Battle Against Xila

Alarms blared inside the research institute. A group of armed mercenaries were running towards their designated area when, as they rounded a corner, a flash of cold light appeared. A line of blood appeared on the neck of the leading mercenary, which then spread around his neck. Before he could even react, he was decapitated.

Most of the mercenaries behind him didn't have time to react. Some reacted faster and were about to contact their comrades on the communicator when either blood lines appeared on their necks or blood holes appeared between their eyebrows.

Everything that starts quickly also ends quickly.

The entire mercenary squad of 18 men was wiped out.

Ying wiped the blood off her knife, looked at Zhu Yufeng behind her who was searching the fallen patrolmen for items, and then used a communicator to say to the other side, "We encountered an enemy-supported mercenary squad in area A1, and we have confirmed that they have all been wiped out. The operation so far has been successful."

Zhu Yufeng searched the area but found nothing of value for the mission, so he shook his head at Ying.

Kevin's voice rang out at this moment. "Our operation here is going smoothly, but we have encountered a mercenary squad."

"Same here," Kosma's voice rang out.

"Looks like we're just unlucky," Zhu Yufeng said, shrugging at Ying.

"No problem. They're just a small organization; they can only afford to hire this many mercenaries. The armed forces of the Fire Moth are far beyond their reach." Hen's voice came through the communication channel. "If they hadn't released the Honkai Beast, the suppression would have been faster than expected."

"Then let's speed things up and keep going," Zhu Yufeng said to Ying.

Sakura nodded, and the two immediately continued moving into the research institute.

Let's rewind to a few days ago.

After finding out the location of the underground organization from Mostima, and after discussing with Kevin and others, it was finally decided that even if there was a possibility of facing Xila, the operation should be launched in advance. After informing Hen of the news, Hen also submitted a report to the superiors of the Fire Moth. After confirming the information, the Fire Moth immediately dispatched support to suppress and recover the organization.

This mission was actually a collaboration between two teams. Although Elysia was the captain of one of the teams, the person in charge of this mission was Hen.

After the support from the Fire Moth arrived, the mission objective became very clear: to destroy the organization, recover all experimental data related to the Honkai, and the humans used as test subjects.

The reason why Elysia did not act with Zhu Yufeng and Sakura was that she needed to deal with the large number of mutated Honkai Beast that suddenly appeared with Hen.

Then Zhu Yufeng and others acted as the vanguard, and together with other soldiers of the Fire Moth, they formed multiple squads and infiltrated the organization.

Back to the present, on the main battlefield.

"Sorry, Elysia, I've interrupted your and Feng's chance to move together." Hen said, holding his weapon and looking at the Honkai Beast in front of him. "Super Rush-class... I didn't expect this organization to be able to produce so many Honkai Beasts. Give them some more time, and maybe even a Honkai Emperor will appear."

Elysia drew back the bowstring, smiled nonchalantly, and said, "It's alright. After all, many situations are beyond our control. Besides, we have plenty of time, don't we?"

Anyway, as long as Feng doesn't run into Lilith, it doesn't matter who he's alone with, let alone Sakura.

Surely Sakura wouldn't betray herself like that?

Her only concern was that whichever squad that went deep into the organization encountered Xila, they might be in danger.

On the other side.

"Little Pardo, you seem very nervous," Disaster said, noticing Pardo's uneasy expression.

"Ah, maybe it's because this is my first time handling such a nerve-wracking task..." Pardo smiled somewhat reluctantly. That was Xila! How could she not be afraid? In her past life, she was almost killed by Xila. If Brother Yu Feng hadn't spoken up at the crucial moment, there would have been no He'er at all.

Even though I know I'm very lucky and unlikely to run into Xila, the sense of oppression she exudes is just too strong, and it also means that other people might run into Xila!

Kosma glanced at Pardo, knowing what Pardo was thinking. To be honest, if he were to encounter Xila, he would only retreat temporarily and try to avoid fighting Xila.

Suddenly, a figure in a white coat appeared in Kosma's line of sight, running at high speed. Without saying a word, Kosma shouted sharply, "Stop!"

The other party did not stop, but instead took the elevator to the elevator platform at the end of Kosma's line of sight. Then the walls on both sides of the elevator opened, and several Honkai Beast rushed out from inside.

"We've encountered Honkai Beast here," Kosma said. "The person suspected to be the target escaped in the elevator."

