I'm living off a woman in Arknights.

Page 104

Unaware that Yunyi actually had feelings for Swire, Hoshiguma silently gave Swire a "Are you even capable?" look.

Swire, who was being reprimanded, didn't even see Hoshiguma's gaze from above. After releasing Yun Yi's neck, she grabbed Yun Yi's palm with her other hand, a satisfied smile on her face, and snorted, "You've learned your lesson now, haven't you? If you touch the tip of my tail again, you can expect me to rub your neck for an hour!"

"Hmm, it's gotten longer—it's good that you hold grudges like this, I like holding grudges too." Yun Yi muttered, touching her still slightly feverish neck. As she spoke, her hand moved down to her still itchy abdomen, then she turned to look at the tip of Swire's tiger tail. "So this is what it feels like to have your tail tip touched..."

It's true that you can't touch her in public, but it's perfect for touching her when you're alone. Maybe Swire will allow her to get her first kiss back because of that?

I've heard that people who are caught up in desires are quite likely to agree to conditions.

With this thought in mind, Yun Yi nodded thoughtfully, "I understand."

Swire shivered and raised her tail, looking at Yun Yi warily. "You're not thinking about some weird stuff again, are you?"

"Hmm? No." Yun Yi shook her head decisively. This concerned her life's most important matter, how could it be considered a messy thing?

"Really?" Swire looked at Yun Yi with suspicion.

"Really!" Yun Yi looked back at him frankly, his golden-red eyes bright and clear, revealing his complete sincerity.

"I'll... trust you this once." Swire nodded with some doubt, but her tiger ears stood up as if she sensed danger, and the fur on her tail stood up slightly. As it swayed, the tender flesh between the fluffy fur felt a slight chill for some reason.

Volume Two: Fireworks at Longmen: Chapter 195 Yun Yi: I am "Old Yun".

The three of them didn't deliberately lower their voices, but the guards, with their excellent hearing, could still hear them clearly even from a distance.

Yun Yi's confident declaration that he could definitely limit the power of evil made the expression under the inner guard's mask even more solemn, but more so, it was a kind of disbelief in evil based on common sense and theorems.

The Empire has made very little progress in its research on demons over the years. Do you think you, as an individual, can completely limit them?

Impossible, absolutely impossible!

However, it is an unknown device that is more powerful than a regular Originium Arts limiter.

He acknowledged that the device was powerful in suppressing dormant demonic power, but that didn't mean it could suppress demonic power in its explosive state.

The strength and properties of these two are worlds apart.

Having reached the final stage, with no other way to break the deadlock, the inner guard, holding onto this thought, resolutely exerted all his strength once more, lunging forward.

This time, his fingertips finally touched the crystalline demonic fragments.

His other wrist was pinned to the ground and could not be pulled out at all—at least not in his current extremely poor condition. Under the force of the forward thrust, Chi Xiao sliced ​​through the inner guard's tendons, muscles and bones with unparalleled smoothness, leaving his wrist a bloody mess.

Without a trace of expression, the guard used the sharp edge of Chixiao's sword to ruthlessly sever half of his wrist, freeing himself.

He swayed as he rose, raising his masked head. The dark, red glow on the mask slowly aligned with the edge of the circular platform. Holding another sword, he looked down at the dragon girl, took a deep breath, and let out a few muffled whispers, "..."

Even Chen Huijie couldn't make out the contents of the broken, muffled syllables, but she could clearly see the other person exuding an indomitable aura as they roughly shoved the demonic fragment into the broken part of their wrist.

Chen Huijie immediately raised her sword horizontally and assumed a standard starting stance, the pupils of the eye above the sword suddenly contracting.

Those red eyes, reflecting the two inner guards, were as clear and bright as jewels but slightly melancholic, now revealed a refined and sharp vigilance.

The person she was focusing on stared back at her, radiating an aura of madness.

“%@*＃…” The guard made incoherent, chaotic sounds, and the guard lying on the ground echoed with similar indistinct syllables.

The wrist of the standing guard, from which the shards were inserted, immediately emitted wisps of murky yet hopeful red light.

Although he didn't lower his head, he seemed to sense the situation.

The guards' spirits visibly lifted, and they suddenly raised their voices, making the jumbled syllables in their mouths clear.

Chen Huijie still couldn't understand. She then realized that the other person might be speaking an unfamiliar language or some kind of ritual incantation that wasn't a language at all.

—The syllables spoken by the guard seemed to come from the ancient wilderness, each ending note carrying the dust of a thousand years, the brilliance of weathering, and the jarring clash of swords, vicissitudes, grandeur, and sorrow.

