Chapter 67: Deep in the Wildfire Part 3

Unfortunately for him, it was futile. Shi Zui dodged effortlessly with a single move. Then her right hand shot out, clamping around his throat. With a slight squeeze, bones cracked explosively. Second Brother’s vision went black, his breath cut off.

Shi Zui released her grip, and the corpse slumped to the ground like a rag doll.

She exhaled a breath of stale air, the rage from seeing her little teammate swallowed by the flames finally spent.

Ye Jingqiu stared in stunned silence, wondering if the captain tailored her methods to the enemy—quick and clean for those with fewer kills on their hands, slow and agonizing for the truly wicked.

The area finally fell quiet. Shi Zui turned without a word about what had just happened, merely nodding to Jiang Zhinan and Ye Jingqiu nearby to signal that all was clear.

Ye Jingqiu spoke up. “So… shall we head to the garage?”

Shi Zui shook her head. “No, it’s not over yet. There are far more thugs outside the villa than the bodies littering the ground here. They must all be gathered near the garage.”

She instructed Jiang Zhinan to stay hidden, then she and Ye Jingqiu gripped their long knives and advanced slowly toward the garage.

The place felt like familiar territory, with the same scenery and the little door they remembered. But the ventilation duct they’d used to enter at the start was surely blown to bits by now, replaced by wildfire raging through the weeds. They halted about ten meters from the garage door, where the enemies’ heavy breathing was all too obvious to Shi Zui’s ears.

A silent showdown began. Shi Zui and Ye Jingqiu stood side by side amid the flames, unarmed save for their knives. No enemy would dare underestimate them for it.

Her rampage value spiked, activating her rebirth instinct at double strength. Beneath the white bandages on her back, the gruesome wound healed silently, leaving only a faint pink scar.

Shi Zui clenched her left fist; the connected muscles and tendons were fully restored. The power of a base S-rank member had returned to its peak. Her eyes narrowed. There were some things she had wanted to do ever since laying eyes on that freezer full of bodies.

“Open fire—”

The enemy cracked first, their desperate roar echoing. Bullets rained down once more, familiar lead shot pouring forth. But this time, neither Ye Jingqiu nor Shi Zui dodged. Twin bursts of pure black flame erupted, weaving together into an indestructible curtain of fire like madly writhing serpents.

Instinct: Yinghuo, activated!

The lead shot poured out—bullets cast entirely from molten lead, once the weapon of medieval dragoons. Incredibly soft, they released all their kinetic energy on impact, deforming severely to create massive cavities in flesh. The wound area was hundreds of times that of standard rounds.

That’s why the Hague Convention explicitly banned such inhumane ammunition, but these desperados loved firing it laughing at hostages.

This would be their last time.

The paper-thin fire domain stood firm as steel, blocking all harm in an instant. With that, Shi Zui launched herself into the air. It was no longer time for mere defense—the roles of prey and hunter had instantly reversed.

Bloodstained blades wreathed in black flame sliced silently, each stroke precisely severing a gunman’s throat. In the night shadows, Shi Zui moved like a cloaked assassin—except this killer came openly to claim lives.

One by one, figures crumpled. From afar came the roar of an engine firing up, the motor revving furiously, its thunderous noise tearing through the night. Sword-like headlights blazed, and the vehicle’s prow smashed through the garage wall, revealing its massive bulk in the darkness.

Miao Lun floored the accelerator, his face twisted in near-madness. They were at the end of the road now. These two arsonists who had burned the villa to the ground—who knew whose side they were on?—but with Big Boss dead and the place emptied, even fleeing into the woods wouldn’t save them long. Surrender meant death too. Better to gamble on one last shot at survival!

The elephantine off-roader accelerated to a hundred kilometers per hour in moments, roaring straight at Ye Jingqiu. In the blink of an eye, its front end loomed before her.

Ye Jingqiu snorted with a smirk. What, did they think she looked like easy prey?

Half a year ago, the her who relied on drugs to slay Candle Dragon couldn’t have handled this. But now she was Ye Jingqiu, who had escaped the great river with Shi Zui after a brush with death. She was Ye Jingqiu, who had cut down invaders at Bamo Base. And moreover, the Yinghuo Shi Zui had left was still burning fiercely.

So this suicidal charge couldn’t touch her.

Ye Jingqiu stepped back, knife at the ready. Yinghuo surged forward with her, the blade aura doubling, black flames exploding as her aether domain expanded!

She suddenly gripped the hilt tight and hurled the knife forward through the air—

Time itself seemed to freeze as this utterly ordinary anti-riot longsword began to spin. In an instant, its rotation reached an astonishing speed. Afterimages trailed in its wake, twisting the airflow into a vortex that mercilessly dragged in everything around it—weeds, ashes, shattered shell casings…

The blade spun faster and faster. Blood from a dozen meters around began to be drawn in, the rushing currents of air turning completely crimson, like brocade weaving through the night sky and staining it blood-red.

Bang—

The two collided! A heaven-shaking roar exploded, no less thunderous than the earlier blast. Everyone could only catch a flash of the blood-drenched blade before the vehicle appeared dozens of meters away.

Dozens of meters away?

Miao Lun gripped the steering wheel in a daze. He instinctively stomped the accelerator—nothing. He finally sensed something was wrong. Why hadn’t he touched the brakes from start to finish, yet the car had come to a halt?

