“You really ’t ride a horse?” Jin Shu gnced over his shoulder at Li Xue, who was clutg tightly to his back as they rode dowh toward Bck Mountain City.
Bringing this girl along was turning out to be a trial in more ways than one. Due to the circumstances of his reination, he was noed in the body of an adolest teenager, his mind split between his mature, analytical self and the impulsive thoughts of his younger body. While part of him found Li Xue’s stant ging exasperating, another part—a far more hormonal part—couldn’t ighe sensations of her soft body pressed against his back.
He gritted his teeth, feeling like his psyches were about to csh in a way that would leave him with more than just a headache.
“I ride a horse,” Li Xue replied, stig her to pyfully. “But it’s not like yoing to turn around a another one, are you?”
“Don’t test me,” Jin Shu said, his to but ced with a quiet menace. “I’ll toss you off and leave you in the forest.”
Li Xue flinched, her pyful grin vanishing as she bit her lip. “I was just kidding…”
“Haha!” Yin’er’s spirited ughter chimed in, the little cub perched on Jin Shu’s shoulder clearly enjoying the exge.
Her amusement was short-lived, however, as Li Xue snatched her off his shoulder in a fit of irritation. The two immediately desded into bickering, their voices rising as they tugged and wrestled with each other.
“Enough!” Jin Shu barked, his patience wearing thin. “If you don’t stop, I’ll throw both of you off this horse!”
“Yin’er fly!” She decred proudly as she fpped her little wings, pletely unfazed by the threat.
Li Xue, who had no such ability, quickly fell silent, her grip on Jin Shu tightening as if to anchor herself more securely.
***
At some point during their journey, Li Xue and Yin’er had fallen silent, cimed by sleep. Both rested against Jin Shu’s back as the horse’s steady gait carried them forward.
“You have a strong mind, young man.” Dr. Chi’s calm voice broke the quiet. The old man rode his horse beside Jin Shu, his expression serene.
“I’ll take that as a pliment,” Jin Shu replied, casting him a sidelong ghough I’m not sure what you mean.”
Dr. Chi chuckled softly. “I meant it as such. You’ve shown a mental fortitude unon for someone ye.”
Jin Shu raised an eyebrow. “What are y to say?”
“I’m saying,” Dr. Chi said with a hearty ugh, “I would’ve thrown those two into the woods less than a kilometer into our journey.”
Jin Shu opened his mouth to retort, but a flicker of movement from the shadowy woods caught his eye. Instinct overrode thought. He grabbed Li Xue a from the horse just as an arrow sliced through the space where his head had been a heartbeat earlier.
Sss!
A sharp whistle apahe arrow, spooking the horses. Dr. Chi’s mount reared violently, throwing the old man to the ground with a heavy thud. His head bounced off the dirt, leaving him motionless.
Li Xue jolted awake as Jin Shu nded hard on the ground with her in his arms. “Ah! What—what’s happening!?” she stammered, her voice trembling with panic.
Jin Shu shoved her off his chest and thrust Yin’er into her arms. “Take Dr. Chi and hide in that bush! Stay behind the tree, and don’t make a sound!”
fused but uue, Li Xue obeyed, dragging the unscious doctor toward cover.
Jin Shu stood, his earring fshing as his pistol materialized in his hand. His eyes sed the dark trees, muscles tense. Shadows shifted, and one by one, bck-cd figures emerged—five, ten… twenty.
“Shit,” he muttered under his breath. “Too many.”
Another fsh from his earring. A shiny pink pistol appeared in his left hand.
Five archers, he thought, narrowing his focus. They go first.
Without hesitation, he aimed both pistols, firing in quick succession.
Bang! Bang! Thump! Thump!
Bang! Bang! Thump! Thump!
Four archers fell in the blink of an eye. As he lined up the st one, an arrow whistled toward him from the shadows. He twisted away, but the arrow grazed his brow, a sharp sting drawing blood.
