CHAPTER 13: FIERCE BATTLE

Jing Xia has experienced Ji Chuancheng’s marksmanship during his last life. This guy held the a-2 model killing weapon that was researched by that group of madmen in the research department. Merely meeting face-to-face, he hit an A-grade bird mutant that had just leaped up from the horizon, to the ground.

That plaything however, is a little black spot in the eyes of Jing Xia! Of course, it is also related to the evolution of the inner quality of the bodies of the later evolved humans. But, Ji Chuancheng’s title of being a godlike sharpshooter was recognized by countless evolutionists in the end of the world.

Therefore, as long as he said that he had hit the abdomen, Jing Xia didn’t possess the slightest doubt.

“Is this good? Keke…” Steward Wang’s wrinkled face showed a doubtful expression. Just as he was about to get up and walk over, he suddenly felt that the helm of his pants was tugged by something. Steward Wang looked down and only saw that the little black dumpling was firmly pulling his pants with two small round legs, and refused to let go. Because the strength used was too great, it even suddenly fell backwards and then persisted in climbing up again. It eagerly held him back.

Steward Wang froze for a moment: “Chirpy? What happened?”

“Chirpy” is the name of this little black dumpling. Jing Xia had randomly named it.

“Jiji!!! Jijijiji!!!”

Don’t go! ! ! It’s still there! ! !

Qin Chu reached out and stopped Steward Wang’s path, and said with a serious look, “Steward Wang, that thing is not dead.”

Qin Chu’s voice just fell, and as if to verify her words, a yellow-black shadow scuttled out from the mutant bush. The whole body, like sharp needles, stood up, its back was covered in black needle-like hair, tightly pressing up against its front abdomen was its yellow-brown needle-like hair.

Its entire face was mainly black, but there were two white spots under its ears. A cruel and ominous glint emitted from its eyes, and it also bared its sharp teeth. Its sticky and thick saliva leaked out from the gap between its cracked yellow teeth. Just as it touched the ground, the evaporation of it produced scathing heat. Its claws were also extremely sharp. It dug down into dirt on the ground and stirred up the yellow sand, causing the bits of soil to splatter.

“Siberian weasel.” Ji Chuancheng made a judgment with a calm expression, his right hand touched the handle of the blade on his waist without batting an eye.

Jing Xia looked at the other’s body that didn’t have any big changes, and continued to add, “Amongst small land mammals, those who had no changes to its general body shape are basically lower than d-grade.” Pausing, Jing Xia said, “The possibility of this being an E-grade Siberian weasel is enormous.”

A sharp “squeak” suddenly sounded. That mutated Siberian weasel shook its huge hairy tail, and quickly rushed towards Jing Xia. When it got up from the ground, the part of the abdomen that was hit by the pistol formed a mottled dripping wound that was completely exposed to Jing Xia’s eyes.

Jing Xia subconsciously leaned towards the side. Probably because of the injury, the speed of this Siberian weasel was obviously much slower. Even in the case of an unprepared defense, Jing Xia also perfectly avoided the attack of the other side. Just as he breathed a sigh of relief, he suddenly saw the Siberian weasel stretch out its claws and fiercely claw towards his eyes.

“!”

He immediately bent backwards, doing a bridge. While avoiding that sudden surprise attack, Jing Xia’s right fist punched towards that yellow-black figue. Just when the Siberian weasel was punched half a meter away, falling onto the ground, Jing Xia suddenly realized that the ‘him’ right now was simply incapable of making this kind of high difficulty action. Not waiting for him to react, he suddenly felt a pull on his waist, and Jing Xia’s whole body was pulled up by that person.

When that Siberian weasel just touched the ground, it immediately turned and attacked again. Ji Chuancheng didn’t even have the time to remove his hand from Jing Xia’s waist. He had no choice but to maintain the posture of hugging the young man with one hand and quickly retreated backwards.

The yellow-black shadow continually jumped up from the ground, causing Ji Chuancheng to have no other alternative but to change his footwork again and again. As it happened to be, it was unknown what prejudice this mutant Siberian weasel had, in this ‘I chase, you run’ to-and-forth tussle, it was unwilling to give up all along.  It even frequently used its sharp claws to scratch, making it so that Ji Chuancheng also couldn’t vacate his hands to handle it.

“Pang——”, the sharp claws clashed with the knife blade, making the sound when metal collided. 

