“Scorpion sent men to butcher our old stronghold!” Li Xinhu gasped, his voice trembling.
“They even left a ‘gift’!”
He suddenly pulled a blood-stained photo from his Pregnant and handed it over with both hands.
In the photo, several mangled corpses were piled in the center of the stronghold. They were the young men who had helped Lu Shiyan transport supplies during the previous transaction.
The bodies were dismembered and unrecognizable. The horrific sight was appalling.
“Scorpion left a message, saying he wants you to experience the taste of losing something important!”
The air around Lu Shiyan seemed to freeze.
Su Wan’s heart tightened. She subconsciously pressed her slightly bulging lower abdomen.
There, her most important secret was brewing.
Scorpion was insane. He wouldn’t even spare a deserted stronghold.
And he used such methods to show off.
It was clearly aimed at Lu Shiyan, a blatant provocation.
…
Soon after, Lei Laohu called an internal meeting and publicly announced that half of the command authority for Base A-Zone’s defenses, as well as a newly organized elite squad, would be entirely handed over to Lu Shiyan.
Lei Laohu’s reliance on him was fully observed by Pan Yong. In the corner of the meeting room, that young yet steady face appeared unfathomable under the light.
Lei Laohu’s power grew, and he was relieved. Scorpion was repeatedly defeated, and he was pleased.
But Lu Shiyan’s prominence was unmatched, and his authority grew daily, a sense of loss and apprehension growing like vines.
After the meeting, Pan Yong still walked forward and heavily patted Lu Shiyan’s shoulder: “Brother Lu, you are young and promising. From now on, A-Zone’s safety will largely depend on you.”
Lu Shiyan nodded slightly, saying nothing.
That composure made Pan Yong feel even more that this person was unfathomable.
Xiao Han’s injuries healed remarkably fast; in less than half a month, he was back to his lively self.
Lu Shiyan directly assigned him to his action team, making him a sharp blade.
In several operations, Xiao Han’s Wind Ability became increasingly proficient, and combined with Lu Shiyan’s dual Lightning and Fire Abilities, their power was astonishing.
He felt his bottleneck loosening, subtly about to break through to Level Four, and was so excited he walked with a spring in his step: “Just wait, once this young master levels up again, one gust of wind will be enough to overturn Scorpion’s old lair!”
Everything seemed to be improving, except for Su Wan.
Every morning, at dawn, Lu Shiyan would appear in the villa’s backyard.
Su Wan, still sleepy, would be pulled out of bed by him to begin her “required course.”
From initially not even knowing how to find the safety, to now being able to skillfully disassemble and assemble a pistol, Su Wan’s progress even surprised herself.
Currently, she held an assault rifle modified by Lu Shiyan; its recoil was greatly reduced, but her arms still ached slightly from holding it for a long time.
The moving targets fifty meters away were continuously hit by bullets, making dull thudding sounds.
Su Wan put down the gun, rubbed her numb shoulders, and the wisps of hair on her forehead were wet with sweat, sticking to her cheeks.
Lu Shiyan’s gaze fell on her, calm and unruffled, yet it made her dare not relax.
She secretly glanced at her belly; her once flat abdomen had subtly bulged in recent days.
On the other side of the training ground, Xiao Han stretched his limbs. After recovering from his injuries, he was overly energetic. Seeing Su Wan stop, he immediately approached, leaning one hand on a discarded oil drum, and whistled: “Alright, Su Wan, that marksmanship, tsk tsk, rapid progress! Practice more, next time we raid Scorpion’s old den, you provide long-range suppressive fire, and I’ll do close-quarters assault, how about it?”
Su Wan shot him a glance, wiping sweat irritably: “You talk too much. If you’ve got the guts, go spar with Lu Shiyan.”
She had been irritable these past few days; it always felt like something was stirring inside her body, making her disinclined to deal with Xiao Han’s chatter.
