28. Seven Thunders of Retribution: Bro, Who Are You Aiming At? How Am I Supposed to Hit You Hard? / 29. Rita: Call for Backup When You Team Fight

"That's no problem... So, I'll act as bait to attract her attention, and then you can find an opportunity to shoot?"

"Yes, that's right, let's do it that way."

Because Raven was so cooperative, Flame Willow didn't even have time to voice her prepared plan before she came up with a nearly identical one.

In fact, this plan was far more realistic and suitable than the one she had originally prepared.

After all, according to their original plan, Xia Ling was supposed to be arrested here as well.

On the other side, Kiana, along with Rita, arrived at their temporary meeting point.

"Sister Xia Ling, how is it?"

"The one chasing me was a guy who used fire. He was very strong, but not very agile. I managed to shake him off after circling around him a few times."

Xia Ling looked at Rita, who had fallen into a coma, and asked, "Rita, what's wrong...?"

"She inhaled too much serum gas and has fallen into a coma." Kiana had already confirmed Rita's condition on the way. "It looks like she needs an antidote, otherwise she won't have much fighting power for a while."

"That's not good..." Xia Ling pondered, "You saved so many members of the Immortal Blade, they will definitely report the situation to headquarters now."

"The support from Schicksal will arrive soon, and because of Rita's mishap, it will definitely be Durandal who comes."

"The World Serpent know Durandal's strength. If they still have any plans, they will make a final struggle before Schicksal arrives."

"Time is running out for us."

"So, what do we do now?" Kiana placed Rita on the bed beside her. "How about I go back to the industrial area and scout out the situation?"

"Even if someone has to go, it will definitely be me."

Xia Ling pressed Kiana's shoulders down and made her sit in the chair.

"You've just been through a fierce battle, and your physical strength and Honkai Energy are greatly depleted. You're no longer suitable for this kind of mission."

"Wasn't Sister Xia Ling the same just now?" Kiana retorted, "At least we're fighting some Honkai zombie, but Sister Xia Ling is facing an S-rank enemy. I don't believe Sister Xia Ling's situation can be that good."

"In short, I'm better than you." Xia Ling didn't give her a chance to continue, "Same as always, I'll only be gone for an hour. After I come back, we'll discuss the next steps based on the movements of the World Serpent."

"If Rita wakes up, we can talk to her and see if she has any good ideas. As the vice-captain of the Immortal Blade, she was a bit too hasty in wiping out the whole team this time."

"I think she must still have some trump cards up her sleeve."

Without further ado, Xia Ling finished explaining everything one by one, and then disappeared from Kiana's sight.

As she left the base, a slight smile appeared on Xia Ling's lips.

For Kiana, things have temporarily come to a standstill. However, for Xia Ling, her plan has only just begun.

She has prepared a pretty good script and is just waiting for the actors to arrive.

Chapter Twenty-Eight: Seven Thunders of Retribution: Hey buddy, who are you aiming at? Do you think I'd dare to use my full strength against this?

"Before we take action, we'll do one last check of the plan."

In the channel, Flame Willow and Xia Ling were having their final conversation.

"Although the method of capturing you has been slightly changed, the general script remains the same."

"If we want to recreate the storyline of the shooting star in the sky, we have to ban you."

"Indeed, otherwise I could have just sent that engine into the sky, without Kiana having to do anything."

Xia Ling nodded and continued:

"But if Kiana doesn't take action, then she will be taken away by Durandal, the feather will be taken by Kevin and then given to Sirin, and the subsequent Elegy of the Sinner will likely all change. So, we still need to try our best to restore the original work."

"Then," Flame Willow continued, "Raven's method might be more suitable for you. Even if the Seven Thunders of Retribution doesn't knock you offline, it will at least make you lose your combat ability for a short time."

"And you can take this opportunity to clear up some of the information we know and tell Kiana under the pretense of getting it from the Jackal."

"The only variable here is the Jackal, since by design, Kiana will most likely be the one to save you in the end."

