Back to the Peak

Chapter 36: Ambush

Shi Qingyang felt that Cheng Ran kept treating him better and better, without asking for anything in return. Cheng Ran had even bought some beautiful medicine bottles online, specially used to hold Shi Qingyang’s medicine.

At first, Shi Qingyang hadn’t realized this. But when he was preparing to leave town, he had started organizing and putting away the medicine Cheng Ran had prepared for him bottle by bottle. It was only then that he discovered something out of place.

By comparison, Shi Qingyang hadn’t done nearly enough in return. Last time he had bought Cheng Ran a robot rabbit only because He Lan’s words had given him a reminder…

When this matter was over, he should accompany Cheng Ran on a nice walk through Spark City–when Shi Qingyang was young he’d been to all the good and bad places to have fun in the city, but Cheng Ran had completely never been.

“Qingyang, are you going out?” Cheng Ran asked, seeing that Shi Qingyang had packed a lot of things in his bag.

“Yes, I’m going to the radiation energy building to practice.” Shi Qingyang smiled.

“Go early and return soon. I’ll wait for you to come back.” Cheng Ran showed a big smile.

“I will.” Shi Qingyang’s grin grew as he nodded.

Seeing Shi Qingyang go, Cheng Ran looked at the book “How to Woo the Man You Like” on the contact terminal.

He had finished reading this book, but it seemed to have little effect. He didn’t know how to do some of the listed things. He had done some of them before, such as sending Shi Qingyang out and waiting for Shi Qingyang to come home.

The book also advocated that the reader should be enterprising and have their own career, so in that case, he’d better make some medicine.

Shi Qingyang went to the city’s underground first. After a long zigzag underground, he came out of an exit in the north side of the city, and then went straight to the north gate.

By this time, he had even changed into a radiation protection suit and put on a radiation protection helmet that only revealed half of his face.

There were many people gathered at the city’s north gate. One of them was a group of young people. They wanted to go out to clean up the plants in the ditches outside the city. This kind of part-time job was not difficult and the pay was small, but it was suitable for people who had just come into contact with the world outside.

In addition to these young people, there were also some men in their 30s and 40s who gathered together. They were distributing kettles and food around two vans. They were obviously a hunting team.

When Shi Qingyang arrived at the exit of the city, he rented a two wheeled armored vehicle, took out Spark Academy’s student card, swiped it at the gate, and drove out of the city.

The performance of the two wheeled armored vehicle was very good. An expert, superior, daring etc. rad-warrior would dare to drive anywhere in a vehicle like this. Shi Qingyang drove very slowly and carefully bypassed all the obstacles. Finally, he found the ruts of the mobile fortress’s tracks and drove a little more smoothly.

Shi Qingyang seemed like a complete rookie, but in fact, no one in Spark City knew about outside the city better than him. And although the radiation energy in his body was now very weak, it was no problem to use a small technique to investigate the situation in the wild…

The two fingers moved, and the radiation energy around them began to vibrate with very weak ripples. Such ripples spread behind him, but were disrupted… Although Shi Qingyang did not turn back, he also knew that someone was hanging behind him.

In addition to the people behind him, from time to time, two wheeled armored vehicles drove near him, mostly from He Lan.

Now that communication equipment couldn’t be used since they were outside the city, He Lan’s forces adapted to have people drive in the area around him. This was a good way to protect him.

Shi Qingyang smiled and continued to drive his rented two wheeled vehicle slowly. No matter what he saw, he would only stop for a bit. He looked curious and kept circling around near the city. In order not to be found by him, Shi Qingyang made the people following him hide everywhere. Shi Qingyang lingered in the area slowly. On the other side, Yang Haitao1 was worrying about him: “You say, Shi Qingyang went out of the city alone?”

“Boss, that’s right. After Shi Qingyang came out of the villa, he went to the underground city for a walk. He was very familiar with the underground city and dumped all our people. But we also arranged some at the gate of the city; they specially guarded the card reader and recognized him. Now there are three people following him. I have asked them to come back and report at any time.”

“This is a good opportunity. You should have your people act immediately so that he doesn’t come back!” Yang Haitao immediately said. Since he knew that Shi Qingyang might seek revenge on him, he had feared Shi Qingyang finding any evidence.

He was not only greedy for money, but also afraid of death.

“Boss, do you think he’s playing us? Is it possible that Shi Qingyang is laying a trap?” The man reporting was a little uneasy.

“Shi Qingyang has no relatives. How can he play us? Aside from Gu Changjin, I haven’t seen him contact anyone… And from what I’ve seen, Gu Changjin picked up Shi Qingyang to accompany Cheng Ran as just a plaything. They won’t take it seriously if he dies.” Yang Haitao didn’t care.

Gu Changjin and Cheng Ran may be very powerful, but how long had Shi Qingyang known them? Besides, there were so many mutant beasts outside the city. If Shi Qingyang died at the hands of the mutant beasts, what did it have to do with them?

Young people were impulsive. If Shi Qingyang had stayed low, Yang Haitao might not have known he had such an enemy. But in the end, Shi Qingyang offended Yin Tiancheng as soon as school started…

Now, Shi Qingyang also wanted to become stronger, yet he left the city without a trace of real strength?

