Step Back! Master is Here! - Chapter 22
Chapter 22: Amitabha
Translator: Atlas Studios
Editor: Atlas Studios
Thorndike leaned back instinctively, catching a glimpse of the portrait on the table in his peripheral vision.
Just how similar was the build of the person on the portrait to the one in front of him right now!
“Fire!” Thorndike bellowed. He didn’t care who he was or where he came from.
Opening fire first definitely wouldn’t be wrong.
Moreover, the interrogation of survivors was built upon the foundation of holding the upper hand too.
They certainly had more people on their side, but since the other party was bold enough to come, there must be something that he could rely on to give him such assurance.
Kill first, think later.
Thorndike was incredibly decisive in this instant.
The bodyguards were quick to react too. They practically raised their guns and pulled the triggers at the same time as Thorndike shouted.
Gunshots filled the entire space for a moment there.
The elevator shaft was only a tad larger than the elevator. It didn’t have an elevator door, meaning there was absolutely nowhere to hide.
Should Thorndike or the bodyguards have reacted a little slower earlier, Tang Luo would have been able to leave the small and narrow elevator and enter the room.
That way, he would have had a fairly spacious area to use to evade the bullets.
But at this point, with the other party being so prompt and decisive, Tang Luo would have to face their guns with sparks flying out of them head-on, as well as the bullets shooting out from the muzzles.
The revolvers that these bodyguards were using were clearly of a much higher grade. They utilized a double-action body and were able to fire in rapid succession.
Although the firing rate wasn’t fast in comparison to modern firearms, there were a lot of people opening fire right now.
A concentrated number of gunshots rang out, as though a storm of bullets all the same.
Tang Luo raised his right hand with nowhere to hide, facing the storm of bullets shooting towards him.
His eyes narrowed slightly. The scene reflected in his vision slowed down at once.
Thorndike’s action of bending over, the bodyguards pulling the triggers, and the sparks spraying out of the guns, everything was moving as though it was in slow motion.
Tang Luo pressed his right thumb against his index finger. He took aim at a bullet, which had already reached right in front of him, bent, and flicked his fingers.
It gave out a crisp clang.
It was as if the nose of the bullet had blasted right into a firm and solid iron wall, crashing and breaking into pieces.
The damaged bullet flew backward and struck a different bullet.
Another crisp boom later, the two bullets flew in different directions. One of them struck another bullet once more.
Cling clang, cling clang…
The crisp sound of metal striking against each other and landing on the ground resounded, mixed among gunshots.
Thorndike and the others widened their eyes.
In their vision, all they could see was the invader’s right hand turning into numerous afterimages in front of him. Bullets rebounded and landed on the floor without pause.
In fact, a few people were struck by the stray bullets flying about and cried out.
This went on until the gunshots came to an abrupt stop.
The final sound of metal colliding against each other stopped as well.
The room fell into silence. Only the inhibited breathing of the two bodyguards, who were hit in the shoulder by the stray bullets, could be heard.
After firing six rounds, a revolver would definitely need to undergo reloading. Even if the bodyguards had specialized speedloaders on them, their reloading speed couldn’t get any much faster nonetheless.
Moreover, there wasn’t much coordination among them to speak of. All of them were firing recklessly for the sake of killing the man in front of them.
And so, an idle period happened just like that.
After a round of bullet storm, the target whom all of them had shot at was still standing there alive and well.
Every single one of them was in a daze and forgot to reload.
Tang Luo held out his arm in front of him, his fingers closed into a fist. His fist blocked everyone’s vision, such that they still couldn’t see what he looked like.
His fist wasn’t closed very tightly. Rather, it was held very loosely, as though there was something inside his fist.
With his fist facing downwards, Tang Luo’s fingers opened.
The last few bullets he had caught fell onto the floor, joining the pile of bullets at his feet.
“Ah!”
The sound of the bullets falling onto the floor seemed to startle one of them into waking up.
With a loud cry, he lifted his gun again, even though there was no knowing whether the revolver had actually been reloaded or not.
Bang!
A gunshot rang out.
A bloody hole appeared in the middle of the bodyguard’s forehead. His body collapsed and crashed onto the floor.
Tang Luo’s left arm was lifted parallel to the floor. The muzzle of the pistol in his hand was smoking.
This little thing known as the revolver, Tang Luo had one too!
He had never learned something like marksmanship before. But hitting one’s target with the bullet was nothing more than just two conditions—firstly, to take accurate aim and secondly, to have a very steady grip.
Tang Luo happened to fulfill both conditions.
The muzzle of his gun didn’t shift at all when he fired.
Within a certain range, he was an expert marksman with perfect accuracy.
There were a total of six gunshots.
Six bodyguards, who were intending to launch a counterattack, collapsed onto the floor.
With that, none of the others dared to move recklessly anymore.
They could only aim their pistols at Tang Luo as if they were at a stalemate.
Thorndike had already snuck over to the other side of the round table. While watching Tang Luo, he asked, “You’re the ones taking action against the organization?”
“Uh-huh.” Tang Luo assented to his question. Then, he thought for a moment and said, “You can call me Punisher, in the ‘punishing evil and advocating good’ sense.”
Thorndike snorted in derision.
‘Punishing evil and advocating good? This fellow was probably living in his own dream world.’
However, after the snort of derision, Thorndike’s countenance went back to being cold and sinister.
This man living in his dreams was the nightmare of all of them right now.
Blocking and catching bullets with his bare hands?
Or was he actually the one who was dreaming?
Tang Luo lowered his head and took out six rounds from the pocket of his coat. He loaded them into the cylinder at a leisurely pace and walked out of the elevator.
Thinking about it carefully, walking over and blasting someone’s head apart with his fist seemed a little too brutal and too fiendish.
It didn’t suit his identity as a monk.
