QT: Against My Will (Volume 2)

4.50 - Outreach Her Opponent - Dangerous Angels

'~ Why is it that whenever I get attached to something, it dies?'

As a child, Bing Shi strongly believed that she was cursed. If she didn't get her alone time, the 'inner monkeys'—her term for the nagging voices in her head—would host a never-ending seminar, driving her bananas with their relentless lectures.

She had a firm no-pets policy, so when Xuan Mu went rogue and brought home Sharkie without consulting her, she served him the cold shoulder. It wasn't that she had anything against animals; she just couldn't stomach the idea of bonding with a creature that had a built-in expiration date.

[Hidden Quest: Gain Cheng Young's trust.+2000p]

Cheng Young thought about how he would be able to lure Tian Shi out with the silence of the dogs, not knowing that their life held more importance to Tian Shi than her human guards.

His smile widened, looking at the blurry image of a girl that strolled towards him with indignant steps. He noticed that with each breath he took, the moisture from his lungs left a slight burn in his throat with each exhale, leaving him tipsy. He knew. It was her.

The air around them was frigid, sapping the warmth from her lifeless eyes, their color mirroring the low, gray skies that had prevailed in recent days. She seemed ethereal in her radiant white attire, crafted from soft, silken material that dissolved into the surrounding mist like a waking dream.

Her skin, kissed with a soft glow, contrasted beautifully with her jeweled adornments, sparkling subtly in the diffused light. Her green hair swayed gently, akin to tall grass bending under a breeze, occasionally revealing a golden wing-shaped hairpin—her unmistakable insignia.

Her captivating beauty was magically extinguished by a dirty broom in her hand; which, she brandished at his people that tried to get a hold of her.

"Master, we found her!" said a man in merchant's clothes. Sauntering with a big gap in between him and Tian Shi, he switched his confused gaze between the harmless-looking girl and her broom, which brush' head almost broke during their short confrontation.

'~ Outreach your opponent, and you are more likely to win.'

"It's been almost a year since I got them; I haven't even celebrated their birthdays yet," Bing Shi said, her voice tinged with a fragility that belied her earlier fierceness. She stood close enough to Cheng Young for him to take in the full measure of her emotion.

Her eyes trailed down to the pool of blood oozing from her fallen dogs, and her voice fractured, wavering on the edge of tears. "My precious pets..."

"Ugh!" A sharp pain shot through Cheng Young's wrist, causing him to drop his gun. The head of Bing Shi's broom clattered to the ground alongside it, setting off a ripple of heightened alertness among the onlookers.

Seizing the moment his guard was down, Bing Shi lunged for his fallen gun. Cheng Young sidestepped just in time, leaving her bewildered. "Don't let anyone escape," she commanded her troops, swiping her broomstick to knock Cheng Young's gun in her direction.

A frenzied scramble for the enigmatic weapon ensued.

Amidst the ensuing chaos, Bing Shi snatched the pistol off the ground and swiftly stashed it into her bag.

"Leave her to me! Take care of the rest!" Spreading his oppressive aura, Cheng Young leaped towards Bing Shi, attempting to grab her stupid broom.

The scene could be compared to a cat trying to catch a feather teaser. Just as his fingers nearly grazed the wooden shaft, she deftly pulled it away, eluding his grasp. For a moment, the imbalance in their power seemed irrelevant. Bing Shi wasn't as strong, but she was slippery, refusing to be easily caught.

Cheng Young unsheathed his sword with a fluid motion, brandishing it in his left hand to signify his skill in wielding a sword in both hands. "You can dodge, but how long will you keep running?"

Bing Shi nimbly sidestepped his advancing figure, her eyes narrowing as she swung her broom to keep some distance. "If sir wanted an audience with me, you should have made an appointment. Barging into someone's home uninvited is considered a declaration of war."

"I've weighed the risks and rewards. Now, will you come with me quietly, or will this escalate into something neither of us wants?" Cheng Young said, wiping his blade through the air but carefully avoiding any contact with the wood.

Bing Shi grinned, her eyes twinkling with a mischievous light that made them appear almost predatory, "Oh, so sir had done some risk assessment. But it was clearly not enough if you thought I'd be an easy target."

Cheng Young clenched his teeth, clearly frustrated by her obstinacy. Today was supposed to be an opportunity—the majority of her guards were occupied with the rebuilding efforts in Eliaros, and with Zhao Rong out of the picture, it should have been a straightforward mission. Armed with a weapon he believed would terrify her remaining guards, he had thought seizing her would be a simple matter.

Upon receiving Tian Shi's message, her guards quickly mobilized, drawing their weapons and fanning out to face Cheng Young's men. Towering in their new, custom-made armor, they exuded an air of invincibility.

"Try me," hissed a guard, cracking his knuckles as he advanced. "See if your daggers can penetrate this armor. I dare you."

"We eat blokes like you for breakfast," another taunted, the tone of his voice dripping with disdain.

Training under Ru Quan's harsh regimen and Ziek's diet, her guards were specialized to fight against skilled opponents like Zhao Rong, by using underhanded tactics, making others think twice if they wanted to anger these walking Hulks.

Cheng Young's men couldn't do much. Even if they were more experienced and closed the gap to strike a fast kill with their poisoned daggers, her guard's armor and mesh under their helmets couldn't be pierced!

"Fools! You picked the wrong day and the wrong people to mess with!" shouted another guard, effectively intimidating one of Cheng Young's men into hesitating just long enough for him to be disarmed.

Having their vital points protected, Bing Shi's guards got an opportunity to take their opponents down.

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Within the city limits, nobody was normally allowed to carry arms, especially slaves.

However, natives and registered guards had the right to be armed, but only when they were outside of the cities or inside their properties — it was a matter of personal safety to protect oneself against robbery and wild animals.

Cheng Young wanted to avoid unnecessary attention. His ten shadow guards with superior martial arts knowledge only carried small weapons that could be concealed easily, like daggers and poison.

His concealed sword was enough to gain suspicious gazes. Carrying something as imposing as a spear would have been as conspicuous as wielding an assault rifle in ancient times.

Cheng Young had dismissed Bing Shi's guards as decorative at best, a mere smokescreen of security. In his eyes, the opulent armor seemed too impractical to be effective. But this was all part of Bing Shi's grand design.

By seeking special permission to arm her guards, she had flipped the script. Instead of maintaining a low profile, she made her defenses impossible to ignore. Over time, the residents—many of whom doubled as spies—grew accustomed to the sight of her well-armed and extravagantly armored guards.