Chapter 32
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 32
Chapter Title: Mafia Game (4)
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'It works.'
The Heavenly Mechanism Calculation Method activated at the moment of crisis.
It hadn't triggered when the hand grenade exploded—maybe because it didn't register as a true brush with death.
But when the anti-tank rocket came flying, it kicked in perfectly and sent the damn thing right back at them.
Thanks to that, the hulking brute who looked like a mid-boss ended up a bloody pulp on the ground.
A whole section of the wall had collapsed too, as a bonus.
"Groan..."
"Urgh..."
Moans of pain kept rising from behind the wall—probably some poor bastards who'd gotten crushed.
I scanned the surroundings through the dust cloud billowing up from the rubble.
If that was the end of it, things would've been perfect.
'Of course not.'
Shadows slinking low beneath the dust cloud caught my eye.
I kicked off the ground and bolted. Bullets immediately rained down through the haze.
Rat-tat-tat-tat-!
Damn, these guys knew their stuff.
Not the work of amateurs firing a shot or two.
Clean firing angles, no gaps in the bullet curtain, no real way to dodge.
That is, if I were some average scrub.
Pop-pop-!
The instant I spotted muzzles aimed my way, I dropped flat to the ground.
Belly to the dirt, alternating hands and feet like a mudskipper that had survived hundreds of millions of years.
No matter how seasoned these raiders were, their fire net started at knee height—no way it covered down to the knees.
They couldn't just shove their guns into the dirt and shoot.
I slipped through that gap and closed in on them.
They couldn't track my mutant-like scuttle in time, so I exploited it—diving into the corpses of their fallen comrades and rummaging inside.
Squelch-squelch-squelch... ah, there it is.
I pushed through the gross texture and found what I needed.
Ping— I yanked it free and hurled it toward where their fire net was thickest.
Kaboom!!
A triple grenade erupted right in the middle of the enemy pack.
Screams filled the air as I rolled in closer.
What followed was a one-sided slaughter.
No matter how battle-hardened these raiders were, without martial arts, the power gap between us was somewhere between wuxia and xianxia levels.
Alright then.
"Time to come out?"
The emergency power cut out, and with the settling dust completely blinding my view, I called into the shrouded silence beyond.
"You didn't bite it, so crawl out already."
No response.
But I was certain.
"Waiting for your goons outside to come back? Solid strategy. But if you don't show now, I'm chucking every grenade I've got. Want to negotiate? Come out."
I didn't know exactly where they were hiding, but they were definitely still here.
The grenade launcher had pretty much obliterated the walls.
So, to force this reluctant bastard to the table, I pulled the pin on a grenade looted from a nearby corpse.
Ping—
Then,
"You fucker, stop right now!"
A rage-filled voice boomed from inside.
Of course.
I lobbed the grenade toward the voice and yelled,
"Eat shit."
Boom!!
The explosion rocked the place.
But he didn't die.
"You crazy bastard!! Is this your idea of negotiation?!"
"Didn't know? This is negotiation!"
Thud-!
I vaulted over the debris in the middle and charged.
A shadow abruptly rose from behind some mystery barricade.
"Fine, let's die together!!!"
The voice sounded familiar.
Definitely the one who'd mocked the sacrifices earlier, tossing them to the monsters as monster chow.
Convinced I'd found the right guy, I rushed in.
But just as I got close, a question popped up.
'Hold on. Was this guy always this huge?'
Even accounting for shadow distortion, he was at least 1.5 times bigger than before.
He was already a big bastard earlier—now even more so?
What that meant was—
'What the hell? His body's...'
"Raaargh!!"
From high enough that I had to crane my neck, something bear-like roared and lunged.
Kaboom!!
I dodged for now, but his double-fisted slam pulverized the half-broken table there.
Now I saw it—not just the roar, but the size was damn near bear-level.
"Grrr... Raaaaargh!!"
The raider boss bellowing like a mutant.
And now, he pretty much was one.
Muscles swollen to bursting, bulging veins, eyes rolled back white.
'What the actual fuck? Did he turn mutant? Or was a mutant pretending to be human...'
No clue.
What the hell happened to the survivor communities while I was holed up in the mountains?
