The Highest Bounty

Gu Ding was slightly taken aback when Liliath volunteered to be the main attacker.

Ever since Biggie had joined their crew, Liliath had always taken a backseat when it came to battles, rarely participating in fights. Gu Ding knew she had advanced to Rank 9 Gene Body and had a higher combat effectiveness than he did, but no matter how high her combat effectiveness enhancement was, it would never surpass Gu Ding’s. That was why Gu Ding thought he had heard her wrong when she made the suggestion.

However, Gu Ding quickly recovered from his thoughts and nodded in the end. Even though he had no idea what was up Liliath’s sleeves, since she had voiced her decision, she should have a certain level of confidence.

A gunner’s job was quite different from other combat professions. Most combat professions’ combat effectiveness was closely tied to their gene level. However, a gunner’s true ability does not have much to do with their gene level. There were only a few factors a gunner would need to take note of in order to deal the most damage to their enemies:

First, a gunner would need to have the ability to predict the movement of their opponent. This could be done by sight, sound, and even smell. It could even be guided by an intuitive sixth sense, but the most important point, was that a gunner must accurately predict the upcoming movements of the opponent. If they were not able to capture those movements, the possibility of victory would not be high.

Second, the power of a gunner’s bullet must be strong enough to break through the enemy’s defense. There are two requirements for that. Requirement one was for a gunner’s Righteous Force to be able to break through the enemy’s Righteous Force defense. The second requirement was that the bullet must be able to wound the enemy physically. Once these two requirements are met, only will the enemy be heavily wounded.

Third, the accuracy of the shot. Being able to predict the movements of the enemy and having the best equipment does not necessarily make one a good gunner. A good gunner must be able to shoot their enemy. If a gunner was able to not only shoot the enemy, but have the ability to shoot any part of the body of the opponent, that person would be an exceptionally brilliant gunner.

Of course, there were other factors that made a good gunner. For example, the gunner’s technique, gun, and type of bullets used.

For Liliath, none of these was a problem. She was an outstanding gunner. All she needed was a gun powerful enough and bullets strong enough to hurt a Rank 13 Gene Body enemy.

Right then, Liliath had both those items at hand.

Even though Robert did not have enough materials to upgrade Liliath’s Bronze Grade Combat Armor to Silver Grade, he had a good understanding of guns. Robert had especially designed a few different types of gun structures for Liliath’s Firearm Combat Armor. Some were able to upgrade shooting speed to unthinkable speeds while some were able to amplify attack effectiveness to its max potential. Lili was now changing her weapon into a long barrel sniper, which was designed for enhancing attack effectiveness.

In addition to that, Robert had used the shells from the shrieking scallops to create a unique structure of a screw drill.

No one knew how powerful it would be when the gun and bullets combined forces.

The sniper’s muzzle locked onto the black-clothed bodyguard’s head, yet he ignored the threat of her gun. To the black-clothed bodyguard, gun-like attacks would never bypass the defense of his Righteous Force without adequate strength from their primary power.

He immediately decided to ignore Liliath and turned to go after Gu Ding.

His plans were simple because the little young master’s main aim from the mission was to get Gu Ding to attend his rites of passage. Capturing Liliath was just a way of blackmailing Gu Ding into attending the event. It would make better sense to capture Gu Ding than Liliath.

Even though Gu Ding was not as quick as he was, but thanks to the Silent Step in Ultimate Arts being an intricate move, every step made by Gu Ding was unpredictable to anyone else but Gu Ding. That was why Gu Ding had always managed to escape all predicaments by avoiding the enemy’s attack.

As for Liliath, she stood her ground as her sniper’s muzzle locked down on the black-clothed bodyguard, waiting for the right moment to take her shot.

Gu Ding suddenly stopped moving about in his disorderly way when he realized Liliath was ready. He crossed his arms in front of his chest in protection, blocking the heavy punch from the black-clothed bodyguard that landed on him like a hammer.

Gu Ding might have flown backward from the blow and his body had suffered a concussion, but his opponent had also been affected by the strong impact, which made him pause a second.

Liliath did not waste this opportunity created by Gu Ding and fixed her crosshair on the enemy’s head, pressing down hard on the trigger. Just as the bullet was shot, a black flame appeared on the surface of the bullet, and the original silver-colored bullet vanished in its stead. Even the fluctuation of the airwaves created by the high-speed spinning bullet had been completely covered by it.

That black flame was an ability Liliath had inherited from her father, which was Purgatorial Flame. This was a flame that meant death. Once it touches someone, the person’s cells will age vigorously in an instant, culminating in death. This was the first time she was using this ability in combat after her abilities were awakened.

