In the League, but with the Taiwan Server System

"..." Hearing this, the squad captain stopped arguing.

After a moment of silence, he waved for his adjutant to sit down.

"Thank you for understanding, my dear... foolish warriors." Samira flashed a charming smile, then rose to her feet as well.

Holding her wineglass, she walked past the villagers one by one, smiling all the while.

Her eye was fixed on the cups in their hands.

"You finished yours. Very good... You too. Not bad... And you..."

"Hmm... Looks like everyone is being very respectful. You all drained your cups."

"But... why do I see one friend who hasn't finished hers?"

Samira stopped walking.

Beside her, a little girl trembled as she held a cup that was still more than half full with both hands.

A girl of only seven, perhaps eight, could never quickly finish such a large cup of ale.

Never mind alcohol—even plain water would have been too much for her.

"Little sister, why haven't you finished drinking?" Samira crouched halfway down, her sharp single eye nearly pressed against the girl's tender face. "Are you shaking? Are you afraid of me? Or... do you simply dislike me? Hate me?"

"I... I don't..." The girl shook even harder, her cup swaying from side to side as several drops of ale spilled onto the floor.

Some splashed onto Samira's boots.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk... What a waste." Samira narrowed her eye. "Not finishing your drink is disrespectful to me, while spilling it is disrespectful to the alcohol... It seems you truly hate me, and even all of Noxus."

"Then... perhaps I should give you a little punishment."

"Hmm... What should I do..."

"Oh, right."

Smiling, Samira reached toward her waist.

The next instant, the dark muzzle of a gun pressed against the girl's temple.

"My lady!" The woman beside the girl hurriedly dropped to her knees. "Don't... Please, don't... I'll drink it for her... I'll drink it for her!"

The woman snatched the cup from the terrified girl's hands and, without another word, tried to pour it into her own mouth.

But before she could drink a single drop, Samira viciously kicked the cup from her hand.

"Hey, matters of dignity can't be solved by drinking in someone else's place." The one-eyed woman laughed as she grabbed the little girl, her other hand slowly lowering the safety on her revolver. "Anyone who disrespects me must pay the price."

"Demon! You damned demon!" Someone in the crowd hurled down his cup and cursed loudly, but a Noxus soldier quickly pinned him to the ground.

The crowd began to stir, but no one had the power to resist—unarmed civilians stood no chance against fully armed Noxus soldiers.

They could only watch helplessly as the little girl suffered the so-called punishment for "disrespect" in the demon's hands.

Samira had fully disengaged the revolver's safety.

Click. The crisp sound was perfectly clear.

The girl's mother still tried to resist, but apart from heart-wrenching curses, there was nothing she could do.

"In your next life, remember to finish your drink whenever someone offers a toast." Smiling, Samira placed her finger on the trigger.

The trigger slowly depressed, and it seemed as if the scent of gunpowder was already drifting from the barrel.

"Goodbye, little friend~"

Bang—!

A thunderous sound rang out with the pull of the trigger.

But... no blood came spraying out.

The little girl fell to the floor.

Samira's silver revolver fell to the ground as well.

After a brief moment of shock, everyone realized that the loud noise had not been a gunshot, but...

The sound of a wooden stick smashing into the revolver.

"You have no bottom line at all, Samira."

A young man stood up at the back of the crowd—clearly, he had thrown the wooden stick that knocked away the revolver.

"Haha, bottom line? How much is that worth?" Samira rubbed the back of her aching hand, then bent down and picked up the revolver.

Then, she flicked open its cylinder.

There were... no bullets inside.

"Is it worth more than your life, little rat of the Resistance Army?"

Chapter 20: Leaving It Off Means It's On?

Seeing the empty cylinder, Chen Ce knew he had been bluffed.

Samira was not as without principles as he had thought, and he was not as composed as Samira had thought.

Using a child's life to test him had worked.

It sounded a little stupid, but... he truly did not want to gamble on whether Samira's gun contained bullets.

It had nothing to do with being saintly. He simply did not want to watch an innocent child die before his eyes and do nothing—if he had the ability to save her, then he would.

Just as the Resistance Army had saved his life two and a half years ago.

Perhaps it was a cycle of being saved and saving others.

If he only waited for others to save him, yet refused to lend others a hand when it was within his power, that would be far too selfish.

"Come on. Try taking my life."

Chen Ce could not be bothered to waste words on the Noxus soldiers before him. He directly assumed a fighting stance—even though he had no weapon in hand.

He was not afraid of them.

He only had some doubts—were Samira and these Noxus squads here for him, or merely for the "Resistance Army"?

If it was the former, he could not understand what he possessed that would attract the famed Desert Rose. If it was the latter, he could not understand how the Noxus people knew a Resistance Army member was hiding in this small village, much less why they had mobilized such force just to flush out a hidden Resistance Army member.

