Idling on the Job

That little minx's pretty vicious!

Fu Qian stared expressionlessly at the woman who'd transformed into Wolverine.

She was fighting an ordinary bodyguard, yet she'd pulled out something like that.

Captain Gu, standing beside him, had gone pale. He discreetly signaled for Fu Qian to surrender as quickly as possible when the time came.

Fu Qian waved him off, indicating there was no need to worry.

Those blades looked intimidating, but they were too short. Unless they hit a vital spot, they wouldn't cause much damage—just a few cuts at most.

Generally speaking, people who liked flashy tricks like these weren't all that strong.

By then, the butler had thoughtfully arranged for people to clear the area, making room for the fight.

He might not have liked this farce, but now that things had come to this, he certainly wasn't going to stop it.

"Don't blink. I'm about to begin!"

Little Wolf Girl smiled sweetly and called out in a coquettish voice.

She stuck out her little red tongue and licked the blades on her fingertips. The next moment, she became a blur and darted toward Fu Qian, slapping at his face.

This wouldn't do!

Facing the vicious attack, Fu Qian frowned.

Was he too strong, or was she too weak? This was nothing like the terrifying blades of White Porcelain Woman.

Perhaps in everyone else's eyes, the woman's movements were as fast as lightning and impossible to stop.

But Fu Qian didn't even move his lower body. He simply turned his face aside and dodged the attack.

Not only that, he even turned his head back as quickly as he could.

Someone with poor eyesight might have thought Little Wolf Girl had missed.

"Not bad!"

After her attack failed, the woman leaped back and eyed him with uncertainty.

Unfortunately, Fu Qian ignored her completely and looked over at Young Master Ye instead.

The middle-aged man who'd gotten out of the car with them seemed clearly stronger than the others.

If he made a move, he'd be more worthwhile to fight than Little Wolf Girl.

Unfortunately, the man was clearly cautious and steady. It might take a bit of provocation to get him to act.

"Again!"

Little Wolf Girl had worked up her courage and charged again, moving even faster than before.

But in the next instant, her wrist hurt, and the target had already seized her arm with one hand.

He was right in front of her, yet she couldn't reach him at all.

So I really have gotten this strong.

Fu Qian marveled to himself.

"What Order are you?"

"Eighth... Order... Who exactly are you?"

She didn't understand why he was asking, but Little Wolf Girl wasn't so stupid that she couldn't tell she should play along.

Pigsy? Second Brother was way stronger than you.

Fu Qian snorted.

This woman was actually Eighth Order? He felt like he could take on ten of her without a problem!

Thug Form was even stronger than he'd imagined.

As for his opponent, whose face was twisted in pain, Fu Qian felt no sympathy.

The woman hadn't held back just now.

She was fighting an ordinary person, yet she'd shown her claws and aimed every strike at his face.

She was clearly trying to read Young Master Ye's mind and give him a good disfiguring.

How vicious! You're crushing a child's dream!

Fu Qian took a breath and tightened his grip.

Little Wolf Girl screamed, and both blades fell to the ground.

Before she could finish screaming, a burst of force struck her in the side. She flew away like a cannonball.

With a loud crash, Little Wolf Girl slammed headfirst into the car. She struggled three times but couldn't get back up.

"How was that?"

Fu Qian turned around after kicking his opponent away.

Young Master Ye's expression was a sight to behold. He stared fixedly at the leg that had delivered the kick.

It was obvious he couldn't have kicked with such effortless flair himself.

It wasn't just him. Captain Gu's eyes were practically popping out of his head.

"Watch out."

The middle-aged man beside Young Master Ye stepped forward warily and shielded him.

Good.

Seeing the middle-aged man about to make a move, Fu Qian was delighted instead of alarmed.

That woman hadn't been much of a challenge.

What was the saying?

If you were going to seek excitement, you might as well see it through to the end.

They'd already started fighting, and given these people's style, making peace was out of the question. They might as well take them all down while they were at it—

[Wen Li has died. Containment failed]

[Evaluation: Idling on the Job]

[Penalty: Sanity Value -5, current Sanity Value 37]

Just as a major fight seemed about to begin, a prompt suddenly sounded in his ear.

...Are you freaking kidding me?

I knew this mission wouldn't be that simple, but she's already dead?

Fu Qian, transported back to the Warehouse, was thoroughly shaken.

There hadn't been the slightest commotion. She was a high-ranking Transcendent, in her own mansion with tight security, and she'd died just like that without anyone noticing?

It seemed his intuition had been right. This mission was much harder than he'd imagined.

And the system had even judged him to be idling on the job, taking away five Sanity Value.

That was the equivalent of five lives. It was outrageous.

Fu Qian was overcome with grief, and the joy of leveling up faded.

[Event Replay]

Without rushing to jump back in, Fu Qian decisively chose to replay what had just happened.

Five minutes and twelve seconds. Wen Li died, and the mission failed.

[Consume 1 Sanity Value to attempt containment again]

After confirming when Wen Li had died, Fu Qian touched the Mist Door.

The Wen Family mansion appeared again.

This time, before Captain Gu could reprimand him, Fu Qian took the initiative and went to him with a question.

"I heard Miss Wen is a genius Transcendent, already at least Seventh Order. Does she really need us to protect her?"

"You sure know a lot, kid!"

Captain Gu looked at Fu Qian in surprise.

"I've only heard rumors. Apparently, her ability belongs to the Mental System, and before she reaches Intermediate Tier, her physical abilities are incredibly weak—not much better than an ordinary person's.

"That's why so many assassins have appeared recently. They want to snuff her out before she can grow. Once she levels up, she'll be much harder to deal with."

That explained it. Captain Gu was pretty good at gossip.

Fu Qian looked up. The butler had already come out of the villa, and Young Master Ye's car would arrive soon.

The next step was to figure out how Miss Wen had died.

Going by what had happened before, Miss Wen would die in five minutes and twelve seconds.

He had at most five minutes now.

The question was, how could he find out?

After their earlier physical exchange, Fu Qian had gotten a good sense of his own fighting strength.

The courtyard was lined with more than a dozen towering white pillars, each carved out of a single block of stone.

Seeing Young Master Ye's car approach, Fu Qian took advantage of everyone's attention being drawn to it. He quietly went over to one of the pillars and kicked its base as hard as he could.

Half a minute later, a dull rumble sounded.

The pillar came crashing down.

Screams rang out, and a piercing alarm blared.

Young Master Ye's car hadn't even come to a stop when four people shot out of it like lightning.

The welcoming party behind the butler fell into disarray.

Taking advantage of the chaos, Fu Qian followed the crowd into the villa.