City A, Central District.
Morning light scattered the gray haze over the city, and the streets gradually awoke.
The flow of traffic and crowds surged, the blare of horns and murmurs of conversation intertwining in the air—another ordinary morning had begun.
BOOM—!
Suddenly, a tremendous explosion erupted from underground.
The flat ground violently arched upward, the asphalt road surface shattering like a cookie.
The tremor spread through the nearby blocks. Cups in a café clattered from their shelves, drawing startled cries from staff and customers.
“Is it an earthquake?!” someone shouted.
CRASH!
The response was a massive crystalline ice hand bursting through the earth, slamming down heavily in the center of the street.
Simultaneously, a siren wailed over the city.
It was the unique tone specifically for “Monster Invasion”—piercing, like metal scraping against every citizen’s nerves.
“A monster! It’s a monster! Run!”
Panic instantly exploded. High heels were trampled off, briefcases abandoned. Men in suits and women with immaculate makeup now wore the same distorted expressions of escape.
Eight hundred meters away, atop a shopping mall.
The wind here became tangible, howling and tugging at the edges of a white cloak.
The figure beneath the cloak leaned against the rooftop railing, propped up by a clearly modified sniper rifle.
The gun body was over 1.4 meters long, its dull metal surface engraved with intricate patterns. Upon closer look, faint blue light seemed to pulse within the grooves.
A dark red bullet was pushed into the chamber, clicking into place with a snap.
A white fox tail peeked out from the side of the cloak, its tip swaying gently with its owner’s breath.
Bai Li—that was the name she used now.
Six months ago, she had been an ordinary male university student rushing to finish his graduation thesis.
After an accident, she opened her eyes again and had inexplicably become… this.
White hair, fox ears, and a fluffy tail added behind her.
The most ironic part was her current identity: [Otherworld Monster], an invader of this world, an enemy of humanity.
The crosshairs of the scope moved slowly, filtering through the fleeing crowds, skipping over the rampaging ice crystal giant, as if searching for something.
‘Come on out, hero of City A,’ she whispered to herself, her sharp canine teeth lightly biting her lower lip. Behind her mask, azure blue pupils contracted into slits. ‘Don’t make me wait too long…’
…
Within the crowd, Lin Du moved like a fish swimming upstream.
His blue-and-white school uniform stood out starkly among the suits and office attire. He nimbly weaved through the panicked human tide, rapidly closing in on the giant’s location.
“Ah—!”
A little girl, about five or six years old, tripped and fell. A portly middle-aged man was about to trample right over her.
The young man abruptly accelerated, using his shoulder and back to forcefully absorb the impact.
Thud!
The man felt like he’d slammed into a concrete wall, staggering back two steps in shock as he looked at the somewhat handsome youth before him.
Lin Du had already crouched down, gently helping the little girl up, his voice soft. “Are you okay?”
The girl stared at him blankly, then shook her head. “I’m fine… thank you… big brother.”
A woman came rushing over, crying, scooped up the child, and muttered several thanks before being swallowed by the fleeing crowd.
The young man watched the two disappear around the street corner before turning back.
The ice crystal giant had already destroyed the central plaza and was now heading toward the most densely populated subway entrance.
He couldn’t wait any longer.
Taking a deep breath, he rushed into a roadside public restroom and locked the door behind him.
The youth touched the metal bracelet on his right wrist. The red gemstone flashed.
“Transform!”
Brilliant flames ignited around his body, a scorching heatwave scattering the dust.
Red patterns instantly spread from the bracelet, covering his entire body. Silver-gray armor formed within the light.
The chest plate had sharp, streamlined edges. The visor lit up with a keen glow.
The entire process took less than two seconds. The flames dissipated, revealing a knight clad primarily in silver, accented with red and black, standing in the stall.
“Make this quick,” he pushed open the stall door and stepped into the street. “I can’t be late again today.”
…
On the rooftop, the pair of triangular ears covered in fine white fur beneath the hood twitched slightly.
‘He’s here.’
Bai Li’s fingertip rested on the trigger.
In the crosshairs, the silver knight had already begun to move.
The ice crystal giant was dismantling an evacuated office building with its bare hands. Its attacks were chaotic, but each blow carried the brute force to shatter reinforced concrete.
Boom!
A fierce blast of fire erupted on the ice giant’s chest. The knight shot out from the blasted opening, landing heavily.
“Ugh—! Going all out from the start?”
Bai Li clutched her chest, cold sweat beading on her forehead.
The ice crystal giant was her summoned creation. Their senses were shared, and the pain it endured was projected onto her.
The giant, with a gaping hole in its chest, roared in fury and charged at the knight.
“Not a living creature, huh?”
Lin Du sidestepped the heavy fist swinging his way, retreating several meters.
