January 24
The fighting outside was still going on, though it was nearing its end.
Watching the drone overhead, Miranda quickly reminded Brent not to fire at it.
"That's a friendly unit! Don't shoot it."
The drone wasn't attacking them, and it had flown out from their own house, so it had to be friendly—even if they still had no idea where Xiangzi had gotten something like that in the first place.
Truth be told, Miranda had long since realized there was something mysterious about Xiangzi. That many weapons, that much military-grade gear—there was no way she believed an ordinary high school girl could have gotten hold of all of it. And as for the equipment Xiangzi had been wearing earlier, Miranda had already heard from Brent about it.
Even the Russians hadn't officially fielded that single-soldier combat system yet, so how could it possibly have ended up on a Japanese schoolgirl?
But did that really matter?
Some things were better left alone. As long as it benefited her, that was enough.
Taking advantage of the perfect opening, Miranda shouted for them to surrender. This farce of a battle needed to end.
"Drop your weapons and you'll live!"
"Drop your weapons and you'll live!"
None of the men below trusted surrender propaganda like that. After all, they themselves had used the exact same trick before—luring people into giving up, only to torture and kill them afterward.
But what other choice did they have now?
The weaker side didn't get the luxury of alternatives.
The burning vehicle had already cut off their last route of escape. Everything was over. With their final hope severed, the remaining enemy fighters had no more thoughts of resistance.
Surrender.
They had to surrender.
They couldn't even get words out properly now. Regret filled them so thoroughly it was like they wanted to rip out their own guts and wash them clean.
More than half their armed men were already dead, their leader included. What possible point was there in continuing?
One grenade dropped from a drone had blown apart the lead vehicle. Their ammo supply, their retreat route—gone, all of it.
"We surrender! Please, spare us!"
One man threw down his gun without hesitation. The weapon, already nearly out of ammo, landed heavily in the snow. Then he dropped to his knees.
Once someone took the lead, the others followed almost immediately.
"Do you idiots think we can still survive after what we've done?! Don't surrender!"
There were still holdouts. One of them raised his gun and fired—not at Miranda's group, but at the refugees they had dragged along.
Unfortunately for him, he only managed a few shots before one of his own companions killed him.
From the drone feed inside the house, Xiangzi stared at the screen in surprise.
So they were actually turning on each other now?
Factional conflict? Or something deeper?
That could wait until later. Her body was already recovering fast—at this rate, she'd be able to head outside herself soon enough.
Outside, once the last gunshots died away, the battle was over.
The survivors who had been lying flat on the ground, hiding behind cover, all started kneeling and begging toward the people on the slope above.
Still, Xiangzi's drone continued to circle overhead, observing everything. This ridiculous skirmish, which had lasted less than an hour, had finally come to a close.
Anyone who thought they could hide in the woods and slip away later was quickly discovered by the drone and forced back at gunpoint. One by one, they all ended up as Xiangzi's prisoners.
As for the wounded men who could no longer move, they were pitiful in a different way. Their blood mingled with the snowmelt as they lay there, still barely alive, helplessly waiting for death.
Xiangzi had no intention of saving them.
It was almost laughable. A group that had launched a deliberate ambush against a position defended by only a few exhausted girls—with almost no real fortifications to speak of—had somehow been wiped out without inflicting a single casualty.
"These idiots with guns are even worse than the infected," Brent said. "At least the infected aren't afraid to die."
The attackers had fired well over a thousand rounds during the battle, yet not one of Xiangzi's people had been hit.
In a real battlefield, there were rarely that many flashy, decisive plays. During World War II, it often took tens of thousands of rounds to kill a single soldier. In modern wars, the number could rise into the hundreds of thousands. The United States had spent billions of rounds in places like Afghanistan and Vietnam—how many enemies had that actually killed? Terrain, training, tactics, equipment, intensity of battle—too many factors shaped the outcome.
Still, even by those standards, these likely ex-JSDF men getting beaten so badly by a group of girls—Brent excluded, since she was the only one here with real battlefield experience—was just pathetic.
"Drop everything! Strip off your tactical gear too! Move!"
The rest of Xiangzi's group kept their guns trained on the captives while Miranda and Brent approached carefully to collect the weapons.
"You lot, squat over there! And you people, over there! Don't move!"
