The dust hadn’t settled yet. Jun Qingcheng noticed one of the officers—his eyes were darting, his expression fractured during the shooting. A silent alarm blared in her mind. These cartels were more ambitious than she thought; they had moles burrowed deep within the precinct.

  ?She couldn’t leave. If she stepped away now, Xue Bai would be a dead man before his first night back in a cell.

  ?[System: Brilliant deduction, Host!]

  ?Jun Qingcheng narrowed her eyes at this sudden, uninvited voice. It wasn't the usual resonance—the raw, ancient tone of Yan Ling. This was something... fawning.

  ?Deep within the Void Space, Yan Ling was perched on Jun Qingcheng’s chair, his hands blurring across virtual screens. His long hair trailed on the floor, swaying with his frantic movements. He was possessed, a man lost in his own creation.

  ?The fawning voice boasted of being "System One," a miracle of code birthed by Yan Ling. In the hierarchy of the universe, only the Great Void Gods were supposed to have the power of creation. But Yan Ling was a rebel, a genius rewriting the laws of existence.

  ?Suddenly, the air in the Void grew heavy. Yan Ling’s hands began to smoke. The miracle was collapsing.

  ?"System One" flickered and dissolved. Yan Ling’s primary system—the very fabric of his being—spiraled into instability. He had tinkered with forbidden fire, and now the backdraft was coming.

  ?He looked up and saw Jun Qingcheng watching him. His face was a mask of grim urgency.

  ?“Do what you have to do,” she said calmly, sensing the existential threat. “Don’t worry about me.”

  ?She had stumbled upon his darkest secret. Yan Ling wanted to apologize, but he was drowning in code. His failed experiment was triggering a recursive bug that threatened to erase him entirely. If the system crashed, he would be "patched" out of existence.

  ?And Jun Qingcheng? She would be a ghost trapped in a vegetable’s body, her consciousness sealed forever in Xiao Ranran’s flesh until her soul withered into cosmic dust.

  ?Reality began to warp. Jun Qingcheng felt a wave of nausea so violent it threatened to drop her to her knees. Her vision fractured into digital noise.

  ?Yan Ling was desperate. He needed energy—Spirit Power, Soul Force, anything to jumpstart the heart of the machine. But he was at zero.

  ?Sensing her time was running out, Jun Qingcheng acted on pure instinct. With the last of her strength, she lunged toward the mole in the police line. A sharp, clinical snap of the neck. One less threat for Xue Bai. One final act of will.

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  ?[SIDE MISSION COMPLETE! TARGET SECURED. REWARD: 10 POINTS.]

  ?The notification sounded like a choir of angels. Yan Ling seized the 10 points like a starving man, feeding them into the core. His hands danced one last time, halting the collapse.

  ?The nausea vanished instantly. Jun Qingcheng stood steady, her breath hitching as the world snapped back into focus. Inside the Void, Yan Ling collapsed, his hands trembling, tears of manic joy stinging his eyes. He had done it. He was a god in the making.

  ?Outside, the atmosphere was combustible.

  ?Xue Bai was reeling. In one hour, he had been outed, hunted, saved by a ghost, and then watched his savior execute an officer. It was a fever dream of blood and betrayal.

  ?A short, stout officer—the partner of the man she had just killed—erupted in fury. He lunged at her, his face purple with rage. “Murder! Cop killer! You’re going down!”

  ?Jun Qingcheng didn't move. She simply looked at him.

  ?Her gaze was a physical blow—a cold, abyssal stare that carried the weight of a thousand deaths. The officer froze mid-stride, his courage evaporating. He tripped over his own feet and landed hard on his backside, stammering like a broken record.

  ?“Officers, there is a misunderstanding,” Xue Bai stepped in, his voice raspy but firm. “That man’s behavior during the firefight was erratic. He was likely the mole. We check his records at the station, and you’ll find the truth. Do not frame an innocent woman.”

  ?“Innocent? She just snapped a neck!” the stout officer barked, trying to reclaim his ego. “You’re probably a mole too!”

  ?Slap.

  ?The sound echoed through the clearing. The officer’s head whipped to the side, a bright red welt blooming on his cheek.

  ?“You... you hit me!”

  ?“Because you deserve it,” Jun Qingcheng replied, her voice flat and absolute.

  ?Xue Bai’s heart skipped a beat. For years, he had been the "traitor" in the eyes of the gang and a ghost in the eyes of the law. He had swallowed every insult, every humiliation, for the sake of the mission. But this girl—this stranger—had just defended his honor with a single, unapologetic blow.

  ?The "Because you deserve it" hit him harder than the slap hit the officer. It was the first time in a long time someone had stood in his corner without asking for a price.