Chapter 13: All Are Equal Before the Flamethrower

Rein hid behind a thicket observing the manor, but because he was too far away, he couldn't hear any movement inside, and after waiting a long time, no one came out.

He glanced up at the sky; thick clouds obscured the moonlight, and everything around was pitch black.

Taking advantage of the darkness, he felt his way toward the manor. He spent over half an hour circling around to the woods beside the manor, climbed up a large tree, and poked his head out from behind the trunk, looking down into the manor from above.

He activated his Soul Eye and turned up the brightness; the entire manor became clearly visible, as if in daylight.

Rein focused his eyes, and the image magnified within them; every detail was seen with crystal clarity.

The overall layout of the manor was simple: a three-story house as the main building, a large grassy area in front, stables to the side, and a small garden behind the house—not much different from an ordinary private manor.

At this moment, lights were on in a second-floor room, and occasionally a person's silhouette swept across the window, but no voices could be heard.

Rein shifted positions several times in a row, scouting the manor from different angles, but gained nothing.

The only thing he could confirm was that there weren't many people inside; apart from Eisberg and Ramsey, who had just entered, there were at most two or three servants—otherwise it wouldn't be so quiet.

"Could it be that they didn't come out tonight to rob? Or are they waiting until later to set out?"

Rein speculated inwardly.

"I can't keep waiting. Tonight is the best opportunity. Otherwise, who knows how long until both of them are here again."

Rein made a prompt decision to act tonight.

He left the manor and, sparing no effort, raced into the city at top speed to return to the inn. Entering his room, he pulled out the bag from under the bed, poured out the parts, and rapidly assembled them into a shotgun.

He test-fired it a few times in its unloaded state, confirmed there were no issues, filled the magazine, then wrapped the gun body in a black bag and slung it behind his back. He stuffed the remaining bullets one by one into a leather bullet belt, fastened it around his waist like a belt, and covered it with his jacket.

In addition, there was a sheathed dagger, bought a few days ago for 30 copper coins from a guest at the inn—the fellow had lost at cards and traded the dagger for cash.

Finally, a black face scarf, tucked into his pocket for later use.

After checking repeatedly that everything was ready with nothing missing, Rein set out.

Downstairs, as he passed Zoltan and Roger, Rein nodded to them as usual and left the inn.

Roger, who had been absorbed in playing cards, turned to glance at Rein's retreating back, rubbed his chin, but said nothing.

It was nighttime; the streets of the Lien District had very few people, and patrolling guards were virtually unseen. Rein was already quite familiar with this area; he avoided some dangerous blocks where incidents frequently occurred, headed south all the way, and left the city via a small road with no checkpoint guards.

In truth, even if he encountered guards, they would at most ask a couple of questions, and Rein only needed to flash his Transcendent Academy pass to be let through.

As for the shotgun on his back, its shape resembled a long sword and wouldn't attract much attention.

In Longshandecheng, people carried weapons through the streets in broad daylight every day; everyone was used to it. In a world where Transcendents ran rampant, banning weapons on the streets was simply impossible.

Soon, Rein returned to outside the manor.

Only a little over an hour had passed since he left; Eisberg and the others were still inside.

Rein sat down to consider how to act.

First, he ruled out charging into the manor—that would be far too dangerous, practically suicide. He knew nothing about the interior layout, didn't know which room Eisberg was in, and the servants were also a significant threat; being surrounded would mean certain death.

Second, he had to keep the initiative in his own hands and make Eisberg the primary target—ideally taking him out with the first shot.

Once the most dangerous Eisberg was dead, Ramsey would be nothing to worry about.

"Then I can only wait for them to come out."

Rein didn't know when Eisberg would come out,

but that didn't matter, because there was only one road leading away from the manor, and he could choose an ambush point along it.

He walked back along the road and soon found an optimal spot.

It was over four hundred meters from the manor; both sides of the road were covered with large patches of grass, the dense weeds growing to knee height. A person crouching in the grass would be hard to spot, but the moment they stood up, the view would be extremely open—nothing blocking the line of sight within a two to three hundred meter radius.

Eisberg was a Shadow Warrior; his strongest ability was Shadow Evasion, which required shadows and complex terrain to be fully effective.

But in this grassy field, any movement would produce sound, rendering Shadow Evasion essentially useless.

Eisberg was very fast over short distances—this was what Rein feared most—but in open ground, once the distance was widened, it wouldn't be so frightening.

"This is the place."

Rein hesitated no further. He chose his position, drew his dagger, and began digging holes in the road.

