“Smash-Rush Fist!” Mu Zhen’s knuckles crashed like a battering ram, punching a burly man into the wall, his life leaking away like sand through a sieve.

“Mu Zhen, move! The boss’s gonna flip this place upside down!” A Hui smashed through a side wall like a boar through brush, waving him over in the dust.

“I see it, quit nagging.” His mouth stayed sharp, but his feet ran like wind over reeds, vaulting the wall and breaking free of the blast zone with A Hui.

Boom!!!! The roar hit like thunder splitting a mountain; the floor bucked like an earthquake at sea. Even their hardened bodies got tossed like leaves, pinned to the ground. The Ouyang Clan’s hapless men inside were blown into nothing but drifting ash.

One hour earlier

“Doctor! We’ve hit a thorny mess!” Researchers swarmed around Xiao Qianxue, machines blinking like constellations around her still form.

“The machines are fine. It’s your brains that’re jammed.” The Doctor cursed as he checked dials, his hands stalking the panels like a hunter in tall grass. The brainwashing hit one-third and froze, stubborn as winter ice; no tweak could nudge it an inch.

“System crisis detected. Initiating maximum neural defense.” The System snarled awake like a guardian beast; the Doctor’s program and it started clawing at each other inside Xiao Qianxue’s mind, storm against storm.

“Doctor, that’s the picture. I think there’s a firewall in her head, stone-hard and blocking us,” a researcher reported, voice trembling like a reed in wind.

“Switch to manual. I don’t buy that I can’t crack it.” He shoved bodies aside like waves parting, took the console, fingers flying like sparrows over keys.

The System waited with shields up like a fortress at high tide. They carved and counter-carved inside her brain, turf lines drawn like rivers on a map; each inch the Doctor won got washed away like footprints in surf. Their tug-of-war stretched taut as a bowstring.

“Doctor! The Lin Clan and Tang Clan are here to snatch the girl!” A guard burst in like a gust through paper walls. “I’ll greet them.” Ouyang Si rose, stride steady as a spear, and walked out with the guard.

Trouble pressed like a headache. They hadn’t brought much muscle; how did they find this lair? Lin Fan’s skill cut straight against him like water against fire. If the Tyrant came along...

Better plan a retreat than drown mid-fight.

“Doctor! We need to run! The upper defenses are all breached!” Panic rippled; researchers scattered like startled quail, clutching gear like talismans.

“Stop!” The Doctor’s roar cracked like a whip; the room froze like frost at dawn. “That firewall’s near impossible to break.” He shook his head like a bell. “Bring me your blood samples. There’s work to be done in that river.”

He analyzed, then burst into laughter, wild as thunder over a plain. The team flinched like deer at a cliff; his shadow weighed heavy as a mountain on their hearts.

“If we can’t take the girl, we’ll leave Lin Fan a gift the size of a storm.” He sketched his plan; heads bobbed like buoys in surf. “I’ll stay till it’s done. You leave now. Get those samples to HQ.”

“Yes, Doctor!” He felt harsh and exacting like winter, yet reliable at the knife’s edge. They etched his back into memory like ink on bone, then left under ability-users’ escort.

“Come on then, Lin Fan. I promised you regret like a thorn in the soul.”

The three followed the blast-torn path, rushing toward the lowest lab like hawks diving for prey. Midway, smoke unfurled, and Ouyang Si stepped out like a phantom from mist.

“You think I’ll let you stroll through?” His voice was cold water over stone.

Rage surged in Lin Fan like wildfire in dry grass; he charged. The twin red blades in his hands flared into fire, edges bright as sunrise steel.

This was trouble. Lin Fan had the Tyrant at his side, and Tang Shaoyu too; even a tie-up would be thorny like brambles. Hit a bit, then run like rain off eaves.

“Save the chatter.” Six water orbs swelled behind Ouyang Si, each big as a human head, then flew at Lin Fan like meteors out of a storm.

A silver-haired girl flickered into being above and behind him, light as moon on waves. “Flash Step.” Silver Moon and Ghost rested ready in her hands, twin knives pale as frost; one crack in his guard, and his head would roll like a gourd off a cart. Rank gap or not, Ouyang Si versus the Tyrant would be a rough sea; with her here, it was a full typhoon.

“Tidal Aegis!” Ouyang Si raised a hand; a bow of water formed like a crescent tide, and he loosed at Qingxing with a hiss.

Clang. Steel and water collided, ringing like temple bells; Qingxing got knocked back like a leaf in a squall. She slid Silver Moon and Ghost into their sheaths, then drew the tachi Ghostdance, its curve dark as a raven’s wing.

“Jieyun Sword Art—Backflow Slash!” Her body vanished like mist; a blink later she was at his chest. The blade swept a half-moon of light, clean as a cold stream, splitting his form in an instant.

Splish... Ouyang Si dissolved into a puddle, water spattering the floor like rain.

“A clone?” Qingxing clicked her tongue, breath heavy as a bellows; the run of Flash Steps had drained her like a long sprint uphill.

Whoosh! A water arrow screamed toward her, sharp as winter wind. “Ice Pillar!” Tang Shaoyu slammed a palm to the floor; a great pillar of ice surged up by her side like a frozen tree. The arrow still punched through, carving a tunnel as if water wore stone.

“Earth—Flowing Wall!” A wall rose behind the ice, earthen and thick as a cliff; the arrow gnawed a mouth into it, then faded like foam.

No wonder that first water arrow broke so easily. Qingxing leaned on Ghostdance and pushed up, steadying like a reed in a stream. Lin Fan stepped in front of her, eyes scanning the smoke like a hawk over fields.

“Go find your Xiao Qianxue. She’s in bad shape.” Ouyang Si’s presence thinned like fog at noon, then vanished.

“Next time I find you, I’ll pay you back double.” Lin Fan didn’t waste breath on pursuit; saving Xiao Qianxue was the burning line on his heart.

“Lin Fan, it’s this door!” Tang Shaoyu checked the map, pointing at the iron slab like a spear to the target.

“Right. We’re going in.” Lin Fan’s fire blades sliced the door in strokes swift as lightning. The scene beyond slammed into his chest like a hammer, cold and merciless as night.