"My cute little lamb, don't even think about struggling!"
On the truck, the thugs grinned savagely, raising their guns to fire at the convertible's tires.
As several bullet holes appeared, a hissing sound of escaping air came from the pitch-black tires. Their profiles shrank at a speed visible to the naked eye, and the entire convertible began to skid across the road like it was on an ice rink, careening wildly to the left.
"Dammit," A-Ling cursed. "I just changed those tires last month!"
She yanked the steering wheel, managing to wrench the front of the car back into position just as a hail of bullets rained down upon them.
"Watch me turn this hunk of metal into scrap!"
The thug operating the machine gun laughed maniacally. Blood-colored paint seemed to flow across his face as bullets poured from the scorching barrel every second.
The dense web of fire covered the entire convertible. Soon, the metal body was riddled with black bullet holes. The car was like a wounded beast; its headlights went out, its bumper snapped, and it let out a series of mechanical wails.
Inside the tunnel, sparks flashed continuously, and the rushing wind whipped over the car's streamlined frame!
A-Ling shouted, raising her right hand. A gravity barrier manifested in front of the car, and countless incoming bullets were instantly frozen in the air by the force of gravity.
The engine of the metal beast beneath them roared with all its might, transforming into a knight charging through the dark night. The gunfire sounded like thunder, while the howling gale served as their protector!
Xu Xiaoyou stood up, flames condensing in her hand. But at that moment, the hum of motorcycles approached from behind.
She turned her head to see two thugs dressed in black riding heavily modified motorcycles. They caught up like falcons, appearing in her field of vision with mohawk-style hair and bizarre paint smeared across their faces.
Neither wore a helmet, and Xu Xiaoyou could see the absolute madness in their eyes.
These lunatics were high, their adrenaline surging alongside their greed for money.
"This money is enough for me to live on for the rest of my life, hahaha!"
A full 500,000 credit points—it was enough to make these outlaws lose their minds in this celebration of chaos.
Suddenly, one of the motorcycles reared up like a warhorse straining against its reins. The billowing flames Xu Xiaoyou had unleashed happened to pass right under the motorcycle, swallowed by the sound of the wind.
"Watch out!" A-Ling screamed.
Through the rearview mirror, she saw the scene to their back-left: the thug on the motorcycle had leveled a gun at them.
Xu Xiaoyou turned, quickly drawing a long blade from a tool card. The world before her became clear, and the noise in her ears faded away.
In the flashes of fire from the muzzle, the speed of the bullets seemed to slow, their trajectories becoming clearly visible.
Crisp clangs of metal hitting metal rang out in the air one after another.
The thug was dumbfounded.
He watched as the blonde girl on the car, just like a character in an action movie, used that long blade to block five of his shots in a row without even blinking.
"Are you a monster?"
His answer was a blazing fireball.
His motorcycle was blown into the sky. Both man and machine flipped backward, tumbling several times on the ground before being consumed by the flames of the explosion, vanishing into the depths of the tunnel.
Xu Xiaoyou stood on the car, scanning her surroundings. All she saw were the fanatical, excited, and distorted faces of the thugs.
Finally, she glanced at the girl in the driver's seat.
A-Ling was deathly pale, forcing her bloodshot eyes to stay open, her lips turning purple.
Her raised hand was trembling, and the gravity barrier protecting the car from the metal storm showed signs of fading. Maintaining this ability for so long was putting an immense strain on her mind.
There was no doubt that once the barrier vanished, the car beneath them would be shredded by the metal storm in an instant.
"Don't look at me..." A-Ling nearly bit her lip through. "I can only hold on for three more minutes. Find a way to deal with these lunatics!"
"Where are you looking, my dear little beauty?"
A speeding motorcycle pulled up alongside them. The thug grinned, using a long hook to snag the car door. He gripped the steel cable tightly and actually stood up on the motorcycle as it popped a wheelie!
With one foot on the flying motorcycle and the other braced against the frame of the car door, he performed an incredibly flamboyant and dangerous stunt. One slip, and he would crash along with his bike.
A dark muzzle was thrust toward her.
"Don't move, little beauty. I promise I won't do anything to you. As long as you stay quiet and don't resist."
"All I want is the bounty!"
The thug licked his bright red lips, but his eyes suddenly widened before he could finish.
Xu Xiaoyou did something completely outrageous: she grabbed the muzzle of the handgun and pressed it directly against her own forehead.
"Shoot," she said.
"W-what are you doing?"
The thug tried to pull the gun back, but her hand was like a vise, gripping the muzzle so tightly that the gun wouldn't budge an inch.
"Do you even have the courage to pull the trigger?"
Her long hair and clothes danced wildly in the wind. She looked like a strange, ethereal elf.
Terrified by the girl's reckless action and overbearing pressure, the thug was momentarily at a loss, swallowing hard.
In that moment, his brain—which had been stimulated into excitement by various illicit substances—actually cooled down.
The investigator's orders were to capture the girl alive; she had to be kept breathing.
He wanted the bounty. If she actually died, not only would he get nothing, but he would likely face the investigator's wrath.
Amidst the brief sound of the wind, Xu Xiaoyou smiled. "If you're too scared to shoot, why are you pointing it at me?"
She snatched the gun from the thug's hand, watching as he wiped out and was left far behind.
"You really are crazy," A-Ling managed a weak smile. "Don't you care about your life?"
"I cherish my life very much."
Xu Xiaoyou replied. She ejected the magazine, confirmed there were four bullets left, slapped it back in, and chambered a round.
"I don't usually do that unless I'm one hundred percent certain."
The convertible was like a bleeding lion; its paint was scraped off, its fuel tank was damaged, and translucent gasoline leaked out continuously. Behind it were the wolves, closely following and hounding the lion. The thugs on the motorcycles reached a peak of excitement upon smelling the lion's blood, cheering loudly!
Several more thugs sped up on their motorcycles, wielding various weapons as they closed in on the speeding convertible.
She raised the gun. The wind felt as if it were blowing from a vast wilderness. Amidst the chaos of the madmen, her heart was calm and peaceful.
Shadows fell into her pupils. She closed her eyes, feeling as if she were under a blue sky, lying in a vast grassland, bathed in golden sunlight, with the sounds of birds chirping and dewdrops falling in her ears.
Only serenity remained.
Somehow, A-Ling felt that the girl beside her had suddenly become distant, even though she hadn't moved an inch.
"Stop daydreaming!" A-Ling barked.
"You're mine!"
A thug threw a rope, aiming to loop it around Xu Xiaoyou's body.
Just as he was about to succeed, he saw a slit appear on the girl's cheek, and blood-like tears flowed out.
A dark red eye opened, and a terrifying aura spread.
Under that gaze filled with the colors of desire, he felt as if he had nowhere to hide. His very soul trembled.
"Gaze of Spiritual Vision."
Rate on N.U.
