Chapter 48: Cooperation
The city center building, the sixty-ninth floor.
Continuous gunshots rang out, the dark night illuminated by the sparks of bullets. Cement and metal broke and fell, crashing into the corridor.
The building had a hundred floors in total. As the two of them advanced toward the top floor, the roars and the sound of things moving from below slowly approached.
As time passed, the nearby cataclysmic beings successively completed their transformation and were attracted by the sounds of battle.
The city center building was an independent building. Although the cataclysmic beings had individual differences, they couldn’t fly. To pursue them, they could only obediently come up from the first floor.
Both sides were moving upward. The huge number difference made the battle time accumulate. As the two of them gradually approached the top floor, the distance between them and the numerous cataclysmic beings below was also shrinking bit by bit.
Looking down, Xu Xunyue could see a dark mass ten floors away at the turn of the stairs.
The eightieth floor, the eighty-first floor, the eighty-second floor…
The black shadow running at the very front had probably been a security guard before. It held a flashlight in its mist-shrouded hand, the switch on. Perhaps it had been on patrol when it died.
At this moment, it was pointing the flashlight upward, moving and roaring at the same time.
“Why are you causing a disturbance here?”
“Why are you breaking the peace here?”
“Why did you come and then leave?”
“Stop!”
In the blink of an eye, the distance to the group of cataclysmic beings was pulled to within ten floors. Countless black shadows surged upward, like a continuous black sea.
There were too many of them.
Xu Xunyue stared at them, and the next moment, he was about to launch a mental attack, but the sound of loading from behind him came first.
Zhu Hui was changing his magazine.
First, he changed the magazine, then he emptied it in one go. In the gap between shooting upward, he opened fire at the rear, his target not the cataclysmic beings below, but the stairs below.
Boom—!!
The sound caused by this bullet was much louder than before. Xu Xunyue protected the Sentinel’s hearing, and at the same time, he realized that the other had switched to a type of bullet with extremely strong penetration, a military-grade one, expensive and rare.
The hit position raised a cloud of dust, and countless parallel points quickly connected into a line.
Click.
Another magazine was changed, and emptied again.
Zhu Hui’s shooting speed was so fast that the barrel of his gun was smoking, yet it was right at the boundary that the gun could withstand, avoiding irreversible damage to the weapon.
More rubble fell, and cracks appeared in the cement.
Click.
Another magazine was dropped.
The stairs below began to crumble layer by layer.
The cataclysmic beings that had lost their way forward stopped in place, letting out unwilling roars.
What terrifying mobile shooting ability, what terrifying ballistic control, to destroy almost ten floors of stairs without affecting anything else, the whole process taking less than five seconds.
At this time, a few scattered cataclysmic beings rushed down from upstairs.
The bullets in Zhu Hui’s gun were empty, but it wasn’t a big problem. He held his dagger and turned to meet the attack, but the sound of a gunshot from another person came first.
The black shadow fell with a crash.
Xu Xunyue released his finger from the trigger. The spiritual feelers that had been preparing to attack were withdrawn and instead drilled into the Sentinel’s body.
The invisible spiritual power enveloped the Sentinel, especially his brain, which was protected so tightly that not even a breath of air could get through.
Even though Zhu Hui’s stability coefficient was S, and he didn’t need a Guide’s assistance at all times in battle like an ordinary Sentinel, the spiritual power of a partner could still provide great nourishment, allowing him to maintain his best state at all times.
It was now 12:30 AM. Forty minutes had passed since the two of them had entered the building.
Because it had been hit by gunfire, the screen of the building that displayed the news had gone dark.
If anyone could stand on the top floor and look down at this time, they would see countless black shadows continuously converging toward the city center, as if they had accepted some evil ritual’s call.
Inside the building, the two of them continued to advance.
After destroying the stairs, the defensive pressure was suddenly reduced. Zhu Hui’s pace did not stop. He was going upstairs and preparing to change his magazine at the same time, when he heard a sound of breaking air approaching rapidly.
He activated his visual super-sense and followed the sound. He saw a huge black shadow diving down from the night sky a thousand meters away.
—It was a rare bird-type cataclysmic creature.
Zhu Hui’s pupils contracted.
The cataclysmic beings transformed from humans couldn’t directly attack them from the air on the side, but the cataclysmic creatures transformed from birds could.
It only took 0.001 seconds to change a magazine, but the diving speed of a bird contaminated by cataclysmic factors was not to be underestimated. Most importantly, their situation was narrow, and they couldn’t avoid the impact by moving a large distance.
Once the building was knocked down, the consequences would be unimaginable.
Even if the building didn’t collapse, he wasn’t sure if the Guide’s body could withstand that level of kinetic energy.
In the blink of an eye, the bird’s black shadow was within the range that a Sentinel could see without super-sense.
Zhu Hui had already changed his magazine, but he didn’t have a sniper rifle, so his attack range was not enough. The bullets shot from a distance of several hundred meters could not simply solve this cataclysmic being.
Bang, bang, bang, bang!
A series of gunshots rang out, the wall shattered, and Xu Xunyue was hugged by the Sentinel who had suddenly pounced on him.
The other hugged him and turned half a body, so that Xu Xunyue was facing the transparent wall and he was facing away from it.
Something’s wrong.
Xu Xunyue realized at the first moment that his body was being blocked by Zhu Hui.
Then there must be something approaching, and it was approaching from the air outside the building. Only such an existence could make Zhu Hui give up his original position to protect him like this.
