"Lian." Standing quietly amid the crowd, Inori ignored the occasional glances cast her way and gazed at the girl onstage. The hand raised before her chest clenched tightly. She truly is outstanding, isn't she?
"Oh, it's about to begin?" Hearing the singing drifting past her ears, she looked toward Chu Lian and the others with an incomparably gentle gaze. You want a peaceful world of your own, so let me guarantee it for you.
"Tina, Anna, Satsuki, Inori, the four of you will remain here. Should anything happen or any enemies appear, your first priority is ensuring that Lian'er and the others can continue performing. Save the other students as well if they're in danger. Mm, I won't expect that from you, Anna. Just don't let anyone discover it was you when you eat them. That is my only requirement. Understand?"
Li Mingxue raised her head and looked at the white clouds drifting through the sky. Her tone was somewhat stern, yet also somewhat relaxed. Perhaps the enemy who had failed to appear for so long had finally shown themselves, freeing her from the need to keep waiting.
"Yes, Matriarch. As long as Tina is here, no one will harm the students." Tina voluntarily accepted the task of protecting the students. She was extremely fast and could slip into the Shadow Plane, granting her exceptional concealment. She was perfectly suited for the job.
"As long as I'm not exposed, I can eat as much as I want? Anna understands." Anna had been hungry for a very long time, and Li Mingxue's words told her this was an opportunity to eat her fill. As long as she was allowed to eat, she would agree to any conditions, especially one as simple as not exposing herself.
"No one will harm them." Kurosaki Satsuki pulled the instrument case from her back and hugged it against her chest. Looking at the girls onstage ahead, she replied with determination.
"I promised Lian. I'll do it." Inori stroked the transformation bracelet on her left wrist. Should the situation grow critical, she would not mind truly transforming into someone else to help everyone.
"I believe in all of you." After saying this, Li Mingxue abruptly vanished from where she stood. No one saw how she left. Their vision merely blurred, and the tall woman was already gone.
"Your hair is like snow, the sorrow of parting made beautiful. I burn incense, but whose heart did I move..." Humming one of her favorite songs, Chu Lian focused most of her attention on the performance, yet she still noticed the activity below.
When she saw her mother disappear, she knew another moment of slaughter had arrived.
But so what? She did not care how many people would die, nor would she grieve for them. She only needed to do what she had to do. Today, her sole duty was to sing here at the top of her lungs.
"These performances..." Mr. President had no fixed order for watching the shows. After visiting several stages without finding one that suited his tastes, he was about to head somewhere else when a violent explosion suddenly erupted behind him.
The shock wave from the explosion sent even Mr. President's tall body sliding several meters sideways. Had someone not been protecting him from the front, that alone might have gravely wounded him.
"Protect Mr. President!" A bodyguard in black caught him. The sudden turn of events threw everyone into panic, but as bodyguards, they were precisely the people who had to remain calm.
"What happened?" Mr. President was utterly bewildered. What in the world was going on?
At first, he thought someone from Huaxia had attacked him, but after thinking it over, he immediately discarded the idea. Huaxia would never be foolish enough to hand others leverage and an excuse to condemn them. In that case, it could only be...
Before he could think any further, one of the bodyguards beside him pulled a pistol from his coat, aimed at his head, and fired.
Buzz... A miraculous scene unfolded. Once fired, the bullet should have struck Mr. President with ease across a distance of only a few meters.
Yet the bullet seemed to collide with an invisible barrier and stopped in midair, unable to advance. Even the trail left behind it remained visible, creating a sight even more astonishing than Neo's bullet time in The Matrix.
"Alton!" Seeing one of his own bodyguards open fire, how could Mr. President fail to realize that someone in the White House wanted him dead? In an instant, he identified the likeliest suspect.
Yet under the present circumstances, knowing who had done it was useless. The other side clearly intended to kill him at all costs.
Had a superhero not been secretly protecting him, he probably would have died just now.
"Protect the president!" He was not surrounded solely by the bodyguards he had brought with him. Not far away, the many super soldiers Huaxia had assigned to Mr. President after he insisted on coming alone also sprang into action.
Their reactions were extraordinarily swift. The moment the explosion sounded, they drew their weapons. Many scattered to search the surroundings for enemies, while the rest formed a human wall around Mr. President. Some underwent an abrupt change in bearing, transforming from ordinary elite soldiers into peerless warriors.
The president's bodyguards had been turned against him, but no such traitors existed among them. A number of super soldiers immediately stepped forward and joined the president's remaining bodyguards in shielding him at the very center.
"Awooo! Mr. President, this place will be your grave today. I wonder what will happen to relations between our two countries when the president of America dies in Huaxia. I'm truly looking forward to it!" The speaker used fluent English, unmistakably authentic American English. Mr. President's expression changed the moment he heard it.
"Fire!" At the enemy's command, countless bullets shot toward him from every direction, determined to claim the president's life.
Buzz, buzz... Unfortunately, just like before, the bullets stopped a short distance from Mr. President and hung suspended in the air.
"They have a superhero. Don't worry. Keep firing. I refuse to believe he can hold out forever." The enemy's deliberate shouting was meant to rattle their hearts and throw them into chaos, but under these circumstances, there was truly little they could do.
The students on the surrounding stages had already been evacuated. Apparently, they were not the attackers' targets. Although some bullets were aimed at them, a strange force always pulled the shots away, preventing them from suffering even the slightest injury.
Amid the chaos, screams and sobs blended into a dreadful dirge that made one's expression change.
Stages exploded one after another. The traitorous bodyguards beside the president were eliminated, and upon witnessing this, the survivors began retreating.
Regardless of the present situation, the enemy clearly had no intention of allowing them to escape so easily. Judging from the circumstances, the attackers had already turned this entire place into their home ground in secret.
