Around dusk, Qin Yu arrived at her sniping position.
The sky gradually darkened as the night crept in, its darkness stirring restlessly. A cold wind brushed against her cheek, sending shivers down her spine.
To be honest, Qin Yu disliked being out at this hour.
The complete darkness of night frightened her, while the twilight between day and night made her tense and uneasy.
She remembered the term "Oma-ga-toki"—the bewitching hour when demons and spirits were said to emerge and cause mischief.
Demons... For some reason, the word sent a faint throbbing pain through her head.
Qin Yu slapped her cheeks, forcing herself to focus.
Just finish this quickly and go home!
Her reason for being here was simple: she was waiting for her target to appear so she could snipe him.
That target was the man who had been relentlessly pursuing her.
The other target was his hulking accomplice. She didn't expect him to show himself easily, exposing himself to her line of sight. Rather than relying on an anesthetic rifle, she'd rather blast him away with a double-barreled shotgun.
Using lethal weapons... Hmph, not like I'm a good woman anyway. On the contrary, I'm downright wicked.
Qin Yu set down her backpack and retrieved the black outfit she had ordered.
After changing, she bit the hair tie between her teeth, gathered her hair at the back of her head with her left hand, and secured it into a high ponytail with her right.
Then she pulled on a face mask.
She looked like a hardened criminal, and her actions certainly matched the part. Qin Yu scoffed inwardly as she conjured an anesthetic rifle. Crouching low, she wedged the weapon between two rocks and aimed at the clearing below.
He should be here soon. Just wait.
Not long ago, after finishing the letter, she had shaken off the accomplice who had been tailing her and arranged for someone to deliver it to the Simp Man.
The letter stated that she had something important to discuss with him, but it wasn't convenient to talk in the city. She asked him to meet her at a secluded spot outside town, where they could talk in detail.
Suspicious, wasn't it? But no matter how suspicious it seemed, Qin Yu remained convinced the target would come.
It was all thanks to that unwavering determination.
Sure enough, after a short wait, the target's figure appeared in Qin Yu's scope.
Only one person? Hmm... As expected, the other one must be hiding or scouting nearby.
She activated Wave Detection, but it didn't register any humanoid lifeforms. This meant they were likely some distance away; even if they discovered her position, they couldn't reach her immediately.
The wind... northwest, relatively weak. Wait... wait for that fleeting moment of stillness.
Meanwhile, elsewhere...
"That woman invited me out. Could she finally be changing her mind?"
Oblivious to the sniper's crosshairs already trained on his head, the man muttered to himself, "Well, this proves my efforts weren't in vain after all!"
"But if not... I still have that accomplice. Even if I have to force her, I'll get her. Once I have her body, her heart will follow. That's what my family always said. Besides, she's all alone—an orphan."
He stomped his foot, his expression darkening. "But after I succeed, he wants his turn too... Tsk, I'll have to figure out how to deal with him later."
At that moment, the man looked up.
"The wind's stopped... Hmm? That's strange, isn't there something between those two rocks on the hilltop?"
He had a persistent feeling that something was lurking between the two dark stones.
The object was pitch-black and indistinct, making it impossible to identify. Just as he was about to take a few steps closer and squint for a better look, a sudden burst of fire erupted from the gap.
Then, darkness.
A direct hit.
Qin Yu calmly watched the man collapse through her scope.
The anesthetic rifle wouldn't cause any lasting harm, merely render him unconscious. Now, all that remained was to deal with his accomplice and drag him to the "Wonderful House" for some "friendly conversation."
What about the other one?
"Heh, so that's why I sensed that strange presence. Someone was lying in ambush here." The accomplice approached, drawing his katana with a cruel grin.
Unfazed, Qin Yu holstered the anesthetic rifle and drew her revolver. At this distance, the rifle was impractical, and revealing her true killing weapon would be premature.
The henchman glanced down.
"He suddenly fell asleep. That weapon flashed with fire just now—was that some kind of hidden device? But at this distance, that weird-looking thing of yours wouldn't be very effective, would it?"
Qin Yu suppressed her voice. "You're working for that man, aren't you?"
With her face concealed by a mask, her voice sounded muffled and deliberately deepened to disguise her true tone. The henchman didn't recognize her. He shrugged.
"Yeah, that man wanted a woman he couldn't get, no matter how hard he tried. His family couldn't stand it anymore and, furious, wanted to make her pay. That's when they found me."
"How much?"
"50,000 Mora, plus the chance to taste that woman after him. What, you trying to steal me away? You're a woman too, and your figure's not half bad..."
With a sharp crack, the bullet shot forth.
Having learned the full story, there was no need for further discussion. Qin Yu was consumed by fury, her only desire to riddle the enemy before her with holes.
Ha? I'm only worth fifty thousand Mora? What a joke!
After all her painstaking efforts to play the part, to become someone everyone would like, this was all she was worth in their eyes?
And being treated like an object infuriated her even more.
In the blink of an eye, the helper's hair stood on end as he sensed death rapidly approaching. Driven by a lifetime of honed instincts, he instinctively raised his blade to block.
Clang! The bullet struck the blade, the force of the impact numbing his arm.
This projectile weapon is truly remarkable. Its sheer speed alone could kill a person instantly. A chill ran down the helper's spine. Had he failed to block, the bullet would have pierced him clean through, leaving him to bleed to death.
No longer underestimating the peculiar woman before him, he steadied his breathing, charged forward, and swung his blade.
Qin Yu's "Danger Instinct" activated, slowing down her perception of time. Seizing the opportunity, she darted backward to evade the strike and fired again, only to have the helper block once more.
"Heh, impressive power, but all your projectiles come from that single hole. Predict the hole's orientation, and you predict their trajectory!"
Seeing her attack fail, Qin Yu thought, These people in this world are truly on another level... Blocking bullets with a sword in my past life? That was all luck. But these powerhouses can actually do it.
There was no doubt her opponent was strong.
But she had a trump card!
"You can block a pistol, but can you block this?!" Qin Yu pulled out her double-barreled shotgun.
"Ah... shit."
Bang!
Instinct screamed at him that this weapon was terrifying and must not be faced head-on.
But the moment he tried to move, the net of pellets slammed into his body. He felt no pain, only an uncontrollable backward lurch.
Bang! The second shot.
The helper collapsed to the ground, his body refusing to obey his desperate mental commands.
Powerless, he could only watch as Qin Yu slowly approached.
He coughed up blood and pleaded, "Wait, don't—"
Qin Yu raised her revolver to his head and, without a word, pulled the trigger. Cock the hammer, pull the trigger, another shot.
"Your pleas mean nothing to me."
Afterward, she used the corpse to threaten the awakened man, ordering him to leave Liyue. He agreed, promising never to approach Qin Yu again.
Yet, this scene unexpectedly caught someone's eye.
This was also the reason why the woman later known as Liyue's "top legal expert" arrived.