Since I was old enough to understand the world, I have held a strong obsession with "neutralizing sneak attacks by strong men."
It was during kindergarten that I happened to come across a movie that would truly shape my entire life.
My childhood memories have long since blurred, save for one scene that remains etched in my mind—a fit, capable, and highly skilled female officer, while executing a classified mission, was suddenly subjected to a rear-naked choke from behind by a burly guard lurking in the shadows. Faced with this inescapable grappling technique, the female officer could only struggle futilely, clawing and kicking. Within mere seconds, she lost consciousness and was unfortunately captured.
Was it an unwillingness to accept the defeat of a strong woman? Or did I possess some innate resonance with this type of scenario? It didn't matter. I wanted to reverse this outcome; I was determined to find a way to neutralize sneak attacks by strong men.
From that moment on, I devoted myself to the study of various martial arts and combat techniques, never slacking off for a single day over more than a decade. To further enhance my capabilities, I enrolled in a military academy at the age of eighteen to learn military skills. Four years later, I graduated with honors and became a military officer.
I had thought myself strong enough, but once I actually entered the barracks, I came to a visceral realization of a cruel reality.
No amount of superior martial arts skill could compensate for the disparity in raw power. As a woman, I could not compete with my male colleagues in terms of strength. No matter how hard I trained, the result was always being easily subdued during sparring yet again. Reality told me I should give up hope; there are some things that cannot be changed, no matter how hard one tries.
But I refused to yield. I was unlike those with only fleeting enthusiasm; I had always striven toward my set goal with all my might. Was all that effort to result in the same fruitless ending?
Just as I was in the depths of despair, a research project proposed by the nation's high command gave me renewed hope.
The project aimed to use various methods to push the human body to its absolute limit, thereby unlocking latent abilities within. Although I was informed that the risk of death was high, I had no other choice.
Failing to achieve the long-cherished wish I had fought for so long would be more painful to me than death itself; it was as simple as that. I had to acquire the power to break through my physiological limitations.
With this mindset, I stepped into the research base and became one of the test subjects.
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"No anomalies here either..."
This was the moment I looked forward to most every day.
Walking alone down the dim corridors, inspecting every location within the facility, searching for the suspicious figure I had been dreaming of.
This was a research base located in a frigid zone, the site of Country A's Ability Research Project. Theoretically, this place was also a prime target for enemy infiltration and espionage. It was precisely for this reason that I chose to stay behind and assist with security operations after the experiments concluded.
Since taking the post of garrison officer six years ago, I had constantly hoped for enemy agents to infiltrate the base and seize the opportunity to launch a sneak attack on me, finally giving me the chance to fulfill my long-standing ambition.
However, reality was deeply disappointing.
To this day, the base had never encountered a single intrusion by an agent.
I had struggled since childhood to prove that I could "neutralize a sneak attack by a strong man," yet was I not to have even a single opportunity to verify the results?
I had become a test subject with a resolve to die if necessary, endured two years of experimental methods tantamount to torture, and finally managed to awaken a special ability, only to be left sitting on the sidelines for six whole years. This feeling of possessing such power with nowhere to use it was far more agonizing than enduring twenty-four hours of continuous brain shocks, being injected with tens of thousands of unknown drugs, or undergoing massive amounts of daily hypnotic brainwashing. The painful memories left by the experiments tormented me constantly; it was only my intense conviction to fulfill my wish that had sustained me until today...
Now was not the time to dwell on the past. I shook my head, driving those unpleasant memories from my mind.
Only one final patrol point remained ahead. It was an entirely ordinary iron door, behind which lay a small storage space for miscellaneous items.
My last hope, my everything, was staked on what lay behind that door.
I reached out and turned the cold handle. As the iron door slowly creaked open, my heart rate accelerated like a beating drum. My gaze, aided by the light, swept over every crevice and corner in the darkness, hoping for an enemy to suddenly appear and engage me in a fight to the death—
But even after the flashlight beam completed a full circle, no suspicious figures appeared.
"Sigh... nothing today either."
Indeed, it was like this every time.
Anyway, I'll just go back to the office and make a cup of tea...
"Huh?"
Just as I closed the door and turned to head back, a loud "clang" came from within the storage room without warning, sounding like a steel plate hitting the floor.
I was just about to look back when the steel door behind me was blasted open. Before I could make any move to evade, a tremendous force seized my neck from behind. A muscular arm constricted rapidly beneath my jaw, clamping down tight on my trachea and arteries. Another force pressed against the back of my head, shoving it roughly deep into the crook of the arm. In that instant, my ability to breathe was completely stolen.
—I was being attacked.
Judging by the strength and the thickness of the arm, the attacker was definitely a strong male.
...I never expected the surprise to arrive so suddenly!
Calm down! I must stay calm! React quickly, just as I've practiced countless times!
For anyone else, this would undoubtedly be a checkmate; a rear-naked choke applied from behind is a hold that no technique can break. Once blood flow to the brain is cut off, consciousness is lost in about three to five seconds.
