After a moment of hesitation, Li Fei set off toward the source of the cries for help.
This was, of course, because the Golden Kumquat's star courtesan — a paragon of daily virtue — simply could not stand by and watch someone perish. It had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that the voice calling for help was rather pleasant: soft and feminine, drenched in helpless terror.
Her newly attained Level 8 and her equipment worth tens of thousands of gold coins also lent her a measure of confidence. With the Guardian Mage Robe that Mama Nicole had gifted her, Li Fei was fairly certain that even if something went sideways, she could at least make a clean escape.
Out of necessary caution, she drank a mana recovery potion to top off her spell points, then carefully checked the bolt magazine of her crossbow, every slot loaded with poison-dipped bolts.
Soon after, a small head peeked silently around the side of a large boulder, observing the woman in distress without a sound.
She was a blonde woman who appeared to be in her mid-twenties — attractive face, a figure that turned heads, her mage's robe soaked through with blood.
Her complexion was deathly pale, her movements those of someone on the edge of collapse. She staggered forward leaning on her staff, leaving a crooked trail of bloody footprints behind her, as though she might pitch forward at any moment.
The blood had saturated her light-green mage's robe all the way down; the hem was torn to ribbons, and her long, pale legs looked as though they'd been wrapped in crimson stockings. Quite the eyeful.
An upperclassman, huh. Roughly half my type.
Li Fei's gaze landed on the bronze brooch pinned to the woman's ample chest, and her guard lowered — slightly.
"It looks like you could use some help, miss."
Li Fei stepped out from behind the boulder, a warm and friendly smile on her face.
"Thank the Nature Goddess…"
The woman nearly cried out when she saw Li Fei, only just managing to clap her blood-stained hand over her mouth in time. Her eyes shimmered with tears.
Li Fei's beauty struck her like a physical blow — even in this moment of desperate crisis, the woman instinctively froze for two full seconds before she managed to choke out a response, her words tumbling over one another in her distress:
"Please, help me… My name is Sara. I'm a student at the Magic Academy. I just learned a new spell, and I came out here to test it with Alice… The wolf pack surrounded us. Only I managed to escape. Alice, she — she…"
Upperclassman, does testing a new spell really require venturing this deep into wolf territory? Are Magic Academy students really all this reckless?
From those few scattered words, Li Fei formed a rough impression of Sara: a flower raised in a greenhouse, the type to blunder carelessly into danger. Of course, that didn't mean a word of it was true.
Ever since she'd been scammed out of several hundred coins for a registration fee on a certain social forum in her previous life, Li Fei had maintained a very healthy skepticism toward any "chance encounter" that came gift-wrapped and too good to be true.
Seeing Li Fei's silence, Sara pressed on, her voice cracking: "Please, take me back to Loxibrook. House Louise will reward you generously… I'm begging you…"
House Louise?
Well, well. Small world. Your matriarch — that marchioness — has been trying very hard to patronize my establishment. Unfortunately she's still on the waiting list; other ladies have been rather more generous with their bids.
Without quite noticing it, Li Fei's guard had dropped a little further. After all, a highborn Magic Academy student making the sort of overconfident, naive blunder that got her into trouble — that was practically a stock character in every bard's tale. It matched people's expectations perfectly. In those stories, the protagonist always ran into exactly this kind of noble young lady, and after the heroic rescue, they'd walk away with both treasure and beauty…
Then Sara's legs gave out entirely, and she crumpled to the ground.
Li Fei stepped forward on instinct, reaching out to steady her. "Looks like blood loss. You need treatment—"
But the moment Sara was upright again, her legs buckled a second time, and she collapsed headlong into Li Fei's arms.
The soft, springy impact was rather agreeable — except for the hard brooch jabbing uncomfortably into Li Fei's chest.
For no particular reason, Li Fei's eyes flicked to the System Panel.
[Bronze Brooch]
[Description: A carefully crafted imitation.]
What the—! A fake! She's a fraud!
