Absolute Death Game

Chapter 196 - 165 Another Way Out

As the saying goes, enemies often flare up at the sight of each other, and upon seeing Xiao Buli, Dugu Han’s eyes blazed with fury. His greatest trump card, the Qilin Group, had been spirited away by the infuriating person before him—with a smirk no less. How could he not be raging with anger?

Xiao Buli was not one to act on a whim. He preferred to plan before he took action in combat. From the moment Dugu Han began fighting with others, he had slipped into Invisibility Stealth with the Skimming Shadow Steps. He observed Dugu Han’s fighting style until the moment Liu Xing was struck to the ground, by which time he had already formulated a calculated combat strategy in his mind.

Although Xiao Buli did not know the name of Dugu Han’s Body Protection Skill, he could tell it could virtually ignore common Magic Attacks and seemed equally effective against ranged physical attacks. Therefore, techniques like Palm Thunder and Mysterious Ice Slash were unnecessary.

However, it was clear this Body Protection Skill could not defend against close-range attacks—Liu Xing’s ability to exchange blows with him was sufficient proof. Still, because of the seemingly invincible Proud Heaven Sword Skills, normal close combat would stand no chance against Dugu Han.

And so, Xiao Buli watched intently until he felt the right moment had come, and then he suddenly made his move.

At that moment, as their swords clashed, Dugu Han held an overwhelming advantage in Strength. Therefore, Xiao Buli immediately launched the strategy he had long been plotting—the conductive electric shock!

Electricity coursed through the katana straight into Dugu Han’s right hand. Dugu Han felt a crackling numbness, nearly dropping his weapon. Fortunately, his Basic Attributes were extraordinarily high, and he managed to endure the strike, still holding the hilt without dropping it. His grip, however, weakened considerably.

Xiao Buli hadn’t expected a one-strike victory; he leaped back and attacked again.

Straight Lightning Sword! With a clang, Dugu Han blocked with the back of his blade, managing to stop Xiao Buli’s sword tip with brute force. Xiao Buli repeated his maneuver—the conductive electric shock.

With a crackle, sparks flew from Dugu Han’s hand, causing the blade to tilt. The sword tip slid and stabbed into Dugu Han’s rib, shallow yet enough to draw the first drop of blood.

Dugu Han, in shock, hastily retreated. The pain cooled his rage-infused spirit instantly. Clutching at his wound and with disbelief in his eyes, he saw Xiao Buli approaching once more and began to panic, sending out a Sword Qi Slash in desperation. Xiao Buli, refusing to clash head-on, leaped behind Dugu Han with a Leaping from Dry Land and executed another Straight Lightning Sword!

As their swords met again, Xiao Buli’s left hand suddenly burst with brilliant lightning—a Palm Thunder, but he didn’t aim it at Dugu Han; he targeted the sword’s hilt instead. The lightning traveled along the clashing blades into Dugu Han’s body, feeling like a firecracker exploding in his palm, and he could no longer hold his sword. The katana flew from his grasp.

He stumbled backward, and Wu Tao seized the opportunity, suddenly appearing behind him with a Close Mountain Lean! A fierce shoulder charge completely unbalanced him, followed by a series of vicious strikes. Wu Tao, imitating Bruce Lee’s cries, delivered Armor-Piercing Force-enhanced blows to Dugu Han, rendering him powerless and forcing him to retreat continuously.

Rubble Foot! A final Spinning Kick sent Dugu Han flying, and Wu Tao struck a pose reminiscent of Wong Fei-hung.

The brutal beating had left Dugu Han utterly stunned. Struggling to stand, he hadn’t even steadied himself when a figure appeared behind him—it was Wu Min’er—grasping his neck with one hand and repeatedly stabbing towards his heart with a dagger in the other. Dugu Han cried out as he was stabbed, then suddenly unleashed an invisible burst of Strength that sent Wu Min’er flying.

She wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth, a cold sneer on her face.

Dugu Han tried to cover the wound on his back but couldn’t reach it; he could only let the blood flow freely. He turned in vain, feeling his Strength slipping away.

Gasping for air and seeing his enemies closing in once again, Dugu Han knew his end was near. Yet even in death, he wanted to take some with him. At this moment, the shadow of death stirred his ferocity.

"Damn it, it’s impossible for you to defeat me—I’ll kill you all!" he shouted viciously, reaching into thin air and, miraculously, his katana flew back into his hand.

"Oh, I’d like to see you try to kill us all," said Xiao Buli calmly.

In Dugu Han’s eyes flashed a look of desperation—his Ultimate Skill, Pride of the World! He raised his Longsword high, and a vortex of swirling Strength revolved frantically around him, encircling him and gradually converging onto the raised blade.

