Chapter Eleven: The Power of the Desert Eagle

All around was silent, save for the soft rustle of wind through the bamboo grove; even the monsters seemed absent from this forest. Wu Hua moved forward cautiously, scanning the path ahead, ears pricked to catch the slightest sound. Hearing and vision were skills in themselves, reliant on his specialized constitution. This specialization did not merely boost his health points—it enhanced endurance, perception, environmental adaptability, and more.

For Wu Hua, keen senses were a mandatory lesson in every game, and with his high constitution specialization, he could accurately distinguish sounds from sixteen directions with ease. Now, he sensed an unusual sound—though it was similar to the wind brushing against leaves, it was actually footsteps. Something was stirring in the jungle, a monster lurking not far behind him.

An ordinary player would instinctively turn to look, but Wu Hua knew better. Turning around would expose a fatal weakness, inviting an immediate attack from the monster. He would never give such an opportunity. As a gunman, he understood the importance of self-preservation.

His caution proved wise. After only a few steps, a sudden gust of wind surged behind him, altering the rhythm of the bamboo leaves’ rustle. Wu Hua instantly judged the situation, darted left, and rolled away in one fluid, nimble motion—a move he’d learned from a hot-tempered teammate. Though seemingly clumsy, it was highly effective for evasion.

Nevertheless, pain shot through his back—he had been hit. As he looked up, a pale figure flashed over his head and vanished into the bamboo. “So fast,” he murmured, recognizing the creature as an Ice Bear. Checking his stats, Wu Hua was stunned: his health had dropped by more than five hundred points.

“Damn, isn’t that a bit much?” He swallowed hard. “That attack is way too strong.” Wu Hua began calculating. With the cold temperature, health recovered slowly—three hundred points would take about three minutes to restore.

“Shouldn’t have skipped buying blood tonic,” he steadied himself, rose, and pressed onward.

Soon, the same scenario repeated—a suspicious sound behind him. Clearly, the Ice Bear's AI was advanced, capable of ambushing from behind.

“So this is the power of a level 30 monster?” Wu Hua decided to stand his ground, waiting for the Ice Bear to strike from behind.

The Ice Bear did not disappoint. This time, it lunged even faster, its claws slicing the air with a sharp “swish.” With the lesson from before, Wu Hua kept his movements minimal—he ducked low and then straightened up, letting the bear leap overhead.

Wu Hua stood, gripped his gun, aligning the dovetail sight with his eyes and right shoulder. He didn’t rush to shoot; instead, he tracked the Ice Bear’s arc through the air, waiting until it landed and bounded twenty meters away before pulling the trigger.

A golden flash burst from the muzzle, splintering three stalks of bamboo. Deep within the grove came a wail, followed by a string of red numbers.

Wu Hua sat down in the snow, dumbfounded.

The shot nearly deafened him, and his vision blurred—the muzzle flash lingered on his retina, and the immense recoil left his wrist numb. He was at a loss for words to describe the power of this “cannon.”

-1792!

What did that mean? It was peak damage for a handgun.

In Star Wars, a gunman’s attack power depended on three factors: firearm performance, muzzle energy, and the bullet itself.

Take the Turtle Box, for example—it lacked performance, its bullets were no more than peanuts, and its damage relied purely on kinetic energy. Theoretically, the muzzle energy was 576 joules, but actual damage never reached that number, except for green numbers indicating defective damage or gold for critical hits, both influenced by many factors—armor defense being typical. Generally, one-third of the damage was considered good.

Not just the Turtle Box—many rifles and machine guns followed this principle, even warriors’ swords. The purple energy sword used by the housewife had an attack range of 108–432, with a cap few ever reached.

But the Desert Eagle was different. Its muzzle energy was high, and the .50 AE round created a small explosion on impact, causing additional penetration damage. Simply put, unless the target’s defense was extremely strong, this attack nearly ignored defenses.

Of course, AE rounds couldn’t compare to true explosive bullets—those belonged to another tier entirely.

This shot had scored a whopping 1792, leaving Wu Hua utterly stunned: “Is purple gear really this insane? The Desert Eagle of Flying Sands, ha!”

But the level 30 Ice Bear was formidable as well; even after such a hit, it survived, though Wu Hua was certain it was gravely wounded.

He ran forward twenty meters to the spot where the bear had fallen, finding a large pool of blood. Relieved, Wu Hua thought, Let’s see how you escape now.

The blood trail stood out clearly on the snow. After pursuing it deeper into the forest, he found the Ice Bear—towering, white-faced, and fanged—lying breathless on a rock, blood gushing from its chest.

Wu Hua wasted no words, raised his gun, and fired.

The Desert Eagle’s recoil was immense; Wu Hua guessed that firing single-handed might dislocate his wrist, and the muzzle nearly struck his own forehead. But its power was undeniable—this second shot finished the Ice Bear, sending it back as a white light.

Ignoring his numb hand, Wu Hua rushed forward eagerly to search for loot, but was sorely disappointed—the Ice Bear dropped nothing, not even a hair.

“So stingy,” Wu Hua grumbled, glancing at his experience bar: Level 12, 5%. The experience was astonishingly high—kill nineteen more bears and he would level up.

The drive to level up soon dispelled his frustration, and Wu Hua shouldered his gun and continued deeper into the bamboo forest.

He wandered the forest for three hours. By midday, the sun was overhead, and Wu Hua had hunted just seven bears.

Now he understood why no one came here. High experience was the only benefit; everything else was a drawback—frigid temperatures, harsh environment, few Ice Bears, their speed and attack were high, their AI advanced, appearing and vanishing unpredictably, and most crucially, they almost never dropped anything. Seven kills had yielded only one C-grade ice crystal, not worth even a credit point—a place where loss was guaranteed, profit impossible. No wonder no one wanted to come.

Of course, there were places with lots of monsters and plenty of gear drops, but those were crowded like a boiling pot of dumplings, and leveling speed was no better than here.

It seemed the game designers had considered these details thoroughly—money wasn’t easy to earn, nor was leveling up.

Want experience? Simple—it takes wisdom and courage. So thought Wu Hua.