Friday 25 August 2017

Chapter 28 The Governess that Wanted to be Queen



 “There’s a landline in my bedroom, I’ll use it to call my dad!”
Xin Yu bustled about in the darkness, reluctant to open the lights lest it attracted the attention of Sister Xu and her accomplice.
“Good idea, remember to tell him to send for someone trustworthy!”
Xin Yu leaned across to grab at the phone at the other end of the bed. Her lithe figure was stretched out on the large bed. She believed the darkness provided her cover but Se Cai’s mouth was going dry from the ‘scenery’ that unfolded before him.
“Hello, dad, it’s me…”
Xin Yu spoke softly into the phone before finally setting it down with a relieved sigh.
Then, she tensed, remembering something.
“Se Cai, tell me honestly… Do you have night vision?”
She thought back to Se Cai’s command for her to switch off the headlights during the conflict with the driver. Then, about how Se Cai managed to hit the driver squarely on the back of his head while his opponent was obviously fumbling in the dark. She drew the coat that she had on closer.
“Will it make you feel better if I say no?”
Se Cai answered with an awkward laugh.
“You…”
Xin Yu lobbed a pillow at him as she scurried under the mattress like a scared rabbit.
She had embarrassed herself more times that night than her life combined!
“I didn’t mean to, okay? It’s all for the purpose of saving you! If I didn’t come back, you would have been shipped off by Jin Feng to god knows where already!”
Se Cai justified after he let the pillow hit him in the face. He could have evaded it but he let it slide to give Xin Yu the satisfaction.
“Wait, someone’s coming. Stay under the covers and don’t move!”
Suddenly, Se Cai warned as he heard fast footsteps coming their way.
In the next moment, the bedroom door burst open with a bang. A sliver of light slid towards Se Cai!
It was a flying dagger. This was Xu Jin Feng’s specialty, a skill she had trained since she was young. She was so adept at it that she could feasibly hit her target within her 20 meter’s radius.
It was this unique set of skill that first brought her into Chang Seng’s employment. She was his hired assassin, responsible for eradicating competitors both local and overseas.
Thankfully Xin Yu had revealed to Se Cai Jin Feng’s dangerous skill when they were in the bathroom so he was not caught by surprise.
He ducked with a deft bend of his body and the dagger flew over his shoulder before lodging itself in the make-up counter behind him. It was embedded in the counter’s hardwood panel, its hilt still vibrating from the force.
“Nice dodge there!”
Jin Feng sneered. She walked into the room and switched on the light.
She had full confidence in her skills and she had her track record to prove it. She once incapacitated an expert gunner with a calculated shot at his wrist before he could even pull his gun out.
Therefore, she chalked her blunder up to Se Cai’s good luck and the room’s darkness.
“So, it is you. Why did you come back?”
Se Cai shivered at the sight of the dagger behind him and asked cautiously, “And how did you know we’re still here?”
“You have that phone call to thank.”
Jin Feng’s eyes landed on the phone that sat on the bedside table, adding with a jeer, “You two have underestimated me. I’m responsible for the security of this house, have you really not thought of the possibility of me bugging the calls that come in and out of this place?”
Se Cai nodded, his confusion answered.
No wonder Jin Feng appeared minutes after Xin Yu made her call, she already had the phone bugged.
Thankfully though, it was only Jin Feng herself that returned.
“Since you heard the call, why didn’t you run before Chang Seng’s men get here?”
Se Cai said with as much threat as he could muster.
He knew Jin Feng had her accomplices but he knew her party wouldn’t stand a chance against Chang Seng’s reinforcement.
The longer she remained, the harder it would be for her to escape.
“Young man, don’t you get concerned for me when you still have yourself to worry about.”
Jin Feng shrugged as she leveled a glacial stare at Se Cai.
Se Cai was right but Jin Feng was unfazed because she knew she would complete her plan before her Old Master’s forces arrived. She was a professional assassin taking on 2 unarmed reporters, how long could it possibly take?