When she had released the first shot, Liliath did not stop in hopes that this would be a lucky shot. Instead, she adjusted the direction of the muzzle and gave another three continuous shots, completely deadlocking any possible evasion from the enemy.

The black-clothed bodyguard frowned slightly. He had noticed Gu Ding stopping on purpose in order to create an opening for Liliath to take the shot. His years of battle experience had warned him that Liliath’s attack might not be as simple as he had thought. He tried to evade the bullet but realized that his line of movement had all been closed up. The only thing left to do was for him to hold up his hand in an attempt to block the bullet headed for his head.

The bullet, which was engulfed by the black flames tore through his Righteous Force protection with ease as it shot through his palm. A chill fueled with cold sweat spread across his back as he witnessed the bullet go right through his palm with no signs of stopping as it continued forward, going straight for his head. He immediately put up his other palm to stop the bullet from moving forward. However, his Righteous Force this time was easily torn apart as well. The bullet was lodged to his palm and it did not shoot through it.

He lifted his head to look toward where Liliath was. He was still in shock over what just happened. If he had not stopped the bullet in time, he would have been a corpse by now.

Just as he was thinking about this, he suddenly saw black flames starting to spread from his wound all over both his palms. The flames continued moving upwards of his arms. The most terrifying part about this, was that he could not feel any pain from it.

He went berserk as he shoved his palms into the ground, trying to put out the flames, but the black flames showed no sign of being extinguished. Instead, it burned rapidly and became even more fiery.

It took less than two minutes before the black-clothed bodyguard stopped struggling. His body was now carbonized and looked like a black statue. He stood still where he was, not moving at all.

Right then, Bregen had managed to escape from the warehouse, running out in disarray. The other black-clothed bodyguard was giving chase.

A gentle gust of wind could be felt and the carbonized bodyguard immediately disintegrated, turning into a pile of dark, black carbonized powder. Not even his bones were left.

This was witnessed by the two who had been in a chasing spree. They stopped in their tracks as they looked cautiously toward Gu Ding and Liliath.

Possessing the ability to turn a man into powder was a terrifying one that was shocking to anyone.

Gu Ding was also slightly stunned by what he had seen. Even though he knew that Liliath had gained a strange ability after her recovery, he had not expected it to be something so terrifying.

Even Liliath did not seem to be aware of it. She had not expected her ability to work so well as she had never tried it on anything alive. This was the first time.

“This has nothing to do with me. This was all masterminded by their young master! I’m just trying to earn a living. I’m a victim as much as all of you are in this situation. Just look at what’s happening. Not only are they refusing to pay me in full, they’re also trying to kill me,” Bregen immediately pointed his fingers at the black-clothed bodyguard.

He turned to make his escape as he said this.

Gu Ding and Liliath were not quick enough to capture him. They had no choice but to leave him be.

The remaining black-clothed bodyguard knew that the tables have been turned against him. He was about to make his escape in another direction when he heard Liliath’s voice from behind him.

“If you try to escape, you will end up just like your companion,” Liliath had gone into high alert after Bregen slipped away. The first thing she did was point her gun at the black-clothed bodyguard.

He stopped in his tracks when he heard this. He raised his hands and turned around. The black-clothed bodyguard suspected that the gun in Liliath’s hands was a demigod item when he saw her pointing it at him. Otherwise, it would not have that terrifying effect of burning someone into crisp. However, it did not matter whether that was a correct assumption. He was not brave enough to try his luck by doing something stupid.

Right at that moment, Biggie and Robert had also arrived at the location.

Robert was carrying someone on his shoulders. Surprisingly, it was Bregen who had attempted to escape before.

“We bumped into this guy on the way, so we took the opportunity to apprehend him. This must be the man who abducted Lili, right?” Biggie asked. Even though he had previously seen Bregen’s picture, he was still worried he might have caught the wrong person.

“You’re right, that is him. We weren’t quick enough to go after him when he escaped. Luckily you made it in time,” the thought of Bregen mentioning her flat chest and criticizing her height still made Liliath a little angry.

“Tie them all up and we’ll take them back to interrogate them. Even though I sort of figured out the reason for them wanting to abduct Lili, I still need to confirm some details. There’s still another guy in there whom I’m not sure is dead or alive. Take him with us as well!” Gu Ding pointed at the warehouse as he said.

Robert immediately took out his self-made anti-magic chains and locked up both men. After that, he went into the warehouse. Not long after, Tricke was led out by Robert with a deflated look on his face.

“Let’s go back to the spaceship!” Gu Ding looked at all three prisoners, but he did not feel happy at all.