A string of unimaginable bullshit, but my legs didn't stop moving.
I kicked off and launched a side kick into his ribs.
Crack-!!
A perfect mid-kick.
Would've snapped ribs on a normal human,
"Gr... grrr-hah-hah...!!"
But the boss, who'd raised his guard just in time, just grinned like a beast.
Sensing something off, I backpedaled fast—then crunch. Something shattered underfoot.
Looking down, I saw shattered syringe vials.
Looked fresh, like they'd just been jabbed.
"Raaaaargh!!"
No time for more thoughts—the boss charged again.
"Tch!"
I clicked my tongue, raised my guard, and a steel-hard fist slammed down.
Thud-! A heavy impact rocked me.
Felt like a sledgehammer, not a fist.
What the hell is this guy.
I'd trained some martial arts and thought I had some swagger,
But the world was teaching me humility.
"Gr... y-you... withstood it...?"
He looked shocked too.
His bloodshot eyes bulged like he never expected me to tank it.
"You... full... doping too...?"
Full doping?
What kinda junkie vibe is that?
"I'm all natural, asshole!"
Fueled by raider-hating fury, I shook off his arms.
My own screamed in protest, but I ignored it and prepped the next move.
Thud-thud-thwack-!
Flanks, forearms, shoulders, thighs.
I circled to his side and hammered straight punches into everything in sight.
"Annoy... ing...!"
"Bullshit, you're shaking from the pain!"
He kept his guard up, but I could see it.
Muscles exploding like overcooked pasta where my fists landed.
Problem was, the bastard was still cackling through the damage,
"Gr... gr-haha!! So... annoying...!!"
Guess the "it doesn't hurt" line wasn't bullshit.
Couldn't feel it at all? Muscles bursting, and he's laughing?
Plus, the shredded bits were swelling back up, clumping unnaturally—not human muscle fibers, for sure.
In other words,
'At least Type 2 mutant or higher.'
A guy who'd been just mentally broken this morning was now physically insane too.
What kinda retarded scenario is this? But I'd gotten used to this world's genre drift lately.
Even if human mutants turned it into a superpower battle manga, I wouldn't bat an eye!
"Whatever, fuck it—who cares what you are. Dead, you're just another corpse."
I closed in on the tickle-complaining prick and smashed a low kick into his relatively weak legs.
Crunch—his knee bent backward like a bird's,
"Gack?!"
His twisted smirk froze as his body followed.
On the tilting floor, he flailed wildly with his fists.
But the Heavenly Mechanism Calculation Method triggered, deflecting his punch and countering with one to the solar plexus.
Thwack—
"Guh!"
Ribs crushed into his lungs, choking out a strangled groan.
Scary part? Even then, his hands clawed for me,
'Don't need the Calculation Method for this.'
You know what it means to train the Heavenly Mechanism Calculation Method by getting beat by AlphaGo for months unarmed?
Thousands of moves etched into my body.
I grabbed his outstretched arm, wrenched it into a joint lock, slipped inside, and uppercut his jaw with my palm heel.
Crack-crack-!
Satisfying bloody corn harvest. I spread my hands and slapped both his ears.
Pop—his body swayed; cochleas definitely ruptured.
Then I relentlessly snapped every joint backward before he crumpled.
Thud—
To the fallen boss, I said,
"I've got questions, but realized I don't need to ask you."
"Grraaah...."
After the beatdown, with all his teeth yanked out, he mumbled something.
"Mah-hah-hae....!!! "
"What're you saying."
His face screamed disbelief.
I gave a simple answer to those injustice-filled eyes.
"Kid. Think of this as a webnovel. You going toe-to-toe with me here? Readers gonna buy that?"
This world has genre rules.
I get he's a decent antagonist with some hidden lore I don't know.
But there's a limit.
Popping some drugs to hang with me—a joint warrior trained by Martial Gods? Makes no sense.
"Just stay a mid-tier twist villain, asshole."
No more lines for you, no plot for that.
We already got the hype intro with the badass montage.
Too many intense fights, and it gets stale.
Crack—
The boss's neck snapped.
Thankfully, no phase 2.
That marked the end of the long night's Mafia Game.