Chapter 95: Chaotic Battle

Another choice was to lie low in the cave for the time being. I had more than enough food and water in my pack to last half a month, and I refused to believe that Old Ghost and the others could keep me trapped here for that long. Even if they collapsed the exit in the end, there was nothing to fear. Worst came to worst, I would simply blast out another opening.

Soon, I caught sight of light ahead of the cave mouth. I knew the end was near. The walls here bore obvious traces of human workmanship on both sides, yet there were also many features that seemed entirely natural. I could not help wondering whether the craftsmen of that era had discovered an animal nest and, making use of it, carved out this passage, or whether they had carved the passage first only for the later spiders to claim it as their lair. It was truly hard now to determine which came first.

One thing was certain: someone had indeed escaped from here before, most likely the craftsmen themselves. As I watched my surroundings and followed the man in black sunglasses forward, the light ahead growing brighter and brighter, he suddenly stopped and asked in a low voice, “Ready?”

I understood what he meant and immediately checked my gear. In my right hand, I also gripped the submachine gun I had picked up earlier. I gave him a quiet nod. Things were just as I had expected: Old Ghost and the others really were waiting to ambush us up ahead. Of course, Madam Gu had planned the same thing. After all, the main reason they had come to this tomb was the few things on my person, especially the pill and the map. As for the other spoils they had obtained, including the grave goods, those were only secondary. For tomb robbers of their caliber, such treasures were nothing new; they were merely valuable, not worth making a huge fuss over.

I raised the submachine gun in my left hand and gripped the ancient black-gold blade tightly in my right. Once the bullets were spent, I would rush in and fight them hand to hand. Then it would be anyone’s guess who lived and who died. I had not been confident before, but now that they had already lost some men and every one of them was wounded, I was far less worried. Besides, the man in black sunglasses was no weakling. With just the two of us, if it came to close combat, our chances were still very good.

Thinking this, I became even more cautious. Beyond the cave mouth lay a stretch of wild grass, and I had no idea where this passage led. But by the time we could see the exit, Old Ghost and the others had already gone out, likely having set their trap. There was no helping it. There was only this one path, and we could not possibly carve out a new route for ourselves. We could only grit our teeth and force our way out here.

When we were still about fifty meters from the cave mouth, the man in black sunglasses stopped again. I knew he was about to make his move. He took a black object from his body, gave a faint laugh, and said softly, “I’ve carried this thing all the way here. Finally, it’s time to use it.”

Before I could even ask what it was, his hand moved, and he hurled the black object straight out toward the cave mouth. Only then did I realize that he had actually been carrying something like this with him all along.

It was a smoke bomb. I had never expected the man in black sunglasses to have a smoke bomb on him. Once he threw it out, it began emitting smoke almost immediately, and very quickly at that. In only a second or two, the entire area at the cave mouth, including the outside, was blanketed in smoke.

I was still staring in a daze when the man in black sunglasses shouted urgently, “What are you standing there for? Move!”

At his cry, I snapped back to my senses at once. I grabbed my weapon and rushed out after him. As soon as I entered the smoke, everything around me became blurred, and the thick smoke was extremely choking. Still, it was bearable. Through the haze, I felt as though I had burst out of the cave, and very close to me there seemed to be a dark shape, like a person. Without thinking further, I raised the submachine gun and fired at that silhouette, sweeping the area as I went. The man in black sunglasses, just like me, began spraying bullets as well.

Soon I heard a scream. It seemed someone had been hit. The Uzi in my hands had an extremely fast rate of fire, but it burned through ammunition just as quickly. In no time, the magazine was empty. I flung the gun aside. Gunfire continued to ring out around me. It looked as if they had begun spraying as well. In a situation where visibility was so poor, all anyone could do was fire blindly.

I knew that at this moment, it was either them or us. I focused every ounce of attention I had, constantly dodging the bullets. Then, suddenly, I felt a sharp murderous intent surge toward me from behind. After everything I had experienced during this period, my combat instincts had grown far more seasoned. On top of that, I used to get into fights often back in school. My battle reflexes reacted even faster than my mind. Instinctively shifting my stance, I felt a blade slice past my body. It was that Tang saber. It was that girl.

There was no time to think. I knew that under such poor visibility, the other side would likely abandon firearms and switch to close combat instead. After all, we could spray bullets freely, but they had to worry about hitting their own people by mistake. I could not see what condition the man in black sunglasses was in, but I knew that this was in our favor. After all, they outnumbered us, yet with visibility like this, their numerical advantage meant far less.

Having dodged the blow, I quickly drew the black-gold ancient blade I carried close to my body. With a clang, the two blades struck together. I had to end this fight quickly while the view was still obscured. This was no time for softness. Relying on pure combat instinct, I launched attack after attack, slashing, hacking, thrusting, striking with speed and precision, pressing relentlessly toward the direction my senses told me she was in. I fought at full speed, my blade clashing against hers again and again. But her body movement was simply too quick, and there seemed to be a supple, yielding force in her technique. For the moment, I could not wound her at all, though she could not wound me either.

At that point, I noticed the smoke beginning to thin. I did not have much time left. I started moving while attacking, preparing to create distance as quickly as possible. Just then, I noticed a figure drawing nearer and nearer to me. Could it be that I was about to be caught in a pincer attack? My heart instantly grew unsettled. But in the very next second, I heard a voice. It was the man in black sunglasses.

“Fall back!”

I viciously brought my blade down, knocking the Tang saber aside, then moved with the figure of the man in black sunglasses. But the Tang saber came slicing toward me again. A fierce resolve surged through me.