On the other hand, guns were a lot more low-key and peaceful.
Just as Tang Luo was reloading, a shadow suddenly appeared, causing the light to dim considerably.
Tang Luo raised his head and saw a large and muscular man standing in front of him. He was over two meters tall, had a fierce visage, and held a gleaming dagger in his right hand.
He was the only one who wasn’t holding a gun. He was also one of the two personal bodyguards of Thorndike’s.
Out of the two, one was adept at wielding guns.
In this man’s case, he had a lot of physical strength and was invincible in close-range combat. The most important thing was that this man wasn’t very bright. He had been trained and brainwashed by Thorndike into being absolutely loyal and would never disobey any of his orders.
Even taking a bullet for him was nothing out of the ordinary.
At this point, Tang Luo just so happened to load the last bullet into the cylinder.
The big and tall man gave Tang Luo an extremely sinister and savage smile. The dagger in his hand fell onto the floor. His arms spread open and closed around Tang Luo.
He let out a low roar like that of a beast, and the muscles on his arms bulged, and veins protruded on the surface of his skin.
His face turned red rapidly, and veins covered his forehead.
Obviously, he was using every bit of strength he had to squeeze Tang Luo to death.
People who had been squeezed dead by his bear hug weren’t in the minority. Even their corpses had been twisted into an exaggerated pose after their deaths. One could use the phrase no longer human to describe them.
But right now, that was only the beginning.
At the same time, as the man tightened his grip around Tang Luo, gunshots rang out once more.
At some point, a black revolver had appeared in Thorndike’s hand.
Holding the gun with both hands and with the man in between them, he took aim at Tang Luo’s head and pulled the trigger without hesitation.
Not many knew this, but Earl Thorndike was also a master marksman.
At the same time, the others pulled their triggers too. They were only a tad slower than Thorndike.
With Thorndike as the main force, the rest of them were in charge of supplementary attacks.
The gun in Thorndike’s hands was clearly different from the others’. The body of that particular revolver was black in color and featured gold patterns on it. It looked grand and luxurious.
It didn’t have just a thin barrel like most typical revolvers. The front end of the revolver looked more like the pistols frequently seen in contemporary times. Slanting downwards at the area near the trigger, it even formed a reverse triangle. It added a touch of dominance to its original grandeur.
The workmanship didn’t look like it was something that this era could produce.
In addition, it looked more like an art piece than a weapon meant for murder.
However, its might was that of a true weapon meant for murder!
No matter how high-end the other people’s pistols were, there was no guarantee that the bullets fired from their guns could pierce through Thorndike’s bodyguard to hit Tang Luo for sure. Especially under the circumstances where Thorndike’s bodyguard was tensed up all over and applying force.
Perhaps a bullet hitting him might cause an even stronger power to instantaneously erupt from him because of pain.
However, he would lose strength the very next moment and end up loosening his hold on Tang Luo.
On the other hand, the bullets fired by the revolver in Thorndike’s hand…
The man’s neck and chest were ripped apart in that instant. The huge wound caused the man’s head to separate directly from his body.
Tang Luo fell backward. The hat he was wearing fell off and just so happened to cover his face.
The next few bullets struck the body of the man who hadn’t fully collapsed yet.
A few bullets also shot towards Tang Luo at tricky angles.
Except that the man had already loosened his grip, so Tang Luo, who was leaning backward, took a couple of steps back and retreated into the elevator. Going inside, it was just right for him to dodge those few shots.
“Is he dead?” Thorndike wondered as he stared at Tang Luo, who was covered in blood.
He was extremely confident in his revolver’s might, as well as his own marksmanship skills.
Thorndike had once shot a bear standing 200 meters away dead with just one shot using that revolver. That revolver wasn’t meant to be used on humans at all.
He believed that no one could escape from this revolver of his and survive under the circumstances where he had already taken accurate aim.
The blood all over the other party seemed to support this view too.
But why was it that the unease, fear, and even terror in his heart didn’t go away at all?
“Fire! Fire at him!” Thorndike yelled ferociously.
The others exchanged looks, somewhat perplexed at his act of corpse mutilation.
However, they respected Thorndike’s wishes nonetheless and pulled the triggers one by one.
Right at that moment, Tang Luo, who was inside the elevator, suddenly moved. His slanted form leaning against the elevator straightened once more. The hat fell off. His arms lifted, and he fired the revolver in his left hand. His right hand turned into afterimages.
After the gunshots, with great difficulty, Thorndike turned to look at his surroundings.
All his comrades and bodyguards, who had been standing next to him, had collapsed.
He looked towards Tang Luo once more.
The man’s mouth was open, revealing his pearly white teeth. In between the top and bottom rows of his teeth was a bullet.
He had actually caught that bullet with his teeth!
There was no blood on Tang Luo’s face. All of it had been blocked by the hat, which had already fallen onto the floor.
After opening his mouth, he dropped the bullet onto the floor.
It gave out a crisp clang, which startled the dazed Thorndike back to his senses.
“Monster!”
“Monster!”
He yelled as he took aim at Tang Luo and fired again.
Three gunshots later, Thorndike let out a muffled grunt. The black revolver fell onto the floor. His right wrist swelled up swiftly. The area between his thumb and index finger was already split open too.
The might of the black revolver was very strong, but the recoil was also shockingly strong.
Thorndike had thrown caution to the wind and opened fire recklessly. Before he could even fire all six rounds, he had already injured himself.
After losing the last weapon he had, a trembling Thorndike shouted at Tang Luo, “I—”
A black glint flashed past.
Thorndike’s head and the revolver thrust out by Tang Luo broke apart at the same time.
“Amitabha.”
A chant of Buddha’s name, which sounded out of place and seemed extremely strange and bewitching, resounded in the hellish room.
