Hidden Assassin 205

It was likely that some cables were severed during the chaos, plunging this small section of the building into darkness. A faint flicker of fire illuminated the room as she huddled in a corner, tearing a strip from her pants to bind her bleeding shin. The spent machine gun lay beside her, a blood-stained dagger clenched between her teeth. After finishing the bandage, she grabbed two bottles of alcohol from a shelf nearby, unscrewing the caps and stuffing them with dirt. She listened to the sounds of searching outside, and the slightly neurotic tone of the announcement from the radio.

“…Today, we gather together in this unique way, at this special place, for this particular reason. In the words of the Chinese, this is fate. To show you my sincerity, to better express my excitement and honor, I’d like to share a beautiful French song with you all. “Love is the Eternal Ornament of Life.” Let’s enjoy this melody together, let’s praise love, praise this loving world. Okay, let’s begin…”

Later, the sound of light, rhythmic music filled the entire school, a counterpoint to the voices saying things like, “How do we do this?”, and “That student… the girl, could you help me play this song? Yes, thank you, very grateful…” Interspersed with the music was a girl’s suppressed sobs. The sound of gunfire, slaughter, and weeping accompanied the light music, making it seem eerily insane. The people outside the school stood dumbstruck. The police chief slammed his fist onto the hood of the police car. “Damn it… that lunatic…”

Suddenly, a feminine face appeared beside him. She gazed at the school’s outline, nodding in agreement. “Yes, I agree with you, Chief Wang… that guy’s a world-class nutjob. We’re in trouble this time…”

In a forest near the edge of the school, Dongfang Lu, dressed in grey camouflage, looked up as the music played. “Are you kidding me? This guy’s gone insane…”

Gu Jia Ming, standing beside him, also nodded silently, but his agreement was clearly for a different point of view. “Oh, that’s right… praising love…”

The two had reached a small path running through the woods. The next moment, Dongfang Lu suddenly felt a surge of alertness, instinctively reaching for Jia Ming’s shoulder to stop him. But in the same instant, Jia Ming’s body had already launched forward, the stillness transforming into a burst of movement like thunder and lightning. There was a loud boom, and a tall electrical box on the other side of the path was crushed inward. Lights flickered across the area, dimming and brightening erratically. Jia Ming took a casual step back, lowered his hand, and finished his sentence in a low voice. “…Let’s gather together…”

The sizzling sound of sparks came from the crushed box in front of Jia Ming. A mercenary, foaming at the mouth, his face covered in blood, slid slowly from the box and onto the ground…

“…I think it’s truly a good song. It gives me a sense of urban existence. If you listen carefully, you should be able to feel it easily. It’s as if you’re in a coffee shop on a Tokyo street at the end of a workday. The place is packed, everyone whispering politely to their companions. It’s raining outside. The cars on the street move orderly, all with their wipers going back and forth… The traffic light changes, and the crowded people surge back and forth. Some are holding umbrellas, others are shielding themselves with briefcases, rushing through the rain. The girls might linger for a moment beneath a roofline next to a glass window, exchanging a few words and then running off again… In any case, there are all kinds of people, thousands upon thousands, each living their own lives in the same city, yet everything functions smoothly. In the midst of the crowds, you can truly feel that you’re a part of this city, living your life alongside everyone else… What I like the most are the women wearing stockings and high heels, just off work. They look even sexier when they’re a little bit flustered in the rain… I hate loli. I hate loli-cons the most… Sorry, these are just some of my personal feelings. Please pretend you didn’t hear that…”

The words of the God of No Thought, mixed with the music, continued to echo. As if in response to his words, the searchers outside the window seemed to be getting closer. The next moment, a shouting voice came from outside.

“Yue Chi Xun, we know you’re in this building. Come out and surrender, or prepare to be on the receiving end of a rocket launcher!”

A beam of light flashed, followed by a deafening boom as a two-story building next door erupted in a blossoming explosion. “Oh, I like this feeling… Next door, we’ll continue…”

A violent shake, and the house next to hers was blown open by the blast wave and flames. She gritted her teeth, grabbed her bottle of alcohol, and rushed towards the door.

Just as the door opened, two figures on the other side immediately pointed their weapons at her. One had a rocket launcher on his shoulder, the other a handgun. Yue Chi Xun lunged forward, and with a roar, a golden plume of fire swept past her back and into the building behind her. A massive explosion followed, sending a blast wave outwards.

