The intercept order had been issued eight hours earlier.
This was an armed squad of drug lords from Northern Myanmar, secretly colluding with certain officers. Whenever the military or the ruling party issued a purge command, these men would “sacrifice” a few of their own to the authorities as a formality, while continuing their narcotics trade in the shadows. Both sides turned a blind eye to it all.
So when the little boss received Tunqin’s intercept order, he leaped about in excitement, ready to grab his weapons and dive into a desperate battle to prove his unwavering loyalty to the Big Boss—and to ensure their political protection remained intact.
But wasn’t the Big Boss’s order a bit over the top? Sure, dealing with six people warranted plenty of guns, but did they really need to haul along a one-man rocket launcher too? It was a criminal waste, pure alarmism—truly, you don’t know the cost of rice until you’re the one buying it. A single rocket cost a bundle in greenbacks.
The little boss spat in disgust, figuring even special forces couldn’t dodge a solid steel round at this range. Once the tires blew and the screams started, he’d turn those meat sacks into Swiss cheese and boot them straight into the river below.
He didn’t take the job seriously at all. So when the target vehicle entered his line of sight, he just smirked around his cigarette and waved a hand—
In an instant, dozens of M22 rifles spat tongues of fire in unison. Casings clattered to the ground like the dirge of the Grim Reaper, 7.62-caliber steel rounds hurtling toward the Modified Car’s tires. The canyon road erupted in a storm of bullets, an endless hail pouring out like the roaring river at the mountain’s base.
But the outcome he expected never came.
The moment the first barrage arrived, a wall of pitch-black flames over ten meters high erupted from nowhere. A scorching blast swept outward like a meteor’s passage, surging forward with unstoppable momentum, rippling layer by layer in a lightning-fast wave!
His cigarette ash was instantly incinerated by the intense heat. The little boss, his mouth smeared with gray residue, gaped in stunned silence as the smoldering butt tumbled to the dirt.
“Holy shit… what kind of new weapon is that…”
His worldview shattered, but he had little time left for mumbling. The ant-swarm density of black flames surged forward at unimaginable speed, pouncing with eerie precision to devour every gun in sight. The oncoming heatwave stripped away all will to fight. Then the flames began writhing like serpents, flickering between pure black and crimson red, melting the rifles like snow in boiling soup.
Total annihilation, in theory.
“Run!”
Someone bellowed in terror, and in the blink of an eye, the road was littered with twisted, abandoned weapons. The little boss shuddered backward involuntarily. This heat surpassed human comprehension—it wasn’t some modern flamethrower tech. This was sorcery.
The squad, brimming with confidence just half a minute ago, collapsed into utter rout. But no one expected the flames to halt right there, refusing to pursue. The fleeing militiamen, gripped by pure panic, never noticed the black flames dissipating entirely behind them.
Things were off inside the car, too.
An indescribable vertigo hit like riding a roller coaster at ten times speed for a hundred straight loops. The Will Ring’s alarms blared even louder than when the attack began. The Rampage Value, already in the six figures, kept skyrocketing: 341,203… 575,899… 742,690… Shi Zui’s readings, usually stable around five hundred thousand, now raced toward seven figures like a runaway sports car!
Agony tore through her body as if she were being ripped apart. Memories from the Project Y’s silver-white laboratory surged back. Shi Zui clenched her teeth and slammed the brakes, her heart pounding furiously to pump blood, her temperature spiking wildly. Trembling, she forced out the words:
“I’m losing control. Get out now and pursue those men!”
Platitudes like “I’ll take care of you” rang hollow in this moment. Zhou Xianhui and Xie Pingzhi exchanged a glance, then shoved open the doors without hesitation. Xie Pingzhi unleashed her Wind Domain to scan for hidden foes; Zhou Xianhui erupted with elemental force, shaking the canyon as her figure vanished into the jungle.
Silence fell like night. Ye Jingqiu’s face drained of color. She fumbled off her seatbelt and rushed to the driver’s seat, where Shi Zui gasped for air like a fish flung from water.
“Repair… repair!” Ye Jingqiu’s lips had gone pale. Kneeling on the floor, she gripped Shi Zui’s hands tightly, channeling every available element to halt the Captain’s sudden crisis.
Shi Zui finally released the steering wheel. Ye Jingqiu glanced down and felt her heart clench—two handprints were gouged into the carbon-fiber wheel. How much pain had she just endured?
The unidentified torment and surging elements crushed her nerves. Shi Zui’s vision blurred to mist; she could barely make out her teammate’s movements.
“Professor Luo… sedative…”
Ye Jingqiu froze, then flung open the rear door. “Professor Luo! Professor Luo, the Captain needs a sedative!”
“When did she start using drugs again?” Loteria shot back instinctively, but her hands moved like lightning, pulling out a syringe and thrusting it toward Ye Jingqiu. “Oral meds won’t cut it now. The sedative should be in Captain Shi’s pocket—inject it immediately.”
No time to ponder the implications of the drugs. Ye Jingqiu frantically searched the Captain’s pockets. Shi Zui’s temperature was unnaturally high, her skin radiating an eerie crimson flush.
Found it! Ye Jingqiu pulled out a box of Silver-White Agent, the clear liquid sloshing gently in its glass vial. She shook her head to steady herself, willing her worry-shaking hands to hold firm as she drew the dose.
“The Captain will be fine soon… just fine…” No time for sterilization. Shi Zui’s hands clutched the seat in a death grip. Ye Jingqiu murmured reassurance, then plunged the needle home without a second thought—
The needle pierced the vein, and the clear fluid flowed steadily into her bloodstream, propelled by her powerful heart. The drug hit like ice water on magma. Visibly, Shi Zui’s temperature plummeted; her uncontrolled hands went limp, releasing the seat.
