Night of Wind and Tide (3)

"Fate?"

"Dark Gold Rose?"

Bai Zhou's mind flashed with countless possibilities. A fixer was assigned a code name by the Association only when they possessed an ability capable of reflecting the world's radiance. Two-character code names were given to the prism grade—such as Sparrow Feather, Calamity, or Specter—while four-character code names were for the luminous prism grade: Deep White Midnight, Deep Blue Tide, Pale Green Sage, or Scarlet Dancer.

Undoubtedly, every fixer listed here was an old monster who had lived for over a century, possessing the power to destroy a Hive City single-handedly. "Destroy" did not necessarily mean through pure violence; it referred to them leveraging their social influence and individual abilities to directly or indirectly cause a Hive City's regime to collapse.

For instance, Deep White Midnight held wealth beyond imagination. As Sequence 0 of Universal Heavy Industries and its true power behind the scenes, he could collapse the economic system of any Hive City if he wished.

Or take Pale Green Sage. When he resonated with the "mysterious domain," he could mind-control the high-ranking officials of a Hive City tens of millions of kilometers away, or simply let them glimpse the "mystery" and descend into madness.

As for Scarlet Dancer and Deep Blue Tide, these two actually had the ability to directly subvert a Hive City's regime through force. However, the former was suspected to have died in battle during the "Eight-Spider Hive Mother" descent incident in Red Heaven centuries ago and had been missing ever since. The latter was mentally extremely unstable and was considered a fickle, brain-dead fool by most in the Association.

He had never seen a prism grade or luminous prism grade fixer with his own eyes. The most profound and powerful fixer in his memory was his direct superior—the chief of Section 6, Chihong. The chief's strength was universally acknowledged; she had the combat capability to lead them against world-class urban legends.

Yet this person before him was shamelessly talking about things like "Fate" and "Dark Gold Rose." He had never heard of such a person.

"Tricks and charades."

Bai Zhou snorted, kicked his heavy blade off the ground, and shouldered it. Abyssal White Flower was currently wreaking havoc in the opera level, and he couldn't contact the chief or his comrades. He was the only one who could take control of the battlefield. He didn't have time to waste on someone being cryptic.

After a brief standoff on the narrow catwalk, the two charged at each other simultaneously. The battle erupted instantly. Neither used their abilities; instead, they used the most primitive methods, testing each other with their cold weapons.

Bai Zhou's heavy blade carved a semi-circle, slashing violently toward Xu Xiaoyou's shoulder. The latter shifted her footing, narrowly dodging the heavy blade's strike at a subtle angle. Her long whip lashed out at the same time, wrapping around his wrist and yanking it to the right.

Bai Zhou reacted just as fast. With his hand pinned to a rack by the whip, he twisted his waist and swung his leg in a horizontal sweep toward the girl's head. It was a heavy, powerful blow; an ordinary person hit cleanly would be killed or crippled.

Xu Xiaoyou couldn't dodge in time and could only raise her right arm to block the attack. She let out a muffled groan as she was slammed hard into a pile of junk. She hit a rack of twisted rebar so hard she became embedded in it, her entire body numb from the terrifying force.

Given her current physical constitution, it was indeed impossible to go head-to-head with a grade 4 fixer. This hit was not light.

She shook her head, dodged another of Bai Zhou's thrusts with a slight roll, and lashed out with her dagger. She struck several times at his leg, but it was like cutting into solid steel, producing only the sound of clashing metal.

Xu Xiaoyou pulled back to create distance and glanced at her dagger. Noticing the chips in the blade, she decisively threw it away and reached into her evening gown.

Bai Zhou snapped the rebar trapping his hand and yanked it out. Once free, he reached out to grab Xu Xiaoyou's whip, only to find that the strange whip had developed bone-like spikes. It left deep, bone-deep wounds on his palm.

This eerie whip could actually hurt him?

Suddenly, he noticed the girl pointing a silver metal case at him. Before he could react, the flash of cold light gave him a sense of immense danger. He grabbed a nearby rack and held it in front of himself as a shield.

Blinding white light flashed in the darkness, followed by the deafening roar of gunfire. Bullets ricocheted and clattered against the scattered rebar.

Xu Xiaoyou pulled the trigger repeatedly. Once she emptied the Desert Eagle's magazine, she tossed it aside and swung her long whip to clash with the charging Bai Zhou.

Blades crossed. After a few simple rounds of testing, both sides had gauged each other's strength.

"Heh, and here I thought you were something special. You're just a weakling. Now, I'll finish you off as quickly as possible!" Bai Zhou roared.

The heavy blade smashed toward Xu Xiaoyou with the force of a thunderbolt, landing squarely on her. Bai Zhou applied more force, wanting to drive the blade into her body, but no matter how hard he pushed, the heavy blade didn't budge, as if he had struck a mountain.

Upon closer inspection as the scene became clearer in the darkness, he realized the strike hadn't actually hit Xu Xiaoyou's shoulder. Instead, it had landed on her raised arm, becoming embedded in the sleeve of her evening gown.

He had gauged her strength to be at the entry-level of grade 3 at most; how could her physical constitution block such a powerful, prepared strike?

Bai Zhou's eyes widened. Refusing to believe it, he continued to apply force. Unexpectedly, Xu Xiaoyou's gloved hand patted his heavy blade. He suddenly felt an incredibly heavy force transfer from the weapon, sending him and his blade flying backward.

Xu Xiaoyou noticed the shock in Bai Zhou's eyes, but her heart remained unmoved. This was the combined effect of the skill cards 【Diamond Skin】 and 【Tooth for a Tooth】. As long as the opponent's attack failed to break her defense, she could return the entire force of the strike in full.

Bai Zhou used his hand to spring back onto his feet the moment he hit the ground. His wariness intensified, and the contempt in his eyes vanished.

Looking at the figure who still stood tall—someone whose aura wasn't strong but who moved with exceptional steadiness—he realized something was wrong.

Very wrong.

Clearly, the sensory input he received from her wasn't strong. In terms of strength, speed, combat intuition, and reflexes, he far surpassed this person. Her body even seemed to suffer from some chronic ailment; he could sense that sickly, weak aura.

Yet, whether it was that whip or the series of abilities she had just used, everything about her was incredibly bizarre.

What exactly was this person's deal?

"Wrath of Thunder."

Xu Xiaoyou didn't give him time to think. She muttered under her breath, using another skill card to rapidly close the distance between them.

The violent lightning elements in the surroundings began to stir. Small bolts of white electricity carved cracks in the air. Brilliant lightning appeared in her hands, and all nearby electronic devices began to spark and fail one by one.

Bai Zhou slashed at her, but there was no sense of impact, as if he were cutting into cotton. A layer of grey-black mist seemed to shroud the girl's body, her outline flickering. His weapon behaved as if a program error had occurred, clipping through Xu Xiaoyou's body; this was the effect of 【Attack Deflection】.

Bai Zhou was horrified. Suddenly, the ground beneath him vanished, and he fell into a spatial rift. When he opened his eyes again, he was falling from above the catwalk.

He took the full brunt of the lightning in the girl's hands, his entire body being blasted away.