Love, Gun, Cupid

For example, you, 93, the reason you became like this is because you couldn't control your mouth. Although you seem nonchalant, you actually really crave a boyfriend.

For example, you once deeply loved your wife, but after a 70-day mission, you returned to find that your wife had been "trained" by your neighbor, who had even spent an entire afternoon with her and some older men from the same circle.

She apologized, wept bitterly, and begged for your forgiveness. You forgave her and moved her away from that city. But in the new place, she still couldn't resist the temptation to cheat, because she had become addicted and you couldn't satisfy her.

After you discovered her again, you divorced. Ten years later, as she approached forty and her beauty faded with time, the men who had sought pleasure with her abandoned her. Overwhelmed by loneliness and regret, she committed suicide.

This incident became a wound and a source of shame for you. Every now and then, you would think back to that warm afternoon when you were working diligently far away, filled with love for your wife, while she was blindfolded and bound to a chair, surrounded by old men who had been lusting after her all afternoon. Your shame, however, was precisely the moment your wife was most satisfied.

Koroboch paused for a moment, then continued, "I can find a boyfriend for 93, I can find you a virtuous and unfaithful wife, and I even have ways to secure you a well-paying and respectable career in the Empire. Why not consider it?"

Chapter 113 Flying Bird: Self-Destruction (40→39)

"I...I'll think about it," she said.

Korobochka released her grip, and to prevent a feigned surrender, she cast a protective spell in front of her. The enemy did indeed attack, but not at Korobochka, but at 93.

His dagger plunged into 93's heart. 93's pupils dilated, then he smiled and nodded at ?. ? pulled out the dagger and took his own life. They gave up the will to live, and having suffered fatal wounds, they quickly perished as spirits.

"Alright, it's our turn."

Korobochka walked toward Lingard, who had already shifted his position, seeking a battlefield where he had a greater advantage. She caught up with him in just a minute, and then a shower of icy rain fell from the sky, turning into icicles as it hit the ground.

Lin Jiade originally intended to find Cyrus's team and then bring along the Kapok team along the way, so that everyone could team up and fight together, which would increase their chances of winning compared to him leading the team alone. But Korobochka's movement speed was beyond imagination... even though her womanly body hadn't been tempered.

This was information not found in the memory fragments held by Jianlan, but Jianlan couldn't be blamed for it. Lin Jiade struggled to run through the magic-altered terrain, and the energy he had painstakingly recovered was all converted into a magical shield, consumed along the way.

Korobochka landed on the ground in front of Lingard. She raised her left hand to cast a spell, and Lingard reflexively cast a thunder spell to interrupt her. But she clenched her fist, deliberately interrupting her own spell, and pointed her right palm at him.

The ice spear that shot from her palm pierced through Lin Jiade's fragile shield and through his stomach. Lin Jiade coughed up blood, staggered a few steps, and saw Korobochka reach out, then healed his wounds with magic.

“Your gear is so tasteless,” Korobochka sighed. “People will laugh at you if you wear that stuff out, so I’m here to help you get rid of it.”

Lin Jiade looked down; his belt had been damaged and torn off by Korobochka's attack, leaving it as a useless junk.

"careful!"

Gladiolus helped Lingard move, but the ice spears extending from the ground still pierced his feet. Korobochka could mend the wounds, but he couldn't appease his rage or his destroyed boots.

Gladiolus used his last bit of energy to cast a final shield, placing it in front of Lin Jiade. However, the ice pillars that erupted from the ground beneath Lin Jiade's feet propelled him straight into the sky. The protective spells that Korobochka had cast for his House of Commons beforehand had come into play; otherwise, even if he had survived, he would probably only have been able to become sisters with Jasmine.

However, Korobochka showed no mercy. Where the young man's body rose, the constantly manifesting ice spears warmly greeted him, precisely destroying his Gold Cloth and stripping him of his lightning magic runes, but not piercing his vitals. Thus, fragments of his dull Gold Cloth, mixed with the blood from his wounds, fell like tiles.

The sudden appearance of the icicles in her field of vision momentarily distracted Mumian. Robinson's blocky structure struck the bodysuit-clad monster head-on in the abdomen, sending him flying. Mumian flipped over and landed below.

Robinson looked down at the kapok tree and said, "Your attachments will kill you, but luckily, the people you care about are also very likely to die."

"Am I the only one who gets distracted by worries?" Kapok pointed to the square at her feet. "Look, what's this?"

