Chapter 617 Dodge
Bang!
Bang! Bang!
Wayne passed through the smoke and dust amidst the gunshots, just rounding the collapsed corner of what had become a dangerous building, and then quickly witnessed the so-called "Feathered Serpent" with his own eyes.
This thing was translucent, suspended in mid-air, with its tail connected to the side of a person's neck.
Its appearance was quite a mix: a viper's face with a lion's mane, and a pair of large wings that looked like a peacock's or some other bird's, with a gradient of colors that were hard to distinguish, appearing hazy and with very low contrast.
In his simplified line-of-sight, it was composed of intermittent short lines, slightly longer than the "small dots" but not by much.
At this moment, it was flapping in the air towards Merlin, who held a lantern in one hand, while his other hand, gloved in red, struck out, instantly producing a blinding white light.
It was the first time Wayne truly felt the so-called "light pressure." This thing was more dazzling than a flash, and it felt like a physical entity, as if carrying a unidirectional wind, practically capable of making one instantly comprehend what it means for "light particles to impact an object."
Closing his eyes, he aimed at the human silhouette connected to the Feathered Serpent within the lines, and taking advantage of the opponent, who was likely temporarily blinded by facing the "wind," Wayne raised his hand and fired a shot at the guy's backside.
Bang!
To avoid accidental injury, and considering the need to keep someone alive to ask questions, hear about their plans, or whether they had accomplices, Wayne did not directly aim for a fatal spot when targeting, and conservatively left some leeway for the opponent.
Under normal circumstances, no matter which direction the opponent's backside moved—up, down, front, back, left, or right—their body would inevitably end up with an extra hole.
Unfortunately, this fellow was a surprisingly well-trained individual; he seemed to have started instinctively dodging the moment he realized he was about to face the strong light.
Wayne hadn't even pulled the trigger to the firing position when the semi-solid Feathered Serpent executed a "dragon's tail whip" in mid-air with no apparent point of force, directly flinging the guy several body lengths to the side.
After landing, he smoothly spun around, leaving only a few craters of splashing dirt around his original position.
Wayne, during the battle, had no patience for such actions that violated basic mechanics, like "stepping on one's left foot to ascend to heaven." He immediately turned his gun and continued to aim.
His left hand quickly manipulated the joystick, following the opponent's silhouette, predicting their path, and firing a continuous barrage of "bang bang bang bang."
However, after putting some distance between himself and the others and rolling into the relatively open space of the small courtyard, the opponent's dodging trajectory for gunshots was indeed a bit excessive.
He could even perform a "double jump" while airborne, and even inexplicably turn into a slanted "Z" shape out of thin air.
What the hell?
Although the distance of each displacement wasn't too far, wasn't the trajectory and the speed of those sharp turns a bit too outrageous?
And you're a guy with a Windsor accent; do you really not consider showing some respect for Sir Newton's academic achievements?
Fortunately, Wayne could also see that Feathered Serpent in his simplified line-of-sight; even if physics was temporarily abandoned, mathematics could still be used.
The length of the line segment between two endpoints was roughly fixed, and the distance an endpoint could deviate each time was limited. The spatial distribution it could change was merely a "sphere." Combining this with probability, he continuously selected points in "relatively outrageous" positions.
Pfft—
After another continuous string of "bang bang bang bang," Wayne finally heard the dull, liquid-like sound of soft tissue being destroyed as the bullet penetrated flesh.
The humanoid silhouette lost its balance and crashed to the ground. At this point, less than ten seconds had passed since Merlin's intense flash, and Wayne's eyes still saw lingering double images. To avoid accidental injury, the others temporarily just gathered closer, refraining from further shooting. Only the monks were still throwing nets, bottles, and the like.
But this guy had already deviated seven or eight meters from his previous position, and after landing, he once again rolled like a worm, hiding behind the corner of a large warehouse.
Everyone gradually gathered, and as their vision slowly cleared, they followed the blood trail and saw the guy crash through a side window into another small wooden hut in the corner of the courtyard.
Earlier, Slingshot had said that this small courtyard was ostensibly a distillery. In the Dock Area, a "distillery" specifically referred to a "wholesale shop for cheap alcoholic beverages," meaning a place where bars or street vendors bought specific cheap liquors by the barrel.
Due to the special tax system that taxed by the number of stills and the convenient shipping on the East Coast, most of these distilleries did not involve brewing. They typically sold rum or inferior beer brought back by cargo ships, operating on a low-profit, high-volume business model.
So, normally, the main part of a distillery would at least be a "warehouse."
