Chapter 130 The Battle of Life and Death

A light-duty mechanical arm with only 130 durability points left, a modified Type 73 Wasp pistol, a Light N9 submachine gun, fifteen magazines—this was all Han Xiao’s worldly possessions. Compared to the well-equipped Night Owl squad, it was so shabby that it made his heart ache.

Bang! The sniper rifle fired again. A scorching bullet passed through the tree where he was hiding, almost hitting him. Han Xiao secretly groaned. The enemies had night vision, but he could only determine their location by the muzzle flash.

The sniper rifle was too powerful. With his health, he was afraid that he would kick the bucket after three shots. He still had eighteen free attribute points on him. Without hesitation, Han Xiao invested fourteen points into Endurance and four points into Strength. The former was for survival, and the latter was to ensure that he could deliver a crushing blow against the Night Owl agents. He had already realized that exchanging fire with the enemy was showcasing his weaknesses and avoiding his strengths. Close combat was dangerous, but it was the only opportunity he had. In this situation, thinking about running would only expose his flaws. The enemies had night vision; unless he killed them all, there was no escape!

With Strength reaching twenty-nine points, coupled with the +10 mechanical arm's special effect, it just so happened to form a Strength crush. Endurance was raised to thirty-six, and his health reached 460. The health increase from the points was immediate, instantly adding 140 points, which was crucial. He had recovered some health during his escape, and now his health was close to 400 points. His condition was still acceptable.

Han Xiao had observed for a while. The Night Owl squad formed a fan-shaped encirclement to prevent him from escaping, and they didn’t form a close support network with each other.

The enemies’ sparse formation + the forest environment + the darkness = a five to eight second support interval!

In other words, he only had a few seconds of close combat time. If he couldn't kill his target in seconds, he would be in a desperate situation.

He had killed many enemies in the base, and with his previous savings, he had a total of 116,000 experience points left.

A battle of life and death—there was nothing to hesitate about. He poured all the experience into combat skills.

[Grappling increased to lv5, increasing parry counterattack rate by 7%, unarmed attack power by 10%]

[Basic Combat increased to lv8, increasing unarmed attack power by 8%]

[Basic Combat has reached level eight, Grappling has exceeded level three. Please choose one of the following three advanced skills: Special Combat, Jujutsu, Hard Fist!]

Special Combat focuses on instant bursts, assassination, and weapon use. Jujutsu focuses on grappling techniques for control. Hard Fist increases the power of punches and kicks and the ability to withstand blows. Each represents a different direction of development. Right now, Han Xiao needed explosive power the most.

[Acquired advanced skill, Special Combat lv1: Increases critical strike rate in close combat by 6%, unarmed attack power by 4%! ]

With the experience squandered, his close combat attack power increased by nearly 15%. Han Xiao's combat ability immediately improved. He felt that he could instinctively use various combat moves, very skillfully.

"It's a pity that there are no combat-type active skills that can utilize Qi." Han Xiao secretly regretted that mechanical-type users lacked active skills in the early stages, making it difficult to exert the effect of Qi. Attribute bonuses were not the main function of Qi; its real purpose was to use active skills.

Consuming Stamina could quickly "recover Qi," in line with the setting that Qi was extracted from cells. When to use skills, when to recover Qi, and how to avoid wasting any Stamina or Qi were all details that affected the outcome, belonging to the realm of micro-management for experts.

Han Xiao put on the light-duty mechanical arm, like a lurking leopard. He took a deep breath to fill his lungs with air. Oxygen passed through the alveoli into the blood vessels, through the cell membranes into the red blood cells, adjusting his state to its peak by increasing the oxygen content of his blood.

The next moment, Han Xiao's legs suddenly exerted force, and he pounced out like a cheetah, crouching and sprinting toward his chosen target—the Night Owl agent on the far left of the enemy formation, the closest to him. The moment he jumped out, gunfire erupted. Six Jason submachine guns immediately focused their fire, sweeping along with his figure, blasting up chunks of dirt.

The forest environment was a natural barrier. Han Xiao raised his mechanical arm to block his side, running around the trees, dodging a large number of bullets. His other hand held the submachine gun and swept around, suppressing the Night Owl squad's firepower. The faint burnt smell of bullets rubbing against the air rushed into his nostrils.

Three seconds! Han Xiao rushed to the front of his target, flicked his hand, and smashed the submachine gun out, knocking the Night Owl agent's gun off course. The mechanical arm struck out ferociously, heavily hitting the Night Owl agent's arms, which were hastily raised to block, making a cracking sound of bone fracture. Bone and metal collided, and the former clearly suffered.

