CHAPTER 49: 49. GUN KNOWLEDGE

"Lilly... Change of strategy," Shin murmured, eyes gleaming with calculation. "Formation Two."

Lilian nodded without hesitation. The dwarf girl glanced at the two of them—silent, uneasy—but unaware she’d just become a pawn on the board.

Shin rose slowly with eerie calm.

"Hey, man!" he called out through the cracked window, his voice light and mocking while still hiding. "You really think it’s manly to bring a shotgun to kill a kid?"

He padded toward the window, staying tight to the wall, avoiding any clean line of sight.

Outside, the gunman crept forward cautiously as well, his boots crunching broken glasses.

"It’s the fucking apocalypse," he snarled. "I’ve popped kids younger than you like blisters."

Shin chuckled darkly.

"And here I thought you had balls. What happened to good old-fashioned fistfights? What would your ancestors say?"

He gave a subtle nod toward the dwarf girl, and Lilian immediately understood. No words were needed. They’d discussed Formation Two plenty of times: win by any means necessary—sacrifice, deceive, manipulate, betray.

And right now, it meant bait.

Lilian, with effortless monstrous strength, seized the dwarf girl and hoisted her up like a ragdoll. Shin signed a quick set of hand signals, then slid beneath the window’s ledge, dagger clenched tight, predator’s breath steady.

The gunman outside scoffed, his voice rising.

"If my ancestors don’t like it, I’ll dig ’em up and shoot ’em too!"

Shin grinned.

"Then come meet mine."

CRASH!

Lilian kicked the door open and hurled the dwarf girl out like trash.

BANG!

A thunderous gunshot tore through the air. The dwarf girl’s scream followed a half-second later.

Shin didn’t flinch. He’d counted on it.

Knowing how a shotgun requires a few seconds to re-load after every shot, he moved instantly without hesitation.

He spun out from the wall to the window and hurled his dagger in a flash of silver.

The gunman spotted the flash of steel too late. He raised the shotgun to block, but the dagger sank through his forearm with a sickening crunch.

"SON OF A—!" he screamed, the shotgun clattering to the ground as blood sprayed from the cracked bone.

Shin was already moving, using the shattered terrain to his advantage. He sprang onto the ruins of a broken generator box, then launched himself forward in a full-body flip. Mid-air, he flattened himself, feet-first, and slammed into the man’s face.

The impact was brutal. The man flew back, crashing spine-first into a rusted public phone booth. His cry was a mix of rage and shattered ribs.

Shin didn’t let up. He rolled to his feet and scooped up the dropped shotgun. The man had loaded a round before Shin’s dagger landed. All Shin had to do was snap it shut.

He raised the gun, stared at the bleeding man who’s eyes had gone wide with terror, mouth gasping.

"Not so fun when the kid has the weapon, huh?"

BOOM!

The blast slammed into the man’s shoulder, spinning him sideways. He shrieked, clutching the fresh wound. Shin frowned.

"Tch. Aimed for the head. Guess movies didn’t teach me everything."

He walked over, calmly pulled out a second dagger from beneath his shirt. The man, now a moaning wreck, tried to crawl, trailing blood like a worm.

"P-please..." he begged for his life.

"No. This is the fun part."

Shin crouched over him. He held the dagger above the man’s face.

"You know..." he whispered, eyes glinting, "I’ve always wondered how it feels to stab into someone’s eye."

SHHHLLKK.

The blade slid into the eye socket like soft butter. The man screamed a gurgling, primal howl.

"You sick fuck..!!" He barked in pain and agony!!

Shin grinned. "Keep the compliments coming old man!"

The scream that followed from the man’s mouth was high-pitched and glorious. Shin stared, fascinated.

"So... that’s what it feels like. Interesting."

He twisted the blade and pulled it free, the eyeball clinging to the steel like wet jelly. The man writhed, trying to swing his arm in retaliation. A laugh bubbled from Shin’s throat.

"Still trying to fight?" he whispered.

The second eye followed the first. The gurgling cries were music to his ears now. A symphony of agony. Shin stomped the man’s wrist, pinned it, and yanked his first dagger from the forearm wound. He crossed both blades, then plunged them into the sides of the man’s neck and pulled outward.

GURGLE—GURGLE—

Blood burst out like a geyser, warm and pulsing. The man’s body spasmed, then went still.

[+45 EXP]

[+150 MP]

[+3900 coins]

[+4.5% Gun Knowledge]

The system flashed. Shin barely glanced at it.

He rushed to Lilian, who was kneeling beside the dwarf girl. Her left arm was gone, blasted clean off. Pixelated gradients shimmered over the stump as her body began dissolving.

Shin slammed his hand over the wound and pumped healing magic into her.

The glow stabilized her body, halting the disintegration but her arm didn’t return. She groaned through clenched teeth, body twitching.

"Relax," Shin muttered brushing her fiery orange hair from her face.

"You did your job. You were worth saving after all."

Her lips curled in rage.

"YOU USED ME!"

She turned to Lilian, face twisted with hatred.

Lilian looked away, unmoved. No apologies.

Shin chuckled.

"Used? We all use each other. Welcome to the food chain. The trick is to be the one doing the using."

He stood, cracked his back, and looked toward the distant rattling gunfire echoing nearby.

"Besides, we’ve got more crazies nearby. I hear another gunfire. Sounds like a fucking lunatic this time."

He remembered the man he just killed had mentioned something about his brother wasting bullets like they grow on trees. That must be this lunatic.

He returned to the man’s corpse, looted the remaining shells, and the bastard even had a piece of bread and a bottle of water. After that, he picked up the shotgun.

The Gun knowledge he’d just absorbed from him now clicked into place in his brain.

He understood it now. The weight of the gun. The aim. The recoil.

He could kill with it. Cleanly. Efficiently.

"Yeah..." he whispered to himself.

"I could shoot a head off now."

He ate the small piece of bread and gulped down the water to ease his 2-days hunger. After that, he sheathed his blades under his shirt, his loaded shotgun resting on his shoulder.

"Time to move."

He looked back at the others.

"Let’s go find our next playground."

TBC.