Book 4: Chapter 9: Fairy Tale Maiden

“What is it?” Grant was slightly taken aback. His eyesight couldn’t compare to Qin Lun’s. Even with a bright moon and countless stars in the sky, he couldn’t see very far.

“Let’s go quickly! Someone’s coming!” Qin Lun hesitated for a moment. He could see clearly, but precisely because he saw clearly, the situation seemed quite strange.

Grant nodded. Being in a dangerous place, it was always better to be cautious. Besides, even if he wasn’t afraid of bullets, recovering required Mana Value, so he wasn’t truly immortal.

“It’s no good, her speed is faster than ours. We can’t escape far like this!” After running for more than ten minutes, Qin Lun instead stopped. He noticed that the figure behind them had gotten closer.

“Her? It’s a woman? Since she runs faster than us, she must be a Superpowered Being!” Grant’s expression turned grim.

Judging by the standards of the Gentlemen Alliance, the Allied Forces’ Superpowered Beings probably wouldn’t be too weak. Even if he and Qin Lun teamed up, they likely didn’t have much chance of escaping unscathed.

Qin Lun raised his head and stared at the small, agile figure behind them. He spoke calmly, “I think I somewhat understand the message Skorzeny sent now!”

“Green?” Grant’s heart stirred. He suddenly turned to look at Lin Feng behind them.

“His body isn’t enhanced. Even if used as bait, he wouldn’t lure her far!” Qin Lun glanced sideways and understood Grant’s thought. “Even if the person behind us doesn’t have super eyesight, they probably have high-tech equipment like infrared night vision goggles. Unless we two split up too, none of us will escape.”

“I don’t really like running away from women, especially with only a 50% survival chance!” Grant grinned, a trace of madness flashing in his pupils. “Qin Lun, how about staying and playing a game with her!”

“Heh, alright!” Qin Lun nodded. He turned and threw his modified Kar98k sniper rifle to Lin Feng. “Hide farther away and use this gun to interfere with the enemy. Don’t worry about hitting us; use armor-piercing rounds!”

“Probably he’ll take this chance to run away, right?” Grant watched Lin Feng’s back and sneered. “I thought you would retreat to a distance and support me with the sniper rifle!”

“I will support you, of course, but not with the sniper rifle!” Qin Lun took out an FN-500 from his Storage Space and waved it. This strangely styled hand cannon naturally didn’t look like a Luger Pistol in the eyes of an Apostle.

“Dark Gold Firearm? Do you plan to use the skill you used against Giant Leo?” Grant looked at Qin Lun warily. That skill was indeed impressive. Even Skorzeny and Wurdenbeller felt tremendous danger at that time.

“Mm! However, this skill requires collecting a lot of the enemy’s physical information. I need you to hold on for at least five minutes!” Qin Lun nodded slowly and spoke calmly. “Can you do it?”

“Five minutes?” Grant took a deep breath and said cautiously, “Fine, five minutes it is! If you don’t make a move after five minutes, I’ll surrender to the Allied Forces’ Superpowered Being. I won’t block the enemy for you anymore. Anyway, even if we fail this mission, we only lose 55 points of Soul Lifespan!”

“Enough!” Qin Lun gave a faint smile. He stepped into the darkness, leaving Grant alone on the spot.

…

“Oh? Did your companions hide?” Soon, the figure following Qin Lun and the others appeared before Grant. “It’s useless, you know! As soon as they appear, this thing can see them!” The figure tilted its head and tapped the infrared night vision goggles on its face with a finger.

“A little girl in a red cloak?” When the figure came closer, Grant could also see the enemy clearly by the moonlight. His face immediately showed a strange expression. He suddenly understood why Qin Lun had been vague earlier and what Skorzeny meant by “Green.”

“Green” referred to the Green Fairy Tales! The cute girl before him, wearing a red hooded cloak, a red dress with leggings, and red cotton boots, looked very much like Little Red Riding Hood from the Green Fairy Tales.

“I know I’m cute, but I’m not Little Red Riding Hood!” The little girl lifted her hood, revealing her shoulder-length red hair, and twitched her cute, upturned nose slightly. “Because our images resemble characters from the Green Fairy Tales, some people call us Fairy Tale Maidens or Green Hunters!”

“Liv Gorman pays her respects!” The red-haired girl smiled sweetly and bowed, not seeming constrained at all. “If you give up resistance, I promise I won’t harm you!”

“Haha, I have my own judgment about the word ‘cute’!” Grant laughed heartily. “My standards are very strict. I wonder if you qualify!”

The girl slightly frowned her delicate, willow-like eyebrows. As a Green Hunter, although she was young, she had been fighting dark creatures for years and possessed very sharp intuition. The burly German man opposite gave her a vaguely dangerous feeling.

“Well then… forgive my rudeness!” The girl smiled sweetly, a charming smile blooming on her face. Her hands reached behind her back and pulled out a strange red firearm.

