Cyber Era Witch
Chapter 196 - 173: Bring the Knife

Chapter 196: Chapter 173: Bring the Knife

Du Qianqian, a commodified Witch.

She hid backstage at the bar, squatting in the restroom under the pretense of using the toilet. Having eaten hardly anything that day, she couldn’t feel any movement in her intestines; nothing came out. The space was tiny and foul-smelling, her nose turned sour and tears immediately streamed down her face. She felt overwhelmed by injustice and her whole body ached in pain.

She hated the boss, the violent foreman, and the waiters who would lay their hands on her. The bouncers, taking advantage of their physical strength, constantly harassed her, sending her disgusting messages that were too repulsive to bear.

She detested even more the dancing girls who performed with her... The other dancers resented Qianqian for her status as a Witch, angry that she always stood in the center of the stage. They held endless hatred and exclusion against her, yelling and screaming, finding fault in Qianqian’s good looks. They said Qianqian couldn’t get pregnant, so they planned to have a bunch of hooligans drag her away and used this threat every day to intimidate and mock her.

Qianqian was terrified. She thought of the manager who wrote poetry, Ono Takamasa, who said he would take Qianqian away. He comforted her repeatedly, asking her to join him for a drink. After drinking, he would give her his poems, though she couldn’t read. Ono Takamasa was proudly saying that the more cultured people were, the more they would attack his work.

The last time, he took Qianqian to a motel, with a whip, blindfold, and candles ready, demanding that Qianqian transform into the form of the "Sakura Witch" Kirino Reisei. Qianqian did as told, but upon seeing her transformed appearance, Ono Takamasa retreated in a frenzy, shouting and even tried to attack Qianqian. She didn’t know what she looked like after the transformation but had to quickly revert to her original form and flee...

After that, her fate grew even darker. She was thrown from Kyoto Infinity to Sunrise Bar, a bar whose owner was deeply connected with Kyoto Infinity. Essentially, the bar was used as a spy station to monitor the situations in Aizu City for Kyoto Infinity.

In the past, Huang Feng from Black Fire Innovation used to drink at Sunrise Bar nearly every day. It was said she was an incredible woman. Qianqian tried to make contact with her. At first, it was normal, but Huang Feng abruptly proposed a date with Qianqian, offering to take her to a hotel, which made Qianqian recall a series of terrifying memories. Qianqian could only keep her distance.

She spent a hellish half-year at Sunrise Bar. During the Rat Tide, Qianqian didn’t dare to try escaping amidst the chaos. She hid in a small room no better than a prison and went hungry for 3 days before she was found. To increase the turnover, she was forced to perform non-stop to the present.

"You didn’t fucking eat tonight, what the hell are you trying to shit out?" the bar foreman yelled outside, "Get out here! Qianqian!"

Qianqian trembled with hatred.

If she had a knife, if she had a knife... she would definitely stab him to death, stab every person she encountered on the road to death.

Why do they get to have so much—endless hate, why—Qianqian smelled the strong stench of the restroom and retched loudly.

"You can’t get pregnant anyway, stop faking it! Come out now!" the foreman bellowed.

Qianqian staggered, pushing open the stall door and walking out.

Suddenly, she saw a girl wearing a black raincoat and a Snow Maiden mask, standing by the sink; Qianqian stepped back in fear.

The girl raised her finger, signaling for silence.

"Do what you want to do," the girl said softly, pulling a pistol, a knife, and a bag of coffee from under her raincoat and handing them to Qianqian.

"You... who are you..." Qianqian trembled violently.

"Who are you talking to?" the foreman continued pounding on the door, "I’m coming in now!"

The Witch in the raincoat said nothing, just used her teleportation magic power and disappeared in front of Qianqian.

Qianqian toyed with the knife and pistol in her hands.

A 7mm pistol "Nail Shooter," Du Qianqian had used it before.

Kyoto Infinity, aiming to maximize the use of Qianqian’s transformation magic power, had trained her in the past as a spy. Tortured, she had forgotten many basic manners, but she at least knew how to fire a gun.

The moment she got the pistol, the months of torment and exhaustion were replaced by a surge of irritation and a distorted confidence welled up inside her.

She took a deep breath, opened the coffee bag, and gulped down the contents in one go, replenishing the Magic Power drained by her performances as little points of light like stars emerged from her eyes.

The next second, she quietly turned off the gun’s safety, checked the number of bullets, and rested her finger on the trigger, feeling the weight of the gun.

"I’m coming in now!" The foreman burst open the bathroom door, and Qianqian aimed the muzzle outside and pulled the trigger.

Bang!

The bullet passed through the foreman’s waist.

"Ow—" He screamed in pain, clutching his waist as Qianqian charged at him, driving the knife deep into his throat.

Hearing the gunshot, two bouncers rushed towards the direction of the restroom.

The foreman, the foreman, named Sakawa Kakubei. Qianqian thought to herself.

She instantly transformed to look like the foreman, her young face changing into his plump, garlic-nosed visage. She dragged his body as far inside as she could, pushing it under the filthy sink.

Then, Du Qianqian, disguised as the foreman, ran out of the restroom and waved at the bouncers.

"Qianqian has killed herself in there!" Qianqian called out falsely, her voice now completely identical to the foreman’s, "Hurry and check it out!"

"What!"

"Is that even possible!" The two bouncers dashed into the restroom, only to find the foreman’s body on the ground.

Qianqian quickly opened fire from behind them.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The sound of the gunshots continued as the bouncers were shot dead on the spot.

