Chapter 53: High-Stakes Combat (Part 1)

“Oh? What are we betting?”

Feng Luo was just feeling a little bored, so he did not directly decline a provocation that was recreational.

Black Panther extended one hand to grab his sniper rifle while the palm of his other hand expanded, exposing a bunch of yellow bullets. “Everyone has ten normal bullets,” he explained. “The target is that group of Level-25 Sea Vultures. One point for injuring one, two points for killing one. We’ll compare the final total. I saw you practicing with the sky for a while from the ship, so this should not be taking advantage of you, right?”

“What’s the prize?” asked Feng Luo.

He raised his head and looked at the sky. Around 100 meters behind their cruise ship, a group of large sea birds with gray feathers and bald necks with wingspans over one meter circled the sky. This type of monster, called “Sea Vultures,” had similar eating habits as the birds that lived on land and in higher elevations on Earth. They enjoyed eating rotten meat.

Of course, this sort of rotten meat did not only include dead fish floating in the sea. It also included human corpses…

The Gray Waters was extremely dangerous. However, players often entered due to missions or treasure hunting, and many would be killed by monsters. Then the Sea Vultures would have the chance to enjoy a delicacy. If they were to encounter a single small boat or players left behind, they might even attack, using their sharp claws and beaks to peck at their favorite food.

Pa!

Black Panther placed a clip on the table.

Electromagnetic Armor-piercing Bullet (D-grade Ammunition). Increases damage against mechanical type monsters by 15%, and there is a probability of causing an electromagnetic disruption effect.

This was highly limited specialized ammunition. It was mainly used against mechanical-type monsters. Due to the specialized structure of the bullets, upon impact, the explosion would create a disruption effect that was like an electromagnetic field and, hence, temporarily “short-circuit” mechanical-type monsters.

Mechanical-type monsters were different from biological-type monsters. They did not have health bars, and one needed to destroy their core to actually “kill” them. But normally, the core of mechanical type monsters would be highly protected, and it would not be easy to directly attack it. If one were to use an electromagnetic armor-piercing bullet and to attack one while it was disrupted, it would become much easier to destroy its core.

Although this ammunition was quite limited, due to its special feature, the electromagnetic armor-piercing bullet’s market price was around 70 credits per shot. Although this clip of 20 shots was not worth much, it was quite difficult to obtain.

“Sure!”

So Feng Luo agreed to it. After that, he grabbed his M110 from his backpack and threw a magazine clip full of bullets on the table.

The deflagration armor-piercing bullets were also D-grade specialized ammunition. But since they were manufactured by Feng Luo himself, the cost was lower. If they were to be sold on the market, the price would have been at least 50 credits per bullet.

“Yo? Gambling? I like it!” At this time, Big Pineapple, who was bored and looking around aimlessly saw the situation unfolding at Feng Luo’s side and became interested. In fact, he quickly set up a place to place bets on the table before Feng Luo and Black Panther began their wager. Then, he started calling out to gather the others. “Come, come, come! Taking in bets, taking in bets! Our two Snipers are having an ultimate battle. Just who will emerge victorious, and who will be the loser? Anyone putting a stake on Black Panther, the rate is 1.5 to one, and anyone buying for this handsome Brother Feng will be two to one. A draw is five to one. Walk by it, pass by it, but no matter what, don’t miss it!”

Black Panther’s expression was cold. He frowned but did nothing else. He only lowered his head before quickly doing a final check and adjustment on his sniper rifle.

Feng Luo, on the other hand, showed a bitter smile in resignation. Big Pineapple’s behavior reminded him of a buddy he’d had when he was a mercenary. He had been a black brother from Ethiopia. Gambling had been his hobby, but he lost almost every time. Thus, he would spend all the dollars, euros, and other currencies he earned from missions where he had gambled with his own life. Sometimes, he would even have to borrow money from others just to buy a pack of smokes. However, losing was just losing. He was always still very happy with a big smile on his face that showed all his white teeth.

In truth, for mercenaries who were not guaranteed to see tomorrow, gambling was certainly one of the best ways to vent their emotions. The other method was to party and get high.

Big Pineapple’s gambling setup on deck attracted the attention of Glazed Ice and the other two. They were probably bored too, so they placed their bets.

However, what surprised Feng Luo was that a few NPC crew members also came over and began to throw paper notes, commonly used in the Federation, and energy crystals equivalent to certain amounts of credits on the table.

From this point, one could see just how realistic the AI of NPCs in War was.