"Jackal is a suspicious person by nature. Besides the Honkai Beast from the original work, I'm afraid she might have some other trump cards up her sleeve."

"What if you and Kiana fail to take her down..."

"Don't worry, I've left myself an insurance policy regarding this, you can probably guess what it is."

Xia Ling didn't care at all. "Only if the Jackal dies can my act of 'extracting' information from her be done without any evidence. Therefore, I have the most backup plans for her."

"It's good that you know what's going on. In that case, when do you plan to come?"

"I'm already in the building in the industrial park."

"?"

Flame Willow stared at the monitor with a face full of questions.

"It has to be acted realistically. Getting caught so quickly gives the impression that he deliberately lost in order to collect all the CGs."

"However, you'll probably receive a warning from the Raven soon. In the first half hour, I'll get serious about [something], okay?"

With that, Xia Ling left the channel.

"No way, I'm arresting Xia Ling? Really...?"

Looking at the "quiet" industrial buildings, Flame Willow felt a headache coming on.

"Spatial abilities + Scale Cloak, is this combination even playable?"

It can only be said that Flame Willow's premonition was indeed correct. Half an hour passed, and apart from finding the broken door to the data room and the infrared sensor that had been triggered and could not be stopped, they did not even see Xia Ling's figure.

Fortunately, after half an hour, Xia Ling deliberately revealed a flaw, just as she had said.

"Reed, go to archive room 306 on the third floor right now, she stopped there!"

Raven's voice was short and urgent. "She's been keeping us at bay for half an hour, so she's probably let her guard down. Go and intercept her right now; she might not just leave."

"I'm already on my way."

Flame Willow jumped out of the window and leaped from a height of more than ten stories.

"That position is an excellent sniping spot for me. If you can hold her off for a little while, or even just exchange a few words with her, I will have a chance to shoot."

"Don't kill him!" Flame Willow reminded him.

"Uh, I'll try my best, but I can't rule out the possibility that the Seven Thunders of Retribution might suddenly malfunction."

Raven gave a somewhat uncertain assurance because she noticed that, perhaps because she hadn't used the Seven Thunders of Retribution much lately, the gun seemed a little... unhappy.

"Never mind... Do your best, I'm ready to treat her anytime."

Raven's sudden unreliability left Xia Ling and Flame Willow speechless. Xia Ling even started searching through her collection for anything that could save her life.

After silently equipping herself with a certificate of immortality, Xia Ling sent a signal in the channel, and at the same time, Flame Willow broke through the window and entered.

"Ah, the final skirt. Qi Ling Ba Wu (four) walk! VIII device? Seven" has arrived.

Xia Ling put down the stack of documents in her hand and looked at Flame Willow standing at the window.

"Finally? You bastard, you've been playing us for half an hour, did you think you couldn't get caught?"

"But that's the truth."

Xia Ling's tone was cheerful, like a provocative little devil. "In half an hour, I've seen you more times than you've seen me. Even if you had another hour, you still wouldn't be able to catch me, would you?"

"The reason we stopped here is mainly because there are some questions I need you to answer."

Xia Ling waved a stack of documents in her hand. "I've seen this. The Stigmata Project... tsk tsk, I do have a question I'd like to ask you."

"Is your original version of the Stigmata Project really like this?"

The Raven's countdown came through Flame Willow's earpiece. Flame Willow remained calm and did not approach Xia Ling. Instead, she stood by the window and said, "Then you've asked the wrong person. I'm just a temporary worker. I usually only sign documents and go to jail."

"If you really have any questions related to the Stigmata, why don't you ask Jackal?"

"The Jackal... that must be the person conducting experiments at Kamisato Pharmaceuticals. Alright, then tell me where the Jackal is? Don't worry, I'll go even if there's a trap!"

"Hehe..." Flame Willow smiled slightly. "You'll see her soon."

As Flame Willow spoke, a bullet carrying a purple light shot out from the high point behind Xia Ling.

Because of the position provided by the Flame Willow, Raven's shot was a completely blind-sight sniper shot.