The mutated Siberian weasel was hit back by a few meters due to this sudden impact, and finally stopped the long chase. Ji Chuancheng’s forehead was covered with a layer of fine sweat. He slightly narrowed his pupils and pushed Jing Xia to the side. He walked forward alone, confronting that mutated Siberian weasel.

Jing Xia’s pupils suddenly widened. “A’Chuan!”

The knife grasped in Ji Chuancheng’s right hand made a beautiful arc in the air. Then the tip of the knife hit the half a meter tall Siberian weasel on the ground and didn’t respond to Jing Xia’s shout. Cold and ferocious eyes closely stared at that small Siberian weasel. Ji Chuancheng swiftly pushed against the ground and even rushed towards it, gaining the advantage by striking first.

Perhaps because it bled more and more, the speed of that Siberina weasel once again became slower. However, like before, it still continued to fight a fierce battle, not complying with nor yielding to Ji Chuancheng. The sharp claws and long blade fought each other. Not knowing how long it took, and when it jumped up, it stretched its claws towards him, scratching Ji Chuancheng. The latter responded quickly and faced the attack with the knife, and then lifted his foot, kicking the soft belly of the Siberian weasel.

This kick seemed to have landed right on the original gunshot wound. That Siberian weasel struggled on the ground for a long time, yet the result was that the blood flowed more quickly onto the ground.

“Zizi……” The coarse ear-piercing screams continued. That mutated Siberian weasel slowly stood up from the ground and seemed to want to fight again.

Yet Jing Xia looked at Ji Chuancheng’s body which suddenly shook and could only barely steady his figure using his knife tip as support. He suddenly understood.

It’s already been nearly four days since this person has closed his eyes! Only when everyone stops to rest and have a meal, will the other person close his eyes and rest for a while, but now…… perhaps he doesn’t have any more physical strength to carry out another to-and-forth battle.

His fingers slowly tightened. Jing Xia clenched his teeth and took a step, walking towards that battlefield again. If it was only him alone, although the other party has suffered a serious injury causing its strength to decline, it’s still impossible to easily win against the other side by relying on his current body.

Thus…… he needs to lure the enemy in.

“Jing Xia!”

Ji Chuancheng’s eyes widened in astonishment, helplessly watching that young man, step by step, walk towards the mutated Siberian weasel that seemed to have been forced into desperate straits. He tightly grasped the handle of his blade, but his physical strength that had been consumed in the long fierce battle and the exhaustion of not being able to rest for four days made him know that there must be a breakthrough in this battle.

Hearing Ji Chuancheng’s voice, Jing Xia slightly twitched his lips upwards. He placed his right hand behind him and made a gesture. Ji Chuancheng instantly understood. He silently looked at Jing Xia who slowly walked toward the enemy, tightly holding the blade handle in his right hand.

Even before the end of the world, the Siberian weasel has always been an existence that was spurned and disdained by people. Different from its seemingly sweet-tempered and lovely appearance, the Siberian weasels’ temperament was cunningly vicious. Its means were cruel and violent. It would never let go of the weak animals it encounters. Even if it can’t finish eating, it will still definitely bite them all to death.

Yet now, Jing Xia calmly walked toward that animal that clearly was even more savage after its mutation.

Seeing Jing Xia nearing it, the steel needles covering its body became sharper, and bared its teeth while staring fixedly at Jing Xia’s movements. Approximately when the two were separated by about three or four meters, Jing Xia suddenly stopped his steps, looking at the mutant beast that pressed its body against the ground with a smile that is not a smile.

The atmosphere of the scene was permeated with drawn swords and bent bows*. Ji Chuancheng grasped his knife and quietly approached, while Jing Xia confronted the mutant Siberian weasel. Due to this situation, the latter vigilantly watched its surroundings, guarding against the joint efforts of the two, Jing Xia and Ji Chuancheng. It kept making “zizi” warning sounds, but it had no means of breaking the current stalemate.

*T/N: State of mutual hostility

“Bang——”

“Zizi!”

Jing Xia stamped down and rapidly rushed to the mutant beast, that Siberian weasel. Caught off guard, that Siberian weasel made a distorted scream. Still, it was only for an instant. Soon afterwards, it rushed toward Jing Xia with a malicious gaze. Its speed was extremely fast, and crossed nearly two meters with a leap, stretching its claws toward Jing Xia, making an attack.

