“This is it.” She swung the cabinet open; a hidden keypad crouched in the far back corner like a mouse hiding in grain.
“Password’s… 9527.” Her fingers danced like rain on leaves; the bar’s rosewood skin flipped, molting into a cool LCD sheen. The screen locked like a sealed gate. Crack this, and the path below would open like a well under the floor.
“Hoshina, it’s your show now.” Emotion tightened and then eased; Xiao Qianxue raised her right hand, her watch blooming a green blade of light that swept the screen like a scythe through grass. “All set. Xiaoxue, shine later, over.” Hoshina’s voice fluttered in her ear like a dragonfly; “Unlock Successful” flared across the glass like dawn on water.
“Leave it to me.” Calm settling like dust, the blonde girl killed the watch and dropped through the secret passage behind her like a leaf into a deep well.
“Hey, Hoshina…” In a blue Mercedes coiled in a shadowed alley like a sleeping cat, Bloo tapped the line to Hoshina back at base.
“What’s up, Lan?” Her reply came warm and quick, like sunlight on a window.
“I remember the newest base. The Ouyang Clan outfitted their people with that drug.” His voice stayed level, but a weight hung there like storm air.
“Yeah. They did. Filthy imports from Europe.” Heat flared in Hoshina’s tone like a struck match.
“Then sending Xiao Qianxue in is serving her up on a platter.” Bloo slid a blue gauntlet over his hand; metal seated with a clack-clack, like ice locking in place. “And you didn’t even tell her.”
“Relax. It’s training. And close the door, Lan. The grunts’ stuff isn’t pure; only their leader has the real blood,” Hoshina sighed, a fan folding shut in the dark. “I’ll ping you if it turns critical. You can cross the city in a few breaths anyway, and I gave Xiaoxue a little emergency toy.”
“Fine. I’ll explain when she’s back.” The car door thumped shut like a drum; Bloo kept the gauntlet on and turned toward the stronghold like a compass swinging north. High walls stacked like cliffs, but behind his shades, a blue pupil flickered like a pilot light.
“Guys, we’ve got company.” Down in the underground base, a comm tech peeled off his headset like lifting a leech and called into the hall.
“Our CCTV got looped at some point; it’s just cycling a pattern like a broken windmill. We’ve lost every feed except the main hall.”
“Calls upstairs got no response!”
“Well now. Someone found this burrow already.” A black-robed figure flowed into view like a slice of night, voice dry as winter bark. “We’ve been open less than a week. Those three upstairs were trash, sure, but to hit them before they could call? Sounds like a nasty esper.”
“Sir!”
“Sir!”
Work halted like a tide drawing back. “Ignore me. Get the rest here, now. Find a headcount on the enemy. I’ll contact HQ.” He vanished like smoke through a crack.
“Another one down.” The blonde girl glanced at the corpse at her boots, eyes cool as frost; she swapped the mags on her Eternal Twin Stars and moved forward low, a panther slipping through reeds.
Not many had abilities along the way; one guy flared fire from his hands like a torch, probably a squad lead from his gear. He cost some sweat, but the regular members were tough as woven rope.
“Who’s there?” From far ahead, even with the blonde girl in full silent mode, an esper spotted her like a hawk catching a ripple in grass. “Sharp eyes,” she sang, voice sweet and ringing, like sugar on glass. “If your friends saw this well, they wouldn’t have died so fast.”
He didn’t wait for anime timing and cooldowns. He went for his gun mid-speech, steel flashing like a fish. “Pointless. Enjoy death.” Xiao Qianxue flicked her wrist; her rounds met his in midair with sparks like flint, then rode the rebound like stepping stones, snapping faster toward his face.
But the man in the suit wasn’t simple. He bent back hard, spine like a bowstring; one round scraped his nose like a cold kiss. He breathed a lucky breath and started up—then felt something hard and icy press under his jaw like a shard of winter. “Bye-bye.”
Pop. A soft shot blossomed like a black flower; darkness poured in forever as the bullet drew a clean line from neck to crown.
She could’ve taken him from afar without a ripple. Peace had dulled the blade for a while; the killing edge woke like steel leaving its sheath.
“Next.”
She met a few more fools on the way; they fell like cut reeds, then no more espers showed. Confusion pricked like nettles. She swept room after room, empty shells under her gaze. She trusted Hoshina’s craft to cripple this base’s security for a lifetime, but the shape of the hunt felt off, like wind shifting before rain.
“Half the headcount down… and only the main hall’s left.” She studied the holo-map flaring from her watch like a floating city; the hall alone sat in gray, unknown.
“So be it. Let’s go look.” Heart steady as a drum, the blonde girl sprinted for the hall, footsteps pattering like rain.
“Why are there only this many?” In the hall, the last squad leader stared at eleven espers lined up like thin candles. “How many are we even facing?”
“Report, sir. We came as ordered. The dead didn’t even get radios on—snuffed before a word.”
“Damn it. Get ready. The enemy’s about to hit. You, bring the serum from upstairs.” His heel struck the floor like a stamp; the order flew like a thrown knife.
Bang. The door burst open like a thunderclap, and white light flooded their eyes like snow on a noon field.
“Is this… your welcome for me?” Xiao Qianxue stood in the doorway with tactical goggles gleaming like cold jade; her lips curled in a wicked crescent.
