Lin Qingyue looked at Xia Lian, her eyes filled with complete trust.
"Xia Lian, I'm leaving the bait to you."
"No need for a big commotion, just enough to lure down one patrol squad from the sky."
"Understood."
Without a moment's hesitation, Xia Lian nodded to the others. Her figure vanished like a wisp of invisible green smoke, melting into the deep shadows of the canyon.
Lin Qingyue and the other two quickly found their ambush positions at the narrowest point of Thread of Sky Canyon.
Lin Xiyue planted her greatshield, Blackstone's Protection, diagonally in front of her. She crouched low, her solid frame merging seamlessly with the cold rock wall.
She would be the first and most impenetrable barrier.
Su Wan stood on a higher rock platform. She perfectly concealed the faint glow from the Heart of Winter around her neck, transforming herself into a breathless ice sculpture.
Her mission was to completely seal off the sky above the canyon once the enemy entered, cutting off their escape route.
Lin Qingyue was the most casual of them all.
She leaned lazily against a massive boulder and even let out a yawn, as if the impending performance were just an insignificant play.
Time ticked by, second by second.
Only the mournful wail of the wind echoed between the canyon walls.
About ten minutes later.
A deep and distinctive engine roar, growing louder as it approached, bore down from the sky above the canyon.
They're here!
Lin Xiyue tightened her grip on the shield's handle, her breathing slowing slightly.
Three massive Steam Magitech Mecha, in a standard "品"-shaped formation, were descending.
Their appearance was a grotesque fusion of flesh and steel.
Bronze armor was studded with thick rivets and crisscrossing brass pipes. White steam hissed from their joints, mixed with the acrid stench of machine oil.
The single searchlight on each mecha's chest suddenly flared to life, casting two stark white beams that sliced through the canyon's gloom, sweeping coldly back and forth below.
The bait had worked.
Xia Lian hadn't created an explosion.
She had simply used a polished metal plate to precisely reflect the skylight at a fleeting angle.
That faint glint, however, was glaringly impossible to ignore in the mechas' detection systems.
To these cold machines executing the "Extermination Protocol," any unauthorized light was heresy that must be eliminated.
"Abnormal energy reflection detected... Suspected... Professional equipment..."
"Coordinates... Nameless Canyon, central region..."
"Lower altitude, begin sweep. Third Squad, maintain vigilance."
A cold, synthesized voice echoed through the canyon, devoid of any emotional fluctuation.
The three mechas retracted their steam-powered gliding wings and slammed their heavy metal bodies onto the ground.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
The hard rock ground was smashed into three shallow craters, kicking up a cloud of dust and smoke.
They strode forward with heavy steps, their searchlight beams tearing through the darkness ahead, stepping into the ambush circle one by one.
Fifty meters.
Thirty meters.
Ten meters.
The moment the lead mecha's torso entered the death trap, Su Wan struck!
"Winter, Seal Everything Here!"
There was no chanting.
She simply tapped the ground lightly with her staff.
Woom—!
A bone-chillingly cold current erupted from her, blasting outward!
Above the canyon, the moisture in the air was instantly drained and frozen!
A despairingly thick Ice Wall materialized at the canyon's top, completely sealing off the sky!
Not only that, but a terrifyingly low-temperature field enveloped the entire area.
The air temperature plummeted instantly. Thick white frost formed on the mechas' scorching pipes, and even the steam they vented solidified into ice crystals mid-air, rustling as they fell.
This sudden turn of events caused the three mechas to freeze abruptly.
"Warning! We're under ambush!"
"Ambient temperature dropping abnormally! Steam engine efficiency down 7%!"
"Unable to ascend! Flight path blocked!"
Harsh alarms blared frantically inside the mechas.
Almost simultaneously, their single-eye searchlights swiveled, and three beams of light locked precisely onto Su Wan on the rock platform!
"Target acquired! Elemental Mage!"
"Executing... Extermination Protocol!"
Without hesitation, the alchemical cannons on the three mechas' chests flashed red, and the multi-barreled rotary machine guns on their arms began to spin up frantically.
However, at this tense moment...
Lin Qingyue silently recited in her mind.
"System, use Lynette Character Card!"
A brilliant light, woven from deep blue and shadow, instantly engulfed Lin Qingyue.
It wasn't light; it was the night itself, gently wrapping her in its embrace.
Her simple Priest's robe was tailored and reshaped by unseen hands within the shadows.
An elegant dress, a white blouse paired with a black short skirt, quietly materialized, adorned with gold accessories and a blue sash.
Black-gray stockings encased a pair of long, slender legs, and her pink hair automatically braided itself into two cute cat ears atop her head.
A faint, ethereal cat tail swayed gently behind her, carrying a hint of mischief.
Immediately after, in the three mechas' cold electronic eyes, that iconic, massive virtual projection screen made another grand appearance above the battlefield's center!
The screen lit up.
A cheerful tune blasted through the entire canyon, causing Xia Lian, hidden in the shadows, to instinctively cover her face and Su Wan, on the high platform, to twitch her lips!
A line of vibrant, colorful artistic text bounced playfully to the center of the screen.
[Deng-Deng Swift-Sound]
On the screen, a chibi version of Lin Qingyue burst out of an exploding rock, accompanied by an infectious electronic beat...
It's here!
It's here again, again, and again!
Lin Xiyue, shield raised, peeked half her head out from behind a rock wall on the other side, her expression a mix of "I knew it" anticipation and helpless resignation at the sheer absurdity.
The light faded.
When Lin Qingyue reappeared, her entire aura had completely transformed.
If her "Jingliu" form was a solitary, peerless weapon of destruction, then she was now an elegant Phantom Thief gliding through the night, a mysterious Magician about to take the stage.
Languid, graceful, and with a hint of feline cunning.
The only problem was that Lynette was a slender girl, and her outfit, on Lin Qingyue's ridiculously curvaceous figure...
Even if the fabric length self-adjusted, the bodice was stretched into a heart-stopping curve. That snowy-white valley, in the dim canyon, practically radiated its own Holy Light.
"Welcome."
Lin Qingyue smiled and walked out from behind the giant rock.
Facing the three cold war machines, she elegantly performed a curtsy.
"You three tin cans, are you ready to enjoy a spectacular magic show?"
"Lock onto new target! Pink hair! High-threat unit!"
"Fire!"
The cold command was given.
A deadly barrage of bullets instantly descended.
Lin Qingyue felt a new power surging within her, along with a strange instinct.
She looked at the steel behemoths before her, her eyes seeing no data, no structural analysis, only the intuition of an artist.
She instinctively knew where to place her "divine stroke" to bring this "performance" to a perfect, most magnificent, and most unbelievable conclusion.
"The show... begins."
In the next instant, her figure moved.
[Enigmatic Shadow Step]!
Lin Qingyue's form blurred into an uncatchable black shadow, weaving at high speed through the dense bullet rain.
Her movement trajectory completely defied the laws of physics.
It wasn't evasion.
Those deadly alchemical bullets, like perfectly coordinated props in a stage play, voluntarily parted to clear a path for the star of the show.
They always grazed past the afterimage she left a second ago by a margin of millimeters, unable to even touch the hem of her clothes.
She wasn't dodging death.
She was dancing an elegant and deadly waltz in the gaps between death itself.