The Night Owl agent endured the pain and pulled out a pistol, aiming it at Han Xiao's head and firing. Han Xiao's Agility was not just for show. His reaction was lightning fast. He used his steel hand to grasp the muzzle. With a bang, the bullet was forcibly held in his hand. Han Xiao used his right hand to pull the Night Owl agent's gun-wielding arm under his armpit to disrupt the enemy's center of gravity. The Night Owl agent staggered and fell into his arms. At this time, Han Xiao seized the opportunity to swiftly raise his knee, heavily striking the enemy's lower body. He could clearly feel two spherical objects deforming under the pressure of his knee.

[You hit the enemy's vitals! Inflicting double critical damage! The enemy is stunned for 2 seconds!]

He couldn't see the expression under the Night Owl agent's goggles, but the screams told him that this attack was effective. At the critical moment of life and death, Han Xiao didn't care about whether the moves were sinister or not. Taking advantage of the opponent's stiffness, he frantically delivered a series of knee strikes to the enemy's lower body!

Thump thump thump! -78! -81! -84! The two spherical objects jumped up and down!

Sorry, brother, I can feel your sadness. It's not my design that the bulletproof vest doesn't protect against the eggs…

The enemy's health drained like water. Han Xiao's mechanical arm delivered a final elbow strike, shattering the enemy's fragile throat. The Night Owl agent softly fell down. A fishy and pungent smell assaulted his nose. It was estimated that white, yellow, and red were mixed together in a mess in his crotch. Before Han Xiao could rejoice, a sharp pain suddenly struck his back. He quickly went prone, pulling the corpse to hide behind the nearby big tree.

[You were hit in the back by an SWP sniper rifle! Sustained 68 points of damage!]

[You have been hit by a large-caliber gunshot and are in a state of moderate bleeding, losing 3 health points per second for 15 seconds. Please bandage it as soon as possible!]

Surrounded by powerful enemies, where was the time to bandage!

Han Xiao's face turned pale from the pain. This shot had taken a large chunk of his health. The attack power was too fierce.

"Damn it!" The remaining five Night Owl agents were clearly enraged by Han Xiao's brazen assassination of their companion. They quickly approached, firing, maintaining suppressive fire, causing wood chips to fly. Han Xiao couldn't even stick his head out.

Han Xiao looted all of the fallen Night Owl agent's equipment, quickly putting on the bulletproof vest. This should be able to block one or two shots for him. The most important gain was three G-type fragmentation grenades. This thing was a good thing. He shook his hand and threw one out.

"Boom!"

An explosion rang out, and the enemies hurriedly looked for cover. The suffocating suppressive fire immediately stopped.

"Let you shoot me!" Han Xiao was full of resentment and threw out another one. The five Night Owl agents, who had just wanted to get up, quickly lay down again.

Again! The third dark thing was thrown out. The five people subconsciously lay down, waited for two seconds, but found that there was no explosion. Taking a closer look, this was not a grenade at all, but a stone. The five immediately understood that they had been tricked. At this time, Han Xiao seized the opportunity to rush out, holding a submachine gun and spraying bullets, not caring that the barrel was overheating. He emptied the magazine almost instantly. A Night Owl agent lying in the grass was directly riddled with holes by him.

Han Xiao threw away the submachine gun, turned his head, and launched another grenade, once again forcing the remaining four to stop their counterattack. This time, he pounced out, knocking over another Night Owl agent in a different direction. However, this time it was not without damage. Yin Dao fired in the chaos, and a submachine gun hit his calf, injuring him again.

Han Xiao gritted his teeth. The injury to his calf affected his movement speed. He struggled to drag the Night Owl agent he had knocked down behind a tree, quickly beating this agent to death. Under his upgraded combat ability, these Night Owl agents were vulnerable in close combat.

Only three enemies left! His health was only half left! Facing such a critical situation, Han Xiao became more and more calm. He quickly formulated and then eliminated tactics in his mind one by one. As a veteran player who had experienced countless battles, he understood himself and his enemies. In any case, panic was useless.

"If I'm not mistaken, the enemy will…"

Han Xiao's eyes suddenly shrank, and he secretly said something was wrong.

Yin Dao's face was livid. He had never taken a test subject seriously in the first place. He had never expected that he would lose half of his men here. He put away his contempt and also lost his patience. He shouted, "Blast him to death!"

The remaining three people used grenades at the same time. They drew a beautiful arc in the air and landed behind the tree where Han Xiao was hiding.

"Boom!"

Expanding flames, roaring explosions, and swirling dust. When these ended, everything returned to silence.

"Is he dead?"

"Not sure." Yin Dao shook his head and made a tactical gesture to advance. The three slowly moved toward the explosion range in a semi-crouch, cautiously on guard.

Arriving behind the tree, a charred corpse lay quietly on the ground, emitting white smoke. From the tattered uniform, it could be recognized as Zero.

"Finally killed him." One of the agents breathed a sigh of relief.

"That's not right!" Yin Dao's eyes widened. He quickly leaned back and shouted, "Lie down now!"