Lin Nan leaned back against the hard plastic seat. After sitting for so long on the bus, his entire body ached, but Lin Mo still sat stiffly erect.
He felt a wave of complex emotions. He actually knew roughly what Lin Mo had done, though he didn't know how she had tracked down the culprit, nor why she had gotten herself so terribly battered.
But... was it for him? Was it really for him?
...Was it?
Lin Nan felt thoroughly lost. The surge of anger practically erupting from her might be somewhat related to him, but even more so, it was an obsessive fixation trapping herself.
Being curious about a person is absolute tragedy in the making, especially...
He turned his head. Lin Mo lowered her eyes, tearing off a thin thread sticking out from her bandages. Her black hair clung to her cheeks, radiating an unmistakable exhaustion.
This person was practically a terrifying time bomb.
The more one analyzed and dissected her, who knew whether they were defusing the bomb or accelerating the detonation?
...
A9, on the other hand, felt Lin Mo was like an erupting volcano—any living creature that drew near would be burned to a pile of ashes.
It didn't dare leave the manga world right now, and could only pull out the manga secretly to read it.
When it pulled up the latest chapter, A9 slid up and down twice in disbelief. The familiar scenes and landscapes didn't end even after scrolling down a long way.
Isn't this Licheng—its domain?!
This was too bizarre! How could its little Licheng be allocated so much plot time?
A surge of tragic emotion rose in A9's heart. Its Licheng had risen!
Yet it couldn't figure it out at all! The plot of the Chief being assassinated usually only appeared in a character's flashback, taking up two pages at most, with its sole purpose being to introduce the Covenant of the Scales trio.
Just a cannon fodder. His death had been set in stone long ago, and getting killed wouldn't cause a "disappearance," which was why Lin Mo had to flee.
When did he ever have such a big role?
No—
Maybe the one with the big role was someone else.
It looked down at Lin Mo in disbelief.
Are you actually the protagonist?
Even if she inherited the Tourist's role, she shouldn't be getting such massive favoritism from the plot.
Still, the truth could probably only be found in the manga.
What on earth was drawn in it?
It flipped back to the start and read through carefully. Upon seeing the manga's viewpoint, A9 let out a slow sigh of relief. It turned out to be Wudong's.
Looks like the Chief was just riding on Wudong's coattails to get such a grand death scene.
It knew it. How could Lin Mo...
Wudong's presence in the manga wasn't low. As an operative, she got plenty of screen time. Since not much information about the Covenant of the Scales had been revealed yet, this mysterious woman, with her high frequency of appearances, could be considered the public face of the organization.
Even though she had used countless faces, possessed a ruthless nature without distinguishing right from wrong, and her true face couldn't be confirmed, she still maintained a high position on the popularity polls, which proved her character charisma.
A9 saw in the panel that Wudong had easily blended into the bodyguard team, even bantering in the team channel.
【Is this knife even meant for human use? It's thin as a piece of paper.】
Night Heron: 【New tech, what do you know, uncultured swine.】
Wumeng: 【We won't need it anyway.】
Sure enough, with a popular character appearing, the comment section instantly became lively. A9 skimmed through at a glance.
【Why does Wudong look so convincing even disguised as a guy? How does she hide or disguise that frame? That doesn't make sense.】
【Wudong is 1.76 meters tall, not much of a difference. Though a manga artist can draw whatever they want, of course.】
【Why can't Wudong just be a guy? Even if she disguises as female more often, why can't it be cross-dressing? Wudong has never denied being a guy.】
【Such a heartwarming team channel. Honestly, rather than teammates, they're more like family. This team's members are the least likely to turn against each other, sigh... Just looking at their daily life, you'd never guess what they actually do.】
【The ones who actually do the work in the Covenant of the Scales. But Wudong and Wumeng are actual family—their surnames are the same.】
【...Isn't that a codename?】
...
【So handsome and confident with 'We won't need it anyway.' That proud attitude is basically saying as long as he's here, Plan B isn't needed.】
【That's arrogance. Do all 2D characters with a sniper identity act this cocky? The cold M-hairline god.】
【How do you highlight that cocky personality with just one line?】
【Are you all ship-brained? That's so abstract.】
Reading this, A9's mouth twitched.
Won't need it anyway...
Won't need it...
In the kill-stealing incident, the trio's performance was truly disappointing to A9, making it sarcastically bitter.
If it hadn't yanked out two of its own hairs, it might have believed it.
It pouted its lips and kept reading.
Lin Mo was wearing a cleaner's mask and hat. The author seemed to be trying to avoid drawing her face, keeping even her eyes hidden in shadow.
Since it was hidden intentionally, readers naturally couldn't tell. So when she knocked out a bodyguard, disguised herself, and blended into the team, nobody in the discussion area recognized who she was either.
Readers were just shocked by this coincidence.
【Who's the male character being targeted? Is his status high? Two groups want to kill him, and both picked the same day. He's way too good at drawing aggro. Won't this end up as two dogs fighting for a bone and a third walking away with it?】
【That's stepping up the difficulty for Wudong.】
【Underestimating Wudong's combat power much? The Covenant of the Scales is organized and disciplined. This isn't a difficulty increase, it's just a minor episode.】
【A disguised driver, a disguised bodyguard captain. Three people in the car, two are assassins. The target's character must be absolute garbage.】
【So unlucky, brought so many bodyguards, yet still got infiltrated like a sieve.】
【Everyone has their own scheme.】
【Ding-ding-ding, who will emerge victorious in the end? Come on, place your bets before hands off, win or lose no hard feelings.】
...
