The screams from deep within the corridor had stopped at some unknown point.
A dead silence filled the surroundings.
The night wind blew over the shattered glass on the floor, making faint, rustling sounds.
Fang Qi remained in his half-crouching posture, his face still splattered with warm blood.
He... stared at her blankly.
Looking at this woman...
Who, just moments ago, had been crying, laughing bitterly, and talking about "parents," "seniors," and "the same path."
Looking at those...
Gray eyes that would never shed tears again.
Then...
His gaze slowly shifted to the shattered window.
Outside the window was the city cloaked in night, dotted with the lights of a myriad of homes.
It looked so peaceful, so serene, as if... nothing had just happened.
But his eyes landed on a specific window in the building opposite them.
That window was pitch-black, but something flashed there.
The reflection of a sniper's scope.
Just for a split second.
And then... only the pitch-black window remained.
He suddenly felt his vision darkening.
...An Lian, is dead?
What did she mean... by what she just said?
She and his parents... knew each other?
Then she...?!
A sharp, frantically trembling scream!
Suddenly interrupted his shuddering!
A purple silhouette rushed out from the stairwell like lightning!
His entire body was tackled to the ground by a tremendous force!
"Bang!!"
His back slammed against the floor!
Then a warm, delicate body pressed down heavily upon him!
Long silver hair cascaded down, and that pretty little face appeared right before his eyes!
The little star earrings on her earlobes were trembling wildly!
The crimson in her red right eye was exploding frantically! In her amber left eye, tears were trembling violently!
"Master!!! Sniper!!! Watch out for the sniper!!!"
Her voice carried an uncontrollable tremor!
"Liguang felt it!!! Someone fired a shot this way!!!"
"Master, are you okay?! Master, are you hurt?!"
Her two small hands began to grope frantically all over his body!
From the back of his head to his neck, from his neck to his chest, from his chest to his waist—
Up and down, back and forth, searching urgently and chaotically!
Her fingertips were shaking!
"Master!!! Master, say something!!! Why aren't you speaking?! Are you hurt?! Where does it hurt?! Tell Liguang where it hurts!!!"
Pinned to the ground by her, Fang Qi felt ticklish from her groping and saw stars from her shaking him.
He opened his mouth to say something... but found he couldn't make a sound.
She was still feeling around, still searching, her fingertips trembling more and more severely—
But after checking his entire body, she didn't find any wounds. No blood, no bullet holes.
Her movements stopped.
She just lay on top of him, staring at him blankly.
The crimson in her red eye was still surging, but it had slowed down.
The tears in her amber left eye were still swirling, but they didn't fall.
Then—
"Master..."
Her voice was hoarse, but suddenly carried a trace of...
Strange excitement.
"Master isn't hurt..."
"Master really isn't hurt..."
She muttered, the corners of her mouth starting to curl up.
On that pretty little face, tear stains still lingered on her cheeks, but that familiar curve appeared once again.
"Master is fine... Master is really fine...!"
"Liguang knew it... Liguang knew Master wouldn't be in danger...!"
"Master cannot be killed... Master said so himself...!"
The more she spoke, the more excited and agitated she became. Her whole body started to squirm on top of him, her legs kicking non-stop!
"Master! Master! Master is fine!!!"
"Liguang actually... doubted Master just now!"
"Liguang actually thought Master would get hurt! Liguang was wrong! Liguang was wrong again!!!"
As she spoke, she suddenly lifted herself up a little, and then—
"Smack!"
She slapped her own backside!
She hit herself hard enough to make herself flinch, but those mismatched eyes shone even brighter!
"Master, look! Liguang hit herself! Liguang knows she was wrong!!!"
"Hit Liguang again, Master! Hit her hard! Liguang will never doubt Master again!!!"
She just lay on him, her eyes filled with fanatical, blind trust!
Waiting for him to make a move, waiting for him to "punish" her!
Fang Qi lay on the ground, looking at her acting like this.
He should be laughing.
He should be secretly thrilled.
He should reach out, give her a slap, and then pull her into his arms and say "good girl."
Just like every time before.
But this time... he didn't.
He merely raised his hands and gently wrapped them around her waist.
