Chapter 149: The Fatal Blow

More than ten minutes later, amidst the blood-red dense forest, Liu Chang finally caught sight of several humanoid figures hidden among the bushes and tall grass: two Amphibians, two clones, and the unconscious Xiao Jing.

The Amphibians were not Liu, but Liu Chang recognized both of them. They were Liu's children, seen previously in Liu's former cave.

"It's not Liu." Seeing the scene before him, a heavy stone in Liu Chang's heart lifted slightly. Even with the sniper cannon in his hand, he did not possess a shred of confidence that he could rescue Xiao Jing from Liu's hands.

However, though he was not facing Liu, he could not remain calm. He had witnessed the strength of the Amphibians firsthand and had suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of Liu Xin, easily captured by others before. The opponents he now faced possessed the strength equivalent to that of Liu Xin—and more crucially, there were two of them, both carrying firearms.

That's right, firearms.

Although he had long known that the Amphibians were capable of wielding weapons, this was the first time Liu Chang had actually seen them holding guns. Both creatures held weapons in their hands: one carried a heavy weapon resembling a hand-held cannon, while the other held a modified submachine gun.

One weapon was light and the other heavy, evidently calculated to deal with large creatures and numerous small creatures respectively. The Amphibians were intelligent and not arrogant, so they had prepared thoroughly for this escape. Liu Chang could see that not only did they have weapons, but they also carried provisions, water, compasses, and other sundries. Judging purely by their gear, they were indistinguishable from ordinary humans, and their expressions at that moment mirrored those of ordinary people lost and frowning deeply.

"Brother, we've walked in circles here three times. Why does it feel like we're still in the exact same place?" In the middle of the clearing, the two Amphibians looked at a simple route map they had sketched. "Look, I keep feeling like we walked from here to here, but after making a huge circle, we ended up right back here."

One of the Amphibians, holding a gun in one hand, pointed at the route map with the other.

"No way. Why do I feel like we've moved forward a bit?" The other Amphibian, carrying the hand-held cannon, looked at the map. "Didn't we leave markers everywhere we passed just now? There are no markers of mine around here! That means we haven't returned to the starting point."

"No, I think we are back at the starting point." Beside the two Amphibians were two children, nearly two years old. They also held a newly sketched map, but the terrain, topography, and surrounding environment depicted on their map were far more complex and precise than the one held by the Amphibians.

Standing on tiptoe, one of the children pointed at the symbols on the map and said, "Look, this is the spatial map outlined in my mind. Although everything looks identical here, and it's been pretty much the same since we entered the forest, you might not perceive the changes. Even for me, with the most precise observational capabilities, it's difficult to tell the differences due to limited visual range. However, every place I pass through leaves a sense of space in my mind. I can tell you with certainty that we have returned to the starting point. It's just that there's a margin of error. In such a vast forest, it's impossible to loop back to the exact same spot as before. Perhaps the place we marked is several kilometers away from here, or maybe only a few hundred meters, but based on the spatial map in my head, we are back where we started."

"Yes, I agree with his assessment." The other two-year-old child stepped forward as well. "We are back at the starting point. Furthermore, through calculation, I can deduce that the guy called Liu Chang has a forty-six point seven percent probability of having already caught up."

"He can catch up?" The Amphibians asked. "Didn't you scatter sulfur powder? We followed him for hundreds of kilometers without him noticing. Can he catch up now?"

"We followed him for hundreds of kilometers without being detected because we never came within a few kilometers of him. Along the way, his travel route was entirely deduced through calculation and reasoning." The gazes of these two children, a year younger than Numbers One, Two, and Three, revealed a wisdom surpassing that of their elder brothers. "Our tracking relies on wisdom rather than innate skills. In fact, if not for the emergence of this forest, we wouldn't have had the opportunity to strike, would we?"

"Hn. Your sensory abilities are inferior to Liu Chang's. Back then, your brother Liu Xin discovered the existence of Liu Chang because he specialized in olfactory evolution. Actually, the senses of you Amphibians aren't that sharp, are you? You just excel more at concealing your presence. Didn't you tell me all this yourselves?"

"Yes. But whether he catches up or not is a trivial matter. So what if he catches up? Both his physical capabilities and bodily structure are far inferior to ours; he poses no threat. If he comes, we can just kill him. During the sneak attack back then, if we hadn't been wary of your three brothers, we could have easily taken care of that fellow." The Amphibian carrying the giant weapon shook the modified machine gun—or rather, the modified autocannon—in his hand and said, "The most crucial issue right now is how to walk out of this jungle, not that completely unthreatening—"

BOOM!!!

Before the Amphibian could finish his sentence, a massive explosion erupted in the jungle, sounding dozens of times louder than his voice. Faster than the sound itself was the bullet leaving the chamber.

The fired bullet was as long as two adult fingers combined, and as thick as two fingers pressed together. The long, thick bullet hurtled through the air, carrying immense penetrating and destructive power. Driven by muzzle kinetic energy of an immeasurable magnitude, the grenade-weight bullet struck the Amphibian squarely in the chest, brutally tearing his robust body into several pieces. Carrying chunks of flesh and severed limbs tougher than steel, he was blown flying dozens of meters backward into the overgrown thicket—leaving behind only a circular bloody mist roughly three meters in diameter suspended in the air, which dissolved into the world of red fog and vanished from sight.

After the single shot was fired, the clearing instantly fell silent.

The two children stood in place, hand in hand, darting into the jungle. The remaining Amphibian dropped Xiao Jing and instantly vanished into thin air, leaving no trace whatsoever. Meanwhile, Liu Chang crouched in the clearing dozens of meters away, draped in banana leaves from head to toe, remaining vigilant of his surroundings while controlling his racing heartbeat.

At this moment, he felt as though he had returned to the era when the red fog first descended, the era of hunting for survival—holding a weapon, hiding downwind, concealing his presence, facing terrifying monsters several times stronger than himself, waiting to deliver a fatal blow to the opponent—or waiting for the opponent's strike that could bring him lethal danger.