Volume 4, Chapter 66 – Boom!

Some people were alive, yet there was practically no difference between them and the dead.

That was right. Anran was talking about certain players in competitive games.

When two sides fought, some players would be whittled down until they had only the tiniest sliver of HP left. One more touch from the enemy would kill them, yet they stubbornly kept themselves alive.

In truth, however, that was often the wrong choice. Many times, the only significance of a critically wounded teammate was that their icon still remained on the screen.

They could neither absorb damage nor deal any. They were basically no different from being dead.

This was especially true in MOBA games.

It would be better to die early, respawn early, and start over.

“Why struggle so hard to stay alive? Still, this works out nicely for me.”

As Anran spoke, she aimed her gun at a player she had just discovered.

It was a Morningstar player who had been shot six times and was still clinging to life beside a cabinet.

“Don’t… Don’t…” the player said in an extremely weak voice. He reached out, trying to grab Anran’s sock, and then…

Bang!

The bullet tore through his chest, and Anran sent him straight to the resurrection fountain.

Anran’s gaze immediately shifted to her second target.

It was someone creeping forward with his back bent, moving with extreme caution. He was an NPC rather than a player. Anran aimed at the side of his waist, but for the moment, she could not determine which side he belonged to.

At that moment, someone suddenly leaped out from the side. The man jumped high into the air, raising an exaggeratedly large saber above his head as he shouted, “Die!”

Clang!

The clear metallic ring traveled far into the distance, startling everyone who was hiding nearby. Even Anran and Aila, who had originally intended to drop him with a single shot, froze.

What imposing momentum!

That slash had actually made Butler No. 1 stagger, and it had even chipped the saber’s edge.

Awesome!

In truth, Anran no longer needed to do anything. Butler No. 1, which had entered close-range defense mode, spun around and drove a fist blade straight through the tall man who had jumped out. Half of his shattered glasses fell to the floor and were crushed beneath the feet of the Machine Gun Warrior as it moved past.

After a savage beating, Anran heard the game notification.

“You have killed a member of Nine Songs and received 1,850 Free EXP.”

Nine Songs?

Hmm…

He was only an insignificant nobody. Killing him was no big deal.

Anran quickly recovered from the awkwardness and continued toward the central area.

…

[I ran into Morningstar’s main force. They blocked the road, and I can’t get through at all.]

[Damn, these sneaky bastards actually set up an ambush by the roadside.]

[Help! I’m surrounded by a whole group!]

[Dammit, I’ve already made one corpse run. I don’t want to do it again.]

[Wait for me! Wait for me! I’m almost there!]

…

Before she had even completely crossed the defensive line, Anran realized that the situation at Trade Station No. 3 was extremely dire. Every time she entered a new area, she saw Morningstar fighters attacking the guards, or several gruesome corpses sprawled across the ground in every direction, blood flowing everywhere.

Judging by the way they had died, all of them had probably been killed by the same person.

The trail of blood continued deeper inside. There was no doubt that the killer belonged to Morningstar.

Tap…

Her foot lightly touched the concrete floor. Anran’s raised hand was about to press against the door when Aila suddenly grabbed her wrist and shook her right hand.

Anran immediately understood. She took out a High-Energy Explosive, pulled the pin, and used a wooden board on the floor to quickly push it through the gap beneath the door.

“Hm?”

The people hiding behind the door opened fire, slashed with blades, and used every move they had.

Faced with such an unreasonable barrage of ambush attacks, one of the blades struck the explosive.

Boom!

The close-range blast made Anran frown. Broken pieces of the door flew everywhere. She and Aila bent down behind the two robots, perfectly avoiding all damage.

“Get out of the way!”

A roar drowned out the noise behind them. Anran then saw a dark, hulking brute raise a light machine gun.

Bullets poured toward her like the torrential rain outside, blasting the room around Anran into ruins. Immediately afterward, the hulking brute yanked up a long staff and charged out.

Close combat?

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Anran was instantly delighted.

She had already inspected the brute’s status panel. Level 20 looked fairly high, but she was Level 21 now. With the stacking bonuses from her mechanical equipment and titles, her attributes were frighteningly high. She had nothing to fear.

Bang!

The double-barreled shotgun fired.

The hulking brute actually ignored the hit and took the shot head-on. He still seemed to be in fairly good condition. Using the opening created when Anran fired, he charged toward Aila.

Naturally, one should always squeeze the softest persimmon first.

