Caught in the Crossfire

"Firing six Micro Missiles at once was a bit extravagant, but there were five of us on the Flying Vehicle! Averaged out, it was barely more than one missile per person to save a life—worth it! Totally worth it!"

Ye Shijie pressed his lips together. After a while, he nodded stiffly. "Mm. Since they attacked first, your counterattack was reasonable. It's just... it's just..."

He really wanted to say that she still shouldn't have launched six Micro Missiles all at once!

At this rate, even a Nobility household would run out of supplies! At the Dark Night Hunter Association, they only received equipment for free when taking on a new mission. The rest of the time, they had to pay for it themselves! The savings they had painstakingly built up had been squandered by Xia Chujian in a single day...

Ye Shijie felt like crying without tears.

But on closer analysis, Xia Chujian's method had been the most effective. Only this way could they ensure the enemy had absolutely no chance to strike back.

For example, if the other side had initially locked onto their Flying Vehicle with six missiles as well, then no matter what Xia Chujian did, she would have been unable to turn the tables.

This was called taking the other person's road and leaving them nowhere to go.

Ye Shijie's heart ached at the thought of being out of ammunition and supplies, but he still said, "Let it go this time. Also, this incident is rather suspicious, so don't mention it to anyone for now."

"Not even report it to the higher-ups?" Li Fu asked in confusion. "We were ambushed! Aren't they going to seek justice for us?!"

Ye Shijie said coldly, "Someone infiltrated our Flying Vehicle's autopilot system..."

Xia Chujian immediately picked up the thought. "Captain Ye, do you think there may be a mole inside the Association?"

While silently praising the girl's intelligence, Ye Shijie kept a stern face. "The Association's Flying Vehicles are all managed by the information systems of their respective branches. Especially the autopilot systems—without the underlying password, it would be impossible to infiltrate our Flying Vehicle's autopilot system."

Even Ping Qiong, who hated thinking the most, understood now. Her face went pale. "At least someone from the branch was involved in this ambush..."

Someone within the Association wanted them dead.

The Flying Vehicle fell unnaturally silent for a moment.

Ye Shijie did not dare use the autopilot function again. Instead, he had Xia Chujian continue flying manually and said calmly, "Anyway, we already took that person out. Even their Flying Vehicle became a meteor shower. As long as we don't upload this recording, we can pretend nothing happened."

"If they want to stir things up, we'll wait calmly and see who's making dirty moves behind the scenes."

Xia Chujian nodded. "The captain is right. There seemed to be Electromagnetic Shielding just now, so we couldn't upload anything to the cloud anyway. While we have the chance, let's replace the surveillance unit on the Flying Vehicle."

Li Fu hurriedly found a new surveillance unit among the backup equipment and installed it.

Ye Shijie said, "Both times, Chujian saved us by catching the enemy off guard. I think it's because Chujian is an Ordinary Person. She hasn't undergone Gene Evolution and has no Mental Strength, so the enemy always overlooks her. If anything happens in the future, it'll be safest to keep this surveillance recording with her."

Li Fu, Song Mingqian, and Ping Qiong all raised both hands in agreement.

"Chujian is our lucky star! It's most appropriate to keep it with you!"

The corners of Xia Chujian's lips curled up slightly. She casually placed the surveillance recording into her gun case and said solemnly, "Then I'll hold onto it. Everyone, be careful. We don't know who in the Association wants us dead."

"It's fine. We're all Bounty Hunters. Who knows when we might have offended someone?" Li Fu shrugged and waved it off without concern.

Song Mingqian lifted his head and looked at the sky, lost in thought.

Ping Qiong also furrowed her brows, seemingly sorting through a List of people she had offended.

Only Xia Chujian felt that she was probably an unlucky little fish caught in the crossfire. Most likely, Captain Ye Shijie had offended someone, and they wanted him dead. The rest of them were merely collateral damage.

She cast Ye Shijie a Calm and Collected glance, wishing she could stay farther away from him.

Ye Shijie noticed her little movement. He folded his arms and snorted lightly, but said nothing.

Because even he himself felt that this was probably aimed at him. His team members were merely fish in the moat caught up in the burning city gate.

Ye Shijie decided to send Xia Chujian home first.

He, Li Fu, Song Mingqian, and Ping Qiong all lived in the West District of Mulan City. Only Xia Chujian lived in the North District.

By the time Xia Chujian arrived home, it was already past Three in the morning.

She stood in the open space outside her door, waved to them, and watched them leave.

Xia Chujian's Home was in North District 177 of Mulan City, a very ordinary Residential Community inhabited by working-class people.

Within the North District, this Residential Community was quite far to the East Side, because the East District lay just beyond a single wall.

From her Residential Community, she could see the towering Tall Buildings of the East District to the east.

The East District was full of such skyscrapers. Their walls were built from silver-black specialized materials, tall and straight as they Soared into the Clouds. They had unbeatable ocean views, dedicated management, and guaranteed scenery and security.

Her own Residential Community, however, consisted of old-fashioned buildings made of obsolete scrap steel and concrete.

The buildings were no more than ten stories high, packed tightly together, with not even enough space between them to fit a hand.

There was no scenery, much less security.

Separated by a single wall, it felt as though they were divided by the barrier between two worlds.