Although they did not know how this had happened or whether the school authorities were aware of it, they could not afford to be careless. They had to retreat into an open area where bombs could not catch them by surprise.
That was what they believed, and it was their only option now.
That superhero was far too special to be exposed before the public. Otherwise, an even greater storm would inevitably follow. For the sake of his own safety and position, the president would never permit such a thing.
Everyone was trapped in chaos. Amid the storm of bullets, some fell, some wailed, and even more displayed a courage that disregarded life and death.
They might have been nameless soldiers or bodyguards, but when forced to choose between their duty, the students' lives, and their own, they did not hesitate to choose the latter.
No matter what happened, even if they died, they could not allow the students to suffer the slightest harm.
"You mongrel bastards! Don't let this granddaddy find out who planned this attack, or I'll march straight into your headquarters and shoot every last one of you!" An enormously muscular man hid behind the corner of a wall, clutching his wounded arm as he spoke through gritted teeth.
Many others were in the same condition. Although most of these super soldiers had never experienced a real battlefield, their training was every bit as brutal as war. They had long since stopped fearing death, leaving only hot blood in their veins and an intense longing for battle.
An attack like this was rare. Although the consequences would be extremely severe, being able to fight was all that mattered. They did not care about matters outside their jurisdiction. But damn it, now that he had been shot and could not charge back out immediately, how could he not feel frustrated?
Ten minutes had already passed since the chaos began. The students, teachers, and spectators who had entered to watch the performances had all been escorted to a safe area, where specialized soldiers and several powerful cultivators guarded them. There was no need to worry about them at all.
This was war! That was how they saw it, because that group fought in some unknown manner and numbered at least thirty. Not one of them was ordinary. Perhaps none had reached the Earth Rank or higher, but that did not prevent them from causing enormous destruction.
"I need to tell Chu Xiao about this." Escorted to a safe location under heavy protection, Mr. President immediately thought of the man with whom he had spoken most pleasantly since arriving in Huaxia. If he were here, he should be able to resolve the situation immediately.
"My God, why haven't they left?" While he was thinking, he suddenly heard a bodyguard ahead mutter those words.
Curious, he raised his head. His gaze was instantly drawn toward a stage engulfed by countless explosions yet completely unharmed.
Seven girls, each possessing her own distinctive charm, were playing instruments and singing onstage. They were performing an English song, one he recognized as being about a clown.
Bullets were deflected by an invisible shield, while incoming rockets were cleaved in two by a girl's twin blades and exploded in midair.
A figure wrapped entirely in black mist leaped and darted across the battlefield, dragging deeply concealed enemies out one by one before killing them.
Firelight, explosions, bullets, and fierce winds—none of these external forces seemed capable of affecting the girls onstage in the slightest.
Their stage seemed isolated from the rest of the world, as though they existed in one spacetime while he occupied another. It was such a wondrous sensation that even Mr. President could not help growing curious.
"Who are they?" Just as he was about to ask, a voice came from behind him. "Mr. President, everything is ready. Please come with us. You must evacuate immediately. Leave everything here to us."
He turned and saw someone he knew well from his previous conversations with Chu Xiao. Since it was this man, he was undoubtedly trustworthy.
Setting aside his questions, he reminded himself that he was currently the one being protected and could not afford too many distractions. Leaving this place, preserving his life, and preventing the enemy's plot from succeeding were what mattered most.
"Thank you for protecting me." After addressing the people beside him, Mr. President turned to leave.
"No need to thank us..." A bodyguard who had been protecting him moments earlier suddenly lunged forward and wrapped his arms around him. He whispered sinisterly into the president's ear, and then...
Boom! The explosion did not occur beside him, but high in the sky.
The people nearby were stunned by the sudden scene. Even the superhero hidden in the shadows was bewildered. The enemy could never have anticipated it, and the outcome was even more inconceivable. It was truly bizarre.
However, what happened only made everyone more vigilant. They now guarded not only against the enemies outside, but against one another as well.
"Honestly..." Seeing the president finally escorted away, Chu Lian relaxed slightly. Had she not activated Teleport in time and thrown the self-destructing man into the sky, this attack would truly have become troublesome.
She knew the so-called attack was not so much aimed at Mr. President as it was at certain other people, such as the Chu family and Sudi High School.
The attack on Mr. President was merely a decision made to worsen the nature of the incident. Whether it succeeded or failed would not interfere with the rest of their operation.
But did they truly believe their plan was certain to succeed?
Until this special performance ended, nothing happening outside would have any effect on her. She only needed to do her part, and everything would be fine.
After the music of "Karakuri Pierrot" faded, the girls rested briefly. They looked at one another, then at Chu Lian's back, and all their worries settled. As long as everyone was here, everything would be fine.
"Whose beauty do they mock for flaunting its might? Without a heart, how could we ever be right? The bells upon the disc ring clear, dim lights flicker behind the curtain. You and I were always the perfect pair." A melodious and graceful tune arose. Her crimson lips parted, and she sang the final song in a mournful voice. No matter who came, no one could make them stop now...
"They still refuse to leave? Do they think we don't exist?" Most of the plaza had already been destroyed. The dozen or so remaining attackers slowly surrounded the stage that had remained unharmed amid countless assaults. They aimed their machine guns at the girls within and prepared to pull the triggers.
Unfortunately, the only reason they had survived until now was that Anna and the others wanted to play with them a little longer instead of killing them all instantly.
But the moment they dared surround the stage, everything changed. Death descended without warning...
Crimson flowers blossomed, dyeing the earth a vivid red.
The girls continued singing, singing their song.
This scene became the most beautiful sight in the entire world that day...