In the brute’s eyes, Aila was clearly the weakest one there.

“…”

Overall, Anran felt that her current strength was about the same as Aila’s, though Aila could endure far more punishment than she could.

In a close-range fight where elaborate technique mattered little, sufficient speed combined with bewilderingly great strength produced a rather unfortunate result. The hulking brute, who had been secretly delighted, suddenly discovered that Aila had caught the staff he swung at her.

C-caught it?

Crack…

Even more terrifyingly, she snapped it in half.

“Anran said I’m not allowed to beat you to death.” Aila gripped the broken staff and drove it viciously back into him.

Pfft!

His abdomen was pierced through, while the impact also inflicted internal injuries and made him spit out a mouthful of blood.

What happened to the promised crushing victory?

Even a brutal, fist-to-flesh brawl like before would have been better.

Swish!

That was the final thought he managed to have. Anran, who had rushed over from behind, stabbed another hole through him with one slash.

Two high-damage piercing wounds, combined with a massive bleeding buff, caused red damage numbers to keep appearing without pause. The game notification finally informed Anran that she had gained 17,000 Free EXP.

He had actually been an elite monster too.

“Let’s keep moving. We can’t waste time here.” Anran put away the Crimson Blade, called to Aila, and continued charging forward.

…

[NICE! We finally vented all the resentment from being suppressed by those government-army bastards for months.]

[Damn it! We’re getting beaten up at Trade Station No. 1, while you bastards are feasting over there. I’m crying.]

[Has anyone seen Morningstar’s leader?]

[Nope.]

[Everyone, shut up! This bastard is a spy from the government army. If we have any information, discuss it in private chats. Stop talking about it on the forum.]

[!!!]

[???]

…

Anran and Aila quickly crossed the short defensive line. They did not encounter any more troublesome resistance along the way. Even when someone jumped out, Anran finished them with a single shot. There was no need to waste effort drawing and sheathing her blade.

Once they charged outside, they were baptized by the raging wind and rain again, along with several bullets flying straight toward them.

The bullets skimmed past their bodies. Although they were stray shots, they perfectly demonstrated the essence of marksmanship that outlined the human body without ever hitting it.

“Stop them! Stop… them.”

Boom!

“Forget about us! Hurry… to the hover station and stop…”

“Aah!”

“Woooo…”

The fragments of conversation that occasionally reached Anran’s ears made her heart sink. Sure enough, the situation had already deteriorated to the point where it might be impossible to turn around.

Morningstar had deliberately created such a vast difference in strength. The poorly defended Trade Station No. 3 could not withstand their assault. The delicate flower could not endure the torment and was already about to wither.

Do your best. Do your best. Do…

“Aila, hurry and follow me. I’ll go check the hover station first and see whether there’s still a chance.”

After saying that, Anran accelerated to her maximum speed. Like a raging tornado, she charged toward the hover station.

Not a single mission had been completed so far, and Morningstar had led her around by the nose. The dormant volcano inside her could erupt at any moment.

At that moment, the two sides locked in a struggle across the open ground were both dumbfounded.

Splash!

The rainwater accumulated on the ground split apart down the middle and splashed across their faces. All they could make out was what seemed to be a figure speeding toward the hover station.

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“Holy shit, what was that?”

“Someone just rushed past, right?”

“Who was it? Which side are they on?”

No one had clearly seen who had run past, but someone moving at an astonishing speed had definitely charged through.

Both Morningstar’s people and those on the government army’s side began to panic.

What kind of change would this bring?

The suspense was killing them.

“That was Anran!”

At that moment, an outsider suddenly spoke.

…

[The person in that vehicle just now was Anran.] After wiping the muddy water off his face, Claude Prell continued running his livestream thread.

[Huh? Anran is here?]

[Then where are the other people from Nine Songs?]

[What are you standing around for? Hurry up and follow her with the camera!]

[Everyone, calm down. This livestream is covering the faction war at Trade Station No. 3, not Anran. Not Anran.]

[Get lost. Who would watch your stream if you’re not covering Anran? Goodbye. I’m going next door.]

[Why would we watch your stupid typhoon instead of a cute girl? All we can see is wind blowing everywhere. If you’re streaming the faction war, then go inside and stream it. What ghosts are you waiting to see out here?]

[Bro, you should head back to the palace. Your livestream is so terrible that you might as well not stream at all.]

“…”

Motherfudger.