At that moment Miranda carried herself with the same stern authority a sheepdog might use to herd a frightened flock.
The defeated sheep practically collapsed under her gaze.
They threw away their weapons one after another and clumsily stripped off their helmets and body armor.
Miranda had no patience left. She was hungry, and these people had interrupted lunch.
Watching them drag things out in slow motion, she finally lost it.
She fired a shot into the air and barked, "Why are you moving so slowly? Want to die? I'm counting to thirty. If you're not squatting with your hands on your heads by then, your heads are coming off!"
"Don't shoot! We're moving! We're moving!"
Under the crack of gunfire, they immediately became much more cooperative. Even the battered gear on the corpses got stripped off and tossed into the pile with the intact equipment.
Then their hands were all bound behind their backs with layer after layer of transparent tape, cutting off any remaining chance of resistance.
As for the five vehicles they had brought with them… those could wait. The last one was already destroyed, and the surrounding mountain forest, plus the wreck blocking the path, had sealed off any hope of driving away.
Now came the interrogations.
They had wisely selected four prisoners to question first: three men and one woman.
Separate interrogations. No opportunity to coordinate stories.
"Talk," Miranda snapped. "Where are you from? Quickly. No dragging this out. If your story doesn't match the others, you'll end up just like the ones lying outside."
"I'll talk! I'll talk! I was forced into this by them—"
One of the armed men stammered his way into a flimsy excuse. It looked ridiculous and false.
Outside, the remaining captives tried desperately to say something to Brent, who was guarding them.
But with their hands taped and their mouths half-frozen, all that came out were strange, panicked noises.
"What's wrong with that one? Stop making noise."
Brent frowned. She could only hear shrill, garbled sounds. It seemed like someone was trying to cause trouble, so she raised her gun and stared them down.
Then she noticed several of the refugees frantically pointing at their mouths and necks.
"I know what they're trying to say," one young girl on the ground suddenly said. "I can explain."
Brent could clearly see the bruises on the girl's face.
Probably from being abused by these men.
"All right. Talk. Uncle Saito, keep an eye on the others. If anything happens, shoot."
"Understood."
In truth, there was no need to worry that much. Xiangzi's drone was still circling overhead, and during the lull it had already returned for a reload. Suspended beneath it now was another thick grenade round.
So Xiangzi could see everything clearly from inside.
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 80)
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 178)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 150)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League ( 126 )
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter110)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter190)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter105)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter222)
Can Playing Games Save the World? 65
Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 77
From Junkman to Wasteland 66
Weekly Refresh of Overpowered 31
I'm Grinding Proficiency Like 46
From Kiana, Lord Ravager, Onwa 190
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 65
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 170
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass Volume2/5
The Way the Umamusume Look at 68
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 215
Naruto: Weaving the Future, Be 65
Zenless Zone Zero, but Kamen R 76
Multiverse Crossover: The Perf 66
My Cyberpsycho Girlfriend 65
Uma Musume: The Dark Trainer 200
Uma Musume: A Calamity Born fr 154
I, a Reincarnation-Loop Player Volume4/30
The Violent Girl Group Is Beat 115
Uma Musume: The Horse Girl Who 67
Uma Musume: From Beginner 130
Becoming a Horse Girl, I Will 85
Uma Musume: I Want All 105
I Can Copy Unique Skills 100
Summoning an Evil God, but the 70
Supernatural Multiverse 90
My Harem Is Indescribable 85
Jujutsu Kaisen: Heroic Spirit 90
"I'm just a Valkyrie passing through." 68
Uma Musume: Today Is Another Romantic Battlefield 81
Still playing traditional Honk 69
The Most Filial Son Under Heav 65
What Should I Do After Switchi - Volume2/3
Reincarnated as a Demon, Skill 60
Hell-Difficulty Dungeon? 55
Transmigrated as Sukuna 61
Checking In in Demon Slayer 65
The Reincarnating Trainer of Tracen Academy 80
I Refuse to Become a Heroic 66
My Best Friend Into a Slime? 58
A Saiyan Stands Above Marvel 65
What Do You Mean by Using a Lab Mod to Be the Hero? 63
Tanya Starts from Re:Zero 59
Why did they assign me to Uma 55
MYGO Beauties 56
DanMachi: Emiya the Giant Hero 45
The Gacha Merchant Who Started 49
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