Chapter 28: Protection

Chaotic footsteps mixed with the clashing of metal sounded particularly prominent in this quiet alley, but just a few meters away from the alley, soldiers and the Saint Assembly were exchanging fire while taking cover behind a civilian building.

“Where do we put this batch?”

Walking at the rear of the group, a Saint Assembly member carried a backpack weighing about twenty kilograms, packed with enough explosives to blast a building in half.

They had just finished placing explosives at another location as planned.

They only needed to set one more, then they could notify the others to detonate.

Once this batch of explosives was detonated, there was no doubt that the entire area would be engulfed in flames.

“At Grid F8, we’re almost there… Ah!”

Bang bang bang! Several consecutive gunshots struck down the leader and the two companions walking beside him.

“Enemy! Watch out!”

The Saint Assembly member who took over as leader immediately ordered everyone to be on alert, but in the blink of an eye, several more companions fell.

“Above us! Shoot… Ah!”

The very next second after he reacted, the figure that should have been standing on the rooftop drifted down like a ghost in front of him, delivering a knee strike to his lower abdomen, then a sweeping leg to knock him down.

Those who had been distracted by the previous command clearly hadn’t reacted yet.

Another few gunshots rang out.

The blood on the last bullet splattered across the alley that had once again fallen silent.

That figure casually shook the dust off his clothes, then tied up the unconscious person and threw him against the wall.

The violent impact jolted the originally unconscious person awake.

He looked around frantically and saw the figure standing before him.

“You… who are you?! How do you know about our operation?”

“Shh.”

I firmly pressed down on the noisy man’s head, holding it against the wall until he showed a pained expression.

“Don’t get it twisted. I’m the one tying you up, OK?”

I continued applying pressure with my fingers, as if trying to crush his head.

He begged for mercy repeatedly before I finally let go, satisfied.

“So, when did you start your operation? Where are the other bombing points? Is this just a routine attack, or cover for something else?”

“Ah, sorry, sorry. I asked too many questions at once. So, where are the other bombing points? It looks like you still have quite a few left to place. If all these explosives go off at once, this entire area will be doomed, right?”

“… Twenty-three points in total. Most of them have already been placed, but the other locations weren’t set by our squad, so I don’t know exactly where they are.”

“Oh? So honest?”

That person squinted at me, grinding his teeth.

“If it weren’t for that knife you’re holding, I wouldn’t have given it up so easily.”

“Ahaha!”

I twirled the small knife in my hand.

This knife was specially made for bloodletting.

I heard that once it cuts and draws blood, the bleeding won’t stop.

But I’ve never actually used it; I just carry it on me.

“What about the rest?”

“The rest… I don’t know. I just received the mission and carried it out.”

“Yeah, I guess.”

I stood up.

After all, he was just a low-level soldier; there was no way I’d find any clues from him.

So I chambered a round in my pistol.

In his conversation with this man just now, although he was being interrogated, surprisingly, he hadn’t been executed.

Perhaps there was still a chance he might be let go?

That person thought so.

Indeed, if one ignored how Wu Yin had mercilessly shot his comrades earlier, Wu Yin did seem kind and gentle just now.

But that was not something you could ignore.

“Goodbye.”

Bang.

***

Leng Qiongling weaved through countless hails of bullets, charging into the Saint Assembly’s barricades.

The sheer gale force stirred up by her charge, along with the sand and gravel carried within, was enough to break through the Saint Assembly’s defenses.

This greatly aided Bola City’s Defense Forces, but they had to be extra careful when following Leng Qiongling to avoid being caught in the crossfire.

“This is… the power of a Madman…”

Everyone present had the same thought: going against a Madman meant certain death.

“Where is she, where is she…!”

But the above situation was just an unintended bonus.

Right now, Leng Qiongling’s sole focus was finding that little girl.

In her anxiety, she had simply charged into the area controlled by the Saint Assembly to see if the girl had run in here.

But even though she had destroyed several Saint Assembly strongholds, there was still no sign of the little girl.

A sense of foreboding gradually rose in her heart, but she didn’t want to think about it.

Things couldn’t always turn out for the worst.

That was the only way she could comfort herself.

Breaking through the Saint Assembly’s battle line once more, Leng Qiongling steadied herself and looked around.

The Saint Assembly members, knocked askew by her charge, lay scattered everywhere.

She herself had arrived at the back door of some civilian houses.

She pushed open the rusty iron gate, revealing a large courtyard with simple sheds built around it.

As soon as she entered the courtyard, Leng Qiongling sensed signs of someone’s presence, and it felt familiar.

“Little sister?”

Leng Qiongling walked into the house from which the presence emanated.

The space inside was so small that even she had to stoop slightly to move around.

The furniture all looked like it had been salvaged from a junkyard: a sofa with almost all its stuffing spilling out, a crackling old radio, and rats scurrying about, squeezing into hollow spaces in the pillars, making scratching sounds.

In the corner of this shed, a small, thin figure was lying on top of a small wooden box, trembling uncontrollably.

Leng Qiongling tried to approach her.

The sound of her footsteps made the small figure even more frightened.

She curled up into a ball, clutching the small wooden box to her chest.

“Little sister, don’t be afraid. It’s your big sister.”

Leng Qiongling knelt beside the little girl, gently patting her back over and over.

This tenderness made the girl look up.

Her eyes were red from tears, and the tear streaks looked like wounds on her face, flowing from her eyelids to her chin.

“Big sister…”

The little girl’s voice was mixed with incoherent fragments.

It was clear how terrified she was—of the gunfire, explosions, curses, and screams outside.

“It’s okay, it’s okay… Big sister will protect you.”

Leng Qiongling held the little girl in her arms, leaning against the wall that seemed about to collapse.

If the wall collapsed, the house’s protective function would be gone.

So where else could she protect her?

Rely on herself?

But she couldn’t protect her forever after all.

That’s right.

She couldn’t protect her.

Even though she already possessed the power of a Madman, she still couldn’t save even a little girl.

She might die from illness, natural disasters, war, or Mad Contagion, and there was nothing she could do about it.

Leng Qiongling unconsciously tightened her hold, as if trying to crush that thought.

The little girl struggled in pain.

“Ah! Sorry! Are you okay?”

Leng Qiongling quickly let go.

The little girl turned around and tried to hug her, but her undeveloped body was too small, so she could only barely reach Leng Qiongling’s back.

“Big sister, don’t be afraid.”

“Ah…”

‘What’s going on? How come I’m the one being comforted?’

“Big sister must be scared! I know that when people are scared, they want to hold on to something. So don’t be scared, big sister! I’ll stay with you!”

Seeing the little girl’s sincere eyes, Leng Qiongling’s worried thoughts gradually dissipated.

“Mm.”

Leng Qiongling rested her head against the little girl’s forehead.

With a rumbling sound, their vision suddenly went dark.