I Am A Killer

by A Sick Frog

  Zhuo Xiao Xuan walked into an alley, flipped open magazine and started reading the hidden information. After which, she produced a lighter, turning to leave after burning the entire magazine.

  Zhuo Xiao Xuan lied in the snow by the roads of the suburbs, churning her inner gong to keep herself warm. She looked at her watch; they should be reaching soon. The sudden glare of headlights dashing the darkness of the road deserted—be it from its location or being cordoned off somewhere—suddenly swerved into sight.

  They’re here!

  She quickly raised her assault rifle and aimed it at the driver of the vehicle in the middle that was flanked by the vehicles by the sides. Just as she was waiting for the vehicle to enter the shooting range, a gunshot that wasn’t hers sounded. One of the cars that was shot veered from its original route, swerving into circles on the road that was thinly layered with ice. After which, the uniform arrangement of vehicles delved into chaos. The vehicle she was aiming at skewed off her aim.

  Through her scope, she saw another fleet of vehicles following behind this fleet. The fleet tailing behind was evidently pursuing and attacking the fleet in front of them; the people riding the vehicles had their heads popped out of the car windows and guns shooting sweeping bullets at the fleet of vehicles in front.

  Looks like her target today had other pursuers. She could utilise the chaos to finish off her mission, then cap the crime on their pursuers.

  The fleet of vehicles drove around messily so their pursuers had no way of aiming properly. She leapt onto a tree by the road to wait for the fleet to drive by. When the all the vehicles had passed, she used her qing gong to jump onto the top of the last vehicle. She landed extremely lightly so the people in the vehicle didn’t notice the new addition.

  The vehicle drove forward at a high speed. Zhuo Xiao Xuan tightly gripped the edges of the vehicles and slowly shifted herself. She stuck her head down to the windows. Her empty hand pulled out a gun, and she shot the two passengers in the back seat. After which, she retracted her body and gave a roll, several bullet holes littering the location where she’d lied on previously. Aiming her gun at the shotgun seat, she shot at the place several times continuously.

  Zhuo Xiao Xuan held the handle of the gun and used it to slam open the windows to the driver’s seat. She lied on the top of the car and leaned her head against the window, her gun aiming straight at the driver’s forehead. She gave him a few hits with the nozzle to tell him not to move, for she could very easily send him to death’s doors as she’d done so for his fellow brothers.

  The man raised one of his hands, his other hand gripping the steering wheel, telling her that he won’t move.

  A hand gripping the edge of the window, she agilely slipped into the backseat of the car, her inhumane movements smooth as a mudfish.

  Zhuo Xiao Xuan slithered in with a single move. When she sat on the corpse on the backseat, her handgun was resting against the driver’s seat, its nozzle pressed against his forehead. She tipped the black cap that shielded her entire face save for her eyes, saying icily: “You’re seeking death huh.”

  The man slowly retracted his hand that was stretching towards the gun that belonged to his dead comrade lying in the shotgun seat, laughing to cover his actions: “Hehe, misunderstanding, misunderstanding. You shouldn’t kill me, if you do, you won’t have anyone to drive the car.”

  Zhuo Xiao Xuan snorted coldly. Shifting her nozzle, she sent a shot straight at the man’s hand. The shot pierced his hand, leaving in its wake a bloody hole. The man howled from agony. Following that, his other hand slid from the steering wheel, and the vehicle they were in started swerving around terribly.

  Zhuo Xio Xuan’s gun was once again against his forehead. “I’ll finish you off now if you don’t drive properly.”

  The man inhaled sharply. He held in his anguish and affixed his other intact hand on the steering wheel.

  Zhuo Xiao Xuan opened the car door by her side with a hand and pushed out one of the corpse. She closed the door, pushed opened another door to throw out the other corpse; her gun was kept level against his forehead all these while.

  “Who are you? And who are you pursuing?”

