Bang, bang, bang. Her opener ended like thunder rolling off a cliff. The blonde girl refused to spare the grunts a breath.
She lifted the Eternal Twin Stars. The suppressors came off like masks torn in a storm. Silver and black pistols bared their fangs and poured her fire into the men ahead.
"Ugh!" "Ah!" "Help! Take cover!"
The espers fell in droves, a field of wheat cut by a cold wind. A few elites ducked on instinct, shadows slipping between shots.
It didn’t matter. Every round flew like a hawk with keen eyes, hunting for vital points.
"I’ll die with you if I must!" Two espers ghosted behind Xiao Qianxue, like alley cats stalking in the rain, ready to strike.
"If you’re gonna ambush, don’t shout. Remember it next life." Her tone was ice cracking underfoot.
She snapped low, letting the first blow skim past like a gust. Then she rolled back, gravel biting her palms.
"Don’t think we’re easy prey! Go!" The second pulled a custom blade and sent it spinning at her like a comet.
"Heh, interesting... Moon Veil." She snapped a shot at the knife, but it curved after her like a guided moth chasing lantern light.
Her lips tilted. Her body blurred into mist under moonlight. Even her voice thinned, like echoes in fog.
"What trick is that? A phantom?" They were the last two standing, lone reeds in a trampled marsh.
The rest were silent as stones or writhing like broken puppets on the floor. "Don’t panic! My Xiao Li Flying Dagger will nail her."
"Bang." "Whoosh." Two distinct sounds rose together, thunder and silk crossing in midair.
"What—?" One raider twisted aside, letting the bullet graze like a passing hawk. He turned. His partner’s throat erupted like a ruptured spring, and the man fell without a sound.
"What happened?" The question crawled across his mind like ivy. The answer came cold.
A fine dagger pierced his heart, frost splitting wood, and left him hollow.
"You..." The last breath leaked like steam in winter. He fell hard, burdened by despair.
"Sorry~." Xiao Qianxue’s figure bloomed back into view, like a lantern relit.
The knife flashed again, a swallow looping. She guarded, but it punched through her right arm. The blade clattered, spent, into a corner.
"Report. Our people upstairs are wiped out." A bodyguard-like esper hurried to the black-robed man, breath ragged like bellows.
"How many enemies?" His voice roughened, like gravel under boots.
Some interference smothered all signals, a wet cloth over a mouth. Problem stacked on problem, and his patience bled away.
"One. Just one. Looks like a girl." The aide answered fast, like a sparrow flitting, afraid of the storm of his wrath.
"Damn it. Keep the meds on you. We’ll end her, or nothing moves." The black-robed man snorted, like a bull. He headed up. Four aides followed.
"Tch. These small fry still nicked me..." Her black-and-white combat suit shed blood like rain off lacquer.
Even so, a hole gaped in her right arm. Blood streamed down, a red ribbon.
"It hurts... QAQ." She slumped against a pillar, heart thudding like a drum.
Her left hand shook as she drew a leaf-green injector from her pouch. She bit it into the skin near the wound.
"That’s better..." She dressed the wound, the pain ebbing like tide under a pale moon.
Her left hand slid Eternal Silver Star into the back holster. She raised Eternal Black Star and finished the writhing foes one by one.
"Don’t— don’t come any closer!" Bang. The sound cracked like ice on a river.
After a beat, her tactical panel floated up from her wrist like a ghostly screen.
"Xiaoxue, how’s it going? You’re hurt?!" Hoshina’s voice broke through. The screen showed her bandaged right hand, blood seeping like red dew.
"Mm. Almost done. Seems there’s one leader left." The blonde girl smiled, spring sunlight after rain.
"No need to tell me. I’m already here." The black-robed man arrived with four guards, his voice low, carrying a furnace of anger.
"Hey, Hoshina, talk later. I’m kinda busy." Xiao Qianxue cut the link, like snipping a thread.
"Bloo, Xiaoxue’s already engaging them. She’s hurt; she might not last long." Hoshina opened a line, her worry fluttering like moth wings.
"I see it. At least she’ll clear those four lackeys." Bloo watched the tactical panel, eyes calm like night water.
"You trust her that much?" Hoshina’s voice carried disbelief, a wind catching at leaves.
"Watch..." His answer rolled like a tide that knew the shore.
"You’re that Xiao Qianxue who stirred up all that noise lately? Lin Fan’s girlfriend from the Lin Clan?" The black-robed man murmured, voice like smoke.
"Yup. First meeting— please be kind~." The blonde dipped a tiny bow and showed a smile sweet as spring blossoms.
Her left hand, though, found the grip of Eternal Silver Star like a cat’s paw under silk.
"They’ve been making a fuss, hunting you everywhere. I didn’t expect you in this brand-new, top-secret base of the Ouyang Clan."
His face hid in shadow, like a moon behind clouds. "I don’t buy coincidence. Who sent you?"
"Ask me after you beat me~~." She leveled her barrel at the five, cold as a winter reed.
"I’m not shameless enough to gang up with my men on a girl who’s not easy prey." He stepped back, like a wolf in shade.
"You four, take her. Use that if you must. You’re test subjects anyway."
"Understood." The four advanced, steel whispering from holsters like snakes from grass.
"Come on, come on~~." As they squared up, a violent white burst flared from Xiao Qianxue, like a sun breaking cloud.
"Sorry, I never promised a fair duel~."
Hoshina had tailored her suit. It could unleash a brutal beam, a scalding blade of light.
Without proper shielding, or if your eyes carried special traits, that flash shredded ocular tissue in a heartbeat. In short, you’re done.
"Then I won’t be polite!" Heat surged in her chest, thunder drumming.
She didn’t play it like with the grunts. She lunged in. These four might slip her bullets, and a drawn-out duel would be risky.
"Ugh." Her knee smashed in, a tidal surge. One man buckled to a crouch.
A perfect footstool. The blonde stamped and sprang skyward, a bird taking wind.
"Moon Fade!"