It seems to have extremely rich meaning, yet it also seems to be simply the purest and simplest communication with nature and the heavens and earth...

Chen Huijie listened carefully, her mind gradually becoming blurred as the rhythmic syllables filled her ears.

The guard's voice was like a hook pulling her back to the past. Her eyes glazed over for a moment, and she felt a sense of disorientation, as if she couldn't tell what year it was.

The dragon tail behind Chen Huijie swayed slower and slower until it finally stopped in the middle. The mane at the tip of the long tail brushed the ground with its last tiny sway, and the coolness of the ground made it curl up slightly.

This extremely fine coolness traveled up her nerves to her brain, like a thunderclap suddenly splitting Chen Huijie's slightly confused thoughts, jolting her awake. Her pupils trembled slightly, "!"

What happened—did the inner guard cast a spell? A magic spell? It actually managed to break through Yun Yi's blockade and almost trap her without her even noticing!

Chen Huijie was surprised, but also felt it was expected.

Ursus, after all, is a long-established and powerful nation that has stood firm for a long time. Its strongest elite inner guards indeed have many trump cards, and they can even cope with such a desperate situation.

Chen Huijie recalled the disheveled state of the inner guards earlier and thankfully flicked her tail. Luckily, she had figured it out; otherwise, it would have been really troublesome if it had happened during a formal interrogation.

This unknown trump card is enough to overcome Yun Yi's restrictions and achieve this... It's fortunate that they didn't rush and let in all the inner guards at once.

Chen Huijie exhaled a breath of stale air, raised her hand and spread two fingers to press her temples, which were throbbing from being suddenly awakened. She abandoned the inner guard who was still chanting and turned to walk straight towards Swire and the others—if she was affected, Hoshiguma and Swire would probably be affected as well.

As for Yunyi?

Chen Huijie lowered her hand, and her gaze met Yun Yi's clear but curious eyes in mid-air. Clearly, the other party's energetic appearance was not affected at all.

Chen Huijie continued walking, pointing her finger at Swire and Hoshiguma, whose expressions were somewhat subtle, and signaled Yun Yi to do something, "Miss Yun Yi, please take a picture of them."

"Hmm? Okay." Yun Yi blinked, and although she didn't know why, she obediently did as she was told. She stretched out her hands and patted the two people on either side of her. Finally, she even corrected the way she was addressed, "Miss Yun Yi? To be fair, I call you Old Chen, so you should call me Old Yun, right?"

"Old Yun?" ×2

Swire and Hoshiguma, who had just come to their senses and heard this "explosive" title, simultaneously had question marks pop into their heads.

Hoshiguma was the first to calm down. She scratched her throbbing head with a complicated expression. "Uh, Miss Yunyi, the nickname 'Old Chen' comes from the single character 'Chen' in Old Chen's name."

“Work hours need to be identified by code names. We chose this name with the character ‘Chen’ at the center to avoid mispronouncing it.” She withdrew her hand, touched the tip of her nose, and chuckled awkwardly. “Miss Yunyi, you don’t have such a restriction. Actually, it doesn’t have to be so ‘fair’.”

Chen Huijie, who was quick on her feet, walked up to Xingxiong at that moment. Xingxiong immediately winked at her, signaling her to quickly pick up the thread and dispel Yunyi's idea, otherwise what would it look like if Chen Huijie really called Yunyi like that!

Hoshiguma glanced at Yun Yi's elegant and refined profile out of the corner of her eye, and the thought of that face paired with the sassy,江湖-savvy nickname "Old Yun" made her shudder.

There are so many good names in the world, we really don't need to choose the most inappropriate one!

Chen Huijie slowed her pace and walked up to them. Receiving Hoshiguma's clear urging, she tilted her head almost imperceptibly, causing her dragon horns to tilt slightly. "Old Yun? Seems like it—"

Hoshiguma's pupils dilated in shock. "Old Chen! What are you saying?! Old Chen!!"

What happened to our understanding? Did the wanted criminal eat it?!

Hoshiguma barely managed to swallow back the thoughts that were about to spill out, and restrained the hand that was reaching out to grab Chen Huijie's collar. Exhausted, he opened his mouth, wanting to interrupt Chen Huijie's impending, decisive address.

Volume 2: Fireworks at Longmen: Chapter 196 (Main Story Micro-Post) Chen Huijie: Take this!

On the other side of Yunyi, Shi Huaiya had already completed her idea.

Swire reached out and grabbed Chen Huijie's tie, pulling it so fast it was almost a blur. Caught off guard, Chen Huijie's neck was suddenly gripped tightly.

