More guards flooded in.
"Stop them!" a voice shouted somewhere behind.
Gunfire erupted.
Xia Lihua pivoted, firing in controlled bursts, forcing the advancing attackers to slow, to hesitate, to take cover. She didn't waste bullets—each shot redirected momentum, buying them seconds.
Seconds mattered.
They reached the rear exit corridor.
"Here," Xia Lihua said, kicking open a maintenance door she had marked earlier in her mind.
It gave way.
Cold air rushed in.
They were outside.
The early dawn had brightened slightly, but the compound was no longer quiet.
There was chaos.
Across the open ground—
Astra and Quan Kunjie were already engaged in a full blown war.
Gunfire echoed between structures, sharp and relentless. Astra moved aggressively through the field, closing distance, forcing enemies into disarray with sheer pressure.
Quan Kunjie operated differently—taking precise shots from partial cover, disrupting enemy coordination.
"They're pinned," Xia Lihua observed.