“Okay, done calculating the bets! Yeah, brothers, looks like they don’t favor you, huh? However, I allow contestants to buy in for themselves. If you buy in for yourself, it’s two to one. Buying a draw could net you four times immediately.”

Big Pineapple squinted AT Feng Luo, his tone kind of encouraging.

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Feng Luo looked at the table in front of him and discovered that almost all of the bets were on Black Panther’s side. On his side, there were only two crumpled-up Federation paper notes.

This meant that if Black Panther won in the end, Big Pineapple would have to pay a hefty amount, which was why he wanted to encourage Feng Luo to bet on himself.

Of course, if Feng Luo were to be stupid and chose a draw, Big Pineapple would be even happier. It wasn’t just the five-to-one odds; for two snipers to shoot ten shots, the probability of a draw was quite unlikely—unless Feng Luo skills far exceeded Black Panther and intentionally made the score that way. But since it was on the surface of a rough sea, the shots were down to luck to a certain degree. It would have been practically impossible to achieve this.

Moreover, from the odds and the bets, regardless of whether it was Big Pineapple or the other players—even the NPCs—most of them were more optimistic of Black Panther. It was mainly because even beyond the level of their equipment, Black Panther seemed a lot stronger than Feng Luo.

“All right.” Feng Luo laughed and grabbed two half-transparent D-grade Energy Crystals emanating a gradual silver light from his backpack (Silver Crystals: 1,000 credits) and put them on his side.

Since no one is betting, I’ll bet on myself.

Big Pineapple smiled happily. “Okay, the betting is complete. You shall begin.”

“Wait a minute!” Black Panther said coldly before throwing an Energy Crystal on the table too.

This was a completely transparent Energy Crystal without colors. Under the sunlight, its surface refracted the light into seven colors, emanating a sense of beauty just like a diamond. A C-grade Energy Crystal. Also called the “Diamond Crystal.” One’s value was 10,000 credits.

Big Pineapple’s face dropped as he said in a pained voice, “F*ck! Brother, that’s not nice… A small bet is recreational, but a huge bet hurts the body and soul. Why don’t you take this back…?”

However, Black Panther did not pay him any attention. Instead, he raised the sniper rifle in his hands and asked Feng Luo coldly, “Are you ready?”

“Okay!” Feng Luo raised the M110 and aimed toward the Sea Vultures in the sky through the scope.

From his position, he could see the 1.5- to 1.6-meter expanded wings of the Sea Vultures. Dark blue mixed with some gray feathers. They had sharp, hooked black claws and rotten meat still hung from the ends of their beaks. Apart from that, in his field of vision, he could also see a row of data flashing past.

Sea Vultures. Level 25, Normal Lifeforms. Predicted HP: 1,500. Muzzle distance: 105.42m; Movement Speed: 15m/s…

The first few rows of words did not change, but the distance and movement speed, as well as other data, kept changing. This was the “automatically identify and calculate” function of the Eye of the Thunder sniping scope. Compared to the original sniping scope of the M110, the data was undeniably more accurate and straightforward.

The most important part was that it had the function to predict HP. Although this sort of prediction was not accurate and only estimated the HP of the target based on the database as well as the opponent’s equipment, it was still valuable as a decent point of reference. Especially during solo PK, when it was even more useful.

“All right then, I’ll start,” Black Panther said in a low growl. “Each person has a shot, and the maximum aim time is ten seconds!”

The sniper rifle in his hands had already been raised to the sky and aimed at the Sea Vulture group. Five seconds later…

Bang!

A bullet casing exited the cartridge, and after a few tenths of a second, it hit the wing of a slightly larger Sea Vulture.

Caw!

That Sea Vulture let out a horrible shriek. Its body flew horizontally for a few meters due to the impact of the shot before it dropped downward. However, after falling for several dozen meters, it flapped its bleeding wings before flying up again.

“A hit, but not lethal. One point!” said Big Pineapple as he extended one finger, observing the situation. He had military binoculars in his hand as he acted as the referee.

The Sea Vultures were only Level 25, and their HP was only 1,500. So, with the effects of sniper rifles, if a shot hit a vital point, it would certainly be lethal.

Black Panther’s shot only hit the side of its wing, so the damage had not been lethal. However, the Sea Vultures did not seem to have high AI. After their companion got hit, not only did they not try to flee. Instead, they flew toward the cruise ship. As they closed in, they let out “caw, caw” noises as they flapped their wings in a frenzy.

However, as they reached around 100 meters from the ship, they became scared of the high number of players and only dared to circle over the ship while making noises.

Black Panther put down his gun and said to Feng Luo with a dark face, “Your turn!”