A cold, murderous aura hung over the open space in front of the stairwell.
The instant she shielded An Ya behind her, Bai Fu cast Spiritual Vision on the assassin across from them.
The skill succeeded, and the target's basic information quickly came back.
[Name]: Elite Assassin (Elite) [Template]: Ordinary [Primary Class]: Wilderness Hunter Lv. 3 [Advanced Class: Wanderer Lv. 10 (Max Level)] [Secondary Class]: None [Health]: 260/260 [Attributes]: Strength 15, Dexterity 21, Constitution 13, Intelligence 5, Spirit 9, Inspiration 8 [Skills]: Run and Gun Lv. 3, Dual-Wield Hunt Lv. 2, Precise Burst Lv. 1, Hound's Step Lv. 2, Intermediate Firearms Specialization [Talent]: Scavenger [Favorability]: Contempt (-13) [Threat Level]: Green
Bai Fu's mouth twitched as she looked over the data.
So they called him an Elite Assassin because he was an elite enemy? That was some seriously lazy naming.
But lazy name aside, the Elite Assassin's stats put him third among all the opponents she'd faced so far, behind only Yulia and Number Nine after his mutation.
With 21 Dexterity, if he went all out, he could leave afterimages everywhere, just like that ridiculously fast boss in Cadillacs and Dinosaurs.
As if being fast wasn't enough, this Elite Assassin also had three firearms skills and a movement skill. He was practically born to be an assassin.
If his target this time had been Xia Shi, then even with her main-character-aura-level Strong Luck buff, she'd likely have been in grave danger.
Too bad he ran into me!
Bai Fu thought to herself.
Spiritual Vision rated the Elite Assassin's threat level as green, meaning he was weaker than her. The assessment was remarkably accurate.
She pulled up her own status panel.
[Health]: 770/770 [Psychic Energy]: 115/115 [Attributes]: Strength 11, Dexterity 7, Constitution 37, Intelligence 5, Spirit 14, Inspiration 23
Bai Fu was sure that if the Elite Assassin had a skill like Spiritual Vision, he wouldn't be smiling right now.
[You're right, but this is Bai Fu: an elite among elite enemies, with 770 HP and 37 Constitution. She has Frenzy and Hardening, and can even steal buffs with Chain Reaction. She has soft control and hard control, and it only costs 20 Psychic Energy. While Psychic Boiling is active, her basic attacks deal bonus damage, with no cooldown and a critical-hit bonus. Once Combat Etiquette locks you down, it's aaaaaaaah!!!]
If she didn't have to protect An Ya, Bai Fu would already have charged at the Elite Assassin and tested her strength against him. She'd show him what it meant to be in peak condition!
"Looks like you've sent quite a few people to kill me. Don't you need to call your companions over?"
Bai Fu watched the assassin calmly, trying to find out how many of them there were.
The Elite Assassin sneered. "How many people we sent doesn't matter. All you need to know is that I can kill you by myself. I'm nothing like those muscle-brained mutant trash the Truth Society mass-produces."
He was thrilled.
This was a group assassination, but only the person who killed Bai Fu would get the biggest reward.
A few minutes ago, he'd been unable to find her anywhere and thought he might have to go home empty-handed. Then, out of nowhere, he'd stumbled across a chance to kill Bai Fu alone. He could only say today was his lucky day.
Lady Luck was smiling, and so was he.
The Elite Assassin drew a handgun.
Bai Fu was a little annoyed that she hadn't gotten the information she wanted, but she didn't care too much. She drew a handgun from her thigh, too.
Seeing that, the Elite Assassin grinned even wider.
"Want to have a shootout with me? You might not know this, but they call me Sharpshooter. I've got ten ways to kill you before you can land a shot!"
Bai Fu shook her head. "This gun isn't loaded."
"Huh?"
The Elite Assassin froze. For a moment, he couldn't understand what she meant.
If it wasn't loaded, why draw it? Was she trying to scare him, or was she lying to make him lower his guard?
"Looks like you have no idea what kind of opponent you're facing." The Elite Assassin raised his gun in a flash. "Hahaha! Can you keep up with my speed?"
But just as he was about to pull the trigger, something strange happened. He suddenly realized that he couldn't move his fingers, no matter how hard he tried.
Damn it, he'd been immobilized!
The Elite Assassin's face changed dramatically.
To his surprise, Bai Fu didn't point the gun at him. She aimed it at her own stomach.
Even more surprising, after Bai Fu made that movement, his right hand began mimicking hers against his will.