The difference in their sizes was like a mouse and an elephant. The knight darted between the giant’s legs, while simultaneously using the red light sword extending from his wrist to deliver frequent slashes, sending ice shards flying.
In the scope’s view, that silver figure was agile beyond what one would expect from someone wearing armor.
Even though Bai Li had been an FPS pro in her previous life, locking onto a target like this was still difficult.
She needed a better opportunity. She needed him to expose an opening.
The ice giant roared, raising both arms high, preparing to smash the enemy beneath its feet with all its might.
But the knight was faster. He leaped sharply to the right, evading the ground-shattering blow. The tip of his foot pushed off against the office building’s exterior wall, using the momentum for a second jump.
Now!
Seizing the moment he was momentarily airborne, Bai Li pulled the trigger.
There was no deafening gunshot, only a low, deep hum.
The moment the bullet left the barrel, the surrounding air distorted slightly. The bullet trailed a dark red trajectory, aimed straight for the knight’s chest.
The knight sensed the killing intent mid-air. Alarms shrieked inside his armor.
He abandoned his attack, twisting his body in the air while simultaneously extending a hand to deploy a transparent protective shield.
Crack!
The shield shattered on impact, but it bought Lin Du a fraction of time.
The bullet grazed his chest plate, leaving a molten dent on the silver-gray armor surface. The intense heat transmitted through the armor made Lin Du frown.
“Tch.” Bai Li clicked her tongue, swiftly ejecting the spent cartridge, but her movements suddenly froze.
Because the knight hadn’t landed.
After adjusting his posture in mid-air, he somersaulted over the giant’s swinging hand, then forcefully kicked off against the giant’s crystalline knuckles.
CRUNCH!
The giant’s hand shattered explosively. Using that violent recoil, the knight shot toward the rooftop like a cannonball!
‘Not good!’
Bai Li threw aside the sniper rifle, rolling to the side with all her might.
BOOM!!!
[Blazing Heavy Strike]
The knight crashed down onto the rooftop like a meteor. The energy concentrated in his right foot instantly vaporized half of the rooftop.
“Cough… cough…!”
Bai Li struggled to her feet after tumbling several times on the ground, drawing a dagger from her waist.
The dust cleared. The knight rose slowly, his visor locking onto Bai Li.
“A new monster?” His voice, processed through the armor, carried a mechanical quality. “You control that big guy over there?”
Bai Li didn’t answer, holding the dagger horizontally before her.
The mission had failed. And she couldn’t afford the price of failure.
She had to fight with everything she had.
“Not willing to talk?”
Before his words fully faded, Lin Du’s figure vanished from his spot. The next instant, a fist shot straight for Bai Li’s face.
So fast!
Bai Li ducked low to dodge, her dagger thrusting toward the molten dent on the chest plate—possibly the opponent’s only weak point.
However, before the blade tip could even touch the armor, it was caught by the other’s hand.
Crack—
A crisp sound. The dagger shattered from the tip, fragments clattering to the ground.
Bai Li froze, her hand gripping the hilt stiff in mid-air.
The disparity in strength was glaringly obvious. She instinctively retreated.
“Stop. Who are you, really?”
Lin Du reached out, grabbing for her mask.
Snap.
The mask fell off. Time seemed to freeze for a second.
The wind on the rooftop tousled Bai Li’s silver-white long hair, revealing the pointed fox ears among the strands, which trembled slightly from tension now.
Her face was fully exposed in the morning light. Her skin was pale, almost translucent. Her features were exquisite, not quite human. Her blue eyes were like deep pools filled with starlight.
Most striking was her expression at this moment: shock, chagrin, and a trace of fear.
The knight froze. An extremely faint, cold fragrance seemed to permeate the air.
Beneath the armor, eighteen-year-old high school student Lin Du felt his heart skip a beat.
He had seen many monster cadres—ferocious ones, terrifying ones, bizarre ones.
But he had never seen one like this… a cute girl?
Bai Li snapped back to reality first. She abruptly stepped back, turned, and leaped off the rooftop.
“Wait!”
The knight reached out to grab her. His fingertips brushed against something soft, and he reflexively closed his hand.
“Eek—!”
A pitiful, mournful cry came from below. The knight felt something light in his grasp.
A few strands of pure white fox fur remained between his fingers. The white figure had already used the exterior wall to push off, and with a few leaps and bounds, vanished into the shadows between buildings.
Lin Du stood at the rooftop’s edge, looking down at the now empty street and the gradually disintegrating ice crystal giant.
A red light flashed. The armor receded like a tide.
In the distance, police sirens grew closer.
He opened his palm. The fox fur glimmered faintly in the morning light.
“Just who… is she?”
No one answered.
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