Not only that, but the snow wolf was also called over by Zhu Hui. Its body quickly expanded, its ear tips touching the ceiling, like a small mountain blocking the two of them, letting out a terrifying howl at the outside of the wall.
Everything happened very quickly. Zhu Hui didn’t have time to speak and explain, but fortunately, Xu Xunyue could read his emotions and thoughts.
…So that’s what it was.
He raised his hand and hugged the Sentinel, looking straight in the direction the snow wolf was blocking, his gaze as if it could penetrate through solid objects.
Whoosh—
The sound of breaking wind approached.
Thud!
A heavy object fell to the ground.
The wall was blocked by the huge snow wolf, so he couldn’t see the specific situation outside, but Xu Xunyue’s expression was calm.
He knew that the crisis had been resolved.
When fighting an Offensive Guide, distance was the path to death. Countless enemies had died on their way to attack.
The snow wolf, which had been howling and showing its might, was stunned. Its amber eyes were wide, staring at the world outside the transparent wall, up and down.
[Hey, hey, hey, little Hui, how did that guy suddenly fall down? It was about to hit the wall. I was all ready to bite it and then be sent flying.]
[Oh—I know, was it your Guide who did it? I told you fighting with a bonded Guide would be easier!]
[Can I go back to my normal size now? Seriously, although this big body is more resistant to beatings, it doesn’t fit this wolf’s aesthetics.]
Being nagged by his spiritual body, Zhu Hui quickly reacted and understood what had happened.
He belatedly felt a sense of sudden realization.
Right, how could I have forgotten that brother is an Offensive Guide? I forgot about his various deeds, and also forgot that he is someone who can come and go freely in a cataclysm zone.
Brother is the most powerful Guide in the world.
His subconscious reaction to protect his brother first when something happened was right, but he should reset his stress conditions.
No extra movements, no extra worries, a complete understanding of the other’s abilities and limits.
Knowing what situations are manageable and when he will not be able to hold on, so as to make corresponding countermeasures and exert his physical strength and combat power to the extreme.
This was the cooperation that the best partners should show.
This was the first time he had fought alongside his brother. His brother was not any of the Guides he had worked with before.
The compatibility of their souls was incomparable. The feeling of being cared for in all aspects of his spirit was exceptionally comfortable. Along the way, the combat experience was different from any other time.
When he had fought alongside his teammates before, Zhu Hui often took on the most dangerous and most detached role. Because his reaction, speed, and physical strength were on a completely different level from other Sentinels, he often scouted, probed, and covered their rear.
This was Zhu Hui’s way of protecting his companions.
And the other Sentinels would protect the Guide in the team closely. Zhu Hui had seen this many times in the past, so he had learned from them and treated Xu Xunyue in the same way.
Climbing through a window, catching him, going upstairs, shooting both front and back, encountering danger, first using his own body to block some of the damage.
None of these were wrong, yet they were not so appropriate. Because every Sentinel and every Guide was different, and the cooperation between these Sentinels and these Guides was also different. The effect of copying was not much different, but it could not achieve perfection.
One was an Offensive Guide whose compatibility list had only one person, and the other was a Sentinel who had been dedicated to training himself to be a Dark Sentinel.
Either of them could go from the first floor to the top floor alone, but two people together was easier than one person.
Since they were cooperating, why not achieve the best cooperation?
Through the mental link, Xu Xunyue received Zhu Hui’s thoughts and couldn’t help but curl his lips into a slight smile.
In fact, he had also made a similar “small mistake” as Zhu Hui.
Zhu Hui had been shooting both front and back while going upstairs, basically leaving him no chance to provide covering fire. This was ignoring his firearm skills. When he encountered a bird-type cataclysmic creature outside his attack range, he only thought of weakening the other’s speed and protecting him. This was forgetting his use of spiritual power.
But before Zhu Hui had shot at the stairs, he had also been preparing to launch a mental attack on the cataclysmic beings on the dozens of floors below.
That was a method he often used when he was alone. This time, he was prepared to use it as usual, but he had forgotten Zhu Hui’s existence.
A mental attack consumed more mental energy than a mental interference. He could certainly cover their rear in that way, but there were too many targets, and the consumption on him was far greater than the consumption of Zhu Hui using a gun.
He really needed to change his way of thinking. They were no longer the “lone wolves” they used to be.
In the brief peace created by the spiritual power shockwave, Xu Xunyue released his arm from around Zhu Hui and said with a smile in his voice.
“That was the most beautiful shooting I’ve ever seen.”
Zhu Hui’s tense expression relaxed, and he also smiled, with the pride and shyness of being praised by his partner, and said humbly:
“Ahem, not at all, not at all. Brother is the most amazing.”
This is too cute.
The Sentinel, who had been cold and ruthless just now, now had a smile like a sweet, soft cake.
And he said my pheromones are sweet. He’s clearly a soft candy himself.
Xu Xunyue quickly kissed his lips, then gestured for him to continue upstairs.
Zhu Hui was caught off guard by the kiss, and his smile became even more brilliant. He looked like he wanted to kiss him back, but considering the tight time and dangerous environment, it was not the time for the two of them to be sticky. So he suppressed his smile and continued to turn and advance.
The ninetieth floor, the ninety-first floor, the ninety-second floor…
The stairs behind them were broken, and a gloomy and terrifying but helpless roar came from them. The cataclysmic beings upstairs seemed to have all rushed down and been killed by them. The rest of the journey was very smooth.
Finally, the two of them arrived at the door of the top floor.
Opening this door would be the aircraft take-off area on the top floor of the building.
It was also the place where that faint spiritual fluctuation was emanating.