  The man was immediately stunned. Are you kidding me, don’t tell me you had no idea what was going on and only dashed up to join the bustle, and then conveniently finished off a few of us while you’re at it! I’mma vommit blood if that really was the case!

  “I’m from a certain underworld organisation. The person being pursued is the head of one of the underworld organisation; an underworld organisation against another, you know.” The man replied vaguely, before asking warily: “You, who are you? You can’t possibly be from another underworld organisation as well, can you?’ If she claimed she didn’t mix with herself with the underworld business, even his dead comrade slanted across the shotgun seat would implode from incredulity seeing how merciless her actions were!

  “Oh, I’m just passing by. And cut it with the nonsense, tail him tightly. If you dare lose him, humph!”

  The man almost wanted to faceplant the steering wheel. The shit! Passing by, why the world were you passing by such a desolate suburb?! And how did you pass by till you mugged one of the speeding vehicles?! And what’s with the face-shielding head-shielding bandit-like attire and the gun you’re carrying, and the fact that you just killed my comrades?! This matter had him learning a very huge lesson—he really shouldn’t provoke the people that were just passing by.

  The vehicle ahead suddenly screeched to a stop. Zhuo Xiao Xuan was perhaps the only person who knew why they stopped. Z Organisation had dumped the entire section of road ahead with nails to forcefully stop the cars. The must ensure that they could finish their target before he escaped.

  “What’s wrong? What’s wrong?” The man looked at the vehicles that had stopped ahead anxiously.

  The sound of tyres bursting upon being pierced by nails told him the answer. The same moment he stomped on the brakes, Zhuo Xiao Xuan’s gun raised and fired straight at his forehead. With that, he blacked out, slanting across the driver’s seat.

  The two vehicles fleets stopped. The fleet in front believed that it was the ambush the fleet behind them had planted. The fleet behind on the other hand thought that it was the fleet in front that had poured the road with nails. Both parties didn’t know it was the trap a third party had set up, and so, they took cover with their own vehicles as they opened fire at each other.

  Zhuo Xiao Xuan opened the car door quietly, squatted silently by the side of the car and searched for her target as she looked through the piercing headlights of the vehicles.

  Found him! That old man however was thickly encircled by his people; the only way for her to be able to kill him was to near him. However, the two parties were firing at each other at the moment; she would definitely be shot if she were to try to evade the bullets.

  Zhuo Xiao Xuan popped her head out to survey the surroundings. She turned her head back to check on her target’s situation before weaving through and flipping past a few vehicles, dropping into a half-crouch by the side of a small vehicle. Straightening her hand, she shot and killed a man dressed in black blocking her target’s side. The death of one of her target’s people exposed the weakest joints of their protection.

  Zhuo Xiao Xuan’s index finger continued pressing down on the trigger; the bullets zipped out in the route she’d expected. As it did, she waited for these two bullets to hit her target’s head…

  The scene that followed however was beyond her expectation. One of the men dressed in black by his side smashed the first flying bullet down with the handle of his gun. Following that, he raised his hand to thwack the second bullet away.

  Zhuo Xiao Xuan frowned. Who was he? The first time she was shot when she was on a mission with Wolf, Jackal and Leopard, she almost lost her life after being unable to catch the bullet flying her way. Though her inner gong wasn’t completed recovered then, the fact that this guy was able to accomplish such a feat was no tri
vial matter. He didn’t catch it with his bare hands, but the fact that he was able to intercept the two powerful bullets within such a short period of time told her he was no simple figure!

  She won’t be able to complete her mission tonight easily with such a person protecting the old man. She stared him, her gaze burning. As though feeling her gaze on him, he turned in her direction.

  When Zhuo Xiao Xuan saw his face illuminated by the lights, her heart skipped a beat. It’s him! Why’s he here?!

  Chapter 62 - Palm Against Palm

  * * *

  She literally spared no effort to search for it!

  If they passed each other on the streets, she’d have thought he only had a similar appearance. After seeing his moves just now however, she didn’t believe that there would be someone like him in this world. How could someone without inner force be able to do what he’d just done?