Alarm bells screamed through Li Fei's mind as she skimmed the message log.
She recalled hearing guests mention in passing that certain criminal elements roamed the continent — killers and highway robbers, most of them low-Sequence Transcendents…
Li Fei's expression went cold in an instant. She shoved Sara away and stepped back sharply, sending the woman dropping hard onto her backside.
"My apologies," Li Fei said. "I'm straight, and I have a phobia of physical contact with women."
"Mmph—"
Caught completely off guard, Sara — who had not expected to be dropped — rubbed her aching lower back with a wince, keeping her head down so Li Fei couldn't see the fury twisting her face.
Are you KIDDING me. A straight woman in Loxibrook?
I've only been in this city half a month and I've already been taken to bed seven times! I set up a honeytrap and I get the one straight girl in the whole damn city?!
And another thing — YOU were the one who reached out to catch me first!
Sara seethed in silence, grinding her teeth through the tirade raging in her head, before finally tilting her face back up. Her expression was a masterwork of pitiful, tearful misery.
"I'm so sorry… I've lost so much blood, I really can't walk on my own. Could you support me on the way back? If I stain your robe, I promise I'll replace it — please…"
"It's fine."
Li Fei produced a healing potion. "I have medicine."
Sara's eyes lit up instantly.
Fat sheep!
She had already clocked that Li Fei's mage robe and staff were expensive, but she hadn't expected that this jaw-droppingly beautiful girl would pull out a healing potion worth a full ten gold coins like it was nothing.
One score like this and I can finally leave this godforsaken Loxibrook behind… Actually, why not just take the whole sheep with me? Use her money, make her warm my bed. Now that sounds like the life…
"Then… thank you," Sara said, flashing a look of touched, almost overwhelmed gratitude. She reached out one hand for the potion — while the other drifted quietly toward the dagger tucked inside her robe.
"Don't mention it. Twenty gold coins."
Li Fei waved a hand and snapped on her best customer-service smile.
…
A ten-gold-coin potion and you're charging me twenty?
Wait — am I the fat sheep?
Sara bit down on the inside of her cheek, edging closer while managing an expression of awkward, wounded pleading. "I don't have any money on me… I'll pay you back double once we're back in the city, I promise?"
I cannot spend one more second in this city. Straight women, absolute nightmare, good riddance!
Li Fei raised an eyebrow.
In the dictionary of one Li Fei, 'I'll pay you later' is synonymous with 'free.' As in, you are robbing me.
The Magic Academy's Dean. The Thieves' Guild Vice-President. Even Bai Mengtian herself, the uncrowned queen of Loxibrook — none of them have dared stiff me on payment. I'm the one who does the stiffing around here.
You have got some nerve.
Li Fei quietly filed the debt away and tossed the potion over. "Fine."
[Margaret's Healing Potion (Defective)]
Potion Grade: ?
Effect: If Constitution is below 20, the consumer will die within three minutes of ingestion.
"Such a cold face, but such a warm heart… some noble's daughter, or a merchant's?" Sara mused as she caught the vial, turning it over in her palm.
The girl had let her fall on her backside, yes — but she had come over to help on her own initiative, which meant her heart was clearly kind. As for the inflated price on the potion… she'd probably just been swindled by a dishonest merchant.
"Why aren't you drinking it? Go on, drink up," Li Fei said, arms crossed, tone brisk. "You've lost that much blood."
She really is a good girl under that cold exterior…
Sara held the potion, a flicker of hesitation crossing her face.
As a Sequence 9 Thief, she could sense that the girl in front of her had no Transcendent aura at all — clearly still a non-combat unit. A little mage-girl who hadn't even crossed the Transcendent threshold, caught at close range by a Transcendent Thief, no matter how expensive her gear, would have absolutely no way to fight back.
And the wounds and blood all over Sara's body had been faked through special means… It would be a terrible waste to just drink such a fine potion. Time to drop the act.
"Don't move."