The latter also didn’t reveal any weaknesses, slightly leaning away, Jing Xia’s left hand formed a  fist, performing a beautiful levelled hook, ruthlessly striking on that soft back. The Siberian weasel made a sharp scream, before falling to the ground with a thump. It then scuttled straight towards Jing Xia’s calf without pause. Its sharp claws rushed straight to the bare ankle that was exposed.

Jing Xia immediately leaped and didn’t counterattack again, just turned and retreated. His speed was not as fast as that Siberian weasel. His edge was gained by catching it off guard, so he temporarily took the lead of a meter. Dodging as he ran in a zigzag fashion, Jing Xia seemed to have no destination, yet gradually made the Siberian weasel form a fixed running angle.

Suddenly hiding behind a mutated solid coniferous pine, Jing Xia abruptly stopped his steps and no longer ran. Yet that Siberian weasel still didn’t react and continued to run forward for half a meter. Just as it discovered that the despicable human had disappeared, when it intended to turn its head, a silver cold gleam directly struck its head.

“Dong“, that Siberian weasel’s sharp claws barely stopped Ji Chuancheng’s strike.

It bared its teeth and did not make another move. Suddenly, a slight yet sharp sound of the blade slicing through the wind was heard behind it, a firm and decisive slash ran from the neck of the Siberian weasel to its tail. Globs of blood splattered, bursting forth from the wound.

“Zizi!”

After the wretched, fierce cry, the force behind the blow made the Siberian weasel crash onto the ground, sliding three or four meters away, falling into the underbrush. It lay on the ground, on its dying breath, as the blood flowed from the wound on his back and abdomen. It painfully struggled on the ground, incessantly trying to crawl away from this place.

Jing Xia returned the long knife into the scabbard, and expressionlessly looked at that mutated Siberian weasel slowly crawling away, but didn’t have the intention to go forward to chase.

“Young Master, why did you let that thing go?” Only after confirming that the battle has already ended did Steward Wang Guanjia and Qin Chu come out of their refuge. That little black dumpling stood on Steward Wang’s shoulder, seemingly feeling very strange as well, squeaking, “Jiji?”

“It’s already nearly dead, there’s no need to pursue and attack.” Ji Chuancheng slowly approached, and then explained, “Excessive bleeding as well as serious injuries. In this kind of mountain range, with this kind of strength, this mutant Siberian weasel could only live for one night at most.”

Jing Xia also nodded. “Fortunately, the strength of this mutant beast is not high, it’s still relatively easier to deal with. After Sister Qin’s physical condition improves, presumably, it would be even easier for us to cope.” While speaking, Jing Xia’s eyes drooped down, looking towards that plump black dumpling and coldly humph-ed. “Just this thing. It looks like a mutant beast without even a little bit of firepower. It really doesn’t help with anything.”

“Jiji!” Staring with tiny mung bean eyes, the black dumpling’s fur on its whole body bristled.

Making a disdainful hmph sound, Jing Xia simply didn’t turn to look at this little thing.

This battle did not last for a long period of time. When everything calmed, the morning sun too had just risen, and the temperature still carried the slight chill of the early morning. The translucent light shone from the gaps of the scattered leaves, and the breeze caressed the leaves, making a rustling sound. The whole forest was quiet and peaceful. That is, when the group of four people once again packed and prepared to continue on their way, it was also no later than the approaching dawn.

While walking, Jing Xia rubbed the blood stains left by the splatters on his left hand.

The grade of this mutated Siberian weasel was very low, even its outer skin has not evolved to a degree where it would harden. It only had fierce sharp claws and speed that was fast enough to make one speechless. So, it could still be regarded as somewhat effortless for the current them to solve. However, the blood that was splattered onto the back of Jing Xia’s hand, for some reason, was impossible to wipe it off. Jing Xia spent a long time before the colour finally somewhat faded.

“Little bastard.” The low-pitched female voice rang from Jing Xia’s side.

He looked up subconsciously and saw that, some time ago, Qin Chu had walked to his side.

“Sister Qin?”

Her slender brows slightly wrinkled. Qin Chu’s expression exposed her hesitance. It was only after a long time did she sigh. Opening her mouth, she asked: “The martial arts that you used just now,  as well as that…… that gesture, where did you learn it from?”

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