Fang Qi struggled to step forward—
But the arm wrapped around him from behind suddenly tightened!
The silver-haired girl's face... peeked out a little more from his shoulder, the corners of her lips curling into a smile.
Very faint, very light.
But it sent a sudden chill down the spines of Lao Zhang and the other two!
Those heterochromatic eyes were staring straight at them!
As if looking at three... corpses that hadn't fallen yet.
Lao Zhang's muzzle was dead set on that silver-haired girl!
No, wait...
It was locked onto the man in her arms!
This AI... had actually positioned her master completely in front of herself as a shield!
This VIP client's face was already as pale as paper!
The laser blade pressed closer against his neck.
A tiny line of blood immediately appeared!
Don't, don't... please don't...!
His voice cracked, and he shrank back hard into the silver-haired girl's embrace!
Lao Zhang's brows knitted into a tight knot!
What kind of situation was this?
An AI holding its master hostage?!
...But,
F*ck... f*ck...!!
Lao Li growled beside him, raising his gun too!
Xiao Zhou also leveled his gun, his finger on the trigger, his whole body trembling!
Running into something like this on his first mission... the kid was probably terrified.
But... it was Lao Zhang's first time too!
He had been running missions for ten years, and it was his first time encountering something like this too!
What in the world is happening...!
Then, from the corner of his eye, he noticed... someone else was curled up in the corner.
An Lian.
That senior commissioner?
Her long black hair was messily plastered across her face, and her white T-shirt was impossibly wrinkled.
Her two long legs beneath her gray shorts... were splattered with crimson.
She just curled up there, hugging her knees, trembling all over. Her face was covered in tear stains, and uncleaned vomit hung at the corner of her mouth.
Her gray eyes were completely hollow, staring at the floor, muttering something.
She was still alive...!
Lao Zhang pulled his gaze back, aiming his gun at the silver-haired girl once more!
Don't move!
His voice was deep!
Let the hostage go!
The silver-haired girl tilted her head.
She didn't speak, but simply pulled Fang Qi forward a bit...
And then hid her entire body behind him!
That laser blade was still resting against his neck!
Lao Zhang's pupils constricted.
At this angle... if they fired, the bullets would have to pierce through that core client first!
...No.
Even if he wasn't a core client, it was a no-go!
He was just an ordinary hostage!
They couldn't hurt him!
Shoot.
The silver-haired girl finally spoke.
Her voice was sickeningly sweet, like a lover's whisper.
Weren't you... trying to catch Liguang?
She rested her chin on Fang Qi's shoulder, her heterochromatic eyes... staring straight at them from behind!
The crimson in her red eye was slowly burning!
Come on.
She giggled, slightly moving the laser blade in her hand.
Another faint line of blood... appeared on Fang Qi's neck!
Ahhh!!!
Fang Qi screamed in terror.
He desperately shrank back, shrinking into the silver-haired girl's embrace!
No!! Don't shoot!!!
He shrieked at Lao Zhang and the others, his voice breaking!
Why are you pointing your guns at me!!
Put the guns down!! Put them down!!!
She'll kill me!! She's going to kill me, don't you understand!!!
Lao Li's finger was on the trigger, his knuckles turning white!
Xiao Zhou's eyes were completely red, his lips trembling, tears flowing silently down his face!
Lao Zhang's brows... furrowed tighter and tighter!
Damn it!
This damn corridor was so narrow, there was no way to bypass him to shoot that AI!
Firing... would definitely hit the client!
What to do?
What to do?!
His finger rested on the trigger, but he just couldn't pull it.
But right at that moment—
Run!!!
A shrill voice suddenly exploded in the hallway!
Lao Zhang snapped his gaze to the corner.
An Lian had struggled to lift her head, her gray eyes finally showing a hint of focus!
She stared fixedly at them, panting heavily, her limbs paralyzed with weakness, her entire body... trembling!
Run!!!
You guys, run!!!
Her voice was incredibly hoarse, but she screamed with all her might!!
This AI, she's not an ordinary—!
Before she could finish her sentence.
Before Lao Zhang even had time to react—
That purple silhouette moved!
She shot out from behind Fang Qi!
Fast!
