Everyone was stunned by the girl's sudden move.
It wasn't until Manji's body collapsed, kicking up dust with an expression of disbelief frozen on his face, that they realized what had happened.
He never would have imagined that the girl would dare to strike him at a time like this.
A-Ling’s eyes widened even further as she watched the girl slowly lower her gun. The girl spoke:
"The noise was making my ears ache."
"She—she killed Boss Manji?" a lion-man’s voice trembled. "How dare she!"
"Kill this woman! Avenge Boss Manji!"
Seeing the enraged lion-men about to rush forward and tear the girl to shreds, Scarface stepped out. He pressed his sturdy chest against a muzzle, glaring like a fierce deity as he forced a lion-man back.
"Go ahead, shoot me if you have the guts!"
The majesty of a former king erupted, intimidating the pride of lion-men.
Not a single lion-man dared to take another step forward.
"Kill them! If we let them get back, we're finished too!"
Just as the scent of gunpowder in the air grew thick enough to feel solid, one sharp-eyed lion-man was the first to react.
"Wait."
"This woman... something's wrong!"
He shouted and pointed at the girl, and everyone present followed his finger.
"She’s different from before!"
"She’s been different ever since she raised her gun to kill Boss Manji!"
The substitute’s lips curled slightly.
She raised her hand, her expression turning cold.
Before anyone present could figure out what was happening, fire condensed in her palm.
Two lion-men couldn't dodge in time and were engulfed by the flames.
Hearing the painful wails of his companions, one lion-man’s eyes nearly split from rage. "Fire!"
A storm of bullets instantly covered the substitute.
Bullets passed through her body one by one, failing to cause any real wounds.
Seeing the holes in the substitute’s body flowing like water and completely healing a moment later, the lion-men were filled with horror.
Finally, the substitute turned into a golden liquid, flowed onto the ground, and vanished.
"She’s running! After her!"
...................
Flashes of light appeared frequently within the dark clouds as the gloomy sky pressed down, and rain began to fall.
The soil became damp under the wash of the heavy rain, turning into a muddy mess. The foul stench was masked by the moist vapor, leaving only the faint, pervasive scent of wet earth in the air.
Inside the garbage dump, trash had already piled into mountains due to years of neglect.
Waste disposal trucks entered and exited daily, dumping the newly produced refuse from the city.
The blonde girl wove through the mountains of trash, her steps staggering. After seeing the familiar surroundings clearly, Xu Xiaoyou suddenly felt as if she were in another life.
The vagrants, seeing her wretched state and especially the blood-stained long blade, all moved aside, staring at her as if she were a monster.
On the massive billboard outside the garbage dump, her wanted poster hung high. The five-hundred-thousand bounty in red font was incredibly conspicuous. Raindrops fell on the flickering billboard, forming lines that rolled down the screen and left clear streaks. The city’s scenery became hazy and blurred behind the curtain of rain.
The lights reflected off the falling raindrops like countless twinkling stars. Xu Xiaoyou collapsed to the ground, watching the sky full of stars slowly drift away from her.
She hadn't expected that after all those twists and turns, she would end up back in this place.
With the deer-man's cunning, Mr. Hao surely knew what those rebellious subordinates were doing behind his back.
Mr. Hao’s purpose in helping her was to use her hand to eliminate subordinates within the group who were disadvantageous to him. Given his prestige in the Lion Group, killing group members without an absolute reason would naturally cause controversy and lead to a drop in his authority.
Everything was driven by interest.
Rainwater seeped into every gap in her clothes, soaking through her garments and filling her lungs.
Her whole body felt cold and weak, while her head was feverish and swollen. Xu Xiaoyou felt like her wounds were getting infected.
Raindrops continued to fall, pelting her face. The cold water didn't clear her vision; instead, she felt increasingly drowsy.
She really wanted to just sleep like this.
Xu Xiaoyou’s eyes slowly closed, until a figure appeared before her.
"Found~ you!"
The aura of danger made her alert. She instinctively tried to get up to grab the weapon beside her, but that figure had anticipated it. The cat tail curled behind her lashed out like a spiked whip, knocking away the long blade she tried to pick up and wrapping around her arm before slamming her back down to the ground.
"It's you..."
Xu Xiaoyou clearly saw the person in front of her; it was the cat-girl she had met at the restaurant a month ago.
Right now, the other party was pressing down on her, their bodies close together. Her hands held Xiaoyou’s shoulders, and her vertical pupils reflected the girl's silhouette, filled with blood-red longing.
The cat-girl looked sickly. She used her tail to coil around Xu Xiaoyou’s slender forearm, took the girl's hand, and pressed it against her own face, gently rubbing it.
"Surprised? Unexpected?"
After saying that, the cat-girl held a dagger in one hand, suddenly pointing it right in front of the girl's eye. Her tone was excited and hurried:
"I've actually been following you these past few days. You've changed so fast. If I had waited much longer to strike, I wouldn't have had any chance at all."
Xu Xiaoyou’s expression remained calm, her eyelids heavy. "You lunatic."
"Meeting again after such a long time, and the first thing you say is to call me a lunatic? That really makes me so sad."
"That investigator was so annoying, wasn't she? If she hadn't been guarding you these past few days, you would have been mine long ago!"
The cat-girl let out a chilling laugh.
"Now it's just a world for the two of us. Only the two of us are left, hee hee."
"Come on, let's start by changing your eyes. Let's slowly merge into one!"
"What beautiful eyes, sparkling like bright amber. So beautiful..."
Just as she raised the dagger high and thrust it toward the girl's eye socket, she saw the other party close her eyes and her lips move slightly:
"Anya, finish this quickly."
Cat-girl: "?"
The roar of thunder and the howl of the wind sounded simultaneously. Her expression twisted, and just as she turned her head, a pair of sharp claws pierced through her chest!
The splashing blood stained the rainwater red as it flowed across the ground.
"How... how could this..."
Blood continuously spilled from her mouth and nose. The cat-girl's face was full of resentment as the life in her eyes rapidly faded.
"Sure enough, cats hate dogs the most..."
The little girl's gaze was as cold as snow. After dealing with the cat-girl, she quickly ran to Xu Xiaoyou’s side and picked up the girl’s limp body. She held the girl's head tightly, looking at that bloodless face. Her small mouth trembled as she panicked, not knowing what to do.
"Xiaoyou..."
"Don't leave Anya here alone, don't throw Anya away."
"Anya is so scared, don't leave Anya alone here, okay?"
"Anya will be good from now on; Anya won't throw any more tantrums, Xiaoyou..."
Feeling that Anya was so frantic she was about to cry, Xu Xiaoyou smiled slightly and reached out to gently stroke the other's thin face:
"I'm fine."
Before finally losing consciousness, she said:
"Take me to a safe place."
Her fever persisted, and her mind was a chaotic, dizzy mess.
Between half-asleep and half-awake, she felt Anya dragging her body toward a warm place. Occasionally, the sounds of vehicles driving by, the piercing horns of float-cars, and the shouts of lunatics reached her ears. Finally, she heard Anya’s helpless sobbing and a woman's cold voice.
"Put her there."
Her consciousness, like a kite with a severed string, drifted completely away.
Rate on N.U.