“Hey, I’m just happy for you, seeing your rapid progress!” Xiao Han said with a playful grin.
Su Wan didn’t reply, simply picked up the gun and aimed again.
Lu Shiyan had approached at some point, taking the rifle from her hand, smoothly checking the magazine, then looking at the distant targets, raising the gun casually, almost without aiming.
“Bang bang!”
Two bullseyes shattered in response.
Xiao Han stared wide-eyed, smacking his lips: “A freak is a freak.”
Lu Shiyan handed the gun back to Su Wan, his voice still devoid of warmth: “Your breathing is off. A gun isn’t used like this; you need to make it an extension of your body.”
Su Wan took the gun; it felt slightly heavy in her hand.
She tried to adjust her breathing and raised the gun again.
This time, something felt different.
The trigger was pulled, and the bullet precisely pierced the bullseye.
Xiao Han exaggeratedly exclaimed, “Wow!”: “You can do it, little Su Wan! That shot was skillful! It seems our team will have another sharpshooter in the future!”
He winked, “When the time comes, Old Lu will strategize, I’ll charge into battle, and you’ll be responsible for hitting targets from a hundred paces away. Our combination will be invincible!”
Su Wan put down the gun, wiped sweat from her forehead, and panted slightly: “Don’t flatter me, I’m still far from it.”
Besides gun training, she spent most of her time familiarizing herself with and developing her Space Ability.
She discovered that ever since she had taken all of Scorpion’s military supplies into her space last time, the jade pendant space had subtly shown an unusual restlessness, no longer the simple, vague sensation it used to be. Today, this feeling was particularly strong.
She cautiously focused all her mental energy, trying to “see” inside the space again.
This time, it wasn’t just a submersion and perception of consciousness, but a sudden, irresistible powerful suction that sharply pulled from between her eyebrows, fiercely tugging her entire consciousness, and even her body, inward!
The feeling of dizziness lasted only a moment.
The next second, her feet landed on solid ground.
Su Wan was utterly stunned.
She looked around in disbelief. The exact same empty space, mountains of various supplies, firearms emitting a cold metallic luster, and food packaging bags still brightly familiar. Everything here was identical to what she had seen when she previously entered with her “consciousness.”
The only difference was that she could clearly smell a faint, fresh scent in the air, similar to earth after a new rain. Although this scent was very faint, it was incredibly real.
She, herself, had truly entered!
Su Wan almost held her breath, slowly reaching out her hand, carefully touching the box of compressed biscuits closest to her.
The rough surface of the cardboard box, the cold metal strapping, the tactile sensation from her fingertips was incredibly clear, even carrying a faint coolness. She could even feel the actual weight of the box. She tried to exert force and lift it, but the box didn’t budge. It seemed that in here, she still had to rely on her own physical strength and couldn’t move objects freely just by wishing it so.
This discovery slightly reassured her; at least this space wasn’t so fantastical as to completely detach from reality.
This is great! This is simply… an absolutely safe fortress!
She forcibly suppressed the wild joy in her heart and began to pace around the space, carefully observing every detail. The size of the space didn’t seem to have changed significantly; it was still that large empty area, and the edges remained in a blurry, chaotic state, making it impossible to explore its boundaries.
She tried to tidy up a few scattered clothes on the ground, folding them neatly and placing them on an empty wooden box. While doing these actions, she felt no consumption of her Space Ability, just as naturally as tidying her own room outside.
She even enthusiastically began to plan in her mind: this area for storing food, that area specifically for weapons, and medicines would need to be separated to ensure dryness and safety… If only she could get a comfortable bed in here, but thinking about such things now seemed a bit too luxurious.
Just as she was completely immersed in this novel, unprecedented sense of control, a subtle feeling of repulsion began to surge from all directions.
Initially faint, then gradually clearer.
The fresh scent within the space also seemed to be thinning little by little.
Su Wan’s heart tightened. What was that feeling?