The Way of Restraint

Chapter 122: A Narrow Escape: Bullets and Blades

For an ordinary person, a car rollover would mean severe injuries. But Su Jie had already anticipated it. At the moment of impact, he steadied his body, using inertia and the car’s motion to shield himself.

As soon as the vehicle flipped, he smashed open the window and crawled out.

Even so, he was covered in scrapes and bruises. No matter how tough his body-training was, a violent crash still left its mark. Fortunately, they were only surface wounds — no broken bones or internal damage. He could still move around energetically, while a regular person would at least have broken a few bones and been left immobile.

“Take cover! We’re under attack!” Zhang Manman and Zhang Jinchuan also scrambled out. Their speed was just as fast.

Especially Zhang Manman — she seemed to be wearing protective gear under her clothes, with not a scratch on her joints.

The three of them also wore helmets and bulletproof vests, which had absorbed a good portion of the impact.

Zhang Jinchuan had his share of scrapes too, but overall, he was intact.

“Peh!” He spat on the ground — streaks of blood mixed with saliva.

“You alright?” Su Jie asked quickly.

“I’m fine. Just banged a tooth, bleeding gums.” Zhang Jinchuan rolled to his feet, never slowing down.

The moment they got away from the van, a hail of bullets rained down from the mountainside ahead.

Luckily, they’d moved fast. Otherwise, they’d already be corpses.

“The shooters are on the opposite mountain!”

Experienced as they were, the three instantly pinpointed the attackers’ position and ducked behind cover.

The road had a mountain on one side and barren land on the other, scattered with boulders and small rises — enough to hide behind. But the enemy held the high ground and could fire down at will, making it extremely dangerous for Su Jie and his companions.

“What do we do? The ambush came as expected.” While Su Jie’s mind was racing — gauging the enemies’ positions and listening to the surrounding noises — he asked Zhang Manman and Zhang Jinchuan, hoping their input might spark a plan.

“There are six attackers, spread across the mountainside,” Zhang Manman said, raising her watch. Tiny red dots glowed on its display, marking their positions.

“What kind of black tech is that?” Zhang Jinchuan blurted out.

“A compact military detection radar. Not perfectly accurate in positioning, but good enough to confirm their number,” Zhang Manman explained. “Could be applied to self-driving systems in the future.”

Bzzz…

Suddenly, a sound like a swarm of mosquitoes filled the air. Zhang Manman’s face changed. “D0mn — that’s an armed drone!”

Sure enough, a drone buzzed into sight, gun barrels glinting as they aimed down at them. No cover would protect them now.

“Shit!” Su Jie cursed outright.

He’d only seen things like this in movies. Against human opponents, he wasn’t afraid — but a machine? In the sky? What was he supposed to do, throw rocks at it? That was suicide.

“Run!”

Without hesitation, Zhang Jinchuan bolted to the side.

Adrenaline flooded Su Jie’s veins. In an instant, his mind calculated the drone’s flight path, muzzle positions, and bullet trajectories, simulating them to preemptively dodge.

Ratatatata—

The drone opened fire, bullets tearing up the ground.

Su Jie sprinted like lightning, but the drone locked onto him, chasing relentlessly. Zhang Jinchuan and Zhang Manman, however, weren’t immediately targeted.

Clang!

Something slammed against Su Jie’s helmet and chest, nearly making him black out. A ricocheted bullet had struck him.

Fortunately, he was armored — bulletproof vest and helmet both. A direct shot would’ve punched clean through, but a ricochet had far less force. He survived the hit.

“God, that hurts.” He felt the brush of death again. Without his gear, he’d already be a corpse.

Bang!

A shot rang out. The drone shuddered mid-air and plummeted.

Zhang Manman had drawn a pistol — he hadn’t even noticed when — and with a single precise shot, took it down.

“No worries. Drones like this are expensive, but they’re not cutting-edge. The recoil from their guns still throws off their accuracy.” At that moment, Zhang Manman revealed her bounty hunter’s nature. She tossed two pistols to them. “Su Jie, Jinchuan — let’s flank them and wipe them out. These guys are probably internationally wanted criminals. Take them down, and we’ll earn a fat bounty.”