“Be careful. Remember to bring Red Hand. You can’t let him return to the city alive!” Yang Haitao added. Red Hand was a level three rad-warrior, and also the most outstanding person under his command!

“Yes, boss,” His men answered immediately.

“Wait, you ask Red Hand to come here, and I’ll give him something… If there is an ambush, don’t leave a single one, kill them all!” Yang Haitao ground his teeth.

Shi Qingyang was still wandering outside. Although the contact terminal in his hand had no signal at all, the information stored in it was still there. He flipped the map in his hand and his eyes fell on a low-lying place.

He asked Cheng Xuze to wait for him in a low-lying place where he could hide. Now he had to buy time.

The sound of a signal bomb came from afar. Shi Qingyang glanced at it and guessed that the people who followed him were signalling their direction.

Sure enough, before long, there were more people following him. Of course, he was farther away. It was not easy for him to see even if he took a telephoto mirror.

Pretending not to be aware of it, he continued to stroll around. On the way, he saw a familiar medicinal herb. He got off the vehicle and dug it up. When he met a group of flying black mosquitoes, he gave them a few wind blades.

The black mosquito beast was a male mosquito beast. It sucked the juice of plants, but its attack on people was very weak. But even so, they still bore grudges. Therefore, some black mosquito beasts with long adult arms chased him. He drove the two wheeled vehicle in a rush and escaped forward, slowly reaching the periphery of the security zone.

“Red Hand boss, when shall we do it?” Someone looked at Red Hand, who wore a red and white radiation protection suit.

“People often pass near this place. When he goes a little further, let’s drag him into the woods.” Red Hand smiled and licked his lips. He preferred killing people to hunting animals.

At the beginning, he was caught by the patrol team for killing people outside the city. Finally, Yang Haitao saved him and even cooperated with the patrol team.

The people around Red Hand trembled subconsciously. They once worked with Red Hand to deal with a man who had offended the Yang family. After Red Hand caught the man, he cut his wrists and ankles, letting the smell of the man’s blood go…

It was not long before a mosquito beast and several ant beasts came to the man, sucking his blood and eating his flesh, while the man was still alive… They stayed in the tank in the distance, looked through the telescope and felt horrified, but Red Hands had been full of excitement…

This time, the misfortune would happen again. They suddenly have some sympathy for Shi Qingyang.

Shi Qingyang didn’t know some people still felt sympathy for him at this time. Now, he was close to the place in which he made an appointment with Cheng Xuze, and he was driving on the road rolled flat by the mobile town.

Glancing at a tree not far away, Shi Qingyang stopped his vehicle, took out dried meat and rations and began to fill his stomach.

He Lan arranged a person to protect him here. It might have been the third level female soldier. She hid well. Even the grass she’d stepped on at the edge of the trees was disguised again, but she did it too much, so that the grass that should have been crooked stood up.

Of course, most people would not notice this detail.

This place was far away from the city and sparsely populated. It was definitely a good place to kill someone. Shi Qingyang ate some dried meat and saw several vehicles suddenly driving towards him.

He reacted quickly and rolled to the side. As soon as he rolled, a wind blade sent by the leader sliced into where he’d just sat.

When attacking with radiant energy, the surrounding radiant energy will change and produce ripples. By the time most people noticed, it would have been too late for them to escape. However, Shi Qingyang had experienced countless battles, large and small, and was extremely sensitive to such fluctuations.

But there were too many people on the other side, and several radiation attacks came to him. Without his original strength, he could not even condense the radiation energy around him to make a shield.

He jumped quickly from the ground to avoid a high energy attack. Then, Shi Qingyang rushed into the nearby forest.

In ancient times, people in the army learned a set of fake moves to avoid bullets. They twisted their bodies during running according to certain principles. As long as they were fast enough, they could avoid most of the bullets. Moreover, the more accurately the attacker aimed, the greater the probability of avoiding.

When Shi Qingyang ran away, he used such a body method. In addition, in his seemingly cheap anti-radiation suit, he actually put bulletproof alloy wire mesh in it. He pulled the flexible metal very thin, and finally made it into a silk net, which could prevent many attacks.

Shi Qingyang and Gu Changjin had passed this road while looking for herbs a few days ago, so he made good use of every tree and piece of grass around him… On the contrary, those who chased him had to pay attention to their feet.

But even so, because the strength of the pursuers was much stronger than his, and he was attacked many times during the pursuit, and sustained some injuries.

Of course, such injuries were within the range he could bear.

“Why is this boy so lucky?” A level-2 radiant warrior beside Red Hand watched his attack fail again and opened his mouth inconceivably.

“It’s not luck. It’s skill. The boy’s been playing with us!” Red Hand had better vision. At this time, he saw that Shi Qingyang was not simple. Pretending he didn’t know anything before was completely lying to them!

“Red Hand boss, will there be an ambush?” Hearing the words of Red Hand, the people nearby were shocked.

“So what if there’s an ambush?” The Red Hand smiled coldly. Gu Changjin didn’t leave the city. Even if Shi Qingyang contacted someone, he could only contact those people in Spark City. He didn’t pay attention to them.

