Chapter 115: Hellish Special Training

The screen lit up.

The light and shadow within the game flowed, the time anchored to the early morning of the second day after Xu Nuo became "Kirigaya Nuo."

In the game footage, Kirigaya Nuo had already gotten up and changed into brand-new clothes prepared for her by the Crescent Group.

Besides appearing slightly thin, the shadow of that slum girl curled up in the dilapidated attic yesterday with panicked eyes could no longer be seen.

She slowly turned around.

It was still that face as exquisite as a porcelain doll, with picturesque brows and eyes, but the expression between her brows and eyes was completely different.

Her gaze was as calm as an ancient well, no longer having the emptiness and tremor of killing a person for the first time yesterday.

Only an almost numb acceptance remained, as well as a firm determination like breaking the cauldrons and sinking the boats.

She looked toward Xu Yunzhou:

"Teacher, good morning."

Xu Yunzhou remembered the nightmare from last night and fell silent for a moment:

"Good morning... Kirigaya Nuo."

Kirigaya Nuo shook her head, her voice calm:

"Actually, I don't like this name."

She paused:

"I still prefer Xu Nuo, making a promise, a promise that cannot be exchanged for a thousand pieces of gold."

(TL: "Xu Nuo" literally means "promise." )

Xu Yunzhou smiled:

"Okay, you will always be Xu Nuo."

In his heart, he silently added a sentence:

I hope you really can keep your promise to me, and not walk down that... paranoid and destructive path.

Kirigaya Nuo nodded, walked to the window, and gazed at the city below that had just awakened, the traffic flow gradually becoming dense. Her back was straight and lonely.

"Teacher,"

She didn't turn her head, her voice still calm,

"We are going to start our plan. Takemiya Susumu... must die..."

As matters stand now, not only for Teacher's trust, but also adding the assassination task issued by the Crescent Group—the matter of assassinating Takemiya Susumu must be resolved.

Xu Yunzhou's heart shuddered.

This tone, unlike hatred, unlike anger, instead seemed like a kind of... helpless sense of destiny?

Kirigaya Nuo walked to the large mahogany desk and opened the brand-new laptop sent by the Crescent Group.

A top-spec Alienware M18x, its heavy body, cool backlit keyboard, and dual graphics cards in CrossFire, was a performance monster-level existence at this time.

Her fingertips rapidly typed on the keyboard, logged into a daily-use Yahoo email, and sent an email to O Rissei.

The content of the email was thanking Teacher O for his recommendation, stating that she had obtained her family's consent, and officially confirmed participating in the "Outstanding Talent Selection Plan" held by the Nihon Go Institute under the identity of "Kirigaya Nuo."

This was an important link in her approaching Takemiya Susumu.

Watching this scene, Xu Yunzhou thought rapidly in his mind.

He couldn't let her just plunge headfirst into darkness like this.

He had to figure out a way to leave some light in her heart, leave some humanity, leave some... warmth.

He thought for a moment, and typed in the dialogue box, his tone as relaxed as possible:

"Ah Nuo, we won't go play wager Go today."

"How about... you accompany me to watch a movie?"

He calculated, finding some movies like "The Shawshank Redemption," "Forrest Gump," and "Life Is Beautiful" that could awaken hope and feel the beauty of humanity, to imperceptibly shape and correct this rebellious young girl who was sliding toward the dark abyss.

The fingers Kirigaya Nuo used to type on the keyboard paused slightly.

She turned her head sideways, seeming somewhat surprised, a momentary hesitation and struggle flashing through her eyes.

"But Teacher... today the organization arranged for me to start special training in combat and firearms."

Her voice lowered, carrying a trace of undetectable exhaustion:

"Time is very tight... I can't push it off."

She looked at the void, adding softly, her tone complex:

"Because... I am no longer myself."

Xu Yunzhou sighed.

He knew, once entering the yakuza, one is not in control of oneself.

The arrangements of the Crescent Group were not something she could refuse.

Forget it, let her go.

It happens that I can also watch and learn along.

These skills of assassination, combat, disguise, intelligence... the future me will absolutely have use for them.

At the very least, if in the future Xu Nuo really becomes paranoid and turns against me, I can also have some understanding of her methods and counter her moves.

Soon, the apartment doorbell rang gently.

It was still that woman with a cold and stern face dressed in black from yesterday.

"Kirigaya-san, morning. Please follow me."

No extra pleasantries, no polite greetings.

