Hidden Assassin 155

It was past eight o’clock and the rain continued to fall relentlessly. Inside a small convenience store, a drenched young woman walked in, her body heavy with fatigue. She shuffled towards the counter where a young man, watching TV, quickly stood up. “Uh, you…”

“One loaf of bread, please.”

“Oh.” The young man nodded and, following her directions, packaged the large loaf of bread. Hesitating for a moment, he said, “Do you need an umbrella?”

“…No.” She glanced at the umbrella rack’s price tag and shook her head. From her damp pocket, she pulled out her wallet, using her fingers to take out a few wet bills and place them on the counter. She then took the bread. As she opened her wallet, the young man saw that it held little else besides those few bills.

He hesitated, then looked up. The girl had already hugged the bread to her chest and was walking out. He sat back down and stared at the television screen, then turned to look at the rain outside. After a while, he gritted his teeth, grabbed an umbrella and rushed out.

The girl’s figure appeared under the light of a nearby lamppost. He caught up to her.

“Uh, that, um…it’s raining… although you’re already soaked, uh… don’t worry, just consider it a gift from me, that…goodbye…”

The girl’s indifferent gaze seemed to hold an unspoken pressure, making him stammer. He handed her the umbrella, then smiled and turned to run back to the convenience store. From a distance, he thought he saw a figure hidden in the darkness, but he didn’t think much of it and ran under the awning. The girl, now holding the umbrella, had already silently walked across the street and was slowly disappearing from view.

…

…

Colored lights spilled from artistic lampposts, yet the overall effect was one of dimness. Following a winding path through the woods,薰 (Xun) came to a halt in the middle of the small road. She turned around.

Another tall figure appeared from behind. It was Joseph.

“I think you should recognize me. Saturday night, the Bluebird bar parking lot. You were the one driving!”

With a commanding presence, Joseph stopped two steps in front of her.

“I want to know where Marilyn and Heidi are!”

“I don’t know.” After that flat statement, 薰 (Xun) turned around again. Joseph immediately appeared before her once more. He discarded his umbrella. “Then come with me!”

“I refuse.”

“This isn’t a request.” Joseph’s gaze hardened. “You’re just a kid. Although running a marathon in under four hours proves you’re not ordinary, you need to understand that I have a hundred wins in the black market boxing circuit…once I start, I fear you might die.”

“…I refuse.” The same indifferent tone. After she spoke, she ignored Joseph’s attempt to block her path and started walking. Joseph immediately reached out to grab her shoulder.

Holding the bread and umbrella in her left hand, 薰 (Xun) swiftly turned her right wrist, her fingertips slashing towards Joseph’s wrist.

The breath of death descended upon them!

With a whoosh, the umbrella and bread flew up into the air. 薰 (Xun) was sent flying backwards, spinning twice in the air before landing on the ground. Her right wrist trembled slightly.

The streetlight crackled.

“You can still react like that after running twenty-five miles? For a kid, you’re surprisingly strong. Chinese kung fu? Japanese ninjutsu?” Joseph laughed, loosening a button on his shirt. “If your strength hadn’t been drained, it would take a lot of effort to capture you, but now…”

The elongated figure suddenly shortened. With a bang, the thick iron lamppost was kicked to a ninety-degree angle with a single blow. The lights on the post flickered on and off. Taking advantage of the distraction, Joseph escaped towards the nearby forest. His voice carried over.

“I don’t want things to escalate, so it’s best if you surrender.”

Circling a large tree, 薰 (Xun) delivered a flying kick to Joseph’s back.

Never…

…

…

In the rain-soaked forest, the chase for life and death continued for three minutes. 薰 (Xun) endured the searing pain in her leg and suddenly darted around a tree. Then, Joseph’s fist whipped through the air.

So far in the fight, her body had only made contact with Joseph once. It was a sneak attack from behind, but he had still managed to defend himself. A horizontal sweep of his arm sent her flying, leaving her with a painful throbbing in her leg.

This man was strong.

A body of steel, techniques designed solely for killing. Every strike he launched, she could almost hear the sound of a desert wind tearing apart the air. Violent, ruthless, with no room for retreat. If her body had been at its peak, she would have used the techniques of 池樱千幻 (Chi Hua Qian Huan) to repeatedly charge at him, searching for weaknesses to exploit. However, her physical condition was at its lowest point. For the time being, she could only rely on the forest’s obstacles to dodge. This, too, was a strength of ninja training.

Yet through these instinctive reactions, she began to feel something more clearly.

If this had been her a year ago, facing such full-fledged attacks, she might have been dead by now…

She had been in China for almost a year. While she had taken 家明 (Jia Ming) as her master, her primary training was from 灵静 (Ling Jing) and 沙沙 (Sha Sha). Sometimes she would assess her abilities, and she realized that if she had to fight for real, the two girls would likely be defeated within a minute. Under their simple instruction, she had practiced day after day, mastering seemingly flashy techniques that were, in reality, incredibly difficult to use in actual combat. She had learned everything from咏春 (Wing Chun) to 太极 (Tai Chi),罗汉拳 (Luohanquan),八卦掌 (Baguazhang), and countless others. She dared not question 家明 (Jia Ming)’s training methods, but as time passed, she sometimes wondered in her heart: what was the point of this training?

The best way to assess her progress was through actual combat. But every time she sparred with 家明 (Jia Ming), even though he would mumble something like, “You seem a bit stronger than last time…” or “You seem a bit more agile…” it was always in an uncertain tone. Every time, he defeated her within the same amount of time, even dislocating her arm, making it impossible for her to engage in more specific combat. She found it difficult to determine if she was actually making any progress.

