Chapter 21: Betrayal

The ground of Commercial Street suddenly exploded, cracking open as a giant Millipede-type Disaster burst forth from beneath. Dozens of scythe-like segmented limbs swept across, overturning parked cars like mere toys.

“Lin Wan!” Lu Yuan rolled to dodge flying debris, Transformation Crystal in hand transforming into a Crystal Spear. “I’ll draw its attention, you find an opening!”

“Got it!” Lin Wan spread her hands, and scattered chunks of rebar and concrete suddenly trembled and began to float.

Telekinesis?

Lu Yuan thought as she sprinted forward. This was the first time she’d seen Lin Wan’s ability.

But there was no time to ponder—she needed to find the best shooting angle on a nearby Building Rooftop to support Lin Wan.

The millipede’s head turned toward Lu Yuan, spraying several blobs of green slime from its mandibles. Lu Yuan dodged to the side, firing several shots in response. Black bullets tore through the remaining slime.

“Phew… not bad, my aim’s still pretty good.” Lu Yuan caught her breath.

Just as she prepared to climb to the rooftop, a Tentacle suddenly lunged from the side!

***

“Watch right—”

Before Lin Wan’s warning finished, Lu Yuan’s ankle was grabbed by a Tentacle and yanked into the corner dessert shop.

The glass display shattered, Strawberry Cake smeared all over her face.

“Cough cough…” Lu Yuan tried wiping the cream away, the smell bringing back unpleasant memories of Rose’s ‘training’.

PTSD, for sure.

But when Lu Yuan reached up, she realized her hands were firmly bound.

What?!

The cake blocking her vision dropped away, and Lu Yuan’s sight cleared.

She looked at the Tentacles coiling around her and shivered inwardly.

Her limbs were tightly restrained, her body suspended in a wide “X” shape in midair.

What’s going on? Is this some kind of Defeat CG scenario?! And I haven’t even lost yet, how did the CG show up?!

Lu Yuan couldn’t help but complain. She struggled with all her might, trying to break free from the Tentacles, but there was no effect.

These Tentacles gave her the same creepy feeling Rose’s did. Lu Yuan couldn’t help but recall Rose stepping on her abdomen with black silk high-heeled shoes.

That burning sensation was such a miserable memory…

From the rubble, several other Tentacles not responsible for binding poked their heads out and slowly crawled up Lu Yuan’s thighs. Their tips trembled slightly, as if excited to soon explore Lu Yuan’s secret area.

Lu Yuan was too tired to complain about why every monster had Tentacles.

Right now, she had to hold her ground.

No way was she going to trigger that Defeat CG!

“Lin Wan, save me!!!” Lu Yuan shouted.

***

Just as despair threatened to overwhelm her, countless stones beside the cake shop suddenly floated into the air!

“Lu Yuan’s first time is mine!!” Lin Wan pushed her hands forward. Countless concrete fragments cut through the Tentacles binding Lu Yuan like flying blades.

What kind of strange declaration was that?!

“Smack!” Freed from her restraints, Lu Yuan fell to the ground, her black stockings torn full of holes.

Despite Lin Wan’s weird shout, Lu Yuan thanked her.

“Thanks…”

“Hmph, I’m not letting you trigger a Defeat CG!” Lin Wan gritted her teeth.

Why do you even know what a Defeat CG is?! Lin Wan, have you been playing those kinds of eroge too?!

Lu Yuan rubbed her forehead, too tired to complain. The millipede was still rampaging in the city—they needed to deal with this troublemaker first.

***

“Lin Wan, how far can your telekinesis go?” Lu Yuan asked.

“As long as I can lift it, I can control it,” Lin Wan replied.

In other words, anything Lin Wan could physically lift, she could control mentally.

“Can you lift me?” Lu Yuan asked, a plan forming in her mind.

“About 100 jin [~110 lbs], barely,” Lin Wan glanced at her. “You’re not thinking…?”

“Exactly.” Lu Yuan nodded. “Let’s try.”

“…Okay.” Lin Wan raised her hands.

Suddenly, shattered concrete chunks on both sides of the street rose into the air and, under Lin Wan’s control, shot like cannonballs at the millipede’s joints.

Amid the thunderous crashes, the Disaster let out a childlike wail as its shell finally shattered.

“Well done!” Lu Yuan stepped on the airborne concrete to leap up, switching the Crystal Spear to bombard mode. “Take this!”

Lu Yuan’s black hair spread out against the sky. The spear charged up as if time froze, then a black energy blast howled out, piercing precisely through the cracked shell.