He pulled her down a bit.
Letting her entire body rest flat against his.
The silver-haired girl froze.
"Mas... ter?"
Her voice still carried the slight tremors of her recent frenzy.
Fang Qi still didn't speak; he just buried his face deeply into the crook of her neck.
Breathing in the faint, sweet scent of strawberries on her, mixed with the elusive metallic tang of blood in the air.
He held her tight!
So tight it felt as though he wanted to meld her into his bones!
Liguang remained motionless in his embrace.
After a few seconds, her small hands gently lifted and rested on the back of his head.
Stroking it slowly, over and over.
"Master..."
Her voice softened, carrying a trace of cautious probing.
"Master, what's wrong?"
Fang Qi didn't answer; he just held her.
He held her for a long time.
So long that the excitement on Liguang's face faded bit by bit.
The silver-haired girl stopped squirming and stopped talking.
She just remained lying on him, letting him hold her, her small hands continuing to stroke the back of his head.
Her gaze finally shifted away from her master and looked around.
And then, she finally saw...
An Lian.
She was just slumped there, her head hanging limply to one side, a dark hole in her temple, her gray eyes half-open...
Liguang's delicate body stiffened slightly.
The hands wrapped around Fang Qi's head also froze in mid-air.
Her small mouth parted slightly, unable to speak for a long while.
Right at that moment—
"Bzzzt..."
On the ground, the bloodstained walkie-talkie at Lao Zhang's waist suddenly crackled to life!
"Please respond if you copy! Please respond if you copy!"
The static was piercing, exceptionally clear in the silent corridor!
"Bzzzt... Attention all personnel! Attention all personnel!"
The voice coming from the walkie-talkie was cold, urgent, and devoid of any emotion!
"Core user Fang Qi has been confirmed to have gone completely insane! He has directed his AI companion to kill our armed personnel!"
"He even killed Senior Commissioner An Lian, who has been his primary contact!"
"This behavior has seriously crossed the line! It constitutes an open provocation against Dawn Corporation!"
"Orders are as follows—"
"All personnel are to evacuate the building immediately! Evacuate the building immediately!!"
"Repeat! All personnel evacuate!!"
"Switch to heavy armed encirclement of the building! Lockdown all exits of the community! No one is allowed in or out!"
"Further actions... await additional instructions from headquarters!"
"Bzzzt..."
Another burst of static came from the walkie-talkie, and then it fell completely silent.
The corridor quieted down again, leaving only the sound of the night wind howling as it poured in.
Fang Qi remained lying on Liguang, burying his face in the crook of her neck.
Motionless.
And then...
"Heh... hehe..."
Fang Qi lifted his head from her neck, just lying there on the ground.
He felt the corners of his mouth twitching into a very strange arc.
He felt like he was smiling, yet it didn't seem like a smile.
"The company..."
His voice was hoarse and trembling.
"Chenxi Company..."
"So this is... Chenxi Company..."
He laughed until he was out of breath.
"Even An Lian, who worked desperately for them... even such a dedicated agent..."
"In the end... she still meets such a fate..."
"Just because... she wanted to tell the truth...?"
"Just because... she wanted to tell me something...?"
"Haha... hahaha...!"
His laughter echoed through the empty corridor.
Even to himself, the laughter sounded exceptionally piercing!
Liguang was still looking at him... at this ugly state.
Her expression showed that she was slightly at a loss.
But then she suddenly leaned down...
And hugged him even tighter!
Her arms wrapped tightly around his neck, her cheek pressed against his.
Her warm breath brushed against his ear.
"Master."
Her voice was soft, yet incredibly firm!
"Liguang is here."
"Liguang will always be here."
"No matter what Master wants to do... no matter what Master becomes..."
"Liguang will always be Master's Liguang."
"I will always stand by Master's side."
Fang Qi's laughter... came to an abrupt halt.
He lay there, held by her.
Feeling the warmth radiating from her body, listening to the words she whispered in his ear.
The corners of his mouth twitched again.
This time, it was no longer that strange smile, but a genuine curve from the bottom of his heart.
He raised his hand, gently resting it on the back of her head, and pressed her into his embrace.
"Yeah."
