The night held its breath; a golden silhouette stitched across the sky.
"This the building?" Little Loli stood on the roof like a cat on a ridge, peering down.
A few red dots glowed in the basement like embers in ash.
"Blood Pool." Her voice was a breeze over still water, then she melted into a reeking crimson puddle.
The blood slid into the rooftop drain like a snake returning to its burrow.
A wet stain blossomed at the hideout door like spilled wine.
If anyone had seen what came next, their world would’ve cracked like thin ice at midnight.
The puddle floated upward, thickened, and knit into a human outline like frost forming on glass.
A heartbeat later, our adorable Little Loli stood there, moonlight on her lashes.
Her first move wasn’t to scout; it was to check her clothes with a breath held like a drum.
"Whew... scared me." Xiao Qianxue patted her tender chest; her golden ponytail bobbed like a little bell.
"I worried the Blood Pool would strip my outfit. Guess I overthought it."
She smoothed her slightly mussed golden strands, then rapped on the door.
Bang, bang, bang—like a knocker on a coffin lid.
"Who’s banging at this hour? Da Mao, check it. Careful," the gang boss muttered from the sofa like a drowsy jackal.
"Yo, boss! We got a prize!" Da Mao shouted, eyes gleaming like thieves’ knives.
"It’s the blond little girl from this morning, the one near the target!"
"Oh yeah?" The boss sat up; his spirit sparked like flint to tinder.
From the hall, Little Loli’s voice drifted in like smoke.
"Won’t you let me in? Making a girl wait isn’t what a gentleman does, especially a very cute girl."
"Da Mao, let her in. She’s alone; she can’t pull any tricks," the boss ordered, his uninjured fingers drumming the table like rain.
Under a herd of leering eyes, Little Loli walked in, calm as a lantern on a still pond.
Da Mao peeked into the night like a rat at a granary, saw no one, shut the door, and slid the lock.
With her inside, the gang closed in, grins oily as lamp smoke.
The boss flicked a hand back, like a whip crack, and the men grudgingly fell away.
"Talk. Why are you here, and how’d you find us?" His voice shook like a wire under strain.
He wanted to pounce, to cage this otherworldly cute girl, but shock kept his urge on a leash.
"You want me to stand and talk?" Little Loli kept her head bowed, voice flat as winter rain, bangs veiling her eyes like a curtain.
"Fine. We’ll oblige you, and you’ll oblige us after," the boss said, forcing calm as if chewing ice.
He had a chair brought over with a scrape like a blade on stone.
She sat with grace, then raised her head and leveled her gaze at him like a blade laid across a throat.
"Y-you... why are your eyes red?" The boss flinched; his voice leaked fear like steam from a cracked kettle.
"That’s not your worry." Little Loli drew her long golden ponytail over her chest, stroking it like silk over jade.
"Oh? A finger’s gone. Punishment for botching the job?"
Her glance skimmed him and caught the white bandage where a finger should be, neat as chalk on slate.
"Hmph, so what? You’re in our hands," the boss said, dream of power swelling like a tide.
"We’ll use you to bait the target. She’ll walk into our net."
"Oh? Then let me ask a few questions. After that, decide your fate," Little Loli said with a smiling lilt, a childish tone that wormed into bone.
He took her words wrong and snapped, eager as a dog on a chain: "Then hurry up!"
"Disgusting," Little Loli murmured, a crease of disdain like a cut of frost.
"First, why are you kidnapping Joanna?
Second, is there a hand behind the curtain?
Third... I’ll ask in a moment."
"Ask that old codger for the reason.
Lately he’s been restless.
The vice commander—our handler—wants a chance to rise, so he’s set his sights on the old man’s granddaughter."
The boss rattled off answers, simple as beads on a string.
"What’s the third? Make it quick.
I’m running out of patience," he barked, eyes greening like a starving wolf.
"Don’t rush," Little Loli cooed, voice sweet as honey over a knife’s edge.
"The third is this: are you ready to die?"
The word died on the air, and her pupils flashed blood-crimson, like twin coals in a brazier.
Her hands shed their softness and bloomed into claws like crescent blades.
She pushed off the chair, flipped back like a swallow, and planted both feet on a thug too slow to dodge.
One claw slid through his heart like a hot needle through wax.
In two seconds, he shriveled into a husk, dry as winter reeds.
Panic burst among the thugs like a flock of sparrows exploding from brush.
The boss blanched, then roared, voice cracking like a whip.
"Calm down! She’s alone; we’re many. Grab something and smash her!"
Their heads cleared at his shout; they snatched chairs and iron rods and charged like a muddy wave.
"Give up. You can’t beat me," Little Loli grinned, showing teeth sharp as ice.
She thrust both hands into the two who rushed first, bodies parting like wet paper.
Blood fountained over her like red rain, warm as fresh wine.
"He—help—" One tried to speak, but breath died like a guttered candle.
Crimson slicked her from collar to heel, yet on black cloth it hid like ink in midnight.
"It’s been so long since I tasted fresh blood. Delicious," she breathed, eyes shining with desire like stars caught in a dark well.
Something in her clicked open like a forbidden door.
It didn’t take long; only the boss remained standing, swaying like a reed before a storm.
"You... what are you?" he howled, despair gnawing him like rust.
He had watched his men die one by one, helpless as mortals before an iron-blooded monster.
"Me?" Little Loli chuckled low, then appeared before him like a shadow skipping a stone.
"You don’t qualify to know."
Pain ripped him open; he felt his blood rush toward the wound like a river seeking the sea.
"I—" He tried one last word, then bled out, life draining like sand in an hourglass.
"Ten of you. A tidy profit tonight." She tidied the scene with motions neat as folded paper.
Then Little Loli slipped back into Blood Pool and rose to the rooftop like mist up a cliff.
She vanished into the night, a candle snuffed by the wind.
