Chapter 21: Cold Shot! Shattered Purified Water and the One-Armed Verdict

The brief exhilaration brought by the miracle of the seedlings purifying the sewage was instantly frozen by the cold glint of a sniper's scope on the western ridge. Lin Mo's heart clenched as if gripped by an invisible hand, and a chill crept up his spine. Lame Wolf! He had finally shown up in person!

"Take cover!" Sister Ai Li barked sharply, her body lunging toward Xiang Lingna like a startled civet, pressing her hard into the innermost corner of the shack! Lin Mo also immediately ducked back behind cover, his scalp prickling as if locked on by a venomous snake.

"Whoosh—!"

A sharp shriek tore through the beast tide's roars! A high-speed spinning sniper bullet, with deadly precision, instantly pierced the metal barrel in the center of the depression that had just worked its miracle!

"Clang! Splash—!"

The metal barrel let out a piercing wail, torn open with a vicious gaping hole! The half barrel of relatively clean water that had been painstakingly accumulated inside—water Xiang Lingna had just purified with the seedlings—mixed with the residual filth, gushed out instantly, streaming across the scorched black earth!

The clean water! The clean water they depended on to sustain the fire wall and their survival, destroyed by a single shot!

"No!" Xiang Lingna let out a desperate cry at the clean water vanishing in an instant. Lin Mo's heart sank to the bottom! This shot had not only destroyed their water source, but also their last hope of resisting the beast tide!

After the fire wall lost its water replenishment for cooling, the flames visibly weakened, leaving only feeble flames lingering among the ashes. The beast tide's roars suddenly swelled—they seemed to sense the barrier's weakening and grew ferocious again! The corpse of the rhinoceros monster that Sister Ai Li had shot through the throat to plug the gap was being trampled madly by the beasts behind it, about to be pushed aside any moment!

What made Lin Mo's eyes nearly split with rage was that on the ridge, Lame Wolf's sniper scope moved again—this time, the cold crosshairs seemed to... lock onto the two seedlings flickering with faint purple light at the shack's entrance! Or rather, locked onto Xiang Lingna guarding beside the seedlings!

"Xiang Lingna! Get down!" Lin Mo roared!

But Sister Ai Li moved faster than him! The instant the sniper scope's light point shifted, she rolled out from behind cover like a phantom! With only one good right hand and her waist and core strength, she completed the high-difficulty sequence of stringing the crossbow, aiming, and firing—all mid-roll!

"Whoosh—!"

A streak of ghostly blue light shot against the trajectory of the sniper bullet, carrying all of Sister Ai Li's fury and resolve, toward the western ridge! The target was not Lame Wolf himself, but the scope mounted on the front of his sniper rifle!

"Ting!" A crisp impact sound faintly reached them!

On the ridge, Lame Wolf's head jerked violently to one side! The scope lens shattered instantly! Broken glass shards even cut his cheek!

Though it caused no fatal wound, this pinpoint-accurate shot successfully disrupted Lame Wolf's aim, forcing him to retreat behind cover!

"Nice shot! Sister Ai Li!" Lin Mo growled excitedly. Sister Ai Li's crossbowmanship had erupted to a godlike level in this desperate situation!

However, the crisis was not over! The sniper threat was temporarily suppressed, but the gap in the beast tide was about to be breached! The fire wall was nearly extinguished!

"Lin Mo! The mines!" Sister Ai Li's voice carried urgent gasps; that beyond-limit shot just now had cost her enormous stamina.

Lin Mo understood instantly! He lunged toward the workshop corner and grabbed the three "incendiary mines" he had set outside the thorn wall and hadn't had time to retrieve! These crude explosives originally meant for the Blood Claws had now become lifesavers!

"Xiang Lingna! Torch!" Lin Mo roared.

Xiang Lingna fought down her fear, grabbed a burning wooden stick, and handed it to him.

Lin Mo lit the fuse of one mine (a makeshift fuse he had improvised), gauged the position of the rhinoceros monster corpse about to be pushed aside, and with all his might hurled the smoking, hissing "iron watermelon" over!

"BOOM!!"

An explosion several times louder than a hunting rifle detonated among the beasts! Firelight accompanied by flying metal fragments and scorching grease! Though the power was still limited, the tremendous sound and sudden blast instantly blew the beasts crowded at the gap into utter chaos! Several monsters were hit by shrapnel or set ablaze, shrieking as they tumbled! The rhinoceros monster's corpse was flipped aside by the shockwave, but instead temporarily blocked the surging beasts, forming a chaotic barrier of flesh and flame!

Chaos! Chaos was exactly what Lin Mo wanted! He repeated the trick, lighting and hurling the remaining two mines!

"BOOM! BOOM!"

Successive explosions detonated on the beast tide's flank and rear! Firelight shot skyward, debris flew everywhere! The beast tide fell into complete chaos! The monsters trampled each other, the ones scorched by flames fled madly, crashing into their companions behind! The offensive momentum was thoroughly disrupted by this sudden "minefield"!

The depression gained precious breathing room!

Lin Mo slumped to the ground, gasping for air, his arms sore and numb from throwing. Sister Ai Li also leaned against cover, her face pale, her right hand trembling slightly. Xiang Lingna stared at the chaotic beast tide outside and the burning blast points, her little face filled with the blankness of having narrowly escaped death.

But all three knew this was only temporary. The beast tide was endless, and the chaos would eventually settle. Lame Wolf was still lurking on the ridge like a tiger watching its prey. And even more fatally—the water! The water purifier had been destroyed, and the seedlings' purification speed was far outpaced by consumption!

"We must... find a new water source... or..." Lin Mo's gaze turned toward the ruins of the destroyed water barrel, then toward the parts collected in the workshop corner, and a wild thought surged again—repair or... build another water purifier!