In a moment of desperation, Chongzong instinctively reached out to block the flying dagger, attempting to deflect it from the side of the blade.
"Abandoning the car to protect the general" is a human instinct.
Injuries to the hands can recover, and even if severed, they may not be fatal.
But if the chest is **struck by a knife, basically, life is over.
Therefore, as long as one can survive, the brain will command the body to act, even if losing a hand or leg, one will still press on.
The sharp edge of the blade, the swinging arm, life and death hang in the balance.
In that split second, Chongzong exerted all his strength, but the dagger flew at an incredible speed, combined with Chongzong's forward momentum, further reducing reaction time.
The rotating blade made judgment even more difficult, and in the end, Chongzong failed to find the right angle and ended up forcibly catching the dagger with his arm.
The blade mercilessly tore through Chongzong's clothes, sliced through skin, cut the flesh of his arm, and didn't stop until it deeply cut into the bone.
But the crisis had not passed.
This dagger was just a move that Kumo used to divert Chongzong's attention.
Seizing the opportunity to create distance, she had already drawn her handgun.
This was the killing move.
Chongzong didn't even have time to feel the pain before he had to focus all his attention on dodging this lethal shot.
The outcome was decided.
The opponent was truly cunning.
Even in such a difficult situation, they could still make judgments that maximized their advantage to the fullest.
This person's combat experience far surpassed Chongzong's tenfold or even a hundredfold.
Now, with a distance of over two meters between them, Chongzong was empty-handed while Kumo had the gun in her hand, ready to aim.
Like a butcher holding a cleaver and meat on the cutting board.
What else could be done?
They had reached a dead end.
However, at this life-threatening moment, Chongzong made an unexpected move instinctively.
Without hesitation, he pulled out the dagger stuck in his arm and threw it back at Kumo...!
This unexpected move caught Kumo completely off guard, even making her freeze for a moment.
She didn't know whether to continue aiming at Chongzong or dodge the dagger first...
Then, seizing Kumo's hesitation for a second or two, Chongzong exploited the opportunity and charged towards her.
In the rush, Kumo used the gun body to deflect the incoming dagger. The next moment, Chongzong had already reached her.
The balance of victory and defeat once again teetered on the edge, slightly favoring Chongzong.
At this extremely short range, Kumo's first choice was still to try to shoot.
If one shot hit, victory could be determined.
Usually, people would choose to shoot at the enemy's torso or head, but Kumo didn't make that choice.
With her experience, she knew that trying to raise her hand and shoot at this distance had almost zero chance of success.
At that moment, Kumo aimed at Chongzong's foot.
If she hit his foot, it would deprive him of the ability to move flexibly.
Then she could target other areas to further enhance her advantage.
Calculating in her mind, Kumo pretended to give up shooting and prepared to engage Chongzong in hand-to-hand combat, but in reality, she used the corner of her eye to monitor Chongzong's feet positioning.
Fortunately, Chongzong noticed her unnatural eye movement and swiftly grabbed Kumo's gun hand, forcibly inserting his fingers between the trigger, preventing Kumo from pulling it.
Next, Chongzong's other hand immediately seized Kumo's wrist, trying to twist it in the opposite direction to wrest the gun from her.
As Chongzong predicted, the next step would turn into a struggle over the gun.
However, Kumo's response once again caught Chongzong off guard.
Instead of putting her other hand into the gunfight, she shifted her weight, turning her back to Chongzong.
"Is she going for a back throw?," thought Chongzong.
Quickly, Chongzong also lowered his center of gravity to prevent being thrown off.
But just when Chongzong thought she was about to perform the back throw, Kumo, using her ankle as the axis, spun again. Leveraging her wrist, elbow, and shoulder joints' extreme flexibility, she maneuvered behind Chongzong.
Subsequently, Kumo pulled out a steel wire from her wrist and quickly bound both of Chongzong's hands, including Kumo's holding the gun, together.
In a moment, Chongzong was left confused, not knowing how to respond to this peculiar move, unsure of Kumo's intentions.
But Kumo was clear in her mind. She jumped up, clamping both of Chongzong's waist with her feet, securing her position in mid-air to make up for any height disadvantage.
Then, Kumo, using the wire, looped it around Chongzong's neck, as she released her hold on his legs, leveraging the momentum to lift off the ground. She performed a vertical 180-degree flip in the air, pulling the wire taut around Chongzong's neck.
Though it only bound Chongzong and wasn't lethal, Kumo reversed the situation, taking the initiative.
She knew that in terms of height, physical strength, and power, she was inferior to Chongzong. In close combat without a way to gain absolute advantage, the longer the close combat, the more disadvantageous it became for her compared to him.
