When Wen Ya stepped onto the stairs, a crowd surged out around her.
There were at least a dozen of them, spreading into a semicircle as they closed in. They were clearly well trained, their positions arranged with precise spacing in three layers—front, middle, and rear.
The burliest man at the head shouted, “Seal off her flanks! Don’t let her get any closer!”
The others tried to reposition themselves and lock down her route once more, but Wen Ya’s speed and rhythm operated at a frequency they simply couldn’t match.
It was downright monstrous.
Wen Ya stood at the top of the stairs, the loose strands of hair at her temple stuck to her face with sweat. The hem of her pale-colored jacket fluttered in the air.
She glanced at the mass of people closing in around her.
Bullets came from different angles, cutting off every avenue of retreat to her left, right, and straight ahead.
Wen Ya slipped through the gaps between the trajectories, twisting aside three times in rapid succession.
Then she raised one leg and kicked the gunmen in the chest. Under the force of the blow, three of them were sent flying on the spot.
Amid the dense barrage of gunfire, these assassins—men who were supposedly elite marksmen after years of training—couldn’t even graze the edge of her clothes.
In the face of absolute strength, all their efforts looked painfully feeble.
If even firearms couldn’t stop this terrifying woman, then confronting her head-on would only turn the rest of them into punching bags.
Wen Ya strolled in as casually as if she were taking a leisurely walk through a garden. Anyone who tried to stop her was kicked away without a word.
The commotion outside was too great to ignore. On top of that, Shen Sixing had rushed out in such a hurry that the father and son remaining in the living room followed him out the door.
Just as she was nearing her destination, Wen Ya silently approached an assassin holding a gun. She bent his right wrist upward, forcing the muzzle toward the ceiling.
At the same time, she swept her left foot at his legs. The instant he lost his balance, Wen Ya smiled faintly.
Then she drove her fist straight into him, sending him crashing through the enormous glass screen at the entrance to the main hall.
Bang!
Shen Sixing had just risen and taken two steps forward.
He turned his head—and saw a man go flying.
A moment later, the glass screen behind him erupted with a thunderous crash and shattered completely. Countless fragments rained across the floor, chiming brightly and seemingly without end. At last, the final shard rolled a few times before coming to rest at Shen Sixing’s toes.
Shen Sixing looked down at his feet.
His hurried steps came to a complete stop as he stared at the devastation outside.
He stood there in a daze for a long while.
Then the young man quickly broke into a smile, his eyes crinkling with amusement. “What a grand show of force, miss.”
“Has anyone ever told you that you look—”
His gaze locked onto Wen Ya’s face, unconsciously carrying the hazy, tipsy recklessness of someone who had no idea how high the heavens were.
“—incredibly alluring right now?”
Since Wen Ya had managed to break in alone, it could only mean that the useless guards at his house hadn’t even been capable of getting close to her.
There had been no need for her to go out of her way to send one man flying.
She had done it solely to give his entire family a warning.
And sure enough, the moment Shen Shu saw someone come flying through the living room in that surreal scene, his face turned green.
Shen Sigui murmured unconsciously, “Where did this lunatic come from?”
…
Even after Qin Ruolan realized that something had gone wrong at home, she remained determined to have Shen Yi change clothes before going outside.
She picked out more than a dozen outfits for Shen Yi in succession.
In the end, she settled on a simple black dress.
The only decoration on the entire outfit was an extremely narrow trim in the same color around the cuffs, which reflected a faint matte sheen under the light.
The fabric draped beautifully. The curve of the skirt swayed with Shen Yi’s movements, then settled back into place the moment she stood still.
Qin Ruolan took Shen Yi by the hand and turned her around in front of the mirror.
The two of them were dressed in black, equally serene and elegant.
After looking Shen Yi up and down, Qin Ruolan smiled with satisfaction and took her hand. “It sounds like there’s a bit of a commotion outside. Shall we go take a look?”
Shen Yi had changed clothes so many times that she was numb to it. The skirt she wore was heavy, and Qin Ruolan had even put a simple little hat on her.
That was how the two of them went downstairs.
Unfortunately, the moment they reached the bottom, they saw someone fly into the room.
Then they witnessed the spectacular sight of the glass screen in the living room shattered across the floor.
Qin Ruolan saw Wen Ya standing in the very center of the broken glass, her gaze sharp. The corners of her lips lifted, and she let out an involuntary exclamation.
“Wow.”
So cool.
Over the years, Qin Ruolan had seen countless people barge through the gates of the Shen family.
But she had never seen anyone like this girl—someone who had fought her way through the entire estate alone and empty-handed, crushed more than a hundred guards, passed unharmed through a web of gunfire, and finally shattered the family’s glass screen.
The girl was beautiful.
Qin Ruolan couldn’t help taking another couple of looks.
Her features were delicate and lovely. At that moment, her eyes and brows were sharpened by anger, her beauty carrying a fierce edge like a blade freshly drawn from its sheath.
“Mom!”
Shen Yi’s cry pulled everyone’s attention back.
Qin Ruolan turned her head in surprise. “She’s your mother?”
The arrangement of everyone in the main hall was so perfectly dramatic that it resembled the final scene of a movie.
Qin Ruolan stood slightly left of center, her tall figure silhouetted against the light from the floor-to-ceiling windows. She held Shen Yi’s hand, the little girl reaching only to her waist.
The woman was tall, her striking features devoid of even the slightest smile. Holding the child beside her, both dressed in matching colors, they formed a harmonious, elegant tableau that looked almost like an oil painting.
Behind them was the magnificent living room of a wealthy family, while the shattered glass scattered across the floor reflected glints of fragmented light.
Qin Ruolan wore a faint smile and carried herself with leisurely composure.
Shen Sigui stood beside Shen Sixing, the brothers occupying the same position.
Shen Shu stood farthest away, his hands clasped behind his back as he stared at the girl in the pale jacket. His expression was complicated.
There was scrutiny and wariness in his eyes, but more than anything, astonishment.
Where had Shen Sixing found this weapon?
Wen Ya, however, was in an exceptionally foul mood at the sight before her.
What was with the way these people were spread out, posing like some kind of staged tableau? Qin Ruolan was even holding her daughter, while the three men beside her stood at varying heights like the members of a choir.
What was this family trying to pull?
They looked like the final villains in some movie.
Wen Ya walked straight forward, her eyes fixed on Qin Ruolan’s face. She remained expressionless but offered a reasonably polite greeting.
“Hello, ma’am.”
Qin Ruolan smiled and replied in a leisurely tone, “Hello, young lady.”
“You caused quite a commotion on your way here. We lost a considerable number of guards, didn’t we?”
She tilted her head slightly. “What have you come here for?”
“I’ve come to take someone back. I’m Shen Yi’s legal guardian.”
Wen Ya suppressed her anger and took another step forward.
Her oppressive presence surged outward like a tide, pressing forward another half meter.
“Give my child—”
She raised her hand and pointed directly at the little girl beside Qin Ruolan.
“—back. To. Me.”
