The empty lobby of the apartment building.
The sound of steady, crisp footsteps echoed from the unfinished stairwell entrance.
This sharpened the focus of the operatives in the lobby – one prone behind a light machine gun, another poised with an assault rifle.
A prone operative already had his finger on the trigger. The slightest additional pressure would unleash deadly fire, turning the target into a pincushion.
Meanwhile, through the operatives' body cameras, Ryōko Yakushiji sipped coffee in the police box, watching the stairwell feed with amused interest.
"Well then, let's see if you'll keep swaggering through the lobby or turtle back upstairs like a coward."
"Heh, show me your choice."
As Ryōko spoke, the camera feed revealed a golden-haired nun emerging – her habit dust-stained yet failing to diminish her striking beauty.
"Open fire!!"
Two squads of six light machine gunners and six assault rifle-wielding operatives simultaneously unleashed a barrage of gunfire towards Sharon's position. The deafening gunshots tore through the night sky.
Facing this crossfire, Sharon suddenly stepped forward. A row of bullet holes instantly appeared on the wall behind her. She advanced, sidestepped, occasionally retreated - all while casually observing her surroundings with slight head movements.
The operatives watched in stunned disbelief as...
She raised her submachine gun and fired several shots.
Gunfire rang out, yet only weapons were hit. Like some absurd pacifist, Sharon merely disabled their firearms while strolling casually towards them amidst the hail of bullets.
"What kind of joke is this?"
Watching through the monitors, Ryōko Yakushiji stood up abruptly, eyes wide with shock.
Simultaneously, Kirika Tachibana, standing by the truck and viewing the same footage, instinctively turned towards Chisato Nishikigi. In her memory, only Chisato could perform such close-range bullet dodging.
Understanding Kirika's unspoken question, Chisato quickly raised her hands: "No way no way! I might dodge three or four machine gunners, but a dozen with crossfire? My body couldn't keep up with that evasion speed~."
"So with enhanced physical abilities, it'd be possible?" Kirika mused aloud. "In that case, Chisato, I'll arrange physical enhancements for you when we return."
"Eh..." Chisato's mind flashed to those unbearably bitter enhancement serums, her expression freezing.
'That's not what I meant!'
Just then, a scream erupted through their earpieces.
Sharon had already used her superhuman physique to close the distance. Within moments, she'd incapacitated all fifteen special ops members again.
Coolly discarding her nearly empty submachine gun, which had only five rounds remaining, Sharon casually hooked an assault rifle into the air with her foot, caught it mid-dive while ducking a sniper round, and grabbed a spare magazine from a downed operative.
"Tsk tsk."
Glancing at a twitching operative hit by the errant sniper fire, Sharon shook her head before firing a single blind shot from her newly acquired rifle.
480 meters away, a sniper clutched his bullet-pierced arm, staring in terror towards the apartment complex. "Can't hit her... impossible to hit..." he muttered. "Is she even human?"
Shirō Magi had risen from his seat without realising, gaping at the screens. "Thirty seconds to breach fifteen men's fire net unscathed? Are we sure this creature is from Earth?"
Beside him, Ryōko bit her thumbnail, watching Sharon intently before ordering grimly:
"Prepare the mortar team. If B-team shows any sign of failing, engage immediately."
"You're insane!" Shirō roared, forgetting all hierarchy. "My men are still out there!"
"Then what?" Ryōko Yakushiji said coldly. "Wait for her to escape and stalk us from the shadows? Are you prepared to die?"
Shirō Magi immediately choked on his words.
If it had been one minute earlier, he might have laughed it off, dismissing Sharon as insignificant. But now, he was utterly terrified.
Bullets couldn't hit her. Firepower grids were useless. She moved faster than the human eye could track. A casual twist of her hand could snap a neck.
Facing assassination from such an enemy, unless Shirō Magi stayed in a nuclear bunker 24/7 or deployed large-scale saturation fire to eliminate her, death was inevitable.
But using that kind of firepower in the city? He'd still end up dead either way. There was no solution!
At this thought, Shirō Magi thudded back into his chair.
Meanwhile, the surveillance feed had switched to the city's traffic monitoring system.
Sharon had appeared on the streets.
"Oh?"
Sharon raised an eyebrow, her still-pale but strikingly beautiful face wearing an indescribable smirk.
Opposite her, behind two makeshift sandbag barricades, special operations team members stood silently watching her.
No one fired, but no one lowered their weapons either.
Then, Luo Shu, controlling Sharon's body, spoke in a calm tone: "Apologies, but you're surrounded by me."
Fifteen armed soldiers surrounded by one nun—such a ludicrous statement, yet not a single person present could laugh.
"I need a car and five million dollars. Hmm, letting you go at that price seems quite cheap, doesn't it?"
Hearing Sharon's sweet voice utter such words, one team member finally couldn't hold back and roared:
"Are you kidding me?!"
The night lit up with the muzzle flashes of light machine guns.
Yet the monster opposite merely sidestepped, swiftly dodging every bullet. She even had the leisure to tuck a stray golden lock—lightly dusted with dirt—behind her ear and tie her hair into a ponytail.
"Click! Click!"
The sound of empty magazines didn't calm the team. They wordlessly drew pistols or even knives, preparing for close combat.
Stepping over the carpet of bullet casings, Sharon nodded appreciatively and approached:
"Well done, soldiers. Though next time, I hope you'll be a bit more... measured."
As she drew nearer, the soldiers' bodies began to tremble.
Some even whimpered in fear.
"—Stay the hell away from us!!!"
Just as the scream erupted...
Inside the police box, Ryōko Yakushiji pressed her earpiece with an expressionless face and ordered the mortar team:
"Fire."