Claude’s expression became extremely gloomy.

The atmosphere of his livestream thread had originally been fairly harmonious, but the moment Anran appeared, it was immediately taken over by a huge number of her fans. That had to be the reason. Otherwise, why had the number of people insulting him suddenly increased?

[Fine! Since you want me to stream Anran, I’ll stream her for you. I’ll show you how she watches the trade station get blown up with her own eyes, and how Heloise kills her!] Claude wrote angrily.

He then quickly tagged several paid troll accounts.

[Go, streamer! ↖(^ω^)↗]

[Heloise is the best! Why watch Anran? You’re all short little runts.]

[Support! Support!]

[Anran has already entered the defensive line. I’m following her now.]

Claude filmed while walking and spoke as he recorded.

His game attributes were not too bad, so he had not fallen too far behind Anran. The moment Anran charged out, he happened to capture the scene.

[Anran charged in alone. As far as I know, Morningstar deployed three BOSSes and more than twenty elites this time. Heh heh…]

[Holy crap, a decisive battle atop the tower. Just thinking about it is exciting. Streamer, up, up!]

[Where’s the streamer?]

[Hey, where are you? Are you eating lemons? Where are you?]

[Did the stream get castrated again?]

[Don’t blame the streamer. I’m at the scene. He was killed by a stray bullet.]

[…]

[Everyone, don’t panic. I will now inherit the streamer’s final wish and continue the livestream for all of you! Please proceed to xxxxxx.]

[…]

[Coming toward us are Aila and Anran’s two robots. Huh? Morningstar’s people are trying to attack Aila.]

[My god, they were blown straight into the sky. Those two robots are way too fierce…]

…

Amid the torrential rain, the hover station grew larger and larger in Anran’s eyes. A single level alone stood more than ten times her height.

From a distance, the hover station looked majestic. Up close, it felt suffocating. It was too near and far too enormous.

That thought lingered only briefly before Anran took out her grappling hook and began climbing rapidly upward.

She had only seen a few corpses near the entrance and could not determine where Morningstar’s people had gone. She could only climb as high as possible, hoping to use the broad field of view to locate their movements.

The jetpack could not be controlled in such wind and rain, so she could only use the grappling hook to climb one level after another.

Rain continuously washed across Anran’s face. Only the protection of her tactical goggles allowed her to remain focused on what lay ahead.

The hover station stood several hundred meters tall. To reach the top, she would have to extend and retract the grappling hook at least thirty or forty times.

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In the livestream thread, countless players could see only a small, blurry shadow moving rapidly across the tower.

Where had they gone?

As Anran climbed, she kept turning her head, scanning everything in sight. All she saw were the hover station’s black steel frames. Forget human figures, she could not even see any signs of destruction.

Although the Signal Detector could detect signals, it was not very useful here.

If only she had a large group of capable subordinates too.

Like Pirate Princess Anran from before.

Although those subordinates had played no role in the plot-mandated defeat, their figures had appeared everywhere throughout the chronicles of Pirate Princess Anran’s rise.

“…”

Pat…

A drop of water flew over and landed perfectly on the side of Anran’s nose.

A raindrop flying sideways.

At that moment, the grappling hook Anran had raised suddenly lowered again.

Time seemed to slow in that instant.

Pat…

Even amid the deafening wind and rain, Anran could faintly hear the sound of that drop striking the side of her nose.

The sound continued, growing clearer and clearer.

Pat, pat, pat…

Raindrops flying sideways.

Without any warning, Anran stepped sideways. The black steel platform was not wide, and her step carried her straight into empty air. Her entire body fell downward just like that…

As if.

Just before she completely dropped away, Anran’s grappling hook firmly caught the low guardrail at the platform’s edge.

At the same time, a sharp sniper bullet struck the spot where she had just been standing.

A figure also dropped down from above.

An incomparably swift silhouette plunged straight toward her from overhead with a sharp blade.

Clang…

Both sudden attacks missed.

The distant sniper froze. That could miss too?

The woman who had slashed downward showed no change in expression. She loosened her right hand to reduce the shock, slid across the rainwater, braced one hand against the ground, and glided several meters to the side. Without losing momentum, she reached for the saber hilt still suspended in midair.

Clang!

A grappling hook suddenly shot through the air and knocked the saber away.

Anran grabbed the railing with her left hand and pulled, landing steadily on the steel frame. She then reeled the grappling hook back in.