The enforcer, the enforcer...one of them named Tamaki Mato.

Qianqian quickly transformed into the appearance of the strong man and dashed towards the makeup room of the dancers, who were constantly worrying about the sound of gunfire, whispering to each other. Startled by the fierce enforcer charging in, they jumped.

"Brother Tamaki!"

"What was that noise just now?"

"Ahhhh—"

"Don’t panic, don’t be angry! I switched shifts to keep you company," a dancing girl hurriedly approached.

With a surge of bloodlust, Qianqian, in the guise of the enforcer, viciously stabbed a knife into the throat of the dancing girl. The other two dancers were shocked, screaming incessantly.

Not until she had stabbed the dancer to death did Qianqian suddenly experience an unprecedented sense of fear. What was she doing? Murder? Who did she kill? Who was already dead? Whose appearance was she currently wearing?

Qianqian dropped the knife and the handgun, and staggered out of the makeup room, panic overwhelming her, and she unconsciously shifted back to her original form.

"Shh!" A shadow in the corridor moved towards her, "Time to rest, Qianqian."

Qianqian was startled.

It was not someone there to rescue her. The figure was ghost-like, moved like a serpent, and had a cold demeanor, looking even more like a reaper in Qianqian’s eyes at the moment.

— This was a professional ninja!

This ninja had been keeping an eye on Sunrise Bar on behalf of Kyoto Infinity, continuously sending espionage reports.

Du Qianqian’s heart pounded wildly, and she subconsciously stopped her resistance. It was pointless to fight a professional ninja. They had undergone the most intense training for six years in Shinobi Village, were well-disciplined in ancient traditions, and highly skilled.

In the blink of an eye, the Witch who had previously interacted with Qianqian reappeared, this time with another Witch in Armor, looking exactly like her.

The newly arrived Witch threw a powerful punch. The professional ninja leaped backward, easily dodging the fist. Du Qianqian was terrified and didn’t dare to shoot.

It was 101 and 102. Seeing that the professional ninja was too strong, 101 grew secretly anxious. If he were to escape, it would lead to endless troubles, but she dared not approach recklessly for fear of a confirmed counterattack that would kill her instantly.

Not afraid to take a tiger head-on, 102 went directly for the professional ninja with her fists.

The professional ninja drew a kunai, dodged the punch by moving to the side, and toyed with 102. Her attacks couldn’t catch him as he returned attacks while swiftly dodging, repeatedly damaging 102’s Witch Armor and leaving wounds on her body.

After several exchanges, 102 was covered in injuries, merely clinching her teeth and enduring the pain without wanting to cry out. 101, anxious, blinked behind the ninja in an attempt to intervene, but the ninja, sensing the danger, leaped onto the wall and bounced back. His foot shot out like a spear, striking fiercely towards 101’s head. The velocity was immense, but she managed to jump out of the way, avoiding being knocked unconscious.

What a formidable enemy. 101 tried to track the ninja’s movements, but with a rapid change of hands, he left a trail of smoke and vanished into thin air.

immediately teleported next to 102 and carried her sister away with a leap.

"Ahhhhh..." Seeing them retreat, Qianqian turned and ran outside the bar.

Seeing the two witches withdraw, the ninja reemerged from the smoke and pursued Du Qianqian, attempting to subdue her with a forward jump. Halfway through his charge, 101 reappeared with 102, flashing out from an angle.

He decided to end the battle quickly. With a miraculous mid-air maneuver, he targeted the already injured 102 and aimed his kunai at her head.

Clang!

The sound was metallic. 102 reacted in time, harnessing her magic power for Limb Strengthening, concentrating most of her power to her head, and hardening it to metal-like strength. The ninja’s blade barely penetrated her forehead, and 102 bore the pain to retaliate with a punch.

At that moment, as the ninja initiated a mid-air maneuver and couldn’t easily turn his body, he had to take the hit. Accompanied by a dull thud, 102’s small fist instantaneously punctured the ninja’s body, breaking his armor and ribs, causing severe tremors to his organs and tearing his fascia. Blood spurted out as agonizing pain rushed to his nerves. The professional ninja let out a cry of agony as he fell, and with that, 102 kicked forward forcefully, sending his head flying off his neck like a soccer ball, with his body tilting drastically.

Du Qianqian was dumbstruck. The next second, 101 caught both of them and whisked them away from the scene. The bar had erupted into chaos.

Having finally overcome the professional ninja, 101 had indeed carried out Farosa’s plan.

Everything related to Qianqian’s own anger, impulsiveness, and aggression. Farosa believed that everyone had a fire within, a desire to smash their surroundings to bits at certain moments, and what she needed to do was to stir up that flame, letting people act as they desired.

— And then they would regret it.

Hating the rash decisions from deep within, because not everyone could commit evil deeds with as little psychological burden as Farosa. As a result, they would be left with vulnerabilities and leverage within their hearts, which could be manipulated.

Just like what happened now, Farosa tried to subdue Qianqian, manipulating her from the inside out.

Qianqian was teleported by 101 to a dark room in an abandoned apartment. Her heart raced in the darkness, where she could only feel endless fear and tension.

She had just committed murder! Every detail of the victim’s dying moments now assaulted her, attacking her psyche from all directions.

She collapsed to the ground, and in the darkness, she could barely see the figure of an Empress sitting not far away.

Following her instincts, Du Qianqian crawled toward her.

She...she should be able to help her, right?