Professional soldiers loved this kind of fire suppression. Within a minute, the trained ones had already assembled their guns. On their side, only Ling Ling really knew her way around firearms. The rest weren't exactly pros, so the match quickly turned into a positional standoff. Jing Shu wasn't that lucky either. She'd taken down two enemies already, which, of course, drew attention.
Ratatatat!
"Get down!"
The huge boulder behind her saved her life at the last second. Even though she was wearing a bulletproof vest, one shot to the head would still send her straight to hell. She'd never in her life experienced what it was like to have bullets scream past her ears like this.
Scared, rattled, pissed off, furious!
Jing Shu had wanted to stay lowkey, maybe take a sneakier route, but she gave up on that idea fast. She wasn't stupid enough to trade bullets with them either. With two machine guns trained her way, sticking her head out was just asking to get it blown off.
But those two soldiers' gunfire didn't exactly thrill the audience. Instead, screams erupted across the stands. Their aim was so bad they didn't even hit Jing Shu, but they sure hit a bunch of spectators. Several people were killed instantly, and more were bleeding and howling in pain, trying to flee. The "safe zone" crowd refused to move, blocking their escape and turning the place into chaos.
The nobles, of course, just laughed and clinked their glasses. The bulletproof glass really was worth the money.
The host ducked behind the stage and yelled, "Oh, for fuck's sake! Can't these bastards aim straight? I was almost hit! Damn these ugly, toe-scratching brutes, though—they're definitely pros! They're closing in fast. Looks like those two Asian contestants are about to die. End this damn spray-and-pray already!"
But just as he finished shouting, the two soldiers who'd been dominating the fight suddenly let out bloodcurdling screams. Their machine guns spun wildly in a full 360°, riddling each other with bullets and mowing down another dozen "lucky" spectators in the chaos.
No one knew what the hell just happened. Before anyone could react, the two soldiers were already dead. Their faces were crawling with tiny black bugs that devoured their flesh in seconds, leaving nothing but gleaming skulls behind.
Gasps rippled through the crowd. The nobles were stunned, the audience horrified. The host practically screeched, "Oh my god! Is this some kind of Eastern witchcraft? That venomous beauty must be an eighty-year-old witch in disguise!"
The black bugs withdrew as fast as they'd appeared, leaving behind nothing but goosebumps and a sea of terrified faces. Everyone silently agreed they needed to stay the hell away from that terrifying woman.
Xiao Hei swallowed hard and instinctively shuffled several steps back. He'd seen it all up close—the bugs were the stuff of nightmares.
Quadra Kill!
Meanwhile, the battle on the other side finally ended, and Jing Shu couldn't help but raise a brow. She'd gone one-versus-four, yet her teammates in a four-versus-two matchup took forever to finish their fight?
Apparently, here's what happened: Monkey got spotted right at the start. He was being sniped and shot at by a damn crossbow, taking a hit before he could even blink.
And what were the other three doing?
Ling Ling was busy scavenging for parts to assemble her gun. Jing Shu could kind of understand that. Without her rifle, Ling Ling's combat ability dropped to zero. Once she finally finished building it, she managed to outshoot the enemy sniper and take him down with one clean headshot.
Monkey, injured and pissed, then managed to beat the crossbow guy in a straight-up brawl. So they barely survived that.
As for Tank and Snake Spirit… well.
While Jing Shu was holding off half the enemy's firepower and Monkey was fighting two-on-one, Snake Spirit somehow got lost. Completely. Without his little pet snake to guide him, the guy had zero sense of direction and wandered off like a headless chicken.
Tank? He'd charged straight into a snake pit from an earlier match. The pit was four or five meters deep. By the time he climbed out, the whole fight was already over.
Jing Shu could only stare. "...Emmmm."
Honestly, she didn't even want to complain about Tank anymore. The guy was dumb but harmless. Snake Spirit, though? A literal snake getting lost? Seriously? They all had amazing individual strength, but put them together and it was a disaster.
The match ended with Jing Shu stealing the spotlight. She earned the nickname "The Witch" and pocketed an extra 2000 black market coins. Her team advanced to Rank A—just one step away from S-rank.
Peggy made a killing off their victory, and the black market couldn't stop talking about the all-Asian team. They were the hottest news of the week.
When the bloodbath was over, all the wounded spectators were carried off "for treatment." Jing Shu knew better—they were probably going to feed some kind of creature. In an underground market with tens of thousands of people, losing a few dozen a day was nothing.
The black market didn't stop either. The next round of fights started soon after, though half the audience had already left, shaken.
Jing Shu's team looted their fallen enemies' gear and cashed everything in for credits. Each of them walked away with another thousand black market coins. A damn good haul, enough for Jing Shu to start preparing for Xiao Dou's next "mission."
Except, of course, Xiao Dou was being a pain again. From afar, they could hear Ah Huang's pitiful, high-pitched howls. Monkey, grim-faced and clutching his bandaged arm, rushed ahead.
Sure enough, Xiao Dou was chasing Ah Huang around the room.
When Ah Huang saw Jing Shu walk in, he immediately tucked his tail, whimpered, and started sobbing. Patches of fur were missing from his body, and a few spots were even pecked raw. He looked completely wronged, like he was saying, "Wuu wuu, the fat chicken bullied me and plucked all my fur!"
Xiao Dou, meanwhile, had a beak full of yellow fur, trying to stick it to her own body. When she saw Jing Shu, she blinked like she was tattling. "It wasn't my fault! He called me a bald chicken first!"
Monkey looked like his soul left his body. His C-rank attack dog—famous for hunting wild chickens—had just been beaten up by an ugly, fat hen.
Snake Spirit clicked his tongue. "Damn, it really is a battle chicken."
Monkey's face darkened even more.
Jing Shu cleared her throat. "Alright, come here. I'll take the bullet out and stitch you up. Only 100 contribution points."
Poor Monkey. First he got shot in the shoulder, now his arm was busted.
Jing Shu didn't have proper surgical tools or a doctor's mindset. She heated up a small knife until it was red-hot, sliced into his arm, used a pair of chopsticks to dig out the bullet, then stitched him up with a steel needle—ten quick sutures and done. Finally, she smeared her magic ointment over the wound, and the bleeding stopped instantly. He'd be good as new in three days.
She tossed Tank 5 contribution points as a thank-you for holding Monkey down during the "surgery." Saved her a ton of effort.