Chapter 281 - 150: Annihilation

Chapter 281: Chapter 150: Annihilation

A search of the remaining tents revealed no trace of the two men.

’Looks like they’ve left for now,’ Xu Mo determined.

Fail to pull the weeds by their roots, and they will grow again in the spring.

This was a lesson Xu Mo had learned at a young age. When facing a hostile group that had already shown clear malice and attacked his people, there was no room for mercy or forgiveness.

He had to wait here and eliminate every last hidden threat.

Xu Mo moved quickly.

He dragged the four bodies to a low gully at the edge of the camp. The wreckage of the bombed-out tent—its frame and canvas scraps—he stuffed under one of the RVs.

The camp was largely restored to its quiet state, not looking much different from before.

After finishing, Xu Mo chose an RV that was centrally located, offering a good vantage point of the camp’s entrance. He slipped inside and pulled the door almost shut, leaving just a hair-thin crack to peer through.

Waiting was a lesson every hunter had to master.

Time ticked by, second by second. The only sounds from outside the camp were the cries of unknown creatures.

About half an hour later, the low rumble of a car engine echoed faintly from the far end of the dirt road.

Soon, a dusty civilian SUV rounded a bend in the dirt road and headed toward the camp at a leisurely pace. The vehicle was covered in scratches, but its speed was steady, a clear sign the driver was intimately familiar with the route.

’It’s them!’

Xu Mo didn’t rush. He slowly set aside the AK-47 on his lap, reached back, and unslung his Barrett. He rested it on the edge of the partially open door. The gap was just wide enough for the heavy barrel to poke through, giving him a clear line of sight to lock onto his target through the scope.

The scope’s crosshairs settled firmly on the SUV’s driver’s cabin.

The driver was a man with a thick beard and a cigarette dangling from his lips. One hand rested on the steering wheel, the other on the open window frame, his posture relaxed. In the passenger seat, a lean, wiry figure in a grass-green jumpsuit was bent over, rummaging for something, their face obscured.

Xu Mo’s breath and heart rate fell to an icy crawl as his index finger took up the slack on the trigger.

"BOOM—!!!"

The deep roar of the Barrett once again shattered the silence of the wilderness!

The bullet left the barrel, tearing an invisible trajectory of death through the air before precisely striking the windshield of the civilian SUV.

Like a sheet of ice struck by a sledgehammer, the entire windshield instantly spiderwebbed with countless fine cracks before caving inward and disintegrating.

The bearded driver’s upper body slammed back as if hit by an invisible sledgehammer. A thick spray of near-black blood erupted from his chest and back simultaneously. He didn’t even have time to scream before his body went limp, slumping over in the seat.

The out-of-control SUV swerved, veering off course like a drunkard.

But it wasn’t over.

In the instant before the careening vehicle came to a complete stop, the passenger-side door was violently kicked open from within!

A figure in green shot out of the vehicle with incredible agility, like a spring compressed to its limit and suddenly released!

He hit the ground in a smooth forward roll, absorbing the momentum from the moving vehicle. In the same motion, his body rolled into a shallow depression beside the car, giving him temporary cover!

The entire sequence of movements was fluid and lightning-fast.

What’s more, even as he was rolling and his body was still in motion, the figure had already drawn a pistol from his hip. Relying on his memory of the muzzle flash’s location, he began firing a rapid volley in the direction of Xu Mo’s hiding spot!

"BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG—!"

The pistol shots were so rapid they sounded like a continuous roar, making Xu Mo momentarily think he was facing a submachine gun, not a handgun.

The spray of bullets peppered the RV’s exterior, sending sparks flying with loud PINGS and CLANGS.

’CQB! Close Quarters Battle!’

The technical term flashed through Xu Mo’s mind.

’And this isn’t just any trained soldier. This person has to be a physically-enhanced Superpower User!’

’That incredible reaction time, that ghostly speed transitioning into suppressive fire, and maintaining a high-level shooting stance even under duress... this is far beyond the capabilities of an ordinary person.’

The thoughts flashed through his mind in an instant, but Xu Mo had no time to dwell on them.

He ducked down, avoiding the suppressive fire, and grabbed his AK-47.

The enemy’s first volley had been ferocious, but it was fired from a hasty roll with only rough aim. The bullet spread was wide, and aside from punching a few dozen new holes in the RV’s exterior, it hadn’t posed a real threat to Xu Mo.

But now, things would be different.

Xu Mo silently slipped out the other side of the RV, using its frame as temporary cover while he listened intently for the enemy’s movements.

He unleashed the full power of his Iron Bone Realm, pushing his strength, speed, perception, and even his defenses to their absolute limit.

The world slowed down in Xu Mo’s senses, everything becoming sharp and clear—the flow of the wind, the swaying of the grass, and...

...the faint rustle of a boot sole scraping against sand and dirt from behind a low earthen mound to his front right.

’He’s moving, trying to flank me.’

A glint flashed in Xu Mo’s eyes. He lunged out from behind cover, aimed his AK-47 toward the sound, and, without a moment’s hesitation, pulled the trigger.

"BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!"

A short burst. The bullets screamed toward the edge of the earthen mound.

At almost the exact same moment, the figure in green darted out from the other side of the mound. His movements were just as ghostly fast; Xu Mo’s first burst merely grazed the hem of his uniform, striking the ground behind him and kicking up a spray of dust.