Chapter One: Encounter—He Fired a Shot at Her

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Eastern Continent, Sand City.

The sunlight was blinding.

The air was stifling, the sun blazing mercilessly over the abandoned buildings. This was the most barren, desolate region of the East, a place torn by warring factions, littered with corpses, the stench of death everywhere.

Several brown military pickups rumbled through a sandstorm, coming to a halt beneath a cluster of derelict towers. As the view shifted, the heat only intensified.

“Captain, they’ve arrived.” A low, magnetic voice buzzed through the earpiece. The sound of vehicles rolling over sand was clear, but no one knew just how many forces hid within these deserted ruins.

“Mm.” The response was deep, carrying an undeniable authority.

The atmosphere was still, the temperature climbing. Cold sweat slid down the man’s face, his pale knuckles tightening around his weapon, black eyes calm and cold.

At that moment, a car door opened. Under the neat watch of several dozen black-clad attendants outside the decrepit building, a slender figure in black stepped out. Her skin was fair, unlike those born in this region. She pressed her lips together, her dark hair tousled by the wind and sand, a black chiffon scarf covering most of her face, revealing only a pair of cool, clear eyes that glanced briefly toward the distant high-rise.

Then a resounding voice called out, “Greetings, Miss!” Their expressions were solemn, suits immaculate. The moment the girl emerged, they greeted her in unison—a scene so imposing it seemed to swallow all else.

Shen Zhaoxi withdrew her gaze from the abandoned buildings opposite, her eyes deep and inscrutable, lips curling into a faint smile. With a glint of amusement, she looked at the crowd.

“What’s the point of all this shouting?” Her low, gentle voice betrayed no emotion, the wind carrying grains of sand that teased her soft black hair.

The noise had annoyed her.

“Bring everyone up to me.”

Shen Zhaoxi slid on her sunglasses, lips twitching, and spoke to her attendant.

“Yes, miss!” the black-clad men replied in chorus.

Only when she led her people into the derelict building did the sniper’s red laser dot finally shift away from her face.

It felt as though a moment’s hesitation would have sent a bullet tearing through her skull, blood spraying.

“This young lady of the W Group—why would she come to Sand City? Captain, it seems this place truly hides quite a few shady dealings of the W International Group.”

They had infiltrated Sand City to collect evidence of W Group’s crimes. But three days prior, disaster struck—their advance team was ambushed; two comrades were captured.

“Captain, they’ve gone inside. Should we—?”

Chen Yu, who’d been watching the abandoned building intently, spoke up.

This city was drenched in sand, noon heat pressing down, waves of heat stinging their faces as if to peel away a layer of skin.

Sweat soaked their clothes, even their hands slick on their weapons.

“No rush,” the man replied coolly, black eyes sharp, bony fingers gripping his gun tight.

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His gaze settled on the fourth floor of the derelict building—heavily guarded, all unfinished steel and concrete, not a hint of decoration.

His subordinates had already brought the captives from the prior days before Shen Zhaoxi.

“From Y Country?”

A faint smile played on Shen Zhaoxi’s lips as her eyes swept over the four or five men in black uniforms, finally settling on one in a special black outfit.

A short, derisive laugh escaped her.

Such attire was unique to the Yunzhou Empire’s military special forces—and Y was Yunzhou’s abbreviation.

She leaned back against the sofa, languid and unhurried, removing her sunglasses to size up the man before her.

“Miss, it’s him. We interrogated him nonstop for three days—every torture we know, he endured—but he still refuses to talk!” Stubborn to the core.

“Is that so?” Shen Zhaoxi gave a soft, amused smile.

His body was covered in blood, hardly a patch of unbroken skin on his arms—yet he gritted his teeth and held on. Indeed, a hard man.

“But in my experience, there are no mouths that can’t be pried open—only the dead, who cannot speak.”

Suddenly, she approached.

Leaning in slightly, she murmured, “Tell me your identity, your origins, and what you and your companions are doing in Sand City, hmm?”

She raised her hand, slowly gripping the man’s jaw. Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth, the light in her eyes darkening.

“This way, you’ll suffer less.”

Her expression was gentle, her voice low, her clear eyes unruffled, lips pressed together, skin as pale as frost beneath the sun.

The man looked up and caught a glimpse of the tattoo winding around her neck—like a spider lily blooming fiercely in the desert.

It tangled along her fair throat, a fusion of cold allure and wild beauty.

“Not willing to talk?” Catching his expression, Shen Zhaoxi raised an eyebrow, puzzled.

“Bitch, if you’ve got the guts, kill us!” an angry curse erupted beside her as she interrogated, her icy gaze shifting to the speaker.

“Stop putting on a show—scaring me won’t work! I wasn’t raised to cower!”

Shen Zhaoxi’s eyes grew distant, as though lost in thought.

Her fingers paused.

Her gentle gaze cooled, leaving only a bone-deep chill that seeped into the soul.

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Unbothered, Shen Zhaoxi smiled and asked, “You’re comrades, aren’t you?”

As she spoke, she took a knife from a subordinate, the blade immediately pressed to the throat of the man who’d just cursed her, a sneer on her lips.

“Same uniforms, badges removed in advance, sneaking onto someone else’s turf and afraid of being recognized—seems Y Country’s special forces aren’t all that impressive, are they?”

“What did you say? You—” The insult wasn’t finished.

The man glared, visibly enraged, about to curse when Shen Zhaoxi’s eyes went cold—sharp as an ice dagger.

A sudden scream broke out, blood spurting forth—the knife plunged into the man’s chest, just below the ribs, near the heart.

“Captain!” Through the sniper scope, Chen Yu’s face tensed in panic as he turned to the man beside him.

If they didn’t act soon, their captured comrades would die.

“As I recall, half a month ago a Y Country special unit slipped into Sand City, hoping to gather evidence from this experimental base to use as bargaining chips in the Eastern Continent peace talks. And the members of that team included you, didn’t they?”

The Eastern Continent lay between the East and Y Country—a vast territory, with Sand City as one of its border outposts.

Here, war, robbery, shootings, murder, and arson were commonplace.

Sand City belonged to W Group, just a small part of the transnational corporation’s holdings.

Shen Zhaoxi smiled.

At her signal, several men in sterile white lab coats crouched and injected a prepared serum from a coded case into the wounded captive, who weakly asked, “What are you doing?”

“Shh.” Shen Zhaoxi put a finger to her lips.

Her crimson smile curved beautifully, enchanting by nature yet exuding an undeniable aura of menace.

“Of course, I’m letting you taste for yourself the marvel our research base developed—the very thing your country risked so much to investigate.”

“It’s said to be pure bliss.”

Her words trailed off, her tone soft and coy, almost teasing.

Yet as the light shifted over her, the smile froze on her lips.

Bang!

Suddenly—

A gunshot shattered the silence of the abandoned Sand City ruins. Shen Zhaoxi frowned as blood began to drip, one drop after another.

She lowered her head and looked to her chest.