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.
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!
ing gift was a patch of barren land, and disciples were all picked up along the way. He spent fifty years diligently building three "ramshackle little sects," thinking he could finally live a carefree life relying on his disciples. But right at the fifty-year mark, he was suddenly swept away by a spatial rift and exiled to the Chaos Desolation, the Disorderly Ruins. There was no spiritual energy there, only slaughter. Relying on the cultivation feedback from his disciples, Gu Changyuan hacked his way through a sea of blood for eleven hundred years. When the system finally fished him back out, he discovered the ramshackle little sects he'd built back then had developed a rather... unusual style. Hold on... I vanished for a thousand years, so how did my ramshackle little sects become holy lands?!
lan, the Luo family, tracked him down - along with the babies in their arms. Mo Xuan stared pensively at the paternity test results from over a dozen top institutions, both domestic and international, showing a 99.99% match between himself and the two baby girls. At 23, Mo Xuan, a doctoral student, had become the father of two three-year-old children. The kicker? The mothers weren't even the same person! He gradually realized he was being lured step by step into an elaborate trap designed by these two yandere sisters. "Be good, little Xuan. Sister's life belongs to you entirely." "Brother, if you try to run away, I'll have no choice but to tie you up." Mo Xuan: "Do whatever you want, ladies. I give up."
ose... to cooperate with the protagonist! Shen Yuan: I have a system! Protagonist: What? System: Holy crap, you're just spilling it out like that? Shen Yuan: Let's team up, we'll split the system rewards! Protagonist: Fifty-fifty split? Shen Yuan: No way! Protagonist: What!? I'm the one getting beaten up, and I don't get half? Shen Yuan: Forty-sixty split, I get forty, you get sixty! Protagonist: Deal! Big brother, come on, hit me! As long as it doesn't kill me, beat me like you mean it! Shen Yuan: Don't worry... I will definitely protect all of you! No one but me can lay a finger on you! Guard our Heaven's Chosen Ones! I'm the only one allowed to bully them!
