Chapter 78

"But..."

Canary had no idea how Masaki Hina knew her current situation, nor did she know where Masaki Hina was. She simply stated based on her own intuition, "That person is very likely from the 'Apostle' side; I don't think we can let him go like this..."

"He can't escape, you don't need to worry."

"Hmm..."

"Alright, Ayse, Canary is in your hands now."

After saying that, Masaki Hina ended the communication.

"Yes..."

Ayse seemed somewhat bewildered by the current situation, her voice filled with uncertainty.

Since Masaki Hina had said so, Canary and Ayse had no choice but to obey Masaki Hina orders.

Canary dodged the pursuing Erosion Entity and climbed to the rooftop of a nearby building, hoping to buy herself more time and also hoping to catch a glimpse of the fleeing man.

The agents' daily training consists of many things, and not all of them are designed specifically for the Erosion Entity.

Because of the special nature of the agents' duties, it is inevitable that there will be people targeting them from time to time, or agents will need to carry out other tasks. Therefore, combat skills are essential.

Thanks to this, Canary survived the double attack from the man and the Erosion Entity.

But she was injured, and she could no longer continue this mission.

Canary sighed as she watched Ayse running quickly towards her from afar.

106. Guess

Inside a building...

"Commander..."

Shinomiyami Nami appeared before Masaki Hina in a tight-fitting combat suit.

The last rays of the setting sun had completely disappeared below the ground, and as far as the eye could see, there was only darkness without the illumination of lights.

This is nothing to the agents, but it's the biggest obstacle for ordinary people like them. Without night vision devices, they're practically blind.

However, the same applies to the man that Masaki Hina has her eye on.

Shinomiyami Nami was equipped with firearms, ziplines, communication equipment, lighting, and auxiliary signal markers, among other things—a very complete set of standard special operations gear.

Unlike Shinomiyami Nami, whose uniform resembled that of the Special Disaster Division's special forces, Masaki Hina was still in her military uniform, not even taking off her military cap. The only conspicuous pieces of equipment she carried were two pistols.

But those who know her well will know that her boots are specially made, and that she has straps tied in the sleeves, at her waist, and on both sides of her thighs, where she hides her other weapons.

Although there has always been considerable controversy surrounding her, this is simply her fighting style.

Masaki Hina is already in her twenties, but she still looks no different from a junior high school student. At first glance, she seems like a weak and helpless little girl. However, this does not mean that she is not good at fighting. On the contrary, she is exceptionally strong in close combat and marksmanship.

"Um."

Masaki Hina glanced at Shinomiyami Nami and took a step forward.

Shinomiyami Nami quickly followed.

"That... Commander..."

Shinomiyami Nami asked hesitantly, "Efnir is unaware of what's happening here. If your guess is correct, then Efnir will definitely have been ambushed as well. Is it really alright for us to just leave it like this?"

"I've already sent people over, but as you know, it will take us time to send a message, so I don't think it will be of much use by now."

Masaki Hina's face remained expressionless as she simply analyzed the current situation.

"But you should rest assured. You know her better than I do, and you know her capabilities. I can only feel at ease with her here. That's why I specifically transferred Efnir here."

It's no exaggeration to call Efnir the "chief" of the agents in Xijing City. In fact, compared to Canary and other agents, Efnir's actual combat strength can be described as "abnormal".

In terms of physical strength, reaction speed, energy utilization rate, and continuous combat time, Efnir is unique. Efnir has a combat level far exceeding that of others and can do things that others cannot.

For Masaki Hina, Efnir was her "trump card." Playing this card meant placing most of the chances of winning on her, which showed Masaki Hina's trust in Efnir.

"If the other person is ungrateful enough to encounter her, then I wish them good luck."

Seeing Masaki Hina say this, Shinomiyami Nami was still a little worried, but she didn't say anything more.

Indeed, even if they sent someone out now to notify those outside to provide support for Efnir, there wouldn't be enough time. Rather than worrying about that, they should focus on the person suspected to Apostle.

Silence fell over the air, broken only by the sound of their footsteps.

How badly is Canary injured?

Suddenly, Shinomiyami Nami heard Masaki Hina's voice coming from the quiet air.

She glanced at her superior, who was a head shorter than her, pondered for a moment, and replied, "Given the agent's physical condition, Canary will be fine, but her current injuries are no longer suitable for continuing the mission."

"Um..."

Masaki Hina nodded and said, "Why do you think that man, who clearly had a chance to kill Canary, or at least a chance to severely injure Canary, would run away?"

Upon hearing Masaki Hina's question, Shinomiyami Nami continued walking, but hesitated for a moment.

"Because... he was afraid of Canary's dying counterattack?"

From the perspective of the opposing commander, if the life of an ordinary person can be exchanged for the life or serious injury of the enemy's agent, this is undoubtedly a very worthwhile tactic.

But this was clearly not the case for that man. If he was afraid of death, then running away was the safest option when facing an agent who still had the strength to fight one last time.

I don't think so.

Masaki Hina said.

"Or perhaps he set a trap, and his escape was a deliberate act to lure Canary into the trap so he could turn the tables and eliminate her?"

Shinomiyami Nami guessed again, but was immediately refuted by Masaki Hina.

"What if Canary doesn't follow his escape route but chooses another path? Or what if Canary doesn't intend to pursue him, or sends someone else to do so?"

For agents, there is no such thing as a "route". In battle, they only think about the most advantageous or convenient route of advance. In many cases, in order to maintain a clear view, they will advance by climbing over buildings. In this way, many traps will not work on agents, and the area that needs to be set up will become extremely large. Such a huge project cannot be done by one person.