This firearm didn’t belong to any type of individual combat weapon developed by the Allied Forces or the Axis powers. It looked more like several gun barrels clustered together like a Gatling gun, or perhaps a folded three-section staff, no, a multi-section staff!

“Rat-a-tat-tat!” A crisp sound, like that of a typewriter, rang out immediately. It was much softer than the sound of a normal machine gun. Clouds of dust rose in front of Grant, almost obscuring his vision.

The Dissector’s judgment was wrong. The enemy was actually a long-range attacker like him! While surprised, Grant also moved, starting to zigzag as he closed in on his opponent.

Several blood flowers bloomed on Grant’s body as he swiftly maneuvered, causing him great pain. At the same time, the Joker confirmed that the opponent’s strange firearm didn’t use physical bullets but rather something like shockwave air bullets.

“Air bullets, and fire element bullets… This is a Magic Element type firearm!”

After confirming the power of the bullets, Grant stopped zigzagging to dodge. He only used his arms to protect his head and face and charged directly at the red-haired girl. As long as the bullets couldn’t sever his limbs, his Parasitic Virus Bloodline could withstand them unilaterally.

After paying the price of being covered in blood, he finally got close to the red-haired girl. With a sweep of his right hand, a large, gleaming machete suddenly appeared in his grasp. He swung it down fiercely towards her head.

“Clang!” Liv Gorman slightly curled the corners of her mouth and blocked the machete with her strange cannon. In the darkness, sparks illuminated both their faces simultaneously.

“Heh heh!” Grant grinned ferociously. He could feel that her strength wasn’t great, so he immediately increased the downward pressure. However, by the light of the sparks, he saw the teasing expression on the red-haired girl’s face. His heart suddenly sank, and a bad premonition arose.

“Whoosh!” The strange cannon suddenly opened up like a peacock spreading its tail. Its sides and bottom instantly flipped out and folded forward, transforming into a Death Scythe commonly seen in myths. However, the part where the scythe connected to the handle still had cannon barrels, and the rear part of the handle had a huge trigger and a scope. It was a crescent scythe combined with a giant sniper rifle.

The red-haired girl leaned back slightly and swung the giant gun-scythe with both hands. In a series of flashing sparks, the scythe slid down along the machete like a red lightning bolt, aiming to slash Grant’s waist.

A trace of hesitation appeared on Grant’s face. In that split second, he gritted his teeth and chose not to dodge. Instead, he placed his left hand over his right, putting more force into the downward chop. The machete barely grazed past the girl’s face, striking her chest a fraction faster than the red scythe.

“Screech!” The machete made a harsh sound against the girl’s chest, sparks flying everywhere. Little Red Riding Hood Liv’s red dress was actually woven from metal wires of unknown properties. Its defensive power was astonishing, clearly impossible for Grant to cut through with one slash.

The Joker’s face turned pale. The image of himself being bisected at the waist by Little Red Riding Hood already appeared in his mind. Even with his bloodline’s recovery power, he probably couldn’t avoid serious injury and losing his combat ability. Their exchange had lasted only an instant, definitely not five minutes yet. Now it depended on whether Qin Lun would save him.

“Bang!” A gunshot rang out appropriately. The sound of metal impact showed that the bullet had precisely hit the scythe’s massive blade. Grant only saw the girl’s figure shudder, and her movement halted momentarily. A cold glint flashed in Grant’s eyes. Instead of retreating, he advanced, spreading his arms wide and lunging towards the red-haired girl.

“Was that your companion making a move? On my way here, I saw his Kar98k sniper rifle. It’s truly a fine gun!”

The red-haired girl had known there were three enemies all along and didn’t expect to take down one opponent with that single strike just now. She chuckled lightly and leaped up, performing a flip in the air. The red Death Scythe swiftly circled around her body, tracing a beautiful circular arc, once again aiming for Grant’s neck.

“Clang!” Grant had no choice but to block the scythe with his machete and used the force to jump back. However, hearing the girl’s teasing, a feeling of shame and anger rose within him. Qin Lun hadn’t saved him; the one who saved him was that Lin Feng whom he had just mocked.

“Hahaha, you really are cute!” Grant’s face quickly turned red, then pale. Suddenly, he bent over, clutching his stomach and laughing heartily. A trace of madness gleamed in his eyes, unseen by anyone. “I’ve changed my mind. How can I leave such a cute girl to the Dissector! I need you. You will be my most precious collection!”

Grant slowly took out a grayish-white mask from his chest and put it on his face. This mask somewhat resembled leather, its surface fine and smooth, as if sewn together from countless pieces of ragged cloth. These fragments were very small, each almost only the size of a fingernail.

The entire mask didn’t seem completely finished. Starting from below the tip of the nose, a small part of Grant’s face was still visible.

After putting on this mask, Grant seemed to undergo a complete change in demeanor, becoming gentle and quiet. He straightened his upper body, placed one hand behind his back, and pressed the other against his chest. He bowed towards the red-haired girl.

“Beautiful and lovely guest, the Joker is at your service!”