  Zhuo Xiao Xuan suddenly recalled the cliche plots her dormmate had concluded for her. Weren’t their encounter an exact replica of a cliche plot, and spelt out in caps and bold?

  When she saw his gun pointed at her, she immediately collected her thoughts and dodged sideways to evade the bullet shooting her way. Her lips beneath her cap mincing, she contemplated exactly how she should complete her mission seeing how they were interfering, or how she should finish off her target first in such an environment.

  Both methods were hard. They were evenly matched; if she were to go against him, she had to give it her all in order to secure victory. And if she were to do that, she wouldn’t be able to attend to the other opponents around. In such an event, it’d be hard to say if she would be able to dodge their bullets if they were to raise their guns to shoot at her. What’s the most annoying part to everything was the fact that they had a lot of people, and everyone was armed with a handgun, while she was only her own without even a single accomplice.

  The only workable plan was for her to join the enemy’s enemy’s faction, after all, one’s enemy’s enemy is one’s friend. She had to borrow their strength to extinguish her enemy. She would finish off her enemy’s subordinates before concentrating her firepower to target the leader—this was the battle tactic “encircling cities with the rural areas” ole Mao* had mentioned.

  * referring to Mao Tsedong

  Zhuo Xiao Xuan weighed the number of bullets she had brought and roughly counted the number of people there was at present; just barely enough. She then started firing at the enemy’s lil lackeys in concentration, finishing them off—very resource-savingly—with a single bullet each, every one of her shots busting the heads they had been craning around

  The pursuers upon realising that there was a sharpshooter—who was a lot better than themselves who were sweeping a majority of their bullets onto the vehicles—among them killing off their pursuees was immediately were encouraged. Their motivation burning, they were so excited they increased their firepower.

  The ole man encased safely within the encirclement of protection realised what was off. At that, he said to one of the bodyguards by his side: “Finish that person off.”

  “What about this side?”

  “I still have people with me. If that person kills off all our people, we will only have one path left and that is death. Hurry go!”

  “Yes.”

  If Zhuo Xiao Xuan was still a little suspicious about his identity previously, then his following actions—leaping across the firewall of raining bullets with qinggong over to where she was—completely cleared her of any misgivings.

  Zhuo Xiao Xuan pushed off the ground and retreated several steps, sending a shot at him quickly. He turned his head to dodge her shot, returning a shot very speedily at her as well.

  Zhuo Xiao Xuan grunted coldly, and waved her arm, the handle of her gun sending the bullet flying in another direction as well. You’re not the only one who can accomplish such a move.

  As expected, when he saw her pulling a move like that, his expression was no longer as settled as before. The person in front of him whose only uncovered part was the pair of eyes was skilled as well! His expression becoming serious, he readied his stance. “Come.”

  Zhuo Xiao Xuan kept her gun; it was too boring if they were to bang at each other with their guns no? In that case, why not do it the way they were good at and draw things to a close quickly?

  As they fought, the two inched towards the road, furthering from the bunch of people engaged in the crossfire.

  “Brother where are you from? Why are you still wrapped up? Cowering and hiding yourself away is not very upright nor noble.” They clashed again. After the both of them backed away again, he asked.

  Upright and noble? What a joke! What’s there to be upright or noble about when countless people’s blood had already stained your pair of hands? Zhuo Xiao Xuan didn’t reply him. Her leg kicking, she swept up a sleet of snow, curving it at him, and seized the moment he closed his eyes to attack.

  He immediately blocked, and the two of them crossed blows again. The two however were evenly matched. The group with her target tonight was turning their defeat into an almost victory, and was chasing their previous pursuers. If they really were to win, the bunch of them would definitely come over to help exterminate her.

  Zhuo Xiao Xuan gritted her teeth, attacking him as though completely mindless of her own life. She didn’t dodge his palm sending her way, rather, she went forward to meet it, churning a powerful force in her hand as she sent them at his chest at the same time.