Men and women have inherent differences in physical fitness.
Therefore, her primary goal was to restrict Chongzong's movements.
After gaining the upper hand, she would then slowly consider how to expand her advantage.
Now, Chongzong's hands were bound to his neck, standing there, at a loss.
Kumo stood behind Chongzong, facing his back. One hand raised, binding his hands with hers around his neck, while the other hand tightened the wire, controlling Chongzong's movements.
Due to the leverage principle, Kumo only needed a bit of force to counter Chongzong's resistance fully.
As long as she didn't loosen her grip, Chongzong couldn't break free of the wire.
Next, all she had to do was get the gun out.
That's what Kumo thought.
But it was a dilemma.
Because not only she but also Chongzong's hands were on the gun.
It could potentially turn into an awkward deadlock.
"If only someone else could help."
Just as Kumo thought that, she saw Mr. Bai getting off the SUV from afar, holding a gun, walking towards them.
"Mr. Bai is truly something!"
"Incredible! Their teamwork is flawless!"
In an instant, the image of victory already appeared in Kumo's mind. She no longer held back on the wire, lowered herself, tripped Chongzong with a leg sweep, and then used the wire to entangle his ankles.
Now, Chongzong's hands and feet were immobilized, like a sitting duck on the ground.
The only thing left was for Mr. Bai to come and shoot him.
Kumo squatted next to the immobilized Chongzong on the ground, a victorious smile on her face.
What pleased her wasn't just this.
This Chongzong was somewhat a thorn in Mr. Bai's side.
Not long ago, that always arrogant Atlas Brown Bear fell under this young man's hands.
Now, she had captured this young man alive and handed him over to Mr. Bai for personal handling, a feat worthy of great accolades.
Wondering what reward Mr. Bai might give her?
Kumo's mouth was nearly crooked with anticipation.
The heavens had truly been kind to her.
Delivering such a huge piece of meat right to her lips.
Kumo's expression grew more and more sinister with every smile.
The more vigorously Chongzong struggled next to her, the happier she became.
Prey waiting to be slaughtered were all like this, she understood very well.
Because the number of livestock that had perished in Kumo's hands was uncountable.
Twenty years ago, Kumo was seven.
Back then, she wasn't known as Kumo but as Yoshino Saori. For ease of memory, we still call her Kumo.
Her father was the owner of a butcher shop, and her mother helped with sales and bookkeeping.
The family lived a modest life, not rich, but with necessities like food, clothing, shelter, and transportation assured.
Growing up in such a family, despite the constant arguments and discord between her parents, Kumo was a physically and mentally healthy child, with no vices. She went to school obediently every day, did her homework when she got home, and then went to bed.
Until one day, while playing in the household's frozen meat locker, Kumo discovered something.
That day, Kumo happened to see her father putting the key to the freezer away.
The freezer was a place her parents had always forbidden her to go.
The more a child is told not to go somewhere, the more they want to go there.
Of course, adults are the same way.
-
Once inside the freezer, Kumo was as excited as a pirate entering a treasure cave, flipping and looking everywhere.
-
Then, she found an arm.
-
It was a human arm.
-
An arm that seemed to belong to an adult female.
-
The arm had been cleanly cut off at the elbow, the cross-section was very smooth.
-
The skin on the arm was delicate and smooth.
-
Due to being frozen, the skin had turned a bluish color.
-
The fingernails were well preserved, with a beautiful butterfly pattern painted on them.
-
Seven-year-old Kumo felt no fear towards this dead person's arm.
-
On the contrary, she liked it very much, treating the arm like a treasure, as if she had discovered a toy.
-
The reason was, Kumo's parents never bought her toys, or the dolls every little girl would have.
-
At that moment, Kumo saw this arm as her doll, putting a soda can ring on it as a ring, applying gloves, or painting the nails with watercolor.
-
But eventually, the arm disappeared from the freezer.
-
Before Kumo could lament its loss, she found two human legs in the freezer.
-
And so, the freezer became Kumo's playground.
-
She always snuck into the freezer on weekend days when her parents were at the market.
-
This went on for half a year.
-
Kumo was cautious and careful by nature, she was never caught by her parents.
-
After she dressed up the body parts, she always restored them back to their original state before leaving.
-
Clothes could easily be taken off, and the watercolor could be washed off with a solvent, any residues carefully scraped off with a knife, leaving no trace.
-
For Kumo, these "beautiful and fun" days continued until she found a human head in the freezer one day.
-
And this head belonged to her mother.
