What Must Come Will Come

"Commander, I found several anomalies," Mozzie reported over the comms channel.

"There are obvious signs of illegal crossings in the eastern part of Lungmen's slums. It looks like quite a few people crossed over, and an assassin has her eye on us. She's currently observing us from our nine o'clock. Glaz has her in his sights. How should we handle this, Commander?"

Zhuang Xiaolin lay on the bed, listening to the intelligence through his earpiece. A sly smile curled across his lips.

"Since someone's interested in me, let her come. Let's give our guests a proper welcome."

"Everyone, move to the ambush points I designated. Don't show yourselves until I make my move." After giving the order through the communicator, Zhuang Xiaolin closed his eyes and deliberately began snoring, pretending to have fallen into a deep sleep.

Not long after, Zhuang Xiaolin heard a soft clatter from the window as the latch fell to the floor. He steadied himself, focused his mind on the system space, and put Death's Revolver away, ready to give the intruder an unexpected surprise at any moment.

A slender figure beneath the moonlight slowly approached Zhuang Xiaolin's bed. Step by step, she moved without making the slightest sound, like a dancer under the moon—natural and graceful.

If not for the dagger in her hand, Zhuang Xiaolin might truly have been in the mood to appreciate this beautiful dance.

Soon, a faint rustling came from the figure. She took out a rope made of hemp and moved closer to Zhuang Xiaolin.

At that instant, Zhuang Xiaolin abruptly opened his eyes. His left hand seized one of the two hands reaching to tie him up, while his right hand drew Death's Revolver from the system space and pressed it directly against her forehead.

The many operators who had been lying in wait immediately rushed in upon hearing the disturbance. From afar, Glaz, who had been waiting for this moment, aimed his infrared laser squarely at Lyudmila's head.

Once Lyudmila realized she had been exposed, she did not dare make another move. She was waiting for an opportunity. She knew she had no chance against this group, no matter how skilled she was at assassination.

In this situation, she might take one or two of them down with her at most, but she would die as well.

"Guest, isn't it rather rude to visit our establishment so late at night?" Zhuang Xiaolin said with a false smile. Death's Revolver remained pressed against Lyudmila's forehead as he slowly forced her to drop every item she carried, backing her into a corner.

"Let me remind you first: I don't like laying hands on women. But if you're an enemy, that's an exception." A dazzling scarlet radiance erupted from Death's Revolver in Zhuang Xiaolin's right hand.

The energy gathering at the muzzle made Lyudmila, who had not felt the threat of death in a long time, experience once again what it felt like to have her life in someone else's hands.

Cold sweat slid down Lyudmila's forehead. The Originium organ at her throat tried to unleash its power, but she instinctively suppressed it.

Her instincts told her that even if she exposed her Arts now, she still could not escape this group's grasp.

"Looks like this young lady needs some time to think. Tie her up." Seeing no response from her, Zhuang Xiaolin came up with an excellent plan.

After letting out a few deliberately helpless sighs, Zhuang Xiaolin called Big Shield and Machine Gun Guy over. Each took a thick rope, twisted Lyudmila's arms behind her back, tied them securely, and tossed her onto Zhuang Xiaolin's bed.

"You... bastard! Kill me! If you've got the guts, kill me!" Lyudmila had originally intended to use her agile movements to strike back and kill the man named Zhuang Xiaolin, but the moment she tried, the fear in her heart instinctively crushed the thought.

Her instincts told her that the firearm in that man's hand, glowing with scarlet energy, was no joke.

So Lyudmila could only rage helplessly. She did not dare struggle or do anything too extreme, lest she provoke his killing intent.

As a master of infiltration and stealth, she knew that in situations like this, once the other side had done whatever they wanted to do, they would most likely go out to stand watch or lower their guard. At that point, Lyudmila could use her abilities together with her nimble body to escape successfully.

But that depended on him being interested in her body, or doing something so vile...

This time, however, it seemed she had miscalculated.

Zhuang Xiaolin sat down on the bed, his long fingers brushing through Lyudmila's hair.

"Miss, you wouldn't want your innocence to be completely ruined after tonight, would you? Oh, right, I haven't asked your name yet, beautiful miss." Zhuang Xiaolin brought out his favorite kind of disgusting line. It had little practical effect, but as an insult, its mocking power was off the charts.

"..." Lyudmila clenched her teeth and said nothing. Her eyes were tightly shut, and her face wore the expression of someone bravely facing death.

"Oh, quite determined, aren't you? See, this is what you call determination." Zhuang Xiaolin spoke to the operators standing guard around them in an exaggerated tone, winking at them.

"After she suffers torture like hell itself, she'll understand how foolish her actions were." Trap Girl was the first to catch on. She echoed Zhuang Xiaolin's words and put on a sinister expression.

"W-what?" Lyudmila was confused by the sudden remark. Her eyes opened unconsciously, and the first thing she saw was Zhuang Xiaolin's weathered yet handsome face.

