Clang! Clang! Clang!
Sparks flew as the spinning blade deflected the incoming bullets. The recoil sent the blade flying back, but Gu Lian’s expression remained unchanged as she waved her hand, and the five blade segments folded back into the hilt.
Just as a bullet was about to strike her between the eyes, she spread her legs, bent her knees, and threw her entire body backward.
The bullet, trailing a wave of heat, grazed past Gu Lian’s forehead, the wind pressure flipping up the brim of her hat.
Her knees skidded across the ground as she slid forward, barely managing to duck behind a metal wall.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Bullets slammed into the metal surface. Empty casings ejected one after another from the guards’ AKs. The suppressing fire never let up; the three men were taking turns shooting, their coordinated firepower aimed at pinning Gu Lian down and killing her on the spot.
Gu Ye reached into her card pouch, her fingers just pulling out a magnetic grenade when her body stiffened. She hesitated, then put the grenade back.
The underground base still held File 051. If she used the magnetic grenade and accidentally blew up File 051 in the cabinet during the explosion, she’d be crying her eyes out later, but it would be too late.
Ting, ting, ting—
Shell casings fell to the ground, their sound mingling with the gunfire. Gu Lian leaned against the wall, closed her eyes, and listened intently to the gunfire.
At this moment, Gu Lian felt her senses were amplified. The pitch-blackness before her eyes gradually cleared, and the passage of time became extremely slow.
The colors of the world rapidly faded, transforming into countless black and white threads that outlined the shapes within the room.
Following those flowing threads, the wall she leaned against gradually became transparent. Behind it, three transparent figures outlined by lines stood in a triangular formation.
One of them was pouring out firepower from his weapon, while the other two were reloading their ammunition. She was leaning against a transparent wall, and behind her was the guard she had pinned to the wall.
Ting~
The sound of a shell casing hitting the ground was infinitely magnified beside her ear. This feeling was quite marvelous. Gu Lian suddenly felt as if she had activated a wallhack.
Ting~ Ting~ Ting~
Casings ejected from the rifle bolts. Gu Lian seemed to hear the crisp sound of bullets being fed into the magazines. The click-clack sounds echoed in her ears. The guns, initially just outlined by threads, were gradually parsed by the threads into three-dimensional firearms.
She could clearly see the firing pin inside the gun striking the base of the bullet. The bullet’s tip was propelled out of the barrel by the ignited gunpowder. The powerful force pushed the bolt carrier back against the receiver, chambering a new round. And in the AK’s magazine, there were less than three bullets left.
I see it clearly now!
Gu Lian’s eyes snapped open. Her left hand pulled back the slide of the Desert Eagle, while her right hand pushed off the ground as she rolled out from behind cover.
Ting, ting, ting~
Three bullets struck the metal wall. The hand holding the folding knife slapped the ground, and Gu Lian leaped up. The target of her Desert Eagle was precisely the guard who had just raised his gun to fire again, a momentary look of astonishment flashing in his eyes.
Bang~
A flash of fire erupted as a spinning bullet flew from the barrel. Gu Lian planted her feet, ducked to avoid another bullet, and simultaneously pulled the dagger from the mouth of the already-dead guard pinned to the wall.
Thump~
The bullet pierced through the shooting guard’s heart. His face held nothing but disbelief. Presumably, he had never imagined why someone wouldn’t fear bullets.
Indeed, Gu Lian wasn’t afraid of ordinary bullets. If they weren’t the special ammunition used by the Hunters, normal bullets could only penetrate her skin. Even though her clothes were made of bulletproof fibers, they could at most prevent the bullets from fully entering her body.
Being hit by a bullet would still hurt. And what if the enemy’s gun was loaded with special bullets?
Those things not only pierced through defenses but were also excruciatingly painful. The last time she was strafed by a machine gun, she still felt some residual pain.
Gu Lian had no intention of gambling with her own body. She didn’t have masochistic tendencies, so naturally, she wouldn’t stand there trading shots with someone.
Besides… she was using a pistol against AKs. No sane person would choose to stand and trade fire.
As the first guard fell, Gu Lian threw the dagger in her hand.
The successive deaths of three comrades frayed the nerves of the last remaining guard. He threw away his gun, grabbed a grenade hanging from his waist, and hooked his index finger through the pull ring.
“I’ll fight you to the death!”
Ting~ Click~
A crisp sound of the pull ring being removed rang out. A black pistol was tossed into the air. At the same time, the guard pulled the safety pin from the grenade. But just as he was about to throw it, a slender, pale hand enveloped his own, preventing him from letting go.
The guard’s face began to pale. He tried to break free from the hand’s grip with brute force, but the hand held on like an iron vise, refusing to loosen.
Thud. The corpse that was initially pinned to the wall fell to the ground. Gu Lian had already closed in on the sole remaining guard. Leaning back, she drove her knee forward into the guard’s chest.
Thump!
The kick forced the guard’s mouth wide open. The folding knife unfolded, its blade spinning irregularly before Gu Lian. As she swung her arm, the five rotating blades formed a separated longsword, slashing toward the opponent’s head.
The guard could even feel the cold blade edge slicing through his cervical vertebrae. Then, his vision began to spin wildly before finally leveling out with the ground.
With his last glance, he saw a drop of blood splatter on the floor. Was that his blood?
Immediately after, his vision plunged into darkness. Gu Lian exerted force with her arm, pressing the headless corpse, along with her own left hand, underneath her body, and swiftly withdrew her hand.
Thump!
A muffled explosion sounded. The pinned, headless corpse convulsed violently. A mist of blood sprayed from its back, splattering onto Gu Lian. Crimson blood dripped from her hair onto the floor.
Now, Gu Lian was covered in bloodstains, though all of it was from her enemies.
Getting up from the corpse, Gu Lian finally began to survey her surroundings to understand the specific situation. She hadn’t seen it clearly in the video earlier, and observing the situation in front of the enemy after entering would have been idiotic.
This place was similar to what she observed in the video earlier, constructed from white alloy materials. Fluorescent lights emitted a bright glow.
Picking up the Desert Eagle that had fallen on the ground, Gu Lian slotted it back into its holster and walked straight to the area where the file safes were stored.
Following the password Weikede used to open the safe, Gu Lian input the code exactly into the keypad.
[Authentication Successful.]
A green authentication code popped up on the safe’s display. Two rows of precisely closed file racks gradually unfolded.
Gu Lian stepped inside and began searching for the File 051 she needed. Weikede had taken File 034 from the left-hand metal rack.
[Mirkon Cooperation Agreement]
[Treaty of Non-Interference Among Civilians During the Three-Party War.]
[Weiyi Incidents, Subsequent Funding Allocation to the Hunter Unit.]
After a quick glance, Gu Lian could see that Weikede was indeed a genuine self-interested individual, yet surprisingly concerned about the civilians under his jurisdiction.
Moreover, regarding Weiyi incidents, Weikede even planned to use funds to hire more Hunters from the Hunter Unit.
However, apart from these, she didn’t see any numbered series files. Most of the files in the left-hand rack were records of incidents that occurred in the Grand Camp, along with some valid contracts with other arms dealers.
As Gu Lian’s gaze swept over, intending to shift her focus to the right-hand file rack, a file placed at the very back of the left-hand shelf caught her attention. No, it was the blood-red file folder on top that drew her eye.
[Hunter Unit Intervention: Human Skin Weiyi Incident.]