Villain? No, I'll catch up with the protagonist after passing the civil service exam.

Sunlight streamed through the huge double-pane windows, warming the light-colored carpet.

The aroma of Swedish meatballs and hot dogs still lingered in the air. A cleaning lady pushed her cleaning cart leisurely past in the nearby aisle.

Everything had that ordinary, everyday weekend vibe.

Lu Jingyan stood two meters away from the sofa. He had just pulled his hand out of the pocket of his gray sweater.

His thin lips parted slightly. The word of compromise hadn't yet been uttered.

The gaps in the movement of the gaze.

A full-length mirror was embedded in the door of the light wood-colored wardrobe next to it. The mirror was so smooth that it reflected one's image.

A red dot, smaller than a soybean, swayed half an inch in the reflection at the edge of the mirror.

The light was dim, almost blending into the harsh afternoon sunlight.

But it was just that one ten-thousandth of a second.

Lu Jingyan's muscles suddenly tensed. The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end.

There is no system, no high-dimensional perception.

This body, which had survived countless battles and bullets, reacted with the most savage physical response, honed by instincts forged on the brink of life and death.

The right ankle suddenly exerted force.

The black leather shoes scraped against the composite wood floor with a sharp, screeching sound, leaving a black rubber mark.

He was like a lurking cheetah, his back arched, pouncing forward.

"Get down!"

His voice was rough and hoarse, carrying an irresistible, fierce force that made one's eardrums buzz.

Su Xiaoxiao was still in a daze. She even had half a mouthful of vanilla ice cream in her mouth.

Suddenly, a pair of large hands gripped my shoulder tightly. An overwhelming pulling force descended upon me.

The fingers loosened.

The ice cream cone I was holding fell straight to the ground.

The white cream tumbled in mid-air. With a splat, it landed on the gray shaggy carpet.

The color drained from Su Xiaoxiao's face instantly, and her lips turned white.

Just as she was being pulled backwards against the sofa.

"Click—"

The thickened soundproof glass, capable of withstanding a category 8 typhoon, emitted a sharp, cracking sound.

There was no dull rumble of a gunpowder gun firing.

Only when a Gauss sniper bullet breaks the sound barrier does it produce a sharp, piercing whistling sound as it tears through the air. It's like a sharp awl stabbing directly into your ear.

The tempered glass shattered instantly.

Hundreds of tiny fragments, the size of corn kernels, fell like a hailstorm in slow motion, refracting a blinding white light in the sunlight as they rained down.

Broken glass hit the fabric sofa and tore the cotton thread of the cushions.

The autumn wind outside, carrying exhaust fumes from the overpass, rushed in through the hole.

midair.

The metal bullet, carrying terrifying kinetic energy, precisely bit into Su Xiaoxiao's right shoulder.

The light-colored trench coat was instantly pierced.

"Buzz—"

The nano-memory metal beneath the fabric experiences extreme penetrating and destructive power.

That interstellar tactical vest, which she had always disliked for its ugly color and suffocating heaviness, now displayed protective capabilities far exceeding those of Earth's technology.

A dark matter buffer layer, almost invisible to the naked eye, was automatically activated.

A faint blue ripple spread across the torn collar of the light-colored coat.

The violent physical kinetic energy was swallowed up by this ripple, turning into a suffocating heat that couldn't dissipate.

"Bang."

The bullet struck the vest with a dull thud.

Immediately afterwards, the two of them crashed heavily onto the carpet due to inertia.

Lu Jingyan was sitting on a cushion underneath, his hand hitting the solid wood base of the sofa. A patch of skin was scraped, and a little bit of bright red blood seeped out.

The mall was silent for half a second.

Then, screams erupted like a pot boiling over, lifting the roof off.

A family of three who were looking at the coffee table not far away were so frightened that they dropped their shopping bags and shrank behind the load-bearing pillar, covering their heads.

A yellow shopping cart lay overturned in the aisle, its plates and glasses shattered on the floor. A cacophony of crashing noises filled the air.

The fire alarm on the ceiling was accidentally triggered by shards of glass. The glaring red lights flashed wildly, and the alarm blared.

Lu Jingyan used one hand to protect the back of Su Xiaoxiao's head.

He slightly raised his head, his gaze sweeping over the row of shattered blinds above him. A gust of wind blew in, causing the curtains to flutter wildly.

"Xiaoxiao," he said softly, his voice a little hoarse.

His breathing was a little heavy, and warm breath brushed against her neck. "Are you alright?"

Su Xiaoxiao's mind was buzzing. It felt like a swarm of wasps had gotten into it.

She was breathing heavily. Her nostrils were filled with the earthy smell of shattered glass and a pungent, burnt metallic odor.

My heart was pounding so hard in my chest that it felt like it was going to break my ribs.

"N-nothing..."

She stammered, her hands and feet going weak. Her fingers gripped the front of his gray sweater so tightly that her knuckles turned white.

"My shoulder is a little numb... like someone hit me with a sledgehammer."

Lu Jingyan propped himself up and knelt on one knee.

He ignored the blood on the back of his hand. His gaze immediately fell on her right shoulder.

The light-colored trench coat had a hole the size of a thumb.

The edges of the fabric were scorched by the high temperature, leaving a black border. Thin wisps of blue smoke were rising from it.

Lu Jingyan stretched out his fingers and pried open the charred fabric of the coat.

Look inside through the hole.

The heavy black tactical vest was completely intact.

A slender Gaussian warhead with spiral patterns is firmly embedded in the black nanomaterial surface.

The metal bullet head was somewhat deformed due to the high temperature generated by friction, resembling a flattened pencil tip.

A pungent, burnt smell was coming from this warhead.

The bullet couldn't even penetrate the outer layer of the vest.

Su Xiaoxiao followed his gaze and gasped.

She swallowed hard, her hands trembling slightly.

"Boss... this... this is here to kill me?" Her voice trembled, and her eyes reddened.

"It's not directed at you."

Lu Jingyan covered the burned fabric with it. He reached out and placed his hand on her trembling shoulder, his grip firm.

"It's aimed at me. The predicted trajectory of the bullet was calculated based on where I was standing just now."

He pulled Su Xiaoxiao up and made her sit in the safest corner at the far end of the sofa.

The cold wind made Lu Jingyan's black hair on his forehead a little messy.

Lu Jingyan glanced down at the Gauss bullet embedded in his bulletproof vest, still emitting blue smoke. His previously gentle black eyes instantly froze into an eternally cold glacier.