Chapter 276 - 149: Disposition

Chapter 276: Chapter 149: Disposition

After a few exchanges, Xu Mo had a rough grasp of his opponent’s attack rhythm and the power of the glass beads. They were forceful enough to pierce a normal wooden board and would be lethal or crippling to an ordinary person, but they posed a limited threat to him.

Xu Mo decided to seize the initiative. While his right hand continued to swing the Mountain-Cutting Saber to parry the swarm of projectiles, his left hand reached back and grabbed the AK-47 slung across his back. In one fluid, powerful motion, he swung the rifle around to his front. His left hand pushed forward and, with a sharp CLACK, he chambered a round with a single hand!

The entire process took less than a second. Throughout it all, his right hand never stopped swinging the saber, batting away another three glass beads aimed at his head and face.

Xu Mo raised the muzzle of the AK-47 slightly. He didn’t immediately aim or fire. Instead, he addressed the cloud of dust circling him, his voice calm.

"Friend, is this how everyone greets strangers these days? It’s certainly... one of a kind."

His voice wasn’t loud, but it carried clearly through the lulls between the metallic scrape of the rifle being readied and the pinging of deflected glass beads.

The moment the words left his mouth—

"BANG!"

A sharp gunshot suddenly shattered the monotonous melody of pings between them! The bullet wasn’t aimed at the high-speed figure, but instead struck the ground with precision about two meters ahead of his circling path. A spray of dust erupted from the dry earth, leaving a shallow crater.

The rapidly moving figure visibly faltered, his circling speed lagging for an instant. He clearly hadn’t expected Xu Mo to be able to fire his weapon so quickly while still fending off the projectile assault, let alone use a warning shot to block his path and intimidate him.

But the pause was only momentary. As if enraged or simply unwilling to give up, his opponent’s speed increased once more. The circle he ran seemed to shrink, and the frequency of the glass beads he launched became even higher and more frantic!

"SWOOSH SWOOSH SWOOSH SWOOSH SWOOSH—!"

"PING PING PING PING—!"

The clash of the Mountain-Cutting Saber parrying the projectiles filled the air once more. Xu Mo remained steady at the center of the circle, his right hand a blur of steel, his left holding the rifle but not firing again.

The stalemate continued for another four or five minutes. Xu Mo noticed that the frequency and force of his opponent’s projectiles were starting to weaken, however imperceptibly. After all, maintaining that incredible speed and the constant, high-intensity barrage had to be a massive drain on his stamina.

Finally, at one point, the whistling sound of projectiles abruptly stopped.

The figure that had been moving at high speed also slowed down.

A faint smile appeared on Xu Mo’s face. He kept the muzzle of his gun pointed at the other man and said, "Care to stop and chat now?"

The young man’s expression shifted as he stared at the gun in Xu Mo’s hand, but his gaze was fixed particularly on the seemingly ordinary Mountain-Cutting Saber that had just demonstrated such astonishing defensive capability. His eyes were filled with indignation, apprehension, and even a hint of... frustration?

"Hmph!" He ultimately just snorted coldly, ignoring Xu Mo’s question. Instead, he suddenly turned and, in a few leaps, darted behind the rear of Xu Mo’s off-road vehicle, using it as cover.

Xu Mo thought he was going to regroup for another attack or catch his breath behind the vehicle and was about to move to maintain his line of sight.

But then the young man peeked out from behind the vehicle, shot Xu Mo a final glance, and then, without looking back again, broke into a full sprint in the direction he had come from.

He’d gotten smarter this time, too. He wasn’t running in a straight line but had started a serpentine maneuver, weaving left and right in an attempt to make himself a harder target.

Watching the young man’s retreating back as he performed his supposedly clever evasive maneuvers, Xu Mo couldn’t help but smile with a hint of resignation.

’Isn’t this guy a bit naive?’ Xu Mo muttered to himself. ’Thinking a serpentine run will let him dodge gunfire? Maybe it’d work against an average shooter, but it’s completely useless against a Precision Shooter... let alone me.’

Xu Mo leaped gracefully onto the roof of his off-road vehicle. Watching the figure weaving back and forth across the wasteland, he raised his AK-47.

"BANG!"

The first shot landed about five meters ahead of the man’s serpentine path, kicking up a plume of soil.

The sprinting young man flinched violently and swerved to the side.

"BANG!"

The second shot rang out almost simultaneously with his change in direction. The bullet struck the ground just ahead and to the side of his new path, cutting him off again.

"So, ready to come back and chat now?" Xu Mo’s voice carried clearly across the wasteland. His tone was still calm, but it held an unquestionable, oppressive weight.

Hearing Xu Mo’s words, the young man froze solid. He stood rooted to the spot, his shoulders heaving slightly—whether from exhaustion or an internal struggle, it was hard to say.

A few seconds later, the young man slowly turned around. The previous arrogance and excitement were long gone from his face.

Xu Mo kept the rifle aimed at him from afar and commanded, "Hands up. Walk over here slowly. I have no idea if you’ve got any more ’little toys’ in your pockets. It’d be a shame if one of them ’accidentally’ hurt me."

Hearing the words "little toys," the young man’s face turned even uglier, as if he’d been deeply insulted but didn’t dare react. He did as he was told, raising his hands high in the air. Step by agonizing step, he walked back toward the off-road vehicle and the man standing on its roof.

When he reached the front of the vehicle, Xu Mo was still standing on the roof, looking down on him, the muzzle of the gun pointed steadily at his head.

"Why?" Xu Mo finally asked, voicing the question that had been bothering him. He was certain he hadn’t shown any hostility when he got out of the truck—he had even waved. So why did this person attack to kill without so much as a word?