Faced with the ambush, Ashley showed no sign of panic. She snapped her fingers, and in an instant, the air exploded with a shockwave as black light flashed!
It was the Great Raven, which had been patrolling high in the sky, receiving the signal and diving down ferociously!
Upon landing, it kicked up a powerful gust of wind that sent the bandits tumbling in all directions. Its massive body stood tall in the forest like a pitch-black spire, its wings spreading out to shield the lolis, just like a mother hen protecting her chicks.
In the tense moment, no one noticed that the raven had begun descending before Ashley even entered the ambush point.
“No time to explain! Get on board!”
Ashley shouted, wrapping her arms around the raven’s neck while the other two little ones clung to her waist, all trying to take to the skies together.
But in the next moment, several deafening explosions rang out!
Harpoon cannons fired at close range! Steel harpoons shot forth, their immense impact shattering the ceramic armor, embedding into flesh with barbed hooks!
The ropes connected to the rear pulled taut from all directions, as if intent on tearing the Great Raven apart like the five-horse punishment!
“Damn it, they’ve come prepared!”
Ashley immediately realized that the Great Raven could hardly take off now. The high-strength fiber ropes deprived it of the torque needed for liftoff, and ground combat wasn’t its forte.
If Sasha had been there, at least half of these people would be dead by now, but unfortunately, Sasha had been sent off on a message.
Thanks to the extraordinary red bug within it being tamed by Ashley, the Great Raven was more intelligent than ordinary cadavers. Even without a pilot, it could understand her commands and perform simple actions.
Ashley made a snap decision, flashing tactical hand signals. The Great Raven let out a shrill cry, twisted its body, and forcefully crashed open a path!
“Run!”
Ashley agilely slipped through a gap under a fallen tree trunk, with the other two lolis following close behind.
Though they couldn’t outrun adults on flat ground, their small bodies were an advantage in the dense jungle. They could easily dart under low branches and use the underbrush to shake off pursuers.
A fierce chase ensued!
All three lolis were nimble and athletic, none holding the others back. They weaved through the jungle with serpentine footwork.
Amber was a Tribunal reserve, with routine training; Ashley had enhanced herself with the Family Spirit Elixir; and as for Chloe, who ran faster than a reporter?
Bullets whistled past, splintering bark from tree trunks.
But after a quarter of an hour, they began to tire, slowing down, while the bandits maintained their speed without any stragglers falling behind.
Clearly, this was a well-trained team—professional or semi-professional criminals—with an absolute advantage in stamina.
“I… I can’t run anymore…”
Another quarter hour passed, and Amber’s speed plummeted, despair filling her eyes.
“I… me too…” Chloe stopped as well, dry-heaving.
“There’s a small cabin ahead!”
Ashley pointed forward. Through the gaps in the trees, they vaguely spotted an abandoned shack covered in moss, teetering on the verge of collapse.
The three crashed into the cabin. Sunlight filtered through holes in the roof, ferns and mushrooms sprouted from cracks in the floor, and every step created a hole.
They barricaded the door with a broken chair, fearing wall-penetrating gunfire, and retreated to the corner, their faces pale.
Soon, rustling sounds echoed from the surrounding jungle—they were surrounded!
“Quick, think of a way to kill ourselves! That way we won’t suffer alive. Though they’ll use our bodies, who cares… waaah… I don’t want to die… Mommy… I miss you so much…” Chloe cried out in despair.
“Amber!” Ashley turned to the black-haired loli. “Didn’t your teacher give you anything? I know you’re carrying the Undying Potion. Everyone from the Tribunal carries it. In the most dangerous moments, you down a bottle—trading your sanity for immense combat power! Don’t worry, even if you turn into a little idiot after drinking it, I’ll stay by your side and take care of you. Drink it!”
Amber’s heart trembled with fear, gratitude, panic, reluctance… a swirl of complex emotions. Tears streamed down her face as her fingers touched the inner pocket of her shirt, pulling out a lead-gray vial. Her hands shook as she unscrewed it, tremblingly saying:
“Ash… Ashley… I… heh… I… am willing to do it for you…”
Suddenly, the Blue-Haired Loli snatched it from her while she was distracted!
“Heehee, me too!”
