Chapter Twelve: Bet You Didn't Expect This—I Can Dodge Bullets!

Smoke billowed thickly as the earth beast roared, bursting forth from the ground. Jiang Taichu’s volley of bullets had failed to kill it. That was the deadly resilience of earth beasts—their tenacious vitality could only be ended by destroying the stone core within their bodies.

The energy cannon mounted on his shoulder bloomed with power. A shell was loaded, then fired. With a thunderous boom, the earth beast that had just charged him collided directly with the cannon, half its body exploding in a spray of ochre blood that hung in the air. Its stone core, too, was utterly destroyed by that shot.

Another resounding explosion followed—a shell from a distant energy cannon came flying toward him. “Perfect timing,” Jiang Taichu muttered, his expression shifting as the particle cannon on his shoulder opened fire in return.

The energy cannon was a fusion of gold and earth particles compressed together. As it operated, the shifting particles produced a flickering yellow dot. A sniper rifle could intercept the energy cannon by striking that yellow dot, destroying it mid-flight. But the dot never stayed still, and Jiang Taichu was not entirely confident in his accuracy. With the particle cannon, he didn’t need to worry.

Within twenty meters, the two cannons collided and exploded simultaneously, sending shockwaves rippling across a dozen meters. Jiang Taichu’s body tumbled, plummeting downward, landing heavily atop the earth beast’s mangled corpse—half his body sank into the creature.

Everything fell silent. His armor dimmed, as if drained of power. “Radar shows nothing. Tang Fatty and the others aren’t responding. There must be a particle jammer.” Jiang Taichu felt a chill creep into his heart. “A standard particle jammer can’t block Heavenly Law—it must be a special Heavenly Law Jammer.”

Such an event would trigger a Heavenly Law alert, yet no alarm sounded. Only a Heavenly Law Jammer could do that, and such a device was not something a regular employee could obtain.

Had he already entered the sights of those related to his parents? He was just an ordinary worker—why expend so much effort to kill him? Could it be Yang Xuanzi?

As he pondered, the sound of something slicing through the air reached him—two armored suits flew over and hovered above Jiang Taichu.

“Hard to believe he survived, and even took down a juvenile earth beast.”

“How should we handle this? The earth beast’s dead already.”

“Take him to find another earth beast, let it finish him off. Move quickly, Yang Xuanzi must have noticed by now.”

Their voices came through the communication channel. One raised a gun, taking aim at Jiang Taichu, while the other began lifting the corpse. As they approached, the one on the right holstered his pistols and pressed both hands against Jiang Taichu’s armor. “Why isn’t this armor damaged...?”

A shot rang out—the answer was a burst from a semi-automatic rifle that pierced the armor and pulled the body behind it as a shield.

“Even an energy cannon can’t kill you—your luck is incredible!” Lu Fang’s voice sounded in the channel.

More shots thundered—the other man fired without hesitation, retreating as bullets punched through his companion’s armor and struck Jiang Taichu. The armor was breached! A faint Taiji diagram flickered and shattered—two layers broken in succession, and the bullets struck him numbly, without pain.

Bullets flew. The assailant shot upward, trying to escape, but was still too slow. Rounds tore through his legs, scarlet blood streaming out.

Jiang Taichu gripped a sniper rifle in his right hand, a semi-automatic in his left, shouting in the channel, “Do you think you can outrun my range?”

Bullets answered him in a frenzy. Jiang Taichu retreated, dodging every shot.

“You can dodge bullets?!” Lu Fang stared in horror. It was only a few hundred meters—how could Jiang Taichu, a college graduate, avoid bullets? Such absurdity—what did he think, that he attended a top university?

In his confusion, Jiang Taichu squeezed the trigger. The sniper rifle fired an armor-piercing round, faster than the semi-automatic. With a crack, the bullet punched through the assailant’s arm, sending his weapon tumbling, his body spinning in midair before crashing down.

Another shot—this time his right hand was hit, both hands rendered useless!

