After waiting for quite a while again, the time finally crept past 2 a.m.
Blade had already found a relatively comfortable spot, curled himself up, and was ready to spend the night there.
"Tap… tap…"
Footsteps echoed through the parking lot—clearly the sound of high heels hitting the ground.
Blade jolted awake, quietly poking half his head out.
Sure enough, Ningguang and her employer were walking together.
"Finally."
All that late-night waiting hadn't been for nothing. Blade's hand moved toward his waist.
Before the game started, everyone had been issued a gun permit—so naturally, Blade was armed.
He drew his handgun and lowered his posture.
"Tch… why do I suddenly have a really bad feeling?"
Walking through the parking lot, Ningguang felt a chill crawl up her spine, as if she were being stared down by some vicious beast.
"Stop."
She quickly halted her employer and pulled her behind a parked car.
"Wait here. I'll check ahead."
The sense of danger kept rising. Ningguang drew her pistol and cautiously advanced forward.
[Keqing]: It's over…
Seeing this, Keqing felt her vision go dark. Ningguang was done for. She desperately wanted to tell her—she picked the wrong direction! Blade was on the other side! By moving away like this, she was directly exposing her employer to Blade's gun!
[Xiangling]: Despicable. Too despicable.
[Jean]: Protest! Strongly protest! How can someone just kill like that?
[Seele]: Uh… well… it's just a game. It's fake, right?
In truth, Seele didn't like this either—but since it was a game, and Blade was on their side, she could accept it.
[Herta]: Excellent. This decisively eliminates a powerful competitor before she can grow.
Everyone had seen it clearly earlier—the look of admiration in Ningguang's employer's eyes. Thinking she wouldn't give Ningguang a high score later was pure fantasy.
But now? Much better. Ningguang had directly lost her employer—this was undeniably good news for Argenti and Yunli.
[Beidou]: Sigh… couldn't she have been a little more careful?
[Yelan]: Not bad. At least she sensed something was wrong.
Yelan could see it clearly—Ningguang had zero counter-surveillance awareness. After all, asking someone used to luxury and comfort to suddenly work as a bodyguard was unrealistic.
Being able to sense danger at all was already impressive.
If it were Yelan, she could've avoided this. Ningguang just didn't realize Blade was hiding right beside her.
With Ningguang gone, Blade immediately took advantage of the opportunity and attached a suppressor.
He didn't want to cause too much noise. If Ningguang noticed and fought back, what if he got injured?
He still had other employers to kill—getting hurt now would be troublesome.
He rose and quietly approached the still-nervous woman.
One hand clamped over her mouth, the muzzle pressed close.
"Piu."
Even that faint sound felt piercingly loud in the dead-of-night parking lot.
"Who's there?!"
Ningguang spun around and immediately spotted a figure fleeing rapidly.
"That was… Blade?"
What was he doing sneaking around so late at night?
[Player Ningguang's protection target has died. Mission failed. You are now a free agent and will be hunted by the employer's family.]
"Huh?"
Ningguang froze.
She rushed back to the car—blood everywhere.
"BLADE!!!"
No doubt about it. He was the one who did it.
"You bastard! You— you have no honor! You're despicable!"
She was furious. Never in her dreams had she imagined her employer would be killed by a bullet from a fellow bodyguard.
"And now I'll be hunted by the employer's family?"
That made her even angrier.
She didn't care about being hunted—but she didn't kill anyone, so why was she the one being targeted?
"Free agent… You killed my employer, huh? Fine. Just you wait…"
A dangerous expression surfaced on her face. Her eyes gleamed coldly.
Since her employer was gone, then no one else was finishing their mission either.
No need to think further—every remaining employer had to die.
She holstered her gun and chased after the direction Blade had fled.
Unfortunately, the empty road held nothing but a few scattered taxis—not a single trace of him.
"Lucky you're fast."
Cursing under her breath, Ningguang abandoned the chase for now.
With nowhere to go, she could only find a place to survive the night—and look for opportunities to strike tomorrow.
She arrived at a garden with benches meant for resting.
"Hmm? Someone's there."
Approaching one bench, Ningguang noticed someone curled up on the one beside it.
"Bad luck."
Seeing someone nearby, she planned to move elsewhere—but stopped mid-step.
"This… is Diluc?"
Why was he here?
Wasn't Diluc supposed to be with his employer?
Why was he alone?
Could his employer have been killed by Blade too?
She walked up and nudged him.
"Diluc. Diluc."
Groggily, Diluc opened his eyes. Seeing Ningguang, he looked surprised.
Then they both spoke at the same time.
"Your employer got killed by Blade too?"
"You got kicked out by your employer as well?"
…What?
They both froze.
Ningguang was surprised Diluc had been driven away by his employer.
Diluc, meanwhile, was even more shocked—Blade actually killed her employer?
Something was definitely going on.
"You go first."
Diluc sat up and gestured for Ningguang to sit. The two began exchanging information.
"My employer is dead. Blade did it. I'm a free agent now—can act freely."
"You two have beef?"
Diluc was confused. Why would Blade kill her employer for no reason?
"No." Ningguang shook her head. "Blade's employer died too. He's probably trying to wipe out all employers on our side."
…That's allowed?!
Diluc was stunned.
Wasn't this supposed to be a bodyguard game? How did it turn into assassination?
"What about you… why did your employer kick you out?"
Ningguang was just as curious.
"Ah…"
Diluc let out a long sigh.
"My employer is a scumbag woman. She used me to dump a guy… but it turned out that guy was actually a young master from a powerful family—he was just pretending to be poor."
"Once he stopped pretending, she completely collapsed and insisted it was my fault for letting him get away."
"So… she terminated the contract and kicked me out."
He was full of resentment. She messed everything up herself—yet somehow it all became his fault.
He muttered quietly:
"She hasn't even paid my breach compensation."
Pfft.
Ningguang almost laughed.
She had to admit—Diluc was unbelievably unlucky.
No one even targeted his employer, yet he still ended up homeless?
"Then… you're a free agent now too?"
"Yeah."
"Then… interested in doing something big?"
Seeing the dangerous glint in Ningguang's eyes, Diluc shuddered.
"You're not thinking of going after other people's employers too, are you?"
"They can do it—why can't we?"
With nothing left to lose, he might as well cause some chaos with Ningguang.
If they wiped out the remaining employers, wouldn't that guarantee victory for Alhaitham's side?
Keeping the rewards in Teyvat—nothing wrong with that.
Thinking it through, Diluc slapped his thigh.
"I'm in."
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