Sara's form blurred like a ghost and she was suddenly right against Li Fei, a gleaming dagger pressed to Li Fei's throat, its blade filmed with an eerie blue sheen — the unmistakable glint of poison. "Be a good girl and stay still. If you startle me, big sis's dagger might just nick that pretty little face of yours… Sorry about this, sweetheart. Think of it as a life lesson — don't go trusting strangers so easily next time."
Are you SERIOUS? Why won't she just drink it?
Li Fei was deeply annoyed, though nothing of the kind showed on her face. She compliantly raised both hands in a picture-perfect formal salute, and quietly pulled up the System Panel.
[Paralysis Dagger]
Equipment Grade: Firefly
Attributes: Sharpness Rank I, Agility +1.
Enchantment Effect: Paralyzing Blade (Lv1)
A Firefly-grade dagger. Broke.
With a blade against her throat, Li Fei was somehow not panicking in the slightest. Her mind was ice-cold and perfectly clear.
On the Continent of Enlos, wealth was always proportional to power — and Li Fei was absolutely certain that a shabby little Firefly-grade dagger had no chance whatsoever of penetrating the Guardian Mage Robe's defenses.
I can counter-kill her.
At that precise moment, Sara let out a short whistle. A blurry silhouette burst from somewhere nearby and came sprinting toward them.
"An accomplice… Two of them complicates things a little."
Li Fei narrowed her eyes, quietly adjusting her center of gravity, readying herself to neutralize one of them first.
"Easy now."
Sara caught the subtle shift in Li Fei's stance immediately, and laughed with lazy mockery. "I know — rich kids like you always carry something useful for self-defense. So don't move, sweetheart. If you startle big sis and I accidentally scratch up that pretty face, I'll feel just terrible."
"But don't worry," she added, her voice dropping into something silkier. "Once I deal with that irritating little problem, I'll make it up to you ♥ properly."
Li Fei had been on the verge of making her move — but the second half of that sentence gave her pause.
She decided she could afford to watch a little longer. She arranged her features into a mask of cold fury.
"Despicable wretch."
For some reason, being pinned under Li Fei's withering, contemptuous glare sent a peculiar thrill through Sara's chest. She laughed with unrestrained delight. "Still playing tough? Let big sis tell you something — even the toughest little girls always have somewhere soft on them…"
"Disgusting," Li Fei said.
Sara's enjoyment somehow intensified.
A moment later, the accomplice arrived.
He was a lean, pale-skinned man, with fine and somewhat androgynous features — handsome enough, in a cold way.
"Good work, Sara." The man addressed her with a brief note of tenderness before turning his gaze to Li Fei, eyes narrowing. "Let's get this done."
As a Sequence 9 Thief, the man had excellent eyesight — he'd made out Li Fei's face from a distance. Under any other circumstances, he would have found somewhere private to "enjoy" a prize this fine before finishing the job. But with Sara right there, he buried the thought deep.
"She's been kind to me, actually. I don't really have the heart to kill her," Sara said, brow furrowed.
"Then I'll do it. We need to move." The man stepped forward without hesitation, drawing a bright dagger from his hip, murder plain in his eyes.
He had wanted out of Loxibrook since the moment he'd arrived. The second he set foot in that city, he'd noticed women — everywhere — letting their gazes linger on Sara, who was, undeniably, stunning. What troubled him more was that ever since they reached Loxibrook, Sara had grown increasingly cold toward him. Barely a word passed between them anymore.
He had spent three years earning Sara's trust. Three years. And in half a month in this city, they'd gone from reliable partners to near-strangers.
It had taken considerable effort to learn that low-Sequence Transcendents sometimes came out to the wolf dens to test their blades on Moonlight Wolves. He had immediately pushed Sara — who had spent the previous night gathering intelligence and hadn't returned until dawn — to come here and set an ambush.
Now the prey had walked right into the trap, and by the look of her, she was loaded. He was desperate to rob her blind and run. The Goddess of Thieves herself couldn't have stopped him.
