The wind stopped.
Qin Yu lay prone on the scorching rock, his palms drenched in sweat.
He didn't wipe it off.
The sweat increased friction, allowing him to grip the gun more steadily.
The stock of the S686 Shotgun was pressed firmly against his shoulder socket, with such force it seemed like it would embed itself into his flesh.
"Hah..."
Qin Yu regulated his breathing.
Three long breaths, one short.
This was a breathing technique he had secretly learned from the shooting team at his sports school.
Slowing the heartbeat.
Cooling the blood-rushed brain.
In the scope, the head of the Black Armor Spineback Bear was magnified four times.
It was enormous.
A single closed eye was as large as a washbasin.
The eyelid was covered in fine black scales that rose and fell slightly with each breath.
This was no ordinary creature.
It was a moving tank, a living killing machine.
"Distance: eighty meters."
Qin Yu calculated silently.
The effective range of the S686 was right around here. Any farther, and the bullet spread would be too wide, losing power.
Any closer would be suicide.
"Get ready."
Qin Yu commanded in a low voice.
His tone was as cold as ice shards.
Beside him, Yao Xue shuddered.
She gripped the sharp Wolf Fang, her knuckles white, trembling slightly from the excessive force.
She didn't speak.
Just gritted her teeth and nodded.
Her eyes held a fierce, desperate resolve.
Qin Yu stopped looking at her.
All his focus was concentrated on his index finger.
It had to be accurate.
It had to be ruthless.
Strike while it sleeps, take its life!
"Die!"
Qin Yu abruptly pulled the trigger.
"BOOM!!!"
A deafening roar.
In the deathly silent valley, it was like a thunderclap from a clear sky.
The muzzle flash stretched a full meter long.
The massive recoil slammed into Qin Yu's shoulder, painful enough to make his whole body jerk backward.
But he had no time to care about the pain.
His eyes were fixed intently ahead.
Hit!
Countless pellets converged into a metallic torrent, barely spreading at eighty meters.
They slammed violently into the giant bear's eye socket!
"ROAR————!!!"
An earth-shaking roar instantly erupted.
The sound waves were almost visible.
White bone powder on the ground was sent flying into the air.
The colossal beast, previously deep in sleep, sprang up as if electrocuted.
Where its left eye had been was now a bloody, mangled mess.
Black blood gushed out like a fountain.
Pain!
Excruciating pain!
The agony instantly ignited the Berserk Gene of this quasi-S-class overlord.
It madly thrashed its enormous head, the terrifying force churning the surrounding air with a howling sound.
The golden treasure chest it had been lying on was kicked flying, tumbling over a dozen meters away.
"RUN!!"
Qin Yu shouted.
He didn't need to yell.
The moment the gunshot rang out, Yao Xue had already burst into motion.
She moved like an agile leopard, darting out from behind cover.
Not running backward.
But cutting sideways!
Straight into the open ground of the valley!
"Hey! Big guy!"
"Look over here!!"
Yao Xue screamed at the top of her lungs.
She picked up a rock from the ground and hurled it fiercely at the enraged giant bear.
"Thud."
The rock hit the bear's leg.
It didn't hurt.
Not even enough to qualify as a scratch.
But it was an insult.
A blatant provocation!
The Black Armor Spineback Bear ceased its roar.
Its single intact right eye instantly locked onto the tiny insect hopping on the ground.
Blood-red.
Filled with brutality and killing intent.
It didn't even care about the excruciating pain in its eye.
On this island, no creature had ever dared to provoke it like this!
"ROAR!!"
The giant bear moved.
On all fours, it charged toward Yao Xue like an out-of-control heavy truck, rumbling as it crushed everything in its path.
The earth trembled.
With each step, the ground cracked with spiderweb-like fissures.
Fast!
Too fast!
How could a creature of this size possess such terrifying explosive power!
In just two seconds.
It covered thirty to forty meters.
The suffocating pressure made Yao Xue feel like she was choking.
She could even smell the nauseating stench from the bear's mouth.
"Now!"
Yao Xue didn't close her eyes and wait for death.
She was gambling.
Betting that Qin Yu's gun was faster than the bear's claws!
She threw herself sideways, rolling into a narrow crevice between rocks.
Just as she dove down.
The giant bear rose on its hind legs.
Its two massive front paws raised high, revealing a chest covered in black scales.
And...
A palm-sized patch of white fur on its abdomen!
The only weak point!
The only vulnerability!
"Die, damn you!!"
Qin Yu had been waiting for this moment.
He didn't even have time to confirm through the scope.
By instinct.
By the gun sense honed through life-and-death situations.
He lowered the muzzle.
Pulled the trigger again!
"BANG!"
The second shot!
This bullet carried two lives.
The projectile whistled through the air.
Driven by lethal determination, it flew straight toward that white spot.
However.
Reality is often crueler than fiction.
Just as the bullet was about to hit.