The air filled with chilling whooshing sounds as if pulled by a black hole’s mighty attracting force, gathering and seemingly ready to detonate some mad Strength.

"What are you waiting for?" someone yelled, and almost simultaneously, the melee fighters, who had until then been holding back, surged forward. In an instant, countless weapons hacked into Dugu Han’s body, which was chopped to pieces before his aura could fully condense, halting abruptly and vanishing without a trace.

Dugu Han crashed to the ground, gurgled twice, and finally died.

The hall fell silent until someone broke the quiet. Zhao Yunlong suddenly asked, "Did we succeed?"

"We succeeded," Xiao Buli answered with certainty.

"We succeeded!" "We succeeded!" "We’ve won!" Cheers erupted, the long-suppressed emotions finally unleashed, as everyone celebrated the victory. However, the cheering did not last long.

"What should we do now?" Another query came, this time from Hua Yueying.

"Of course, we need to leave this place quickly. The Qilin Group has already departed, and Dugu Han is dead. The company’s probably done for good. From now on, everyone is free to go wherever they like."

"But how do we leave?"

"Don’t worry about that. We had already planned our retreat route before this operation." Zhang Yaoyang said as he took out a three-dimensional blueprint of the building.

"Here is the fire escape, leading to a safe exit at the back of the building. Once out, there’s a sewer that we can use to retreat. We’ve all worked together and faced life and death; although I didn’t expect so many people to be involved, I welcome anyone who wishes to leave with us."

Immediately, the crowd responded enthusiastically, with almost everyone choosing to join. After all, there’s safety in numbers. What if, as an individual, they got caught and chopped by the Demon Clan? Especially the Xuanwu Group members—who generally lacked combat strength—were more than happy to agree when someone offered to lead them out.

Not many from the White Tiger Group were left—some were killed by Li Jian, some by the Demon Clan, and just now, Dugu Han had slashed two more. Now only Zhang Hao, Gao Lianyu, Li Baocheng, and another five or six people remained. After hesitating for a moment, they too chose to join.

As for the Vermilion Bird Group, there were four or five people; naturally, they all looked to Wu Min’er as their leader. These members were all capable of stealth, so they weren’t too worried about being trapped.

Wu Min’er seemed to have considered that point already and shook her head, "We won’t go with you. Once we’re downstairs, we’ll find our own way out. Let’s go our separate ways from here."

Zhang Yaoyang saw this but didn’t say anything, just nodded slightly.

The group then set off, entering the fire escape and proceeding downwards. Along the way, they did not encounter the Demon Clan, who seemed to have quieted down in this short time. Thanks to everyone’s excellent physical fitness, they descended the dozens of flights of stairs in less than ten minutes.

As they were getting closer to the exit, two figures suddenly appeared, each with a bag on their back—it was Yaoyao and Lu Xinying.

"Hey everyone, I’ve got good news and bad news for you," Yaoyao said, pointing at the bag behind her. It contained the most valuable things from the company; after leaving, no one would have to worry about money. She hadn’t forgotten her old line of work; taking advantage of the lack of supervision, she had swept the company’s safe clean.

Lu Xinying also lifted her bag, "I’ve dismantled more than thirty hard drives; that should be enough."

This was actually arranged by Xiao Buli. Moving the entire computer was impractical, but dismantling the hard drives was much easier.

"Aren’t these all good news? What’s the bad news?"

Yaoyao replied, "The bad news is, we probably won’t be able to get out."

As soon as these words were spoken, the whole place was shocked.

"What exactly is going on?" Zhang Yaoyang asked gravely.

"We went out to scout earlier, and it’s all military and police outside. The entire building is surrounded, with snipers and blockade lines everywhere. Unless you can use stealth to stand a chance, the rest probably have no chance of escaping."

Upon hearing this, the crowd immediately erupted in discussion, growing increasingly frantic, especially those without any means of escape. In contrast, those who could use invisibility or other escape skills remained much calmer, knowing they could still fight for a way out.

Xiao Buli was also surprised. He had expected only the police, not the military to be involved. This probably had something to do with Qin Shimoon. Whether or not that woman’s supposed military background was real remained unknown.

He was part of the stealth-capable group with plenty of escape skills, not panicked at all.

"Everyone calm down!" said Zhang Yaoyang with a serious expression, "It’s very clear now that it’s impossible for everyone to leave normally. If we’re caught by the police and the military, who knows what will happen. But I’m not the kind of person who leaves my fate in others’ hands. Unless it’s absolutely necessary, I will not surrender without a fight.

Fortunately, there’s still one way out, but whether or not you dare to take it will depend on your courage and resolve." (