Second Time's the Charm

"Even if I couldn't take his people this time, I had to get my hands on some of his goods."

Under the cover of night, a dark figure leaped and darted across the rooftops of the slums.

After crossing several rooftops, the shadow finally arrived at her destination: a rather plain and unadorned pharmacy.

Just then, moonlight shone down, illuminating the cheek exposed beneath the dark figure's black robe.

After returning to report on the mission, Lyudmila had been sent here again by Talulah.

"I shouldn't have been spotted, right?"

Lyudmila carefully observed her surroundings. She had learned her lesson from last time. Her opponent had small scouting robots; while their electronic eyes were difficult for her to notice, she should have been able to find one or two through instinct.

After scanning the area for quite some time, Lyudmila still felt no sense of being watched. Only then did she relax and get to work.

She came once more to that familiar window. Lyudmila stared at it for a long while.

There were no signs that it had been reinforced. Was he careless... or did he think he could still subdue me?

The room was pitch-dark, with the sound of steady breathing coming from within.

"This Reunion Movement seems to have quite a background. I need to report back to Duke Wei." In a shadow Lyudmila failed to notice, a figure flashed past and vanished.

Lyudmila merely continued her infiltration.

Entering someone's room was actually a rather dangerous infiltration task. People familiar with their own homes were usually especially sensitive to certain sounds while resting at night.

And if you had never lived there but wanted to sneak in without making a sound, that was exceedingly difficult.

The second issue was the friction between the floor and one's shoes. Bare feet or socks made less noise on wooden flooring than usual, and with factors such as body weight, it was fairly easy for Lyudmila to infiltrate perfectly.

"Damn bastard." Lyudmila quietly opened the window to a room beside Zhuang Xiaolin's, then turned back to glance at his room.

After examining the layout of the other room and pondering for a moment, Lyudmila braced herself on the window, crouched on the sill, then slowly slid down along the wall and landed soundlessly inside.

Lyudmila looked around, intending to search the place first, but when she saw the words "Medicine Storage" written in the room, she stopped in her tracks.

"The prey took the bait. What do we do next?"

"Wait a little longer. I put something special in the medicine inside."

Lyudmila could not see the electronic messages exchanged over the communication channel. But if one examined the room's layout closely, one would be surprised to find irregular protrusions in each of its four corners.

There were specks of black blotches atop those protrusions. An ordinary person might mistake them for mold or something else with only a moment's inattention, but if that were all they were, this place would simply become another image in the surveillance room.

"Intermediate Oripathy treatment? The one he gave me before was only basic?"

After rummaging around the room, Lyudmila found a bottle labeled "Intermediate Oripathy Treatment."

Besides that bottle, there were other medicines in the room, though they all served different purposes. As for medicine that treated Oripathy, this seemed to be the only bottle.

Gulp...

Lyudmila swallowed unconsciously. The stinging pain in her throat made her start eyeing the medicine before her.

As an Infected, and one who had been forced into becoming Infected, Lyudmila very much wanted to become normal again. Yet the flames of vengeance still suppressed her fear of infection. Pain and power coexisted; that was the source of her revenge.

If her Oripathy were cured now, how was she supposed to continue down the road of revenge? The unique Originium Arts she took such pride in would leave her. By then, she might be nothing more than an ordinary person with somewhat superior assassination skills.

But... even though she thought that, Lyudmila's body was quite honest. She opened the bottle, dipped her little finger into it, and put a small amount into her mouth.

After savoring it carefully, Lyudmila looked left and right, but found no changes in her body.

This seemed... completely ineffective.

Just as she thought that, a sudden, agonizing pain tore through Lyudmila's body.

The pain came without warning, as if a pair of pliers were scurrying through her body. Yet they moved with a certain pattern, avoiding vital areas and dancing through the places packed most densely with nerves.

The instant pain made Lyudmila let out a tiny scream, but her assassin's instincts made her immediately cover her mouth as she dropped to her knees.

As the feeling of rejection within her body grew more pronounced, Lyudmila saw a small patch of Originium crystal on her arm gradually disappear. The pain in her throat also eased somewhat.

But the price of that change was total exhaustion. Sweat streamed continuously down her cheeks, her limbs were weak, and she felt so feeble that she could faint at any moment.

"Curiosity killed the cat. Though you seem to be a wolf. Still, wolves are a branch of the canine family, right? A little curiosity seems perfectly normal."

After Crownslayer fell to her knees, the room's door suddenly opened. Zhuang Xiaolin stood there with a smile, looking at Crownslayer on the floor.

"You... knew I was coming?"

Lyudmila tried to force her powerless body upright, but quickly failed. She fell back to her knees, an unnatural flush spreading across her cheeks.

"What is this? What did you put in it?"

The initial agony gradually began to fade, but strange sensations rose within her body in its place. Her chest felt especially tight, and her head felt swollen and muddled.

Her breathing grew heavier, and her gaze began to lose focus.

Lyudmila unconsciously began making seductive movements. Her large tail swished back and forth without stop, while the wolf ears atop her head stood erect in excitement. Her body was clearly weak beyond measure, yet the signals from those animal features showed utter exhilaration.

"The first time was a verbal warning. The second time, you have to suffer a little."

Zhuang Xiaolin smiled as he walked over to Lyudmila. He picked up the bottle she had touched, then held it up in front of her and gave it another shake.

"I added a special aphrodisiac to it, but there's an antidote. As long as you obediently listen to me, you'll receive the antidote on schedule. If you don't listen, I'll lock you in a room filled with the scent of the opposite sex's hormones and let you suffer for an entire day. A friendly reminder: this drug lasts for three months, and if you go even one day without the antidote, its effects will double the next day."

Listening to Zhuang Xiaolin's detailed explanation, Lyudmila trembled with rage. Summoning all her strength, she tried to force herself up, draw the dagger hidden in her sleeve, and slash Zhuang Xiaolin's throat with a fatal blow.

But Lyudmila could do nothing. Her head was muddled, the strange feeling grew stronger and stronger, her reason was being swallowed away, and she was about to fall into an endless abyss.

"Tsk, tsk. If you weren't an enemy, I'd say you still had quite the charm. Your punishment starts tomorrow. Tonight, get a good night's sleep—your last peaceful sleep here."

Zhuang Xiaolin shook his head, took out a pale green pill, and forcibly shoved it into Lyudmila's mouth.

At first, Lyudmila was unwilling to swallow the pill. But when a cool sensation spread through all four limbs and her body, the muddled feeling and strange sensations in her mind gradually began to fade.

After swallowing the pill, Lyudmila remained kneeling there blankly. Her body was still weak, but she could move again.

A fierce glint suddenly flashed in Lyudmila's eyes. Her right hand moved, instantly reaching for her knife.

But when Lyudmila tried to draw it, she was astonished to discover that all her weapons, along with her coat and trench coat, had been taken away by Zhuang Xiaolin in an instant.

The moment Lyudmila realized this, the window outside the room was slammed shut and reinforced with a layer of iron plating. Zhuang Xiaolin smiled at Lyudmila as she tried to resist and struggle, then backed toward the door with an expression that said, "Just wait. Tomorrow, you'll be in for it," before shutting the door.

Lyudmila could even hear the click of the lock. The room fell into complete darkness. Powerlessly, she lay down on the bed that had originally held the medicine chest, staring blankly at the ceiling.

She had been subdued again—and so easily.