Chapter 46: A Hair's Breadth Away

A single glance at the scene was enough for Shen Xing to almost instantly deduce what had transpired here.

Without a doubt, Wang Ming must have attempted to do something to Xu Minghui in a place like this.

And in the process, they had been ambushed by that bizarre beast.

"It really is nice to have bodyguards; otherwise, taking those two hits would have completely finished them off."

Looking at the miserable states of Wang Zuo and Wang You, Shen Xing couldn't help but sigh inwardly.

Although the beast possessed a strange appearance, Shen Xing estimated its strength to be roughly at the F-tier level.

In other words, theoretically, they were fully capable of handling it.

If it hadn't been for the urgent need to save Wang Ming, those two men likely wouldn't have been injured so easily.

Without overthinking it, Shen Xing grasped the situation and immediately charged forward, his blade drawn.

Upon spotting Shen Xing, the three-headed beast let out a low growl and lunged toward him.

Granting Wang Zuo and Wang You a momentary reprieve, they cast grateful glances at Shen Xing before struggling to retreat backward.

However, their injuries were far more severe than expected. After a few agonizing struggles, apart from causing more blood to flow, they hadn't managed to move much distance at all.

"Hurry up and get back on your feet to hold the line! What are you two lying there playing dead for?"

"Treat your wounds first! Excessive blood loss will be dangerous!"

At that moment, the voices of Wang Ming and Xu Minghui rang out simultaneously behind Wang Zuo.

Wang Zuo hadn't expected that Xu Minghui, despite having nearly suffered such an insult at Wang Ming's hands, would still proactively come to his aid. A profound sense of gratitude washed over him instantly.

"Thank you!"

Xu Minghui's movements were fluid and practiced, clearly indicating professional training.

Disinfecting the wounds, applying medicine, and wrapping bandages.

Through the series of procedures, the injury on Wang Zuo's abdomen was greatly alleviated.

He tried standing up once more, and this time, he succeeded.

"Words cannot express my gratitude! Miss, I promise you, I will not allow my young master to pull stunts like that ever again!"

Wang Zuo said with a look of shame.

Xu Minghui shook her head in silence and immediately hurried over to Wang You's side.

By the time Wang You's leg wound was properly dressed, the group realized that the battle between Shen Xing and the beast had reached its concluding phase.

The combat prowess Shen Xing displayed left everyone greatly astonished.

"This brother is truly formidable. Though it's merely basic blade technique, he wields it with absolute mastery—clearly the result of immense effort and profound comprehension!"

Gazing unblinkingly as Shen Xing seized every opportunity to inflict wound after wound upon the three-headed beast, Wang Zuo couldn't help uttering praise after praise.

Standing beside him, Wang You remained silent but nodded in agreement.

"Alas! To think that you and I, brother, were once just as high-spirited. Yet, struck down by a single injury, we plummeted to the absolute bottom, reduced to earning a living by protecting such scum. We've even lost our very names—how truly pathetic!"

Wang Zuo cast a glance at Wang Ming, who was cowering at the very back, and could not help venting his grievance.

Wang You patted his shoulder, leaving everything unsaid.

"Watch out! It's berserk! Get back!"

Suddenly, Shen Xing's alarmed shout echoed from the front.

The group froze, only to see the battered three-headed beast suddenly erupting with vast surges of blood-red aura across its entire body.

Despite looking even more grievously wounded than before, its presence was escalating rapidly.

Most noticeably, its speed had visibly doubled and then some!

Having detected the change first, Shen Xing had reacted promptly.

Just as the beast clawed toward his chest and abdomen, he vertically positioned his blade in advance, blocking the impact.

Realizing that a single strike had failed and sensing it couldn't swiftly defeat Shen Xing even in this state, the three-headed beast instantly shifted its target.

Leaping past Shen Xing, it lunged directly at Xu Minghui, who appeared to be the weakest among them.

Hearing Shen Xing's warning, Xu Minghui had just managed to turn around.

In the next instant, the beast was already upon her.

Aahhh!!!!!

She only had time to emit a piercing shriek and instinctively shut her eyes.

"No!"

"Watch out!"

At that moment, the anxious shouts of Wang Zuo and Wang You rang out from not far away.

