Chapter 48

Pressing his eye against the bullet hole, Xiaoming bit the safety pin and gently pressed it.

Holding the flashbang in his hand, he threw it into the courtyard. Four Arbitrators who were unpacking boxes and reloading their bullets saw a cylindrical object land in the yard.

Linyifan, hiding behind the wall, covered his ears and closed his eyes. A bright flash and a loud bang followed, and *bang*!

The one closest to the flashbang fell straight down, knocked unconscious on the spot.

"Ah! My eyes!"

"I can't hear anything..."

Facing the four deaf and blind Arbitrators, Linyifan climbed over the wall, pulled out his handcuffs, and cuffed them one by one, just like catching pigs.

With a leap, he used his knee to knock down one of the轮回者 (Cycle Players), handcuffed him, and the screams immediately stopped.

After cuffing all four Cycle Players, Linyifan squatted in the corner and looked outside. They were too spread out, all focusing on the seven Steel Front Cycle Players across the way. The loud noise from the flashbang was drowned out by the gunfire.

"Undetected, hehe."

Like a thief, Linyifan opened the unopened ammunition box and saw a full box of magazines. The other boxes contained new guns that had been air-dropped.

"Good stuff, need to find a place to hide it."

Peeking around, Linyifan picked up the guns that had fallen on the ground. He couldn't carry too much at once, so he pushed a few boxes around. There was a small pond in the courtyard, and Linyifan hid the boxes of weapons behind an inconspicuous rock garden.

With the grass blocking the view, they shouldn't be discovered for at least a few days.

After securing the weapons, Linyifan climbed over the wall again and moved closer to the battle. The Steel Front Cycle Players on the other side raised their heads and noticed the figure sneaking behind the Arbitrators.

At that moment, a burst of gunfire forced the Steel Front Cycle Players back against the wall. One of them grinned and said, "That kid has some guts."

Another Cycle Player looked at his watch and pointed across the way, "Captain, we don't have much time. If we keep fighting, the Self-Defense Forces will be here."

"I know. Order the others to throw all their grenades. Give that kid a boost, and then we'll withdraw from the battle area."

The Cycle Player next to him took out a fragmentation grenade and sighed, "What a waste. I thought they were on some secret mission. We burned so many bullets and lost a new recruit."

"New recruits are easy to come by. Spend some money, and you can get more. If they die, they die. At least we shot down their helicopter, which will cost them hundreds of thousands. Hahaha."

As he spoke, the squad leader attached a grenade launcher to his gun and shouted, "Full firepower!"

Just as Linyifan was about to climb over the wall, he heard the *thud thud thud* sound and frowned, "Grenade launcher?"

Without hesitation, he didn't know what had happened to the Steel Front Cycle Players, but they were throwing grenades like they were free, targeting the bald, muscular man.

For a moment, the gunfire stopped, but the explosions continued.

Flames shot up, and Linyifan could clearly see the parabolic trajectory of the grenades in mid-air. The *thud thud thud* sound was like a hammer hitting his heart, and it seemed that a grenade could land next to him at any moment.

The wall collapsed with a loud crash, power poles toppled, and the air was filled with thick smoke. Occasional screams echoed, but it was unclear whether they were from civilians or Cycle Players.

Most of the vehicles on the street were burned to skeletons. Under the thick smoke, seven figures climbed over the wall and quickly withdrew from the battle.

Linyifan, hiding in a courtyard, took off a towel, wrapped it around his face, and entered the smoke where flames were still burning.

In the extremely low visibility, an Arbitrator was holding his severed arm, writhing in pain on the ground.

With a flick of the handcuffs, he cuffed him and dragged him away, regardless of his condition. He would deal with the headcount later.

He had already cuffed five people. On the other side, a body was burning on the road with a car, but the remaining ten were too much for Linyifan to handle alone.

Linyifan didn't want to take the risk. If they could call in a helicopter, who knew what else they had.

Seeing the Steel Front Cycle Players withdraw, Linyifan decided not to continue taking advantage of the chaos.

Just as he was about to leave, he suddenly heard a Cycle Player's voice.

"Hey, where's the captain?"

"The deputy is burning on the street." The Cycle Player pointed to the charred body.