So fast she was a blur!
Lao Zhang's pupils contracted violently!
He instinctively went to pull the trigger—
But... the target disappeared?!
...Why so fast?
Why so fast?!
This speed had absolutely exceeded the limits of a civilian AI!!
Xiao Zhou!!!
Suddenly, Lao Li's roar exploded beside him!!
Lao Zhang whipped his head around!
Xiao Zhou... he was still standing there.
But there was another person in front of him.
Silver hair, purple dress.
That breathtakingly beautiful face was right in front of Xiao Zhou's eyes, mere inches away, the corners of her mouth stretched ear to ear.
And Xiao Zhou's eyes...
Were widened so much they looked like they might pop out of their sockets!
His mouth was open, as if he wanted to yell something... but couldn't make a sound.
A thin line of blood slowly appeared on his neck.
His body swayed, and then...
Thud.
The sound of his body hitting the floor was dull and piercing.
Lao Zhang's mind... went completely blank.
Huh?
Is this...
Real?
That twenty-three-year-old kid who had just graduated.
That kid who was just asking him, Brother Zhang, is tonight's mission dangerous?
That kid who was going to go back and play video games with his friend, shyly saying, My friend is probably asleep by now...
Gone?
Just like that...
Gone?
Ahhhh!!!
Lao Li's furious roar suddenly erupted right beside him!!
Bang bang bang bang!!!
He pulled the trigger like a madman!
Bullets furiously poured toward that purple silhouette!!!
But that figure... was simply too fast!
As fast as a streak of purple lightning!
Immediately after, a crimson light flashed violently!
Lao Li's gunfire abruptly ceased.
His body froze in place.
Then... a thin red line appeared across his neck too.
His eyes were wide open, lips slightly parted, still maintaining the posture of his furious roar.
Then, he limply collapsed to the ground as well.
Thud.
The silver-haired girl stood behind Lao Li, the crimson glow on her laser blade still faintly quivering.
She didn't move immediately; instead, she tilted her head slightly—
Her trembling gaze passed over Lao Li's fallen body, landing on... Fang Qi at the end of the corridor.
Fang Qi was still standing there, tear tracks on his face, deathly pale, but uninjured by the stray bullets from moments ago.
The corners of the silver-haired girl's lips curled upward.
The madly burning crimson in those heterochromatic eyes softened slightly for a brief moment.
She withdrew her gaze and turned her head back.
As for Lao Zhang...
He finally snapped out of his daze over the deaths of his two comrades!
I—I—!
His eyes instantly turned bloodshot!
He glared fiercely at... the beautiful face splattered with drops of blood right in front of him!
I'll f*cking—!
Kill you—!!!!!
He roared, raising the muzzle of his gun! Aiming at that purple silhouette!
But the figure flashed, actually vanishing right before his eyes?!!
Lao Zhang's pupils contracted sharply as he frantically swung his gun around!
In front?! Nothing!
Behind?! Nothing either!!
To the left?! An empty corridor!
To the right?!
Only bloodstains on the wall and stiff corpses on the floor!
Disappeared?!
That monster... it disappeared?!
"Come out!!!!!"
He roared, his gun muzzle sweeping wildly across every corner of the hallway!
"Come out—!!!!!"
The only response... was silence.
A dead silence filled the corridor.
Pale light poured down from overhead.
Illuminating the ground... the motionless bodies of Xiao Zhou and Lao Li.
And the sound of his own breathing.
Heavy, rapid, and laced with fear.
Where did it go?
Where did it go?!
His Adam's apple bobbed. His back was already drenched in cold sweat.
He could feel his own heartbeat—
Thump! Thump! Thump!
Beating so fast it felt like it would leap out of his throat!
His gaze swept unconsciously toward the end of the corridor—
And then... he saw Fang Qi, the hostage client.
He was still standing there.
The tear tracks on his face hadn't dried, and his lips were still trembling slightly.
But his eyes... were slowly looking upward.
Then, he raised his hand. The movement was incredibly slow, like a mechanical reaction from being scared out of his wits.
His finger... pointed straight up above Lao Zhang.
Lao Zhang... froze.
His lips twitched, and following Fang Qi's finger, he slowly tilted his head up.
