Lu Qianqian's hand, reaching out towards the little boy, froze mid-air.
She knew the boy's fear and mistrust were not directed at her.
Yet, a chill still crept into her heart.
Soon, the town's police, or rather, the government soldiers, arrived.
It was the same group from yesterday's checkpoint.
The leader was still that officer with the brutish face.
When he saw the corpses and spent shell casings littering the ground,
his expression turned grim.
When his eyes fell upon Ji Wushuang, a flicker of poorly concealed wariness, even fear, passed through them.
He did not question Ji Wushuang.
Instead, he ordered his men to roughly disperse the gathering crowd.
Then, he organized his people to begin cleaning up the scene.
Ji Wushuang, holding Lu Qianqian and Annie, prepared to leave.
Just then, Annie suddenly grabbed her arm.
"Wait."
Annie pointed at a dead bandit.
"Look, on his arm."
Ji Wushuang followed her gaze.
On the bandit's arm was a black scorpion tattoo.
It resembled the pattern on her lighter.
But, not exactly.
This scorpion's tail was red.
"That's a 'Red Scorpion' man,"
Annie's voice was tight.
"They're the most brutal faction among the northern rebels. What are they doing here?"
Ji Wushuang's eyes also darkened.
She understood now.
This wasn't a simple robbery.
It was a premeditated terrorist attack.
Their goal probably wasn't money at all.
But to sow panic and chaos.
She looked back at the officer and found him also staring at the tattoo.
His face wore a complex mix of anger and fear.
He, too, seemed to realize the gravity of the situation.
Back at the aid station, the oppressive atmosphere did not lift.
After returning to her room, Lu Qianqian remained silent.
She didn't cry.
She just sat on the edge of the bed, staring blankly out the window.
Downstairs, Annie was in urgent discussions with Jacob and several core members of the station.
Ji Wushuang stayed with her in the room.
She cleaned her weapon.
This time, it wasn't the dagger, but a gun.
She remembered Lu Qianqian's back in the marketplace, standing up and walking towards that orphan.
That back looked frail, as if it might collapse.
Yet, it held an undeniable strength.
She remembered the first time she had killed someone.
After the initial discomfort passed,
killing had become, for her, a precise, emotionless technical action.
She thought her heart had grown as cold as the gun in her hand.
But today felt different.
Seeing that dead mother.
Seeing that boy turned orphan.
Seeing the pain and confusion in Lu Qianqian's eyes.
She felt a long-scabbed-over place in her heart
tear open a small fissure.
So, evil doesn't completely vanish after being killed.
It leaves behind these ugly, unhealing scars.
Ji Wushuang looked out the window.
At this impoverished, chaotic city.
She suddenly gained a new understanding of Lu Chenyuan and Lu Qianqian's seemingly crazy decision.
Perhaps, only by witnessing such hell firsthand
can one truly understand how precious the word "human world" is.
And truly understand what it is one wants to protect.
What she was protecting was no longer just a contract, a mission.
But a fool who, after seeing hell, still wanted to create heaven.
A precious ideal.
Just then, Lu Qianqian turned around and looked straight at Ji Wushuang.
"Wushuang-jie."
Lu Qianqian's voice was hoarse.
"I'm okay now."
Ji Wushuang looked up at her.
The girl's eyes were still red.
But there was no fear in them anymore.
Only a settled determination.
"I want to learn how to shoot,"
Lu Qianqian said.
Her voice was quiet, yet firm and resolute.
Ji Wushuang looked at her, silent for a long time.
Then, she nodded.
"Okay."
...
That afternoon, Lu Qianqian completed the final round of price verification for basic supplies in the surrounding areas.
She handed a thick stack of notes to Annie.
"Annie-jie, the first draft of my research report is done."
"So fast?"
Annie was surprised.
She took the report and quickly flipped through it.
The handwriting was neat, the data detailed.
It was completely unlike something a pampered young lady could produce.
"Qianqian, you..."
Annie looked up, about to say something,
but saw Lu Qianqian's gaze fixed on a map on the wall.
It was a tribal distribution map of K country's deeper interior.
"Annie-jie,"
Lu Qianqian pointed to an area on the map called "Walu."
"Do we still have staff stationed there?"
A trace of worry appeared on Annie's face.
"Yes."
"Lin Ke and Uncle Zhao."
"They went there for geological surveys and water source testing almost half a month ago."
"We lost contact with them three days ago."
"Lost contact?"
Lu Qianqian asked, puzzled.
"Mhm, it's strange,"
Annie rubbed her temples.
"The Walu tribe is famously peaceful in this region. That area has always been our safe zone."
Ji Wushuang, who had been standing quietly nearby, heard Annie's description.
Her own risk assessment for that region was also at a relatively low level.
"That's precisely why I'm worried,"
Annie's tone, however, carried concern.
"I'm worried it's not an armed conflict, but that they fell ill, or their equipment failed, trapping them in the mountains. That mountainous area has plenty of poisonous insects and wild beasts too."
Lu Qianqian looked at the map in silence.
After a moment, she said,
"The final part of my research involves the living conditions in primitive tribal areas."
"Walu was originally one of the options."
"I'll make it my last stop."
"And, we'll go bring them back,"
Lu Qianqian said, her voice calm and firm.
Annie was taken aback. After a moment of silence, she said,
"Alright. But, don't ignore any security risks."
Lu Qianqian nodded. Then, her gaze turned to Ji Wushuang.
"Wushuang-jie, you'll protect me, right?"
Ji Wushuang looked at her.
At this girl who, just days ago, had been pale with fright.
Now, there was no fear in her eyes, only resolve.
