"..."
Tang Coco didn’t answer Li Muyan. Her voice stayed frost, her arms stayed steady. She carried the girl to the center of the hall, into the delegation’s cluster, and handed her to the middle‑aged man sitting ramrod‑straight on the floor like a pillar lodged in stone.
“Let her rest.”
Her tone was calm, like winter water under ice.
“Alright.”
Li Shoujing nodded, relief loosening his breath like steam in cold air. He took his daughter and held her tight, guarding her like a hearth. He didn’t ask Tang Coco anything; patience sat in his eyes like a mountain that knows dawn will come.
“Damn it! So arrogant!”
The garish woman snapped, jealousy flaring like dry brush catching fire. Tang Coco’s proud face struck her like a thorn.
She shouted, and a vine whip bloomed in her hand like a green serpent; it snapped toward Tang Coco with a hiss.
“Careful!”
Li Muyan’s voice broke with panic, a sparrow’s cry in a storm.
“Heh.”
Tang Coco’s laugh was soft, a ripple on still water.
“I Field.”
Red particles flared to life, fireflies swarming into a sphere around her. The vine whip cracked against the swarm and shattered at once, crumbling into dust like brittle leaves in autumn wind.
“What!”
The other Abnormals gasped, like reeds rattled by sudden thunder. Their leader, a middle‑aged man, frowned and watched, eyes steady as a hunter at dusk; he knew impulse was a trap and kept reading her Anomaly Power like tracks in snow.
“You did those wounds, didn’t you…”
Tang Coco’s gaze cut cold as iron. She meant the whip marks on Li Muyan.
“I did! So what! You fox‑spirits should all die!”
The woman ranted like a street shrew, her envy boiling over, mind losing its anchor like a boat in rough tide.
Tang Coco had her answer. The red particles thickened, a crimson sandstorm rising to veil sight. In moments, the rest could no longer see her within the glow.
“Hah, just a turtle in a shell? Don’t you dare look down on me!”
The woman roared, then drove her Anomaly Power madly. Vines surged and wrapped her whole body, weaving a three‑meter green brute, only her face left exposed—twisted by rage like bark warped by lightning.
Inside the red sphere…
“Close‑combat Armor, engage.”
Tang Coco spoke as if naming rain.
“Understood.”
By then, the green brute had already charged, vine‑braided arms rearing high and hammering toward the red field like a siege ram.
“Fall back!!!”
The middle‑aged leader felt danger bite like cold steel. He shouted to the woman, but the shout came too late.
A purple rift opened at the front of the spherical I Field, like a crack in evening sky. A blur shot out, swift as a hawk. It skimmed past the green brute’s flank; the hall fell silent, air holding its breath. The red field faded like embers dying. The green giant froze mid‑motion. Every eye snapped to a figure standing farther behind it.
Tang Coco crouched low, a panther at rest. Deep‑violet Armor graced her frame; no mask this time. Her long red hair streamed back, lifted by energy like flame in wind. Four rhomboid thrusters hovered at her spine, their mouths aglow. In her hands, two long, slender mechanical sabers gleamed—moonlight forged into blades.
“No… no…”
The green brute’s voice cracked with pain and despair, a reed snapping. Her body parted at the waist, folding to the floor, blood spilling like a dark river. The sight was brutal, but they weren’t ordinary civilians; shock bit, fear held at bay.
Tang Coco turned, gaze glacial, weighing the remaining Abnormals like wolves in snow.
“You killed three of my men and won’t even say your name. Isn’t that a bit much…”
The middle‑aged leader spoke coldly, his words like winter wind.
“Oh? For a terror outfit like yours, am I really out of line?”
Tang Coco’s reply was a knife’s smile.
“Hmph! Don’t underestimate us!”
A short‑haired youth spat lightning into his hands; sparks danced like fireflies, then he rushed Tang Coco in a thunderbolt dash.
Tang Coco’s mouth tilted, a crescent of mockery. He lunged; she slipped aside in a blink, a shadow sliding off a wall. Her blade followed, a horizontal sweep like tide cutting sand. The youth’s head rolled; blood fountained, red rain on cold stone.
“...”
The room felt it now: something was wrong. There are many ways to kill; she chose the bloodiest path, a ritual of steel and fear.
“I’ll give you one chance. Let the girl behind you leave. Now.”
Tang Coco’s eyes burned scarlet, twin coals under frost. Unseen, the leader had already drifted to shield the small girl, guarding her like a pine in wind; he truly cared.
“...”
“Xiao Ya, go wait for us at the airport.”
He thought for a beat, then spoke, voice gravel over ice.
“No! I’m not leaving…”
Her defiance rose, a wild shoot cracking concrete.
“You have to go. You shouldn’t have come to this mission at all. You’ll only get in our way!”
He roared, thunder rolling from a stormed heart.
“...”
The girl shrank under the roar, a candle guttering.
“Open a long‑range gate. Send her near the airport!”
He barked to the tech youth, words like iron.
“Yes!”
“But Captain, AIM’s energy can only power one long‑range gate for now.”
The youth’s voice trembled, a wire under strain.
“It’s fine. We’ll deal with her, then find our own way out!”
He glared at Tang Coco, rage a blade he gripped too tight.
“Yes!”
“You’re still not moving?! How long are you going to dawdle!”
He shouted again at the girl standing distant, his temper a wildfire.
“...”
No choice. The girl shot Tang Coco a venomous glare, a snake’s eye in grass, then turned and stepped into the portal. The door snapped shut like a book ending a chapter.
