booktalesy Chapter 21 Obstacle Removal
Chapter 21 Obstacle Removal
At this moment, a strange balance has been struck inside and outside the manor.
Apart from the unfortunate guy whose arm was broken, who was still rolling on the ground and howling in pain, the rest of the place was eerily quiet. No one fired a shot, and no one dared to show their face.
The air was thick with the smell of gunpowder and blood.
Fang Jianqiu leaned against the stone altar and calmly looked back at the manor.
"Looks like they're terrified. But did they think they'd be safe just by hiding behind cover?"
He looked down at the Winchester rifle in his hand, then at the two other rifles beside him. He had prepared three, but before he could even fire the first one, the guys outside had basically cleared it out.
Fang Jianqiu took out a few more brass bullets from the ammunition belt and slowly reloaded the gun in his hand.
Click, click.
The sound of loading ammunition was exceptionally clear in the quiet night.
He then rested the gun on the stone altar and aimed the sights at where Mark was hiding.
Mark hid behind a wooden tool shed with walls made of thick oak planks, about two or three inches thick.
This thickness was sufficient to block most direct rifle bullets in this era, making it a fairly reliable cover.
But in Fang Jianqiu's eyes, it was nothing more than a slightly thicker layer of paper.
The more versatile scope locks onto the target, while the sword provides penetration.
"Bang!"
First shot.
Wood chips flew everywhere.
"Bang!"
The second shot.
The bullet precisely pierced the hole from before.
"What...what is he doing?"
Mark huddled behind the wall, listening to the dull thuds coming from behind him, his heart filled with doubt and fear; each sound felt like a blow to his heart.
"Bang!"
The third shot.
This time, the sound changed; the muffled thud turned into a crisp tearing sound.
A deformed bullet, splintered with wood, suddenly emerged from the wall next to Mark's cheek, grazed his nose, and struck the muddy ground in front of him.
Mark stared wide-eyed at the small hole in the wall through which the moonlight shone, completely dumbfounded.
These are oak planks!
The small hole was only centimeters from his head; if it had been slightly off-center, the bullet would now be churning inside his brain.
Before he could even react, Fang Jianqiu's next round of shooting began.
"Bang!"
The fourth shot.
Using the hole from before, this shot essentially pinpointed Mark's location.
The sound of a bullet hitting his chest rang out.
"Bang!"
The fifth shot.
This relentless pressure is more devastating than being hit by a hail of bullets.
As Mark listened to the repetitive, monotonous sound of the shots hitting the target, he felt as if death was slowly prying open the lock outside the door.
"Aaaaaah!"
Mark could no longer bear it; the feeling of waiting for death drove him completely insane.
He suddenly drew his revolver from his waist, and without caring where anyone was, he stretched his hand out from behind cover and fired two shots haphazardly.
"Bang! Bang!"
Then, he let out a strange cry and rushed out like a startled rabbit.
As he ran, he twisted his body in an S-shaped pattern, making meaningless howls.
Although this S-shaped movement was slightly more tactically sophisticated than the first guy who just ran straight, it was still all in vain.
His fate was sealed the moment he left the bunker.
Fang Jianqiu didn't even need to adjust the gun muzzle.
"Bang!"
The bullet ripped through the night sky and struck Mark precisely in the back of the heart.
Mark's running body suddenly lunged forward. He slid a short distance on the ground, twitched twice, and then lay still.
Just as Fang Jianqiu fired the shot that killed Mark, Tom, who was hiding behind the pillar, moved; he couldn't hold back any longer.
He kept his head down, waiting for this gap between reloading and firing.
Tom, his face contorted with rage like a cornered beast, suddenly emerged from behind the pillar, holding a Winchester rifle in his hand, his finger already on the trigger.
"Go to hell!"
Tom roared, turning around as he prepared to fire.
However, he had only just turned his gun towards the stone altar and hadn't even had time to raise it to level.
Fang Jianqiu reacted instantly, his movements incredibly fast, as if he had anticipated this scene.
He loosened his left hand, letting the Winchester rifle hang on his shoulder strap, and his right hand reached for his waist like lightning, instantly drawing a Colt revolver.
The movement was so fluid and fast that it was almost impossible to see.
The gun had just been raised to his waist, not even fully extended.
"Bang!"
A gunshot rang out.
The bullet struck precisely the receiver of the Winchester rifle in Tom's hand.
The enormous impact sent the rifle flying, its parts scattering everywhere. The entire gun twisted and deformed, flying out of Tom's hand and crashing heavily onto the grass some distance away.