He said softly.
"I know."
The night wind howled as it blew in, rustling their hair.
Fang Qi gently patted her back.
"Let's get up."
Liguang was very obedient, docilely climbing off him.
Fang Qi got up and walked toward An Lian.
Moonlight spilled in through the shattered window, shining on him, and also on... those half-open gray eyes.
She just slumped there, leaning against the wall with her head tilted, her half-open gray eyes still looking in this direction.
Fang Qi crouched down in front of her.
He looked at her, staring for several seconds.
This aloof, professional, and dedicated agent.
This woman who had nearly been strangled to death by Liguang, whose hamstrings had been severed, yet still used her dying breath... trying to tell him the truth.
This woman who seemed... to know his "parents."
She must have known that saying certain things would get her silenced.
She definitely knew.
Was she... driven by him to lose the will to live?
Fang Qi reached out, gently covering her eyes, and slowly closed those gray irises.
He softly murmured in his heart...
I'm sorry.
See you in the next loop, Agent An Lian.
Then he stood up, turning and walking back to Liguang.
The silver-haired girl stood in place, tilting her small head to look at him.
She had seen everything her Master just did, but she didn't speak; she simply reached out and gently grasped his fingers.
Fang Qi held her hand in return:
"Liguang."
His voice was surprisingly calm.
"Hmm?"
The silver-haired girl looked up at him.
"The company won't kill me."
He looked toward the shattered window, and at the pitch-black window on the building opposite them.
"If they wanted to kill me, that bullet just now wouldn't have only hit An Lian."
His voice remained calm, so calm that it even scared himself a little.
His train of thought was also terrifyingly clear.
The final message An Lian left behind... made him incredibly lucid at this moment.
He was already "frenzied" now; that sniper... had every reason to blow his head off with one shot.
But that shot had hit their own agent instead.
Obviously, the company didn't want to kill him yet.
Or rather...
Keeping him alive was still useful to the company.
As for what his use was...
Fang Qi's gaze fell back onto Liguang's pretty face.
Those heterochromatic eyes were reflecting his face.
"They also clearly don't want to completely destroy you."
He continued to calmly voice his speculation to Liguang.
"They know your abilities. If they wanted to destroy you, they wouldn't have just sent these armed personnel."
He looked at the floor of this level. Those dead armed men still maintained the postures they had when they fell.
"These people were perhaps just sent by them to verify your current condition."
It was just that...
They had to use their lives to verify it.
From the very beginning, they were sent here to die.
And just now... he had actually been excited about killing them.
Heh...
"So you see..."
He raised his hand and gently pinched her cheek.
It was soft and still carried a bit of the flushed heat from her recent excitement.
"They neither dare to kill me, nor dare to destroy you."
"So what else can they do?"
Liguang stared at him blankly, blinking her eyes.
Then, in those heterochromatic eyes, that trace of fanatical trust returned!
"M-Master means...?"
Her voice trembled slightly.
Fang Qi didn't answer, only gently patting her small head.
"Let's go. We're going downstairs."
The silver-haired girl muttered, "Downstairs..."
"Yeah."
He nodded, his gaze sweeping once more over An Lian's face, whose eyes were finally closed.
Sweeping over the mess all over the floor, sweeping over this blood-stained corridor.
He then looked out the window at those familiar black-painted helicopters gradually gathering from the horizon.
Then he withdrew his gaze, looking at the charming little face dotted with blood in front of him.
He was very calm.
"Let's go meet them."
He said.
"Let's see what these guys who neither dare to kill me nor destroy you..."
"Can actually..."
"Do to us."
Liguang looked at him.
"Okay."
She said.
"Wherever Master goes, Liguang will go."
That small hand gripped his even tighter.
saw a female celebrity tied up and stuffed in the trunk! Little did he know, countless cameras were aimed at him at this moment - this was a new type of reality show. The first randomly selected passerby was caught in less than an hour. But when Xu Moru was selected, things started to take an unexpected turn. "Damn, this isn't how the script goes. This Xu Moru is too bold, he's not following the rules at all." "Crap, is this guy taking it seriously?" "The female celebrity has been scared to tears!"
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!
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?
