To be honest, anyone facing this scene would feel utterly helpless.
The gunman had only meant to step out for some fresh air.
But as luck would have it, he ran into these four lunatic siblings squabbling loudly late into the night.
And in the blink of an eye, four guns were all aimed at him.
The gunman had imagined he might die someday.
But he never thought it would end like this—crouched in a corner listening to a family bickering, only to have his life cut short so carelessly.
...Damn it.
He opened his mouth, trying to stammer out some plea for mercy.
But the four across from him had already exchanged a look.
A tacit understanding that felt chilling.
The curly-haired girl had the steadiest aim; she shot him first.
Then the world went black.
Shen Ruxu swiftly dragged the body away, cleaned up, and locked the door tight.
By the time they’d cleared the lowest deck of assassins, it was already around four or five in the morning.
Outside the porthole, the sea shifted from deep black to ink-blue.
The banquet was set to begin in less than a day, when everyone would board the ship.
After sunrise, stewards would start decorating the venue, and the guests’ luggage would be ferried into the cabins one by one.
Soon the whole ship would grow noisy.
The window for their operation was narrowing fast.
The four of them slipped into a random room and locked the door behind them.
It was a mid-tier cabin, windows facing the sea but the curtains pulled tight.
They stood or sat, holding a brief family meeting.
The main topic revolved around a single theme: “Shen Yi Is an Idiot and Must Be Handled with Care.”
Shen Zhizhao launched into a lecture: from seat positioning and blind spots, to communication signal coverage, the gunmen’s contact frequency, and even the patrol routes—
His words were endless and dense.
“Eldest Brother,” Shen Yi cut in, “you never used to talk this much.”
Shen Zhizhao paused, gave a fake smile. “What can I say? I do talk a lot. Bear with it.”
Shen Yi: “…”
Annoying.
Of the whole family, Shen Wenta and Shen Zhizhao were the ones with the most unbearable parental tones.
One wore a cold face as he lectured with righteous indignation; the other smiled while he endlessly spouted words. Both were equally lethal.
Shen Ruxu chimed in, “Eldest Brother’s right, Xiao Yi. You need to be more patient. Patience is the most important thing for an assassin.”
Shen Yi, unlike them, wasn’t the type to plan that meticulously.
She intended to treat it like clearing a dungeon—just charge straight through.
She’d tried listening to the seasoned advice from her three old-school assassin brothers at first.
But it was so boring.
As she listened, her posture went from upright to slouched.
Before long, she was draped over the arm of the sofa, yawning.
Shen Ruxu crouched beside the sofa, leaning in close until his chin rested on his stacked hands, face-to-face with her.
“They all communicate secretly among themselves. If you make one move, it triggers everything.”
“If all the gunmen on the ship end up hunting you down at once, you’ll be the target of everyone. You’ve got to be extra, extra cautious.”
Even Shen Ruxu’s tone had turned serious than usual; the usual spark in his eyes faded, replaced by a weight that bore into her.
She propped her cheek on her hand. “I know.”
In truth, Shen Yi understood what they meant.
Three days, doing it all on her own—taking out every gunman on board without alerting any faction? It sounded insane.
But she could redo a story node over and over, with an incredibly high tolerance for mistakes.
If things went wrong, she could just start over.
Shen Ruxu noticed the casualness in her answer.
“Xiao Yi, you don’t seem nervous at all.”
Three of the four people in that room carried some tension.
Only she, the one at the center of it all, lay sprawled on the couch, yawning.
“Yeah,” Shen Yi said. “But that’s my secret.”
She reached out and ruffled her second brother’s head like a dog’s. “Just get off the ship and wait for me, okay? I’ll tell you everything when it’s over.”
Just then, Shen Xun silently walked up to her.
The boy leaned in slightly, brushing near to her ear, and whispered, “Will it be the same as last time?”
They both knew exactly what “last time” meant.
“No,” she whispered back, feeling the tension in his shoulder muscles. “I promise.”
He clamped his lips shut, the anxiety in his eyes impossible to hide.
Like a dark current pressed under deep sea, calm surface but full of whirlpools below.
“This time, no one dies,” she said, looking into Shen Xun’s eyes, word by word. “At least not me.”
Shen Xun searched her face for lies.
In the end, all he could do was choose to believe her.
“I think—” Shen Zhizhao pulled Shen Xun a step back, one hand casually blocking between them, with a forced smile: “Even between siblings, you should keep some distance.”
Shen Yi found it funny.
That tone, that expression.
It was like looking at a carbon copy of Little Zhizhao.
She turned and gave him a solid hug without holding back.
Shen Zhizhao tightened his arms reflexively, almost pulling her into his chest.
Shen Yi let go first, a grin on her face. “We all care about each other, right?”
“Losing anyone would hurt.”
“This is the last time. I’m going to be your hero.”
Okay,
That sounded a little cheesy.
Shen Yi had said it many times before.
She hated being a savior.
She hated playing the role of the sacrificial one—when she couldn’t even save herself.
But every time she had to start over, her answer was always the same: yes.
Shen Ruxu seized the moment to hug her tightly, his voice muffled from above: “But you’ve already been my hero! And now you’re going to be someone else’s? I’m jealous!”
Every time the conversation got serious, her second brother always shifted the vibe.
Shen Yi couldn’t help but punch him.
Damn it, this boundary-less crazed cat!
Shen Ruxu just got more riled up after being hit, grinning all sweet. “Xiao Yi hit me—that means I’m in your heart.”
Shen Yi: “…?”
Shen Zhizhao was about to get sentimental, but his brother’s antics stunned him for a few seconds.
Soon he frowned and concluded:
—This Shen Ruxu still needed more time in the lockdown zone.
…
Outside, the sky lightened a little more; the ink-blue of the sea turned pale.
In a few hours, the ship would slowly come alive, filling with noise and crowds.
The four siblings took advantage of a shift change in sentry duty to slip down the side gangway.
The pier was windy, their coat hems flapping like flags.
They kept looking back every few steps.
The wind blew Iris’s hair all over her face; she shoved it aside and called out, “Be safe! Treat me to a meal when you’re back!”
“Sure,” Shen Yi snorted with a laugh.
Her eyes curved into crescents.
“Everyone, see you later.”
Waving a hand, Shen Yi lingered no longer, turning back toward the deep belly of the ship.
Her steps were light,
As if she was just heading to a simple rendezvous.