The holes he dug weren't very deep—only about a dozen centimeters—and less than twenty centimeters in diameter. After digging them, he laid sturdy grass stems across the top and covered them with a thin layer of dirt, making them look the same as normal road surface. He dug seven or eight of these shallow pits, distributed along a stretch of road. If a carriage hit even one, the horse's leg would break through, startling the horse or even breaking its leg.

After setting up, Rein walked a few meters toward the manor and lay prone in the roadside grass, using a prepared bundle of weeds to conceal his figure.

"I hope it doesn't rain tonight, or this will be miserable."

Rein thought to himself.

The night grew ever deeper; time passed, and in the blink of an eye it was late night. The lights in the manor had gone out an hour ago. Just as Rein was thinking Eisberg would spend the night at the manor and not come out until tomorrow, there was suddenly movement.

The manor's gate opened, and a carriage slowly rolled out.

"Here they come!"

"I knew they wouldn't be able to resist."

Rein's spirits surged; the drowsiness from lying prone for several hours vanished instantly. He pulled out the black face scarf and covered his face, locking his eyes on the carriage.

The carriage rattled along the small road; since it was night, it wasn't going fast. A storm lantern hung from the roof, particularly conspicuous against the dark sky.

As the distance closed, the storm lantern grew brighter in his eyes.

Rein lay motionless in the grass, having already turned his Soul Eye brightness to the maximum. He placed his finger on the trigger, slightly raised the muzzle, and aligned the angle.

The carriage drew near, pulled by a single horse; the hoofbeats were especially loud in the night.

Clack-clack-clack…

The ground trembled faintly, and Rein, lying on the ground, felt it with perfect clarity. At this moment, his mind was exceptionally calm. He held his breath, his eyes fixed on the approaching carriage, his heart utterly still. Both hands gripped the gun, as steady as a surgeon performing an operation.

A few seconds later, the carriage was right before him. The coachman sitting in front held the reins, focused on driving, completely unaware that someone was by the roadside.

Bang!

A sudden gunshot rang out, carrying far across the open fields.

The coachman was as if struck by a heavy punch; his body was thrown from the carriage and tumbled to the ground. The horse pulling the carriage was spooked, and with the reins conveniently loosened, it immediately bolted out of control down the road—but after running only a few meters, it suddenly stepped into empty air and the entire horse collapsed to the ground.

The carriage body first slammed into the horse, then tipped sideways from inertia—with a crash, it slammed hard onto the ground and rolled two or three times.

Lei En watched this scene, but still stayed hidden in the grass and did not come out.

He took advantage of the carriage overturning, slid the gun's forearm, reloaded, then took a bullet from his belt and loaded it into the magazine.

The carriage capsized, the windscreen lamp on the roof shattered and went out, darkness fell around, and only the severely injured horse with a broken leg whinnied in pain.

Suddenly, the carriage door was kicked open from inside, and a black silhouette darted out.

"Ai Si Bo Ge."

Lei En instantly recognized the shape of the black silhouette; it was Ai Si Bo Ge.

As a Transcendent, Ai Si Bo Ge's body was extremely sturdy; the sudden carriage overturn only gave him a minor graze on the head, and his speed remained extremely fast.

He wore black leather armor, his sword already drawn, his body crouched low like a sprinting cheetah, charging straight toward Lei En's hiding place.

"You found me so quickly."

Lei En stopped hiding unnecessarily, sprang up from the grass, and when Ai Si Bo Ge stepped into the grass only seven or eight meters away, he fired a shot toward him without carefully aiming.

Bang!

A burst of white smoke spread, dozens of tiny steel beads whizzed out of the barrel at a speed invisible to the naked eye, covering a wide area.

Ai Si Bo Ge's figure suddenly froze.

He had shifted half a step before the gunshot, yet still got hit; excruciating pain shot through his left arm, and looking down, the entire arm was a bloody mess, almost useless.

"What kind of gun is this?" Ai Si Bo Ge couldn't help shouting.

He had encountered "Gunslingers", fought them, even killed one himself, and knew well their combat style and weakness.

Gunslingers are poor at close combat; ordinary soul guns can only target a single point, and if you time the shot, you can dodge easily at close range with Shadow Warrior speed.

He had clearly dodged the bullet's trajectory just now, yet he was still hit!

The only explanation was the strange gun in the opponent's hand.

Lei En, of course, gave no kind explanation; after firing a shot, he immediately pulled the forearm to reload and, without hesitation, blasted another shot.

Bang!

Ai Si Bo Ge's figure suddenly vanished; this shot was half a step slower and struck empty air.

