Shadow Warrior!?

Nono's anger flared, and she struck without hesitation.

The dragon blood that had fully boiled over upon awakening told her that the person before her was not her father, nor did he deserve to be one.

Everything this man said had been a lie. He only wanted to squeeze every last bit of value from her. In his eyes, the being named Chen Motong—whether the first one or the later clones—had never been his daughter. So why should Nono spare him any courtesy or acknowledge him as her biological father?

So goodbye, Father—and goodbye to my weakness!

With one slash, cold, merciless death was laid bare before everyone.

Fresh blood seeped from beneath Father Chen's fallen body, spraying outward and gradually forming a terrifying pool of blood.

The security personnel around them finally snapped out of their shock and drew their weapons, aiming them at Nono and the blood-red blade in her hand.

Yet they hesitated to fire.

Their employer had been killed, and the killer was his daughter. Why did this feel like some... family drama that outsiders like them should not interfere in?

...Besides, their authority was not enough for them to attack the Chen Family Head's biological child without an order from the family head.

Amid an atmosphere so heavy that no one dared even breathe, a voice suddenly rang out—

"Attention, everyone. Proceed outside the manor and intercept the personnel from the external families! I repeat! Everyone, proceed outside the manor..."

The people aiming their guns at Nono then realized that the sound was coming from their radios. And the person speaking through them was unmistakably the voice of the Chen Family Head, who had just died!

Following orders came first. Having undergone strict training, they had no time to wonder why, and immediately turned their guns away before leaving.

"...!"

Nono, still standing where she was, went pale as she stared in disbelief at the corpse before her... It was clearly dead.

Yet at the same time, Father Chen's voice echoed from the radios around her.

Those real-time commands could not possibly have been recordings. There really was a living person speaking on the other end of the radios!

So he wasn't dead!?

Then was the one she had killed some kind of double, a Shadow Warrior? But could a Shadow Warrior really act so much like the original that even someone as familiar with him as she was could not tell the difference?

She had thought that the enormous shadow woven by that man and the family could be shattered with a single assassin's strike. Yet beneath that shadow, an impenetrable fog seemed to have enveloped her once more...

Unfortunately, reality gave Nono no time to recover. Instead, events spiraled in an even grimmer direction—

"Deploy the suppression forces! Deploy the suppression forces!"

After the security personnel had been sent away, the voice over the radio turned exceptionally cold and continued to sound from somewhere unknown.

"Experimental subject Frigga Three has lost control. Begin suppression procedures immediately! Full-power ammunition is authorized!"

The next moment, fierce gunfire erupted. Driven by her seemingly unkillable demon of a father, black-clad armed personnel surged in from every direction, surrounding her.

Nono, dressed in white, stood out in the night like a pure white elf. She had already torn away the cumbersome hem of her gown, turning it into a rough-cut, unconventional short skirt in the blink of an eye.

Having used the Ancient Dragon Serum, she moved with the speed of the wind. Dragon blood boiled throughout her body, and her senses had become unprecedentedly sharp. Even the muzzle flashes in the darkness and the trajectories of the bullets fired from them seemed to slow beneath her gaze.

With light steps and a drifting figure, Nono merely needed to sweep her eyes over the hail of bullets before shifting her body and nimbly evading them. Not a single leaf touched her, and the bullets could only graze past her.

Dragon blood had granted Nono extraordinary physical abilities, but it had also intensified her emotions. Faced with such merciless gunfire, savage thoughts began to devour her reason. The fury rushing to her head told her that these foolish humans had offended a noble king, and they had to repay the offense in blood!

But another rational voice in her mind told her: No, no! Don't do this, Nono. They aren't your enemies. They're only tools following orders.

If you surrender to slaughter, you'll regret it. You'll fall into becoming a "ghost" addicted to killing! You aren't a dragon—you're human! Don't get entangled with them. Don't you still need revenge? Go kill your true enemy!

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The armed personnel watched in terror as Nono displayed combat power completely unlike her usual self.

Her figure flashed like lightning, changing direction with incredible agility. She used cover to avoid the intersecting streams of fire, and even kicked away personnel blocking her path, using their bodies to shield herself from part of the dense barrage that followed.

As the white figure flickered past, the speeding bullets narrowly missed her and tore bloody blossoms from the armed personnel behind her.

The casualties steadily rose.

It looked horrific, but in truth, all the injuries came from friendly fire among the armed personnel. Although white scales—signs of Dragon Transformation—had appeared on Nono's body and her movements were inhumanly fast, she had not directly dealt any lethal blows. She seemed to be forcibly suppressing the dragon's bloodthirsty urges through sheer willpower.

The captain of the suppression force hesitated inwardly. Did this really count as going berserk? It had not been like this before.

But the family head's orders were absolute.

The captain gritted his teeth and spoke into his radio. "The target is escaping the containment zone. Requesting authorization to use Alchemical Ammunition."

"Authorized."

As Nono tried to break free of the suppression force's pursuit, a sudden sense of danger rose in her heart.

She lunged forward and rolled. The next second, an explosion thundered from where she had been standing, releasing an enormous cloud of mercury vapor—it was a Mercury Core Armor-Piercing Alchemical Bullet, designed to harm dragons!

Dark blood dripped from Nono's calf. She had not completely evaded the barrage. The sudden inhalation of mercury vapor caused her body to stiffen for an instant, slowing her movements by half a beat.

After coughing twice, she ignored the minor injury, which might have meant little to her transformed body. But Nono had no intention of wasting time here. She sprinted forward and plunged into the small woods within the manor, rushing onward. She was already close to the manor entrance.

More importantly, she had seen the Chen Family Head's figure—hastily climbing into a sedan with a radio in hand!

This time, you won't escape!

"What's going on? Is the Chen Family having an internal gunfight?"

Several young members of prominent families tasked with surrounding Chen Family Manor heard faint crackling sounds from within and gathered together to speak in low voices.

It couldn't be that the Chen Family was setting off firecrackers in the middle of the night for no reason, could it?

Some of them reclined on benches by the street, pretending to nap. Others walked a shaggy yellow dog slowly along the curb. Some stood outside flower shops admiring the flowers, while others dressed as workers stared at the greenery and smoked cigarettes.

It looked as though plenty of ordinary people were wandering around the Chen Family's vicinity, but they were actually all members of prominent families conducting surveillance in disguise, openly and covertly.

Thanks to @bookfriend20210805230428254@Seven Mysteries Profound Lord@Silly Fish Duck for the monthly votes!