Chapter 513: No Choice But to Move Forward

The night rain fell incessantly.

In the dim courtyard, Su Zhiwei's gaze swept over the four gun muzzles, her expression extremely grave. From the moment all the lights in the museum suddenly went out, she knew something was wrong. The subsequent violent tremor of the earth only solidified her suspicion. The incessant rumbling from the main hall indicated that something significant must have happened.

Su Zhiwei had been practicing her martial arts and regulating her breathing in the courtyard pavilion. Her first instinct was to head towards the guest rooms, but halfway there, she heard the clang of combat coming from the other side of the courtyard. When she went to investigate, she saw Yao Qing, who had already taken down one assassin, struggling fiercely with another. Although she had also dealt with an assassin, she hadn't expected there to be so many more around. No matter how skilled she was, she couldn't outmatch bullets. Moreover, she hadn't yet fully mastered the power of the "String," and bullets wouldn't give her the luxury of slowly mobilizing it.

Yao Qing, gripping his baseball bat, struggled to his feet. He stood back-to-back with Su Zhiwei, using his body to shield her from the gun muzzles on the other two sides. "Sister Zhiwei, they're all here to kill you... you go first!"

Su Zhiwei replied in a low voice, "They're here for me, not you. You should be the one to leave."

"I'm not leaving!"

"Yao Qing! I'm your sister! You have to listen to me!" Su Zhiwei's brow furrowed. "If anything happens to you, how will I explain it to your grandmother?"

"Explain what?! You're not my elder! Stop acting like you're so much older!" Yao Qing growled angrily. "You might be a bit older than me, but so what? We grew up together, we're the same generation. As long as our spirits resonate, does a few years really matter?!"

Su Zhiwei froze.

"Damn it... that kid is blocking my shot." The assassin to the side and behind her had been aiming at Su Zhiwei's head for a while but couldn't get past Yao Qing's head. He couldn't help but curse.

"He's blocking me too, damn it! Is he crazy?!"

"That's an eight-million bounty!"

"Forget it! Just kill them first!"

The four assassins simultaneously locked onto the two figures. Seeing this, Su Zhiwei didn't hesitate. She grabbed Yao Qing's shoulder from behind, her white training uniform fluttering in the night rain, and with an over-the-shoulder throw, powerfully hurled him several meters away!

"You...!"

Yao Qing's body hit the ground hard. Before he could speak, a barrage of gunfire erupted.

Bang, bang, bang—!!

Su Zhiwei, locked onto by four gun muzzles, felt her pupils involuntarily constrict as bullets sped towards her. Just then, blue electrical arcs suddenly snaked through the air!

Zzzzt—

Whispers of static electricity filled the air, and the magnetic field in the courtyard suddenly twisted. The high-velocity metal bullet heads seemed to hit invisible barriers, their inertia and the magnetic field's pull battling each other, subtly altering their trajectories! The bullets that were originally shooting straight towards Su Zhiwei now arced through the air, swirling around her white attire like a Tai Chi symbol drawn in the night sky, lightly hitting the surrounding walls or trees!

This sight utterly bewildered the four assassins. They couldn't comprehend how so many bullets fired simultaneously had failed to hit Su Zhiwei. Even "outline shooting" couldn't be aimed like that, could it?

Su Zhiwei also paused, momentarily stunned. Then, as if realizing something, she abruptly looked up at the second-floor corridor.

The body of an assassin, riddled with embroidery needles and metal fragments, crashed through a second-story window, tumbled from the eaves, and landed in the courtyard with a thud, like a hedgehog. Seeing their comrade covered in metal, the other assassins were momentarily stunned. Before they could understand what had happened, lights began to flicker on, one by one, along the second-floor corridor of the dark museum.

The previously defunct lighting system now eerily came back to life, one light at a time. Under the pale glow, a figure walked forward, breathing heavily. The lights above him illuminated in sequence with his steps, glowing with an overloaded current, as bright as the scorching sun.

"Did I make it...?"

Dark red nosebleed streamed down his chin. Yang Xiao held a blood-soaked napkin, his face ashen. He walked to the edge of the second-story window, his gaze sweeping over the four stunned assassins and Su Zhiwei and Yao Qing. The aurora swirling in his eyes grew increasingly intense.

He lightly raised his right hand. The next moment, the firearms in the four assassins' hands simultaneously flew out, as if pulled by an invisible force, soaring into the sky and disappearing from sight.

"Su Zhiwei..." Yang Xiao said weakly, "The rest... is up to you."

As he finished speaking, the aurora in Yang Xiao's eyes gradually dissipated. He swayed and then weakly collapsed to the ground. Like Su Zhiwei, Yang Xiao was also in the phase of trying to master his own theories, and his mental reserves were insufficient. Countering and killing two assassins had already pushed him to his limit. Furthermore, his overloaded use of "magnetic field theory" to rescue Su Zhiwei had exceeded his current capacity, causing him to collapse directly.

However, even though his appearance lasted less than five seconds, the situation in the courtyard was completely turned around because of him — a true game-changer!

Although Su Zhiwei was astonished by Yang Xiao's power, her mind reacted instantly. Without hesitation, she charged towards the nearest assassin in her white training uniform!

"Shit! My gun's gone!"

The assassin stared at his empty hands, momentarily slow to react. In a flash, Su Zhiwei was upon him, her fist, imbued with powerful force, whistling towards his face! The assassin deftly dodged the punch by tilting his head and adopted a combat stance with his hands in front of him. These individuals had, after all, spent years battling in a sea of blood; none of them were weak, whether in shooting or close combat. He and Su Zhiwei engaged in rapid combat in the night rain, their fists and palms clashing, the air swishing with the movement of her training uniform.

"All together!"

The other three assassins naturally wouldn't stand by. One drew a short knife from his waist, another pulled a combat knife from behind his boot, and they swarmed to surround Su Zhiwei. Su Zhiwei felt the danger closing in from behind, her expression exceedingly grave. She swiftly changed her footwork to create distance from the assassins, her gaze darting across the four approaching figures.

Alone, she naturally couldn't stand a chance against four assassins in close combat. If things continued like this, her defeat was inevitable. Su Zhiwei's gaze flickered to the second floor, to where Yang Xiao had fallen, and a resolute glint appeared in her eyes.

She lightly raised her hands, and a faint glow began to condense in the air. As she slowly adopted a martial arts stance, the water-like spheres of light began to circulate around her, as if countless extremely fine "strings" were gradually synchronizing with her movements, directed by her.

Su Zhiwei knew that this time, like Yang Xiao, she had to completely break through that barrier. Otherwise, she, Yao Qing, and Yang Xiao would all die here.

This time, she *had* to succeed!

In the night rain, she stood in her white attire, hands clenched, adopting a stance, faint light swirling around her... The "performance" was about to begin.