Her tone from inside the iron armor sounded just like that winter when you were seven or eight, getting bullied, and the older girl next door—only a year or two older than you, but quite a bit taller—suddenly appeared in front of you...
She had come to help, but didn't forget to look down on you first, saying: "You really are a useless, flustered thing, aren't you?"
For a moment, feeling a bit embarrassed, Lubi Azha tried hard to explain that it wasn't true—he just hadn't had time to become strong yet, and he had been about to turn back and fight desperately, he was going to hit back... Did you see that? Didn't you see it?
Yet right now, he couldn't say a single word.
Because even as she spoke, the iron armor had already hoisted up an enemy. The man still held his blade, yet with a simple reach of her hand, she had seized him by the collar and lifted him into the air, struggling wildly to no avail.
In the past, the only expert Azha had seen fight from this close was Boss He... Thinking back on it now, Boss He didn't seem all that high-level either.
*Boom!*
After snapping out of their daze, the remaining dozen or so enemies shouted and charged forward once more.
Lubi Azha resolutely raised his blade, preparing to meet them. How could he let a girl fight alone? He was a man.
"Hey!" Without turning around, the iron armor said, "Stay there."
Then, Lubi Azha saw her raise her hand lightly, tossing the man in her grasp straight up into the air, and smoothly caught him by the ankle.
*Whoosh!... Bang!*
His eyes couldn't keep up; his ears only caught what sounded like a whip cracking through the air. Amidst the whistle of displaced wind, the man was hurled out, crashing heavily into the crowd of enemies.
Every single one was knocked down.
The ground beneath his feet shook. Blade raised in his right hand, Lubi Azha stared down blankly.
"Hey!" The iron armor turned back, glanced at him, and asked, "Can you make it back?"
"I..." Lubi Azha tilted his head and glanced toward the entrance of the alley, where a chaotic melee blocked the way.
In the brief span of his hesitant contemplation, the person inside the iron armor muttered as if to herself, "Never mind."
Then, Azha found himself hoisted up as well, before being thrown straight up into the air...
*Huh? She's not going to slam me into the ground too, is she?! Because I was too useless?*
Mid-air, Azha thought frantically.
With a whoosh from below, he was caught, still held by the scruff, but he was already standing atop a roof... The iron armor asked, "Where are your teammates?"
"Ah, over there." Lubi Azha didn't dare dawdle. Spotting the second formation and Uncle Shiliang, who was constantly looking around while fighting, he pointed a finger and turned his head.
"Mm." The iron armor nodded. "Set your device to sleep, restart it the moment you land, and roll to cushion the impact. You'll land behind your teammates."
"Huh?" Azha uttered blankly.
*Whoosh!* He was flung out—thankfully not slammed.
Flying through the air, Lubi Azha saw Uncle Shiliang's face drawing closer and closer.
Uncle Shiliang saw him too, standing there looking rather bewildered and at a loss.
"Don't catch me!" Azha waved his arms, hit the ground sideways while activating his device, tucked into a ball, and rolled, rolled, rolled, rolled, rolled... popping back up. "Uncle Shiliang."
Uncle Shiliang stared at him. "..."
Azha didn't have time to explain. He quickly glanced back at the rooftop, but under the black night sky, the iron armor had already vanished.
"Did anyone just see a suit of full armor appear over there?" someone asked.
"Yeah... Boss Dao has manifested!" the responder suddenly shouted.
"Boss Dao has manifested!"
"Boss Dao has manifested!"
Rousing cheers spread along the entire length of the long street...
*No, it was a big sister,* Azha argued softly in his heart.
Actually, it might have been a younger sister, but if he got helped by a younger girl in a fight, that would be even more humiliating. Azha held firmly to his conviction: *It's a big sister. Even a young big sister is still a big sister.*
The howling horde of enemies charged again. Lubi Azha rejoined the battle formation and swung his blade.
The year his degree of fusion had been tested, his father had been a bit disappointed, but his mother had said Grade C could be very strong too.
...
The greatest difference between the major factions' second wave of attack and their first was the dispersion of the battlefield; head-on clashes turned into isolated breakthrough melees everywhere.
It seemed people could leap down from every alley and rooftop at any second.
The Wild Band Alliance, following their prearranged battle plan, spread out their formations and held fast to the main street. Even when routing enemies and giving chase, they never pressed too deep.
"Fuck!" Gu Zhazha yelled in regret.
In a moment of rash impulse, his entire formation had pursued only two hundred meters when dense footsteps and the thunder of source energy suddenly came from behind...
They had been flanked from behind. "Right flank wheel and slash, hold the line!" Gu Zhazha urgently shouted in code, while whipping around at top speed himself.
In the fairly wide alleyway, two groups of men held their blades, staring at each other in bewilderment.
"Anilo, what the hell are you doing?!" Gu Zhazha asked, stunned.
Anilo paused for a second as well. Coming to his senses two seconds later, he roared in fury, "Fuck your ancestors! What am I doing?! I'm your fucking ally now! Fuck! I thought you guys were trapped and came to help!"
"...Oh, right." Gu Zhazha gave an apologetic laugh and wiped blood from his face. "During wild drop hunting, our rear was overrun by you guys too many times. Didn't react for a second."
"Glad you know," Anilo grumbled, clearly in the right.
Truth be told, when he had rushed over and seen a mass of exposed backs... he truly had felt an overwhelming urge to charge them.
"Sister-in-law is taking a bath!" Gu Zhazha suddenly yelled again, and his team's formation shifted swiftly.
"Uh, code words. I mean, swap rear to front, head back fast... let's envelop the street from behind." Gu Zhazha turned to explain to Anilo... only to find to his surprise that Anilo's formation had already coordinated and completed the transition to flank on both sides.
