"It's nothing. You heard wrong."
Wis'adel answered in an even tone, then went right back to studying the symbiotic battle armor.
You Yi: Yep. That's the familiar taste.
She reached out and rapped her knuckles against the armor plate.
Thunk. Thunk.
The sound was dull and heavy, the texture hard and solid—nothing like something that had grown out of that soft symbiotic suit.
Then she recalled the way You Yi had been so full of confidence about the battle armor. She found a dagger, put all her strength into it, and drove it hard into the plate on her forearm.
Clang!
The dagger bounced away, numbing her hand from the shock, while the armor plate didn't even have a scratch on it.
Wis'adel's eyes lit up. She was extremely satisfied with its durability.
At last, she lowered her head and carefully looked over the pitch-black armor covering her body.
Dark red patterns traced the edges of the plates in exactly the right places. The lines were fitted and elegant, making her figure look slender without seeming frail.
No matter how she looked at it, Wis'adel found it incredibly pleasing to the eye.
Over the next few days, she couldn't get enough of the symbiotic battle armor, while You Yi kept refining his Originium cannon.
At first, it seemed as though life would go on peacefully.
Until one day, several different groups suddenly started picking fights with her.
That day, Wis'adel headed to the rocky training grounds as usual.
Not long after leaving the settlement, You Yi's voice suddenly sounded in her mind.
"The two on the left. Something's off."
Wis'adel didn't break stride, only sweeping a glance their way out of the corner of her eye.
Two young Sarkaz, probably just past twenty, dressed in ordinary mercenary gear, were approaching her from the side.
In this settlement, most of the transient population were mercenaries, so unfamiliar faces weren't unusual.
And yet, although they looked like they were simply passing through, the symbiotic suit's heightened perception made it impossible to miss the slightly too-rapid rhythm of their breathing and heartbeats.
"Looks like they're here for you," You Yi concluded.
Wis'adel said nothing and kept walking, pretending not to notice.
The two men drew closer and closer, seemingly by accident.
Then, at the instant they passed her—
One of them suddenly drew a blade and slashed for her neck, while the other lunged from the opposite side, dagger thrusting straight toward her lower back.
Their coordination was smooth and decisive. Every move was meant to kill.
And yet—
Clang!
The blade struck Wis'adel's shoulder and rang out sharply.
The young mercenary froze.
Eyes wide, he looked at the sword in his hand—now buzzing painfully from the recoil—then looked at the shoulder he had just struck.
At some point, black armor had already covered it.
The edge had struck it without leaving even the faintest white mark.
He stared in disbelief.
"What the hell…"
But before he could finish speaking, a dark red energy bolt pierced straight through his forehead.
His mouth moved soundlessly, and then he fell backward.
The other one, who had missed his stab and was just regaining his footing, didn't even have time to react before a second energy bolt punched through his chest. He collapsed and didn't move again.
Wis'adel lowered her hand and glanced at the armored plate on her shoulder.
Not even a scratch.
Inside her mind, You Yi complained, "Couldn't you at least dodge?"
"Why would I?" Wis'adel replied. "He couldn't break my defense anyway. Better to save the effort."
Even the way she phrased it had started to drift under You Yi's influence.
He wanted to say that making a habit of that wasn't a good idea, but every time he tried to lecture her she complained that he talked too much.
"So long as you're happy."
The second group to come after her was an out-of-town mercenary squad.
Five people, all veterans, all knowing how to work together.
They knew which rocky area Wis'adel usually trained in, so they lay in ambush there ahead of time. The moment she entered the trap zone, they opened fire from three different directions.
And then they discovered that the brat was gone.
Every shot missed.
Wis'adel flickered between cover like a shadow, so fast it was like watching an afterimage. Every barrel angle, every tiny tell before a trigger pull, was caught by You Yi in advance and fed straight back into her body.
She didn't even bother with full armor. She relied purely on movement to avoid the shots, raising a hand only to fire back.
Bang!
A mercenary who had just poked his head out from behind cover had his skull blown apart.
Bang!
Another one trying to shift positions took a bolt straight through the chest.
A few minutes later, five bodies lay scattered among the rocks.
Wis'adel stood atop a large boulder, looking down at the corpses below, her brow faintly furrowed.
"How many groups is that today?"
"This isn't right."
She jumped down from the boulder.
"In the last two days, more people have come after me than in the whole month before."
You Yi had noticed it too. "You offended somebody? Any idea who?"
"No."
The third group came that very night.
Wis'adel lay on her bed of soft fiber padding, breathing evenly, sleeping deeply, as though she were completely defenseless.
But in reality, You Yi was awake on her body the entire time. Nothing within fifty meters escaped his senses, which was exactly why Wis'adel had been getting such good sleep every night.
And now, footsteps were approaching.
Very light.
More than one person.
On the roof. By both windows. Outside the door.
You Yi sounded amused.
"Four-sided encirclement. Pretty professional."
He didn't wake Wis'adel.
Instead, he quietly took control of the body and blocked off her senses.
The first man came in through the window—
And in the darkness, a black hand was already around his throat.
Crack.
His neck snapped instantly. You Yi lowered the body gently to the ground without making a sound.
The second man pushed half his head through the doorway—
And was met by a fist head-on.
Bang.
The third dropped in from the roof, but before he even landed, an energy bolt had already pierced his chest.
The fourth sensed something was wrong and turned to run, only for one hand to clamp over his mouth from behind while another seized the back of his head.
"Nighty-night."
Crack.
Blood sprayed the wall.
The whole thing took less than two minutes.
You Yi dragged the last corpse outside and stacked it with the others, then dusted off his hands and admired his handiwork with satisfaction.
"Perfect."
He had just been about to lie back down in control of Wis'adel's body when he suddenly felt that now-familiar emotion surge from her again, telling him she was awake.
That emotion had been appearing more and more often lately.
Because it was too complicated—not a simple joy, anger, sorrow, or delight—he still couldn't tell exactly what it was.
All he knew was that whatever it was, it provided energy that lasted far longer than her usual emotional fluctuations.
As a result, he barely even needed to tease her emotions on purpose anymore.
"Go back to sleep. I'm here."
You Yi said it casually.
Wis'adel said nothing, but that emotion grew even stronger.
The next morning, Wis'adel went straight to the tavern.
When she pushed open the door, there were more people inside than usual. A few mercenaries she recognized gave her odd looks, while more covert glances drifted her way from around the room.
She ignored them and went straight to the bar.
"The usual. A cup of water."
The barkeep glanced at her and turned to pour it.
He was a middle-aged Sarkaz with graying hair and a deeply lined face, the kind of look that said he'd spent decades living on the edge of a blade.
Most noticeable was his left hand.
The index finger was gone. Only four fingers remained curled around the cup.
He slid the water toward her and said quietly,
"Lot of people have been looking for you lately, haven't they?"
Wis'adel picked up the cup but didn't drink.
"You know about it?"
The barkeep flicked a glance around the room, then lowered his voice.
"There's a bounty on you."
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