In the back row of the modified car, Zhong Qing’s expression was oddly peculiar, her gaze glued to Shi Zui like sticky syrup, as if lost in thought about something.
But the crisis had stabilized. The rampage value began to drop, narrowly skirting the edge of seven figures. The sedative worked like a miracle elixir; within seconds, Shi Zui’s breathing steadied. By the time Ye Jingqiu pulled out the needle, the captain had fully regained her senses.
“Captain, are you okay?” Ye Jingqiu stood and handed the syringe to Professor Luo for disposal as hazardous waste. She grabbed her thermos and offered the warm water inside to Shi Zui.
For a long moment, Shi Zui said nothing. It took ages before she snapped back to reality and lightly shook her head at the cup.
She steadied herself and hopped out of the modified car with one hand on the edge. Ye Jingqiu quickly made way. Turning back, Shi Zui murmured, “I’m fine now. Just need to circulate a bit of instinct to soothe my nerves.”
Ye Jingqiu swallowed her worry and doubts, leaning against the hood and watching the captain murmur her instinct incantation without blinking, afraid to look away even for a second.
It was already sunset, with vast swaths of orange-red clouds painting the horizon. A gentle evening breeze stirred the valley, carrying the acrid stench of gunpowder.
Deep in the distant woods, Zhou Xianhui was still pursuing the last two fugitives, while Xie Pingzhi hovered low overhead, providing support. Not far from the modified car, in the dense forest, the little boss who had just escaped was quietly adjusting his cannon’s aim.
The RPG-7 rocket launcher—a Soviet-designed single-soldier anti-tank weapon from 1960, the signature tool of infantry and guerrillas in third-world nations.
It was indeed a veteran with far too many years of service under its belt, but even so, its ability to punch through 700mm of homogeneous steel plate made it the undisputed king of infantry weapons.
When you made your living dancing on the edge of a blade, you had to be prepared to lose your head. Even if he scraped by with his life today, Tunqin would never let him go.
The little boss gritted his teeth. The instant he zeroed in on his target, Xie Pingzhi caught the scent and whipped her head around, her pupils contracting sharply.
“Captain, watch out—!”
The warning drowned in the roar of the rocket launching from the tube. The armor-piercing round hurtled toward the modified car like a dragon in flight. In that split second, Shi Zui had no time to think. She dashed forward like the wind, her pale green combat fatigues rippling like flowing water under the strain. Wind instinct activated, hurricane blade wrapping fiercely around the warhead, rapidly cooling and slowing its velocity as she tried to force it toward the roaring river below the highway.
Elemental power surged exponentially. The custom sedative injected into her veins had spread through Shi Zui’s body, but as the blood laced with conflicting drugs flooded her heart once more, pure golden flame erupted from nowhere, roaring to expel the intruder!
The two forces collided head-on inside Shi Zui’s body. In that instant, a pale golden aether domain flashed open, and the rampage value plummeted—from six figures straight down to…
Zero!
She lost control of the elements.
The hurricane blade vanished completely. The redirected warhead snapped back to course, barreling unerringly toward Shi Zui!
The 200kg rocket screamed straight at the now-powerless Shi Zui. In that moment, the world seemed to fade away, her deep black eyes reflecting only the spinning projectile lunging at her.
Just as the munition was about to detonate, Ye Jingqiu charged forward at impossible speed. She leaped like a tiger, wrapping Shi Zui in a desperate embrace. Wind element gathered behind her, shoving the rocket into the river below the mountain.
Boom!
A deafening explosion shattered the air, hurling sand and stone, cracking rock and rending earth. A towering shroud of dust engulfed everything. Ye Jingqiu clung to Shi Zui for dear life as the massive shockwave tore a thousand gashes in the ground behind them, hurling the pair over the bottomless cliff!
Time seemed to halt.
The wind, the blasts, the shouts, the roaring waves… all faded into the ethereal haze of dust. The two women hung suspended in midair, twin bursts of pure golden flame igniting from their hearts, mirroring each other in life and death—their flickering rhythms perfectly synchronized.
At last, the powers of the same origin converged. Sealed memories surged from the abyss. The dimming twilight outlined their entwined silhouettes, plummeting toward the churning river below—or perhaps embracing as they plunged into a past utterly devoured by time.
“Mm, which name do you like? Chi Yu… or Qiu Bai?”
“Your mother died at their hands! Don’t come find me anymore! Get out of here!”
“It’s nice here. If we’re discovered, we can escape in time. Me? I like it here too…”
“Sleeping in the icy ocean— isn’t the East Sea water enough for you to play in? Fine, if you’re set on going, then go. But when you come back, don’t sleep with me anymore. You’re too cold.”
“This isn’t the time to fuss—that dragon’s already taken Behemoth north!”
“…”
Shattered memories flashed through her mind, countless identical shadows whirling by like a carousel. In an instant, the torrent of recollection dissolved back into flickering golden flame, sinking once more into the depths of her heart.
Amid the choking dust and thunderous echoes, Ye Jingqiu fought off unconsciousness and forced her eyes open. Everything in the world felt so impossibly elusive, slipping through her grasp before she could hold it.
She gazed at the face inches from her own and murmured through fading awareness, squeezing out one final question:
“Captain… have we met somewhere before?”
But there was no time left for Shi Zui to answer. With a colossal splash, they plummeted into the surging, endless river, tossed by the waves until they vanished into the unknown distance.
