka never had time to react. One was hit in the head, the other in the chest—both dead on the spot. Haman, enraged, raised his submachine gun and raked the doorway with wild fire. "Ahh!" Then one of the unarmed men, seizing the opening, came charging at Long Ming with a roar.