“Oh, Locke, you should be thanking me.” Camilla ignored Rock’s attitude and simply called him by a similar-sounding name.
“My name is Rock.”
“Close enough, isn’t it?
Strong Locke.” Camilla stubbornly refused to change it.
“Those three are Ricardo’s men.
I saw them making a deal.
They won’t care whether you know me or not.
Once they saw us together, they would’ve grabbed you and tortured you too.
They might even have shot you.”
Camilla extended a finger and traced circles across Rock’s chest.
Rock glanced at her and gently pushed her away.
He was not in the best of moods.
He had nothing.
No money, no clothes, and not even the desire to fool around.
His first priority was to find something to wear, figure out what date it was, and learn why he had inexplicably ended up in a foreign country.
“Hey, Locke, don’t worry.
I know what you need.
Leave everything to me.”
Camilla did not get angry when Rock pushed her away.
Rock could tell that Camilla had taken an intense interest in him.
Were Brazilian women always this forward?
Thinking back to what he had read online, Rock decided they probably were.
After looking around, Rock spotted a large paper bag on the ground.
It was a little dirty, but he picked it up anyway, tore it open, and wrapped it around his waist.
With the makeshift paper skirt covering him, Rock finally felt more at ease.
“Wait here, Locke.
I’ll be back.”
Camilla tapped a finger against his chest and gave him a flirtatious wink.
Then she turned and walked out of the ruins, swaying her slender waist and full hips without making the slightest attempt to cover herself.
Brazilian women truly lived up to their reputation.
They really were hot.
Rock looked around.
It seemed he would not be returning home anytime soon, so he might as well accept the situation.
First, he would find some shade and figure out what this so-called Guns and Roses system was all about.
Less than thirty seconds after she left, however, Camilla came running back in a panic.
“This is bad, Locke!
They caught up with us!”
“What are we going to do?
There’s nowhere to hide, and we don’t have any weapons.
We’re going to die here.”
Camilla nervously peered through a gap in the ruins at the three men approaching them and began to sob quietly.
As a native of Rio, she knew exactly what would happen if they caught her.
For a poor woman without any connections, her death would mean nothing.
She would simply be killed, and that would be the end of it.
Damn it.
She had not meant to witness their deal.
But she was still young.
She did not want to die.
She failed to notice that Rock had already climbed effortlessly onto a crumbling wall and was quietly peering outside.
At that moment, the so-called Guns and Roses system sounded in his mind again.
“Host detected to be facing another lethal threat.
Survival mission triggered: Survive being surrounded by three gang gunmen.”
“Mission reward: Randomly acquire a skill from an opponent.”
Rock felt adrenaline surging violently through his body.
He knew perfectly well that he had once again been forced into a desperate situation, yet he did not feel the slightest trace of panic.
His mind was calmer than ever, rapidly searching for a way out.
It was a strange sensation.
Rock had once read that some people became calmer under extreme pressure, their fear giving way to pure instinct.
That was exactly what he felt now.
His mind was unnaturally clear, his senses razor-sharp.
Faced with three gunmen who wanted him dead, only one thought remained.
He had to kill them before they killed him.
All he could rely on was the human-limit physique granted by the system and the cold focus that had settled over him.
The men seemed certain that Rock and Camilla had no weapons, so they confidently split up and moved to surround the ruins.
Camilla, meanwhile, was curled up in a corner, trembling.
Her earlier seductive confidence had vanished without a trace.
Rock had never served in the military, but he was not completely unfamiliar with combat.
During college, he had undergone a month of military training and fired five live rounds, scoring forty-five points.
The instructor had even remarked that it was an impressive score for someone handling a gun for the first time.
With more practice, Rock might have done even better.
That was why, when facing three powerful handguns, he remained extremely cautious.
Beyond seven steps, the gun was faster.
Within seven steps, the gun was both fast and accurate.
That truth was deeply ingrained in Rock’s mind.
A head-on confrontation was impossible.
His only option was an ambush.
Rock carefully calculated how long it would take the three gang gunmen to enter the ruins.
He had to eliminate one of them as quickly as possible, take the man’s weapon, and use it against the others.
If he succeeded, everything would work out.
If he failed, the result could hardly be any worse than his current situation.
His only other advantage was the traditional Kung Fu he had learned from an old master invited to teach at his university.
The master had once praised Rock as one of the most talented students among more than a thousand classmates.
Those few words had stayed with him.
Even years after graduating, Rock had never completely stopped practicing.
Now that the system had pushed his physical abilities to the human limit, he felt frighteningly strong.
Whether he survived would depend on whether his Kung Fu worked in a real fight.
Based on Rock’s assessment, the gunman approaching from the left would be the first to enter.
The first bird to stick its head out got shot.
He would be the target.
Camilla had been praying to God when her eyes suddenly widened.
Rock tore away the paper bag wrapped around his waist.
Moving like a lithe, agile cat, he kept low and climbed swiftly through the rubble before hiding behind a broken wall.
From the look of it, he intended to ambush the first gunman who entered.
Camilla stared at Rock as he waited motionlessly behind the wall.
She was so tense that her fingernails nearly dug into her palms.
If this strong man succeeded in his ambush, she would be saved as well.
She remembered how he had carried her while sprinting for more than ten minutes and still had strength to spare.
For the first time, Camilla felt a spark of hope.
Hidden behind the crumbling wall, Rock pricked up his ears and listened to the soft crunch of approaching footsteps.
He held his breath and waited for the perfect moment.
The instant the muzzle of a gun appeared around the corner, Rock lunged.
He seized the gunman’s wrist and twisted.
The entire movement was so smooth that it looked as if the man had willingly handed Rock the gun.
The gunman was dragged forward without the slightest chance to resist.
Rock drove a horizontal elbow into his Adam’s apple.
The man who had looked so vicious moments earlier collapsed soundlessly to the ground.
“Ding.
Acquired Basic Pistol Shooting Skills.”
A stream of information flooded Rock’s mind.
He had no time to search the body or put on any clothes.
He immediately rushed toward the next entrance, moving with explosive speed while his footsteps remained unnervingly light.
His body felt almost weightless.
With a casual leap, he could cover three or four meters.
Camilla’s eyes lit up after witnessing everything.
That was definitely Kung Fu.
There was a chance.
This man might really be able to get her out alive.
Rock had just reached another wall when a gunman in a floral shirt rounded the corner.
Their eyes met at point-blank range.
The gunman raised his weapon and fired without hesitation.
Instead of retreating, Rock charged forward.
He stepped directly into the man’s reach and shoved the pistol upward with one hand.
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
Every bullet flew into the sky.
With his other arm, Rock drove an elbow into the man’s chest.
The impact sent the gunman flying two meters backward.
He rolled once across the ground and lay still.
“Ding…”
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
Rock suddenly sensed danger and threw himself behind a concrete wall.
Several bullets struck the wall in rapid succession, blasting small holes into its surface.