In that instant, the Elite Assassin seemed to understand what was happening.
Stop! Stop!
He tried to stop his right hand, but no matter how hard he struggled or how loudly he screamed in his mind, it was no use. All he could do was watch as his hand pointed the gun at his own stomach.
Bai Fu opened her mouth and smiled as she mouthed the word, "Bang."
The next second, the Elite Assassin followed her lead and pulled the trigger hard.
Once, twice, three times... seven shots in one second!
Take a good look. This was the speed of a twenty-year veteran of being single!
The bullets that strayed slightly upward pierced the Elite Assassin's belly without mercy, shredding his intestines. The ones that strayed slightly downward dealt true critical damage.
Blood traced cruel arcs through the air.
The long two seconds passed, and Combat Etiquette came to an end. The Elite Assassin's body finally broke free of her control, but by then, the spreading pain from his gunshot wounds had left him unable to control his body.
His body spasmed, and he collapsed with a thud, his left temple slamming into the concrete. More blood splattered across the ground.
The Elite Assassin had no time to worry about the pain. He couldn't utter a single word. Fortunately, his Spirit was 9, allowing him to cling to a final shred of consciousness and watch Bai Fu walk toward him step by step.
Bang!
Bai Fu drew her other gun from her thigh and fired a clean shot into the Elite Assassin's head.
[You killed Elite Assassin. Contribution Points: 100%. After adjustment for level difference, you gained 4,800 experience.]
A game notification appeared.
Bai Fu smiled.
That was the power of Combat Etiquette: two seconds to take down a troublesome opponent known for his speed!
And that wasn't all she was pleased about. The Elite Assassin had given her a hefty experience reward. One Elite Assassin was worth 4,800 experience, and five would be 24,000. With the experience she had left over, she could level up again.
Bai Fu bent down and picked up the walkie-talkie lying on the ground. She held down the talk button.
"Hello, hello."
"You..."
The person on the other end froze when he heard the unmistakable female voice.
"Who are you? Are you Bai Fu, or someone else?"
Bai Fu said, "The gunshots were loud. Everyone living nearby must have heard them. It won't be long before people from the Fourth Division come rushing over. You don't have much time left to kill me."
"Bai Fu! Don't think you can act all high and mighty in front of me just because you killed Scavenger by sneaking up on him!"
At this point, even a fool would know that the person speaking was Bai Fu. The assassin yelled in fury.
"You're downstairs right now, aren't you? Just you wait. I'll be there soon to send you to your grave!"
"I'm not in a hurry. I'll wait downstairs. If you're in a rush to reincarnate, you'd better hurry up." Bai Fu sounded completely at ease.
"Just you wait!"
Bai Fu's attitude infuriated the assassin on the other end. He threw the walkie-talkie to the floor and crushed it underfoot.
"The sound came from upstairs."
Bai Fu pricked up her ears. She heard a door open, followed by two hurried sets of footsteps. That meant there were at least two assassins left.
Two or three, it didn't matter. Now that she'd confirmed Combat Etiquette really worked, she wasn't worried at all.
She brought An Ya to the corner of a concrete wall. It looked like a dead end, but it was the only place where she could easily keep An Ya safe.
"Boss, those assassins look really strong. Shouldn't we run first?"
Bai Fu patted An Ya's head. "Just sit back and watch your boss put on a show."
She didn't want to clash with the Truth Society, but if they insisted on killing her, then her attitude toward them was simple: since they'd come, she'd make them feel at home.
Back when she was still a player, she'd killed the Greek gods plenty of times. Once she got serious, why would she be afraid of a Truth Society with no divine powers?
A minute later, the two assassins who had rushed downstairs finally found Bai Fu.
"I thought you'd run away after all that tough talk. Guess you've got some guts after all. But this spot you chose... tsk, tsk. Is this the grave you picked out for yourself?"
The tall assassin who had crushed the walkie-talkie grinned and aimed his gun at Bai Fu's legs.
He wasn't in a hurry to kill her. After she'd mouthed off at him like that, he'd need to torture her properly to get his revenge.
Bai Fu said unhurriedly, "I wonder if you've ever heard this saying: never let your guard down against what's behind you, even if the person behind you is a trusted companion."
"Huh?"
The tall assassin realized something was wrong and hurriedly dodged to the left, but it was already too late.
Bai Fu switched to a new Combat Etiquette and pulled the trigger. In an instant, gunshots rang out in front of him and behind him. The bullet she fired grazed his left arm, leaving a searing pain, while the shot from behind struck just beside his shoulder blade. It felt as if a sledgehammer had slammed into his back, and his body pitched forward against his will.
