Chapter 58: Terrifying Speed (With gratitude for the generous support of 'Chu Ruoran', our esteemed patron!~)

The 'Mad Blade' class is already the fastest among all evolvers, and the speed of a gold-ranked Mad Blade is notorious, almost terrifying in its swiftness. Though the distance spanned a full five kilometers, the Mad Blade's sudden burst of motion propelled him to near-supersonic speed. Clearly, in his rage, he was unleashing a fearsome gene technique.

From afar, he appeared as nothing more than a flash of white, streaking toward his target. The sheer force of his charge shattered the icy plain beneath his feet, the resulting surge of wind whipping up a blizzard in his wake—wild and untamed.

The storm surged directly toward the crevice in the glacier. Yet he was well aware the enemy possessed gene bombs capable of killing him, so he dared not charge straight in recklessly. Instead, he dodged erratically as he advanced, every evasive maneuver covering dozens, sometimes nearly a hundred meters, with no discernible pattern, making him impossible to target.

He moved like a tempest, reaching the base of the glacier crevice in less than twenty seconds. The 150-meter height posed no obstacle; his body moved like lightning, leaping forward like a cannonball, covering a hundred meters in one bound, then rebounding off the glacier's surface midair, landing squarely in the heart of the crevice.

Boom!

His speed was peerless; his landing, absolute. Like a nail driven into wood, he stopped instantly at the entrance of the glacial fissure. The furious gusts he brought with him swept through the crack, stirring a mist of frost into the air. His gaze, sharp as a blade, swept across the surroundings.

But to his surprise, the crevice was utterly still.

At first glance, he saw two corpses at his feet. He looked down; the bodies were charred black, features unrecognizable, but not burned to ash—clearly the snipers previously stationed here. His gaze grew colder. After glancing over the bodies, he looked up again and saw, by the northern cliff wall, two more charred corpses.

These two had apparently died only moments ago, for smoke was still curling from their bodies, indicating the flames had only just been extinguished.

Incendiary rounds.

Judging by their burns, it seemed they were only iron-ranked? He could scarcely believe it. The four ace gunners of Greedy Wolf, all slain by an iron-ranked gunner?

He spared no more attention for the bodies, instead casting his keen gaze around the area. But aside from these four corpses, there was nothing else. The sniper rifles were gone.

How could that be? True, they had taken cover for a short while to avoid being sniped, but after triggering Sonic Step, his speed nearly matched the speed of sound. Crossing this distance had taken at most twenty seconds. In that time, how far could the enemy have gone?

Definitely still here!

“I know you haven’t left. Come out!” The golden-ranked Mad Blade’s voice was hoarse as he spoke, his eyes leaving the bodies to scan the icy fissure, the chaotic pillars of ice, the crisscrossing crystalline formations.

But all was silent; no sound replied.

“If I find you, you’ll wish you’d never been born!” he snarled, his form blurring as he swept through the glacier fissure like a gale. Within moments, he had scoured the area.

But after only a dozen seconds, he stopped. No one?

He’d kept a close eye as he charged—no one had escaped over the cliff. Had they left by the rear?

He didn’t pause, bolting out once more. Yet, just a minute later, he was back, brows furrowed.

He looked to the ground again. Four bodies lay motionless; nothing else. “Wei Lin, did you catch them?” came Zhou Potian’s impatient voice through the earpiece.

Wei Lin, the golden Mad Blade, looked grim. After scanning the area, he replied, “No sign of them.”

“What? Impossible! At your speed, how could they have escaped?” Zhou Potian sounded incredulous.

“There’s no way they could have gotten away. Most likely, they’re still hiding nearby. I just haven’t found them yet,” Wei Lin replied calmly, confident in his own speed. The enemy could not have fled so quickly. There was only one possibility: they were still close—most likely hiding somewhere in the crevice.

“Don’t worry, I’ll calm myself first. I rushed in too quickly; the sonic boom I caused is still reverberating in the fissure, interfering with my hearing. Leave this to me. You go after the targets—whatever happens, don’t let them escape.”

Wei Lin’s tone was cold and steady. Zhou Potian paused, then said, “Alright, we’ll leave it to you. Let’s go, after them!” The last was addressed to another golden evolver, and the comms cut off.

Wei Lin stood his ground, eyes icy as he surveyed the surroundings.

When he had entered, the sonic waves from his movement had reverberated throughout the crevice, the many ice pillars forming a corridor that fractured and transmitted the sound in layers, so that for a short while, silence was impossible. He needed to wait for the echoes to die down before relying on his hearing. Once the sound had faded, he was sure the enemy would have nowhere to hide. His gaze, sharp as a blade, swept the area—he was certain of his judgment: the enemy could not escape.

In fact, the echoes faded even faster than he’d anticipated; within a dozen seconds, all was calm. The wind outside was still, but it no longer affected his perception.

He took a deep breath, focusing all his senses, alert for the slightest anomaly. Almost instantly, he detected something.

A heartbeat?

His gaze shot to the source of the sound—a charred corpse? He hesitated, startled. Still alive?

He frowned and approached. The body was one of the two deeper in the crevice, likely attacked only moments ago. Lying face-down in a twisted posture, the skin was burned and torn, clothing reduced to brittle charcoal, the exposed flesh scorched and raw—a ghastly sight.

Wei Lin nudged the body over with his toe. Instinctively, he glanced at the face, and his own features twitched involuntarily. It was a horrifying sight; clearly the ambusher had shot him in the face, leaving a gaping wound, the flesh burned beyond recognition—there was no telling what he’d once looked like.

But when he flipped the body over, the heartbeat grew stronger. Clearly, the man was only gravely injured and unconscious, not yet dead. Such was the tenacity of a bronze-ranked life—wounds this dire could be survived, with luck.

Wei Lin’s eyes flicked to the ground—pistols had been confiscated, and the sniper rifle was nowhere to be seen.

He glanced at the dying man, then lost interest. Life or death meant little to him; he turned instead to peer into the depths of the ice, drawing a deep breath and listening intently once more.

Compared to this half-dead gunner, he cared far more for the saboteur who had thwarted their plans. He was convinced the enemy couldn’t have escaped.

He was certain—the target was still here.