Jin Luan was furious right now, and after Yin Lin buffed her, her rage meter was maxed out.
She’d already been in a foul mood these past days, thanks to Lǜ Ye’s meddling, and now she’d bottled up even more anger after heading outside the city to fight monsters.
Being provoked by Yin Lin like this, her rationality was on the verge of disappearing.
When she fought the Intermediate Aberrant, she gritted her teeth and attacked with a strategy of trading injuries. She took a punch from the monster—her magic shield broke, and she was sent flying over ten meters. The magic absorbed some of the damage, so she didn’t die—she only suffered minor injuries.
The Intermediate Aberrant had its arm severed, and green blood sprayed out.
It too went berserk and charged after her.
Jin Luan didn’t dare stay on the ground for long. She wanted to fly up, but suddenly realized escaping like that wasn’t a real solution, so she landed again and faced the charging Aberrant head-on.
In the past, she’d relied heavily on Instant Shift, never caring about keeping her distance from the enemy.
She always used Instant Shift to land a first strike, then teleported away to keep her distance. Once she’d regrouped, she’d turn back and finish the enemy with another Instant Shift. This one-wave style was very comfortable.
The only downside was the high mana cost, but it was much safer.
As the Aberrant drew closer, Jin Luan felt some fear—but the emotion was quickly drowned out by her burning rage.
Whenever she thought of Yin Lin’s mocking tone and expression, she simply couldn’t control her anger.
In the end, she vented it all on the Intermediate Aberrant.
At that moment, it was as if time slowed down, as if she’d entered the legendary Zone State—or perhaps activated the Perfected Freedom Technique.
Every move of the Intermediate Aberrant was crystal clear. It sprang forward, punching with a blow that was ordinary except for its speed.
Jin Luan calmly raised her weapon to block, her mind extraordinarily clear, seeing right through the Aberrant’s every motion.
As expected, the Aberrant’s fist slammed into her blade. The material of the blade was unknown, but it bent under the impact. The leftover force hit Jin Luan’s body and sent her flying.
The dream shattered. What Zone? What Perfected Freedom Technique? It was all just wishful thinking. Those things didn’t exist in the first place.
Did she really think her body weight of several dozen kilograms could go up against this Intermediate Aberrant’s 600 kilos?
Did she think this was an anime?
A split-second before being struck, Jin Luan barely managed an evasive move. The punch didn’t hit any vital spots, nor was it a direct hit, so the injury remained only moderate, not fatal.
This time, she lay on the ground for quite a while, aching all over, unable to get up immediately.
But the Aberrant didn’t wait. It pounced again, leaping high to stomp down on her.
Jin Luan rolled sideways twice on the ground, barely dodging the Aberrant’s Mountain-Crushing stomp.
The monster’s thick legs landed, causing the earth to tremble and leaving two cracked footprints in the ground.
If she’d been stepped on, no matter how soft her body was, she’d probably stiffen up within hours.
It seemed Huang Yi had given the drone operator some order, because the drone dropped low and started to distract the Aberrant, hovering near its head.
The Aberrant, which had shown no interest in the drone before, became agitated and slapped it to pieces.
The few seconds gained gave Jin Luan a chance to recover. She managed to get back on her feet.
At this point, Jin Luan was a mess—her hair tangled, her dress in disarray. Being locked in a stalemate with an Intermediate Aberrant was honestly a bit embarrassing for her.
She wasn’t willing to use her ultimate move, nor to use Instant Shift. It was like she was refusing to accept hardship.
She still suppressed the urge in her mind to use Instant Shift, relying on her legs to keep moving as she engaged the one-armed Aberrant again.
This time the fight lasted another five minutes. The Intermediate Aberrant was now covered in wounds.
Jin Luan had become more and more accustomed to its moves, gradually adapting to an opponent with greater speed than Bolt, sharper reflexes than Boateng, and more ferocious technique than Boran.
Panting, she wiped her face; sweat soaked her clothes.
Her stamina was almost depleted—she was about to collapse.
And then, even worse news arrived. She heard the sound of a helicopter, coming closer and closer.
On one side of the helicopter, a giant Net Gun was mounted—the same capture tool the Failure Squad had demonstrated before.
A member of the Failure Squad was now manning the Net Gun, aiming at Jin Luan who was fighting the Aberrant in the distance. But they were still far away—it would take time to get into range.
Elsewhere, another unexpected event unfolded. Huan Hong was staring intently at a girl in front of her.
Yin Lin had guessed the result, but not the process.
She’d thought Huan Hong would follow the helicopter, only to be ambushed by the Failure Squad aboard.
But it wasn’t the Failure Squad who discovered Huan Hong—it was Lǜ Ye, who’d already made the Jin-Yin-Hong sisters appear in a full CG cutscene.
“Looking around everywhere? Looking for a chance to escape?” Lǜ Ye twirled a whip in her hand, grinning wickedly at Huan Hong.
“Idiot.” This time Huan Hong wasn’t joking. She burst out with a surge of energy, entering her enhanced state.
She dropped rapidly, leaving the sky behind.
Her flying skills weren’t that great, only a bit better than Yin Lin’s. That was nowhere near enough to take on Lǜ Ye in aerial combat.
Huan Hong figured that even Jin Luan—the strongest of the three sisters in aerial battles—couldn’t defeat Lǜ Ye in the sky, so she had no intention of getting herself killed up there.
As she free-fell to low altitude, Huan Hong steadied her long staff, slowed her descent, and landed safely.
Seeing Huan Hong didn’t try to run, Lǜ Ye also descended slowly to the ground.
“Not bad. Very brave. Since you didn’t run, I’ll play with you down here.” Lǜ Ye hadn’t used any magic yet.
She’d won too easily last time—it wasn’t satisfying. This time, she wanted to change things up.
“The me you’re facing today isn’t the same as before!” Huan Hong was brimming with confidence. She’d poured sweat and youth into the Gym!
It was time to see what all her hard work in the Gym had accomplished.
She jogged forward on steady steps, closing the distance herself. When Lǜ Ye lashed her whip, Huan Hong spun her staff in a Stick Flower, calmly deflecting the attack.
“Oh? As your people say, ‘After three days apart, come see me with your head in your hands.’ You’ve changed.” Lǜ Ye still wasn’t taking her seriously.
Seeing that cocky attitude, Huan Hong grew even angrier. Her grip on the long staff tightened. At this moment, she resolved: she wanted to beat both Lǜ Ye and Yin Lin to death with a single blow.
They all looked down on her. Sure, she was the weakest of the three sisters, but being openly underestimated still made her furious.
With an explosion of power, Huan Hong charged at Lǜ Ye, killing intent surging.
She spun her staff through two more rounds of Stick Flowers, her body twisting and weaving. After a few seconds, she plunged her staff into the ground, took a pole-vaulting stance, and leaped seven or eight meters high—then gripped the end of her staff and smashed it down toward the earth.
Lǜ Ye snapped her whip, wrapping it around Huan Hong’s waist in midair before she even landed. With a sharp tug, she slammed Huan Hong down to the ground.
One move—instant defeat. That ten-second attack charge-up might as well have been an unskippable phone ad.