More figures charged from the treeline, splitting into fnking formations.
Bang! Bang!
The fifth archer crumpled. Jin Shu shifted, dropping the swordsman with a shot to the chest.
But the hidden archer was still out there. Jin Shu’s eyes darted across the foliage, sing every shadow, every movement. Then—there! A glimpse of movement behind a tree.
His earring fshed. Both pistols vanished, repced by a long sniper rifle. No time for a proper stance. Jin Shu raised the rifle and fired.
BOOOOM!
The deafening bst echoed through the forest, its force shaking the ground. The swordsmen staggered, faltering mid-charge as the soundwave rippled past them.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The destru was catastrophic. Trees splintered and colpsed in the distahe air filled with the sound of snapping wood and falling trunks. Where the hidden archer had been, only a faint red mist remained.
The remaining men froze, their eyes wide as they stared at the age Jin Shu had unleashed.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
The sharp retort of gunfire broke their stupor. Four more of their rades dropped before they could react.
Jin Shu’s movements were calm, precise. He fired as he stepped back, the blood from his cut brow maring his aim, his feet g against the forest floor. The remaining swordsmen pressed forward, closing the distance as his back met a tree.
Two men, two steps away.
Jin Shu raised his pistols, ready to end the fight—
“AAH!” A scream cut through the chaos.
Jin Shu’s head soward the sound. Li Xue stood frozen in a bck-cd man’s grip, a knife pressed against her throat.
For a split sed, Jin Shu hesitated.
Bang! Bang! Thump! Thump!
The first bullet dropped one of the advang swordsmen. The sed struck the man holding Li Xue. His knife fell from his lifeless hand as her captor crumpled.
Slick!
Pain exploded in Jin Shu’s abdomen. He looked down to see a sword driven through his gut, its cold steel pierg through to the tree behind him.
Bang! Thump!
The st swordsman didn’t even have time to react. Jin Shu squeezed the trigger, and the man crumpled to the ground in a single shot.
Silence fell over the forest. Only the faint rustle of leaves in the breeze and Jin Shu’s ragged breathing remained. Blood dripped from the er of his mouth, streaking his before falling to the ground. He slumped against the tree, the cold steel of the sword still embedded in his abdomen.
Crack!
A sharp footstep sounded beside him. Jin Shu’s instincts fred. He raised his pistol blindly, his hand trembling.
“Eek!”
The startled cry made him freeze. He dropped his arm, reizing the voice.
Li Xue crouched beside him, her face pale with panic. “J-Jin Shu! Oh my god—you’re bleeding so much!”
“Hah! Really? I hadn’t noticed.” He chuckled weakly, the sound cut short as the pain wracked his body.
“Daddy!” Yin’er’s small voice pierced the air as she threw herself onto his chest.
Cough! Jin Shu sputtered, blood staining Yin’er’s pristine fur as she g to him.
“Yin’er, get off him! Yoing to kill him!” Li Xue shouted, yanking the little cub off his chest and holding her back.
Inside his head, Nano’s calm voice broke through the haze clouding Jin Shu’s mind. “The sword must be removed for your wound to begin healing.”
Jin Shu grit his teeth, his shaky hands reag for the bde. But his arms felt like lead, slippery with his own blood. He couldn’t muster the strength.
“Li Xue!” he hissed through gritted teeth. “Pull the sword—now!”
“B-but won’t that make it worse?” Her hands hovered over the hilt, her voice trembling.
“Just do it!”
“Eek! O-okay!”
“Don’t!” A frantic voice cut through the tension. Dr. Chi stumbled toward them, his face pale as he assessed the se. “Pulling it out will only make his wound worse!”
“Just pull the damn swor—!” Jin Shu’s voice wavered, his head lolling forward. Darkness crept into the edges of his vision, and his body wobbled unsteadily.
Thump.
He colpsed against the tree, unscious, the world fading to bck.