The two walked into the elevator one after another, descending to the underground garage.

It was still that black Toyota Century, but the person driving today had changed to a middle-aged man with an ordinary face, lacking any distinguishing features, completely impossible to find if thrown into a crowd.

The direction was the industrial zone near the port.

Forty minutes later, the car stopped in front of a gray warehouse building that looked extremely ordinary, even somewhat dilapidated.

The exterior walls were mottled, without any company logo or house number. The huge rolling shutter door was tightly closed, revealing a cold feeling of "strangers keep away."

The woman in black got out of the car, walked to an inconspicuous small metal door on the side, entered a string of complex passwords on the electronic lock embedded in the wall, then bent over and performed iris verification.

"Click... buzz—"

The heavy metal door slid open silently inward, revealing a dimly lit passage.

Inside, was another world.

The space inside the warehouse was far more massive than it looked from the outside, and was modified to be suffocatingly professional.

The left side was the shooting area: Target lanes of different distances from ten meters to fifty meters, stationary targets, moving targets, and reaction targets were all available.

The gun racks displayed various firearms from Glock and Sig Sauer to custom sniper rifles.

The right side was the combat area: Paved with professional shock-absorbing mats, sandbags, wooden dummies, a boxing ring, and even an obstacle area simulating a street environment.

In the back, there were also independent psychological stress testing rooms, makeup and disguise rooms, and intelligence analysis corners.

This was one of the unknown secret training bases of the Crescent Group.

Specifically used for rapid, efficient, and batch training of certain "tools" needing to execute special tasks.

A woman wearing a black tight tactical suit, with a capable figure like a cheetah, and smooth muscle lines full of explosive power, slowly walked out from the shadows beside the shooting area.

She looked to be in her early thirties, her face without any extra expressions. Her whole body emitted an icy aura of having experienced many battles and being accustomed to life and death.

"Kirigaya Nuo."

She spoke, her voice low and without any emotional fluctuation:

"I am your chief instructor for the next three months."

She walked in front of Kirigaya Nuo, her gaze sweeping over her, as if evaluating the raw material of a weapon.

"You can call me Crow. I will use the fastest speed to make you master killing techniques, as well as post-incident evacuation plans."

Kirigaya Nuo inside the screen and Xu Yunzhou outside the screen nodded simultaneously:

"Please instruct me."

In the days that followed, Kirigaya Nuo began hellish training in this secret base.

The training content was highly concentrated.

Rapid disassembly and assembly of firearms, precision shooting at different distances, close-quarters combat leaning towards joint locks and one-strike sure-kills, basic use of cold weapons, environmental utilization and anti-tracking, basic disguise techniques, target character behavior analysis and weakness judgment...

No extra flashiness, no traditional martial arts cultivation, no empty talk about "martial virtue."

Only the most streamlined, most rapid, most practical, and also most fatal skill instillation.

And Kirigaya Nuo displayed astonishing talent that made even the instructor look sideways.

First day, basic shooting training.

After briefly explaining the three main points of gun-holding posture, aiming baseline, and trigger control, Kirigaya Nuo was required to conduct her first live-fire shooting at a ten-meter stationary target.

Her movements were slightly unfamiliar, but extremely steady.

Raising the gun, aiming, slightly holding her breath.

Pulling the trigger.

"Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!"

Seven gunshots, even rhythm, almost no hesitation.

The target reporter lit up numbers:

On target: 7 shots.

Hit rate: 100%.

Average rings: 8.5 rings.

Three of those shots were even concentrated in the fatal area within 9 rings.

The entire shooting area instantly quieted down.

A few men nearby who were also training, looking like they had arrived much earlier than Kirigaya Nuo, and carrying scars and hostility on their bodies, subconsciously stopped their movements.

With gazes of amazement, scrutiny, and even carrying a trace of undetectable apprehension, they looked at this young girl with a slender figure and immature face.

First time touching a real gun, first time live-fire shooting.

This result...

Could no longer be described as "talented."

It was simply... an instinct born for slaughter.

Crow walked behind Kirigaya Nuo, looking at her side profile as she calmly put down the gun, her face without the slightest excitement or nervousness, as if she had just completed an ordinary homework assignment.

She was silent for a few seconds, slowly opening her mouth, her voice still icy cold:

"Not bad."

"Tomorrow, begin moving target and low-light environment training."

She paused, adding:

"Your training volume, doubled."

"I want to see, where your limit is."