"Clang!"
Accompanied by the sound of shattering window glass, a dagger flashing with cold light was thrown spinning into the room at No. 23, flying directly towards Naifnis, who had just spoken that name. It was about to pierce her body, but Naifnis was still in the shock of the window breaking and had not reacted at all.
"Careful!"
Just then, Brandon, who was beside her, shouted loudly and lunged towards Naifnis, tackling her aside at the moment of crisis. The flying dagger, however, pierced his chest.
"Ah!"
Brandon let out a scream. Instantly, blood stained Brandon's upper garment. Brandon's eyes widened, and he fell down clutching his wound. After taking a few deep breaths, he stopped breathing and lay motionless on the ground. This startled Naifnis, who had just sat up again.
"Mr. Brandon! Mr. Brandon, what's wrong, Captain! Pull yourself together, Mr. Brandon!"
Naifnis quickly knelt on the floor and began checking Brandon's condition. After testing under his nose and finding no breath, her face immediately turned pale.
"Dead, he's dead..." Naifnis's heart tightened, instantly filled with immense panic and guilt.
'Mr. Brandon is dead... because I said that name... I harmed Mr. Brandon, I shouldn't have told him about things involving secrets...'
'Also, those guys... are nearby right now, they're outside watching us...'
Realizing she was in danger, Naifnis quickly stood up, hugged her books, and rushed towards the door in a panic, wanting to leave this troubled place as quickly as possible.
Just as Naifnis reached the door, the large door suddenly opened, and a serious-looking middle-aged stranger walked in from outside. As soon as he saw Naifnis, he waved his hand and knocked her to the ground, scattering the books she was holding everywhere.
"Mmm!"
Before Naifnis could react, the middle-aged man closed the door behind him, then strode over to Naifnis and single-handedly grabbed her neck, preventing her from making a sound. At the same time, she struggled constantly due to suffocation, her face turning red. The middle-aged man seemed intent on strangling Naifnis to death.
"Don't kill her yet, ask her where she learned the name from?"
At this moment, from behind the shattered window, another young man broke the remaining glass and climbed in, saying to the man who was about to strangle Naifnis.
Originally, their mission was just to investigate the owner of No. 23 and figure out their background, but they didn't expect to encounter a special situation. Because of this special situation, they could only change from investigation to a direct assault.
The middle-aged man heard this, then loosened his grip slightly, allowing her to barely breathe and speak, and said fiercely.
"No screaming, be honest! How did you know that name? Tell me and I might spare your life!"
Naifnis, still being lightly held by the neck by the middle-aged man, breathed with difficulty. Just as she was about to say something, another sudden change occurred in the scene.
In the living room of No. 23, from behind the curtains, from under the sofa, from inside the cabinet... three figures suddenly emerged. They were dressed differently, each holding a pistol, aiming at the sudden intruders from various directions. The one who came out of the cabinet happened to be right next to Naifnis's captor. These were all Corpse Puppets Dorothy had prepared inside No. 23 as a precaution.
Seeing that the opponents had suddenly given up on investigation and directly attacked, Dorothy couldn't care too much anymore. From Naifnis's previous performance, she was worried about Brandon's safety, believing that ordinary people getting involved with Extraordinary items would harm him, so she wanted to retrieve it. When she couldn't retrieve it, she even suggested Brandon throw the item away. Her actions gave Dorothy a good impression, and coupled with the fact that she was also an insider aware of the school's secrets, Dorothy decided to help her out.
The moment the three Corpse Puppets appeared, they all opened fire simultaneously. Intense gunshots echoed through the street. Caught off guard, the man holding Naifnis was directly shot in the head and fell to the ground.
The other young man's reaction, however, was unusually fast. The moment he saw the Corpse Puppets appear, he immediately confirmed the enemy's direction and judged the gun muzzle's aim and the bullets' trajectory, then began to dodge in advance, moving extremely quickly. Both flying bullets were dodged as if he had predicted them.
'This is... an Extraordinary? And this reaction and speed, is it'Shadow'?'.
Looking at the scene before her, Dorothy, who was far away, thought to herself. At the scene in No. 23, the young man who had dodged two bullets rolled and quickly approached a Corpse Puppet, and in the process, drew a dagger from his waist. Subsequently, an unusual cold light flashed on the dagger.
'There's an ambush... Hmph, as expected, this so-called lost and found is problematic!'
Secretly, the young man who finished his roll with a cold snort quickly exploded forward. He held the dagger and slashed towards the armed Corpse Puppet in front of him, easily cutting off the Corpse Puppet's head with the dagger wrapped in "Shadow". The ability to wrap around a weapon to increase sharpness is an inherent skill of "Shadow". Even a Student stage "Shadow" could do this.
"Bang!"
After the young man dealt with the first Corpse Puppet, the remaining two Corpse Puppets immediately began their second round of shooting at him. However, unfortunately, the young man had already remembered their positions beforehand and had also anticipated the opponent's subsequent attack. By dodging in advance, this round of shooting missed again.
Facing bullets, "Cup" can resist with flesh, "Stone" can resist with armor, while "Shadow" can directly rely on high mobility to dodge. Therefore, at lower stages, these three types of Spirituality Extraordinary have more advantage in close-quarters combat, while "Lamp", "Silence", and "enlightenment" are more inclined towards ranged attacks and strategy.
Having dodged another round of shooting, the young man's gaze swept across the two remaining Corpse Puppets in the room, the fierce light in his eyes like he was staring at prey. Then, he darted forward, shooting directly towards his next target.
Even when encountering three adults with firearms in a confined space, he was confident he could take them all down.
Just as the young man was rushing towards the next enemy, he felt one of his feet suddenly sink, as if being dragged by something. Then, as he was charging forward, he suddenly lost balance and fell directly to the ground.
"What!?"
The tripped man was shocked in his heart. He had already checked the terrain on the ground, and logically, it was impossible to make such a mistake. He looked back.
What he saw then was the body that should have been dead in the center of the room. Brandon, who he had killed with his flying knife at the beginning, was now tightly holding his leg. He had been tripped by Brandon, who had suddenly come back to life, as he passed by him.
'What's going on? Isn't this guy already dead?!'
The young man was surprised in his heart, but the two standing Corpse Puppets didn't give him time to voice his surprise. Instead, they fired two shots, hitting him as he lay on the ground, directly killing him.
All the intruders were dead. For a moment, the entire house returned to peace, while Naifnis, who had witnessed the entire scene, sat on the ground, her eyes wide and mouth agape, looking at all this in astonishment, until she saw the people who had saved her put away their pistols. And the man whom she had previously confirmed was dead walked up to her side and said.
"Miss Boyle, this is not a place to stay long. I think the police will arrive here soon. Before getting entangled in more trouble, I think we should quickly leave through the back door and find another safe place to sit down and talk slowly.
"I think this time, both of us can be more honest."
Saying this, Brandon extended his hand, still stained with blood, towards Naifnis, who was sitting on the ground, still somewhat frightened. Facing Brandon, Naifnis swallowed and slowly said.
"You, aren't you already dead?"
Listening to Naifnis's words, Brandon smiled slightly and replied.
"Ah... death, yes, I am dead, but in this secret world, sometimes death is far from the end.
"You don't know enough about the inside of this world, Miss Boyle. Perhaps... we can help you."