Chapter One
1
In the capital of the empire, this day is a very important day for the entire empire - "Declaration Day".
"Declaration Day" is when the emperor addresses the common people, explaining the development prospects of the empire and the achievements of the previous year, while inspiring both the military and the civilians. Most importantly, it is a time for the emperor to account for the numerous cases of "public murders" in the empire.
Emperor Ziliexiong of the empire stands in front of the gates of the central imperial palace in the capital, surrounded by millions of people. The event is being broadcasted nationwide and every channel is focusing on this moment.
As the sun sets behind the western mountains, the solemn gates of the imperial palace open. The emperor is dressed neatly, in a simple yet lavish attire that shimmers and captivates under the lights.
The crowd at the gathering is very excited, expressing their opinions through cheers and shouts. There are all kinds of words, both insults and praises, but everything remains orderly.
At this time, the whole empire seems to have concentrated in this place, as everyone is almost here. The shops along the streets are unattended, there are no security guards in the skyscrapers, let alone working people. Only the guard dogs are left in the residential areas.
Three kilometers away from the palace, the lights in the city center flicker sparsely, unable to compare with the bustling nights of the capital in the past. No one can see the figure hanging between two skyscrapers.
Inside the palace, the masked royal guards stand guard around the palace, completely unaware of the person's presence.
The fully black sniper rifle appears, with a three-millimeter small caliber and a full length of 1,330 millimeters. Although the rifle is long, it weighs only three kilograms. The small caliber sub-Magic bullets are quiet and perfect for killing during the gathering, easily disguised under the sounds of people.
The person hanging upside down holds their breath and focuses, aiming the sniper scope at the gate of the emperor.
The emperor of the empire stands on the stage, delivering a long speech with a solemn expression and righteous words. The audience below reacts strongly, completely immersed in this announcement.
The person on top of the skyscraper carefully feels the direction of the wind and calculates meticulously.
"Hiss!" The slight sound of tearing paper is heard, and the gun does not produce any sparks. The three-millimeter live bullet flies at a speed of 600 meters per second.
The person hanging upside down swings on a steel wire, the recoil of the sniper rifle causing them to trace a semicircular arc with a steel wire between the two skyscrapers. The person gracefully lands on the wire, facing away from the bullet flying towards them and the target, exuding confidence. Their face is covered by a mask that has been absent from the Othrie Empire for eighteen years.
"Ding!" The sound of the bullet colliding with metal rings out. The bullet aimed at the emperor's body veers off from its calculated trajectory, piercing through the walls of the front building, breaking through the walls of five consecutive buildings, embedding itself into the ground at a forty-five-degree angle, still advancing five hundred meters.
"If this bullet were to enter and exit the emperor's body, it would definitely be very difficult to survive." Qin Ying sits on the steel wire, holding the black Pair of Stars. The warmth on the gun indicates it has just been fired, and the reason for the use of live bullets is evident.
The masked person quickly attacks after spotting Qin Ying, colliding fiercely with their white Pair of Stars and the sniper rifle. At the same time, the masked person retreats, jumping off the wire while cutting the wire attached to their body.
"Hiss!" In mid-air, the masked person fires a shot towards Qin Ying as they turn around, tearing through the paper just like before.
Qin Ying's magical gun fires simultaneously, with three bullets firing together. One bullet hits the sniper rifle bullet, while the two black and white Magic bullets avoid it and attack from both sides.
The masked person throws a silver spear from their hand, attaching a wire to the building on their left side, pulling their body through the broken window and hiding inside the building.
The masked person rolls on the ground, and the bright and dark Magic bullets from above shower the building, riddling it with bullet holes. The entire battlefield becomes empty, and Qin Ying does not need to worry at all.
"Hiss!" The masked man found an opening and quickly fired two shots, which was already the limit for this sniper rifle when it came to consecutive shots in such a short time.
"Hmm!" Two bullets narrowly avoided Qin Ying's frenzied barrage of Magic Bullets and appeared in front of Qin Ying.
"Bang!" The masked man broke open another window on the other side and jumped out, his spear flying towards another building.
A dark Magic Bullet flew out of the building, but it was clear that a single bullet couldn't harm the masked man, let alone even touch him. However, right after that, a bright Magic Bullet erupted in mid-air, releasing a bright light that illuminated the sky. This served as a signal to the distant army and royal guards, while in the illuminated area, countless dark Magic Bullets shot out directly towards the masked man.
"What is that?" The royal guards simultaneously noticed the distant light.
"You two go and check it out. The rest of you, maintain defense and escort the emperor back to the palace."