Jiang Taichu’s gaze was icy. He aimed the sniper rifle at the energy cannon on the man’s shoulder, intent on destroying it.

In the channel, Lu Fang’s voice was now panicked, pleading, “Don’t kill me, please, don’t kill me.”

Jiang Taichu paused, his eyes cold. “Who sent you?”

“It was… it was a moment of madness. I resented you for not sharing your elixir,” Lu Fang stammered.

“Don’t give me that nonsense. The Heavenly Law Particle Jammer—you, an employee, could get your hands on that?” Jiang Taichu’s voice was cold as ice.

“I—I stole it from the geomagnetic extraction artifact," Lu Fang replied desperately.

Jiang Taichu was stunned. The geomagnetic extraction artifact did indeed have a Heavenly Law Particle Jammer, but it was guarded by formation barriers and fully automated mechs—how could he have stolen it?

Lu Fang, sensing his doubts, hurriedly explained, “It was the earth beast. I lured it over. The automated mechs came out to clear the beast. I pretended to be injured, slipped inside to rest, and stole the jammer.”

Jiang Taichu could only curse inwardly—madness.

All this, just because he wouldn’t share his elixir? Such petty vengeance?

“Throw the jammer over here,” Jiang Taichu ordered coldly.

Though Lu Fang’s hands were ruined, his armor’s energy was enough to carry the jammer. Golden light enveloped a palm-sized black iron box, with a button and a small red light.

Jiang Taichu manipulated his armor’s energy into a hand, took the jammer, pressed the button, and deactivated the shield.

Instantly, his radar revived. Voices filled the channel: “Taichu, why haven’t you come back to eat?”

“Taichu, damn it, at least answer me! Fatty and I are coming to find you,” Zhang Jing’s voice called.

“Taichu, why did you lose signal? The screen’s gone dark,” Yang Xuanzi said. “I’m on my way.”

“Where are you? You’re not in your area?”

Voices streamed in—calls he’d missed before. He was far from his own zone, close to Lu Fang.

“Supervisor Yang, come here first. There’s big trouble,” Jiang Taichu said.

“I’ve found your location, I’ll be there shortly.”

With the jammer disabled, Yang Xuanzi could easily locate him.

Moments later, Yang Xuanzi and Tang Yu arrived, staring at the earth beast’s corpse, the damaged armor, and the crippled Lu Fang, their scalps tingling.

“Damn you!” Tang Yu and Zhang Jing cursed, rushing forward, but Jiang Taichu stopped them. “Don’t move. His particle cannon and energy cannon are still operational.”

Yang Xuanzi flew over, lifted Lu Fang, and stripped his energy cannon and particle cannon. “You’ve really got nerve—to stir up this mess under my watch?”

Jiang Taichu handed him the jammer. “He stole this thing.”

Yang Xuanzi’s fury peaked as he looked at the jammer. His grip unconsciously tightened, crushing the armor and stabbing his fingers into Lu Fang’s flesh. Lu Fang howled in pain.

“You feel pain? Good. You’re so clever—if your life goes well after this, I’ll take your surname!” The Heavenly Law Particle Jammer had been stolen! This was a grave dereliction; not only would the company demand answers, but the Justice Bureau as well. If things went badly, his career as supervisor would be over.

“I’m going back to eat now,” Jiang Taichu said.

“You’re hurt,” Yang Xuanzi finally noticed the three bullet holes in Jiang Taichu’s armor. Luckily, the bullets were visible—the wounds weren’t deep.

“It’s a minor injury,” Jiang Taichu replied calmly.

Yang Xuanzi said, “There’s healing medicine in my quarters. Go get it yourself. I’ll compensate you later. I’ll take them away first.”

“Fine, I just found a geomagnetic primal stone.”

“Let me finish up, then I’ll come find you. Rest well—you don’t have to work until I return, and I’ll replace your armor with a new one.”

With that, Yang Xuanzi opened his waist pack, collected the earth beast’s corpse, and departed with the two others.