Pei Ran glanced at Shi Ge Ye for a moment, then bent down to pick up the jacket on the floor. She shook off the dust before putting it back on. After walking a few steps, she kicked the dagger and bracelet farther away, then stopped.
In the dim, sparse room, her eyes shone bright like stars as she looked down at him, her face expressionless. With one hand holding his black leather notebook, she held a pen in the other. The tip of the pen glowed with a bright, oil-slick green light, hanging in mid-air, just about to drip.
Shi Ge Ye could hardly believe his eyes.
This weak, helpless fish lying on the chopping board had not only taken his green light, but was actually using it. How was that possible?
Shi Ge Ye had always worried that someone might casually snatch away the green light, and he had conducted experiments. Once, he tried handing the pen with the suspended green light to one of his subordinates. But almost instantly, the green light shot back into his body.
It recognized its owner.
He had heard rumors about the green light before—some people integrated with it and developed special abilities. The National Defense Security Department had even set up a special division to manage and utilize them. However, from the records, those abilities were simple and trivial, nothing compared to his.
He was undoubtedly the most special person in the world, which was why the powerful green light chose him as its master. No one else could take it away.
But today... how could this happen?
The green light followed the pen and fell into someone else's hands.
While Shi Ge Ye's thoughts were in turmoil, Pei Ran was still looking down at him.
The pervert was like a worm now, with no ability to fight back. With just a simple squeeze of his neck using a mechanical hand, it would all be over.
But Pei Ran suddenly changed her mind, wanting to try something else.
She glanced at the black leather notebook.
In the notebook was a drawing of a person lying on the ground. The only person who was still lying on the ground was Shi Ge Ye.
He had been in a rush earlier, so he only sketched out the basic pose with a few strokes. Since his fundamentals were solid, the structure and posture were flawless, but there were no details. The person's face wasn't visible, and it was hard to tell who it was.
The only distinguishing feature was the ponytail on the little figure's head.
Pei Ran held the pen, and with the glowing green tip, she made a few strokes to erase the ponytail.
She figured that erasing a part of the drawing should work. Shi Ge Ye had once erased dialogue bubbles he had drawn, and Pei Ran herself had erased sentences Shi Ge Ye had written.
Pei Ran added a few more strokes to change the hair to medium-length strands that fell down.
The hair was too simple, and when placed on the little figure's head, it looked like a cheap wig on an exquisite doll.
How it looked wasn't important. What mattered was whether it worked.
Still not entirely convinced, Pei Ran added three characters to the little figure: \[Shi Ge Ye].
It was like marking a doll with a curse, writing down the name and birthdate.
She wasn't sure if this modification would work, so she added a note:
\[Suddenly fell ill, the left arm has no strength, can't lift it.]
If the changes to the little figure didn't work, this line should still affect her, and the effect would only be her left arm losing strength. She could just write another line to fix it.
Pei Ran twirled the pen in her hand.
Her left arm felt normal, with no changes.
Meanwhile, Shi Ge Ye, struggling on the floor, suddenly found his left arm too weak to support him. He collapsed to the ground in an instant.
Whether the change to the hair had worked or the name had done it, the modification to the little figure was successful.
Shi Ge Ye lay there, unable to even lift his arm fully, struggling to raise his head.
He saw Pei Ran's eyes narrow slightly above the tape.
She took a few steps back, then a few more, almost reaching the door. She stood far enough from him, and only then did the tip of her pen fall back onto the notebook.
Shi Ge Ye had been drawing for years, and from just the movement of her hand, he could tell she was sketching a simple oval-shaped speech bubble, with a small pointed tail at the bottom.
Then, she slowly wrote a line of text inside.
A wave of intense despair hit him.
Pei Ran turned her head to glance at him, then slowly twirled her pen.
Shi Ge Ye fought to control himself, struggling with all his might to resist with reason and physical instinct.
But just like those people he had killed—the man in the checkered coat, the little girl in the scarf—his thin, elegant lips opened, and his voice seemed to come out involuntarily.
The shrill ringing in his ears continued. He could barely hear his own voice:
"Pig head, pig head, don't worry about the rain, I have an umbrella, I have a pig head…"
He wasn't sure if the last words came out. Maybe they did, maybe they didn't have time.
