SES Chapter 190 Part 2

She didn’t answer. Her eyes were cold, her face expressionless as she stepped inside, turned around, closed the door, and locked it. Then she flicked her wrist, tossing the key through a gap in the chain-link fence. It clattered to the ground with a sharp metallic sound.

“Where’s Mu Dai?”

Still no answer. She spun the serpentine knife in her hand. The handle was inlaid with gold, gleaming against the silver flash of the blade.

Luo Ren smiled. “What, not even a few words?”

A sudden ferocity flared in Leopard’s eyes. She lunged forward two steps. Luo Ren retreated instinctively, thinking she was attacking head-on—but before her momentum ended, she suddenly angled her body, stepped onto the chain-link fence, and launched herself more than two meters into the air. From above, blade angled downward, she plunged straight toward his neck.

Luo Ren twisted away. At the same time, he spun and grabbed her shoulders with both hands, hurling her viciously toward the ground.

She was incredibly fast. The moment her back hit the floor, she sprang up again, flipping midair and driving the knife toward his lower abdomen. Luo Ren showed no mercy—he kicked her squarely in the hipbone, sending her flying into the chain-link fence.

But she absorbed the force beautifully. One hand caught the fencing as her body rolled upward. With a powerful kick and flip, she planted both feet firmly against the mesh, one hand gripping the top—like some kind of wall-crawling spider.

A strange thought flashed through Luo Ren’s mind: Leopard’s lightness and agility were incredible.

A true clash between experts—even a single exchange—put every nerve on edge. But judging by the timing, the stimulant had taken effect. He didn’t feel tired. He couldn’t feel pain from his wounds. Instead, he was intensely exhilarated.

Second round.

The leopard attacked again from above, diving with full force. Luo Ren stepped back and slashed upward with his dagger. In midair, she actually curled her body to avoid the blade, then extended a long arm to hook his shoulder. Like a nimble ape, she slipped under his arm, clamped one hand around his arm, and with the other drove the serpentine knife straight toward his throat.

Luo Ren reacted just as fast. He fell backward. With an ordinary blade, he would have escaped unscathed—but the serpentine knife undulated, and one curved edge sliced a shallow cut across his neck.

Furious, Luo Ren rolled up from the ground. His legs scissored around her calf, and he twisted hard to the side. As she fell, he stabbed straight at her. Leopard couldn’t evade in time—she barely twisted her body, and the dagger tore down from her collarbone.

She cried out in pain and kicked hard into his abdomen, using the force to slide free. Luo Ren felt no pain at all. He rose, dagger in hand.

Across from him, Leopard hauled herself upright using the fence.

Her wound was deeper than his. Blood streamed down, dripping onto the ground like small blooming crimson flowers.

It was strange. The serpentine knife’s handle had that triangular, serrated guard—meant to protect the wrist and trap an opponent’s blade in close combat.

Why hadn’t she used it just now? It was as if she didn’t even know the weapon had that function.

A faint, cloudlike doubt drifted through his mind.

But there was no time to think. The third round began.

This time, they charged straight at each other.

It was impossible to say who was attacking and who was defending. All he remembered was that at the instant they collided, Luo Ren’s mind spun sharply. He sidestepped and flashed behind her, one hand slamming down on her shoulder, the other clamping her throat.

She grabbed his arm with both hands and wrenched downward, trying to throw him over her shoulder. Realizing midway that she lacked the strength, she kicked off the chain-link fence beside them, her body rising as she ran three steps up the mesh, clearly trying to break free.

Luo Ren had already anticipated this. Almost mimicking her move, he planted his feet against the fence as well, flipped halfway, and used his own weight to slam her brutally into the ground.

As they fell, he could almost hear the dull impact of her bones hitting the floor.

It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Luo Ren didn’t hesitate. One hand locked both her wrists. His knee crushed down on her legs. With the other hand, he flipped the dagger so the blade pressed against her throat.

Opportunity wouldn’t come again. Luo Ren gritted his teeth and stared at her fiercely for several seconds, images flickering through his mind like a film reel.

—Tasha, sweet and shy, cheeks flushed, saying softly, “I’m Daddy’s youngest daughter. Kings and queens always love the youngest child the most.”

—Euris splashing excitedly in the water, shouting, “Luo, I’m a black fish! In China, black fish are very valuable, right?”

—Aoki yelling at him, “Nine lives! Luo! Nine lives!”

Luo Ren’s vision blurred. He tightened his grip on the dagger. His hand sank—

And then, suddenly, he froze.

He saw that Leopard—one eye uncovered by the blindfold—was slowly filling with tears.

She was crying.

He had seen this scene somewhere before.

Luo Ren’s whole body began to tremble. In a lightning flash, that cool night surfaced in his mind—the forest, Mu Dai’s tears dripping onto the hand that held his knife.

His Adam’s apple bobbed. The next second, almost uncontrollably, he tore off her blindfold.

Her other eye was also filled with tears—clear, bright.

No. How could this be?

Overwhelming fear and lingering dread surged together with wild joy. Luo Ren’s hands shook as he fumbled at her neck and behind her ears. Something was perfectly fitted to her face—a molded facial mask. He found the edge and tore it away violently.

A low, eerie female laugh echoed through the factory, amplified by speakers, circling the empty space so that its source couldn’t be pinpointed.

The voice said, “Kill him.”

The moment the words fell, the Mu Dai beneath him turned fierce. She shot an arm up and clamped it around Luo Ren’s throat.

Luo Ren rolled away. When he got back to his feet, she was already standing. She reached up and slowly smoothed her hair. In her other hand, she held the serpentine knife.

“Mu Dai?”

She didn’t answer. She only spun the knife once more in her hand.