"We have already secured the area around the ground, and there are also personnel guarding the sewer pipes. He can't escape." Other soldiers' voices came through the communicator.

"If he's taking the elevator down, we should be able to run into him here," Zhu Yufeng said in the communication channel. "Sakura and I have met up with the other teams and found an elevator. We're heading to the next floor together now."

"At least we don't have to deal with humans anymore. Honkai Beast are much easier to deal with than humans." Disaster said, picking up her weapon and firing at the Honkai Beast. "This should be considered... a perfect match?"

On Kevin's side.

"I did consider the possibility of being discovered and attacked, but this is just too much! Is the military out of manpower or what?" a woman said helplessly. "They actually sent two children to participate in this operation? Or are you just here to get some credit?"

If she knew that the two "children" in front of her had wiped out Honkai Beast that far surpassed the strength of many ordinary soldiers just a few months ago, I wonder what she would think.

Because of their outstanding combat record and training performance, Zhu Yufeng and others were approved to join the suppression mission despite their young age.

In a way... this can be considered a success, right? After all, if you don't take Xila into account, this mission is really simple.

Kevin glanced at Hua beside him and then reported, "We've also encountered obstacles on our side; the other side's identity is unknown."

Hua observed her surroundings but did not make a move immediately. She did not understand why the other party would appear here alone, and she had to be wary of any other ambushes or ambushes.

In fact, Hua was overthinking it, because besides Hen and others who were attacking from the front attracting most of the firepower, there were also quite a few small teams infiltrating from other directions. In order to complete the transfer of the experimental results, each small team could only deploy a small amount of force to stop them.

So, unlike the enemy who were outnumbered and outgunned, Kevin and his team quickly received other squads.

After quickly assessing the situation, the woman decided to retreat immediately. After all, she was just a collaborator; helping to hold them off was enough, and if that wasn't enough, she would just run away.

After making up her mind, the woman released the Honkai Beast that the organization had given her, and then left without looking back.

"Hey, Sakura and I... it seems like we've hit the jackpot." Zhu Yufeng's voice, a mix of helplessness and wariness, rang out in the communication channel.

"The jackpot" was their agreed-upon code, meaning they had met Xila. To those unaware of the situation, it meant they had encountered a dangerous person.

"Feng is in trouble, I need to hurry over." Elysia said to Hen after shooting an arrow through a Honkai Beast.

Hen glanced around and nodded. "You go ahead, Elysia. We'll take care of things here. Anyway, the rest are just some Honkai Beast."

On the other side.

"Hey Feng, aren't you making a mountain out of a molehill?" a soldier next to Zhu Yufeng said. "It looks like they're just a little girl and a... mutated Ballista-class Honkai Beast. It might be a bit dangerous, but compared to Hen and the others, it's not exactly a 'jackpot,' is it?"

Zhu Yufeng didn't answer. He noticed the surrounding environment. The door behind him had been closed when he came in, creating a closed space. Looking up, he could see an observation platform, so this should be a small testing ground. There was no one on the observation platform now, which showed that the organization was indeed struggling to cope with the suppression of the Fire Moth. Otherwise, they could have arranged a group of snipers up there, right?

And why is Xila here? There's hardly any cover here...

While he was thinking, Xila made a move, and Zhu Yufeng's side immediately launched an attack. The soldiers immediately tried to fire at Xila, but the mutated Ballista-class Honkai Beast next to Xila dug a boulder out of the ground and threw it at them.

The group immediately scattered to avoid the boulders, while Xila used the Ballista-class Honkai Beast as cover, dodging the soldiers' attacks before quickly opening fire on the other soldiers, instantly killing two of them.

"This young girl has pretty good marksmanship," the soldier who spoke up said through gritted teeth.

After noticing cracks appearing on the Ballista-class Honkai Beast, Xila immediately fired, shattering the Limit Lina used to control the Honkai Beast. This Limit Lina would restrict the Honkai Beast's use of Honkai Beast Honkai Energy, weakening its power in order to control it.

The Fire Moth has actually researched this thing, but it can only control some lower-level Honkai Beast at most. Moreover, mass production and capturing Honkai Beast are both problems, so it just sits gathering dust in the Fire Moth database.

After the restriction was lifted, the Ballista-class Honkai Beast immediately repaired its wounds. The soldier who had just said it wasn't a big problem twitched at the corner of his eye. He knew that the other party would definitely be prepared to fight to the death, but he didn't expect it to be so decisive.

