Bang!
A bullet hit the step ahead of Zhu Xuanyue. It collided against the metal rail then flew over onto the alloy shield in her grip.
She hastily paused her track, almost as if she knew that the stairs were the boundary Xia Lei had drawn. Her next step was the trigger that would launch a battle of life and death!
Inexplicably, countless memories began to flood her consciousness. In one of them, she was shivering from the cold so her ever-warm Uncle Xia cuddled her to sleep. In another, she teased and harassed Xia Lei. When she was hungry, Uncle Xia had cooked her a diverse array of dishes. She whined and Xia Lei would actually spoon feed her himself. She remembered when she ran around naked, unwilling to put on any article of clothes and Uncle Xia had to nab her and force a shirt onto her.
Other than her memories, Gu Kewen and Ning Jing’s memories soon began to reel too. Deep love was tied to their memories. One of them as gentle as a calm stream and the other a burning passion.
Unless she was willing to give up her physical vessel, there was no way to run away from those searing feelings.
Instantly, the murderous intent to kill off Xia Lei had clashed strongly with the love and memories tied to this man. Both ends of the spectrum collided with one another and troubled her pained sanity.
“AHHHHHH!” Zhu Xuanyue let out a shrill scream. Her voice echoed about the spacious underground laboratory. Everything in the lab began to tremble. Even the glass windows were vibrating.
Clack! A glass cup near her abruptly cracked.
To Xia Lei, the volume of her screaming was akin to a shockwave from a sound bomb detonated beside his ears. His eardrums felt like it would be torn apart at any given minute! After his binaural evolution, he could pick up on minute sounds from a distance away and even someone else’s conversation through their phone. However, nothing was perfect. His ultra-sensitive and invincible hearing had heightened Zhu Xuanyue’s screams and brought him bigger damage!
Xia Lei covered his ears in agony.
Suddenly, she began to dash up the stairs rapidly. Before he knew it, she had already made it onto the hovering walkway from the bottom of the stairs. Her movements were almost like the wind. Whoosh! A small breeze and she was already on top. Not only did she cross Xia Lei’s boundary but she was also now on the same footing as he.
Bang!
Xia Lei pulled the trigger, letting a bullet whistle out of the Gust assault rifle towards Zhu Xuanyue’s right calf.
Despite things having transpired into a matter of life and death, Xia Lei had decided to spare her a little for he had aimed at her calf instead of her skull.
Right at the moment, Xia Lei had fired his shot, the alloy shield in Zhu Xuanyue’s grip dropped abruptly onto the hard concrete floor. She had executed it in tandem with Xia Lei’s attack. Strictly speaking, the difference in response time was only a mere millisecond and that was all it required for bullet trajectory.
Ping!
The sound of metal against metal rang out, accompanied by frictional sparks.
Zhu Xuanyue had actually managed to block the assault rifle’s bullet with her shield.
This was a feat not even Captain America could achieve. If Xia Lei was a character in the Marvel Universe, Captain America’s calf would’ve probably received a large hole when faced with Xia Lei and his Gust assault rifle.
“I can’t believe you were serious about shooting me!” Zhu Xuanyue looked beyond pissed.
Xia Lei retorted, “You were the one who lunged forward! You knew I had a boundary set on the stairs! You don’t even care about me so why should I care about you?”
“But I’m not aiming a gun at you!”
“But you were the one who rushed up the stairs!”
“You never cared about me!”
“Well, you were the one who said you wanted to kill me!”
A sudden change of atmosphere had occurred on this supposedly grisly battle of life and death. This felt nothing like a pair of arch-nemeses going at each other’s throat but a couple’s quarrel.
Xia Lei was never a man who wished to fight a woman. Since his childhood days, he had not once engaged a female in banter. The reason behind his sudden urge to argue with Zhu Xuanyue was not because of a change of philosophy. Xia Lei had ulterior motives.
Zhu Xuanyue had yet to return to her optimal state and her condition was still turbulent. Dwelling in her body was two other women. Ning Jing and Gu Kewen. These two women had loved him deeply in the past, so it was safe to say that they would not kill him. As long as he could summon either one of them, he would be able to control the current direction. That was why he needed to engage her in a petty argument. He needed to provoke her, sway her emotional stability then allow Ning Jing or Gu Kewen to be awakened.
As expected, as soon as she got emotional, multiple personalities began to slip through. The tears currently forming in her eyes was an obvious indication along with her trembling voice. “You’ve never loved me. All you do is hurt me! I hate you!”
Was that Ning Jing or Gu Kewen?
Xia Lei had no time to think but he had an idea of what he needed to do. Immediately, his voice was softened. He murmured, “No, I love you. I have always loved you. It’s just that you never noticed my feelings.”
“No! Those are lies!” Zhu Xuanyue roared at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei continued to pacify her. “Please, let’s talk this out. I can offer you a good explanation.”
This time, he was mindful enough to not mention ‘Xuanyue’ or ‘Ning Jing’ or ‘Gu Kewen’. This was solely done out of worry that calling another woman’s name when she was in one of her personas would put her off.