For over twenty hours of silence, his voice sounded rough and hoarse.
Shi Ge Ye, who had killed so many, now understood the terrifying nature of this kind of death—there was a gap between speaking and dying, and those few seconds felt unbearably long.
In the final seconds of life, the heart was filled with an overwhelming fear of imminent death.
Along with the fear, there was a strong sense of shame.
Shi Ge Ye had never considered that he might die this way, much less by uttering such a foolish, ridiculous sentence.
He had never spoken such nonsense. He was the prince, always elegant, above everyone else.
Why couldn't she show a little mercy and just let him say an "ah"?
She coldly looked down at him, refusing to leave him with even the smallest shred of dignity before death.
Then, with a loud bang, blood and flesh scattered.
Pei Ran was precise in her judgment of distance. The blood didn't even splatter on her.
She lowered her head and noticed that the last trace of green light hanging from the pen tip disappeared along with Shi Ge Ye's explosion.
Pei Ran felt a bit disappointed, but still unwilling to give up. She closed the pen and clipped it back into the black leather notebook, then stuffed the notebook into her jacket pocket.
W's voice appeared in her ear: "Pei Ran? I lost track of the target, Shi Ge Ye is missing."
"Mm," Pei Ran responded. "I know. He's dead."
The ability of Shi Ge Ye, the fusion body, was terrifyingly powerful. For her to kill him so quickly was almost unbelievable. W remained silent for a moment before asking, "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," Pei Ran answered.
She quietly made her way to the window, hidden behind the wall. She cautiously peeked outside. The antique cars in the yard stood quietly, with no one around. Shi Ge Ye's lackeys were probably still having lunch.
"I'm coming upstairs to bust you out now. You're in the third room on the left, facing the courtyard, right?"
Pei Ran grabbed the doorknob with her mechanical hand and yanked hard.
The door was made of basic black synthetic materials, with a cheap embedded lock. It stood no chance against her strength. The doorknob, lock and all, tore off in one brutal motion.
Now there was a hole in the door.
"Pei Ran," W suddenly said, "hold on. Someone just walked down the hallway. He's heading downstairs. It's the guy with the metal scorpion on his face—the one who follows Shi Geye around."
Scorpion Man. Shi Geye had told him to grab lunch earlier. Looks like he was back.
"I saw a gun on him," W warned. "Be careful."
Pei Ran could already hear footsteps near the stairs.
The stairs opened directly onto the hallway—if she stepped out now, they'd bump right into each other.
She looked down at the torn-off lock in her hand and the gaping hole in the door. After a moment of silent thought, she quietly shoved the broken piece back into the hole.
The piece wobbled dangerously, barely wedged in place.
The footsteps were getting closer.
Pei Ran slipped behind the door, out of sight.
The steps stopped just outside. He'd clearly noticed the wrecked doorknob.
Now.
It was the scorpion-faced man. He reached for the door—startled to find it half broken—when it suddenly swung open.
A gloved hand shot out toward his throat.
But he was no rookie. Years of bodyguard work had honed his instincts to the edge. His body reacted on reflex—he twisted back, dropped to the ground, and rolled, narrowly dodging Pei Ran's strike. When he sprang up again, he had a sleek silver gun in hand.
Pei Ran stayed close like a shadow, immediately grabbing the weapon. With a violent twist—
Snap.
The gun broke apart. Its components flew in all directions. Completely ruined.
Scorpion Man had seen all kinds of cybernetic arms in the slums with Shi Geye. People had modded themselves into monsters. But nothing like this.
That gun had been a new military prototype, not yet mass-produced—strong alloy, nearly unbreakable. Shi Geye had acquired it through "special channels."
And she just twisted it apart. Like candy.
Behind the duct tape covering Pei Ran's face, her eyes were calm, cold, and detached—like she'd broken necks before and hadn't lost sleep over it.
Scorpion Man felt a chill crawl up his spine. Instinct screamed at him: she's killed more people than you.
He backed up quickly, trying to escape her range.
The gun was trash, but the butt was still intact.
He sprinted back toward the metal staircase, raised the gunstock, and swung hard—smashing it against the railing.
