First Time Using a Gun

Dream or not, she had no intention of becoming a meal for something so hideous.

She fumbled around, searching for a weapon to defend herself.

A knife would be ideal.

She'd studied medicine in university, though she'd been at the bottom of her class. Still, she had a particular fondness for knives. She might not have met the standards for the operating table, but her skill was undeniable.

However...

What she found was a handgun.

The weight of it in her palm made Tu Ran tremble all over.

God knew, she was a model citizen of the new era. Apart from seeing guns on TV and using them in games, she'd never even held a toy gun in real life.

Tu Ran's heart and lungs were trembling together. This dream world was way too wild!

She tried to find other convenient weapons and felt a round object in the pocket of her pants by her thigh.

A bad feeling crept into her heart.

Sure enough.

It was a bomb.

The design was a bit different from the grenades seen in those anti-Japanese war dramas. This bomb looked shinier, with a more high-tech feel. As for weight... she'd never touched a real grenade, so she had no idea if this was considered light.

Tu Ran continued running while searching for other things on her person, and finally found two identical bombs.

She had an idea.

Another baby-like wail came from behind—the giant chicken spirit was catching up.

Tu Ran took a deep breath and released the safety on the handgun.

The huge shadow of the chicken spirit passed over her, and at the same moment, Tu Ran's index finger curled around the trigger.

Even if she'd never eaten pork, she'd seen a pig run.

She stopped her frantic sprint, straightened her arm, and aimed the muzzle at the monster in the sky. "Bang!" She fired!

The bullet sank into the thick belly of the chicken spirit.

Like a pebble thrown into a lake, it rippled outward.

Tu Ran didn't stop. She kept firing continuously.

"Bang... bang... bang bang bang."

The sound pierced the sky, remarkably clear against the silent mountain foothills.

Tu Ran was pushed back step by step by the recoil, her wrist numbed to the point of losing all feeling.

She fired a total of twelve rounds, emptying the entire magazine.

But not all of them were accurate.

She had aimed for the chicken spirit's eyes and legs, but of those twelve bullets, only one hit its leg, which was as thick as a man's thigh. Half of the rest hit its belly and wings, and the other half hit nothing but air.

Given this result, Tu Ran was quite satisfied.

With its wings injured, the chicken spirit's flight was immediately hampered. It lost balance, pitched forward headfirst, and crashed heavily to the ground. Like a mountain collapsing in an instant, it kicked up a cloud of dust that enveloped Tu Ran, who was more than ten meters away.

The dust made her cough as she covered her nose.

The chicken spirit was thoroughly enraged. It shrieked loudly, the sound grating against Tu Ran's eardrums.

It flapped its wings, trying to stand up, but failed each time. Instead, its wounds sprayed blood continuously.

Its blood was not the red of any species she had ever seen. It was a thick, dark green, accompanied by a foul stench.

The chicken spirit seemed to accept that it couldn't get up. It stopped struggling and instead lifted its head to the sky, crying out without pause.

The sound was different from the fury it had directed at Tu Ran earlier. It seemed more like a summoning.

Tu Ran stood to one side, thought for a moment, made up her mind, and walked toward the chicken spirit as it continued its mournful cries to the heavens.

It would be safer to blow it to bits.

Tu Ran moved closer a few steps, confirmed she could land a killing blow, pulled the ring on the bomb, and hurled it with precision right into the creature's open maw before it could shut its mouth.

Then she turned and ran.