"Ah!"
His scream tore through the night.
As he fell, the tall assassin was completely stunned.
The only person behind him had been the short assassin working with him, so that bullet from behind had to have been fired by the short assassin.
The realization made the tall assassin furious and frantic.
"You bastard! Who gave you the nerve to betray the Truth Society and throw in your lot with Bai Fu?"
He was wounded. If they attacked him from both sides, he had no chance of surviving.
The short assassin was frantic, too. He had no idea what had just happened and could only keep shouting, "I didn't mean to! My hand moved on its own!"
What the hell? If I'd been shot dead by you, would you say you didn't kill me, the bullet did?
The tall assassin turned around and tried to shoot the short one twice.
Bai Fu stepped in at the critical moment.
What a pain. If the two of them started shooting each other, wouldn't that mean less experience for her when she killed them both?
To stop the assassins from fighting among themselves at the source, Bai Fu quickly shot the tall assassin. The pain made him drop his gun.
The short assassin looked at Bai Fu in shock.
Bai Fu remained calm.
No need to thank me. You're next!
"Bang, bang, bang!"
Bai Fu fired several shots at the tall assassin lying on the ground.
Huge damage numbers rose amid a spray of blood. A few seconds later, the tall assassin's body finally went still.
Bai Fu strode toward the other assassin.
Cold sweat poured down the short assassin's forehead as he kept backing away.
"Don't come any closer. Don't come any closer..."
After repeating himself several times, he suddenly remembered something. He quickly pulled out his walkie-talkie and shouted into it.
"Backup! Send backup, now! If you don't send backup, we're all going to die here!"
The person on the other end of the walkie-talkie fell silent.
Although this had happened suddenly, he had figured out the situation: the assassination of Bai Fu had failed, and the assassins were about to be wiped out!
"Bai Fu!"
A hoarse voice came through the walkie-talkie.
"I know you're in a hurry, but hold on. Let me finish dealing with this guy first."
Bai Fu stopped beside the tall assassin, then kicked him hard in the jaw.
"Ah—"
The tall assassin, who had looked dead just a moment ago, was kicked into the wall. He let out an utterly bloodcurdling scream as he flew through the air.
"Playing dead in front of me? That's kind of funny!"
Bai Fu drew her foot back.
A kill always triggered a game notification. If there wasn't one, the target wasn't dead.
"Ahhh!"
The short assassin was so frightened by the scene that he fired three shots.
All three bullets came out of the barrel and hit Bai Fu, but the imagined scene of bullets piercing flesh and blood spraying everywhere never happened.
In the faint light, the short assassin saw Bai Fu open her clenched right hand.
Clack, clack, clack.
The three bullets slid from her palm and hit the ground with an ear-piercing sound.
"Die! Just die already!"
The short assassin was on the verge of a mental breakdown. He started firing wildly, hoping the shots might stop Bai Fu for even a second. But by the time he'd emptied his magazine, Bai Fu was unhurt and had walked right up to him.
"Looks like your gun isn't much good."
Bai Fu reached out and grabbed the muzzle of the short assassin's gun.
"Ah! Aah! Monster! You're a monster!"
The short assassin screamed wildly.
His shouts made the person on the other end of the walkie-talkie panic, too. "Stop screaming! What the hell is going on? Damn it, I said stop screaming!"
No matter how much he shouted, the short assassin kept screaming, until several gunshots rang out and silence fell.
Huff, huff...
The person on the other end of the walkie-talkie began breathing harder.
"Bai Fu, do you know who you've provoked?"
"The Truth Society? You're trying to kill me. What, am I supposed to let you? If you're so unhappy about it, come here yourself. Once you get here, you'll see what just happened."
"Bai Fu, you'll regret this!" the person on the other end of the walkie-talkie roared.
Bai Fu remained calm. "Threatening me? Watch your tone. I'm the one who won!"
Click!
The conversation was forcibly cut off.
Bai Fu smiled. She hadn't been bluffing. She'd deliberately provoked the person on the other end, hoping to draw them out.
She casually tossed the walkie-talkie beside the corpse on the ground, then quickly took An Ya back to Xia Shi's room. She pulled the Grenade Launcher out from beneath the floor. She'd gotten it from the Wildfire Gang's warehouse, and this thing should be enough to send that person flying.
If one shot wasn't enough, she'd fire two!
Bai Fu went to the window on the fourth floor and waited quietly.
Before you continue