NOVEL NEXT 157: Chronic Disorganization
With the handful of figures coming to a stop in front of them, Lin Songmei counted four people, dressed head to toe in black garbs emblazoned with Pride’s symbol. Seeing as they only sent four people, Songmei couldn’t help but feel Pride was underestimating them.
“There’s EIGHT?!” One of the hooded figures shouted, pulling out a terminal and tapping some buttons.
Scratch her earlier statement. Maybe Pride’s warehouse guards had just given some unreliable information...
Sliding to the back of the group, Songmei did a quick count. Wang Taigang and Lu Qiang at the front? Check. Yan Mingqing and Cai Yufei? Check. Zhao Liying and Han Youhong next? Check again. Looking to her side, Songmei gave Liu Liping a small thumbs up as the four figures crouched down into battle positions.
With the leader pulling out a pair of chainblades similar to Youhong’s, a baritone voice escaped from under his mask. “Tremble before us! Vainglory special forces! Today, you won’t be escaping without some injuries at the minimum. Etch our numbers into your memory. Today you face numbers one, three, four, and six.”
As his weird monologue came to an end, number one—or so Songmei presumed based on the fact he seemed to be the leader—made a couple steps back, the others following suit.
Were they waiting for Songmei and the others to attack first? They were the ones trying to buy time...
Deciding to not attack and wait for the other party to make the first move, Songmei and others stood there as silence fell onto the battlefield. With the only sound coming from some random dude rolling around on the ground bemoaning how the heavens had betrayed him, everyone stood around for a couple more seconds.
“What’s up with you guys? Haven’t you heard of us? Why won’t you make the first move?” The person Songmei assumed was number one provoked, holding his weapon in one hand as he tried to wave them over.
With more silence and stone-faced expressions, Songmei’s party stood there. Youhong—who Songmei assumed was trying to start a career in standup comedy—looked to the side and nudged Liying as the stalemate dragged on. “So... You ever heard of them?”
Having, in fact, actually heard of the group, Liying almost nodded before catching onto Youhong’s bit. “No... never. Who are these weirdos?”
Snorting, Songmei looked away as the girl next to her, Liu Liping, covered her mouth as well, catching the laughs and pushing them back down before they clawed their way out. With another awkward silence falling on the battlefield, this time only punctured by faint snorts, giggles, and laughs, Songmei and the others continued standing there waiting.
Time was on their side. The moment the inner disciples messaged them, the plan was to bolt and disappear like the wind.
The black robed figures on the other hand seemed to have a different sort of conflict going on as one of the figures tapped the leading figure. “Zha... Zhang S-”
“SHUT UP, FOUR! WE’RE ON A MISSION ARE YOU DUMB?!” The leading figure shouted, threatening his underling by pressing a blade to his throat.
“B... Boss, you know, we’re here to capture them, right? They made off with the hostages...” Number four lowered the boss’s blade with a cough.
“What are you talking about, the hostages are right the...re... ” The boss froze, his jaw-dropping as the two wrecked warehouses registered in his brain. “Why in the world did you not say something sooner? Are you trying to get us all fired?!??”
Running forward at Taigang and Lu Qiang, the boss—who Songmei arbitrarily decided was number one—sent a barrage of attacks forward, surprising not only Taigang and Lu Qiang, but his own subordinates as well.
With attacks beginning to stream out of everyone, Songmei pulled her bow back, letting loose a couple of arrows as she heard one of the subordinates retort with a “I was under the impression you weren’t blind!”
Unsure if this was a third-party comedy group coming to crash a random battle they saw or actual reinforcements from Pride, Songmei decided—after more than a moment of deliberation—to push the thoughts aside and focus on hitting her shots.
Sending one man crashing to the ground after encasing his legs in blocks of crystal, Songmei felt a pang of worry as the battle dragged on. Even if no one on either side had been injured yet, Songmei squinted her eyes as the seconds ticked by.
Shouldn’t the inner disciples be done? Shouldn’t they have finished escaping from Pride’s district?
They had bought so much time after all. The fighting had been managed to a perfect stalemate while the pre-battle—whether intentional or not—had been dragged out an extra couple of minutes due to... weird misunderstandings, miscommunications, or just plain stupidity.
Channeling Qi into her eyes, Songmei’s gray irises fell away to reveal a rich amethyst as she scanned the surrounding area. Hiding behind Liu Liping who caught onto her intentions, Songmei took note and called out the approaching presences traveling towards them from the interior of Pride’s district.
Taking another look towards their escape route, Songmei tilted her head as she tried her best to guess and estimate the distance at which the escaping disciples were at.
As far as Songmei could tell they were already a ways out... If Songmei had to guess, she would’ve guessed the disciples had already exited the territory close to a minute prior. They weren’t being chased either...
With everyone’s terminal buzzing, Songmei dismissed her thoughts—it was hard to guesstimate distance through Qi signatures alone, not to mention the buildings in the way. Opening her mouth to call everyone, Songmei closed it again as everyone disengaged one-by-one.
Deciding to just bolt before the next wave of reinforcements arrived, Songmei disappeared, leaving only a few butterflies in her wake to signal she had even been there in the first place.
Channeling all her Qi into her legs, Songmei slowed a touch to run beside Mingqing. “Injured?”
“Not at all,” Mingqing shook her head, leaping onto the rooftops while following Songmei. “The others split off. They’re taking their own routes down these few parallel streets. So don’t worry about them. Even if it took longer than we expected, everyone still has plenty of leeway.”
Turning her head to see Youhong zipping along a nearby street’s rooftops while popping lychee jellies into his mouth, Songmei didn’t need Mingqing’s words to tell: they were fine. Accelerating a bit to keep up with Mingqing, Songmei looked back at Mingqing while pointing to her eyes. “On the topic of longer than expected though, I feel like we need to be more vigilant and use the inner disciples less...”
“Hm? Why’s that?” Mingqing looked back over her shoulder, checking to see how many, if any, pursuers there were.
“Well, I know I’m bad at using my eyes, but I felt like they were like... a minute out from Pride’s territory before they messaged us...” Songme sighed, looking over her shoulder to check as well. “Disregard it for now though. We don’t need to bring it up either because it’ll just cause distrust. Unless we collaborate with the inner disciples again that is... then we should just be a little more on guard. Maybe design a better plan or something.”
“Yeah, I’ll keep that in mind...” Mingqing nodded, giving Songmei a few pats on the back as they slowed their pace to a jog. “We don’t have to worry about it for now, and it’s not like they’re bad people.”
Nodding, Songmei gave a double thumbs-up before shrugging off her worries. She didn’t want to distrust the inner disciples... It was easier to just trust them. Plus, they seemed nice-ish...
Being friends would always be nicer after all...