A Noxus squad led by Samira possessed combat strength enough to rival certain local Resistance Army battalions.

"Hehe, it seems you really value your so-called bottom line more than your own life." Samira sized up the young man who had stepped forward. Her emerald single eye held deep... contempt.

Heroes were the people she despised most.

If someone valued another person's life more than his own, he was destined neither to live long nor go far.

"You don't even have a weapon, yet you still want to protect this pitiful and naïve child. That truly is... very brave."

Smiling, Samira rapidly flexed her fingers. Amid an unfathomable blur of afterimages, two revolvers were suddenly loaded.

"Unfortunately, it is foolish bravery."

"Mm." Chen Ce gave a slight nod as his gaze began to move.

He was observing the movements of the Noxus soldiers and the surrounding environment.

The next moment, Samira raised her revolver at him.

He suddenly leaped toward a nearby table.

Bang—! The gun fired. Illegal ammunition not certified by Zaun authorities exploded violently, its power blasting the table beneath Chen Ce's feet into splinters.

Having missed her first shot, Samira wanted to continue firing, but Chen Ce had already launched himself high into the air off the shattered table, with several Noxus soldiers positioned before him as human shields.

"Tsk... You nuisances, get out of my way!" Samira dashed forward and brutally kicked aside the Noxus soldiers who had reacted too slowly.

But when she prepared to fire at Chen Ce again, he had already retrieved something outside the first-floor window.

Then she saw a dazzling flash of cold light.

"So you hid a weapon... Hehe." Facing the spear thrust directly at her, Samira calmly pulled the trigger.

Clang—! The bullet struck the spearhead, but failed to break it.

The sight surprised Samira, though she did not panic.

She leaned sharply backward, dodging the spear while drawing the blade from her back—a specially made weapon that also incorporated Zaun technology.

"Hey, try this!"

Samira shoved the slider on the back of the blade and pulled the trigger. Black powder along the spine of the blade detonated, forcefully propelling it forward as she let out an exhilarated cry and slashed straight for her opponent's neck.

The blade came rushing in. Chen Ce did not risk trying to dodge it, instead turning around to block.

This was the moment for Grandmaster Jax's signature skill—Counter Strike.

Clang—! Steel collided once again, and Samira immediately felt pain shoot through the web between her thumb and forefinger.

Her blade had been blocked.

Looking again, the ornate spear spun flamboyantly in Chen Ce's hands—it was practically like watching an acrobatic performance.

But... it was effective.

"What kind of martial technique is this..." Samira furrowed her delicate brows, genuinely startled for a moment.

Her greatblade had already been knocked away by his spear. Now, only her two revolvers remained.

Still, that was enough.

"A very impressive technique. Unfortunately... times have changed!"

Bang bang bang—!

Several bullets fired in rapid succession. This time, Chen Ce had no "human shields" before him to block the bullets.

Of course, he did not need them—only he knew why.

Clang clang clang clang...! After a series of crisp sounds, several copper slugs fell to the ground.

Samira's eyes widened in disbelief.

The other Noxus soldiers could not believe what they were seeing either.

The Ionians who had pinned their hopes on Chen Ce were even more shocked and delighted, unable to speak for a long while.

He... he blocked bullets with a spear...?

What kind of power was that...?

Was he even human...?

Everyone was dumbfounded.

But something even more astonishing came next—Counter Strike had two stages.

Before stopping the spear, Chen Ce accelerated its rotation to the limit, then began striking the heads of the surrounding Noxus soldiers.

Thud—! The sound of the spear shaft hitting a forehead was rather dull.

Thud thud thud—! It rang out without end.

Every Noxus soldier struck in the head by the spear shaft immediately dropped into a deep sleep. Youth really did mean a sturdy body.

"Not one of you can fight." After using Grandmaster Jax's skill, Chen Ce casually recited one of Jax's classic lines.

With a max-level [Counter Strike], purely in terms of technique, he was no worse than Jax himself—though the difference in strength was still obvious.

But against the ordinary attacks of ordinary humans, it was more than enough.

Samira's reactions and movements were faster than those of the other Noxus soldiers. She barely evaded the second stage of Chen Ce's [Counter Strike], but she was temporarily at the end of her rope—her blade and guns were both useless, and she essentially had no other means of attack.

She could only retreat while reloading.

The other two squads were moving closer. Once they arrived, it would be more than forty people against one.

They should win... right...?

After many years, Samira once again tasted that deep sense of helplessness—the last time had been when she lost her right eye.

"What's wrong? Now you know how to run?" Chen Ce sneered and strode toward her.

With Counter Strike and Meditation at his disposal, he had no fear of ordinary Noxus soldiers—as long as there were no magical attacks, facing dozens alone was not particularly difficult.