“Here’s a lesson for you, young man… Heroes tend to have an early death!”
Jin Feng launched 2 daggers that she retrieved from her coat pocket. They were aimed directly at Se Cai’s chest and forehead!
Se Cai finally understood why Jin Feng was given the moniker, Black Widow. Her daggers, like the spider’s fangs were fast and lethal. If he was distracted for even a moment, his body would be lying on the floor.
However, unfortunately for Jin Feng, Se Cai’s Eye for News system was her skill’s natural weakness.
The efficacy of Jin Feng flying daggers depended completely on their speed. With a system that could slow things in his sight down, they were practically useless against Se Cai.
Se Cai didn’t duck this time but took a brave step forward.
With a twist of his wrist, Se Cai grabbed hold of the daggers’ hilt in mid-air!
“This is impossible!”
Jin Feng exclaimed in shock. Se Cai not only didn’t deflect her daggers but plucked them basically out of the thin air. This was the first time Jin Feng had stumbled across such an opponent.
This Se Cai first took down a hired Cobra Syndicate mercenary and now he caught my flying dagger...  Jin Feng started to doubt her initial assessment of Se Cai. Could he be a pro that escaped her detection?
“Just a small trick up my sleeves. Why don’t you try something else, I might have more to show you.”
Se Cai said haughtily.
He crossed his arms to shield his palm from view. Jin Feng’s daggers weren’t empty threats, even with the system’s help, Se Cai’s palm was grazed by the knife’s edge, cutting a wound through it. The system only increased the power of his vision, his body still wasn't fast enough to catch up to the daggers' speed.
Se Cai wasn’t sure he could handle more of Jin Feng’s flying daggers.
“I have to hand it to you, I’ve underestimated you!”
Jin Feng said as she took off her suit jacket and rolled up her sleeves. She took deliberate steps towards Se Cai.
Since her daggers didn’t work, she was going to try close-quarter combat. As a professional assassin, of course she didn’t only have one set of skills.
Suddenly, she gathered into a sprint.
She launched herself off the ground, gathering her momentum at the point of her heel that was aimed at Se Cai’s neck.
Se Cai understood why Chang Seng kept Jin Feng at his side for so long. Her skills were miles better than the mercenary Se Cai faced. She was a killing machine!
Se Cai smiled and untangled his crossed arms.
He didn’t do anything flashy, he merely lifted his arms to shield his face.
It had made all the difference in the world though because Jin Feng found her legs heading towards 2 pointy daggers that Se Cai had nestled between his fingers.
She pulled in her muscle at the last minute, but it wasn’t a clean escape.
Her calfskin boot and black legging were split open, revealing a bleeding wound that ran the length of her leg.
“But… how could you predict my moves?”
Jin Feng said as she took a cautious step back.
Thanks to her impressive reflex, the wound didn’t cut deep. If she had reacted one second sooner, there would be 2 daggers stuck in the ball of her feet.
“Well, didn’t I say I would show you more?”
Se Cai shrugged nonchalantly but he was overjoyed within.
He had been thinking on how to protect himself ever since his confrontation with the mercenary.
The Eye for News system was extraordinary but it wasn’t an aggressive skill.
It allowed him great prowess at evasion, thus providing him with greater means of defense but it did nothing to hurt his opponent.
Finally, he decided to play into the system’s strengths, to embrace the spirit of Tai Chi, to reflect his aggressor’s force back against themselves.
This was the first time he had tried it out in actual combat and it was surprisingly effective!

4 comments:

Mei said...

Has the author ever mentioned that Eyes for News system by itself gives stats boost (and things like night vision)?

lonelytree said...

@Hayakawa, The first mention of night vision appeared in the chapter when Se Cai had to run up the darkened stairwell to reach the jumper. The slowing things down was i think several chapters before this, when he faced off with the mercenary.

lonelytree said...

The system doesn't give outright stat boost, I added a sentence to make things clearer.

Keima said...

Thanks for the chapter! I'm excited to read what other things the system gives 😁