Jiang Mian's expression darkened, and the wind swirling around her suddenly picked up speed. Her fatigue vanished in an instant.
She had always been cautious. She hadn't lived here long, and she spent most of her time at the hospital. She hardly ever interacted with anyone else.
How had this person found her? Or rather, why had they targeted her? And how had they gotten right into her home?
Several possibilities flashed through Jiang Mian's mind before settling on the loathsome face of Li Hao.
In his father's eyes, Li Hao's death had been shrouded in mystery, but in the end, it had been ruled an "accident."
The government's New Law openly protected high-tier Sequence Awakeners like her, putting even more pressure on him.
But while he couldn't touch her in broad daylight, if she had an "accident," there'd be no way to tell what had really happened.
Could this be the work of Li Hao's Awakener father?
Whatever his reasons, someone had broken into her home and was brazenly lingering inside. They had to be there for her.
She didn't have any money at home, either. She'd taken most of her cash with her to buy Suppressors.
If they were after money, they would have left as soon as they failed to find any.
Relying on Gale's keen senses, Jiang Mian judged that the intruder was probably just one step away from Third-tier.
But his aura seemed somewhat frenzied. He was probably an Aberrant, and a "veteran Patient" at that.
That only reinforced her earlier suspicion: Li Tian must have hired an Aberrant through some special channel to stage an "accident."
If she were still First Order, she might have had to think twice. But now...
Even against a Third-tier Awakener, as long as she could use only one element, she could wear him down.
She could take him!
The intruder had dared to break into her home. He'd better be ready to stay there forever.
If she backed down, trouble would come rolling in without end.
"Click."
She decisively pushed the key into the lock, making a clear sound.
Inside, in the faint moonlight, she could barely make out the outlines of the furniture.
The shadows in the corner seemed especially thick. A gaunt man lifted his head from them, watching the lock turn. A touch of feverish excitement showed on his pale face.
Patches of irregular gray-black scales covered his exposed neck and arms.
They were a sign that an Aberrant had passed through the Third Stage. Even Suppressors couldn't reverse them.
She's here...
Normally, as an Aberrant, Liu Mu should have done his best to keep himself hidden.
But his appearance had become so severely altered that gray-black scales had begun to grow across his body. He could no longer work normally or buy Suppressors.
To stay alive and afford the expensive Suppressors, he had no choice but to make his living on the edge of a knife.
Fortunately, he was Sequence 234, a Wanderer on the Chaos path. His ability let him switch his body between physical form and shadow, and slip into the darkness—making him exceptionally suited to infiltration and assassination.
At first, Liu Mu hadn't been used to it. But after doing it enough times, he'd grown numb to the work. He even found himself enjoying it, using it to vent the desires festering inside him.
"Heh heh heh..."
Remembering the target information his employer had sent, he struggled to contain the restlessness brought on by Spiritual Erosion and let out a low chuckle. Without thinking, he scratched at the scales on his hand.
Jiang Mian, female, eighteen years old, recently awakened Sequence 48, Eye of the Storm. No combat experience. Appearance... Generous payment: one pack of Type-3 Suppressors,
plus two hundred thousand. That would keep him living it up for a while.
Type-3 Suppressors were the most common version traded on the Black Market. For Aberrants outside the first two hundred Sequences, a single dose could last half a month.
"Creak~"
Jiang Mian pushed open the door, looking utterly exhausted. She seemed not to notice the watcher lurking in the shadows.
Before coming in, she had already taken off her raincoat, revealing a plain hoodie and sweatpants underneath. Apparently unaware, she reached back and closed the door.
The instant it shut, the shadow beneath Jiang Mian's feet suddenly transformed into several tentacle-like cords. They sprang up from the floor and wrapped around her limbs, trying to bind her.
At the same time, purple-black mist spread through the room, swallowing the walls, floor, ceiling, and everything else, as if the space had shifted into another world.
Oh? He's already used both skills?
Jiang Mian understood. The other person hadn't gone straight for the kill because he wanted to toy with his "prey."
Heh. It remained to be seen who was toying with whom.
"Help..."
Bound by this "powerful" force, she couldn't move. Terror filled her face as she tried to call for help and struggled repeatedly.
But the shadow cords seemed incredibly tough, and the more she struggled, the tighter they wrapped around her.
Liu Mu gave a hoarse chuckle and slowly emerged from the shadows. He savored the expression on Jiang Mian's face, a twisted smile spreading across his own.
"Don't bother, little girl. My Shadow Mist has sealed off the area. You won't be able to use that wind of yours."
He bent his head and narrowed his eyes, scrutinizing Jiang Mian's face. His grin widened.
Shadow Mist could also block out sound. It didn't matter if she screamed for help or set off a cannon in here—no one outside would hear a thing. That was why he had no fear.
"Such smooth, delicate skin. It'd be a shame to ruin it. But a high-tier Sequence like yours must taste pretty good."
"You—you're an Aberrant? Why..."
"Why?"
Liu Mu bared a mouthful of sharp teeth, rubbed his hands together, and said:
"Someone's paying for your life. Heh. Sequence 48, a top-tier genius, and this is all your head is worth?"
Liu Mu had always felt a twisted envy toward geniuses like her.
The thought of destroying a genius with his own hands—and a fresh-faced little beauty at that—then collecting a little interest before he finished the job, thrilled him.
"I see..."
Now Jiang Mian could be completely certain. The employer was probably Li Hao's father.
She let the fearful look slip away and said flatly:
"Take out the young one, and the old one comes after you. Does it never end?"
Liu Mu paused. Something seemed off about this girl... Had she been scared witless?
While he was distracted, an indescribable heat suddenly erupted from Jiang Mian's body, instantly igniting the shadow cords wrapped around her limbs.
"Pssht..."
The energy making up the cords rapidly dissolved under the high temperature.
Yet when the orange-gold flames clung to Jiang Mian, they didn't hurt her at all. They didn't even singe the hem of her clothes.
Liu Mu's pupils shrank. The girl's almond-shaped eyes, which had been filled with panic moments earlier, now burned with an unnerving dark-gold light. She radiated a terrifying aura like that of an ancient ferocious beast.
"N-no, that's not right!"
He instinctively took half a step back and cried out:
"How could Eye of the Storm have an ability like that?! Was the intel wrong?!"
"Eye of the Storm? Heh..."
Jiang Mian's dark-gold eyes fixed on Liu Mu. She didn't bother to say more.
She wasn't some answer-every-question sort of person, nor was she a talkative villain. Why should she explain anything to him?
As her soft laugh faded, orange-gold Fierce Flame burst forth, setting the purple-black Shadow Mist around her ablaze,
and, just as surely, igniting Liu Mu, still trapped within the mist.
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