Thwip.
A dagger punched into flesh. Hot blood sprayed from a severed artery.
The man stared at Sara with eyes blown wide with shock — but the "Paralysis" effect of the blade had already taken hold, robbing him of his voice.
"You've been annoying me," Sara said. A casual flick of her wrist drew a thin red line across his throat.
Taking Li Fei alone meant keeping the whole haul for herself — more than enough to find a quiet corner of the world and live well. Partners had a way of outliving their usefulness.
Once her former partner had finished collapsing into the dirt and become a glassy-eyed corpse, Sara finally turned back to Li Fei. The cold detachment in her eyes melted into something burning and intent.
"Now then. No one to interrupt us."
Sara licked her lips and tilted Li Fei's chin up with one finger. "Drop the staff. Take off the robe. Nice and slow — and don't do anything that might make me nervous…"
"Don't touch me!"
Having been treated to quite the floor show, Li Fei was in a surprisingly good mood — which she disguised as a look of furious, martyred resistance, fully prepared to play the role a little longer.
"Oh, still feisty?" Sara's smile was the smug, toying smile of a cat with a mouse. "You like men because you've never tried the alternative, sweetheart. Be a good girl and let big sis correct that misconception for you…"
"Kill me," Li Fei said flatly.
"Tough talk won't save you. Right now, I can do whatever I want with you!"
Sara smirked — and reached her free hand toward Li Fei's chest.
How dare you.
Without spending at least a few hundred gold coins, you think you can just reach out and touch? Even Sequence 3 angels don't have the audacity!
Li Fei dropped the act.
One step forward — explosive, coiled like a bowstring snapping taut. That slender, graceful frame detonated with savage, blinding speed. A jade-smooth fist swung out wrapped in a gust of wind and drove straight into Sara's soft stomach.
The punch cratered deep into yielding flesh. Sara, who had not seen it coming, folded like a shrimp and vomited a mouthful of blood mixed with bile.
"Such strength…"
Sara's blue-grey pupils were flooded with burst vessels from the pain — she genuinely could not comprehend how a fat sheep had transformed into a tiger in the span of a single heartbeat.
Li Fei savored the sensation of her knuckles sinking into yielding, elastic flesh — the satisfying compression of driving all the way through to the organs beneath — and let a look of pure, appreciative pleasure flicker across her face.
Then she grabbed a fistful of Sara's hair and slammed her head toward the ground, knee rising to meet her on the way down.
Twenty-two points of Strength, held back by nothing, connected squarely with the bridge of Sara's nose — producing a sickening crunch that made the ears crawl.
"Enough!"
Sara's eyes blazed with shock and fury. Instinct — honed through countless battles — kept her grip locked on the dagger; she hadn't let it fall. Biting through the pain, she drove the blade in a cold, vicious arc toward Li Fei's flank.
The dagger closed in. Sara wrenched her blood-soaked face upward — an expression of savage, broken desperation — and let out a short, cold laugh.
Why this seemingly harmless little girl possessed such terrifying strength no longer mattered. What Sara knew, with bone-deep certainty born of experience written in other people's blood, was this: the moment that blade pierced flesh, the "Paralysis" effect would dissolve every last shred of her target's fighting ability.
Li Fei, fighting on raw strength with no footwork to speak of, had no way to dodge at this range. There was simply no time.
But she was a paying customer.
The Guardian Mage Robe blazed with soft light. The dagger found no purchase.
"Wha—?"
Sara's blown-wide blue-grey eyes were filled with pure, uncomprehending horror. She could not understand — could not understand — why the [Paralysis Dagger] that had never once failed her had just bounced off a robe that looked soft and comfortable enough to sleep in.
Clink.
The dagger slipped from slack fingers and buried itself in the dirt.
Sara knelt in the grass at Li Fei's feet, staring up in despair as the dark, massive staff filled her vision — blotting out the sky — and came swinging down toward her face.
____
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