Robinson looked closely and realized that the location of the Kapok tree was exactly where he had sealed his body. The Kapok tree pulled the trigger, channeling energy into the blade, and the glowing tip pointed at the stone coffin.

"Bastard!" Robinson's eyes widened in anger.

Kapok stabbed at Friday's sarcophagus, and Robinson jumped down, but Kapok's sword only lightly poked the surface of the sarcophagus. A magic circle rose up from beneath his feet, directly pushing the bodysuit-clad monster into the sky.

Robinson attempted to envelop himself in a blocky structure, but Kapok was faster. The moment they met in mid-air, Kapok's energy-filled sword pierced through Robinson's outer defenses, thus losing the opportunity to kill him.

The kapok tree rose upwards, while Robinson fell downwards. The man in the tight-fitting suit turned in mid-air, pulled out a miniature submachine gun, and fired downwards. The bullets hit Robinson in the back of the head, neck, and back, causing him to convulse and fall to the ground.

But he wasn't dead yet; the life of a high-level magic researcher is so tenacious. At the moment Robinson hit the ground, Kapok was also pulled down by gravity, landing smoothly, her longsword piercing Robinson's heart.

Robinson fell into the stone coffin, which was already on the verge of collapse. When Kapok finished him off, it shattered into pieces, and Robinson's body fell into the coffin, embracing Friday, who was sleeping peacefully inside.

"Well……"

Kapok's foot was injured during the battle. The bodysuit-clad monster cleared the fragments from her foot and tossed them aside. At this moment, no one responded to the captain on the 18th District team's channel. Kapok didn't care about them anymore. The bodysuit-clad monster grabbed his weapon and limped towards Lin Jiade's direction.

Kapok thought the 18th District team had been wiped out, but 300 meters away, a battle was still going on between the hunter Interstellar Flying Fish and its prey, the Perfunctory Monster and Red Leaf.

Momiji killed Arcturus, and the loyal and honest Minotaur fought to the last moment. The Perfunctory Monster severely injured Yuki and Starfish; facing the two on the verge of death, he suffered from decision paralysis, unsure which to kill first.

Then, he didn't kill any of them. Given the extent of their injuries, they would die quickly even if left unattended. So, after a brief meeting with 93 and ?, he and Momiji went to support Fran in the west.

Fran has a large number of wanderer cannon fodder and golems, but she is facing almost two squads by herself (Sector 15 of Cyrus and Sector 16 squad excluding Tang Ao), which is still somewhat risky. Therefore, they plan to cooperate with Fran to deal with the two squads and then gather together to wipe out the remaining Imperial armed personnel.

“How much like the day we died in battle,” the evasive muttered, “except this time we are the perpetrators.”

They quickly lost their composure, for just as a powerful aura entered their senses behind them, the interstellar flying fish, which was theoretically already dead, blocked their path.

"It's not Lao Can...it's not Tang Ao, are you the assassin sent by the Empire?" Hongye asked.

“If you don’t take care of my teammates, I’m afraid I’ll have to go through a lot of trouble to distract them before I can make my move.” Starfish beckoned. “The situation is more serious than I thought. I have to get there to deal with the crisis. You all come at me together. I’m in a hurry.”

The Perfunctory Monster and Red Leaf exchanged a glance, then simultaneously attacked the Interstellar Flying Fish. A few minutes later, both heads flew up and fell to the ground. The Interstellar Flying Fish wiped its hands and headed towards the direction of Korobochka.

Chapter 114 Flying Birds: Pear Blossoms

The Perfunctory Monster and Red Leaf were completely destroyed by the Interstellar Flying Fish, while 1.3 kilometers away, Fran was still looking forward to support from friendly forces.

Just 15 minutes ago, she had a large number of cyborg cannon fodder and a large number of golems for combat. Now, apart from the jade golems that she used as trump cards and summoned after the start of the battle, she had no cannon fodder left. The golems were all under Cyrus's control and had turned around to surround her.

When magic researchers specializing in summoning engage in combat, it is the easiest time for the underdog to defeat the superpower. This is because all their research is devoted to summoning and modifying their own summoned creatures, making them quite weak themselves. They usually only learn some protective spells and rely mainly on their summoned creatures for offense and defense.

Fran had thought she had a huge advantage, but in reality, it was she herself who was defeated. Cyrus seized all the pieces on the board and took turns letting his supporting teammates rest and maintain their condition.

