Dual wielding volcanoes, killing through the west

"What happened...how did this happen all of a sudden..."

"Don't you understand yet, you idiot!"

Francis glared angrily, slammed his shoulder into the wall, smashing another wall in his path to pieces.

"That guy betrayed us!"

Chapter 960: A Simple Process of Elimination

He smashed through the last wall in his path with his body. Like a charging rhinoceros, Francis smashed through all obstacles in his way and finally got a moment's respite.

Through sheer brute force, they carved a straight line through the layers of buildings, leaving their pursuers far behind.

A wide street unfolded before them.

"What do we do now?" The pig farmer looked around, wiping the lime powder all over his face, both shocked and anxious. "The operation has failed, our location has been exposed, and there's no way to escape!"

"No...we can't say that yet..."

Francis gritted his teeth.

A deep blue car drove by from the street and slowly came into his view, bringing a smile to his face like that of a trapped beast.

"look."

"Our backup is here!"

----

"Thump—!!"

The sudden, violent impact startled Holly, causing her to jerk the steering wheel and honk the horn incessantly. The car nearly drifted a full circle on the road. The tires screeched against the pavement, making an extremely frightening sound. Fortunately, her driving skills were good enough that she managed to avoid pedestrians.

“Not bad, you skin-changing monster.” Francis lunged at the windshield, pinching a piece of glass embedded in his face, and grinned maliciously. “You were waiting for us here, weren’t you?”

"What...what..."

Holly was completely bewildered; her brain was practically frozen, and she couldn't understand what he was saying at all.

"You fucking bastard, you've sold us out and you're still pretending!" He flew into a rage, kicked the windshield to pieces, climbed into the passenger seat, pulled out the revolver, and pressed it against Holly's forehead. "I'm warning you, don't stop, keep driving! You think you can just sell us out and run away? Not so easy!"

Overwhelmed by fear, Holly's hands clenched instinctively, as if glued to the steering wheel. "I really...don't...know you..."

"Francis!"

The pig farmer, who had forced his way onto the train from the other side by clinging to the door, exclaimed as if he had discovered a new continent, "This is that dwarf's daughter!"

"So that's how it is. This is your scheme." Francis seemed to understand, gritting his teeth and snorting coldly, "You pushed us out as targets, while you kidnapped his daughter to exchange for benefits, is that it! You bastard!"

Allison was completely stunned by this sudden turn of events, and curled up in a ball inside the car, pressed tightly against the door.

"I...I..." Holly couldn't keep up with his pace, so naturally she had no idea what he was talking about.

However, one thing remains absolutely clear.

The cold barrel of the gun was pressed firmly against his temple. If this man, as tall as a bear, pulled the trigger, the bullet would pierce his brain and exit from the other side.

Just imagining the scene terrified Holly, leaving her pale and too weak to refute his words.

Whatever he says, goes.

"Why have you slowed down? Keep going, keep going!" Francis roared.

"Where...where do you want me to drive?"

“Nonsense, of course we’re leaving this city. It’s completely surrounded like an iron barrel. Staying here is just asking for death.” Having narrowly escaped death, Francis gasped for breath, pressed his thumb against the hammer, and continued to threaten, “No matter what, you’re taking us two brothers with you, and this little girl too.”

"You have many friends in the north, right? Then take us to the north for refuge. In short, the farther away from this godforsaken place the better."

"If you can do that, then this messy, dirty debt between us will be settled..."

----

The falling axe shattered his still-developing "deal" completely.

"ah----!!!"

Zhang Honglu descended from the height, glaring angrily, raising his arms high and unleashing a move that was as perfect as could be: a powerful split against the mountain.

The battle axe, as tall as a man, cleaved open the hood in an instant, driven by immense force, penetrating deep into the car's interior. Like a giant nail, it shattered most of the hood, the headlights, the emblem, and all the internal parts of the car.

The force was so great that it abruptly stopped its forward momentum.

However, inertia is inertia. The inertia generated when a ton of metal moves is not so easily overcome.

Ripples spread from the front of the car to the back, and then from the back to the front, and the final result...

It disintegrated under immense dual pressure.

"boom------!!!"

Because this is a convertible luxury car with no roof, the seats embedded inside the body are already squeezed and overburdened.

"Click!"

The last connection broke, the seat detached, and the inertia flung everyone, equally, high into the air!

……

"what……"

In those last five minutes, so many things had changed that Holly herself found it strange. She opened her mouth, but couldn't scream. Her body was still gripped by fear; her throat was stiff, and she felt as if she had defied gravity, floating on air.

A figure in pitch black, like an osprey skimming the water, swept across the rain of broken parts and precisely caught her around the waist.

"……Eh?"

A big bird?

"Am I... flying?" Holly exclaimed unconsciously, looking at the buildings that seemed to appear both near and far on either side.

……

After embracing the two girls one after the other, Zhang Fulin retracted his wingsuit and soared into the air, looking from afar like a black kite with outstretched wings.

"laugh--!!!"

He glided along the ground for a while, almost touching it, before landing somewhat hastily. He forced his way to the ground with his knees and calves, carving two deep, dark weft marks that almost sparked.

"Whoa, I knew it!"

After regaining his footing, Zhang Fulin put the two terrified girls down and patted the scrapes on his knees. "With the weight of three people, the landing wasn't so graceful."

“Brother, you are mistaken. To be able to perform such a move while carrying two people on your back is already quite remarkable.”

……

"Thump—!!"

