“Whoosh—”
The steel spike whistled through the air, streaking straight at Bai Zhuo.
Bai Zhuo moved fast, twisting aside to dodge the blow.
Almost simultaneously, Xue Yanhen swung her modao and attacked the pair.
The man didn’t expect them to react so quickly, after all, this move of his had been all but invincible up to now.
Xue Yanhen’s slashing modao forced them back step by step, leaving the man no chance to strike back.
Xue Yanhen arched a brow. So what if you’re a metal-type ability user? As long as she didn’t give him time to activate his ability, he’d just have to stand there and take his beating!
Behind her, Bai Zhuo, frying pan in hand, closed the distance in a few long strides to back up Xue Yanhen, only, before she could act, a sudden mist blurred her vision.
It was the woman who’d been kept behind the man’s back the whole time.
Xue Yanhen’s assault stalled for an instant. The man seized the opening, sheathed his arm in his ability, and lunged for the throat of the nearest target, Xue Yanhen.
With her vision obscured, Xue Yanhen reflexively raised her blade, and it happened to block his attack.
The mist lasted only a moment, by then Bai Zhuo had already swung the frying pan at the man’s head.
Just as the pan was about to make intimate contact with his skull, Bai Zhuo sensed something was off.
The pan seemed to strike cotton, all its force drained away.
Looking closer, she found a ball of water on the man’s head, shielding him from the pan.
Bai Zhuo’s eyes narrowed. Picking on her for having no ability, were they?
The man struck at Xue Yanhen again. His metalized arm was extremely hard, when it clashed with the modao, it even threw off sparks.
In a situation like this, close combat might not actually give them the upper hand.
After a moment’s thought, Bai Zhuo pulled Xue Yanhen back without hesitation.
Her retreat only boosted the man’s confidence. This time he was the one pressing forward step by step.
Of course Bai Zhuo wasn’t afraid, she simply had other means.
A pistol appeared out of thin air in her hand. She aimed it at the man and pulled the trigger.
The bullet struck his metalized arm and did him no harm at all.
The man’s heart settled. He watched Bai Zhuo with a cold sneer. “I’d advise you to stop struggling and come with us quietly.”
Bai Zhuo smiled. She hadn’t really thought she’d hit him with a single shot.
Still keeping the pistol trained on him, she said mockingly, “What, you want to peel that thing off my body too?”
A flicker of greed crossed the man’s eyes, he truly envied space-type ability users, wished he were one himself.
A pity there was no ability-extraction technology at present. Otherwise…
At that very moment, a modao gleaming with cold light suddenly came slashing down, somehow Xue Yanhen had closed in right in front of him!
The man reflexively raised his arm to block. The sharp, piercing screech of metal against metal made him knit his brows.
Two gunshots rang out almost at once, Bai Zhuo aimed for the leg, and someone else aimed for the waist.
The woman used a small-scale wall of water to block Bai Zhuo’s shot, but had no time to block the one that followed.
The man crashed to the ground with a scream. The woman’s face changed abruptly and she spun to flee.
Xue Yanhen’s long blade came to rest on her shoulder, and the woman’s body went rigid.
Bai Zhuo looked ahead, her expression heavy. The other party had stepped in to help them, but that didn’t make them allies.
They might also be the oriole waiting behind. [1]the hidden third party poised to strike, as in “the mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind” jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_2936275_1_1').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_2936275_1_1', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });
The man on the ground was still wailing. Bai Zhuo and Xue Yanhen scanned their surroundings warily.
“I’m up here.”
An unexpectedly spirited female voice rang out.
Bai Zhuo jerked her head up and saw a short-haired girl standing at the glass railing of the third floor, a sniper rifle slung over her shoulder.
The girl flipped over and dropped down, landing lightly on the ground like a cat.
She looked up, smiling and waving at Bai Zhuo, which also let Bai Zhuo clearly see the somewhat ghastly scar across her face.
Bai Zhuo and Xue Yanhen exchanged a glance. Xue Yanhen sheathed her blade and knocked out the trembling woman, while Bai Zhuo kicked the man on the ground unconscious too.
Their actions made the girl across from them laugh. She said, magnanimously, “Hello there. Don’t worry, I’m not your enemy, I just wanted to ask, could you spare me one of your radios?”
Bai Zhuo didn’t expect that request, but she caught on quickly. “Of course.”
Whatever else, the girl had still helped them. She’d taken so many radios, giving one away was no loss.
The girl took the radio and turned to leave, but after a few steps she stopped and looked back at Bai Zhuo.
“From now on, pay more attention to what’s around you. Don’t worry, I’ll keep your secret.”
Bai Zhuo’s fists clenched hard. Watching the girl shoulder her rifle and descend the stairs with easy grace, she couldn’t help drawing a deep breath.
She really had been careless this time. Back then, all she’d been thinking about was sweeping the radios into her system inventory, she’d forgotten to watch her surroundings.
Xue Yanhen looked back at Bai Zhuo. Bai Zhuo pressed her lips together and was about to speak when Xue Yanhen cut her off. “What do we do with these two?”
A cold glint crossed Bai Zhuo’s eyes as she obligingly went along with the change of subject. “We can’t leave them alive.”
The one thing this world was never short of now was zombies. Toss a person into a pile of them, for erasing all trace of a body, that beat any corpse-dissolving acid.
Once everything was dealt with, Bai Zhuo finally shook out her hand. She’d already slipped the pistol back into her system inventory while Xue Yanhen wasn’t looking.
Since Xue Yanhen hadn’t brought it up, she’d just act as if nothing had happened.
Exposed she might be, but Bai Zhuo wasn’t about to openly show Xue Yanhen her abilities.
At least not now.
Xue Yanhen had rushed to cut off Bai Zhuo’s unspoken words a moment ago precisely because she didn’t want to learn anything about this so-called space-type ability user.
No one could be free of curiosity, and she was no exception.
But sometimes, knowing too much wasn’t a good thing.
Each with her own thoughts, the two returned to their temporary lodging.
“That girl, she looked highly skilled.”
Hearing Xue Yanhen, Bai Zhuo nodded. “And a crack shot, too.”
Bai Zhuo took out a radio, set it on the table, and fiddled with it a little.
She still had a small drum of gasoline in her system inventory, she just didn’t know if it’d be enough for the generator.
The system, silent all day, suddenly popped up at this moment.
【Congratulations, host, on completing the mission to kill ability users. The reward has been delivered to your system inventory, please check it.】
【Host, take note, mission issued: complete the information-gathering mission to earn loot-box draws ×10, plus bonus weapon-upgrade materials.】
Hm?
Bai Zhuo raised an eyebrow. Another hidden mission, huh?
【Just how many hidden missions does your system have? It’s like the hidden achievements in a game.】
【The system doesn’t know~ The system is only in charge of issuing missions.】
Bai Zhuo sneered inwardly. Like hell I believe that.
References[+]