Ashley gripped the vial tightly, kneeling before Amber with a warm smile blooming on her little face. Softly, she said:
“I’m willing to become a little idiot for you too, but I have one wish—I don’t want you to see me like that. I want to forever be the smartest one in your heart! Amber… meeting you in this life has been the best thing ever.”
Amber’s mouth gaped wide in shock at the turn of events. “No! No!” She wailed in despair, trying to grab it back, but Chloe held her firmly from behind.
Ashley straightened up, rising on the core strength of her waist and abdomen, fingers spread on her hips, chin slightly raised, looking incredibly dashing as she declared:
“Going down heroically isn’t just a name!”
“Don’t! Don’t go!” Amber sobbed hysterically, her legs too sore and weak to stand, so she crawled on the ground, dragging the clinging Chloe behind her.
Ashley resolutely pushed open the door and stepped out, closing it behind her. She lowered her head to gaze at the lead-gray vial in her hand, a hint of disappointment in her eyes.
“It’s not quite like the records, but it must be the Undying Potion… Plus version or Youth Version? Hmm, probably the Youth Version Immortality Drug—less amplification, lighter cost, won’t completely strip away reason… Sigh, I wanted to swindle an S-Rank Relic, but I only tricked this out of her. Oh well, don’t be greedy. The Undying Potion is the Tribunal’s core tech; it doesn’t circulate on the market. Ordinary people can’t handle its potency—only cadres and above, with some physical modifications, get granted it.”
Ashley muttered as she pocketed the vial, seemingly oblivious to the encircling professional criminals. Over a dozen guns trained on her from all sides!
“So it’s her? The Jenkins Family brat.”
“Pretty cute, it’d be a shame to ruin her. Better capture her and sell her to a brothel for slow use.”
“Hey, surrender and we’ll go easy. Heard your extraordinary ability is fire—think you can outrun bullets?”
…
“Is it my turn to speak?”
Ashley politely waited for them to finish, elegantly shifting hand signals in the air as she replied:
“Because it’s hidden too deeply, the world doesn’t know the nauseating evil of the Jenkins Family, and I’m the kindest one in it… If you’d run into anyone else from the family, they’d skin your faces one by one to verify identities and hunt down your families… Running into me is your fortune. You can die without worry—no revenge on your loved ones… Now, savor the feeling of being sliced at supersonic speeds.”
The bandits didn’t even have time to process her words before their thoughts cut off.
Abruptly, dreamlike arcs of slashing light whirled through the air! Invisible supersonic slash lines intersected in the sky, creating layered transparent distortions—like auroras dancing over the Arctic!
The slashes exceeded the speed of sound; in their final moments, only the faint chirping of jungle insects filled their ears. This slaughter was gentle yet brutal.
Then, the frozen scene shattered!
Crimson blood sprayed through the air, steaming entrails splattered out, severed limbs rolled across the ground, guns hacked into fragments alongside them!
“Sometimes you don’t need the weather report to know to bring an umbrella.”
Ashley sighed, pulling an umbrella from her bag and opening it just in time to block most of the splashing blood, though her boots still got splashed.
Steam rose from the mangled corpses, slick intestines trailed feces and urine, some severed heads’ eyes still blinked, reluctant to leave the beautiful world.
Then, the air before Ashley distorted transparently, revealing the Demon Flower Mantis’s pink-purple form, blood-red mist swirling around it, even more vividly demonic.
Giggle…
With a few light sounds, the mantis split along its chest and abdomen, its chitin plates parting to slide out a loli, her pitch-black little feet stepping onto the ground and immediately staining red with blood.
She strode straight toward the blue-haired loli, her steps sinking into the blood-soaked mud, occasionally kicking aside obstructing organs and limbs.
“These guys would never have imagined you killed the mantis days ago and turned it into a cadaver. A couple might have extraordinary abilities, but this trap was vicious—even standing still exposed their backs to a Demon Flower Mantis with supersonic slashes and extraordinary optical camouflage. It was like shooting fish in a barrel. I have a feeling even renowned powerhouses would fall to you.” Veronica appraised Ashley with a newfound gaze.
“Let’s get out of here first. The plan isn’t complete yet.”
Ashley folded her umbrella and calmly walked through the blood-and-flesh mire, her cowboy boots squelching with each step.