Another figure leaped down from the height, without any rolling or effort to dissipate the force. Instead, he absorbed the entire impact with his knees, remaining completely still. Even the expression on his face remained unchanged. This made his leap appear incredibly imposing.

“You…you are…” Francis wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, gritted his teeth, and stood up with some difficulty.

Just now, he was thrown several meters into the air and then crashed to the ground without any cushioning. Although his physique was slightly stronger than that of an average person, the impact had left his internal organs numb, making it almost impossible for him to breathe. In addition, he had already exhausted his strength by smashing through walls along the way, so he was now not even at his last gasp.

His opponents were three young boys.

They sealed off all possible escape routes.

----

"Boom!!!"

The boy slammed the iron rod down into the ground, creating cracks that spread out like a spider web around Francis's feet.

“This city is not a place you can come and go as you please.”

Zhang Lüjiu gripped the Panlong Staff with both hands, his expression calm, devoid of joy or sorrow, as he stared intently at the enemy before him.

“I really want to crush you right now, but… you seem to have other uses.” Zhang Honglu raised his giant axe and sneered, “Are you smart enough to surrender, or do you need us to provide you with a little ‘talking therapy’ service?”

"..."

Zhang Lvjiu.

Zhang Honglu.

Francis had already recognized them from their signature weapons.

Even without those terrifying rumors, as a fellow martial artist, he could tell from the two standing opposite him that they were both tough opponents.

Even if he were at his peak strength, let alone his current poor condition, he might not be a match for these two brats. Their moves were mediocre, but their strength was simply too great. They didn't need any moves; their terrifying power alone was enough to kick him to death.

His gaze then settled on Zhang Fulin, who was dressed in black and looked quite ordinary.

It's just a simple process of elimination.

……

"call……"

"ah----!!!"

Having made up his mind, Francis took a deep breath and unleashed the last bit of strength he had left.

Like a hungry tiger pouncing on a sheep, it pounced on Zhang Fulin!

Chapter 961: The Final Piece of the Puzzle

"Ha ha……"

Dragging his numb leg, he managed to run across half the city, and was already panting heavily.

Zhang Wusheng had never hated his right leg as much as he did now.

It was as if it wasn't part of his body, but a tumor growing inside him, constantly dragging him down. Every time he made up his mind to do something to prove himself, it would just effortlessly bring him back to reality.

In the quiet of the night, he had repeatedly thought about whether it was because his body's cardiopulmonary function was too weak, preventing him from running and walking like a normal person; or because one of his legs could not walk freely, causing his body to weaken further and making him pant after running just a few steps.

In short, whatever the possibility, it caused him pain... a pain of despair for the rest of his life, a pain of having nothing to rely on.

"Where's Allison?" Zhang Wusheng wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, looked around, but didn't see the person he wanted to see. "I heard..."

“She’s fine, Holly’s fine too, we’ve got everything sorted out,” Zhang Lvjiu told him directly. “However, Allison sprained her right ankle. It’s not too serious, but it’s been a huge blow to her.”

“Brother, don’t worry, Honglu accompanied her to the nearby clinic.”

"...The red-hot furnace..."

Zhang Wusheng remained silent for a while, his inner emotions churning, but he didn't show it on his face.

He instinctively wanted to tighten his grip on his cane, but at that moment, he didn't even have that much strength. He had run all the way here with his life on the line, only to find a cleanup of the mess—everything that needed to be taken had already been taken. The rubble and cracks on the road, along with the cheers of the onlookers, clearly announced the outcome of tonight's battle.

The only role he can play is that of an incompetent policeman who arrives late in a detective novel.

He shook his head, suppressing the bitterness in his heart.

"Holly?" He leaned on his cane and slowly approached her. "Are you alright?"

Judging from Holly's current state, the answer is most likely no—she was pressed against the corner of the wall, her head buried in her knees, not crying, but trembling all over, shaking so badly that she seemed to have lost her soul.

"Holly, it's alright, it's all over." Zhang Wusheng tried to make his voice sound warm. "Those two assassins have been taken away, you're safe now."

“No…I don’t know him…I don’t know him…” Holly murmured these words repeatedly as if possessed.

"What do you mean you don't recognize her?" Zhang Wusheng sensed something was amiss. "Holly, who are you talking about?"

"How do I know!"

Holly seemed to have finally found an outlet for her anger. She suddenly looked up and blurted out, "I didn't even know his name. He suddenly jumped out from the corner, onto my car, and pointed a gun at me. My... my Daniel Ray 005 series, I hadn't even driven it more than a few times, and he ruined it all!"

"You just said you don't know him, what do you mean by that?" Zhang Wusheng seized on the blind spot.

"Who knows! He acted like we were really close, and... he even accused me of betraying them... Good heavens?! How could that be! Wu Sheng, Lv Jiu, tell me, how could I possibly have anything to do with someone like that! It's complete nonsense!"

Feeling wronged, afraid, and angry at being unjustly attacked, all of these emotions burst forth the moment Holly found someone to confide in, and finally, tears welled up in her eyes.

"...And then?" Zhang Wusheng asked calmly.

"Then, that... that skinny accomplice saw Allison and... said, Allison is a hostage I've taken. I'm going to use Allison to negotiate with Mr. Ego... God knows where he got that idea from!"

"Then, that burly guy put a gun to my head and made me drive out of White Torch City to find a way to get them north. He even said... I know some acquaintances in the north..."

"Don't joke around, how could I possibly deal with a Yankee! I still don't understand why that guy..."