Crazy Violent Maniacs

"Bosses, could I have a slice of watermelon?"

"Three yuan."

Su Bai rolled his eyes. "Do I look like I have any money on me?"

Chu Ning closed the laptop, lifted the brim of the baseball cap, and glanced at Su Bai. "Weren't you going to smash up their place? How did you end up getting stripped of your clothes and pants?"

Su Bai casually picked up a slice of watermelon from the stand and started eating. "There were four guns pointed at my head in there. What was I supposed to smash it with, my life?"

"If you couldn't use force, you could have used finesse."

"Yeah, that's what I thought, so I played dice with that woman called Sister Hong. She guessed the numbers right every single time. It was really weird, not scientific at all. If I hadn't cut my losses in time, they would've stripped me of these underpants too. Oh, right, do you have any clothes in your car? Give me something to make do with. I'm freezing to death."

Qingxue, who was standing nearby disguised as a bearded middle-aged man, went to the car and took out a black bag. She returned to the stand and handed it to Su Bai. "Here you go, Brother Su Bai."

Su Bai opened the bag, and a Barbie-pink dress appeared before his eyes.

Wouldn't wearing this thing be even weirder than streaking?

Forget it, I'll just make do.

Chu Ning stared without blinking at Su Bai, who had changed into the pink dress, and asked, "Do you know why you lost?"

Su Bai pondered for a moment.

"I checked their dice, and there was nothing wrong with them, but I didn't examine their dice cup closely. I reckon... they must have installed a miniature camera inside it, then connected it to some monitoring room through Wi-Fi. After the person in the monitoring room saw the numbers on the dice, they passed the information to Sister Hong through a wireless micro earpiece."

Chu Ning shook her head slightly, reopened the laptop, and turned the screen toward Su Bai.

There was only one photo on the screen: Sister Hong, the woman who had gambled high stakes with Su Bai a few hours earlier.

"Chen Ziyan, age twenty-three, B-rank member of the Hunter Guild, eighth-tier Transcendent, Oracle sequence 121, codename 'Red.'"

Oracle sequence 121 (Spiritual Clarity): The user can gain the unique attribute bonus "Insight" for x (unknown) amount of time. The movement of all microscopic particles within an x (unknown) range cannot escape the user's perception. Note: You suddenly discover that nothing in this world can blind your eyes anymore.

"X-ray vision!?"

Su Bai sprang to his feet, feeling utterly aggrieved.

She didn't need cameras or earpieces at all. She could see through his hand with a blink of her eyes. How was he supposed to play against that?

But...

Su Bai frowned. "Don't Transcendents' pupils turn red when they use an Oracle?"

Qingxue pointed at her own big, doll-like eyes. "She was wearing colored contacts, dummy. We wear them whenever we go out on missions too!"

Being called a dummy by a dummy really was a strange feeling.

Su Bai pressed a hand to his forehead. "Can I ask why no one ever told me about this before we went on the mission? If I'd known, how could I have played dice with her for over two hours like a fucking idiot???"

"Would telling you have made a difference?" Chu Ning closed the laptop and said flatly, "It's not like you can use an Oracle anyway. Oh... don't get me wrong. I'm not looking down on you, and I'm not trying to call you useless, let alone mock you."

That really stabbed me in the heart, you bastard.

Su Bai felt a faint sorrow, but before he could recover, he saw Chu Ning pull two handguns out from under the stand. One of them was the Reaper Desert Eagle Li Ming had given Su Bai.

Chu Ning deftly loaded and chambered both handguns, then handed the Reaper Desert Eagle to Su Bai.

Su Bai froze. "What are you doing?"

"Isn't this yours?"

"It is, but I'm asking why you're pulling guns out in broad daylight."

"To arrest someone."

Su Bai felt as if he'd been struck by lightning. "Heroine, don't tell me you think the two of us can storm the casino and arrest Sister Hong with just two guns?"

Chu Ning frowned slightly. "Is there a problem?"

Qingxue patted her left pocket, pulled out a tiny pocket pistol, and waved it in front of Su Bai, blinking playfully. "Brother Su Bai, there are three of us."

Su Bai gritted his teeth. "There are dozens of security guards in the casino, every one of them carrying an AK, and the three of us are going in with handguns? Why don't you bring a couple of hand grenades too?"

Qingxue patted her right pocket and took out two hand grenades.

Holy shit, she really has hand grenades.

Su Bai's face darkened as he pushed the two deranged violent maniacs into their chairs. "We can make a move, but we can't bring guns. Do you want tomorrow's headline to read, 'Three armed robbers shot dead by responding police officers'?"

Qingxue looked hesitant. "Section Seven will take care of it, right?"

"No, that won't do either! Listen to me, I have a perfect plan..."

"Enough of your endless nonsense. Fine, no guns." Chu Ning tossed the handgun into a basket under the stand and casually pulled out a long sword gleaming with a cold light. Sword in hand, she rose and strode toward the entrance of Heavenly River International.

By then, the setting sun was spilling its light across the city, and the few pedestrians on the street were all drawn to the girl in the baseball cap.

"Whose girl is that? Why is she carrying a sword? Is she cosplaying?"

"No idea. She's not wearing a historical costume, and it doesn't look like they're filming a TV show either."

Bang!!

Chu Ning kicked the glass doors of Heavenly River International to pieces. Shards of glass filled the air, reflecting the last rays of the setting sun as they clattered to the ground.

Chu Ning raised her sword slightly, its edge facing up and its spine down. Her gaze was icy. "Take me to the casino, or let me beat you up and then take me to the casino. Which do you choose?"

Inside the building, several burly men in charge of security shuddered at the sight, too frightened to recover for a long moment.

Now that's how you smash up a place.

Su Bai silently looked away and remarked, "Is this how you normally do things? Just simple and brutal?"

Qingxue produced two delicate, light swords from somewhere and handed one to Su Bai. She grinned. "Brother Su Bai, let's go!"

Go?

Su Bai was rendered speechless. He hefted the long sword in his hand.

Go in with this thing?

Am I supposed to go to the Western Paradise, meet Tathagata Buddha, and say, "Ah, I'm the monkey who came to fetch the scriptures"?

That's too fucking ridiculous!

Wasn't there a single normal person among these Grave Keepers?

Alas...

Forget it. So be it.

Su Bai gritted his teeth, dropped the delicate sword, grabbed the Reaper Desert Eagle, and charged after Qingxue toward Heavenly River International.

Halfway there,

Su Bai suddenly turned back and pocketed the two grenades they had left behind.

He didn't want to fight and kill, he really didn't.

But if it truly came to fighting and killing, he could go all out too.

Hadn't the ancients said it?

Across ten thousand miles of rivers and mountains, where was there no jianghu?