Shinomiyami Nami was preoccupied with Efnir and absent-minded, so Masaki Hina Hinaki finally got the chance to ask her.

"I believe he chose to run away because he had no reason to fight."

"The reason for the fight?"

"That's right. Every action has a purpose, that is, to obtain something or to achieve something. The reason that man attacked Canary was simply because he was afraid that his identity would be exposed. Although he had disguised his identity at the time, once he was sent to the refuge, the disguised identity might be problematic. In order to avoid that, he chose to strike first."

Masaki Hina said.

"Throughout the entire process, his behavior was likely geared towards 'self-preservation.' Otherwise, his most logical course of action would have been to seize the opportunity to ambush Canary, such as by sniping her, or to proactively appear before Canary and gain her trust with pre-prepared statements before launching a surprise attack, rather than putting himself in such a passive position."

At that time, Canary did not completely trust his words. Faced with the agent's powerful reaction ability, it can be said that if the Erosion Entity had not appeared at that time and attracted most of Canary's attention, he would have had no chance of successfully attacking.

"Self-preservation was his reason. But continuing to fight Canary would undoubtedly be risky, and he judged that it wasn't worth it and didn't meet his expectations, so he fled. But at this point, you might have a question, right? -- Why, having gone this far, did he let go of such a crucial fighting force from the opposing side? Even if he could have just fired a few more shots to severely injure Canary again, why didn't he do something so simple and instead focused on escaping?"

Masaki Hina smiled coldly.

"Of course, there may be other reasons, but my guess is that his purpose here is simply to buy time."

"Delaying time..."

Shinomiyami Nami pondered for a moment, then felt a belated chill at Masaki Hina's words.

107. Hidden Weapons

If Masaki Hina's guess is correct, then it's clear that the other party has achieved its goal.

Masaki Hina continued:

"Weakening our fighting strength isn't his mission. In other words, whether Canary or dies, as long as he completes his task, their entire plan will surely succeed. Have you noticed that since we arrived here, the only suspicious person we've encountered is him? If our intelligence is entirely accurate, where are the others besides him? Are they all with Efnir? I don't believe their plan was a coordinated attack on Efnir. Putting aside whether it will succeed, I simply think this retaliatory action is meaningless. Their commander has caused us such great losses and possesses technology we've never seen before; he's certainly not a shallow person."

As they were talking, Masaki Hina and Shinomiyami Nami arrived outside the building.

At first glance, the areas not illuminated by the lights were completely dark, but if you stepped into the darkness, your vision seemed to return somewhat.

At that moment, a man's voice came through the earpiece.

"Commander, I've found him!"

She and Shinomiyami Nami exchanged a glance, then disappeared into the darkness.

The man, dressed in a blood-stained white work uniform, sneaked into the building and crouched down in a corner.

He was panting; the run had taken its toll, but for someone as well-trained as him, this loss of energy was insignificant.

He glanced around cautiously, took out a metal box, and opened it.

Several strange black crystals appeared before my eyes. Even in the pitch-black night, these crystals seemed to shimmer with a faint, dark light, which was particularly intimidating.

He carefully took one out, placed it in the corner, then closed the box and turned to leave.

The building's exit lights were bright. He glanced cautiously into the distance, then went to the window. Just as he was about to climb out, a voice appeared behind him.

"Hey, sir, did you drop something?"

The voice was very close, less than half a meter away from him.

The sudden sound made the man's heart skip a beat, and cold sweat instantly soaked his back, his scalp feeling like it had been doused with chili water.

He had been paying close attention to his surroundings, and he was quite certain that there was no one behind him.

"Who!?"

Although it was indeed very unexpected, years of training allowed him to immediately grasp the situation and suppress the wavering in his heart. Almost subconsciously, he drew his dagger and turned to strike, but the figure behind him took a step back and calmly dodged his unexpected attack.

At this moment, in the dim light, the man finally saw the person behind him clearly; it was a little girl whose height barely reached his chest.

However, she was no ordinary little girl, because her military uniform was clearly not a counterfeit, and she showed no fear even when facing the knife in his hand. Her evasive maneuvers were also something no ordinary person could do, and she had a gun at her waist.

"Who are you?"

The man asked cautiously, while quickly scanning his surroundings.

He didn't see anyone else within his field of vision, or rather, if there was anyone, they were probably still hiding and unable to come to his aid in time.

He subtly shifted his body, using the girl's blind spot to slowly reach his other hand towards his waist.

"You don't even know who I am? Your intelligence gathering is just so-so. I really can't believe how second-rate people like you managed to sneak in here. Or... are you trying to avoid something?"

The girl smiled mischievously, revealing her cute little tiger teeth.

"By the way, you dropped something, and I'm curious what it is. Can you tell me?"

At that moment, the girl raised her hand, her fingers pinching a piece of pitch-black crystal.

The man's pupils contracted, and he subconsciously took a step back.

"You seem quite scared? But don't be alarmed. If my observation is correct, this thing shouldn't take at least another twenty seconds to activate, right?" The girl chuckled. "A bomb that won't explode for another twenty seconds and you're this scared? Have you never handled a grenade before?"

The man frowned at the girl's sarcasm.

But he said nothing, only cautiously observing his surroundings while gently gripping the gun in his hand.

"I advise you not to make any rash moves; the muscles in your neck have already given you away."

The girl said.

But the man had no intention of saying another word. He suddenly drew his pistol, aimed at the girl, and pulled the trigger—his well-trained nature meant the process took less than half a second. But the instant he pulled the trigger, two gunshots suddenly rang out in the air, and the dazzling flashes instantly illuminated the dark corridor.

The pistol flew out of his hand, and his wrist was dislocated as well.

"Varied...!?"

He was utterly astonished.