"I don't think we need to make things this tense. It's bad for both of us. Let me introduce myself first. My name is Zhuang Xiaolin. And you, beautiful miss?" Zhuang Xiaolin lightly poked Lyudmila's cheek with his large hand.

He did not really understand what kind of messed-up world this was, but he was still quite good at reading people.

"Ly... Lyudmila." Lyudmila bit her lower lip and struggled to force out a few words barely louder than a mosquito's buzz.

"What? Too quiet. I can't hear you." Zhuang Xiaolin raised an eyebrow, the corners of his mouth curling upward as he smiled at Lyudmila, who had been pushed onto the bed.

"Lyudmila!" Lyudmila shouted louder this time. Afterward, she turned her head away, her cheeks slightly flushed.

For some reason, even though the man before her was clearly an enemy, Lyudmila inexplicably felt that he seemed more like a very good friend than an enemy.

"Miss Lyudmila, may I ask where you came from?" Zhuang Xiaolin leaned down slightly and began his plan.

"I'm from Ursus in the north." Seeing Zhuang Xiaolin lean closer, Lyudmila hurriedly turned her head away and hastily made up an excuse to brush him off.

"Lying is bad, beautiful... Miss Lyudmila."

Zhuang Xiaolin quietly placed Death's Revolver at his waist where he could draw it the fastest. With his right hand, he turned Lyudmila's averted head back and made her meet his eyes.

Her black robe had already been removed during the earlier scuffle. Her orange-red hair complemented her beautiful eyes of the same color, like a bottle of intoxicating wine.

Rook quietly moved closer to Machine Gun Guy and asked curiously, "Tachanka, how many years of dating experience do you think the Commander has?"

"I don't know. For someone like me, who's good at getting people drunk with alcohol, this kind of conversation sounds more like the style of that sniper who calls himself an artist." Machine Gun Guy curled his lips meaningfully.

As if they shared a tacit understanding, the infrared laser that had been aimed at some part of Lyudmila's body in the distance quietly shifted onto Machine Gun Guy's head.

"See? He's angry. They'll probably start fighting again in a while." Machine Gun Guy sighed, pushed his mask up, pulled out a pack of local cigarettes from his pocket, lit one, and took a deep drag.

Car Thief's reconnaissance Pests had already spread across a twenty-kilometer radius. Any disturbance would be instantly detected by these inconspicuous little creatures and uploaded to the terminal.

Glaz's head-mounted goggles could also connect to that terminal and automatically display the positions of nearby enemies. In a place where the situation was not too serious and there was no real danger, it was fine to joke around like this.

After all, Machine Gun Guy was a man who had stacked thousands of ballistic plates. Even his head could take dozens of bullets.

"I... I won't tell you. Kill me." Lyudmila's thoughts struggled fiercely within her heart, but in the end, her faith in the Reunion Movement allowed her to retain a shred of rationality.

"Honestly, why are you so stubborn? Think of it another way. I have medicine that can treat Oripathy, while your side is full of Oripathy patients. Your leader, Talulah, sent you here for that reason, didn't she?" Zhuang Xiaolin dumped all the intelligence Car Thief had gathered over the past few days onto Lyudmila at once, leaving her completely dumbfounded.

"Where did you learn all that?" Lyudmila's orange-red eyes widened as she stared at Zhuang Xiaolin in disbelief.

"Miss Crownslayer, most of Lungmen's slums are already under my surveillance. Just imagine how broad the scope of my intelligence gathering is. It's beyond your imagination." Zhuang Xiaolin clapped his hands and ignored the bewildered Lyudmila.

"So you can go back and tell your leader Talulah that I welcome partners, but not enemies." As Zhuang Xiaolin spoke, he took out a dagger and cut the ropes binding Crownslayer.

"But remember this: I'm not a good person. If you become my enemy more than three times, and I catch you intact again, you truly will suffer." Zhuang Xiaolin delivered his threat, then took out a basic healing potion. "This is my gift for our first meeting. Feel free to test it."

Zhuang Xiaolin tossed the basic healing potion to Crownslayer, who was rubbing her sore arm muscles.

Then he had Big Shield and Machine Gun Guy "escort" her out.

After Crownslayer left the pharmacy, she remained in a daze for a long time. She turned back and stared fixedly at the figure on the pharmacy's second floor, then turned away and vanished in the blink of an eye.

"The target has left our operational area."

With Glaz's report, the matter seemed to be drawing to a close.

But Zhuang Xiaolin knew that many companies and organizations would probably come looking for him. If even the Reunion Movement in remote Ursus could learn of him, then organizations and nations with more developed intelligence networks should have known much earlier.

The next move would be crucial. This kind of potion was too dangerous in the hands of those without the ability to protect themselves.

"But sometimes, negotiations have nothing to do with who is stronger. It's an art. Every dispute can potentially end through an artistic negotiation." Zhuang Xiaolin stroked Death's Revolver as he gazed toward the distant cluster of bustling cities.

The stars scattered across the night sky were as faint as fireflies compared to the radiance of the towering buildings.