Tom felt a numbness in his hands, and his tiger's mouth was shattered, bleeding profusely.
"I guess I've mastered half of American-style iaido now."
Fang Jianqiu watched this scene with a slight smile on his lips.
Having destroyed his opponent's weapon with a single shot, Fang Jianqiu was preparing to finish the fight with another shot.
But when he looked closely and saw the face clearly, his fingers paused.
"Oh, it's an old acquaintance."
Fang Jianqiu recognized the guy who had spat on his shoes.
Tom was stunned for a moment. After that brief delay, he finally recovered from the shock of the shot.
His survival instinct made him instinctively reach for the revolver at his waist.
"Don't move."
Fang Jianqiu said coldly, but Tom obviously didn't listen; his hand had just touched the gun handle.
"Bang!"
Another gunshot rang out.
This time, Fang Jianqiu pulled out another Colt with his left hand.
The bullet struck Tom's holster with perfect accuracy.
The revolver, still in its holster, was sent flying by the bullet, which grazed Tom's outer thigh, leaving a burning sensation.
Tom was completely dumbfounded.
He stood frozen in place, his hands empty, at a loss.
He didn't understand why this person didn't just kill him.
He slowly raised his head and looked at the stone altar.
Fang Jianqiu walked out from behind the stone altar.
He held a Colt revolver in each hand, the muzzles lowered, seemingly relaxed, but his eyes scanned the surroundings like an eagle, alert to any potential threat he might miss.
As Fang Jianqiu approached step by step, Tom finally saw the face clearly in the moonlight.
It was a young, Asian face.
Tom's pupils contracted sharply, and his face showed extreme shock, even more so than when he was shot.
"What?!"
"It's you... that piglet..."
He recognized the Chinese man.
"No...impossible! This is impossible!"
Tom broke down and screamed, his voice filled with hysteria.
"You're just a pig! How could you... how could you do such a thing! Impossible!"
He doesn't believe it.
He couldn't believe that those timid and submissive Chinese laborers, who were treated like livestock and slaughtered at will, could possess such skills.
This overturned the worldview he had built up over decades.
Fang Jianqiu frowned, seemingly annoyed by the noise.
He raised his hand and fired a shot.
"Bang!"
The bullet pierced Tom's right foot.
"what!"
The sharp pain instantly snapped Tom back to reality and interrupted his rambling.
He fell to his knees with a thud, clutching his bleeding foot. The disbelief he had felt moments before was instantly replaced by the fear of death.
"Don't kill me! Don't kill me! Please!"
Tom's face was covered in snot and tears as he desperately kowtowed on the ground.
Fang Jianqiu walked to the iron gate and looked at Tom inside through the bars.
"Open this door, and I'll reconsider how to deal with you."
Fang Jianqiu spoke in fluent English, his tone as casual as if he were simply borrowing a shovel from a neighbor.
Upon hearing this, Tom looked up as if grasping at a straw, but then cried out in despair:
"I...I don't have the key! The key is with the captain! I'm not lying! I really don't have it!"
"That's settled then."
Fang Jianqiu showed no sign of disappointment, not even the slightest emotional fluctuation.
He hadn't planned to let the guy go anyway, so since he didn't have the key, he might as well send him on his way.
However, some debts must be paid off before leaving.
Fang Jianqiu raised the muzzle of his right revolver and pointed it at Tom's right shoulder.
That day, this hand was on my shoulder.
"Bang!"
The bullet shattered Tom's right shoulder blade, and his entire arm hung down like a noodle.
Tom let out a bloodcurdling scream and began to convulse on the ground.
"And your mouth."
Fang Jianqiu lowered the muzzle of his left-hand revolver.
That day, this mouth spat at me.
"Bang!"
The bullet ripped apart the lower half of Tom's face. His teeth and lips were reduced to a bloody mess.
Tom fell to the ground, wanting to cover his face with his hands but not daring to touch it, and could only make indistinct whimpers, like a dying wild dog.
Fang Jianqiu did not fire again.
"The annoying mobs are finally gone."
The hammer returned to its position, the cylinders rotated, and both revolvers were chambered again.
"It's time for the rewards."
Fang Jianqiu walked to the tightly locked iron gate, his gaze peering through the crack at the brightly lit, magnificent mansion.
Beneath him, in the trouser leg, a slightly deformed bullet was suddenly squeezed out from the completely healed flesh and fell to the ground.
"Ding~"
It sounded like a doorbell.