Ji Wushuang did not answer her question.
She simply said to Annie,
"Give me a copy of Lin Ke and the other's files, and a detailed map of the Walu region."
Annie finally sighed.
"That area isn't technically a warzone, but the journey still isn't safe."
"I'll arrange a local guide for you. His name is Omar, he's from the Walu tribe. He knows the way and can take you there."
"But, at most, he can only take you to the outskirts of the tribe."
"Okay," Ji Wushuang nodded.
transmigrates into the world as the sect master of the Heavenly Yan Sect, which is on the verge of being wiped out. He binds a system that grants him cultivation power based on the number of disciples he has: for each disciple, he automatically gains a year's worth of cultivation every single day! Take one disciple: every day he gains 1 year of cultivation power. While others struggle through a year of bitter training, he gets the same just by sleeping through a single night. Take ten disciples: every day he gains 10 years of cultivation power. Foundation Establishment, Core Formation, Nascent Soul—he breezes through all bottlenecks without lifting a finger. Take one hundred disciples: every day he gains 100 years of cultivation power. Even a Soul Transformation Venerable before him can’t survive a single blow. Take ten thousand disciples: every day he gains 10,000 years of cultivation power! With a wave of his hand, he topples empires. With a single step, he crushes the sacred grounds of the universe. ... While others fight tooth and nail for secret techniques, Lin Yan casually hands out Nascent Soul-level cultivation manuals as beginner textbooks. While others strain to find talented recruits, Lin Yan opens his doors to anyone—so long as they’re human. In just three short years, the Heavenly Yan Sect went from a backwater sect made up of three crumbling huts to a sacred land that every cultivator under heaven would kill to enter. ... One day, otherworldly demon gods invade, with a million demon soldiers pressing down upon the realm. Lin Yan, yawning, rises from his lounge chair and glances at the system panel: [Current Disciples: 1.28 million] [Daily Cultivation Increase: 1.28 million years] He waves his hand casually, and the countless demon soldiers are reduced to ashes in an instant. “So noisy… interrupting my fishing.”
young master of the Shen family—a figure of immense power and wealth beyond measure—and awakened the "Destined Ultimate Villain System"! His starting scenario? Running into his icy fiancée who shows up with a mountain-descending divine doctor to break off their engagement. The divine doctor arrogantly taunts: "What does your Shen family have besides a bit of stinking money? You're not even worthy of tying Qingxue's shoelaces!" Shen Fei just smiled. He completely defied the usual script: "Fine, I agree to break off the engagement. Also, notify the finance department to withdraw all investments from the Su family." Minutes later, with its capital chain severed, the Su Group teetered on the brink of bankruptcy! The once aloof and proud ice queen CEO was thrown into utter panic. That very night, she went to Shen Fei's villa, casting aside all dignity to beg and plead desperately... From then on, in this world teeming with Sons of Destiny, Shen Fei embarked on a path of extreme dimensional suppression! A mountain-descending divine doctor? Peerless medical skills? Shen Fei: "Reporting you for practicing medicine without a license! I'll gladly take your ancient medicinal cauldron and twin sister assassins." The Crooked-Smiling Dragon King? Commanding a hundred thousand soldiers with a single order? Shen Fei: "Illegal assembly and suspected treason! Let a fleet of attack helicopters sanitize the area and teach you what the state apparatus really means!" A reborn tycoon? Knows all the golden opportunities of the next decade? Shen Fei: "A trillion in capital to reverse and pump the stock market, making you blow your margin and jump on the very first day of your rebirth!" What Chosen Ones? What bearers of Heavenly Fortune? In Shen Fei's eyes, they're all just chives (i.e., suckers/marks) waiting to be harvested! Shen Fei: "Sorry, but as the Destined Ultimate Villain, I don't play by the rules of honor. I only play the game of dimensional suppression."
lanned to earn money steadily and take life at a slower pace. But he never expected... his father's remarriage, and the stepmother bringing along a dependent, would completely disrupt his life's plans...
e bizarre and supernatural had descended. The previous emperor was a thoroughgoing tyrant; no longer satisfied with human women, he had set his sights on a stunningly beautiful supernatural entity. He met his end in his bedchamber, drained of all his vital essence. As the legitimate eldest son and crown prince, Wang Hao was thus hastily enthroned, becoming the young emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty. No sooner had he awakened the "Imperial Sign-In Intelligence System" than he was assassinated by a Son of Destiny—a classic villain's opening. The Great Zhou, ravaged by the former emperor's excesses, was in national decline. The great families within its borders harbored their own treacherous schemes, martial sects began to defy the imperial court's decrees, and border armies, their pay and provisions in arrears, grumbled incessantly against the central government. Fortunately, the central capital was still held secure by the half-million Imperial Guards and fifty thousand Imperial Forest Army who obeyed the court's orders, along with the royal family's hidden reserves of power, barely managing to suppress the realm. As the Great Zhou's finances worsened and supernatural activities grew ever more frequent, the court sat atop a volcano. Ambitious plotters everywhere dreamed of overthrowing the dynasty, and even some reclusive ancient powers emerged, attempting to sway the tides of the world. At the first grand court assembly, the civil and military officials nearly came to blows, fighting tooth and nail over the allocation of fifty million taels of silver from the summer tax revenues. The spectacle opened Wang Hao's eyes—the Great Zhou's bureaucracy was not only corrupt but also martially proficient, a cabinet of all-rounders. Some officials even had the audacity to suggest the emperor release funds from the imperial privy purse to address the emergency. Wang Hao suddenly felt weary. Let it all burn.