But I possessed more than just technique.
I pressed my back as flat as possible against the attacker's chest and abdomen, my hands tightly gripping the thick arm strangling my neck. This was not instinct, but a tactical maneuver rehearsed tens of thousands of times.
1 second passed.
A pungent, acidic stench flooded my nostrils. A searing heat radiated from the opponent's chest and arm, and I could even hear the hissing sound of clothing being corroded.
This was the special ability I had awakened through the experiments: the power to corrode and decay any object that came into contact with me until it vanished completely.
Yet, the attacker was neither startled by my ability nor did he cry out in pain. He didn't even loosen the arm that was being corroded from two contact surfaces simultaneously. Instead, he intensified the pressure of the choke, clearly intent on rendering me unconscious as quickly as possible.
2 seconds passed.
My vision began to tunnel, shrinking from the edges. The surrounding sounds felt as if they were submerged in water, drifting further and further away. The ringing in my ears elongated, becoming increasingly piercing.
Was I going to lose? What would happen if I passed out like this? In a flash, images cycled rapidly through my mind—my pale legs kicking and struggling until they went still from loss of consciousness, my well-trained body beginning to convulse and even losing control of its bladder—
No! Why was I thinking like this? Hurry, hurry and break free! I did not want to suffer the same fate as the female officer in that movie!!
3 seconds passed.
The world reduced to nothing but the weight of that arm and the sound of my own increasingly labored breathing. My concept of time blurred completely; it felt as if several seconds had passed, yet also as if it had only just begun.
I desperately accelerated the rate of corrosion, but that only invited even greater pressure from the choke. I felt as though my throat was about to be crushed by this guy.
4 seconds passed.
My vision shrank to a pinprick, and my consciousness plummeted backward into endless darkness. It was no use; perhaps I was going to die here.
Was I to fail in achieving my wish after all? Yet, I felt no sadness. In this moment, my heart was incredibly calm. Countless fragments of memories flashed by in this instant that seemed frozen in eternity—declaring my dream in front of the television, signing up at the gym for martial arts instruction, bidding farewell to my family to enter the military academy, weeping silently in the barracks after losing a sparring match, finally awakening my ability after twenty-four hours of continuous electric shocks, embarking on my first patrol filled with anticipation... until all the memories of the past faded away, and a little girl walked up to me. With an innocent and gratified expression, she smiled and reached out her hand to me—
Sizzle!
The dreamlike imagery came to an abrupt halt. The faint sound of something hitting the ground reached my ears, pulling my thoughts back to reality. Although my sense of touch was nearly gone, I could still feel that the force constriction my neck had vanished.
Darkness still shrouded my vision, and my consciousness remained hazy, but one thing was absolutely certain—the moment to counterattack had arrived!
Using what little strength I had left, I forced my body to roll to the side, coughing repeatedly as I struggled to steady myself. That, however, was my limit. I could only wait for feeling to return to my limbs, praying all the while that I hadn't left the opponent any opening to exploit.
As fresh air flooded back into my lungs, the darkness in my vision receded to the edges. My hearing gradually cleared, pierced by the sound of agonizing wails. Fighting back the dizziness, I scanned for the source of the sound until a strong man, head thrown back in a scream, came into view. His chest and abdomen had been corroded into a bloody mess. His right forearm had been completely severed; faint white smoke rose from the stump as blood gushed out.
Clutching my spinning head, I moved behind him. I delivered a sharp knife-hand strike to the back of his neck. With a dull thud, the man who had attacked me collapsed.
"Huff... huff... The winner... is me..."
"Ma'am—Ma'am, are you alright?! What happened here? We heard a terrible scream just now!"
Rapid footsteps approached from the distance. It was my subordinate, a cute rookie who had joined just two months ago.
"Why is there a man lying here? His arm... Is he an enemy intruder? Did he attack you?"
Seeing me nod, he hurriedly reported the intrusion to headquarters via his radio, then reached out to steady me. I raised a hand to stop him, gesturing for him to secure the attacker immediately.
Only after confirming that the rookie had shackled the attacker's thick legs did I finally relax. My body slid slowly down the wall to the floor, and I let out a long breath. Moments later, the exhaustion and discomfort began to fade, and my mind grew clearer. I began to review the entire course of the battle.
"Absolutely flawless... It was like a dream."
The silhouettes of the combatants had perfectly mirrored the scene from the movie, but this time, the ending was different.
The fit, capable female officer had not been choked into unconsciousness. In the end, it was the strong male attacker who lay collapsed on the ground.
From innocent naivety to steely maturity, after enduring countless hardships and trials, I had finally achieved my lifelong ambition today, and in the most ideal way possible. The immense spiritual satisfaction brought me an unprecedented sense of relief. I felt as if I had no more regrets in this life, and that whatever happened from here on out didn't matter.
I would spend the rest of my days bathed in the lingering afterglow of this victory. Just imagining it brought me immense happiness.
Even if my days ahead were to be plain and uneventful, it wouldn't matter. Because the moment that attacker fell, my life became complete.