The royal guards approached the emperor and whispered in his ear to explain the situation.
"Apologies to all citizens of the empire, the 'Day of Reckoning' ends here..." As the guard was explaining the situation to the whole nation, he suddenly saw bullets coming towards them, narrowly missing the spot where the emperor had just stood, like lightning.
In the distance, the masked man dodged countless dark bullets, recalculating distance and wind speed in the critical moment before shooting. However, the preparation time for shooting was too short, with too many limiting factors, making it impossible to aim accurately.
Qin Ying rushed out of the building and appeared behind the masked man, with the barrel of her magic gun pressed against the back of his head.
"You won't succeed!"
The masked man chuckled softly, lowered his head to dodge the bullets from the twin stars, and violently hit Qin Ying's ankle with the butt of his sniper rifle, causing her to lose balance. In an instant, the sniper rifle was aimed at Qin Ying's head.
"Drop your weapon!" The masked man was surrounded by two royal guards.
"Miss Qin Ying, are you alright?"
"Capture him!"
"Hiss!" The masked man immediately fired his gun, but the people under his gun had already disappeared. Qin Ying shot him in the cheek with her magic gun right in front of him, followed by another shot. With her ankle injured and unable to stand on the ground, Qin Ying could only rely on magic to float, but she found that she was more agile while floating.
The royal guards moved forward to surround the masked man. His close combat skills were unexpectedly good, knocking out two royal guards in just a few moves.
"Who are you?" Qin Ying looked at his skilled techniques for knocking out the guards in awe.
The masked man made a provocative gesture towards Qin Ying. The mask seemed to crack, and it was feared that another hit would reveal his true face.
"A real arrogant one!" The contract on Qin Ying's back glowed brightly, and the masked man could feel the powerful magic approaching.
In the distance, Zilie Xiong turned around and saw two pillars of black and white energy streak across the sky. Terrified civilians were guided by the military to leave the gathering.
"The empire has been very unstable recently, all thanks to someone."
"Your Majesty, you should return immediately."
The emperor retreated into the palace, and the entire empire saw the incident unfold in the midst of the gathering. This event would undoubtedly become front-page news the next day.
Qin Ying floated in mid-air, looking into the distance. Although there was a pool of blood on the ground, she couldn't find the owner of the bloodstain. Qin Ying understood that letting the other party escape this time was her negligence, and she had to immediately pursue the culprit, but her injured ankle also needed treatment.
"Miss Qin Ying!" The two guards managed to stand up. One of them took a step forward and found that the path ahead was a gap between tall buildings, with a height difference of over two hundred floors. It was enough to scare anyone.
"I will find him. You should remember each other's features and issue a warrant."
"Um... Miss Qin Ying, is it issued in the name of the Duke?"
"You can issue it in the name of the Emperor, it's all the same."
"Ah... ah?" The guard watched Qin Ying leave, but he still couldn't confirm who the warrant was issued by.
Another guard sighed lightly and said, "When the royal guard issues a warrant, it is naturally in the name of His Majesty. Let's go! Late-night snacks are impossible tonight."
The shooting incident that occurred tonight was very serious because the other party penetrated deep into the imperial capital and attacked the Emperor. Even if they were not successful, it was still a shocking incident that shook the entire country. The four dukes and all relevant departments will not be able to sleep peacefully tonight.
2
In the far east of the empire, along the coastal border, there is a row of islands. The sea is never calm at night. A giant cargo ship is returning from a neighboring country, loaded with goods, slowly moving forward on the sea surface. The crew is not on duty or in bed at this time. Instead, they huddle together, trembling and holding each other tightly. The sight of dozens of burly men holding each other tightly is also rare.
From time to time, there are dull and eerie sounds coming from beneath the cargo ship. Sailors who have been sailing in this area for a long time can no longer tolerate this strange sound.
Suddenly, a sailor pulls out a knife from behind and stabs it into the body of his comrade whom he was just embracing. On the cargo ship, at the moment when this fallen sailor makes a move, a senseless situation of mutual killing inexplicably begins.
If the sailors were still rational, they would have noticed that there were numerous corpses floating on the sea surface, coming from the islands to the east. This island did not belong to Othrie, but was a small island of an island nation.
The entire sea area is still enveloped in a dull eerie sound. It is the source of annoyance and the poison that drives people to lose their sanity. More and more incidents of humans killing each other occur, and in a short period of two weeks, this sea area is completely abandoned. All the islands are empty, and it seems that not even fish have swam through this sea area.
All these strange incidents were unanimously blamed on a completely unaware country by the neighboring island nation.
