Chapter 150: An Ingenious Lure

Hidden among the red foliage, Liu Chang did not know whether his pursuer had discovered him.

Because the spot where he had fired moments ago was downwind and directly behind the creature, the enemy might not have pinpointed his location if the flash had gone unseen.

Given the deafening roar of the firearm—the larger the caliber, the thunderous the report—Liu Chang knew that even within this labyrinthine forest, the sound could not possibly go unheard.

Yet a weapon's sheer power could be both its blessing and its curse. Because the gunshot was so overwhelmingly loud, it paradoxically made it difficult to determine the exact source. An ordinary noise allowed a listener to pinpoint its origin precisely, but if someone set off a giant firecracker right behind you, telling exactly where the sound came from became nearly impossible.

Liu Chang’s rifle was deafening, far louder than any firecracker, so the moment he fired, he had scrambled into the brush, praying the enemy could not accurately trace his position. After all, if he were forced into a direct, face-to-face confrontation with the amphibian, he stood not a single chance of winning.

Crouched beneath the broad leaves of a wild plant, Liu Chang held his breath, scanning the surroundings constantly while praying silently that the creature would not find him.

Fortune favored him. After enduring about a minute of agonizing tension, Liu Chang realized that the enemy truly had not spotted him. Given the vast disparity in their abilities, had the creature found him, it would have struck instantly, utilizing its stealth to finish him off without hesitation.

Yet a minute had passed, and at the amphibian's speed, if there was still no movement, it meant he remained undiscovered.

"Is that you, Liu Chang?" Just as a wave of relief washed over him, the amphibian's voice echoed through the air. The sound still possessed that omnidirectional, surround-sound quality. Though loud, it made the speaker's true location impossible to determine.

"You must be around here, right?" the amphibian asked again from the empty air.

Two questions, and both times Liu Chang remained silent.

"Even if you don't speak, I know it's you." The voice seemed near and far at once. "To think you actually managed to track me all the way here and kill one of my brothers. Quite capable of you! I really underestimated you before..."

"Heh, won't talk? Afraid I'll find you? You're overthinking it, though." As the amphibian spoke, its tone abruptly rose by an octave. "What on earth are you doing hiding behind that tree? Did you really think an amphibian's sensory organs are that weak?"

The voice suddenly boomed. Hearing it draw near in an instant, Liu Chang felt his heart seize. Reflexively, his instincts urged him to raise his rifle and return fire. But a sudden flash of insight amidst his panic stopped every single movement his body was about to make.

At the exact microsecond he was about to act, a realization struck him: *The amphibian is much smarter than I am.*

It was precisely this thought that halted his actions at the precipice—the reason was simple. The creature wasn't a fool. If it had genuinely discovered his hiding place, it wouldn't have given him a dramatic, cinematic warning. This was clearly a bluff designed to startle him into making a sound, turning a fabricated claim into reality.

Breaking out in a cold sweat, Liu Chang realized the danger—had he made even the slightest motion a moment ago, the enemy might already be standing right in front of him. And in a direct clash, he had virtually zero chance of survival.

Thus, after Liu Chang chose to remain silent, the field plunged into a brief stillness. He had made up his mind: no matter what the enemy said, he would not reveal himself. Gripping his rifle, he emitted a faint, high-frequency ultrasonic wave from his mouth—inaudible to normal human ears, much like the sonar of a bat—attempting to echolocate the invisible entity's position.

"Oh, you might as well come out. Let's talk. After all, this isn't our first meeting. You've crossed paths with my father and younger brother a few times. We can discuss whatever is on your mind..." The amphibian's voice rang out again through the air, though this time its tone carried a distinct note of impatience. Clearly, it also harbored a certain wariness of Liu Chang's capabilities.

"Refusing to come out, are you?" Losing its patience, the amphibian struck before Liu Chang's sonar could lock onto its position. Liu Chang suddenly saw a massive streak of flame tear through the air. Traveling at blistering speed, it exploded just a few dozen meters away from him, shattering the silence with a deafening roar and scorching the entire area to a crisp.

The amphibian's hand-cannon possessed unimaginable destructive power, rivaling the main gun of an armored vehicle—and only creatures as robust as them could absorb the recoil that normally required a steel mounting to withstand.

BOOM!

Amidst the thunderous blasts, that patch of ground was obliterated. The amphibian continued firing its modified heavy weapon in mid-air, lobbing shell after shell trailing massive fiery tails to detonate in the zones close to Liu Chang. Although Liu Chang's initial ambush had not exposed his exact location, it easily allowed them to deduce the assailant's general sector. Since no muzzle flash had been seen during the attack, it had to originate from the opponent's rear visual blind spot. In the crimson fog of this world, no one could see very far, meaning the broad, hundred-and-eighty-degree arc stretching dozens of meters behind the creature was the only possible hiding spot for the attacker.

Though the angle was wide, the potential zone was not overly vast.

Therefore, when the amphibian launched its fourth fiery projectile, Liu Chang was forced to leap out from the brush—because the target of this latest blast was dead center on his position.

To stay meant death. Though he still lacked a precise lock on the enemy's coordinates, Liu Chang had roughly deduced the assailant's location based on his ultrasonic probing and the shifting trajectories of the incoming plasma trails.

As he sprang forward, he once again pulled the trigger of his heavy rifle, "Mincemeat."

BOOM!

BOOM!

The roar of the explosions intertwined with the thunderous report of the gun. Liu Chang felt a wave of dizziness wash over him, but he forced himself to stare fixedly at the aerial trajectory, desperately hoping to catch a glimpse of a bloody spray.

"Ugh!!!" Following the concussive shockwave came the muffled grunt of the amphibian taking a hit. To Liu Chang's sheer delight, a pale, pristine silhouette materialized amidst the treetop canopy.

The amphibian remained tall and striking, its body covered in striking silver-white skin patterns, boasting a slender tail and powerful limbs. However, right upon its previously flawless flank, there was now a gaping hole larger than the mouth of a bowl. Blood poured freely from the wound, and seemingly due to the severity of the trauma, the light around the amphibian warped violently, finally shattering its refraction-based invisibility for good.

Seeing this, a surge of triumph ignited in Liu Chang's heart. Capitalizing on his victory without a second's hesitation, he steadied his sniper cannon, re-acquired his target, and pulled the trigger once more.