Su Jie caught the pistol and familiarized himself with its weight and function in less than a second.

He’d practiced shooting before. Not an expert, but definitely better than a novice.

In this situation, martial arts meant agility. The real killing would come from bullets.

“We’ll circle around and close in,” Zhang Jinchuan said. He crouched low, moving with a rat-like scuttle, slipping between cover.

Su Jie suddenly realized something: in this kind of firefight, modern combat footwork was useless. Instead, traditional martial arts movements — like monkey-style dodges — worked wonders. Ancient techniques designed to evade arrows were now saving him from bullets.

His fear faded. After having multiple muzzles pointed at him, he grew accustomed, his nerves hardening like steel.

He matched Zhang Jinchuan and Zhang Manman’s pace, darting cover to cover.

Bang bang bang—

Gunfire roared back from the opposite hillside.

Several shots nearly hit Su Jie. Ricochets slammed into his vest again, but he endured it, prepared this time.

“These vests and helmets are godsends,” he thought. “No wonder soldiers rarely drop from direct hits. It’s the stray rounds that get most of them. Basic military knowledge — useful after all.”

By standard stats, it took tens of thousands of bullets on a battlefield to kill a single enemy. Of course, some unlucky souls got hit right off the bat.

Su Jie was quick, agile, and lucky. He pushed closer, eyes sharp as an eagle, spotting shadows of the gunmen.

Bang!

Zhang Manman fired again. One attacker dropped.

Zhang Jinchuan fired too, but missed.

Su Jie didn’t shoot. He crept forward instead, knowing his marksmanship wasn’t reliable. Better to play to his strengths. And besides, this was a chance to train his combat skills under real fire.

Bullets kept hammering the ground. Zhang Manman hugged cover, experienced enough not to expose herself recklessly. Compared to her, Zhang Jinchuan was raw — talented, but green. As for Su Jie, this was his first real firefight.

Darkness fell.

“Perfect timing,” Zhang Manman whispered. “Nightfall means reduced visibility. Time for counterattack. Su Jie, you go up the middle — fire randomly to draw their focus. Jinchuan and I will attack from the flanks.”

Su Jie nodded. Dangerous, yes — but correct.

He charged out, loosed a shot, then immediately dove aside.

Bang bang bang!

Bullets shredded the spot he’d just vacated.

Using the darkness, he weaved unpredictably, firing and dodging, pulling enemy fire toward himself.

He discovered the trick: fire, then vanish like a turtle withdrawing into its shell — limbs tucked, vest protecting his back, pressed flat to the ground. Direct shots couldn’t hit him, and ricochets hardly mattered.

Slowly, he was mastering the battlefield.

“How are Zhang Manman and Jinchuan doing?” he wondered. Just then, a burst of gunfire rattled through his earpiece. Zhang Manman’s voice came: “We got them. Careful — one might be closing in on you!”

Relieved, Su Jie suddenly felt as if he were in a survival video game. Though he rarely played, he’d seen classmates shouting in internet cafés, dodging and shooting in those battle royale games. Now, he was living it.

Not only had his fear evaporated, he was actually exhilarated.

Then — footsteps.

A whisper of air.

He rolled instantly, as a dark figure lunged at him with a blade — a dagger glinting in the dark.

Swish!

In mid-roll, Su Jie whipped out his own dagger to meet the attack.

At this range, there was no time to shoot. Only a master gunman could react fast enough, and he wasn’t one. So he relied on his strongest skill — close combat.

Blade met blade.

The enemy was vicious, angles sharp and strikes fast. The dagger’s tip darted straight for Su Jie’s throat.

Su Jie ducked and twisted, spiraling his arm to slash at the man’s wrist.

The opponent dodged, counter-stabbing toward Su Jie’s thigh.

Both wore vests that blunted the daggers’ penetration.

Their exchange was a blur of danger. One slip, and blood would spray.

‘This guy’s good. Better than Grey Wolf. And his style—yes, it’s the same as Odell’s dagger drills. I know these moves.’ Su Jie realized the attacker was using Typhon training camp techniques — the very same ones he had learned.

And he had already internalized them.

Which made countering them far easier.