Chapter Twenty-One: S-Class Assassin (Part One)

Damn it! How could a human be faster than a bullet?

Yan Tian seemed to have outpaced the bullets, but in reality, his speed was still no match for them. At least, at his current level of cultivation, he could never truly outrun a projectile.

The only reason he was able to dodge the locust-like swarm of bullets by a hair's breadth was that his senses were fully unleashed, pushed to their absolute limit, even utilizing his Heaven’s Eye. His brain functioned like the most sophisticated computer, calculating ballistics with pinpoint precision.

His gaze was locked onto the muzzles of the two guns and the fingers Gao Lan held on the triggers, never missing a micro-tremor. Before her finger could even depress the trigger, he had already surged to the side of the path the barrel was aiming at. To the naked eye, Yan Tian seemed to have transformed into a gust of wind, swirling rapidly around Gao Lan, the roaring wind sounding like a passing tornado.

Gao Lan fired quickly, and her ammunition depleted just as fast. Both submachine guns ran dry at the same time.

"Opportunity!" Yan Tian thought to himself, preparing to close the distance.

But he had only taken one step forward when, before he could make his next move, Gao Lan released her grip, discarding the two submachine guns. With a fluid motion, she swept her hands across the hood of the car, and as if by magic, two long guns appeared in her grasp.

Shotguns!

Gao Lan’s speed was staggering. The transition from discarding one set of weapons to drawing another was seamless, her hands appearing as nothing more than blurs. By the time her shotguns roared and spat out clusters of steel pellets, the discarded submachine guns seemed to have barely left her hands, still hanging in the air before beginning their descent.

Yan Tian’s heart skipped a beat. He had never seen hands move this fast! Even Leng Bingtong’s strike speed was a fraction slower than hers.

It was too fast—her reloading, her firing, and her ability to adjust the aim. The speed was such that, aside from dodging, Yan Tian found himself unable to even mount a counterattack.

The distance between them was less than ten meters. As he circled her sports car at high speed, Gao Lan’s barrels tracked him like a shadow. The wide spread of the shotgun pellets felt like a torrential downpour, forcing him to scramble desperately to stay alive.

Gunfire rang out without a single pause, merging into a continuous roar in the night air. Leng Bingtong and the others, living in the middle courtyard, had long been alerted and had come to the front courtyard. Yet, they showed no intention of helping Yan Tian. They each found a safe spot where they wouldn't be hit by stray bullets and watched the spectacle, occasionally critiquing Yan Tian’s movement arts or Gao Lan’s marksmanship.

Shi Kexin had not followed Yan Tian’s instructions to hide in the room; she, too, had come to the front courtyard. Seeing Yan Tian struggling through the rain of lead, hovering on the edge of life and death, she felt both fearful and anxious, yet helpless. She didn't know the capabilities of Leng Bingtong and the others, so she didn't ask for their help, deciding instead to take matters into her own hands.

In this situation, Shi Kexin knew she couldn't do much, but she could at least serve as a distraction. The brave girl picked up a flowerpot and, seizing a gap, hurled it at Gao Lan. Unfortunately, her strength was limited; the pot flew through the air, but shattered on the ground four or five meters before reaching its target.

In the midst of firing, Gao Lan glanced back and gave Shi Kexin a mocking look. In truth, she had noticed them long ago, but to her, those five delicate beauties posed no threat. Once she finished off Yan Tian, she could capture them and gift them to her lecherous brother, perhaps gaining even greater rewards.

However, Gao Lan did not anticipate that the moment she turned her head to look at Shi Kexin, the tide of the battle would shift.

As a top-tier gunfighter, Gao Lan was naturally proficient in locating targets by sound, but without visual confirmation, there would always be a slight deviation. Furthermore, the wind whipped up by Yan Tian’s high-speed movement interfered with her hearing to some extent.

When her focus drifted from Yan Tian to Shi Kexin, Yan Tian—who had been under her constant gaze—snatched the chance to counter.

Tilting his head to avoid a spray of steel pellets, Yan Tian lunged forward in the tenth of a second that Gao Lan had turned her head. His body seemed to teleport across the ten-meter gap. By the time Gao Lan whipped her head back, Yan Tian was already upon her, his blood-red Heaven’s Eye locked onto her gaze.

The moment their eyes met, Gao Lan’s heart shuddered for no reason. Her rock-steady hands trembled slightly, and the gunfire ceased instantly.

Yan Tian splayed his hands, reaching for her wrists.

Gao Lan abandoned the guns, retracting her hands with lightning speed to evade his grasp. She swept her hand across her waist, and two pitch-black daggers appeared in her palms.

The daggers were non-reflective; even under the moonlight, they cast no shine, blending perfectly into the night. Gao Lan struck with two lightning-fast thrusts, the dark blades piercing toward Yan Tian’s abdomen like two vipers.

In the blink of an eye, a dull thud echoed. Gao Lan’s beautiful features suddenly twisted, as if she were enduring immense pain.

It turned out that after Yan Tian’s grab failed, his instincts kicked in. He leaned backward, narrowly avoiding the two daggers aimed at his midsection. As he leaned, he snapped his right leg upward, striking Gao Lan in the stomach.

Gallantry is reserved for harmless beauties. Yan Tian’s kick contained immense force; he had used the same amount of power previously to shatter the pelvises of three of the Gao family’s bodyguards.

Yet, despite her pained expression, Gao Lan still had the capacity to retaliate. With a flick of her wrists, the two black daggers plunged toward Yan Tian’s airborne legs.

At that moment, Yan Tian was arched backward, his entire body suspended half a meter off the ground. His upper body was about to touch the earth, while his legs were raised high, making it look as though he were intentionally offering his limbs to be stabbed.

It was too late to dodge. Gao Lan’s hands were too fast. The moment the blades struck, the cold steel had already pierced the skin of Yan Tian’s legs!