Now, she was finally seeing the results of that training.

Dodging attacks again and again, relying solely on instinct. The moves that once seemed magical were now more practiced. Her more adept use of 池樱千幻 (Chi Hua Qian Huan) made her truly realize: she had become stronger.

This man’s strength was perhaps on par with her uncle. If her physical condition hadn’t been drained, maybe…maybe she could have found his weakness and defeated him? Could she… do it…?

Each time she narrowly avoided his attacks, 薰 (Xun) asked herself this question over and over in her heart. Hope seemed elusive, but she couldn’t stop the excitement bubbling inside her. Her current predicament seemed insignificant, and she instinctively dodged, her mind filled with images of 家明 (Jia Ming) and his words and actions…

“Martial arts, it’s all just fancy talk. It’s just about fighting techniques. Using knives, swords, staffs, stones, and now even guns. Some people say the goal of combat is to knock out your opponent, and that’s obviously true, but the conclusions people often draw from that are just disgusting. So they say karate is the strongest martial art in the world, taekwondo is the strongest martial art in the world, Muay Thai is the strongest martial art in the world. It’s all bullshit…”

“Martial arts, in their current state, are about recognizing and developing human potential. For example, even if a newbie like you pointed that gun at me, I could still sense your movements through your muscle activity. I could dodge your shot at the moment you pulled the trigger. It sounds incredible, but it’s totally possible. Death is the best catalyst. It can push human potential to its limit. Someone who has experienced that too many times will often develop a conditioned reflex. Want to try it? But after I dodge, my next move is to kill you…”

“So, in terms of developing physical potential, the strongest martial arts system is undoubtedly Chinese kung fu. This isn’t some nationalistic pride thing, because I actually started with karate, but Chinese kung fu has developed for five thousand years. It covers almost every part of the human body. Hands and feet are the basics, but there’s also head, shoulders, knees, elbows, fingers, knuckles, fingertips, and things like沾衣十八跌 (Zhan Yi Shi Ba Die). It’s really hard to truly understand, but if you can truly control every part of your body with precision, you can undoubtedly achieve those things. And then…at the pinnacle, there’s Tai Chi. Acting later but arriving first, overcoming hardness with softness. This level of mastery means not only controlling oneself, but also precisely predicting every move of one’s opponent. Um, that’s pretty deep. I can’t even do it, so I won’t talk about it anymore…”

“Anyway, all those fancy moves are just to help you understand yourself. Once you understand yourself, you can naturally forget about them…”

Understand yourself… Forget about them…

In the darkness, another fist wind struck. 薰 (Xun) spun around abruptly, narrowly missing the blow. Then, a horizontal sweep of Joseph’s arm followed. 薰 (Xun) stepped forward, avoiding the range of the attack. All her strength was concentrated in her right fist as she launched a horizontal sweep towards Joseph’s chest.

Ninjutsu? Death Fist.

Sensing the attack, Joseph delivered a horizontal sweep of his own. But even as his leg was in the air, as if sensing danger instinctively, he suddenly retracted it. He retreated clumsily, avoiding contact with 薰 (Xun).

With a bang, the seemingly ordinary punch slammed into the nearby tree trunk. A muffled sound echoed as the tree trunk seemed to explode from the inside. Wood splintered and flew, proving that Joseph’s retreat was the right call. The Death Fist of Ninjutsu looked simple, a single step, a simple sweep, and the strike wasn’t even with the front of the fist. But in terms of lethality, it was more powerful than firing a shotgun. Once it hit the chest, it was like being slammed by a heavy iron hammer directly into the heart. If Joseph hadn’t retreated, the result would have been a mutually destructive outcome.

This was the first time Joseph had backed down in the fight.

But a last-minute polish might bring a temporary flash of brilliance, but it couldn’t truly bridge the gap in skill. After that punch, 薰 (Xun) trembled slightly. Facing another horizontal kick coming her way, she had no strength left to dodge. Preparing for her arm to break, she suddenly raised both hands to protect her head. The next instant, someone grabbed her by the collar and threw her backwards.

Her back slammed against the ground, but surprisingly, it didn’t hurt much. They were far from any streetlights, and she couldn’t see anything ahead, only a faint sense of two people fighting fiercely. Water splashed.

In less than half a minute, Joseph, who had been pursuing her so effortlessly, let out two exasperated roars. Then, a dull thud, and a body fell to the ground. Footsteps approached. Someone came to her side, supporting her shoulder with one hand and reaching under her knees with the other to lift her.

Rain fell on her face. Feeling his chest, she suddenly felt all her fatigue and pain disappear. She still had no strength, a reason to stay in his arms a little longer.

“I saw it. You did well.”

In the warmth, he praised her for the first time…

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汗 (Han, a sigh), do you think people are protesting against giving 薰 (Xun) a little training? People are saying the protagonist is cold-blooded and selfish… 薰 (Xun) will be going to kill people and fight organizations like Pei Luo Jia (Pei Luo Jia), so she could die at any moment. When she meets Yuan Lai Chao Chuang (Yuan Lai Chao Chuang), will he be gentle with her because she’s beautiful? Or is it enough that I, the author, am gentle with her? I’ve said it before: I’m only responsible for the truth of humanity. 家明 (Jia Ming) has never been the type to cherish beautiful women. His closeness with 灵静 (Ling Jing) and 沙沙 (Sha Sha) isn’t because they’re pretty…

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