A ten-minute gunfight.
Pei Yu's arm was grazed, and Xie Chengxiao's clothes were slightly dirtied.
Of the five burly opponents, four were already down.
The last one was dodging in panic.
Just as Pei Yu was about to raise his gun, Xie Chengxiao stopped him: "Aim for the leg. We need him alive."
They hadn't yet uncovered the mastermind behind this gang. To dare cause trouble on their turf in the Great Northwest—these people had nerves of steel.
This grievance was definitely going to be repaid!
"Got it," Pei Yu replied with a grin, taking aim.
But the angle was off. He didn't hit the man's leg, only his arm. The burly man let out a guttural roar and immediately started running even faster.
"After him!" Xie Chengxiao frowned.
But they soon realized things weren't that simple.
The burly man wasn't fleeing towards the exit of the shops.
His direction was the pickup truck they had arrived in.
Although Bai Liuyue had stayed inside the vehicle, she had been gauging the situation outside by the sounds.
"Watch out!" Pei Yu also saw the burly man reaching for the rear door handle.
Sister Liuyue was in there.
The moment his warning left his lips, the car door was already yanked open.
Both men's hearts leaped into their throats, afraid to imagine what might happen.
Firing now was completely out of the question. If they shot, the burly man would likely fire at Bai Liuyue inside the vehicle.
The best-case scenario was that he would take Bai Liuyue hostage as a bargaining chip for his escape.
Xie Chengxiao took a deep breath, feeling a panic he'd never experienced before.
What if... what if the opponent wasn't that rational?
Then he would make sure this man and everyone behind him wished they were dead!
Inside the vehicle.
Bai Liuyue had already taken out a moon-blue fan hidden in her sleeve.
It looked no different from the folding fans used by ordinary young ladies from respectable families.
The fan ribs had a bluish sheen with intricate patterns, and the fan surface was embroidered with a few silver thread grasses.
Exquisite and elegant.
The instant the car door was flung open, the burly man raised his pistol, aiming it at her.
Bai Liuyue curved her lips slightly. With a sharp "swish," the moon-blue steel fan in her hand snapped open, its ribs blocking the pistol's muzzle.
Seizing the moment of the man's stunned hesitation, she triggered a mechanism on the fan handle. Instantly, countless blades sprang out from the fan ribs.
Her movements flowed like clouds and water.
Two seconds later, the sharp blades from the fan handle had already slit his throat.
A thread of blood snaked down the blade.
"Thud—"
The burly man's eyes widened in disbelief. Just as he was about to speak, blood gurgled from his mouth.
His whole body toppled backward.
It hit the ground with a heavy thud.
"Liuyue!"
"Sister Liuyue!"
Unclear about what had just happened, Xie Chengxiao and Pei Yu simultaneously rushed towards the vehicle at top speed.
Only when they got close did they see the hair-thin wound on the burly man's neck, from which fresh blood was gushing.
Inside the vehicle, Bai Liuyue's small face was deathly pale from fright. (Pretending ⌯◕‿◕⌯ಣ)
Meeting the two men's worried gazes, she blinked her eyes, her expression utterly innocent:
"W-what's wrong?"
"Sister Liuyue, are you alright?" Pei Yu asked urgently, full of concern.
Bai Liuyue slowly shook her head, saying:
"I'm a little scared. He..."
She pointed at the thoroughly dead burly man on the ground, adding with a lingering fear: "He suddenly got in. I was so scared."
Xie Chengxiao had already crouched down to examine the wound carefully.
His probing gaze fell on her.
"What just happened?"
Bai Liuyue's voice was still soft and gentle, her pace slow, yet it carried an inexplicable hint of strangeness.
"He pointed a gun at me to kill me. I was terrified, so I used my fan to cut his throat."
As she spoke, she innocently picked up the pale blue folding fan in her hand and waved it slightly.
Pei Yu's curious gaze landed on the fan.
"Can I take a look?"
"Of course."
Bai Liuyue generously handed the fan over.
Pei Yu had initially thought it was some lightweight decorative fan, but the moment it landed in his hand, its weight almost made him drop it.
His peach-blossom eyes blinked repeatedly in disbelief.
"This is a steel fan?"
It was no ordinary fan at all.
He weighed it in his hand; it was at least two pounds.
Not to mention the blades that could spring from the hidden latch.
It could be called an assassination artifact.
Xie Chengxiao also leaned in for a closer look and found the fan to be quite ingenious.
But would Bai Liuyue, an ordinary young lady from a good family, know how to use a steel fan?
Pei Yu, being blunt and quick-tongued, joked with a grin, "You don't actually have the surname Bai, do you? Is your surname perhaps Tang?"
The fan handle and craftsmanship looked strikingly similar to that of the Tang Sect.
Xie Chengxiao was about to tell his cousin to stop talking nonsense and not embarrass the young lady.
Unexpectedly, Bai Liuyue blinked, a smile curling at the corner of her lips.
"How did you know my maternal grandmother's surname is Tang?"
The two men exchanged a glance, both seeing the same shock in each other's eyes.
Well, so much for the delicate, fragile young lady.
It was all an illusion.
She was a descendant of the Tang Sect.
So, it was no surprise she possessed this steel fan.
"Finished looking? Can I have it back now?" Bai Liuyue curved her lips slightly, hands outstretched, tilting her head a little.
Her porcelain-like face was full of innocence, her clear eyes blinking.
Her mouth said she was scared, but her eyes held no fear of having just effortlessly slit a burly man's throat. Instead, she was eyeing her fan eagerly.
"Give it back to her," Xie Chengxiao ordered.
"Oh."
Pei Yu, whose eyes were still shining as he looked at the steel fan, reluctantly handed it back, unable to resist whispering:
"Um... Sister Liuyue, does our... I mean, your maternal grandmother's side have any handy, unused hidden weapons they could toss my way? I'll take anything."
His eyes were filled with longing.
Bai Liuyue shook her head. "Don't you already have this?"
She pointed at the black Browning at his waist.
"It's not the same. Yours is cooler, and it catches people off guard, striking where they least expect it."
Pei Yu's eyes were filled with a craving and fervor for cold weaponry and hidden devices.
Bai Liuyue lowered her gaze, seeming to ponder.
After a long moment, she looked up again. "Now that I think of it, Grandmother did give me a chest."
"What? A chest?"
Pei Yu's eyes shone even brighter. If he had a tail, it would probably be wagging vigorously by now.
"Yes. Grandmother said it was part of my dowry, for after I get married."
"In case my future husband doesn't treat me well, they might come in handy someday."
Bai Liuyue's tone was soft and unhurried, as if she were discussing 'what lovely weather we're having today.'
Yet both Xie Chengxiao and Pei Yu couldn't help feeling a chill run down their spines.
They thought to themselves: Our grandmother really worries too much. And was a whole chest necessary? That's terrifying.
Bai Liuyue tucked the moon-blue steel fan back into her sleeve.
She pointed curiously at the bodies on the ground and the ones lying further away, asking:
"Who are they?"
"Why were they trying to kill you?"
Only then did Pei Yu remember, slapping his forehead in urgency. "Damn! We didn't leave anyone alive. How are we supposed to investigate now?"
Bai Liuyue looked at him as if he were a fool.
"Marshal Pei, haven't you ever read adventure novels?"
"Huh?" Pei Yu blinked.
"After killing someone, you search the bodies, frisk them," Bai Liuyue said, batting her eyes.