The Cycle Player hiding in the alley lowered his voice, "The other side is on fire, and the squad leader is nowhere to be found. What should we do?"

"The Self-Defense Forces are probably coming soon. We'll withdraw one kilometer from the battle area. If we don't find the squad leader, we'll open a dimensional gate and go back."

"Understood!"

The two Cycle Players stood up from the corner, picked up their weapons, and were about to leave.

*Clunk clunk*

A cylindrical object rolled down the slope. The two Cycle Players' faces froze, and they quickly turned around, but a flashbang wasn't something you could avoid by turning your head.

A bright flash and a muffled bang followed. The Cycle Players covered their ears and knelt in pain, their minds dazed, and their ears ringing.

Linyifan climbed out from behind the wall, quickly approached, and cuffed one of them. The other Cycle Player, fighting the nausea, looked up and saw that his teammate was gone, replaced by the low-ranking soldier they were supposed to capture.

"Wait... you..."

Linyifan kicked him down and took two flashbangs from his body.

The dazed Cycle Player blinked in pain, quietly drew a dagger, and lunged at Linyifan, pinning him down.

"Where's my teammate? Where's my teammate!" The Cycle Player's veins bulged, the tip of the dagger pressed against Linyifan's nose, and a drop of blood trickled down his nose to his eye socket, turning his right eye red.

Linyifan used all his strength to push the dagger away, surprised by the Cycle Player's quick reaction.

The Cycle Player's face was twisted, sweat dripping onto Linyifan's face. He grinned and said, "Hehehe, do you think I'm one of those hunters who just killed a few people? Do you want my life?"

Clearly, he thought Linyifan had killed his teammate.

His masked face came close, his eyes fierce, "I've killed countless weaklings like you. Do you know how to kill newbies who haven't even joined a group? First, you trick them out of their money, drain their value, and then you can smoothly take their place."

"What are you talking about..."

The other Cycle Player shook his head and sneered, "I won't kill you, but I'll take you back. But I noticed, you really like pretending to be a newbie. How many newbies' hard-earned money did you trick out of them for that P90 and body armor?"

Clearly, he noticed that Linyifan's P90 and body armor were not what a newbie who had only cycled once should have. Normally, that amount of money could only buy a pistol and some knives.

Linyifan struggled to push the dagger away, but the Cycle Player's strength was terrifying. The eyes behind the black mask were full of killing intent.

He held Linyifan down with one hand and drew a tranquilizer gun from his pocket, pressing it against Linyifan's thigh, "Have a good sleep."

*Bang!*

Linyifan felt a heavy weight on his body, and the dagger flew away from his nose.

*Clank clank*, he looked at the helmet and the Cycle Player on top of him. Warm liquid spread across his chest, and he saw the bullet hole in the helmet, confirming that the Cycle Player was dead.

Pushing away the lifeless body, which moved like a puppet, Linyifan wiped the blood from his nose and noticed the person in front of him.

Saya Takagi held an MP5 submachine gun, breathing heavily, her face pale with fear.

"Phew, thanks." Linyifan, still shaken, was more scared by the gunshot.

If Saya Takagi had been a bit slower, she would have seen a ghostly version of Linyifan.

His life-saving skill hadn't been used.

Wiping away the cold sweat, Saya Takagi waved her gun and said proudly, "This time, I knew how to release the safety."

Linyifan stood up, took Saya Takagi's hand, and ran to a safe place, saying, "You're really fearless. Where did you get the gun?"

"From the pile of flesh at the sewer entrance."

Saya Takagi's words made Linyifan think of the unfortunate Cycle Player torn apart by the machine gun. This lady was really thick-skinned, picking up a gun from a pile of dead flesh.

At that moment, a helicopter roared overhead, and Linyifan immediately pulled Saya Takagi to hide in a corner. Looking up, he saw the prominent rising sun flag on the helicopter. This wasn't a Cycle Player's helicopter.

"Quick, hide the gun." Linyifan took off his body armor and equipment, stuffed the two weapons into his backpack.

After hiding the equipment, Linyifan and Saya Takagi ran through the blood-stained police cars and down a small alley, heading in the opposite direction of the gunfight.

Just as they had run for a while, a black car stopped in front of Linyifan and Saya.