The sudden movement almost made Chen Huijie bite her tongue, and she immediately stopped herself from responding.

Chen Huijie stiffened her neck and turned her head, glaring unfriendly at Swire, who was still holding her tie. Her voice was low and threatening, "Char Siu Cat, you'd better explain yourself—"

"The reason for doing this!" She grabbed the middle of her tie and, with a clever twist of her fingertips, swiftly pulled it back from Swire's hand.

Her shirt collar immediately opened slightly due to the movement, revealing a section of her collarbone, which was faintly visible, with straight lines and fair skin.

But Yun Yi was the only one who "cared" about this tempting scene and watched it silently; the other two had no interest in it.

Hoshiguma stepped forward and held Chen Huijie's shoulder to prevent her from actually fighting with Swire, whose forehead veins were slightly bulging—based on her past experience, this was not impossible.

After all, the situation is not tense right now, and a fight would not affect the overall situation.

Then, with her other hand, she used the Prajna to block Swire's silent but defiant gaze, while she stood wearily between the two, offering what she knew was useless advice, "You two, calm down. Discussing things rationally will be more efficient—"

As expected, something unexpected happened halfway through the conversation.

The inner guards, who had been completely ignored by the group, finally finished chanting their unusually long incantation, which had become dormant due to the demon fragments, and their unified war cry drowned out Hoshiguma's voice.

"Strength is forged in our bones and blood, honor is engraved in our souls! Victory hangs like a star above us, death follows us like the wind! Ursus will never bow down! Ura—!" The two guards, one standing and one lying down, both raised their hands in a fanatical manner and shouted in unison.

The overlapping syllables were like clenched fists, twisting their devout, unspoken, and heavy scattered emotions into a rope, causing them to explode and tremble in the air, and the two of them shouted out the momentum of a thousand troops.

Beneath their masks, their faces were flushed crimson as they unleashed their full power to activate the connected demonic fragments within their bodies, fueled by their overwhelming emotions of reaching the summit.

Soon, one, two, three... countless rays of deep red light pierced through the gray-black robes of the inner guards from within, shooting wildly in all directions. From a distance, the inner guards looked as if they had been riddled with holes from the inside out.

Seeing this, Chen Huijie and Xingxiong didn't even need to look at each other before taking a few quick steps to stand at the forefront. They held their swords horizontally, staring directly at the blinding inner guards. The swords were quickly covered with a thick layer of blue-red energy. With a high thrust of her Prajna sword, she immediately released a burst of intense, dark green energy from the point where her hand met her shield, firmly protecting the three people behind the shield from all directions.

Yun Yi touched the collar around his neck, wanting to join the fight, but Swire raised her hand and pressed him down, "Save your energy and see first. If this killing move is too strong or you have a second trump card, then you can make your move. For now, Old Chen and Hoshiguma are enough."

“Okay~” Yun Yi said regretfully, putting down his hand and shrugging.

As they spoke, the Hoshiguma Triangle's Prajna completed its preheating and began to rotate at high speed, and the energy accumulated on Chen Huijie's sword also seemed to have reached its limit.

"Drink!" Chen Huijie suddenly took a step forward, roaring as he dragged his sword, which shone as brightly as if it could rival the sun, and with a slightly heavy but extremely fast speed, he slashed four times in succession.

Four sword beams instantly burst forth from their blades, growing to the size of an icosahedron in the wind, and carrying terrifying wind pressure as they hurtled straight toward the inner guards like a great wind.

At the same time, the standard-issue sword of unknown material in Chen Huijie's hand emitted a dense series of sharp "crackling" sounds. Cracks spread rapidly from the bladeless section to the tip of the sword. With a final, crisp sound, the sword shattered into countless fragments.

The flying debris swept through the air, threatening to slash the handsome face of its original owner, Chen Huijie.

Before she could calmly turn her head to dodge with her sword, the debris, including the sword fragments, vanished without a trace. "Hmm?"

In the space enveloped in eerie green, Yun Yi casually tossed his hand, and metal fragments, gleaming green in the light of the surrounding energy, scattered and fell to the ground. "Honestly, Old Chen is too careless. What a pity if he had scratched that handsome face."

"Why worry about that? She can avoid it." Swire glanced at Yun Yi out of the corner of her eye, casually replied, and after hearing Yun Yi's awkward "I see," she turned her gaze back to Chen Huijie and the guard.

She had placed her weapon in a corner a little further away, so she couldn't help now even if she wanted to—or rather, even if she had the weapon, she couldn't help in a battle of this level; she could only observe the situation for the two of them.

