28: Guardian of the Night

The icy river water instantly soaked through Yang Huimin's thin clothes.

The bone-chilling cold made her unable to stop herself from shivering.

She tightly clutched the object wrapped in oilcloth to her chest—something more precious than her own life—and, gritting her teeth, submerged her entire body into the dark waters.

She didn't dare make any large movements, only using her hands and feet to gently paddle through the water.

Like a fallen leaf, she drifted silently toward that isolated island shrouded in gunpowder smoke and death.

She didn't know that in the invisible night sky above her head, a pair of "eyes" was quietly watching her.

On the path ahead of her, countless pairs of real eyes, filled with killing intent, were also lurking in the darkness, waiting for their prey to appear... behind a discarded bridge pier.

A Japanese Sniper was boredly scanning the calm river surface with a night-vision scope.

Suddenly, his movements paused.

In the center of the lens, an extremely faint, irregular ripple broke the stillness of the water.

He adjusted the focus, and a cruel smile curled at the corner of his mouth beneath the lens.

"The Shina rat has finally come out of its hole."

He murmured softly, his finger slowly moving to the trigger.

He didn't fire immediately.

He was waiting.

Waiting for that "rat" to swim to the middle of the river, to the most open and exposed position.

He enjoyed savoring the prey's momentary expression of despair right before the bullet pierced their body.

However, the scene he anticipated would never appear... on the third floor of the Sihang Warehouse, at a window that had been blown open.

Chen Xi lay expressionless on a pile of rubble, his left eye pressed against the shared vision transmitted back by the Drone, while his right hand steadily pulled back the red slingshot.

On his retina, the red dot representing the sniper was as clear as a bonfire in the dark night.

[Target Locked]

[Distance: 412.8 meters]

[Ballistic Correction Complete]

He released his grip.

*Buzz...*

A barely audible low hum.

That unremarkable little pebble vanished... behind the bridge pier.

The Japanese Sniper's finger was about to pull the trigger.

Suddenly, his vision went pitch black.

*Pfft.*

A soft sound.

His expensive German-made night-vision scope exploded with a circular hole right in the center.

He didn't even have time to feel shocked.

Because that pebble, its kinetic energy undiminished, had pierced through the scope and then accurately bored into his right eye socket.

Then, it whistled out from the back of his head, carrying a spray of red and white brain matter.

His body slumped backward, falling into the cold, stagnant water.

From start to finish, he hadn't let out a single proper scream.

On the dark river surface, Yang Huimin was completely unaware of this.

She only felt that for a brief moment just now, the spine-chilling sensation of being watched had... vanished.

Chalking it up to her imagination, she continued to paddle forward with all her might... In the livestream room, the viewers who had clearly witnessed everything through the dual perspectives of the Drone and Chen Xi went completely wild.

[Holy crap! Holy crap! Holy crap! A silent snipe! Is this the legendary Ghost of the Dark Night?!]

[412 meters! With a slingshot! And a freaking headshot through the scope! Stop pretending, Master Xi, you're just a god descended to earth, aren't you?!]

[Little sister, swim forward boldly! Behind you, there's a Gundam!]

[I used to think it was nonsense in movies when the protagonist took down an entire army by themselves. Now I believe it, I really believe it!]

Chen Xi ignored the revelry in the bullet chat.

His expression remained completely calm.

He just calmly moved the Drone's camera, continuing to patrol this river of death with that cold, red thermal-imaging perspective.

Soon, a second target appeared.

It was on the top floor of a bombed-out Bell Tower on the opposite bank.

A Japanese observation post with two men—one holding binoculars and the other clutching a walkie-talkie.

Chen Xi didn't hesitate for a moment.

He drew the bow, aimed, and released.

One pebble.

Two targets.

That pebble, following a trajectory that defied the laws of physics, accurately pierced the Observer's throat and, without losing momentum, shattered the Radio Operator's skull.

The two bodies slumped silently to the ground like puppets with their strings cut.

Third target.

Fourth target... Over the next few minutes, Chen Xi turned into a highly efficient and cold-blooded killing machine.

Every Japanese Soldier exposed in the Drone's field of vision who could pose a threat to Yang Huimin was silently erased from this world by him with unremarkable pebbles.

Some were yawning.

Some were smoking.

Some were even whispering complaints to their companions about tonight's late-night snack.

Until the moment they died, they didn't know from which direction or in what manner death had descended.

This death blockade, which the Japanese Army considered impregnable, looked like a low-quality fishing net full of holes in Chen Xi's eyes.

And he was the fisherman with a sharp blade, patiently cutting every knot in the net.

He watched the thin figure in the Drone's footage, struggling yet determinedly drawing closer to the warehouse bit by bit in the darkness.

For the first time, a strange, burning emotion welled up in his heart.

Was this... what it meant to protect?

To use one's own power in the darkness to clear all obstacles for those brave souls pursuing the light.

Even if they would never know of your existence.

After killing more than a dozen people, the corner of Chen Xi's mouth curled up slightly for the first time.

He felt that this sensation seemed... not bad at all.