Offensive

The sound of puppets falling in droves echoed in her ears, and the surrounding environment grew quiet.

The monsters that had been lunging at them with bared fangs and claws earlier were now like shattered porcelain, scattered everywhere around them.

Xu Xiaoyou stowed her weapons and checked herself. Most of her throwables had been used up in the previous fight; besides guns and ammunition, only a few canisters of frozen first-aid spray remained.

Her fingertips rested on the Gingko Curtain at her ear. She heard the girl's somewhat proud voice. "How was that? Didn't disappoint you, right?"

Even through the curtain, she could almost see the other party wagging her little tail. She gave a light chuckle. "Impressive, Little Blue Bird."

"Keep moving. He's lost our line of sight now. Don't let those puppet sentries find us."

After dealing with the puppet nails, all the puppets in this area had been cleared. Like fish leaping into the sea, it would be difficult for the puppeteer to find them again.

With this, the second step of the operation was complete.

She stopped and looked toward the distant church, continuing to issue orders: "Chen San, how is it on your end?"

After switching the communication curtain to Chen San's channel, she heard the whistling of the wind.

Chen San was sprinting through the bushes, following the Substitute in front of him. From time to time, a bullet would fly from the distance, burying itself in the snowdrifts near him.

"I'm still in that sniper's line of sight. I haven't found his position yet."

The next moment, the Substitute, who was observing the church's direction with binoculars, was shot through the head, a spray of blood exploding from her skull.

"Damn, her head was hit!"

Chen San felt a surge of dread, but the girl's voice in the communication channel only said nonchalantly, "It's just a fatal wound; it's nothing to her."

Hearing these words, Chen San's heart skipped a beat, his face turning pale as if he had seen a ghost.

The blonde girl, with half her head missing, climbed up from the snow as if nothing had happened. With every movement, bits of flesh fell from her head, and the hot blood dripping down stained the snow a bright crimson.

Her expression remained calm as she turned to look at Chen San. On the shattered half of her head, an eyeball had popped out of its socket and was hanging by the optic nerve.

Seemingly finding it a nuisance, the Substitute frowned, reached for the eyeball, plucked it out, threw it into her mouth, and swallowed it.

Chen San felt utterly unwell. His mouth opened and closed several times as if he wanted to say something, but he finally remained silent.

"One o'clock direction from the church, in the prayer room below the first floor. Watch for the second to last brick in the third row of the corner. That guy is hiding behind the wall, aiming at us through that small hole," the Substitute reported a string of information.

Swoosh—another bullet buried itself in the snow near Chen San, kicking up a flurry of white flakes.

"Tsk," Chen San clicked his tongue.

He stopped evading and instead straightened his body, pressing the gunstock firmly against his shoulder, the Substitute's words flashing through his mind.

Through the scope, the distance of a thousand meters passed in an instant. He quickly found the enemy sniper; behind the brick, a pair of eyes flashing with black light happened to meet his gaze.

This time, he pulled the trigger first, eliminating the enemy who had kept him on the defensive.

"Direct hit." Chen San pushed up his broken glasses.

"Next, Chen San, go make some noise in front of the church to draw out that big guy. My Substitute will coordinate with you."

On the snow, Xu Xiaoyou methodically issued orders to everyone. Her fingertips slowly tapped the gingko leaf at her ear, her gaze steady as thoughts constantly flashed through her mind.

At this moment, the girl acted like a battle-hardened commander. Her words were filled with determination and confidence, her tactical arrangements were perfectly linked, and she remained composed even when dealing with unexpected events.

Yet before this, she had never truly commanded or participated in a proper battle; she had even spent most of her time fighting alone, like a lone wolf.

This made them think of a single word: talent.

Some people are born leaders. On ordinary days, they seem no different from anyone else, getting along normally with others. But when a crisis arrives, they reveal their brilliant talent—a natural charisma, affinity, and confidence that makes others subconsciously follow them.

They only need an opportunity for the wandering lone wolf to return to her pack and be crowned as king.

"What about her?" Lin Sheng asked in a low voice, suppressing the killing intent leaking from his body.

"I had her take another path to meet us later," Xu Xiaoyou said, glancing up at him.

"What do we do next?"

A profound look flashed through Xu Xiaoyou's eyes.

She shook her head and gave an intriguing answer: "Wait."

"And, execute my orders."

Ten minutes passed in a flash, and the situation seemed to fall into a tense stalemate.

Arrows hidden in the dark waited for their chance; this was a duel between two hunters, waiting for the right moment to reveal all their killing intent and tear open the other's throat.

The puppets on the snowfield wandered aimlessly, searching for everyone's position.

Lin Sheng became somewhat restless as the stalemate continued. Even if it didn't show on his face, it could be seen from the way his fingers tapped the hilt of his blade.

Watching the girl unhurriedly treat the wound on her arm, he finally lost his patience and stepped forward. "What exactly is our next move?"

"My brother is still in that guy's hands."

Xu Xiaoyou didn't answer. She simply poured disinfectant over the wound on her arm, bit down on a bandage, and wrapped it tightly several times until it was secure. Only then did she speak briefly:

"The time is about right."

She acted as if she didn't care at all that the wandering puppets might discover their location and expose them to the puppeteer's sight again. After putting her tactical vest back on, she issued the final order:

"Chen San, attack."

The sound of a sniper rifle echoed through the communication curtain, followed by the roar of an explosion.

In those ten minutes, both Chen San and the Substitute had reached their designated positions and launched an attack on the heavily armored beast standing before the church entrance.

Sniper rounds could not penetrate that heavy armor, only leaving shallow, lead-gray marks. The explosion of the grenades only left scorched traces on the thick plates, failing to cause any substantial damage.

After being attacked, the grade 3 heavy knight puppet let out a roar. Wielding the giant guitar axe in its hands, it began a mad dash toward them. It was the most common ability used by a heavy knight: Fearless Charge!

It was like a ferocious beast; every step it took caused the ground to tremble. As it drew closer, Chen San could even hear the music coming from the guitar axe—melodic and slow, it wordlessly narrated a rural tale—typical country-style music.

Chen San rolled to dodge a swing of the giant axe. With his grade 1 physical constitution, let alone facing the monster head-on, just dodging its consecutive swings nearly exhausted all his stamina.

Every swing kicked up a thick, bloody wind, accompanied by the soothing music playing from the giant guitar axe. If his head hadn't almost been taken off, Chen San might have actually wanted to appreciate this country song performed by metal and blood.

A tiny figure, like a mouse that could be crushed underfoot, kept circling the heavy knight puppet, dodging one axe strike after another.

This feeling of being toyed with clearly enraged the armored monster. It let out a deafening roar and swung the guitar axe, its heavy armor clanging in a dull symphony.

Chen San saw its massive body begin to spin, forming a storm around itself. The powerful suction almost dragged Chen San directly into the vortex to be torn apart!