Yet at such a distance, with both of them carrying injuries, it was evident they could not make it in time to rescue her.

Bang!

At the most critical juncture, a deafening gunshot suddenly shattered the air.

The three-headed beast was instantly sent flying sideways, as though struck by a massive hammer.

A large hole was blown through its abdomen, and as it crashed against the stone wall and slid down, its entrails spilled across the ground.

Though it was still weakly gasping for breath, it was blatantly beyond saving.

"Th-Thank you!"

Still shaken, Xu Minghui pulled her gaze away from the beast and immediately expressed her gratitude to Wang Zuo.

For it was Wang Zuo who had fired in the nick of time to save her life.

Wang Zuo shook his head with a faint smile and said,

"We're even now."

However, an enraged voice suddenly erupted from behind them:

"Dammit! Who do you think you are, showing off like that? That item was given to you by my family to protect *me*! How dare you use it on someone else without my permission?"

Wang Ming, who had been acting like a non-entity, saw that the danger had passed and instantly reverted to his old ways, jumping out to point a finger at Wang Zuo's nose and curse.

In Wang Zuo's hand, a massive handgun was currently reduced to scrap metal, its barrel warped as though it had suffered a catastrophic backfire.

Weapons of this caliber possessed immense destructive power and a hefty price tag, yet they were strictly single-use items.

Moreover, the physical toll they exacted on the user was severe; Wang Zuo's right arm was currently drenched in flowing blood.

Generally speaking, no martial artist would willingly choose such a weapon.

Yet it possessed one glaring advantage suited precisely to the Wang family's circumstances:

The body of a bodyguard was expendable, and the steep price of disposable luxury consumables was deemed acceptable.

Consequently, it made for a highly suitable tool to protect VIPs.

Only, the members of the Wang family had never expected Wang Zuo to deploy it under such circumstances.

"Young Master, the shot I just fired was precisely to protect you. You saw the situation yourself; after finishing off Miss Xu, that beast would have charged straight at us. If we had waited to fire purely in self-defense, it wouldn't have been as timely, whereas firing when I did saved Miss Xu. Had we failed to shoot in time, your esteemed self would have been its next target, and by then, even if we wanted to save you, it would have been impossible. Therefore, I was preemptively eliminating a threat, not squandering resources."

Wang Zuo stared straight into Wang Ming's eyes, explaining himself without a trace of servility.

"You... you've got some nerve! What really happened, you know best in your heart! Let me tell you, the price of that single shot isn't enough even if both of you were sold off to pay for it! Since you took the money, you should have the psychological preparation to lay down your lives for this young master at any given moment! If you're just going to shoot the moment trouble arises, what use do I have for you two? Couldn't I just do it myself?"

Stunned for merely a second, Wang Zuo burst into a sneer and cursed relentlessly.

Whether he was agonizing over the destruction of a lethal trump card, vexed that his earlier intentions had been thwarted, or harboring jealousy because the entire battle's spotlight had been stolen, remained unclear.

Clearly, the firearm had been purchased with his family's wealth, yet someone else had delivered the decisive blow to end the combat.

Nursing a grievance over that seemed, to him, entirely justified.

While they argued, Xu Minghui had already rushed directly to Shen Xing's side, inquiring whether he had sustained any injuries and required medical attention.

Observing her fully stocked, compact medical kit, Shen Xing felt a brief surge of astonishment.

Even a piece of human scum like Wang Ming knew to bring two muscle-bound helpers as a safety net, yet a combat medic like her had traveled here all alone?

If her teammates had proven unreliable, wouldn't that have spelled total disaster?

However, Shen Xing refrained from voicing the thought aloud just yet.

He simply shook his head to indicate he was uninjured.

Simultaneously, he fished a compressed nutrition biscuit from his pocket, chewing slowly to recover his expended stamina.

Two minutes later, the group commenced their journey back.

The two members of the Wang household had likewise ceased their bickering.

Yet, after walking for five minutes, Shen Xing abruptly broke the silence:

"Something feels off. Several minutes have already passed—why aren't there any signs of the dimensional gate collapsing? Could it be that there are still other monsters lurking in the alternate branch path?"