A splash of purple slowly entered his field of vision.
And this purple figure...
Its four limbs were clinging to the pale ceiling at an angle impossible for any human to achieve!!
A deep purple skirt hung down like a suspended, inverted flower.
Long silver hair cascaded down as well, swaying gently in the air.
And that breathtakingly beautiful face—was looking right at him.
The corners of her mouth were stretched all the way to her ears, her phoenix eyes narrowed into slits, the outer corners twitching madly!
She tilted her head—
"Hehe—"
A soft giggle.
Lao Zhang's pupils contracted violently!!! He jerked his gun up—!!
But it was too late.
A crimson light flickered gently right before his eyes...
In that split second, Lao Zhang felt... something warm welling up and spilling from his neck.
It felt as though something had lightly brushed across it.
It didn't really hurt.
It truly didn't hurt much; it just felt a little cold.
Then he felt... his vision beginning to tilt.
The ceiling was tilting, the dark red on the walls was tilting, and that inverted purple flower... was tilting too.
Oh...
He was going to die.
In the final moment before the darkness surged in, something flashed through his mind—
It was his wife's face.
His daughter's face.
The image of his daughter lying on the sofa, eyelids heavy, still waiting for him to come home.
That little saucer on the coffee table, holding a half-eaten cupcake with tiny tooth marks along the edge.
She had saved it for him. She said she would wait for Daddy to come back and eat it.
She said Daddy worked hard doing overtime. He needed to eat something sweet when he got back.
And his reply...
The last message he sent to his wife...
What was it again?
[Okay]
Just one word.
Heh...
Back then...
Why...
didn't he type a few more words...
"Thud."
The sound of a body collapsing echoed with a heavy dullness in the dead silent corridor.
ut it can buy an entire year of absolutely perfect training results! Su Yu stared at his empty wallet and decisively opened up various online loan platforms. “Borrow a thousand bucks! Recharge my vitality!” Boom! His vitality broke a hundred points, shattering the limits of the human body! “Borrow ten thousand bucks! Recharge my combat skills!” Boom! A basic punching technique so common it was everywhere instantly maxed out, revealing the ultimate assassination technique of Five Elements Unity—Inner Force! When a rich kid hired assassins for a midnight ambush, aiming to break both of his legs, they instead ran headfirst into a monster—a human-shaped tyrannosaur, brimming with dragon-like vitality. With just two fingers, Su Yu snapped a steel staff reinforced with alloy. Staring at the killer’s stash of stolen cash—a staggering quarter-million dollars—he showed a corporate-sincere smile: “Thanks for the pre-exam gift pack, Mr. Zhao! I’m gonna go re-invest this!” Three days later, at the National Martial Arts College Entrance Exam, while everyone else struggled just to reach the passing line, Su Yu threw a single punch—and more than a thousand vitality points literally detonated the entire arena!
for mindless slaughter, this isn't for you.] My name is Ye Shu, and I'm a transmigrator. It seems I'm supposed to be the protagonist, but that feels pretty unlikely. This world has been invaded by a system. The antagonists on the other side have suddenly become pure, flawless saints. The female leads have been force-fed the so-called "original plot," making them think they've been reborn. Now, everyone thinks I'm scum. Including the old lady in my ring. And here I am, in the Monster Beast Mountain Range, braising pork. To put my situation in perspective— It's as if, the moment Xiao Yan stepped into the Monster Beast Mountain Range, the Soul Emperor already knew he would become the Flame Emperor, and Yao Lao had been turned to the enemy's side. I have nothing right now. Oh wait, that's not true. I do have a white-haired loli child-bride who's the Heavenly Dao, and her only skill is acting cute. So, tell me guys... what are my chances of making it to the end?
ver to a world of cultivation and returned invincible. Modern medicine is child's play compared to elixirs; technological might crumbles before true cultivation. My name is Qin Ning, Earth's sole cultivator!
nto another world, I bought a slave for the first time, never expecting the silver wolf girl to be so cute... Lin Feng: I know it's cold, but you don't have to sneak into my bed! Yuna: Just sharing body warmth, if you dare do anything naughty, I'll definitely...