He experimentally pressed the pedal deeper. This time, the vehicle responded. Harsh screeches like steel saws raking iron wire erupted from all sides. An earthquake-like crack spiderwebbed across the off-roader like writhing earthworms. Miao Lun understood in a flash. Color drained from his face, leaving it as pale as paper. Without hesitation, he snatched a small bag of gold from the passenger seat and yanked at the door.

Too late.

The fissures widened relentlessly. Beneath the vast night sky, the all-aluminum plated body split apart with a thunderous crack, the edges as neat as a wire cutter’s slice. Fuel sprayed amid flying sparks. The tank detonated with a bang. The off-roader, pristine just a second ago, collapsed entirely, its parts shattering and igniting in a roaring blaze.

At the same moment, Shi Zui’s blade swept past the final gunman.

The world fell utterly silent.

Ye Jingqiu had poured nearly every ounce of her strength into that swing—there had been no time left to dodge. Even with every enemy down, she clutched the sword tightly, as if terrified the horrors of that cliffside fall might repeat themselves.

Amid the endless wildfire that scorched away sins in the blackness of night, Shi Zui sheathed Yinghuo. Her eyes fixed on her wary little teammate in the distance. In her mind, that peerless strike replayed endlessly: Ye Jingqiu’s hem fluttering against the night sky. For the first time, she realized Ye Jingqiu wasn’t much shorter than her at all.

The flames burned fiercer, the heat steadily rising. Shi Zui thought the temperature here felt excessively high. It was the first time she’d wielded Yinghuo and felt her own heart burning so fiercely.

By the time she snapped back to reality, Ye Jingqiu was gone. Shi Zui jolted in alarm. Before she could call out her little teammate’s name, a shout rang out from the distance:

“Captain—”

She whipped her head around. Ye Jingqiu was rolling down the window of another off-road vehicle, waving frantically toward her. The thing was moving fast.

It seemed Ye Jingqiu had gone to salvage a ride.

Shi Zui let out a relieved breath. But before the smile could reach her lips, Ye Jingqiu’s cries grew louder—and so did the vehicle’s speed.

“Captain—”

This wasn’t a greeting; it was a cry for help! Shi Zui suddenly remembered something. Her expression shifted in an instant.

Ye Jingqiu… didn’t have a driver’s license!

A few minutes later,

Shi Zui eyed the passenger seat warily as Ye Jingqiu buckled her seatbelt. Only then did she relax and restart the engine.

So close—the woman who had survived poison dealers and explosions nearly met her end at the hands of her own driving.

Ye Jingqiu gave an embarrassed smile or two. She turned to gaze at the villa, now reduced to rubble, an unprecedented sense of exhilaration surging within her. The flames devouring the weeds were nearly spent; she’d sketched a firebreak with water elements just a bit earlier.

The night breeze blew gentle now. She leaned against the window, scanning the wilds, her hair dancing in the air.

“Sister Nan-Nan! Over here!”

Ye Jingqiu’s eyes lit up. She waved vigorously into the emptiness. “Here! Here!”

Jiang Zhinan trudged toward the off-roader, laden with ammo magazines that were a bit heavy for her. Ye Jingqiu hopped out to help. “So many, Sister Nan-Nan? That’s plenty—the back seat’s still stocked!”

She extended a hand to Jiang Zhinan with a beaming smile, her eyes sparkling. “Come on, Sister Nan-Nan! Let’s head back together!”

Jiang Zhinan looked up at this enigmatic girl who had swept in and out like a storm, her soot-streaked face alight with the purest of grins.

She slapped Ye Jingqiu’s hand heartily. “Thanks, but I might be a little late getting back.”

Ye Jingqiu froze, slowly lowering her hand. “What do you mean, Sister Nan-Nan?”

“I promised A-Yu’s sister I’d look after A-Yu. I can’t break my word.” Jiang Zhinan smiled, wiping the grime from Ye Jingqiu’s face. “She doesn’t have much time left. I’ll bury her with her mother, then head home.”

“But won’t it be dangerous here? Why don’t you come with us, Sister Nan-Nan?”

“No one but you all knows the Big Boss is dead. Besides, I can drive and handle a gun just fine.” Jiang Zhinan pointed to the surviving off-roader spared by the blaze, then placed Ye Jingqiu’s hand back in her lap. “Don’t worry. I won’t linger here long.”

The resolve in Jiang Zhinan’s eyes was unshakable. Ye Jingqiu had no more words. She clambered into the back seat, shoved the barely alive Silver-Masked Man aside, and fished out a few handguns from beneath him. She pressed them into Jiang Zhinan’s hands with utmost gravity as they parted:

“Then, Sister Nan-Nan, you have to stay safe! If you can’t get out, hole up in that old wooden cabin. I’ll come back for you soon.”

“Deal. When we get back to China, you’re welcome at my place anytime.” Jiang Zhinan waved her off. “And thanks to your… sister. My cooking’s not half bad!”

From the window, Shi Zui watched Jiang Zhinan and offered a rare smile and nod.

“It’s settled, then! See you in a few days.”

Ye Jingqiu clambered aboard. The off-roader rumbled to life. She rolled down the window and hollered back at Jiang Zhinan, silhouetted against the firelight. “Sister Nan-Nan, take care of yourself!”

Jiang Zhinan nodded and waved, watching until the vehicle’s taillights vanished completely down the distant mountain road.

She smiled. The night breeze felt wonderfully refreshing.