The Sailor Gang's hideout was even more elaborate, with a "front shop and back warehouse" in the small courtyard, and a matching small wooden hut and a shed that looked like a former stable in the corner.
However, the Sailor Gang had clearly not put much effort into maintaining the distillery, or perhaps they had snatched this place from some unfortunate soul.
At this moment, the shed, which resembled a stable, was already drafty and leaky, and the small wooden hut the guy had entered looked like an abandoned storage room.
The fact that he didn't climb over the courtyard wall nearby to flee elsewhere, but instead hid in this small wooden hut, was actually a good thing for everyone.
The house that had just been turned into a dangerous building by high explosives was not small; if drawn as a floor plan, it would be "room after room," which is why only the outer walls were blown up and it didn't completely collapse. This small wooden hut, however, looked like a "large single room." Once everyone surrounded it, they might even be able to shoot him into a beehive through the half-rotted wooden walls with a barrage of shots.
No need to get too close, and no need to worry about him jumping around everywhere—it was practically a high-quality self-selected grave.
The others present clearly thought the same; without being told, they had already started finding positions to surround him. Inessa, who had chosen the furthest spot earlier, specifically blocked the side of the small wooden hut closest to the courtyard wall this time, to prevent the guy from escaping the encirclement again.
Meanwhile, Lina quietly released Peter the Spider, who scurried along the blood trail and into the small wooden hut.
The simplified line-of-sight couldn't directly penetrate walls, but this kind of wooden hut, made of nailed boards, was actually "leaky everywhere." The Feathered Serpent's characteristics were also too obvious.
After roughly determining the position, it wasn't difficult for Wayne, who had raised his gun again, to lock onto the opponent's figure based on the general outline; in fact, it was somewhat familiar territory.
Considering that the opponent was an Extraordinary Person from the "death" domain, he might be like the Pig Head Butcher encountered before, able to jump around even without a head. This time, Wayne decided to just go for a headshot.
As Wayne was thinking this, his spiritual intuition suddenly gave a warning of danger, and the small wooden hut instantly appeared truly "leaky everywhere" in his simplified line-of-sight, as if someone had suddenly lit a "lamp" inside.
Thoughts raced through his mind in an instant, and a question was immediately answered: Suppose there is such a dangerous criminal who places "bombs" everywhere. When he is unexpectedly questioned by law enforcement and suspects his identity has been exposed, what might be his subconscious reaction?
Of course, it would be either to immediately escape, or to immediately pick up a weapon and counterattack.
And this guy, after knocking down Connal earlier, had directly run to this Sailor Gang stronghold. In fact, his erratic movements just now, in a sense, had always been leading towards this small wooden hut—he had had the chance to climb over the wall and escape!
@#$%^&&**%$##!
Along with a short, urgent burst of what sounded like some kind of gibberish, like X-rays penetrating flesh, although still separated by the wooden wall, Wayne seemed to see a more majestic and larger Feathered Serpent phantom flash by in an instant.
Wayne quickly pulled the trigger, while simultaneously shouting with several male and female voices around him:
"Get away!"
"Watch out for the curse!"
"Back off! Or get down!"
Although the content differed, the intended meaning was almost completely identical. Wayne's body instinctively wanted to fall forward, but then, with a "swish," as if struck by a soft whip, he was thrown backward onto the ground.
Almost simultaneously with that phantom flashing by, all the "short lines" in the simplified line-of-sight seemed to be instantly accelerated by a unified force field, rotating and spreading outwards.
The scene was somewhat like the rotating sprinkler heads Wayne had seen used for watering lawns, with "water streams" spinning and rushing outwards.
But the "water pressure" of this thing was at least on the level of a high-pressure water gun. The walls of the small wooden hut suddenly disintegrated, and while it wouldn't break the skin when sprayed on a person, it still caused pain. And although it only rotated once, the entire process was almost instantaneous.
Compared to the "almost invisible" speed of bullets, the speed of these "short lines" was just at the level where "the eyes could see them, but the body couldn't fully dodge them."
Boom—
The small wooden hut, deprived of its wall support, collapsed even more completely than the house that had actually been bombed earlier. After the impact, almost no one in the vicinity was still standing.
The "short lines" within the impact range gradually evaporated and dissipated upwards, yet they seemed to carry something away in the process. Wayne, still lying there, hadn't had time to get up when he saw the weeds on the ground before him slowly droop and wither like mimosa plants.
For some reason, Wayne suddenly recalled Doctor John from Blackstone Town at this moment.
Guys who play with dirty bombs should all die...