Now, Cyrus's energetic and high-spirited squad surrounded her, along with four mysterious reinforcements, all casting cold stares at her from every direction.

“Surrender,” Cyrus pushed up his glasses. “Before, three members of the District 18 team contacted me one after another: Lin Huang witnessed the death of Jianlan and Korobochka took his place; ? and 93 were forced to commit suicide to prevent themselves from becoming pawns in Korobochka’s conspiracy and taking the blame for everything.”

Kapok reports that Robinson has been killed and the captain of District 18 squad is on his way to support Lin Huang.

The Interstellar Flying Fish report confirmed the deaths of Red Leaf and the Perfunctory Monster. I can almost conclude that he was an Imperial assassin sent by the Empire, lurking among the civilian population, and the Empire's trump card and reliance in dealing with this crisis.

We were all deceived by him. Before this, I thought Lao Can and Tang Ao were the real imperial assassins, but they were merely sacrifices pushed out by the Interstellar Flying Fish to draw attention. Therefore, you expended great effort in devising tactics targeting Lao Can and Tang Ao, completely ignoring the true imperial assassins.”

Fran was distraught. She tried to call out to her teammates, but her channel remained eerily silent. Frankly, the reality had far exceeded her expectations. She looked up blankly and said, "Korobochka tricked us? She's a master sorcerer."

"To be precise, she is a senior master of witchcraft. She is the third fastest-rising genius in the empire in terms of seniority in the past 50 years. Before it was revealed that her eggs were mutated by witchcraft and could not combine with sperm, she was always regarded as flawless."

Starfish is likely a top-tier magic researcher, but he'll struggle against Korobochka. Therefore, after you surrender, immediately use your magic to help us and support Starfish.

Otherwise, we'll all die here, becoming victims of Korobochka's conspiracy. Are you willing for her to return to the Empire, shift all blame onto the Baker Street Squad, and then comfortably enjoy the spoils of the conspiracy?

Fran had no choice; she was filled with anger, fear, and confusion, and finally agreed. Coincidentally, someone in the 16th District squad knew contract magic, and under his guidance, Fran swore never to betray the cause, thus switching sides to the Empire.

“Wait a minute,” Fran suddenly remembered something, “If the Empire’s forces are all on their way, then who exactly is blocking Korobochka?”

“Lin Huang of Squad 18,” Cyrus replied.

Fran asked in surprise, "Alone?"

"This is what happened after the entire 19th District squad that was covering him was wiped out."

"Is he still alive?"

"Yeah, though he's not doing too well."

Lin Jiade's situation wasn't just "not good," it was extremely bad. After being blasted away by Korobochka's ice pillar and having his Gold Cloth destroyed mid-air, the young man's collapse occurred in that instant.

The equipment has been destroyed, but he has to pay the installments over six months, and the thing that cost him tens of thousands of dinars was only used once... What a huge loss!

Lin Jiade's rationality was already dwindling, and the shattering of his Gold Cloth was the final straw that broke his back. The life-saving method he had previously hesitated to use for fear of accidentally killing allies—the pendant that Kapok had given him—was now being used by him.

The knowledge stored in the pendant was inputted into his brain in the form of images. Lin Jiade felt dizzy and disoriented. After landing, he raised his weapon and couldn't help but imitate the shadow in the images.

Jianlan looked at Lin Jiade in surprise: "The energy reserves were clearly depleted, so what's gushing out now?"

Korobochka was also slightly surprised: "This starting move... Pear Blossom Style?"

Lin Jiade felt his mind was about to explode. The knowledge that was beyond his control was turning against him. Fortunately, he still had the obsession to end Korobochka, so when he looked up in a state of confusion, his killing intent locked onto his opponent.

Two ice spears were constructed and launched around Korobochka; Lingard dodged one and shattered the other. In the blink of an eye, he had Korobochka within his attack range, and before he could pierce her throat, Korobochka's protective spell activated first.

The spikes of the mixed curse spread outwards, heading towards Lin Jiade's waist. Lin Jiade performed a tactical slide, skimming under the spikes, and then did a backflip to dodge Korobochka's sorcery attack.

He thrust, only to be parried by Korobochka's shield. The next time his sword slid along the same trajectory, it was parried again, and he continued to accelerate... until his sword caught up with the afterimage of the previous strike in the air, as if he had thrust twice at once, leaving a small scratch on Korobochka's shoulder.

"The unique swordsmanship that increases one's attack speed and power when blocked by an enemy, until it breaks through the defense and causes damage, is indeed the Rika style."

