Chapter 152: Awesome

"Yes, dynamic visual acuity. Vision is divided into static and dynamic acuity. Static acuity determines your visual range and clarity when observing stationary objects, while dynamic acuity determines your ability to capture the motion characteristics of moving objects." The clone standing before Liu Chang said, "You are a sensory-type mutant to begin with, so a sudden mutation in your vision shouldn't feel unfamiliar to you."

"Yes, it's not unfamiliar, but what is your reason for telling me all this?" Liu Chang looked at the little fellow in front of him and said, "The fact that you're telling me this means you still have the mood to talk to me. And someone as smart as you wouldn't waste words on a dying man. I know that even if I've evolved advanced dynamic acuity, I could never be a match for the three of you. After all, you were able to render me unable to resist within a few seconds, and those few seconds would be more than enough for the Amphibian to kill me several times over."

"Well, I don't want to kill you. We have no grudges or enmity, and I'm quite interested to see what kind of growth you'll achieve in the future. But, as you know, you're currently no match for us in a head-on confrontation. However, if you were to launch another sneak attack from behind, even if we added three more Amphibians, we wouldn't have a hundred percent chance of winning—after all, our control over you relies on sensing you first. Therefore, to prevent you from coming after us again..." As the clone spoke, he suddenly drew a small handgun from inside his coat and aimed it at Liu Chang's face.

"To prevent you from continuing to hunt us down, I'm afraid I'll have to wrong you." After saying these words, the clone pulled the trigger of the handgun.

Even though his entire sequence of raising the gun and pulling the trigger appeared agonizingly slow and full of flaws to Liu Chang's current perception, he simply could not dodge it. His body remained under control, and that wave of dizziness washed over him once more. He could only watch helplessly as the muzzle of the gun flashed with fire, and a tiny, peanut-like bullet flew straight toward his face.

The flight speed of this bullet was faster than a cannon shell, yet in Liu Chang's eyes, it approached his face as slowly as a yellowish-brown horsefly before finally kissing his skin.

With a crisp crack, it struck dead-center on his face.

Immediately afterward, a piercing pain radiated from the impact point. The bullet struck the exact middle of his nasal bridge, and accompanied by a sharp snap, his nasal bone was shattered by the gunshot, a spray of blood blossoming across Liu Chang's face.

"Ugh!" The control lasted for less than three seconds before the child let out a deep, exhausting breath. Regaining his freedom, Liu Chang instinctively covered his face with one hand.

"Given your physical conditioning, this handgun will at most break your nasal bone; it's nothing too serious, though you probably won't be able to use your nose for a while." Stowing the gun away, the child turned and walked toward the Amphibians. "I hope you won't do anything rash. If I detect any abnormal movement from you, I will control you the very first moment, and as for Liusu, I imagine she won't show you any mercy. You're a smart person, so I hope you won't force me to do something I'd rather not do. If we all leave here safely and soundly, without incident, you'll still have the capital to seek revenge in the future. Which option is more cost-effective? Weigh it yourself."

"Leave Xiaojing behind..." Liu Chang stared at the two children.

"No can do. You don't have the bargaining power to negotiate with us right now. If you want people back, let's talk about it the next time we meet." As the two children spoke, they hauled the Amphibians along and walked toward the open clearing where Xiaojing had been left earlier—that clearing remained completely undamaged because neither side of the combatants wanted to affect that area, so they had consciously or unconsciously avoided it during the fight.

"When we meet next time, I hope you can show us some surprising changes."

Facing Liu Chang the entire time, the Amphibian and the two children walked backward toward that area, hoisted Xiaojing up from the ground, dragged the Amphibians along, and vanished from Liu Chang's field of vision with breathtaking speed. Throughout this time, Liu Chang had felt a lingering numbness in his body and difficulty in movement, but the moment the figures finally and "slowly" disappeared from his sight, the numbness vanished entirely, and his full mobility returned.

He did not pursue them after they left. If the other party was determined to flee, even though he could see them, he lacked the capability to give chase, given the vast disparity in their speeds.

Watching them recede into the distance, Liu Chang squatted in place, holding his nose—his heart filled with a mixture of frustration and dejection. His abilities had evolved, yet he still failed to protect the person closest to him, a realization that left him feeling helpless and crestfallen. With his nose broken, he temporarily lost the capacity to follow them. Yet he felt no cowardice, nor did he allow excessive negative emotions to taint his state of mind.

A mature man always knows how to suppress his emotions in order to do what is right.

It took Liu Chang roughly three minutes to collect his thoughts. He hoisted the "mangled flesh" onto his back, used bandages to temporarily bind his broken nasal bone, and then walked toward the clearing where the group had vanished.

As for Xiaojing, he had not given up, nor would he ever give up. Since the first sniper attempt had failed, there was no harm in trying a second time—frightening though the child's control ability was, Liu Chang knew that if he launched another sneak attack, even if their numbers doubled, he could still gun them all down. Therefore, what he needed now was a weapon with a high rate of fire and immense destructive power.

And right there at the scene, there was just such a weapon.

Walking behind a clump of bushes, Liu Chang caught sight of the first Amphibian's remains, whom he had killed earlier, lying beside its misshapen body was a giant modified firearm. This weapon had a peculiar design; it was fully automatic, could be strapped to the arm, and looked somewhat like a Gatling gun, though it lacked the multitude of barrels. However, its caliber was massive—far larger than that of a Gatling gun. It was evident that even as a weapon used by Amphibians to deal with ordinary beasts, its firepower was formidable.

Liu Chang believed that if a weapon of this caliber struck him, a single bullet could blast a massive hole right through his body. That was precisely why he had chosen to eliminate this individual first with his opening shot. Although artillery shells and bullets didn't matter much to him, and that hand cannon possessed even greater destructive power, its slow rate of fire made it relatively much less threatening.

If the second Amphibian had been holding this kind of firearm instead, it would have been considerably harder to deal with. Every trade has its masters; the hand cannon was originally designed for dealing with giant beasts.

Lifting the heavy modified gun from the ground and strapping it to his right arm, Liu Chang aimed at the empty brushland and pulled the trigger.

*Rat-tat-tat!*

As the trigger was depressed, the three barrels of the muzzle took turns spitting out sheets of fire. Massive bullets burst forth from the chamber within his field of vision, flying "slowly" yet rapidly toward a certain spot in the jungle, where four or five consecutive rounds stitched together a line and directly snapped a fairly thick tree in half.

"Now that packs a punch!" Feeling the tremendous recoil transmitted through the gun body, Liu Chang could not help praising aloud.