Chapter 126: One Sword Stroke
"Stop, thief!"
Hood realized that extracting knowledge was a form of thievery as well. And before he could even react, his face paled. Sh*t, he already knows our objective.
They were exposed before their operation even began and the battle was over before it even started.
In actuality, Lin Jie’s consciousness was still in the dream and his body, still immersed in swordsmanship, had acted on instinct. Only when the blade was pressed against the intruder"s neck did he finally fully awaken. Of course, Lin Jie’s astonishment wasn’t shown on his face. The other party was a robber that had broken in and he couldn’t afford to be careless.
At the moment, Lin Jie had already taken the opportunity to take a proper look at this intruder.
Only now did he realize that the "strange attire" were in fact black steel frames, similar to the mechas in movies, just that it was coa.r.s.er and more gaudy.
All kinds of complicated patterns were engraved on the metal frame with faint flickering lights. It seemed non-mainstream... Not to say it was ugly, but Lin Jie was more used to seeing clean hard lines.
It was also a little difficult to give a comprehensive description of this contraption, and there was even some exposed wiring, making it seem as if it was a violent combination of magic and technology. And also very... chuunibyou-ish.
What person in the right mind would carve such haphazard patterns onto a mecha? Perhaps it is a self-made "indigenous mecha"? Lin Jie came up with a name for this grandly delusional outfit.
However, the outfit wasn"t the main issue. Lin Jie"s eyes noticed the gun in the intruder"s hand.
This gun seemed even more menacing than that indigenous mecha.
It was also the reason why Lin Jie had determined that this was an armed robbery rather than simple theft. The intruder had brazenly broken in with a gun and even intended to enter the bedroom. He definitely had something malicious planned.
With this thought in mind, Lin Jie inched his sword forward, pressing it against the intruder"s throat, as if ready to slit a hole in this person"s trachea in the next moment.
He did it to make clear to the intruder that this sword pressed against his neck was no coincidence, and he could take his head at once if he chose to.
Of course, Lin Jie was merely defending himself. A kind person like him could never bring himself to do something so grievous as to hurt or kill others.
Only this sort of ruthless and delusional person, daring to break in with a gun, was one to be afraid of.
Lin Jie needed to take the high ground from the start.
Lin Jie continued to stare at him and said gruffly, "Your accomplices are downstairs, right?"
He had vaguely heard some activity and surmised that there was someone downstairs, but he hadn"t heard the sound of Mu"en"s bedroom door opening at all. Lin Jie had witnessed Mu"en"s might sometimes. After her body injuries were more or less healed, she did housework effortlessly and could even hammer nails and dismantle furniture barehanded. Sure enough, the sound of Mu"en leaping off the floor was heard, followed by several screams.
The intruder"s wide-eyed shock turned to panic and he opened his mouth to speak. However, the movement of his throat rubbed against the blade edge, drawing blood.
"Urgh...urgh urgh..." Hood made panicked sounds from his throat, trying to inform the bookstore owner that he couldn"t speak with the sword edge pressed against him.
"Put the gun down," Lin Jie said.
Hood hesitated for a moment, then slowly moved the gun forward and crouched to lower it down.
However, this was only the first step.
The corners of Lin Jie"s lips curled up, and with a twist of his wrist, his sword cut down in a silver arc, slicing the gun barrel in two as if it were made of tofu.
The sword moved in full circle and returned back precisely against Hood"s throat in just an instant.
But this time, there was a gap of one centimeter.
Hood was dumbfounded.
His instinctive reflex of stepping forward was halted and his body turned rigid as he gazed at the cleanly cut gun.
Hood was fully confident in the equipment he wore. This gun was a contraband which he had personally made, using the finest materials from the Lower District. The frame of the gun was capable of surviving devastating force and its firepower at maximum settings was comparable to a small Aether Annihilation Cannon.
Of course, there wasn"t any safety or stability to speak of. This was all experimental technologies of the Mechanical Department’s new project, combining the white magician sigils with machinery. Poor control of it could cause the weapon to self-explode at any time and become useless.
Without official support, Hood could only bite the bullet and use his own money. And now, all his efforts and hard work were utterly destroyed by a single stroke of a sword.
Hood couldn"t describe the pain gnawing in his heart right now. This was an early work of his, created with his knowledge and was an embodiment of all that he had learned. This sort of feeling was as if his own knowledge had been robbed away.
But fortunately, he still had his armor. That was the fruit of his wisdom and knowledge, his finest masterpiece...
"Go on."
The owner of the bookstore with his cool, oppressive gaze beckoned for Hood to continue putting the gun to the ground. You"ve already destroyed it! What more do you want?!
This is torture!
Hood wailed inwardly as he laid the remaining half of his gun onto the ground with a trembling hand.
But he had just crouched down when he realized something amiss. Slight hissing and crackling sounded, just like... just like something was split open.
Hood turned pale, immediately realizing that it was the armored suit he was wearing!
No sooner had this thought crossed his mind, Hood noticed cracks appearing in the arm portion of his armor.
Like a cascading avalanche, the entire armored suit of his split apart and fragments rained to the floor.
...%#￥&!!
Hood watched this scene in utter despair. His face was completely ashen and every single imaginable curse word raced through his mind.
Only now did he understand that besides slicing his gun, that slash had disa.s.sembled his armor as well!
In a relaxed manner, Lin Jie now said, "Alright, you are able to move your body better now."
He eyed the robber and realized the face behind the outfit was younger than he had imagined. This was just a youth of about eighteen.
At the moment, he had a face of abject despair, as if he had flunked his college entrance examination.
"Go down and stay together with your accomplices and wait for the police to arrive.
"You can do anything in your youth, but why break the law or engage in shady businesses?
"That is just wrong. All these things belong to others, and do you think stealing them will make them yours? You will never understand the process of hard work and effort people make to achieve all this." Teacher Lin didn"t forget to give the intruder a lesson while bringing him downstairs.
However, this wasn"t a suitable time for doling out chicken soup so he stopped himself here.
He took out his communications device and made a call to Joseph"s disciple Claude, who just so happened to be a policeman.