Chapter 324: Fight at the Drop of a Hat

"Why are you here?" the woman screeched, her face instantly twisting in fury.

’Great, I ran into an old acquaintance,’ Xie Ning thought. ’Looks like I can’t keep up this act anymore.’

"Excellent. You actually dare to show your face to me again." A bone-deep hatred flashed in the woman’s furious eyes. "Guards! Someone get over here! Is everyone dead? Where the hell is everybody!"

"Guards!"

The sound of hurried footsteps rushed in from all directions, growing closer.

In no time, five or six grim-faced, gun-wielding mercenaries ran in from the front and back doors.

"Miss Zhang."

"Miss Zhang!"

The fires of vengeance burned in Zhang Biyun’s eyes, turning them bloodshot. Trembling, she slowly raised a hand to point at Xie Ning.

"Seize her!"

’Excellent,’ Zhang Biyun thought. ’I never thought this vicious woman would fall into my hands one day!’

’To think I’d find her without even trying after searching so hard.’

"Xie Ning! You chose the path to hell when the road to heaven was wide open. Today, I’d like to see just how you’ll escape from my grasp alive!"

Xie Ning stared at the woman with a blank expression, her composure unshaken.

However, Martin, Gong Pingfan, and the others beside her all turned to stare at her in astonishment.

"Xie Ning?" Martin, who clearly knew this Miss Zhang and treated her with considerable respect, was confused.

He took a step forward and bowed elegantly. "Miss Zhang, what are you talking about? And where might the Vice-Base Leader be? This is Miss Huang, the daughter of the Chairman of the Golden City Base Management Committee. Could it be that you’ve mistaken her for someone else?"

"Miss Huang?" Zhang Biyun’s pupils constricted. She mumbled "Miss Huang" before whipping her head around to glare at the startled Martin. "You idiot! You’ve all been deceived by her."

"She’s not some Miss Huang! Before the apocalypse, she was just an ordinary farm girl whose family raised chickens and ducks and ran a rural homestay, you understand? How could she possibly be the daughter of the Golden City Base’s Chairman? She’s not! Her surname isn’t Huang at all, it’s Xie! Her name is Xie Ning!"

Martin, Gong Pingfan, Ms. Hao, and Chai Lei all took several steps back in unison. They stared warily at Xie Ning, a terrible premonition dawning in their hearts.

"Miss Huang, you lied to us?" The dreadful feeling in Martin’s heart intensified. "You’re not the daughter of Chairman Huang from the Golden City Base?"

"You idiot, stop calling her Miss Huang! Her surname is Xie! She’s from Lanshan Tower Lake in West City, not a Golden City local at all." Zhang Biyun pointed a trembling finger at Xie Ning and shrieked, "What are you all standing around for? Go! Go tie her up! Right now, immediately! Hurry!"

Zhang Biyun was trembling with excitement.

She truly hadn’t expected that this woman, Xie Ning, would be so brainless as to walk right into a deathtrap.

It was a heaven-sent opportunity!

Here, Zhang Biyun wouldn’t be afraid even if Xie Ning were a Third Rank Superpower User, let alone a mere Small Second Order Gold Ability User.

"Yes, ma’am!" Several mercenaries immediately charged menacingly toward Xie Ning, looking like they were about to knock her to the ground with a single elbow strike and tie her up.

Without waiting for the mercenaries to reach her, Xie Ning quickly turned and bolted. She didn’t forget to call out to a twitchy-lipped Beichen, "Are you an idiot? Let’s go!"

’He’s still standing there gawking like a moron!’

’He’s going to gawk his life away.’

The moment Xie Ning moved, Martin and the others also rushed toward the door, eager to cut her off.

What a joke. They thought she was the daughter of Golden City Base’s second-in-command, someone they could use to pressure the base in negotiations.

But it turned out they had been played for fools all this time, completely kept in the dark.

"Don’t run!" Gong Pingfan punched through the door panel, ripped off half of it, and hurled it at Xie Ning’s back.

"Catch her, quickly!" Zhang Biyun grew frantic when she saw them run out the door.

She couldn’t let such a perfect chance for revenge slip through her fingers.

Xie Ning had killed her father and brother at Lanshan Tower Lake and even hunted her down. If she couldn’t avenge this, she, Zhang Biyun, would be unworthy of being human.

Two mercenaries raised their guns, about to fire, but Zhang Biyun rushed forward to stop them, roaring in frustration, "I want her alive!"

That was right. She wanted Xie Ning captured alive.

’Capture her, then torture her viciously. I’ll use the most terrifying methods in the world to torment this damned woman, to make it so that even if she’s reincarnated in her next life, she wouldn’t dare to be human again—not even as a pig or a dog.’

A flicker of annoyance crossed the mercenaries’ faces.

’Women are so much trouble,’ they thought. ’Petty, and they always have to make things complicated. An order like ’capture her alive’ is tedious and useless.’

As Xie Ning ran out the door, she pulled a small bomb from her bag and threw it at the restaurant across the street.

Beichen froze for a second, then watched as several mercenaries charging out the door were sent flying by the explosion, accompanied by bloodcurdling screams. Something that looked like an arm flew through the air.

The deafening blast stunned Zhang Biyun. She covered her head and screamed. Before she could react, two mercenaries grabbed her and dragged her to the side.

Another grenade was thrown into the restaurant...

BOOM! A sharp explosion sent earth and stone flying.

Without a word, Xie Ning pulled a K30 from her bag, aimed at the mercenaries rushing out, and dropped them with a few shots.

She then pulled out another gun and tossed it to the dumbfounded Beichen. "Run! What are you staring at, you idiot?"

Beichen was completely numb.

He had thought Xie Ning would keep up the pretense for a while longer. He never expected her to suddenly drop her disguise and start a fight, causing such a huge commotion.

’Weren’t we supposed to infiltrate quietly and then make our big move?’

’Now the entire Barbarian Base is probably on high alert.’

After firing a few shots, Xie Ning grabbed Beichen and took off, heading straight for the back hills of the scenic area without a second thought.

Martin had said that Zuo Li and the people from Chaoyang Base occupied half the scenic area, which meant the back hills should be Zuo Li’s territory.

When Xie Ning reached the foot of the back hills, she ran head-on into Zuo Li, Chen Xiao, and their group, who had come to investigate the commotion.

Zuo Li’s mouth fell open. She rushed forward, grabbed Xie Ning, and ruffled her hair vigorously. "My God, Ningning! Xiao Qi Zi said he saw you earlier, and I thought his eyes were playing tricks on him. You really came!"

"They ran that way! After them!"

Xie Ning grabbed Zuo Li’s arm and shook it hard. "Quick! Let’s get back to your stronghold first. We can talk there."

As she spoke, she pulled another grenade from her bag and, right in front of the bewildered Zuo Li and her group, hurled it in the direction they had just come from.

A chorus of panicked shouts was heard.

"That woman has more grenades..."

"Take cover!"

"BOOM!"

The group shot her a speechless look.

On the back hill stood a large, army-green tent, big enough for more than ten people.

At this moment, Xie Ning was sitting on a wooden stool, obediently holding a cup of tea and taking small sips.

She looked nothing like the person who had just been tossing bombs one after another.

"Sis, what’s going on?" Zuo Li was completely baffled.

"It’s nothing. I just ran into a crazy woman who started screaming for my head. I was just acting in self-defense."

Beichen was too tired to even retort.

’Self-defense? You defended yourself by killing them all...’

"Oh, right. How are things going on your end?"