Lei En remained calm; he had waited until Ai Si Bo Ge entered the grass before firing, anticipating the opponent's Shadow Step.

In the grass, unless Ai Si Bo Ge stood still, there was no way to get close.

Sure enough, Ai Si Bo Ge realized this, used Shadow Step to hide, then stayed rooted, enduring his arm wound, breathing as slowly as possible, fearing detection.

Lei En did not fire recklessly.

He held the gun, stepped back a few paces, creating distance to prevent Ai Si Bo Ge from throwing his long sword as a hidden weapon.

At that moment, a sound came from a carriage by the road, and another silhouette crawled out, sprinting forward in the night.

"La Mu Qi, indeed also on the carriage."

Meanwhile, at the Manor, two men heard the gunfire, raised lanterns, brandished weapons, and ran toward here.

From the Soul Eye, it was seen that among the two, there was a Transcendent, likely an Iron Guard, but only rank one; the other's strength was also notable, with Soul Strength a notch above ordinary people.

"Another Transcendent, can't let them lag behind."

Lei En was determined not to let La Mu Qi escape, turned his barrel, aimed at La Mu Qi and fired.

Bang, the gun cracked, La Mu Qi let out a painful cry, but did not fall, stumbling onward, though much slower.

Lei En did not attend to La Mu Qi, because the nearby grass moved.

He had long anticipated Ai Si Bo Ge would seize this chance to ambush, so shooting La Mu Qi was intentional, luring Ai Si Bo Ge to expose his position.

In Soul Vision, the weeds ten meters to the left swayed, as if an invisible python forced its way through the grass, lunging toward him.

Lei En calmly pulled the forearm to load, taking one second.

Ai Si Bo Ge had already rushed forward, and his Shadow Step failed during high‑speed movement.

A silhouette materialized before Lei En's eyes; he could even see the cold‑blooded killing intent in Ai Si Bo Ge's eyes, the sword tip flashing coldly, almost slicing the barrel.

Bang!

White smoke erupted, and at the critical moment, Lei En fired.

This shot struck almost directly at Ai Si Bo Ge's chest; the target flew backward, landed in the grass, not dying instantly, writhing in pain.

Lei En did not stop there; aiming at the fallen Ai Si Bo Ge on the ground, he kept firing until he ran out of bullets.

After several gunshots, Ai Si Bo Ge turned into a pile of rotten flesh, ceasing to struggle.

A soul rose from Ai Si Bo Ge's corpse, then, like a moth to flame, dove into Lei En's eyes and vanished.

In the Illusory interface, the phone battery surged wildly, exceeding 50% in just a few seconds and still climbing, unknown how high it will go!

Lei En felt every cell in his body cheering, his mind brimming with spirit, an indescribably pleasant sensation.

But the matter was not over yet.

Lei En swiftly drew bullets from his waist, loading them one by one, while confronting the enemies advancing from the Manor.

Because the night was pitch black, the two men only heard the gunshots and rushed over, unaware of what had happened here, even oblivious to Lei En's presence.

When they saw Lei En appear within the lantern's light, they were stunned briefly, then charged.

Bang!

Lei En halted, stood firm, and a single shot knocked the Iron Guard at the front to the ground.

Before the shooter, all beings are equal.

Even though the Iron Guard's defense was strong, after activating the "Stone Skin" Element, his skin became as hard as rock, yet it was not true rock; having rushed out without armor, under the shotgun's barrel, a single shot still felled him.

Bang bang, three consecutive shots: the first knocked the Iron Guard down, the second turned the man behind him into a sieve, the third blasted the Iron Guard's head, a decapitation.

Two souls flew from the corpses, causing Lei En's battery to keep rising.

Lei En turned and ran, chasing after La Mu Qi's escape direction.

La Mu Qi was wounded, couldn't run far, so he was dealt with at the end. After absorbing three souls consecutively, he seemed to have limitless stamina, and his running speed increased dramatically.

A few minutes later, a stumbling figure appeared on the road ahead—it was La Mu Qi.

Lei En sped up the chase, and when La Mu Qi turned his head and saw him, he was so terrified his soul left his body.

He had already reached the main road, saw the enemy in pursuit, fled south in panic without choosing a path, then slipped into the roadside woods, and after passing through emerged at the edge of a shallow riverbank, with no way forward.

Barehanded and unarmed, wounded, his stamina was nearly exhausted.

La Mu Qi, in despair, fell to his knees, raised both hands, and shouted, "Don't kill me, I know many of Ai Si Bo Ge's secrets."