Moreover, this time, in order to ensure safety, Yang Haitao gave him a secret weapon.

Red Hand saw that there was something wrong with Shi Qingyang, and followed him from a distance. Liu Qilin, who had one eye fitted with with a telephoto mirror, thought the same, and was curious.

Shi Qingyang told He Lan that he’d found someone to meet him. Did that person really exist? Who could possibly defeat so many people?

At this time, Shi Qingyang, who had been running, suddenly fell to the ground and rolled on the spot, and then tumbled down a slope.

The Red Hand’s wind blade kept beating Shi Qingyang’s legs. At this time, it hit Shi Qingyang with good luck, but other people’s attacks were all lost.

“Hmph!” The Red Hand snorted coldly and came to the side of the slope. Sure enough, he saw a tank waiting under the slope. It was likely meant to ambush them.

“Daring to try and trap us!” The people around the Red Hand were very angry, but they did not shrink back. They had a level-3 and five level-2s. Forces like this could walk sideways and do as they pleased around Spark City. After all, the masters of Spark City were either members of the patrol team or simply the Yin family. Of those that had nothing to do with the Yin family, the strongest was no more than level-3.

Shi Qingyang couldn’t have all those people on his side!

Red Hand looked at the surrounding environment and the tank. Several wind blades hit the window of the tank quickly: “You inside, come out quickly.”

The quality of this tank was excellent. Red Hand’s blades did not damage the windows at all.

However, after Red Hand did so, the door quickly opened. Two people in anti-radiation suits came out of the driver’s and passenger’s seat of the tank respectively, and one of them looked at Red Hand: “What do you want?”

“What do I want? Of course, to kill you.” Red Hand smiled and attracted the radiation energy around him. A wind knife ten times larger than the wind blade sent before cut at the person opposite.

“How dare you!” The questioner said angrily. As soon as he raised his hand, a piece of surrounding radiant energy rotated, and the huge knife was instantly crushed.

Red Hand thought that even if the knife could not slice the other person in half, it would at least cut him. Unexpectedly, it was nothing compared to the other side, and Red Hand’s face suddenly changed.

Shi Qingyang seized the opportunity and grabbed the man who didn’t speak: “Help, they want to kill me!”

After Shi Qingyang had come all this way, although his clothes had protected him, his arms and legs were still wounded. He was injured by radiation and exposed to the air. Now the wounds had turned black and rolled outward.

After he called for help, he immediately took out a bottle of medicine from his body and poured it on the most serious wound.

There was a level-8 radiant warrior nearby. No matter what he did, nothing would happen to him.

In Red Hand’s eyes, his own attack was easily stopped, the people across from him looked very relaxed, and as for Shi Qingyang, he was clearly not afraid at all.

Red Hand only looked at the other’s movement and knew that the man’s strength was above him. Upon realizing that, he gritted his teeth, took out a grenade and threw it into the pit.

This time, he came out with an explosive. Although it was easy to end up killing when using explosives to harm others, it was a surefire method for ambushing someone.

Nowadays, the country had regulations that allowed people to carry guns out of the city, but the explosive weapons that could provide a wide range of protection could only be in the hands of the patrol team. This was for no other reason than because at the beginning, before the role of rad-warriors was fully explored, humans used explosives to fight against mutant beasts and seriously damaged the surrounding environment, making the evolution of strange animals faster…

There were still large deserts around Central City even now, which was the consequence of the excessive use of explosives. Not only that, during the period when explosives were not banned, there were terrorist bombings in the city…

Now, only when the patrol team was cleaning up the dangerous beasts nearby were they allowed to use bombs. Ordinary people could only use guns.

Red Hand took out the grenade, and after dropping one, he soon dropped the second and third…

Another reason why bombs were forbidden to use was that their power was not much greater than that of the radiation warriors. The grenades used by the patrol team was equivalent to the strike of a level-3 radiation warrior.

Of course, if many of them exploded together, their power will be doubled.

Red Hand smiled. The two men may have reached level-4, but they couldn’t escape the grenades he dropped.

And he dared to do so because these victims were in a prime location. The explosion happened in a pit. As long as the soil was filled later, nothing could be seen.

“Trying to kill people as you please in broad daylight!” A voice sounded in the black smoke. At the same time, a big hand composed of radiant energy suddenly pounded Red Hand’s head.

Red Hand trembled all over and fell to the ground. The other people were also overwhelmed by the huge pressure. Their legs became weak and they found it difficult to stand upright.

The smoke from the explosion slowly dispersed and finally revealed three dark figures.

“Old man, you removed your shield too quickly.” Wang Qing wiped the smoke and dust on the mask, sound not fluctuating at all.

“Cough, I was just worried they would run away?” Cheng Xuze looked embarrassed.

Footnotes

1 – Yang Haitao: His name is sometimes written 杨涛海 Yang Taohai and other times 杨海涛 Yang Haitao; the two characters in his name look super similar so might be it’s a typo. I googled both names and Haitao seemed like a real name so that’s what I’m picking for him. [return]