The place Xia Chujian's family rented was Unit 101, Building E, North District 177, Mulan City.

Yes, it was on the first floor, and it was the innermost tiny Private Room, a one-room unit with only a single room.

The only advantage of this Private Room was that it had two doors—one opening into the corridor, and one in the outer wall.

So she could go straight home without entering the corridor.

Because of that door in the outer wall, she had built a simple kitchen by the entrance.

One side rested against the building as an interior wall, while the other three sides were made from cheap recycled construction panels, forming a square shed.

The roof was also made from discarded building materials. She did not know what kind of material it was, but whenever it rained, the roof would clatter nonstop, like pure noise, and neighbors often complained about it.

There was only a battered Long Table inside the shed, with a secondhand electromagnetic stove on it. It was their main cooking tool.

Xia Chujian entered the tiny Private Room through this simple kitchen.

The temperature inside was the same as outside, as cold as an Ice Cellar.

The intense fighting over the past few hours had exhausted her completely.

She was too sleepy to bother boiling water for a bath. She simply lay down on the bed, wrapped herself in a thick Down Quilt, and fell asleep.

When she opened her eyes again, it was only seven in the morning.

Normally, she should have gotten up and gone to school at this hour.

At seventeen, she was in her final year of high school. Next summer, she would take the College Entrance Exam.

But she had no desire to study at all. She was usually too busy working to earn money—where would she find time to study? Her grades were poor too, with every subject barely passing.

How could she possibly get into university?

And even if she did get in, she could not afford the expensive tuition.

As for the Five Hundred Thousand Beichen Coin that had just been transferred into her personal Account today, it was not meant to improve her life or pay for school. It was meant to save a life.

Xia Chujian lay in bed in a daze for a while, then decided not to go to school today.

Using her Smart Bracelet, she sent her teacher a message saying that she was sick and needed to take the day off.

Then she went to the simple kitchen outside to boil water, hurriedly took a bath, and changed into clean clothes.

While boiling water for her bath, she also plugged in the rice cooker. Using the little rice left in the rice barrel at home and the Black Truffle Wild Rhino Pig ribs Aunt Chen had given her, she cooked a pot of fragrant rib porridge.

Black Truffle Wild Rhino Pigs came from the mysterious Exotic Beast Forest, a place even low-level Hunter teams like Xia Chujian's dared not enter.

She had no idea how Aunt Chen managed to go there once a month to pick up bargains.

As Xia Chujian washed up, she looked out the window, her thoughts galloping wildly through her mind like untamed horses across the grasslands.

Thinking again about the two battles before dawn, the near-death experiences still kept her on edge.

She had joined the Dark Night Hunters three years ago, and this had been the most dangerous mission yet.

Fortunately, her marksmanship was accurate.

Xia Chujian decided to spend more time practicing her shooting.

Fortunately, she had at least a little talent with Guns. Otherwise, she truly would not have been able to survive among the Dark Night Hunters.

She used an old towel, washed so many times it had faded white, to dry the droplets from her face. Her skin felt tight and a little chapped.

But she had no money to buy skincare products. She could not even afford the cheapest chemical-made stuff.

Once she had changed clothes, it was already daylight outside. It was not as cold as at night, but there was no sun. Everything was foggy, and visibility was poor.

The rib porridge was ready, fragrant enough to make anyone's mouth water.

But Xia Chujian did not drink any of it. She only consumed a tube of Low-Level Nutrient Solution that left her mouth full of a plastic taste, then packed all the rib porridge into an insulated lunch box and carried it to the hospital.

When she left, she ran into her Neighbor Aunt Chen, who had just returned from outside with a huge bundle on her back.

Aunt Chen looked Xia Chujian over and asked with a smile, "Chujian, going to the hospital to see your Aunt again?"

Aunt Chen knew that Xia Chujian and her Aunt, Xia Yuanfang, had depended on each other for survival and had lived in this building for many years.

Xia Chujian swiftly looked Aunt Chen over as well.

It was clear that Aunt Chen had tidied herself up, but there were still unhealed wounds on the backs of her hands. There was also a freshly bandaged wound along the side of her face, running almost from top to bottom and cutting across her entire left cheek.

Had she gone to the Exotic Beast Forest again? Or had her husband beaten her?

Xia Chujian sighed inwardly and said politely, "Good morning, Aunt Chen."

Aunt Chen shifted the huge bundle on her back, her face full of smiles. "Morning to you too. You're up much earlier than my daughter."

Xia Chujian smiled. Not wanting to talk about herself, she changed the subject. "Aunt Chen, did you go hunting in the Exotic Beast Forest again?"

Xia Chujian had been part of a Dark Night Hunter team for three years, but she had never accepted a mission to the Exotic Beast Forest. It was simply too dangerous.

Even with their team's excellent equipment, they did not dare accept missions there.

Yet Aunt Chen, an apparently ordinary housewife Neighbor, went to the Exotic Beast Forest every month.

And every time, she returned with something.

Xia Chujian knew Aunt Chen used this method to supplement the household income and save tuition money for her daughter's university education.

Because Aunt Chen's husband was always beating and berating her, calling her a useless good-for-nothing who only knew how to eat...

A reminder to vote with Recommendation Tickets, Monthly Tickets, and Xiaoxiang Tickets! (#^.^#)