Global Shelter Game

Chapter 89: Chapter 88: Hawkins’s Conjecture

He instinctively moved to get around it, but Deng Yu, who was positioned behind him, saw his every move.

Before, he had barely dodged the grenades and bullets, but now he had just executed a sharp ninety-degree turn.

Seeing Black Wind swerve, Deng Yu immediately realized his guess was correct.

He quickly said to Qiaodun, "Now! He’s afraid of fire!"

Qiaodun understood instantly. The two of them changed their attack strategy at almost the same time.

Incendiary grenades were thrown one after another. In an instant, Black Wind was completely surrounded by flames.

As the surrounding temperature skyrocketed and the flames rapidly consumed the oxygen, Black Wind’s hope crumbled just as quickly.

Just as he was considering whether to risk severe burns and charge out of the sea of fire, a wave of fatigue washed over him.

Feeling the weakness welling up inside, a chill ran through Black Wind’s heart.

’How could this be?’

’So soon?’

The doubt flashed through his mind, but in the next moment, he understood. He had already used his ability once when he went to plant the bombs.

Feeling this exhausted so quickly was clearly a side effect of using his ability in rapid succession.

’Dammit.’

As he felt his strength rapidly draining away, Black Wind knew his powered state had reached its limit and he could no longer maintain it.

In his despair, he let out a furious roar. The instant his ability deactivated and he returned to his human form, he silently flung out two dark shapes.

Deng Yu and Qiaodun had clearly anticipated the possibility of a last-ditch, desperate attack.

They had no intention of clashing with him head-on. As the dark shapes appeared, they quickly retreated, tossing out grenades as they fell back.

The dark shapes carved an arc through the air, heading straight for Deng Yu and Qiaodun, but the two reacted quickly, having already prepared for this.

Before the two dark shapes could get close, they exploded violently. They were obviously two remote-detonated bombs.

The shockwave from the explosions hit one of the grenades, detonating it prematurely in mid-air, but the other one landed successfully within the wall of fire.

Staring at the grenade that had landed in front of him, Black Wind instinctively tried to use his ability again, to turn into a shadow and evade the attack.

However, the intense exhaustion wracking his body made it impossible. He had just managed to turn his arm ethereal, into a black shadow, when his Spiritual Power gave out.

A mouthful of blood sprayed from his lips, and at the same time, his arm reverted from its shadow state back to normal flesh.

A look of despair crossed Black Wind’s face. He knew there was no coming back from this.

The grenade exploded with a deafening ROAR. The shockwave, shrapnel, and steel balls completely engulfed him.

The power of a high-explosive grenade at close range was terrifying. Without the protection of his ability, Black Wind was sent flying by the blast.

Shrapnel and steel balls embedded themselves in his body. Black Wind felt his consciousness quickly fading. He could feel his body being torn apart as pain spread through every inch of him.

His vision began to blur. The fire and darkness before his eyes intertwined, finally dissolving into pure blackness.

Deng Yu and Qiaodun didn’t let their guard down. They each put a few more bullets into the corpse, only stopping their attack after confirming that Black Wind showed no more signs of life.

Once the surrounding fire died down completely, Deng Yu walked up and put two more rounds into his heart and head. Only after confirming he was well and truly dead did he breathe a sigh of relief.

’People with abilities come in all shapes and sizes. It’s always better to be careful.’

Having confirmed the target was dead, the two immediately turned back to join the others in eliminating the remaining raiders.

With their leader killed and their powerful weapons mostly spent in the first exchange, the ensuing battle was practically a one-sided slaughter.

In just a few moments, the fighting was over.

Qiaodun distributed healing salves to the wounded, while Li Wei helped Amas get out of his damaged power armor.

Looking at his precious power armor, so heavily damaged, a resentful look flashed in Amas’s eyes.

Although they carried some spare parts on their motorcycles, it clearly wasn’t enough to repair this suit of power armor.

Seeing Amas’s pained expression, Li Wei patted his shoulder and comforted him.

"Come on, what’s important is that you’re okay."

"It actually looks worse than it is. We’ll just have the guys in the maintenance department fix it up when we get back."

Amas knew he was just trying to make him feel better.

"Yeah, I guess."

Meanwhile, Hawkins and Deng Yu were looking at Xisuo and Simon.

Hawkins and Deng Yu’s gazes fell upon Xisuo and Simon, a hint of wariness and scrutiny in their eyes.

He had already heard the details from Deng Yu. If it weren’t for the two of them giving a warning at the critical moment, Amas’s power armor would have likely been taken down in the first wave of rocket attacks.

If Amas hadn’t reacted in time, the tables might have been turned. The Black Wind Raiding Group might be the ones cleaning up the battlefield right now, not them.

After a long moment of contemplation, Hawkins spoke cautiously.

"How did you know the Black Wind Raiding Group was going to attack us?" Hawkins asked, his tone probing.

Xisuo answered calmly,

"We have our own intelligence channels. They’re very reliable, but I can’t disclose the specific details."

"In any case, you just need to know that we’ve never had any ill intentions toward you."

Hawkins narrowed his eyes. He of course understood the other man’s meaning.

’I don’t want to talk about it, so please don’t ask.’

If they were enemies, he might have been able to torture it out of them, but they weren’t.

Instead, he now owed them a huge favor. A very, very huge one.

After a moment, he nodded.

"Alright. If you don’t want to say, then I won’t ask. You performed a great service this time. You did very well."

Xisuo had no intention of taking credit.

"We just did what we had to do."

Hawkins waved his hand dismissively.

"Our academy isn’t the type to let a debt go unpaid."

"So, tell me. What do you want as a reward?"

Hearing Hawkins’s words, Xisuo was instantly delighted, but he forced himself not to show it.

He had originally joined the team to build a connection with the academy; he never expected he’d end up saving them in the process.

After a moment’s thought, he decided not to let this opportunity pass.

"Actually, I did have a purpose for joining the team this time."

Hearing this, Hawkins and Deng Yu glanced at each other, their interest piqued.

"Oh? And what purpose is that?"

Xisuo said,

"I’m a modified human."

Hawkins looked Xisuo up and down, confused. He couldn’t see any signs of modification on him.

Wait... In an instant, Hawkins realized. If it wasn’t mechanical modification, then it had to be biological.

This kind of modification was actually quite common in the wasteland.

’Could it be that this guy is experiencing some kind of rejection reaction and wants the academy’s help?’

If it was just a simple rejection reaction, he might be able to help, which would also count as repaying the favor.