"You... understand that?!" Gu Zhazha asked tentatively.
"Uh, yeah... Jin! Apologize to Boss Gu Zhazha. You don't need to be undercover anymore," Anilo said.
A core member beside Gu Zhazha, a black man named Jin, grinned sheepishly to reveal a mouthful of white teeth. "Sorry, Boss... Actually, I've fallen in love with you."
"Fuck off, you..." Gu Zhazha cursed a few times and turned around. "Zola, stop hiding too. You won't need to anymore. Apologize to your boss."
Both formations turned around, abandoning the enemies fleeing down the alley, and wheeled back to envelop the main street.
Han Qingyu watched it all, but didn't stop that group of enemies from escaping. Those people were not his targets... Crouching on a rooftop, he observed, ready at any moment to cut down any enemy experts who broke through.
Right now, however, his attention was drawn to a peculiar enemy formation in an alley.
This forty-man formation shouted war cries that shook the heavens again and again, devices thundering as they charged to the alley mouth, retreated, rushed to one end, and charged to the other... rushing back and forth frantically inside the alley.
Some among them even deliberately cut themselves, smearing blood over their faces and bodies.
Then others came over to borrow their blood.
*Looks like a subordinate faction preserving their strength.* Captivated by the sight, Han Qingyu made his judgment and had no intention of making a move against them.
Just as he prepared to pull back and change positions, a white-bearded foreigner in the alley suddenly looked up. He was the leader of the group.
Just like that, their eyes met, staring at each other in silence as the dim yellow glow of the streetlamp fell across their faces...
Han Qingyu reached for his blade. Though there was no need to kill them, if they wanted to fight, he had no choice.
"Go, go away." The white-bearded foreigner suddenly waved a hand, hoping the other would understand.
So friendly? Han Qingyu was momentarily taken aback. He nodded, turned, and vanished into the night.
Outside, the battle around the entire main street continued unabated, with chaotic clashes raging everywhere.
The second wave of attacks receded... Three hours later, the third wave arrived, though its scale was much smaller... The fourth wave didn't last very long... Shortly before dawn, the fifth wave was beaten back.
Day broke.
A hazy, pale dawn.
On the Third District's main street at dawn, only a single shop was open—that noodle shop. Zhu Jiaming had just picked the lock using a piece of wire he found on the ground, and now he and He Tangtang were boiling noodles. Water bubbled in the iron pot, steam rising.
Aside from this solitary sign of life, the entire street was filled with people sitting on the ground.
Covered in blood and wounds, they leaned exhaustedly against the base of the walls... People from the same band or different wild bands sat together, in groups, in twos and threes.
Some passed cigarettes around, helping each other light up.
Some were bragging about their exploits from the previous night.
Some looked down at the blades in their hands, weeping softly and wiping away tears with their forearms...
Yet when someone came over to pat their shoulders and ask how they were doing, they looked up and smiled again.
"Guess whether they'll come back tonight? ...You think they will, huh? Then I'll take the short end of the stick and bet they won't. How about we bet our entire life savings?!"
Liu Lang went around asking everyone. After this night, his debts had grown a bit larger.
Old Hugh walked over, sat down against the wall next to Han Qingyu, and handed him a cigarette. The reason he sought out Ah Jing was that every time he saw Ah Xi's eyes, they seemed to say: *I don't want to talk to you.*
Besides, Ah Jing looked like the leader of their group.
"Thanks." Han Qingyu took the cigarette and lit it against the flame.
"Cough... ptui." Old Hugh took out his cigarette, spat a mouthful of bloody phlegm, and after a moment's hesitation, said, "Come to think of it, we can be considered to have fought to the death side by side now, right?"
"Yeah." Han Qingyu nodded.
"Whew... Can I ask a question?"
Han Qingyu said, "Sure."
Old Hugh asked, "Ah... you guys, you're really strong, aren't you?"
"A few of us are somewhat strong, I suppose," Han Qingyu said.
"Mm." That was enough. Old Hugh lowered his head, wanting to cheer, yet wanting to cry.
"Can I ask a question too?" Han Qingyu, cigarette between his lips, tilted his head up slightly and suddenly asked without looking at Old Hugh.
"Sure!" Old Hugh became a bit excited all of a sudden.
"Well, Boss Hugh, have you ever been on a blind date? I've always wanted to ask an experienced elder for advice, but I've never met anyone suitable." Han Qingyu was telling the truth; ever since joining Azure, he had hardly met any normal people.
"..." Old Hugh took a moment to compose himself. "I see... No, I've never been on one either."
"Oh."
"What, Ah Jing, you longing for a woman?" Old Hugh turned to glance at the scar on Ah Jing's face, immediately understanding why he would worry about such a thing.
*Actually, in the City of Iniquity, as long as you're strong enough, there's no need to worry about this at all. Women here don't need blind dates anyway... If push comes to shove, after this battle is over, I'll introduce someone to you,* Old Hugh thought.
Han Qingyu said, "There's no rush, really, but reasonably speaking, it feels like something I have to do eventually. My parents will worry, and then those guys are always telling me I don't stand a chance."
"Oh." *He's actually having a heart-to-heart with me, talking about family and relationships?* Old Hugh relaxed, chuckled, and said, "Honestly, when it comes to women, let me tell you—when you don't have one, you feel lonely, but once you do, she becomes a burden..."
No one could have imagined that on the streets after a night of bloody slaughter—on the very first day of the new faction purge—this was what they were talking about.
As the morning light spread on this day, the most sensational news in the City of Iniquity was that the Wild Band Alliance had held their ground.
Chapter 468