Next, A9 and the readers watched the Covenant of the Scales trio's plan spiral out of control, featuring Wumeng's glorious record of missing after shooting for ages.
【...Ridiculous.】
【Absolute driving god. Who says driving in S-curves when targeted by a sniper is useless? Who drives so recklessly? Looks like Emily's style.】
【A huge part of it is the distance... After changing positions, the distance exceeded two thousand meters! Also, is that an S-curve?!】
Some loved watching chaos: 【Fight! Fight!】
Some were disappointed: 【Damn it, Wumeng, did you drink fake alcohol? Are you a turtle?!】
However, the subsequent panel where Wudong disregarded danger to tangle with the person in the driver's seat saved the Covenant of the Scales' reputation a little.
【She really isn't afraid of a total crash...】
【Could it be that she got kicked and slammed against the window at the start, so she got furious to the point of shame turning into rage?】
【Why does that make so much sense? With Wudong's temper, she'd be pissed off to death. Going down together with the other party is totally possible.】
【Crazy, stop guessing randomly! How could she be that battered.】
【Solo stan alert.】
【The driver seems to have skills—an acquaintance?】
The rest wasn't worth looking at. A9 only felt its miserable fate, skipping straight to the minor climax.
—The moment Wudong took off her mask.
This scene wasn't in the original story trajectory. A9 reasonably guessed that maybe this exact panel caused the plot section to inflate in length.
The comment section had a mini commotion.
【I told you she's a girl! Carved from the same mold as her brother. The author was just too lazy to draw a new face. Her build is similar too, so disguising as a male naturally comes easily.】
【Wife! Wife, you are my destiny!】
【...Looking at this face, don't you get hallucinations of calling Wumeng?】
【Actually, it's a bit different from what I imagined. Can I say that?】
【I don't know why, but Wudong suddenly showing her face and losing the mystery feels like exposing information. Why do I have an ominous feeling...】
A9 closed its eyes. Knowing Lin Mo and her would have a fight and Lin Mo would win, its heart was dead.
It also had an ominous feeling.
The next second, when the manga drew Wudong's opponent's extremely distinct face, the comments were instantly spammed with question marks and exclamation marks.
【Holy shit, I know what that ominous feeling was about!】
【Run! Don't end up like the Tourist, dying with only two pages left!】
【Not that exaggerated, right? Wudong is a professional assassin! She can't lose one-on-one against anyone unless the opponent is a conceptual god.】
A9... Actually, I thought so at first too.
However, the car explosion felt like it blew A9 to smithereens in an instant. Readers sympathized with Wudong, wailing over who provided the equipment.
And when Lin Mo pulled out the rope, readers warmly greeted the author's eighteen generations of ancestors.
【I'll kill you... Author, where's your house? I want to have a little chat with you.】
【Three kills in two chapters? That's terrifying.】
【So scary.】
【Stop killing, I'm begging you! If you keep drawing like this, I curse you to wake up with a female ghost at your bedside!】
...
Realizing death was approaching, Wudong forcibly dragged her consciousness back. She struggled violently, but the person on top of her bound her tight like a snake.
The opponent seemed unable to feel pain or fatigue, watching the rope dig deeper and deeper. Soon, the person on the ground went silent, her entire body going limp.
A9 saw the author's eighteen generations of ancestors being cursed in the comments again.
After the person left, Wudong's fingers deep in the bushes twitched.
The discussion finally settled down.
That's right, A9's virtually kneeling pleas were light as a feather, complete bullshit, failing to move cold-blooded Lin Mo in the slightest. It was entirely Wudong playing dead to survive the ordeal.
【A top assassin surviving by playing dead—is it moral decay or human distortion?】
【Wudong, you survived! Fantastic, surviving a catastrophe brings good fortune!】
【This is the consequence of not double-tapping!】
【Right? Even though I didn't want to see Wudong die, not double-tapping is indeed a bit strange.】
【Her target wasn't Wudong in the first place. Now that she's chasing the real target, isn't it normal that she didn't have time to double-tap?】
【Taking a huge faceplant, three people falling to one person—it's an absolute humiliation for their professional careers.】
【So where is the target?】
【...He didn't actually manage to run away, did he? That would be real luck.】
There were plenty of hidden dragon characters in the manga, with bug-level existences popping up from time to time. As long as the character didn't die, readers would magnanimously choose to forgive after the storm passed.
Of course, if any memes or edits were made later, that was none of the readers' business.
The author didn't disappoint the readers this time, quickly switching the panel to the Chief.
He was fleeing in disgrace with a bullet wound on his butt, looking like a clown, and predictably getting mocked mercilessly. Just as he saw the road ahead, he even tripped over himself.
【This guy is so lucky! He's the biggest winner of this chapter, right? Two more steps and his life is saved.】
【Could the female ghost really be here to protect him? Otherwise I can't understand why she's doing this...】
A bit of light leaked through the tree canopy, casting uneven shadows on the ground.
The scene was dark and terrifying, as if sinister energy was brewing without dispersing. A solitary shadow loomed, the background seeming to hint at something.
Everyone seemed to be drawn into the Chief's perspective, following his gaze as it slowly shifted upward.
The woman's injured fingers were somewhat twisted, her neck a dark shade of red, her clothes curled and scorched black.
Because her head was lowered, her entire face was shrouded in shadow, save for those dark, sinister eyes that were so clear, sending chills down one's spine.
The words vicious and malevolent fit her to an extreme degree.
She said:
“Perhaps before you die, you can offer me a word of apology.”
The two worlds seemed to synchronize at this moment, falling silent together.
【I finally know why you all call her a female ghost...】
Rate on N.U.
