Chapter 42: Breakneck Speed

Ansen Pharmaceuticals’ lobby was lavishly decorated, magnificent and grand, occupying an immense space that felt like half a football field had been transplanted indoors.

The ceiling was pristine white, soaring more than ten meters above the floor, from which hung crystal chandeliers that gleamed with dazzling clarity.

However, the professional security guards below, intent on ambushing Waka, had deliberately left the lights off, plunging the entire hall into darkness.

Encircling the lobby stood a dozen or so massive marble pillars, each engraved with exquisite swirling cloud motifs.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Shadows flickered on the ceiling as someone passed each pillar, dropping a high-explosive bomb.

The bombs detonated fiercely upon hitting the ground, shattering the bones of the guards who had taken cover behind the pillars.

The hall soon filled with relentless explosions and cries of agony.

“Target’s up there, fire!” the man leading the group shouted loudly.

Without further orders, the others, using their tactical electronic glasses, locked onto the shadow on the ceiling.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Nearly twenty rifles fired upwards, unleashing a frenzied barrage at the shadow.

The ceiling pocked with craters, debris flying everywhere. The ornate crystal chandeliers shattered, cascading sparkling fragments to the floor.

Waka, moving along silver threads that shimmered on the wall, was inevitably hit by some bullets amid the hail of fire.

She staggered briefly and then fell from the ceiling.

“Got him! He’s dead!” several guards below cried out in excitement.

Though the hall was pitch black, their tactical glasses analyzed the figure on the ceiling had been struck at least ten times, three shots to the head—undeniably fatal.

Yet, just as the shadow was about to hit the ground, they noticed numerous silver threads falling alongside it.

“What’s that?” One guard, nearest to the threads, was startled and reached out curiously.

Ssshh!

Suddenly, the silver threads shifted from delicate and soft to razor-sharp and heavy, instantly slicing through his eye.

A streak of blood appeared on his nose.

Half his head slid off, revealing a cross-section of the skull, clearly showing his trachea and esophagus contracting instinctively.

Not just him—two others nearby also had their heads severed instantly by the silver threads.

The upper halves of their severed heads lay on the floor, pupils wide with shock and disbelief.

Even the massive pillars they had been hiding behind were cut through, deep gashes disappearing into the marble.

Click, click…

As the three heads dropped to the ground, Waka adjusted her posture mid-fall, landing lightly on one foot with a slight bend in her knee, dissipating the force of the fall.

The silver threads coiling around her reflected the faint moonlight filtering in, casting a soft silvery glow. Paired with the blood splattered around the three bodies, it formed the shape of a blooming silver lotus stained with blood.

“The target’s not dead…” a guard nearby exclaimed in panic upon seeing this.

Ssshh!

Before he could finish, one of the silver threads near Waka shimmered. A chill ran down his neck, his vision spinning wildly...

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The others’ scalps tingled with fear as they hastily raised their guns and fired.

But they were too close to Waka.

Her fall from the ceiling was not due to being shot down but a deliberate descent.

Of course, she was injured.

Rifle bullets tore through her black camouflage suit, ripping flesh and muscle, lodging within her body.

Such wounds would paralyze even the strongest man, leaving him helpless on the ground, awaiting death.

Even a magically resilient girl would slow down drastically, losing ninety percent of her combat strength.

Yet Waka generously used her spiritual energy points to heal herself.

In the blink of an eye, her severe wounds were restored, and since her body remained intact, the healing cost her only a single point of spiritual energy.

Now, under a hail of bullets, immense magical power erupted beneath her feet, propelling her into a rapid sprint.

In an instant, she traced a zigzag path, dodging ninety-nine percent of the incoming bullets.

Passing close to a pillar, the silver threads swirling around her lashed out, precisely beheading two guards hiding behind it like a razor-sharp surgical blade.

Her speed did not falter as she surged toward the next pillar, moving at nearly fifteen meters per second, weaving left and right.

The professional guards around her felt their scalps tingle, trying to aim their guns, but their arms could not move as fast as Waka herself.

Their tactical glasses were working overtime, striving to capture and predict Waka’s movements.

But it was impossible.

The situation changed too rapidly and drastically, causing an exponential surge in data collection, analysis, and computation. Even with their tactical glasses connected to Ansen Group’s basic neural processor, completing the necessary calculations would take over ten seconds.

Yet only three seconds had passed since the bombs exploded.

The basic neural processor was already a super quantum computer. Handling such a situation still required over ten seconds, let alone the supercomputer from Waka’s previous life, which would be utterly overwhelmed by so many variables.

After shedding her ultra-luxurious Grade 3A firepower combat suit, Waka’s ground speed was too fast, and with her magic’s range extending sixteen meters, she became a fast-moving human bomb.

As she moved, she commanded the silver threads to lash out at enemies within a sixteen-meter radius.

Such intense combat was impossible for ordinary people; only a rare few gifted individuals could achieve this.

After all, the human brain’s reaction time has limits—roughly the speed of a camera shutter, about 0.1 seconds.

Beyond that, it is unattainable by humans.

Sssshhh!

The silver threads sliced through the air, bisecting the last two guards deep in the hall.

“Tell me, where is your boss?” Waka demanded, standing before one of the bisected men.

“Ugh ugh...”

“You won’t talk? Well, for your loyalty, I’ll make it quick.”

Pfft!

Waka manipulated several silver threads, cutting the man’s upper body into segments.

She turned to the other, but he remained silent as well.

With no choice, Waka granted him the same fate.

“We need to speed this up. Before the Security Bureau arrives, we must finish fast...” Her voice was hoarse, blood dripping from a large hole in her neck.

Not only her neck—her right eye oozed vitreous fluid, the eye socket shattered by a bullet, leaving a grotesque, gory hole that was terrifying to behold.

These were wounds sustained during the earlier battle.

Sssszzzt!

The blurred mass of flesh and blood began to writhe as a bullet squeezed out from it, dropping onto the marble floor with a clink.

Within two breaths, her right eye, skull, and brain were fully restored.

The bullet hole in her neck had healed as well; the blood on the surface had not yet dried.

She stepped out of the lobby onto the plaza outside, retrieving the box containing the ultra-luxurious Grade 3A firepower combat suit.

Earlier, she had left the box there to draw enemy fire, while she had flown up from the side using the silver threads, breaking through the glass curtain wall atop the lobby to carry out her stealth attack.