Hundreds of bck gun barrels were aimed at Lu A′cang and her employer.

  The police had received reliable intelligence: the kidnappers were right here, in this residential area marked for demolition. Even the precise location of the house they were in was clearly identified.

  The order to surround and capture the kidnappers came directly from police headquarters. No one dared question it; no one hesitated.

  André felt like a fool, as did the entire Paris police force. Being led on a wild goose chase—it was a terrible feeling.

  Outside the heavily surrounded house, the person delivering the goods, clearly named Mu Yeliang, was standing there. Although he had not worked with him for long, he would never make such a low-level mistake as not knowing the identity of someone beside him. All of Mu Yeliang's information matched perfectly with the records in the system; even the fingerprints were the same. How could it be possible that there was another living Mu Yeliang beside him?

  While on the phone, they informed him that all of Mu Yeliang's information matches perfectly with the records in the system; even the fingerprints are the same. How could this happen? There is clearly a living Mu Yeliang right next to me, yet on the phone they inform me that another Mu Yeliang has been found unconscious in a garbage dump in the twelfth district and has been sent to the hospital.

  How could there possibly be two Mu Yeliangs in this world? And one of them was even beled as a kidnapper. André's mind was in complete chaos.

  "How did they find us here so quickly?” Lu Azang's gaze assured the man that she was definitely not the traitor.

  "I know it wasn't you,” he replied, his eyes nding on the unconscious wild boar spirit nearby. “And it definitely couldn’t have been them, either.” He gnced around at the heavily armed force and ughed. “Bringing this many people is such a waste of resources.”

  Lu A′cang expected the police would, as usual, shout something like “You′re surrounded! Put down your weapons and surrender!” before deciding on their next move.

  But this time, nearly every gun was cocked immediately, ready to fire. At a single command, they'd be riddled with thousands of bullets.

  Of course, Charlotte would be riddled with holes, and this conjured form would die, but Lu A′cang wouldn′t. So she felt no fear, and she knew her employer, the man beside her, wouldn′t either. No youkai has ever feared human bullets—truly.

  She was curious to see what these humans were pnning. After all, right now, she was Charlotte, and if the man next to her disguised as a police officer was indeed branded a kidnapper, then she’d make the perfect hostage. Yet none of the gun barrels wavered out of consideration for a "hostage." Fingers rested on triggers, awaiting a single command.

  "Prepare!” shouted the on-site commander, a bald, middle-aged man in thick body armor, raising his hand. Were they really about to open fire? Lu A’cang was baffled—she was right beside the kidnapper; didn’t they care if she lived or died?

  "Stop!” André burst out, rushing to the commander. “Who authorized you to fire now? Do you even know who that person is? He's from the Chinese, sent here to assist us! And the person next to him, that's Charlotte Bellure! And you’re still going to shoot?”

  The commander gred coldly at him. “Those are orders from above. We're just following them.”

  "Those orders are crap!” André roared like a lion. “We're the police, not executioners! How can we open fire without confirming the truth? It′s against protocol, and it goes against basic humanity!”

  "You have no authority to interfere with orders from above,” the commander replied, signaling to the side. Immediately, two burly men approached, ready to drag André away.

  André swatted away the outstretched hands with a forceful chop, then ran to stand between the perimeter and the house, raising his gun as he shouted, “I′m standing right here, and I′m not going anywhere! If you have the guts, go ahead and blow my head off before you kill the kidnapper! But until then, anyone who comes near me will be shot!”

  "What an idiot!” The commander snarled, gritting his teeth as he whispered instructions to the person beside him.

  "He's a good man, just a bit hot-tempered,” the man said to Lu A'cang, watching André block the officers, preventing them from opening fire. With that, he discreetly picked up a dry leaf from the ground and flicked it toward André.

  André felt a sharp prick on his neck, like an ant bite, and a numbness instantly spread through his body. Before colpsing, the st person he saw was "Mu Yeliang,” standing in front of the house. He didn’t know which Mu Yeliang was real—the one here or the one in the hospital—but he saw him mouth a silent “thank you” in exaggerated lip movements.

  Why would he say thank you… André didn't understand. As soon as he fell, two officers pulled him out of the danger zone. Bullets whizzed past, raining down densely on Lu A'cang and her companion—it was the rgest “hunt” she′d ever faced in her life. In the past, she'd only ever shielded her employer from a single assassination bullet at most. The man held Lu A'cang's hand, skillfully and swiftly dodging the onsught, and asked, “Having fun?”

  "I don’t enjoy being used as target practice,” she replied irritably. “Let′s just get out of here.”

  "We have to bring my boar brother along too. Let′s each carry one of them!”

  "Are you kidding? Why should we—” Lu A'cang started to protest, but then saw his expression change, and he muttered, "This isn't good.”

  Looking at his arm, she noticed two bullet holes had appeared without her realizing it, and purple blood was slowly seeping out. Human bullets shouldn′t be able to injure a yaokai.

  Lu A'cang quickly pulled him, injured, to the back of the house. He touched his wound and said, “Among these regur bullets, a few blood-silver rounds were mixed in.”

  Blood-silver, a potent weapon against yaokais, is made by extracting a mixture from the blood of seven different bck animals and blending it with a precise ratio of pure silver solution. Many hunters like to coat bullets or weapons with blood-silver, as it can wound or even kill youkais, making them as vulnerable as ordinary humans. However, the process to create blood-silver, or even the very knowledge of its existence, should be far beyond the reach of ordinary humans. Someone was deliberately trying to kill these two yaokais.

  The attack continued, and the firepower of all of Paris was focused in one pce. But there was no sound from behind the house anymore, only a wisp of white smoke rising slowly.

  The commander ordered a ceasefire. Everyone cautiously approached the back of the house. Upon looking, they found only two strange, rge men lying on the ground, sleeping like dead pigs, with horns growing from their heads. There was no one else around, except for a set of men's clothes, left alone not far away.