The moment the gunshot rang out, Fu Juemin had already retreated five or six meters.

"Su—"

He was just about to call for Su Hui to take cover, but when he turned his head, he found that the middle-aged woman, who looked like a handmaiden from a bygone dynasty, had already pulled Su Hui away, running who knows how far.

The word caught in his throat. Fu Juemin gave a self-deprecating smile and was about to call for Cao Tian to fall back further...

"BANG!"

Another gunshot suddenly erupted.

Fu Juemin’s senses screamed danger, and he instinctively dove to the side.

"RAT-TAT-TAT—"

Bullets swept across the street like rain, kicking up a series of blinding sparks.

Fu Juemin heard Cao Tian let out a muffled grunt, followed immediately by two impacts on his own chest—THUD, THUD—as if he’d been punched hard twice from a distance!

"THUD!"

Fu Juemin landed heavily on the ground, rolling to take cover under the narrow eaves of a storefront.

The wall only offered enough cover for a little more than half his body. Fu Juemin’s eyes narrowed. His powerful frame suddenly went slack, and he coiled against the wall like a snake, fitting himself perfectly into the cramped shadow.

"BANG! BANG!—"

The gunfire continued. Bullets periodically zipped past Fu Juemin, blasting clusters of stone fragments from the gray wall by his ear.

"Young Master!"

Fu Juemin heard Cao Tian call out in a low voice, but the sound was immediately drowned out by the suddenly intensifying gunfire.

Only then did he have a moment to look down and check his condition.

A dull ache pulsed from his chest. Unbuttoning his suit jacket, he could see two small, sunken holes on the satin surface of the vest underneath, one on the left and one on the right.

He grabbed the hem of the vest and gave it a light tug, and two bullets immediately tumbled out.

Fu Juemin’s expression turned ugly.

’If it wasn’t for luck, if it wasn’t for this snakeskin bulletproof vest from my second uncle Fu Guoping...’

’Wouldn’t I have just been riddled with bullets and killed on the street?’

He took a deep breath and looked toward the center of the street.

Under the glare of two orange beams of light, the woman who had cried out to them for help just moments before now lay on the ground, her body torn apart by the hail of bullets.

At the edge of the light, Su Hui and her companion were hidden somewhere across the street. Although their position was much safer than his, Fu Juemin could still clearly glimpse Su Hui’s terrified, pale profile.

’Is this... has the Fire Cloud Army fought its way into the city?’

In the middle of the night, a large group of people was sweeping the street with gunfire, and right in front of the County Government Office at that.

Besides the Fire Cloud Army invading, Fu Juemin couldn’t think of another possibility.

But hadn’t the Fire Cloud Army come from the Southwest Disaster Area? They were just a large band of refugees. Where would they get such sophisticated weapons and combat training?

At that moment, the sound of gunfire grew closer.

Fu Juemin frowned and subconsciously glanced toward Su Hui.

His eyes met those of Su Hui’s middle-aged handmaiden-guard.

Her strength was astonishingly high, her Perception far keener than his. She had pulled Su Hui to safety at the first gunshot, which was why they were both unharmed.

But now, the street was desolate in the dead of night, open and without cover. The harsh glare of the lights in their faces made it impossible to see their attackers, while they themselves were completely exposed.

Even with her formidable strength, the middle-aged woman was at a loss. The moment she tried to peek out, she was immediately forced back by a hail of bullets.

Fu Juemin thought for a moment, then a glint flashed in his eyes and he activated [Yao Ling].

Under the effect of Yao Ling, the useless noise from the street was stripped away layer by layer, and the outlines of one armed figure after another gradually appeared in Fu Juemin’s mind.

These men held firearms and were stationed at different positions, taking turns firing, reloading, and advancing with disciplined tactics. They were well-trained.

Fu Juemin expressionlessly pulled the Snake Scale Gloves he had recently acquired from an inner pocket of his suit, carefully putting them on. At the same time, he drew the revolver he always carried at his waist.

With the gloves on, his left hand, which now glinted with a dark, scaly light in the night, pressed lightly against the wall beside him. His five fingers suddenly exerted force—

"CRACK—"

He forcibly gouged a small piece of gray brick from the wall.

With a flick of his wrist, Fu Juemin sent the stone flying. SWOOSH! It shot out and struck the facade of a shop across the street with a sharp crack.

In his [Yao Ling] Perception, the attention of the gunmen was instantly drawn to the sound.

Seizing the opening, Fu Juemin suddenly leaned out from behind the wall. As if he could see the future, the muzzle of his revolver unhesitatingly locked onto a position behind the harsh light...

"BANG!"

A muffled grunt was heard, followed by the sound of a body hitting the ground. The enemy’s formation fell into slight disarray, and the gunfire intensified.

The middle-aged woman across the street shot him a look of slight astonishment.

Fu Juemin raised his revolver in her direction and tapped the wall. She seemed to understand immediately. With a casual swipe to the side, and without any visible effort, a small black shadow shot out from under her sleeve with a SWOOSH.

He instinctively moved to take the opportunity to fire again, but before he could even lean back out from behind the wall, someone on the other side had already fallen with a cry.

’Hidden Weapons techniques?!’

Fu Juemin was stunned. His assessment of the middle-aged woman’s power was once again completely overturned.

Inspired by him, the middle-aged woman’s hands didn’t stop. To her, the gray brick wall seemed to be made of tofu. She continuously plucked piece after piece from it, and with a flick of her sleeve, sent them shooting out, the sound of them cutting through the air practically rivaling that of bullets.

A series of muffled grunts echoed through the street, and the previously orderly gunfire instantly became chaotic.

Fu Juemin was in awe, wondering to himself just what kind of monster she was.

Just then, however, a cold laugh suddenly rang out.

The next second, Fu Juemin glimpsed a black blur flashing past. The middle-aged woman in front of Su Hui immediately shot forward, becoming a gray shadow that entangled with the black one.

The fierce wind kicked up by their clash stung Fu Juemin’s face from halfway across the street.

A sense of dread grew in Fu Juemin’s heart. But before he could watch for long, his Yao Ling Perception detected another figure suddenly appearing and charging ferociously straight for his position.

Fu Juemin’s eyes turned cold. With no room for hesitation, he dodged to the side. Before the figure could reach him, he raised his gun, aimed, and pulled the trigger repeatedly!

"BANG! BANG! BANG!..."

The remaining five bullets in the revolver’s cylinder were all spent, every last one emptied into the charging figure.

The figure’s advance halted, and it stood motionless on the spot.

Fu Juemin positioned himself directly opposite the figure, using its body to block the line of sight from across the street.

Remaining on high alert, he quickly tore open a hidden layer in his suit lining, took out spare bullets one by one, and began reloading his revolver.

The figure, who had taken all five of Fu Juemin’s shots, stood like an imposing iron tower under the blinding glare of the lights.

Fu Juemin couldn’t see the person’s face clearly, but he saw them slowly raise a fist toward him.

Then, the fingers uncurled—

"CLINK—CLANG—"

Brass slugs tumbled to the ground one after another, the clear ringing sound shattering the night’s silence.

Fu Juemin’s reloading movements froze.

He slowly raised his head, staring blankly at the coarse, backlit face, which was faintly contorting into a savage grin. His gaze hardened, growing heavier by the second.

"CLICK—"

The cylinder snapped shut.

Fu Juemin pressed his lips together and slowly exhaled. "A Tongxuan... Martial Artist?.."