"Do you need to wear a mask to visit a patient?"
Xu Mo's cooperation did not make the soldier, surnamed Huang, lower his guard. The muzzle of his Desert Eagle remained firmly aimed at Xu Mo's vitals.
"Haven't you heard of doing good deeds without leaving a name?"
Xu Mo responded with a leisurely smile. If the man was still wielding the throwing knife from earlier, he might have been more cautious. But a handgun, despite its lethality, was already significantly less threatening to an Apocalyptic Shard Wielder of his level. The brief delay in pulling the trigger was more than enough for him to dodge and counterattack.
Of course, if the man had been holding a submachine gun, that would be a different story.
"Sneaking around in the dead of night—what good could you possibly be up to?" The soldier was well aware that Xu Mo was stalling for time and had no intention of playing along any longer. His voice turned sharp. "This is your last chance! Why are you here? Speak!"
Xu Mo sighed helplessly, as if resigning himself to fate. "Alright, alright, I'll tell you the truth! Brother soldier, can you put that iron lump down first? What if it accidentally goes off? I'm really scared, you know..."
Xu Mo's fearless attitude immediately put the soldier on high alert. His finger, already resting on the trigger, was about to pull when a massive blue claw, seemingly ablaze with flames, roared toward him. The next moment, his Desert Eagle was slapped away with overwhelming force.
"An Apocalyptic Shard Wielder!"
The soldier was startled. He had assumed Xu Mo was merely some enemy of Minister Wang, a grudge left over from his political dealings. After all, in the bureaucratic world, few officials could claim to have a perfectly clean record. But he had never expected that the enemy he was protecting his charge from would also be an Apocalyptic Shard Wielder like himself!
As Xu Mo's figure followed close behind the blue claw and lunged forward, the soldier swiftly steadied himself, drawing his blade to meet the attack head-on. But just as he stepped forward, an unexpected force dragged him sideways. He stumbled uncontrollably, nearly losing his balance.
"A green-type shard ability!" The soldier exclaimed in shock.
"It's too late now! Zero Eruption!"
The blue flames of the "Demon's Hand" streaked through the dimly lit hallway like a meteor. The soldier barely had time to react before Xu Mo's devastating punch sent him crashing into the wall. A spray of blood burst from his mouth, and his body slumped to the ground, leaving cracks splintering across the wall.
"Ahhh! Murder!"
Two on-duty nurses, who had rushed over after hearing the commotion, screamed at the top of their lungs, their voices nearly shattering the air. Terrified by the scene of blood and violence, they didn't even dare to wait for the elevator. Clutching each other, they fled into the emergency stairwell, sobbing in terror.
"What are you screaming for? I haven't even killed anyone yet..." Xu Mo muttered, rubbing his ears, which were still ringing from the noise. He crouched down and searched the unconscious soldier's body but found no Apocalyptic Shards.
Feeling movement beneath him, the soldier, despite his severe injuries, forced himself to stay conscious. He let out a bitter smile and said with difficulty, "Don't... waste your energy. I don't have any extra shards… If you want them, you'll have to kill me!"
Xu Mo was momentarily surprised. He had deliberately held back his strength to avoid killing the soldier, reducing Zero Eruption's power to just thirty percent. Even so, that was more than enough to knock out a bull. Yet this soldier had already regained consciousness—his physical endurance must have been strengthened to the extreme.
However, both of the man's arms had been completely shattered, and his internal organs were severely damaged. Though his life was not in danger, he was in no condition to fight.
"I have no grudge against you—why would I kill you? Besides, I'm only here for Minister Wang. I don't want unnecessary trouble with the military."
Now that the immediate threat was neutralized, Xu Mo turned toward the hospital room. Just as he stepped forward, the soldier, despite his excruciating pain, suddenly twisted his body and bit down on Xu Mo's pant leg with all his remaining strength. Sweat poured down his face as he gritted out, "As long as... I'm alive… you won't take… another step into that room!"
Xu Mo was about to shake his leg free but paused. The soldier's unwavering determination suddenly reminded him of Lieutenant Li—the man who had once stood his ground against thousands of bone skeletons to ensure Xu Mo and Professor Mo's safe retreat, even knowing it meant certain death.
One had sacrificed himself to protect a national secret. The other was fighting to protect a scumbag. Yet both were the kind of soldiers deserving of respect.
Without soldiers like them, men who put duty above personal gain, China might have long since collapsed under the weight of corrupt officials who would sell anything for power and money.
Xu Mo could scoff at the government and its laws, but he could never look down on these selfless warriors.
"I'm sorry... but you don't understand what really happened in the Apocalyptic Environment. If I let this scum live, the innocent souls who died in the mirage won't rest easy."
Xu Mo struck the soldier on the back of the neck, knocking him unconscious, then gently laid his head on the ground.
He pushed open the door and approached the hospital bed. Summoning his USP pistol, he pressed it lightly against Minister Wang's bald forehead. The man continued to sleep peacefully, breathing through his respirator, completely unaware that the harbinger of his doom had arrived.
"Minister Wang, we meet again... But don't worry, after tonight, we won't meet ever again."
A series of gunshots echoed down the eerily quiet hallway. The green light on the medical monitor flatlined, turning into a lifeless stillness.
A yellow and a green Apocalyptic Shard tumbled onto the floor as Minister Wang died. Xu Mo bent down to pick them up when a sudden, overwhelming sense of danger surged through him. Without hesitation, he rolled under the hospital bed.
A bullet shattered the window, embedding itself into the wall.
A sniper!
Xu Mo hadn't expected the military's response to be this fast. Snatching up the two shards, he darted to the window and yanked the curtain shut. But the ominous sense of danger remained. Moments later, another bullet punched through the fabric, striking where he had just been.
Damn it! They must be using infrared to track me!
Ducking and weaving to avoid the relentless gunfire, Xu Mo crawled to the door and searched the unconscious soldier's pockets, pulling out a lighter. He then rushed back inside and set fire to the curtain.
As the temperature in the room rose, the heat disrupted the sniper's infrared scope, causing their shots to momentarily cease.
At the same time, the elevator dinged, and a storm of footsteps flooded the corridor from both the stairwell and the elevator. The military, having lost their sniper target, had finally issued the order to attack.
Even with his superhuman abilities, Xu Mo knew he couldn't fight an armed squad head-on. But he had already anticipated this worst-case scenario. Without hesitation, he summoned the long-unused Fallen Feather Raven.
He could already imagine the soldiers' dumbfounded expressions when they stormed into an empty room.
Too bad he wouldn't be there to see it.
With a smirk, Xu Mo disappeared in a swirl of black feathers.
At first, Xu Mo worried that his Fallen Feather Raven, with its mischievous tendencies, might teleport him somewhere awkward. But when the space stabilized, he found himself in a barren wilderness.
If not for a nearby highway with occasional cargo trucks passing by, the desolation would have been absolute.
Gazing at the distant neon lights, Xu Mo guessed he had been teleported beyond Shang Shan City's urban limits. The creature had really outdone itself this time—probably pushing its teleportation range to the full ten-kilometer limit.
While it ensured his safety, another problem arose: the highway was filled with freight trucks.
Not a single taxi in sight.