He had to make noise. Couldn't shout, but had to get someone's attention. The others upstairs—eating lunch—would hear and come running.
Pei Ran knew exactly what he was trying to do. If the others came down, she'd be outgunned and overwhelmed.
She lunged again. Reached for his wrist just as—
Pfft. A soft sound.
Scorpion Man froze.
A small hole bloomed in his forehead.
He stared blankly toward the second floor. Slowly, his body collapsed.
Pei Ran turned her head.
Up on the metal walkway, W was perched—his metal body gleaming faintly.
Somehow, the clumsy little sphere had managed to reattach his firing module with those flimsy folding limbs. He couldn't even see inside himself—he must've done it by feel. And he'd even used a silencer.
One shot. Clean and quiet.
Now W was using his weak arms to drag himself along, inch by inch, toward the stairs.
And—dragging Pei Ran's enormous backpack behind him.
Pei Ran: "…"
He'd reassembled his weapon, crawled all the way over here, and brought her backpack.
Pei Ran couldn't help a smile. She darted up the stairs like a cat.
The second floor was the same as the first—row after row of dorm-style rooms. She crouched low to stay under window height, slipped down the hallway, and scooped up both the metal sphere and the backpack.
"Next time something like this happens, just bring the medicine. My pack's too heavy."
W replied, "But your chips are in the bag too. I saved your chips. Can that earn me some points in our partnership?"
Playing the sympathy card.
Pei Ran could see right through him. He could've just pulled out the meds and chips—but no. He had to crawl in dramatically, dragging the whole thing like some heart-wrenching war scene.
What a performance.
Still, it was touching. The bag also had her rations and water.
Pei Ran muttered, "Thanks."
W replied calmly, "You're welcome."
Pei Ran crept back toward the stairs. "So you can shoot that scorpion guy now?"
"Yes," W said. "He was an accomplice in your abduction and illegal detainment. He attempted to use lethal force on an unarmed Federal citizen under direct threat. I was well within protocol."
The "unarmed Federal citizen" glanced into a nearby room and slowed her steps.
There was a chair near the door, with a brown paper bag on it.
Printed on the bag were four words: "Insane Fried Chicken."
Pei Ran: !!!
That was today's menu. Thursday—fried chicken day. She'd read it in the memos.
Golden crispy skin over juicy marinated meat, fried to perfection.
She could smell it through the bag.
This was not an opportunity to waste.
Pei Ran snuck to the doorway and peeked inside.
Several of Shi Geye's men were sitting together, happily chomping on fried chicken. The bag on the chair hadn't been touched yet—probably someone's who hadn't come to grab it.
Pei Ran waited for her moment—then snatched the bag and took off running.
W: "…"
The bag was still hot in her hands, the aroma thick and savory. She flew down the stairs, clutching her prize.
As she passed Scorpion Man's body, her gaze lingered on the wrecked gun.
W knew exactly what she was thinking. She'd already stolen their food—now she wanted their weapons too. Her thoughts were entirely centered around L4-level theft offenses.
Not very "innocent Federal citizen" of her.
Putting aside her criminal tendencies for the moment, W assessed the gun.
"It's too damaged. And that MR8_197 is rare—an experimental military model. We don't even know where they got it. Finding parts would be next to impossible. It's not salvageable."
Pei Ran agreed. She'd overdone it in the fight. Would've been a good weapon otherwise.
"Your military gear gets stolen way too easily," she muttered.
W stayed silent.
Pei Ran let it go and slunk toward the courtyard, heading for the parking area.
Everyone was eating—perfect time to slip away.
The red Volight Phantom she'd picked earlier was still parked where she'd left it. Waiting quietly for her.
Then W said, "Pei Ran. Something's following you."
The words sent a chill down her spine.
She whipped around—
Behind her, silence. No one there.
"What's following me?"
She spun the other way, faster this time.
And saw it.
A tiny floating green light.
Like a drop of glowing water, shimmering gently in the air, swaying with its own movement.
She recognized it instantly.
It was that familiar dot of light—Shi Geye's tracking drone.
It had been hovering sneakily behind her head, and when she turned too quickly, it got caught in the open.