Korobochka took to the air, and Lin Jiade, who had no ability to fly, could only watch. Jianlan chased after him, and her phantom merged into Lin Jiade's body from behind. Lin Jiade's body trembled, but he did not resist her.

"Don't worry, I'm here to help. How can I let you fight alone at a time like this? I am Gladiolus, your Gladiolus, and now I am fighting for my own existence... So, lend me a little bit of your strength."

Sword Orchid manipulated the unknown energy surging from Lin Jiade's body, and a pair of pure white wings materialized on his back. Lin Jiade immediately flew into the sky, and Sword Orchid constructed his own army around him—a large number of offensive spells radiating brilliant light.

Korobochka knew that this move had torn apart the Sword Orchid's proud defense. She would not underestimate her opponent. A huge number of ice spears rapidly formed around her and were launched at her will. They collided with Lin Jiade's thousands of troops, bursting out with a light that was hard to look at and pointing out a new direction for the allies who were coming to the scene.

Chapter 115 Flying Bird: Accidental Killing

By unleashing a massive amount of energy in one go to saturate and attack his opponent, Lin Jiade once again managed to break through Korobochka's defenses. He stepped onto a floating ice floe in the air, jumped up, and flew over Korobochka's head to her from behind.

He intended to pierce Korobochka with his sword and then unleash the magic attached to the blade within her body, but Korobochka turned and closed the distance, causing him to lose his chance to strike. He had no choice but to wrap his arm around her shoulder, place the sword horizontally against her neck, and attempt to slit her throat before unleashing the magic on her neck.

Korobochka reached out and grasped the blade; her hand was invisible, hard yet as solid as ice. A moment of stalemate ensued. Korobochka said, "You have many strange and powerful abilities, and now you are capable of fighting me. However, you and your weapon are too fragile, preventing you from unleashing the secrets of the Rika-ryu style—a devastating force."

She increased her energy output, and Lin Jiade's sword shattered. Then, as if dancing, she pulled on Lin Jiade's arm, lowered her head, wrapped around his arm, spun around, dodged his restraint, and gently pushed him, causing Lin Jiade to fall towards the ground.

What can a swordsman do after losing his weapon?

The wings attached to the youth flapped weakly, sending Lin Jiade back to the ground. Korobochka appeared in front of Lin Jiade almost as fast as her feet. His head was throbbing, and every few seconds, his vision was swallowed by darkness. Then he struggled to open his eyes and looked at Korobochka, seeing her aimed at the kapok tree behind him.

“It’s time to end this,” she said.

A new disruptor appeared at this moment. The golden shield of the interstellar flying fish stood in front of Lin Jiade, blocking Korobochka's sorcery for him. At the same time, the limping figure of Kapok also appeared in Lin Jiade's field of vision. Meanwhile, Cyrus reported in the public channel that his squad would be ready to join the battle soon.

Good news kept coming in, the defeatist strategists in Lin Jiade's heart were banished, he stood up again and said, "What can I do?"

“Go and meet up with our captain and Mr. Cyrus. I’ll hold them off for a while,” said Starfish.

"You are……"

"There's no need to say it out loud, otherwise I'll have to use memory magic to cleanse you, which is a huge hassle."

"Then what about Lao Can and Tang Ao?" Lin Jiade asked.

“You’re too curious. They, like you, made a legal deal with the Empire. In order to protect their families, they have to die here.”

Lin Jiade paused for a moment. Mu Mian had told him to pay attention to the character Star Flying Fish during the first Mirror Realm Expedition, and Mu Mian's idea was good. He nodded, turned around and ran towards Mu Mian. The energy and noise behind him kept coming. Lin Jiade wanted to turn back, but Jian Lan was taking care of the battle behind him, so he went to find Mu Mian.

Mu Mian's condition was very bad. As soon as Lin Jiade approached, he saw a series of bloody footprints behind the bodysuit-clad monster. Without saying a word, he turned his back to Mu Mian and gestured for her to come up. Mu Mian didn't stand on ceremony, and Lin Jiade felt a heavy weight on his back.

"If you dare say it's serious, I'll kill you," said Kapok.

"Fortunately."

Lin Jiade, carrying Kapok on his back, reunited with the Cyrus Squad. He saw Fran, whom the Cyrus Squad had taken in, taking care of Yuki... Only Yuki. He immediately understood something and swayed twice.

“Now is not the time to mourn the dead,” Jianlan said.