At the mouth of the single-lane alley, about twenty figures appeared, blocking the way out.
Chen Yuan snorted, drew an arrow from his quiver, and nocked it.
"Prepare for combat!"
The three robot dogs formed a line, advancing five meters to block the middle of the path. Even with the deep snow, the approaching group didn't slow down.
The atmosphere, in that instant, grew taut with tension.
Five hundred meters... four hundred... three hundred... fifty... twenty... ten!
The group of people came to a halt.
"Captain, that's him!" Wang Hao, who was at the very front, pointed a finger at Chen Yuan, leaning heavily on a crutch. His eyes burned with rage. If it weren't for this man, he wouldn't have ended up in this state. If they had successfully breached the armory, he would have returned a hero.
The man beside him, built like an iron tower, nodded slightly, his gaze locking onto Chen Yuan. After sizing him up, he spoke in a deep voice, "You're the one who injured my teammate yesterday?"
Chen Yuan pursed his lips and snorted. "What if I am?"
Wang Kai nodded slowly, his eyes turning hostile. "You injured my man. Aren't you going to say something about it?"
"Oh? What do you want me to say? Sorry?" Chen Yuan sneered. He had no intention of wasting his breath explaining yesterday's situation. It was simply a matter of everyone wanting what was in the armory. Whoever had the bigger fist got the prize. Besides, he didn't believe for a second that this group had come here today just to get an explanation. More likely, they wanted to rob him of his things.
"You've got guts. I'll give you two choices now. Either join the Fenghuo Squad with all your supplies, and we'll pretend yesterday never happened. Or, you can lie down and die here today."
Wang Kai spoke with absolute seriousness, his eyes betraying little emotion, as if killing Chen Yuan would be an effortless task.
"Such big words," Chen Yuan chuckled. He raised his bow, aiming it directly at the man.
Wang Kai glanced at the bow and taunted, "You only get one shot, and you might not even hit me. But after that one arrow, my teammates will finish you."
A smirk played on Chen Yuan's lips. His fingers released the string.
WHOOSH—
The arrow shot out with incredible speed, flying towards the man's upper body.
Wang Kai's brow furrowed. He instantly dodged to the side, narrowly avoiding the projectile.
SCHLICK—
He had dodged it, but the teammate behind him was not so lucky. The arrowhead tore through the man's thick outer coat, the entire shaft burying itself in his flesh.
"ARGH!!!"
A miserable scream echoed through the alley as blood stained the white earth.
A ferocious glint now appeared in Wang Kai's eyes as he looked at Chen Yuan. He never thought the kid would actually dare...
His legs suddenly exploded with power, and he lunged toward Chen Yuan like a fierce tiger descending a mountain. The teammates behind him swarmed forward as well.
Chen Yuan frowned. He hadn't expected this group to have so much fight in them; even after one of them died, they still dared to charge.
Without a second thought, he began to retreat, simultaneously pulling another arrow from his quiver. At the same time, the three robot dogs, with Tiedan at the lead, charged forward.
A distance of ten meters, even with the snow as an obstacle, was a matter of seconds. By the time Chen Yuan had nocked the new arrow on his bowstring, the two sides had already clashed.
But Chen Yuan didn't fire. He maintained his drawn bow, calmly observing the situation on the battlefield.
The three robot dogs seemed to have reached a consensus. They didn't split up to join the fray individually. Tiedan spread its two offensive mechanical arms, blocking half of the alley's space. On the other side, Tieniu (Iron Bull) and Tieqiong (Iron Dome) worked in tandem. Although Tieniu had no weapons, its frame was larger and its power was greater. A single charge from it could shatter an opponent's kneecaps. The adjacent Tieqiong would then seize the opportunity to land a follow-up blow, using its pincers to disable the enemy's weapon arm.
Tiedan's performance was even more spectacular. Its two offensive arms, like a scorpion's tail, swept through the crowd, felling five men in an instant.
Wang Kai swung the machete in his hand, clashing with Tiedan's mechanical arm and creating a dazzling shower of sparks.
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
The sharp sound of metal striking metal reverberated through the alley. For a moment, it was a cacophony of screams, roars, and cries of pain.
The arrow in Chen Yuan's hand was ready to be loosed at any moment. He watched the brutal scene before him with cold eyes. If it wasn't absolutely necessary, he was unwilling to kill. But his opponents' determination to kill him had exceeded his expectations.
Time ticked by. The three robot dogs, like unmovable guardian gods, held off the attacks of more than twenty men. Even the incredibly brave Wang Kai, after a period of fierce fighting, had no choice but to temporarily retreat.
The two sides once again pulled apart, separated by a dozen meters, with the three robot dogs standing in the middle.
"Your skills aren't bad," Chen Yuan said, his eyes fixed on Wang Kai. It was a sincere compliment. If not for his three capable subordinates today, he would probably be dead.
Wang Kai wiped the blood streaming from a cut on his face and licked it from his lips. "Kid, your robot dogs… they're something special." His voice was devoid of any warmth, as if it had come from the depths of hell.
In that moment, Chen Yuan grew secretly vigilant. This man's identity was not simple. Could he be a mercenary or an assassin?
But he couldn't be concerned with that right now. Because after the intense battle, the color on his three robot dogs had begun to fade. This change was something he hadn't anticipated.
Only now did he recall that since upgrading the dogs, he had only refueled them once. After the past few days of outdoor activity, coupled with the fierce battle just now, the fuel inside them wouldn't last much longer.
Of course, Chen Yuan knew that the people opposite him didn't know this.
So, he directly put away his bow and raised his eyebrows. "Come on. Your performance just now was very satisfying. I wonder if you can take down these three robot dogs of mine today."
Wang Kai gritted his teeth, a ruthless glint flashing in his eyes. Based on the clashes just now, he felt that the three robot dogs were not invincible. If he just had twenty more men, he could definitely take them. And at that time, he could claim these things for himself.
No, how could three robot dogs be enough? He would take all of this kid's supplies.
"Heh, if you're not coming, then I am!" Chen Yuan snorted and took a step forward.
As he moved, his three robot dogs moved with him. On the packed snow, Tiedan's sharp claws pressed four thin slits with every step, its claws glinting with a cold light like a death-reaping scythe.
Wang Kai gritted his teeth and took a step back.
"We're retreating!!!"
As his voice fell, his teammates, both lightly and heavily injured, scrambled to run out of the alley.
Chen Yuan stopped and watched them coldly. Only when their figures had disappeared around the corner did he let out a huge sigh of relief.
Phew… that was close…
He grabbed a large handful of combustion pellets from his backpack and loaded them into the insertion port of each robot dog. Their previously dim bodies began to gradually heat up again.
If those people hadn't retreated at the end, Chen Yuan reckoned his three robot dogs wouldn't have lasted another round.
This time, Chen Yuan had not only felt the power of his robot dogs, but he had also discovered their fatal flaw. For normal scavenging, the energy provided by the combustion pellets could last a long time. But once a conflict erupted, the rate of energy consumption became incredibly difficult to control.