Chapter 84: Going Deep

When faced with danger, it’s instinctive for everyone to use what they’re best at to defend themselves.

So, Cowboy rolled off and drew his Revolver, aiming at the blonde girl, firing off three quick shots in succession.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Su Qingyu tilted her head, shifted her small foot just a little, and dodged every shot.

Cowboy’s face twitched violently. Only now did he remember—this girl in front of him was the one he couldn’t even hit when ambushing her.

Let alone face-to-face.

Within seven steps, the gun is indeed quick, but if you can’t hit, it’s meaningless.

What made it worse, Su Qingyu finished dodging the bullets as if taking a stroll in the park, and just stood there, watching him.

Though she said nothing and her expression wasn’t smug, Cowboy felt utterly humiliated.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The last three bullets were fired as well, but again, she dodged them all.

“Stop wasting your effort,” Su Qingyu couldn’t help but speak, “You can’t hit me. Besides, you’re out of bullets.”

Cowboy gritted his teeth, his expression under the hat a mix of anger and helplessness.

He knew he couldn’t hit her, and he knew he was out of bullets, but… but then what?

He had to do something, right? He couldn’t just surrender on his own, could he?

But Su Qingyu really did want him to surrender himself.

She only had dodging skills and movement techniques, no way to attack.

The two stood about ten steps apart, locked in a stalemate for quite a while, until a Poker Card flew in and sliced across Cowboy’s hand.

“Ah!”

The Revolver fell to the ground. Cowboy clutched his hand, effectively losing all combat ability.

The black-haired girl’s speed wasn’t as fast as Su Qingyu’s, but she looked far more powerful and imposing.

With her tall figure and long legs, she took a few long strides and closed in, striking Cowboy at the back of the head.

A familiar Stun Technique; her Elbow Strike was getting more and more practiced.

Bai Xia glanced at the dazed Su Qingyu, gesturing for her not to freeze up, then turned to beckon Bai Xiaoya:

“Danger’s cleared, you can come over now.”

As the team’s one-time ultimate move, Bai Xiaoya felt she couldn’t be considered a mascot (or deadweight), and she was far from a liability.

But just now, she really hadn’t been able to get involved in the fight—not even to watch.

My role is to act at the critical moment!

Bai Xiaoya told herself this in her heart, then tiptoed forward from behind.

“Is it safe out here now?”

“All clear,” Su Qingyu smiled to reassure her, “Those people have all been scared into hiding, down below.”

“Yeah, seems that way. So how do we get down there? That person who liked taking photos said before…”

While Bai Xiaoya was still trying to remember, Bai Xia had already found the Secret Door the Photographer had mentioned.

As for the statue next to the restroom, calling it a statue was a stretch—it was just a Buddha Statue, and you couldn’t even tell if it was jade or resin.

Beside it was an obviously square door, the seams around it wider than the other tiles, with clear signs it had been opened and closed before.

“Wait, let’s gather information first,” Su Qingyu quickly stopped Bai Xia before she touched anything.

“So far, we’ve taken out three Mystery Item Owners: the Heavenly Superstar Photographer, the woman from Mirage, and this Cowboy here.”

In other words, there probably aren’t many left.

Bai Xiaoya poked the Cowboy on the ground with her finger.

After making sure he wouldn’t be getting up any time soon, she stood and looked around, carefully examining the tiles on the walls, the faucets, and everything else.

“This door definitely has some sort of mechanism, maybe on the wall, or maybe some decoration, like…”

Su Qingyu understood instantly and turned to feel around the Buddha Statue, but—

“Ugh, ugh, come on! Bai Xia, you try!”

It was set too high up; the little loli couldn’t reach it.

Actually, Bai Xia had other thoughts, like maybe there was another way since the Buddha Statue was so obvious, but as soon as she placed her hand on it, the Secret Door opened immediately, so she didn’t think more about it.

It seemed their opponents really were caught off guard.

Thinking from their point of view, they hadn’t expected their side to take the initiative.

Even if they did, it would have been after a few days of being harassed to the breaking point before striking back.

No one expected a few girls, after being harassed once, to chase them right to their doorstep, and in just a day or two.

As for “turning” the Photographer and instantly breaking through the restaurant’s first line of defense, that was even more unimaginable.

No one knew Su Qingyu could dodge bullets.

Even if Sen Kui were still alive, he wouldn’t be certain of it—she’d only dodged a single shot last time.

Now, the Secret Door was open before the three girls, wide enough for adults to enter comfortably.

There was light inside; though you could only see to the first bend of the stairs, it didn’t seem to have any traps.

As the basement door had just been opened, the air pressure inside and outside was balancing, and Wind was whooshing at the entrance.

Su Qingyu closed her eyes to feel it, then grabbed her mouth organ and, lifting her small foot, headed inside.

Anyway, the Magic Flute was being watched for, so there was no time to play a tune—she only brought the small one along.

She moved so fast down the stairs that neither Bai Xia nor Bai Xiaoya managed to stop her.

“Wait up, there might be an ambush down there—aren’t you going to at least check?”

“It doesn’t matter. Wind told me there’s no danger.”

That’s what Su Qingyu said, but within half a minute of her heading down, two gunshots sounded from the basement.

Hearing this, even Bai Xiaoya couldn’t help but want to go down, but Bai Xia held her back, shaking her head.

Another minute later, Su Qingyu came back up, flicking her golden hair at the two of them.

“Let’s go, it’s safe now.”

Her brilliant golden hair fluttered gently in the breeze at the basement door, her short skirt and little shoes spotless.

Bai Xiaoya blinked in surprise.

“What about the people firing downstairs just now?”

“Two ordinary people—never seen anything like this. When they saw me dodging bullets face-to-face, they just ran off, terrified.”

What Su Qingyu said left Bai Xiaoya dumbfounded, but Bai Xia was not surprised at all.

It was to be expected that their operation would be a bit shoddy; after all, the Association had only a few years of history, and this was just a Subbranch, hurriedly put together.

Bai Xia even suspected that those ordinary members were just some thugs they recruited from a place like Underground Street.

The only real question was, since all the regular members were like this, why let them return to the basement alive?

“Let’s go,” the girl said, “when the fighting starts, watch out for those regular people.”

“Alright, but you two be careful. The space down there is huge—bigger than a parking lot.”

Of course, a restaurant basement couldn’t be larger than a parking lot, but it could be dug much deeper, with one level after another.

The three girls went downstairs in a front-middle-back formation.

Su Qingyu walked at the front; she truly wasn’t afraid—after all, nobody could hit her anyway.

Bai Xia walked in the middle, leaving a gap between her and Su Qingyu, but sticking close to Bai Xiaoya behind her, holding an Iron Chair she’d pried off the hall floor.