Even Small Fry Can Be Strong
Two boxes full of Compressed Biscuits crashed to the ground, spilling out several bags of dry food wrapped in tin foil.
"I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry, senior! I messed up again..."
Clear Bell, still shaken, steadied herself and looked at the scattered cookies on the ground; her eyes immediately welled up with tears.
Her chest heaved violently, and the white Wishforce within her began to surge wildly due to her emotional agitation, causing the bells on her skirt to jingle erratically.
Mint a single hand, Mint pushed the heavy iron frame back into place with a dull thud.
She turned around, looked at the newlyweds who were breathing heavily, and didn't rush to pick up the cookies on the ground.
"Look at me, Clear Bell."
"Yes, yes!"
"Your breathing frequency is overloaded, and all the Magic Power is concentrated in your ankles and elbows, which is why you got caught on the iron frame."
Mint pulled a black pen from her school uniform pocket and shoved it directly into Clear Bell's slightly cold hand.
"Forget about those boxes, just leave the heavy stuff to me."
"But I want to help. I can stand up now, and I don't want to be a useless person..."
Clear Bell gripped the plastic pen tightly, her voice filled with anxiety, as if she were about to cry.
Looking at her like this, Mint recalled the image of herself huddled in a corner of the convenience store, trembling, a few days ago.
It turns out that when people are desperately trying to prove themselves, their movements can really become so distorted and awkward.
"No one called you useless. Senior Ziwei kept you here because you know every single old debt here."
Mint pointed to the thick stack of income and expenditure details of the Welfare Home over the years on the table.
"Sit down and use this pen to pick out the medical purchase orders from the past three years. Keeping track of the expenses will help you relax and slow down your breathing."
"Really... all you have to do is keep track of the expenses?"
"Logistics is also part of the battle. Getting the accounts straight is much more useful than carrying two extra boxes of cookies."
Mint patted the back of her hand, bent down and picked up the scattered cookies one by one and put them back into the box.
Clear Bell looked down at the black pen in her hand, slowly walked to the wooden table, sat down, and opened the first yellowed page of the ledger.
The soft rustling of writing echoed in the quiet basement.
Her previously disordered breathing gradually calmed down as she checked line after line of numbers.
Bang!
A dull, metallic cracking sound suddenly came from above the side corridor.
The dustproof screen on the aluminum alloy ventilation duct at the top of the storage room was violently kicked open from the inside.
Rusty screws mixed with cement fragments clattered down, hitting the wooden table and leaving several black marks on the half-finished ledger.
Three figures clad in black combat suits slid down the pipes and landed steadily on the concrete floor of the storage room.
They emanated intense Magic Power fluctuations, with dark red Artificial Star Ring embedded in their chests. Their Magic Power Scale all exceeded 1,500, equivalent to a full complement of the Second-Tier Star Mark Realm cultivators, making them a whole level stronger than the weaklings on the outskirts of the Welfare Home who only had a few hundred magical energy levels.
Who goes there!
Mint shielded Clear Bell behind her, then drew her short staff from her waist, a pale blue Wind Magic Power glowing at the tip.
The three Golden Scale Society's backup assassins completely ignored Mint's warning.
They wore fully enclosed tactical goggles with red thermal imaging locking frames flashing on the lenses.
Three beams of red light pierced through the dim air and precisely landed on Clear Bell's spine.
"Target confirmed, Third Welfare Home, number 09, the remaining 100% pure Source Core receptor."
The squad leader at the forefront raised his left arm and glanced at the vital signs data on his tactical terminal.
He held a heavy Abyssal Energy Submachine Gun equipped with a silencer in his right hand, and slowly raised the dark muzzle.
"Are you from the Golden Scale Society? Scarface outside has already been captured by our leader. You can still surrender now!"
Mint gripped her short staff tightly, her fingertips slightly cold from the pressure of facing three Second-Tier Star Mark Experts.
Her own Magic Power Scale is just over 800, so she would definitely not gain any advantage in a head-on confrontation.
"That idiot Scarface messed things up; he lost all the clients' deposits."
The squad leader pulled the bolt, and the Artificial Star Ring glowed a blinding red light beneath his combat suit. Violent Deep Space Particles flowed through the tubes into the submachine gun's chamber.
"Since this batch of live animal raw materials has been exposed to unknown contamination from unregulated sources, it is considered substandard raw material resulting from a breach of contract."
"The orders from above are absolute: if we can't retrieve a clean Source Core, incinerate it on the spot! It absolutely cannot be left as evidence for the Monster Hunting Bureau!"
"Defective raw materials? What do you take the people in the Welfare Home for?!"
Clear Bell peeked out from behind Mint, propped herself up on the table with her hands, and stood up. The bells on her White Magical Armor twitched automatically without any wind.
She understood what they meant: these people had never treated them as living beings from the beginning.
"Shut up! Defective products have no right to ask questions. Light the fire!"
The squad leader pulled the trigger.
The assassins on both sides simultaneously raised their guns and fired.
Puff puff puff!
The silenced Abyssal Energy Submachine Gun emitted a dense, muffled thud, as dozens of blue energy bullets, engraved with Armor-Piercing Runes, tore through the air, forming a barrage of death that sprayed towards the two men.
The kinetic energy of each bullet is enough to penetrate the steel plates of a light armored vehicle.
"Step back!"
Mint stepped forward, her short staff spinning rapidly in front of her.
"Don't treat living, breathing people like items on your invoices that you can arbitrarily alter for reimbursement."
The Wind Origin within her body was released without reservation, weaving into a high-speed rotating Low-Frequency Wind Blade Barrier in front of her.
Jingle bells!
The dense barrage of armor-piercing projectiles struck the wind blade barrier, exploding into bursts of blinding blue sparks.
The high-speed rotating airflow forcibly deflected the trajectory of the bullet, which grazed the two men's cheeks and riddled the metal shelf behind them with holes, sending crumbs of Compressed Biscuits flying everywhere.
The immense impact traveled along the staff back to Mint's wrist.
Her hand was numb from the shock, and she staggered back three steps until her back hit the edge of the wooden table, a trickle of blood escaping from the corner of her mouth.
Just by blocking this volley of fire, she had consumed nearly half of her Magic Power.
"A Germination Stage weapon in its early stages? It actually managed to withstand a volley of Second Order Standard-Issue Military Weapons."
The squad leader threw away the empty magazine and pulled a short, blue-glowing metal baton from his waist.
"Number Two Number Three, suppress the one with the staff! I'm going to dismantle that defective one's bones!"
"Don't even think about touching Senior Mint!"
As Clear Bell watched Mint's trembling back, the string in her mind snapped completely.
She rushed out from behind the table without regard for anything else, mimicking her previous training, pushing her hands forward in an attempt to unleash Magic Power to repel the enemy.
Get out of my way!
White light emanated from her palm.
However, this unpolished, Pure Wishforce did not take any offensive form; it merely emitted a faint ring of Broken Bell Soundwave from her fingertips.
The sound wave struck the suicide squad captain's tactical goggles, but didn't even shake off a layer of dust.
"This haphazard squandering is a complete waste of resources."