The giant bear seemed to sense the lethal threat.
It instinctively twisted its massive body.
"CLANG!!"
A piercing metallic clang.
Sparks flew!
It missed!
This shot didn't hit the white weak point.
Instead, it struck the black scales three inches beside the weak point!
The slug round that could penetrate steel plates was actually deflected by the thick scales!
Leaving only a faint white mark.
"FUCK!"
Qin Yu's eyes nearly burst from their sockets.
His heart instantly sank to the abyss.
It's over!
The S686 only held two rounds.
Both shots spent.
This meant what he held in his hands now was just a useless metal stick!
And that giant bear was completely enraged.
It ignored Yao Xue hiding in the rock crevice.
It turned its head.
Its single eye burning with tangible fury.
Locked directly onto Qin Yu on the ridge.
It knew.
This was the one who had caused it harm!
"ROAR—!!"
The giant bear abandoned Yao Xue.
Changed direction, charging madly toward the ridge where Qin Yu stood.
The wind pressure from its massive body even snapped dried trees along its path.
Fifty meters away.
Forty meters.
Thirty meters!
The oppressive feeling was utterly despairing.
Qin Yu could even see shreds of meat stuck between the bear's teeth.
"Qin Yu! Run!!"
Yao Xue peered out from the rock crevice, screaming in despair.
No ammo!
Facing this monster without a loaded gun meant certain death!
But the man didn't run.
He stood his ground.
Like a statue.
His hands moved like blurs.
His left hand slapped the gun hard.
"CLACK!"
The breech opened.
Two steaming shell casings ejected, still smoking in the air.
His right hand retrieved two red shotgun shells from the ammunition pouch at his waist.
Loaded.
Chambered.
Locked.
The sequence flowed like water.
Without a trace of panic.
Even as the giant bear's claws were about to smash into his face!
Ten meters!
The bear had already charged up the slope.
It opened its bloody maw, ready to crush this damned human in one bite.
Its body leaped high again due to the momentum of its charge.
To reach Qin Yu.
It had no choice but to fully extend its body.
In that instant.
The white weak spot on its abdomen was once again completely exposed beneath Qin Yu's barrel.
This is your end!
Qin Yu's gaze was terrifyingly cold.
Instead of retreating, he advanced.
Took a step forward.
The shotgun's muzzle was practically pressed against the bear's stomach!
At this range.
Even a deity couldn't evade it!
"Next life."
"Remember to wear body armor."
Qin Yu's finger pulled the trigger.
This time.
No hesitation.
No probing.
"Bang! Bang!"
Two gunshots.
Almost merging into a single roar!
At such close range.
The terrifying power of the S-Grade weapon erupted completely!
The first shot.
Shattered the layer of white fur and tore open the fragile skin.
The second shot.
Following the bloody hole blasted open by the first.
Slammed deep into the bear's body!
Then deep within its organs.
Detonated!
"Squelch—!!!"
A foul rain of blood, mixed with shredded organ fragments, instantly drenched Qin Yu.
Time seemed to freeze in that moment.
The once ferocious and arrogant Black Armor Spineback Bear.
As if its bones had been pulled out.
Its massive body stiffened mid-air for a second.
The red light in its eyes rapidly faded.
Replaced by.
Thick fear and resentment.
"Boom!!!"
A loud crash.
The mountain-like carcass heavily smashed onto the rocks before Qin Yu.
Shaking the entire ridge.
Its claws.
Were less than ten centimeters from Qin Yu's head.
But would never fall.
Silence.
Deathly stillness.
Only Qin Yu's heavy panting echoed in the air.
He was covered in blood.
Like an Asura crawled out of hell.
The barrel of his S686 still smoking.
"Hah..."
Qin Yu exhaled a turbid breath.
Sat down heavily on the ground.
His legs felt weak.
The aftereffect of adrenaline fading.
But he laughed.
Looking at the enormous corpse before him.
He laughed wildly and unrestrained.
"Quasi S-Grade?"
"Is that all?"
From the distant rubble pile.
Yao Xue stared blankly at the scene.
At the man bathed in blood rain.
Tears streaming from her eyes.
Not from fear.
But from the overwhelming joy of survival and absolute worship of strength.
This was Qin Yu.
This was her man.
Even a demonic monster like this was crushed beneath his feet!
[Ding!]
[Congratulations, Host!]
[Cross-level elimination of Quasi S-Grade creature: Black Armor Spineback Bear!]
[Acquired: S-Grade Black Armor (Top-grade defense material)]
[Acquired: Quasi S-Grade Bear Gall x1 (Sacred medicine for physique enhancement)]
[System Rating: Perfect Elimination!]
Hearing the pleasant notification in his mind.
Qin Yu wiped the blood from his face.
Stood up.
Walked toward the kicked-away Quasi S-Grade treasure chest.
"Yao Xue."
"Come here."
"Time to divide the spoils."