"In that case, let them take down the monster first. Then you use your summoned creature to grab the rewards that drop, but before that, find out where they are and how many there are."
After getting a general idea of the situation, Wang Zhifan suggested to the short-haired girl in front of him.
His thought was that since the rewards from killing a Gray Realm monster are ownerless, it's not a bad thing for the other party to be willing to shoot it. As soon as the opponent kills the beast and the reward drops, they can swoop in and seize it.
Of course, facing a gunner who seems to have powerful firearms, Wang Zhifan, a mere Lv1, wasn't so arrogant as to rush out and challenge them directly. Being a melee fighter, the risk of others sniping from afar was too great, so it was best to leave the task of grabbing the loot to the girl with a naturally immune summoned spirit.
"I'll give it a try."
The short-haired girl didn't oppose Wang Zhifan's suggestion. She herself was also feeling some threat from outside the bus and wanted to secure as many rewards as possible.
So, in the ensuing moments, neither of them left the bus, opting instead to remain fully hidden inside to avoid being mistakenly noticed by the snipers outside.
Wang Zhifan crouched between the seats, carefully observing the situation outside through the corner of the bus window, while the short-haired girl remotely controlled her summoned creature to continue attacking the massive monster that had been hit by a sniper bullet, seemingly trying to give the illusion that two Gray Realm monsters were fighting outside.
Seconds later, another deafening gunshot rang out, and the powerful bullet instantly blew apart one of the monster's limbs. At the same time, a large hole appeared in the long-haired ghost summon's body! It seemed the bullet had penetrated both targets with a single shot!
"Damn! That person has spirit body bullets!"
The short-haired girl exclaimed in a low voice with surprise, and she immediately commanded her seriously wounded summon to blink back to her side.
"Hide immediately, we might be exposed."
Seeing this, Wang Zhifan stopped sneaking outside to observe and instead quickly slipped under the bus seats beside him to avoid being spotted by the sniper who might come to target them.
This was a perfect demonstration of the advantage of being a ranged class. At this moment, Wang Zhifan, being a blade master, could only hide and didn't dare to reveal himself for even half a second, lest his life be suddenly at risk.
The bus fell into a silence, but outside the window, the deafening gunshots didn't cease.
If Wang Zhifan continued to watch through the window, he would've seen that the interfering gunner didn't focus much on their bus but rather remained concealed while continuously firing at the thick-skinned, massive monster, occasionally releasing a hawk-like creature to circle above the monster's head, as if waiting for the right moment.
Inside the bus, the two who initially planned to protect their rewards didn't dare to make a sound, let alone take a peek outside.
Finally, after a dozen seconds, with the crashing sound of a giant monster hitting the ground, the outside gunfire completely stopped, leaving only the shrill cries of hawks, first heard near the bus, then atop it, before fading quickly into the distance.
Wang Zhifan, who had been bracing for the gunman's approach, felt his heart pounding in his chest. But then he suddenly noticed some familiar objects in front of him, a sight that surprised him and made his face show hints of astonishment.
Moments later, the sound of car engines roaring and brakes screeching came from outside the bus, followed by the doors opening in succession. Amidst the ensuing chaos merged with a semblance of orderly footsteps, a man's loud voice suddenly emerged:
"Team One, surround the scene!"
"Team Two, prepare to engage!"
"Team Three, prepare to evacuate the trapped civilians!"
After the booming male voice came loud responses from several men and women:
"Team One, received!"
"Team Two, received!"
"Team Three, received!"
This extraordinary movement made Wang Zhifan, who was hiding under the bus seat contemplating, realize immediately that the official Special Administration Bureau of Xia Country had arrived.
His tense mindset relaxed slightly, but he wasn't sure how he would be treated next, leaving him conflicted about whether to come out from under the seat.
However, he didn't have to ponder for long, as several people soon jumped into the bus through the windows, and within seconds, a shiny black gun barrel was pointed right in his face beneath the seat.
"You, stretch your hands forward and crawl out slowly."
Although the individual directly aimed the gun at his head, Wang Zhifan promptly complied after noticing the official uniform of the personnel, crawling out from under the seat.
Meanwhile, he also saw the short-haired girl in the back corner of the bus being found by these officials.
The Special Administration Bureau's personnel were efficient in their operations. They quickly located the two of them, then opened the bus door and began swiftly evacuating the passengers immobilized by shock.
As Wang Zhifan and the short-haired girl were led out of the bus by one of the officials, Wang Zhifan noticed several people who looked like researchers outside, using syringes to collect samples from the massive monster's corpse.
However, he had no opportunity to investigate those matters further, as he and the short-haired girl were quickly taken to a vehicle and driven away from the Gray Realm.
Inside the car, aside from the driver, there was only a young female official, who seemed quite amiable and initiated a conversation with them as the car moved.
"No need to worry, you two. Once we've finished recording the incident, you'll be free to go."
"First, let me introduce myself. I'm He Qianqian, an investigator with the Special Administration Bureau and an Lv12 player."
"Could you tell me about your experience just now?"
Under the gaze of the gentle young woman within the car, Wang Zhifan and the short-haired girl took turns recounting their whole ordeal on the bus, covering the encounter with Gray Realm, the monster attack, their battle with the monster, and the gunman's interference.
What they didn't know while recounting their experience to the official, was that not far from the Gray Realm incident location, a tall, thin man wearing glasses was discreetly distancing himself while pondering, his brow furrowed with confusion:
"Why didn't I get any rewards for killing the Gray Realm monster? Has my luck really gotten this bad?"