She thrust her hand out and used it to propel herself upward. Her body flew through the alternating light and darkness in a strange trajectory. The glass bottle in her hand went flying towards the other figure. The man instinctively raised his gun to shoot. The next instant, the alcohol exploded in mid-air, raining down burning liquid.

“Get down!”

Throwing the rocket launcher, the man slammed into his still-firing comrade, and the two went tumbling to the ground. Their arms, shoulders, and backs were singed. The man holding the gun remained on the ground, pinned beneath his comrade, flames licking at his hands. Still, he kept his gun aimed at the fleeing Yue Chi Xun, firing continuously.

With each bang, countless splintered pieces of wood and chipped concrete followed the flying girl, chasing her rapidly. In a moment, she reached the corner of another building. If she could get past this corner, the gunfire could no longer reach her.

The sound of bullets came from beyond the corner!

Two more men stood in her escape route.

In that instant, her body flew around the corner, maintaining her forward momentum. Her left hand, however, suddenly grabbed a water pipe on the edge of the building, as if her body and her left hand had become two separate entities, one running forward, the other pulling back. Ultimately, her left hand won out. She took a step in mid-air.

The bullets flew past her in front, and in that instant, the girl swung her body in a graceful, powerful semicircle around her left hand, soaring into the air, and landing directly onto a second-floor balcony.

In the dim light, Chi Hua Qian Huan’s agility and speed reached their peak. Bullets roared behind her, shattering glass, windowsills, and the concrete on the railings. The large man in front of her, one of the two who’d been blocking her, jumped forward in two strides, grabbed the second-floor railing, and swung himself onto the balcony. She charged at him at the same time.

A mighty fist roared towards her. She met it head-on with her right hand, using all her soft power to block the punch. While pulling back, she also pressed her left hand onto his arm. She clung to his arm, flying upwards in an eerie way. At the same time, the man launched a fierce kick from below. His kick connected with her leg, and her whole body lost its balance in mid-air. She could only grab his arm with both hands as she was thrown into the air.

The sensation in that instant was like a giant monster battling a butterfly. The two figures intertwined in mid-air. Xun kicked off the wall of the adjacent room, then, using that momentum, whirled back, delivering a knee strike to the man’s face. The impact caused the man to crash through the concrete railing and tumble down to the ground below. Xun took a vicious right hook to the shoulder, sending her spiraling into the wall and smashing through the door on the second floor. Two seconds later, a bang came from the other side of the building. The sound of a window being broken.

The two men who had put out the flames on themselves had been approaching from the front and rear. They saw her fleeing from the other side, and one of them quickly gave chase. In a moment, he entered a small park that ran alongside the buildings. He fired a few shots, but they missed. It was clear that Xun’s speed was beginning to slow.

He quickly closed the distance between them. At a certain point, the girl suddenly vanished. Then, the attack came from the left. He fired his gun in a backhand. Xun dodged awkwardly, trying to turn defense into offense, but she was caught off guard and the distance between them narrowed. He rushed forward, pressing the gun against her, when suddenly a loud thud echoed. The man froze.

Half a brick lay on the ground beside a tree trunk. Next to it stood a girl, her lips slightly parted, holding the other half of the brick. She had been hiding there for a while. There was fear in her eyes, and she unconsciously stepped back.

He was about to turn the gun on her and kill her, when Xun leaped from behind the tree. The position wasn’t ideal for Chi Hua Qian Huan. She was too close, and the risks were higher. But the man fired two shots and missed. The next moment, he heard the girl shout, “Don’t you dare move! Move again and I’ll shoot you!” In her hand, she held a gun, just like the one he had been using.

His body suddenly felt stiff. Pain began to radiate from his head. Seizing the opportunity, Xun burst from behind the tree and snatched the gun from his hand. She raised her hand slowly. Blood began to pour from the man’s forehead. That brick had made good contact.

She gasped for breath. Suddenly, the girl beside her seemed familiar. They nodded to each other. “Sha Sha.”

“That… Xun, what is going on here?”

“I don’t know… Uh, this gun…”

“Oh, hehehe, that’s one of the ones Jia Ming made. I’m glad I brought it with me.” The girl’s eyes lit up as she smiled. “It’s just like the real thing.” Then, she pulled the trigger.

With a hiss, several streams of water landed on the man’s face…

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