Without giving Xia Ling any chance to react, the purple lightning passed through three walls and struck her thigh before Xia Ling could even activate her Honkai Energy.

The bullet blasted a trail of blood from Xia Ling's black stockings, and the powerful thrust instantly knocked her to her knees. Her body was covered in blue-purple lightning, and before she could even feel the excruciating pain in her legs, she had already fallen into a coma.

Seeing Xia Ling still twitching slightly in the lightning, Flame Willow was startled and rushed forward. The flames had already entered Xia Ling's body through her palm and she began to treat her.

"Raven, did you really hold back with that shot...?"

Raven looked at the Seven Thunders of Retribution, which was now temporarily unusable, and his voice was even more puzzled than Flame Willow's.

"No, you might not believe it if I told you."

"The Seven Thunders of Retribution did indeed go wrong, but it was completely opposite to what you thought."

"Don't let her pitiful appearance fool you... In reality Seven Thunders of Retribution didn't disintegrate her Honkai Energy at all. Instead, it converted some of the Honkai Energy from the bullets into low-power lightning."

"She didn't faint because the Honkai Energy disintegrated her; she was electrocuted..."

"In fact, this should be the weakest shot I've ever fired in my life, but what's outrageous is that the Seven Thunders of Retribution are even more completely destroyed than the shot I used to kill Otto. It looks like I won't be able to use it for at least a week..."

Raven's voice grew increasingly strange. "No, why is it that I always get this feeling that I don't want to hit Seven Thunders of Retribution? Is Xia Ling Seven Thunders of Retribution's biological mother?"

"Oh, this..."

After glancing at the storybook that Xia Ling was ready to take out at any moment, Flame Willow Wei had a rough idea of what was going on.

Although Xia Ling is not the biological mother of the Seven Thunders of Retribution, she does indeed have the works of Vill-V on her body.

It would be a miracle if they dared to unleash the Seven Thunders of Retribution Purification with excessive force...

Chapter Twenty-Nine: Rita: You Need to Call for Help When Teaming Up

"Look, this is the mastermind behind Kiana's side. We've already caught him."

Flame Willow picked up Xia Ling, who had been injected with serum and bound tightly, and showed her off.

"Since we didn't know whether you were going to die or live, we treated her wounds after we caught her, at least stopping the bleeding, since Raven's shot was aimed at her thigh."

"Of course, you don't need to worry about her running away. I've already given her the serum. She's just an ordinary person now, though she still needs to use a wheelchair."

After giving a brief introduction to Xia Ling's situation, Flame Willow looked at the Jackal, waiting for her next move.

"Hmph, you've got some skills. Where's the Raven?"

"She went outside to keep watch. Didn't you move all the test subjects from the industrial area to here? She went outside to prevent anyone from following us."

"Take this guy to my top-floor lab."

Jackal didn't seem too interested in Xia Ling's research. "Although there's no Herrscher of the Void to study, this girl at least has some spatial abilities. I'll try to see if I can find anything out about her later."

"If I could dissect something like a core from her body, I might be able to create a replica of the Second Divine Key."

"After you send her there, you and Raven go to keep watch. The Eos's engines have been installed and there is basically no possibility of them being damaged. No one will be willing to disarm that Honkai Energy bomb with extremely high radiation."

"The data in this building is still useful. You guys keep a close watch on it and don't let those Valkyrie who came looking for us destroy it."

Flame Willow shrugged and carried Xia Ling into the elevator going up.

"How are you feeling physically?"

Flame Willow's expression remained unchanged as she asked in the channel.

"So this is what it feels like to be injected with serum... This feeling of returning to a normal person is quite novel."

"You still have the mind to care about this... The antidote is in the system space, use it as you see fit."

"I haven't repaired your leg bone yet. After all, you injured your thigh, and repairing it would make me seem a bit suspicious. You'll probably have to use a wheelchair for a while."

"I left a healing flame in your body to help you block out pain. If you're faking pain, remember to make it convincing."

"After all, I died in the system back then, so I know how to scream in agony."

Xia Ling shook her head, indicating that there was no problem.