On the steel platform, which was nearly ten meters long and one and a half meters wide, Anran and the woman stood facing each other. Less than three meters separated them.

It was not Heloise. Otherwise, Anran could never have dodged that descending slash without taking any damage.

“You really are impressive.”

The woman straightened. She drew another saber from her waist and pointed it at Anran.

The wind howled. The rain fell.

Woooo…

High atop the platform.

When one thought about it carefully, it resembled a martial-arts duel between two people facing off on a rooftop.

However, there was also a sniper nearby.

A smile suddenly appeared at the corner of Anran’s mouth, leaving her opponent baffled.

She could still smile at a time like this?

That was because she had finally found her targets.

No matter how brilliant an assassin was, it was useless if they could not find their target.

No matter how skilled a chess player was, they would grow old in loneliness if they could not find an opponent.

Splash!

Anran moved.

Her movement was completely beyond the other woman’s expectations. She charged forward two steps, but what she drew was the double-barreled shotgun. The instant she pulled the trigger, the grappling hook had already struck a steel frame diagonally above her. Anran swung away at high speed.

Bang!

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The bullet fired from the distance tore through the air and vanished somewhere unknown.

The female saber wielder’s instantaneous slash also cut through nothing.

Clang! Clang!

The sounds seemed like Anran’s mocking laughter. Using the grappling hook, she sped toward the sniper’s position.

The sniper was diagonally above her, exactly where Anran wanted to go.

“Bastard.”

The female saber wielder clutched her grazed arm and raced toward the upper level. Every steel frame eventually connected to the central tower. With her strength, even with the rain interfering, she did not hesitate at all as she leaped between the frames.

Bang!

Too fast. She had arrived far too quickly.

The sniper wanted to change positions as soon as possible, but he had not expected that aside from using the grappling hook, Anran’s own jumping distance and height would also be astonishing.

Anran quickly crossed half the hover station and found the sniper.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

She repeatedly leaped from side to side, evading both his attacks and the gunfire from nearby while rapidly closing the distance. The explosive shells had limited area damage, yet they still made the sniper feel increasingly constrained.

Finally, when the distance had narrowed to around ten meters, the Crimson Blade at her waist suddenly moved.

Swish!

The blade swept past. Combined with Anran’s leaping step, the ten-meter distance seemed no farther than the space between the hilt and the tip of the blade.

Click!

Quick-draw slash.

Another person suddenly charged out from behind a pillar, aiming straight for the side of Anran’s chest.

Anran’s gaze shifted slightly to the left. The instant the toes of her right foot touched down, her left hand pulled the trigger. At the same time, she twisted her body and used the slippery rainwater to slide behind the sniper in an instant.

Clang!

The ambusher’s saber struck the ground with an ear-piercing sound.

When he raised his head, a large spray of blood mixed with rain splashed across his face.

Blood gushed wildly from the sniper’s neck as he fell unwillingly from the steel frame.

“You have killed Zhu Mingcheng of the Morningstar Resistance and received 21,000 Free EXP.”

“What kind of worthless trash are you? Tell Heloise to come find me.”

Anran slashed out. The saber in the ambusher’s hand was cut cleanly in half.

During the instant he froze, Anran thrust her blade at him again.

Ping! Ping! Ping!

Crack!

Shhk!

She withdrew her blade, and another corpse fell from the steel frame.

Another 23,000 EXP obtained.

Standing behind the pillar, Anran wiped the rainwater from her face. After sheathing the Crimson Blade, she took out the grappling hook again.

One minute later.

Thirty meters above where she had been before, on a long platform five meters wide, Anran stared unblinkingly at the woman opposite her.

Heloise.

“Even with you here, it’s already too late,” Heloise said coldly.

“Wha…”

Before Anran could finish speaking, her feet suddenly slid backward. The long platform began shaking violently.

“Boom!”

A deafening noise erupted from below, and Anran froze.

Yet this was only the beginning. Explosions rang out one after another without end, so loud that they completely drowned out the wind and rain.

For a moment, it seemed as though heaven and earth were collapsing. The violently shaking platform made it difficult for Anran even to remain standing.

Heloise was also bracing herself, but a smile had appeared on her cold face.

When fiery red blossoms suddenly bloomed across the tower behind her, Heloise’s smile became radiant.

“Boom!”

Explosions also began erupting from the middle of the tower.

The blast wave sent Anran flying.