“Really? You really love me?” Tears began to trickle out of Zhu Xuanyue’s eyes. Despite the tenderness in the display, there was a ghost of a smirk on her lips.
Xia Lei nodded. “Yes, I really love you.”
Those words were easy to say for a man.
“Then why are you still pointing your pistol at her?” Kestin’s voice interrupted their established atmosphere from below. “Xia Lei, do you think this is a suitable place for such lies?”
Kestin’s voice was like a dose of adrenaline into an unconscious patient. The light in Zhu Xuanyue’s eyes was immediately dampened and the smirk came into full bloom. “Xia Lei, while they’re still existent to a certain extent, I’m sorry to say that they won’t be of much help. Initially, I had no plans to kill you but if you dare interfere with my progress again, I’ll have no choice but to kill you.”
Zhu Xuanyue raised her alloy shield once again and began running towards Xia Lei. Just now, she was utterly confused but now her gaze was focused and stern.
Xia Lei lunged backwards. He could fire his pistol anytime but he still could not bring himself to shoot her head. Whenever his desire to kill surged, his mind would be reminded of the familiar faces of Ning Jing and Gu Kewen. There was no way he could aim a gun at Ning Jing or Gu Kewen. He may have killed the latter once but to kill her a second time was something he could not bear to do. To awaken their existence had caused Zhu Xuanyue some trouble and peeled his old wounds open. Despite all the agony involved, this strategy was a useful double-edged sword.
“General, we’re almost done. Finish him off and we’ll leave this place,” Kestin called.
General?
Why was Kestin referring to her like that?
Xia Lei had no time to think about the possibilities. From the corner of his eye, he allowed his gaze to penetrate through the walkway railings into the gigantic container in the centre. Still submerged in blue liquid, the six statues were melting away rapidly. The melted material had triggered a chemical reaction when coming into contact with the blue solution. The blue liquid, on the other hand, was bubbling ferociously like a big boiling cauldron.
Xia Lei’s X-ray vision brought his mind to the bottom of the container. There, he had noticed some white substance travelling into the mouth of a pipe at the bottom. The pipe would then carry it elsewhere. He began trailing the pipe system until it reached the central control panel behind Kestin. Connected to the end of the pipe was a line of six alloy cylindrical containers that looked like enlarged batteries. Penetrating through the walls of the battery-like containers, Xia Lei noticed the same white substance inside. It seemed purer than those in the earlier container though keeping the same liquid state.
What the hell was that?
Suddenly, a massive force came travelling towards him.
His thoughts were immediately chased away. From what he could see, Zhu Xuanyue had instantly closed the distance between them with an incoming punch aimed at his chest. While her pale small fist looked unassuming, Xia Lei was fully aware of the destructive force it was capable of. The amount of energy packed into that attack was almost equivalent to an accelerating car!
Xia Lei quickly jumped backwards and pulled the trigger while in the air.
Bang bang bang!
Ping ping ping!
All three shots were blocked by Zhu Xuanyue’s alloy shield, leaving behind three bullet marks on the metallic surface. The shield was sturdy enough to be impenetrable by bullets.
Zhu Xuanyue froze briefly before lunging forward. This time, the distance was shorter and she was faster!
Xia Lei’s speed was nothing when compared to Zhu Xuanyue. He would be safer if he could keep a considerable distance between them but as soon the woman had come close enough, he would be in grave danger.
Zhu Xuanyue’s fist was inching closer to his ribs.
Out of desperation, Xia Lei knocked her fist away with the Gust assault rifle.
Bam!
The strong impact had bent the Gust assault rifle completely! The man too was sent flying away from the shockwave she brought. He flew over the metal railing and landed on the ground below.
Eva drew her gun and aimed it directly at the vulnerable Xia Lei.
In that split second before she could pull the trigger, a shadow manifested at the entrance of the emergency route. While Xia Lei was still in the air, the dark mass had already flown over to him.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Eva fired three shots in the row, all of which had hit the black shadow’s chest directly.
Crash!
Xia Lei’s spine came in harsh contact with the cold metal of an experiment bench. The machines and glasswares atop the surface were mercilessly crushed by his back. Glass shards were scattered all around him.
The person who rescued Xia Lei in the nick of time was none other than the black-robed man, the prehistoric chosen one. Though shot thrice by Eva, no reaction was elicited from the man, save for the smoking holes in the front of his robe. He hovered above the ground like a weightless existence. Just as Xia Lei landed, he lunged forward towards Eva.
Whoosh!
Zhu Xuanyue threw the alloy shield at the prehistoric chosen one’s back.
The black-robed man had no choice but to give up on taking out Eva. He turned around and punched the alloy shield away.
Clang!
A punch mark was formed in the middle of the alloy shield with a muffled sound. It flew back towards Zhu Xuanyue. However, the woman had already moved. While the black-robed man’s retaliation was still in progress, her feet had already landed on the ground below.
Beep beep beep!
The central control panel began beeping in the midst of their battle.