  He did not expect she would make such a life-forsaking move at all. It not that he was conceited, but ever since he came to this world, he had yet to meet anyone who could stand against him as his rival. This person dared to hurt him with but pure force?

  The two of them ate a palm from each other just like that. The force they both met with were so large both of them were sent flying out. Not only so, his chest was in agony. The warm blood in his chest surged up into mouth, and the twang of metal overwhelming his mouth and nose. He spat out a mouthful of blood. Raising his hand, he wiped the blood by his mouth, his gaze raising to look at Zhuo Xiao Xuan.

  Zhuo Xiao Xuan slowly swallowed the blood in her mouth, eyes coldly sweeping past the bunch of people chasing her way. At that, she turned and leapt into the drain on the side, dashing away. Even the gunshots that sounded behind were unable to stop her in her tracks.

  “Do we need to pursue him?” Someone asked him.

  “No need, you wouldn’t be able to catch up to her*.” His palm had met Zhuo Xiao Xuan’s chest, so he naturally knew that he wasn’t a he, but a she.

  * the written form of he (他) and she (她) is different, however, both words are pronounced as “tā”, so even if the guy said the person is a “she”, the other lackies wouldn’t know that person who got away was a “she” instead of “he”.

  When Zhuo Xiao Xuan saw that he didn’t chase her, she ran for a while more before stopping. A hand against her chest, she laid on the snowy ground; her exercise had her suppressed blood rising again. Raising her hand to pull off the mask that was getting stained by the seeping blood, she panted loudly.

  She only slowly sat up to cultivate to heal herself after a while. After which, she returned to where she had laid at in the beginning to retrieve her sniper rifle, dismantled it into small pieces before placing them in her bag and leaving.

  When Zhuo Xiao Zuan returned to the city, she immediately donned on the clothes she’d left the house with. It was dim, still early in the morning. There were only a few cars and pedestrians on the road. She went to the bookshop she got her mission from. Someone else sat watching the store; the old man on shift previously was no longer around.

  Zhuo Xiao Xuan threw out a coin as she’d done previously and pulled up her collar. “Give me a copy of ‘Off Of Work!’ magazine.”

  “Here.”

  Zhuo Xiao Xuan took the magazine and flipped through it. The same moment she closed the the magazine, she tucked a slip of paper into the pages. After that, she threw the magazi
ne back. “What the, this magazine’s terrible.” After which, pulled up her collar up even more, burying half her face into it before turning to leave.

  She was cold and hungry after such a busy night. On top of that, she’d gotten some internal injuries. Therefore, all she wanted to do now was to find a place to catch some sleep.

  After waking up in the morning, Yin Xu Dong opened the glass window to his balcony. Just as he was about to inhale some of the fresh air, he saw a person sprawled on his balcony. If it weren’t the fact that he hung around Xuan Xuan so much that his muscles as well as his guts grew, he’d have gotten the largest of scares.

  And so, a certain courageous someone squatted down, flipping the person lying on the ground around. “Xuan Xuan?! What happened to you?”

  “I’m fine.”

  “Fine my ass? Would you be lying here if you were fine? Would your face be paler than the snow on the ground if you were fine? Would your lips be blood-stained if you were fine?” Yin Xu Dong wiped the fresh trickle of blood seeping from her mouth, and princess-carried her over to his bed, his heart going out for her. Yin Xu Dong took off her jacket and covered her tightly in blankets; he’d touched her face and hand previously—they were cold as ice.

  “Are you okay? Let’s go to the hospital?” Yin Xu Dong touched Zhuo Xiao Xuan’s face, extremely worried.

  “I’m really fine. Oh yeah, didn’t you say you became a military doctor to heal my injuries? Here’s an opportunity.”

  “But, but I just started learning, and I haven’t learnt much either, how can I help you out?”

  “It’s fine. I just have a little internal injury. I’ll be fine after resting a few days.”