Swire bit her knuckles anxiously, her canine teeth peeking out from her pink lips turning green in the energy, like the green teeth of a zombie in a horror movie. "The Inner Guards can't see any other reaction besides the red light... Is there some kind of backup plan? *Lungmen swear words* The ritual involving emotions and fragments doesn't count as their own energy—they really know how to exploit loopholes!"

She mumbled her analysis, but Yunyi only caught the beginning.

Yun Yi patted his palm, which was covered with metal shavings, then tilted his head to focus his thoughts, and a projection about half the height of a person appeared out of thin air.

She split the projector in two, moving one in front of Swire, "Look, what's happening over there."

One of them was placed next to Hoshiguma, who was holding a spinning prajna and staring intently at the outside world, listening to everything around her. "Hoshiguma, when you have a moment, you can look to your right. There's a projection of the situation on the Inner Guard's side."

Hoshiguma held up her shield in one hand, while the other hand, shaped like a claw, held a black-green energy ball that spun rapidly like a whirlwind. Upon hearing this, she nodded without looking away, "Received, will check later."

Shi Huaiya thanked him and then focused on reading.

In the projection, a gigantic sword beam, more than ten times taller than a person, pressed down on the inner guards like Mount Tai. Before the blade even arrived, the wind pressure it carried made the robes of the two men flutter loudly.

The guards did not sit idly by and wait for their deaths. They spread their arms, their bodies engulfed in red light, as if trying to draw out the true form of the red light on their bodies to resist the sword light, or perhaps to accelerate the formation of the killing move represented by the red light.

Poetic sentiments are held in suspense, awaiting the moment.

Yun Yi, standing beside her, saw this as well and couldn't help but scratch his face, wondering if it was just her imagination. "Swire, why does it seem like the inner guards are just flashing red lights that have no effect? ​​Did they really unleash some kind of killing move?"

"It's not certain yet. It's possible that it's still in the planning stages, or perhaps your restrictions were more effective, causing them to fail," Swire replied rationally.

The two exchanged a few quick words before the oppressive sword light descended.

The guard lying on the ground remained unmoved. He was so engrossed in raising his hand, which was covered by a mask and submerged in red light. His mouth moved and murmured syllables that were hard to tell whether they were a hymn or a spell. His pupils became increasingly unfocused.

Volume Two: Fireworks at Longmen: Chapter 197 (Main Story) Yun Yi: This world is truly complex, with two sets of operating rules.

The red light emanating from the guards intensified, but it seemed to have no effect. The sword light continued its undiminished speed, striking the two guards.

With a deafening roar, the figures of the inner guards were engulfed by the sword light, and thick dust rose from the ground, obscuring the details inside the icosahedron.

Yun Yi immediately raised his finger and drew a line in the air. A gust of wind swept across the icosahedron, blowing away the dust and revealing the inner guards who were broken into four or six pieces and looked as if they were dead.

Chen Huijie frowned, holding the sword upside down as she stepped forward, peering down to observe. "Breathing stopped, heartbeat stopped, brainstem reflexes? Disappearing—disappeared..."

"Vitality signs have disappeared, and brain death has occurred?" Hoshiguma raised his head slightly, dispersing the dense, eerie green energy around him, and the energy cluster in his palm also dissipated.

Then, she planted Prajna on the ground, her fingertips touching her raised eyebrows. "Dying so hastily, the red light the inner guards created, could it really be completely useless?"

“No, I’m afraid it was meant to be effective,” Swire said, looking at the projection with her arms crossed and her chin resting on her hand. “Of Old Chen’s four sword strikes, only one severed the head of the standing guard, which was the condition for his immediate death.”

“Although the bodyguard lying down was already cut in half at the waist and then struck twice more, the degree of dismemberment was still far from enough to cause death in just over ten seconds.” She turned to look at Yun Yi. “He will also lose vital signs, which should be the result of the backlash from the failed attack represented by the red light, right, Yun Yi?”

Yun Yi was still reeling from the sight of the guards dying so casually.

Seeing Swire looking at her, she clenched her four fingers into a fist and placed them on the front side of her head, scratching her head with her index finger. "The energy limit of the icosahedron was indeed triggered once just now—no, we've been saying we can limit any energy, so why did they use a technique that can be limited when they were dying?"

If you don't believe it, the guards have been restricted in their movements and can't move quickly, and the demonic power can't be mobilized no matter what. Even the most stubborn person should believe it by now.

If you believe she can indeed limit you, why risk using a move that will be countered? Isn't that just courting death?

Yunyi couldn't understand.