In that case, wouldn't the first thing that Honkai Beast attack be Xila was standing next to it?

As expected, the Honkai Beast immediately turned around and began attacking Xila first. However, Xila easily dodged the Honkai Beast's attack and left a smoke bomb on the ground.

Smoke filled the entire venue.

"Feng, watch out!" Upon hearing Ying's voice, Zhu Yufeng immediately realized that someone was rapidly approaching him. The next moment, Ying stood in front of him and blocked the attack from Xila attacked from the smoke.

Xila's attack failed, so she used the force of Sakura's defense to retreat into the smoke.

"Because the space is small and relatively enclosed, it's difficult for the smoke to dissipate..." Zhu Yufeng gritted his teeth; Xila was indeed as troublesome as he had imagined.

In this smoky environment, the only thing that could be clearly seen was the Ballista-class Honkai Beast.

However, even if you can see its location, it is difficult to judge its movements. Given the characteristic of the Ballista-class Honkai Beast that likes to dig up rocks and throw them at people, even if it loses its vision, it is still very deadly to be able to see its movements when it picks up rocks and throws them randomly.

The sounds of others being killed could be heard from within the smoke. It seemed that Xila was preparing to strike at the others who were easier to kill first. Zhu Yufeng looked at Ying beside him. "Ying, can you sense Xila's approximate location?"

"No problem for now," Sakura said softly. "But, Maple, I'm pretty sure of one thing: from the very first time we met, Xila has been paying special attention to you. And she's here to kill you."

"If she really had memories, she wouldn't have attacked me," Zhu Yufeng said. "I'll deal with that Ballista-class Honkai Beast. Could you hold off Xila for a bit?"

"There shouldn't be any problem," Sakura replied.

"Fire at the back, blast open the door and let the smoke dissipate!" someone shouted. He probably knew very well what speaking up in this situation meant, but he did not hesitate.

Zhu Yufeng looked at the Honkai Beast's body, which was faintly visible in the smoke. The red light was indeed quite easy to identify. He narrowed his eyes, and then gathered Honkai Energy in his hand to form a golden spear. This was his Honkai Energy, which he had learned from the Tai Xu Sword God training with Hua over this period of time.

Although not as adept as Elysia.

Moreover, doing so would make him an easy target for Xila, as light is always conspicuous in smoke, especially when it is golden.

Zhu Yufeng couldn't understand why the things he created using Honkai Energy were so conspicuous.

He chose to believe that Sakura could hold off Xila for the time being, otherwise there was no other way to break the deadlock.

They have to deal with Xila and a bunch of Honkai Beast.

Xila saw a flash of golden light in her field of vision, she raised her pistol with her other hand, intending to fire in that direction, but her hand holding the military knife was grabbed.

The soldier who had warned everyone to shoot behind him pushed his body to its limit at the moment he was stabbed by Xila. Even though Xila had pierced his heart, he still managed to grab Xila and point his gun at her.

The Xila realized that her hand had been grabbed, she immediately turned her gun around and fired several shots at the person who had grabbed her hand.

Fresh blood splattered.

Xila's gun-wielding hand was pierced by a bullet, and the pistol fell to the ground. She kicked the corpse aside, pulled out her military knife, and prepared to search for Zhu Yufeng. Then, Sakura's figure appeared from the smoke. Xila instinctively turned to the side to avoid Sakura's sudden attack, and then used her military knife to block Sakura's next attack.

Xila tried to escape into the smoke with the help of Sakura's power, but Sakura relentlessly pursued her, so Xila quickly gave up and began to fight Sakura head-on.

Sakura knew she had to go all out against Xila, and now that one of Xila's hands was useless, the situation was in her favor, so she was constantly intensifying her attacks on Xila.

At the same time, the other soldiers finally blasted open the gate, and the smoke began to dissipate. After briefly creating some distance, Xila threw his military dagger at Sakura. Sakura dodged Xila's dagger, Xila took the opportunity to throw a grenade towards the gate.

With a loud "boom," the soldiers near the gate were all injured to varying degrees by the grenade explosion, and the heat wave also reached Sakura and Xila.

Without hesitation, Sakura slashed at Xila again. Xila over to dodge the slash and at the same time drew another military dagger from her waist and stabbed Sakura across the ground.

After Sakura missed her first attack, she quickly pulled back to create distance, barely managing to dodge Xila's counterattack.