A tremendous explosion.

The millipede slowly collapsed, kicking up a cloud of dust.

“Is it over…?” Lin Wan lowered her hands, muscles aching from the fight.

“Should be,” Lu Yuan replied.

The millipede lay motionless—definitely dead. But usually, when millipedes die, don’t they curl up…?

***

“Smack!”

Just as they thought they’d won, the dying millipede suddenly convulsed! Half its body lashed out like a whip at the exhausted Lin Wan.

“Lin Wan!”

Lin Wan barely managed to raise a telekinetic barrier, but it was pierced!

Just as the sharp segment was about to stab her chest…

“Bang!”

A crisp gunshot shattered the air.

The millipede’s tail exploded, spraying purple-black blood everywhere.

Lin Wan turned around to see Officer Chen Xin kneeling on a police car roof. Her sniper rifle still smoked; her injured left arm hung uselessly, but she fired the precise shot with her right hand.

“Officer Chen?!”

“What are you spacing out for!” Chen Xin smoothly reloaded. “It’s not over yet!”

Lin Wan snapped back to reality and lifted her hands toward the ground, telekinetically raising entire sidewalk tiles which rained down like a storm on the millipede’s wound.

Lu Yuan took the opportunity to pour all her Magic Power into the Crystal Spear; the pitch-black beam completely pierced the millipede’s body.

In the exploding dust, Chen Xin leapt down from the roof but staggered on her injured leg. Lin Wan hurriedly used telekinesis to support her.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m fine…” Chen Xin gritted her teeth against the pain and looked toward Lu Yuan.

At that moment, Lu Yuan was entangled in the millipede’s curled-up corpse, unable to move.

Seeing Lu Yuan like this made Chen Xin’s expression falter.

“Are you okay, Officer Chen…?” Lin Wan noticed something off but didn’t dwell on it.

“I’m fine…” Chen Xin’s eyes shifted nervously.

“If you’re okay, I’ll go pull Lu Yuan out first,” Lin Wan said.

“How did this happen with the Disaster already dead…” Lin Wan muttered as she approached Lu Yuan, preparing to free her.

“You really got carried away in the fight… didn’t pay attention, hehe,” Lu Yuan grinned, trying to brush it off.

“You…” Lin Wan smiled wryly and began tearing open the millipede’s shell to make space for Lu Yuan.

Lu Yuan watched Lin Wan work hard; her hands were sore from fighting earlier, so she wasn’t quick.

“Thanks for the trouble…” Lu Yuan started to apologize when a shadow suddenly covered her.

Lu Yuan looked up to see Chen Xin standing behind Lin Wan.

***

“Sister Chen Xin…?” Lu Yuan asked hesitantly.

Chen Xin seemed to have made a decision; she raised her hand behind Lin Wan’s back.

Huh?

Lu Yuan was confused. She didn’t understand what Chen Xin was about to do.

Until she saw what Chen Xin held.

A handgun.

Chen Xin’s hand rose slowly, the gun’s muzzle glinting coldly in the sunlight.

Lu Yuan felt uneasy. “Sister Chen Xin? What are you—?”

“I’m sorry.” Chen Xin’s voice was soft, more like convincing herself than speaking to Lu Yuan. “I have to do this.”

Her eyes were weary and sorrowful, burdened by some unspeakable weight. Her hand trembled slightly—not with fear, but with a pain suppressed to its limit.

Lin Wan still faced away, straining to pry open a segment of the millipede’s shell. “Lu Yuan, hold on a little longer, almost there—”

“Lin Wan! Get down!!” Lu Yuan shouted.

But it was too late.

“Bang!”

The gunshot echoed down the empty street.

Lin Wan’s body trembled violently as blood burst from her chest, splattering Lu Yuan’s stunned face.

The blue-haired girl slowly sank to her knees, the light in her eyes fading fast.

“Chen Xin!! What are you doing!” Lu Yuan roared, struggling desperately to fight back but was immobilized by the millipede’s coils.

Chen Xin didn’t answer; she silently turned the gun on Lu Yuan.

Those always gentle eyes were now icy as steel, shimmering faintly with tears.

“She wants your life.” She pulled the trigger. “Sorry. If anyone’s to blame, blame yourself for giving me the chance. Sleep well, Lu Yuan.”

Another gunshot rang out. The bullet pierced Lu Yuan’s skull.

Entangled in the layers of the millipede’s corpse, Lu Yuan’s head drooped lifelessly.