Nie Jiu Luoti hit his crotch on his knee, and cut the gun down with his left hand, and Yan Tuo’s reaction was swift. His left hand quickly pressed down, forcing her knee down while his fingers slid down her knee into her calf. He grabbed the wrapper and threw it outward.
Thus, Nie Jiuluo’s plan to seize the gun failed. As soon as her fingertips touched the gun, she was compelled to throw it away—Yan Tuo was too powerful for her to withstand. Fortunately, her advantage lay in her agility and lightness. Spotting the belt around Yan Tuo’s waist, she grabbed the buckle to halt the momentum of the throw. In a swift move, she soared up, like a nimble ape, wrapping her body around Yan Tuo’s head and neck, climbing his back.
The opportunity was fleeting. She probed her fingers into Yan Tuo’s neck and gripped it tightly, whispering near his ear, “Die, you.” After speaking, she twisted hard.
As soon as she clung to his back, Yan Tuo sensed the danger. Knowing the big cervical vertebrae were vulnerable and could cause serious injury or death, he reacted immediately. Grabbing her shoulders with both hands, he roared, “Come down!”
Nie Jiuluo was abruptly flipped, losing her support point and the chance for a second strike. Still, she couldn’t let him stand while she fell. Despite being upside down, Nie Jiuluo wrapped her arms like a vine around Yan Tuo’s arm and twisted it, simultaneously hooking her calf around his neck. “You come down too!”
The two crashed to the ground with significant impact: the sofa shifted, the reading lamp tilted, and the small round coffee table overturned and rolled away.
In the disorienting fall, Nie Jiuluo felt pain throughout her body, stars appearing in her vision. She saw Yan Tuo’s Adam’s apple and, in the midst of the chaos, bit into the side of his neck.
Yan Tuo didn’t expect the bite. Catching her movement out of the corner of his eye, he turned his head instinctively. However, Nie Jiuluo’s bite was firm on the tender flesh of his neck, causing him sharp pain. Blood rushed to his head as he tightened his grip around her waist, forcefully pushing her away.
Nie Jiuluo slammed into the bookshelf, which toppled over along with its books, striking her. The pain in her waist was excruciating, and she broke out in a cold sweat. Struggling, she gasped for breath and grabbed the bookshelf for support to rise again.
Yan Tuo staggered a few steps back as he stood up, eventually being stopped by the workbench. The dragon skeleton above wobbled and then steadied itself, trembling slightly.
The two adversaries faced each other from a few meters apart, both wary and indifferent. In the west wing room on the first floor of the courtyard, Sister Lu startled awake, sat up in a panic, and fumbled with the bed lamp.
Yan Tuo reached up to touch the spot where he was bitten. The skin was raised, and he saw blood on his fingers.
Nie Jiuluo’s mouth was swollen, with cracks and bleeding at the corners. She licked the salty blood from her lips, swallowing it without hesitation. The initial round had ended in a stalemate.
As she lowered her head, she noticed that the belt of her clothes had loosened, causing her chest to be partially exposed. Nie Jiuluo covered her placket with one hand and tightened her belt with the other. Her eyes locked onto Yan Tuo with a provocative glare: “The surname Yan, can’t beat me? I’m here, bare-handed. If you’ve got the guts, don’t use a gun. What kind of man are you?”
Yan Tuo smiled and replied, “You don’t have a gun, but you have teeth.”
Nie Jiuluo smirked: “And you don’t have any teeth?”
Yan Tuo regarded her for a few seconds before loosening his grip. The body of the gun slid around the trigger of his index finger for a moment before he reholstered it in his waistband. “No gun, but I can still pull your teeth out.”
Round two began.
Neither was in a hurry, carefully observing each other’s distances and planning their next moves. Unlike the prolonged, exaggerated battles described in martial arts novels, Nie Jiuluo didn’t have the stamina for an extended fight. High-intensity combat of this nature typically wore her out in two or three minutes. She excelled in quick, clever strikes, preferring surprise and rapid kills. The longer the fight dragged on, the more she suffered.
She needed to act quickly.
Nie Jiuluo advanced rapidly, stepping on the overturned round table and using its momentum to launch herself at Yan Tuo. At the same time, she grabbed a cushion from the sofa and hurled it towards his head and face.
Although a cushion wouldn’t cause much harm, Yan Tuo was cautious. He sidestepped with an arrow-like movement, avoiding both the cushion and Nie Jiuluo’s attack.
As Nie Jiuluo soared through the air, she aimed to land flat on the table—a move that was part of her plan. She stopped herself with her left hand and, without looking, reached for a hand axe on the table with her right. Using her shoulder as a pivot, she swung the axe in a backhanded split.
Caught off guard, Yan Tuo barely managed to dodge in time. A cold sensation on his shoulder signaled that the axe had torn through his sleeve, leaving a warm spot of blood. Before he could fully assess the damage, Nie Jiuluo was already turning for another strike with the axe.
Yan Tuo was both shocked and angry. He had cleverly coaxed Yan Tuo into putting away his gun, only to be confronted with Nie Jiuluo wielding an axe. Determined to turn the tide, he didn’t dodge; instead, he advanced, using his left arm to encircle Nie Jiuluo’s waist and restrain her, effectively trapping her in his embrace. His right hand then seized her wrist and began to force her arm down, inch by inch.
It turned into a test of strength. Nie Jiuluo found herself effectively restrained, unable to exert half her strength. As Yan Tuo pressed her arm down and the axe dangled precariously, she felt pain and her fingers spasmed uncontrollably. The hand axe clattered to the ground.
Desperate, Nie Jiuluo used all her might to slam her head backward. The impact against Yan Tuo’s jaw made his gums snap against his tongue, and he momentarily lost his grip, his hands loosening.
Nie Jiuluo took advantage of the momentary release to stumble forward, but the headbutt had not come without cost. Her own head throbbed painfully, and she saw Yan Tuo spit out blood—likely from biting his tongue.
Seizing the opportunity, Nie Jiuluo charged forward with a fierce shout, aiming to finish him off. Yan Tuo raised his hand to block, but she swiftly targeted his lower body, delivering a powerful shove to his legs. Both of them crashed to the ground, the workbench and its contents—saws, hammers, and plastic knives—falling with a loud clatter. Even the dragon skeleton collapsed, adding to the chaos.
Nie Jiuluo didn’t waste any time. She scrambled to sit on Yan Tuo’s body and used his right hand to pull a silver bracelet tight around his neck. The bracelet, familiar to Yan Tuo, was now a deadly weapon in this struggle. As the string tightened, it pressed into his neck.
Yan Tuo, realizing the danger, grabbed the dragon skeleton that had fallen to block the bracelet’s attack. The force cut through the wooden frame, severing the dragon’s head and causing it to roll away. Despite this, Nie Jiuluo continued tightening the string, aiming for another strike.
Yan Tuo, understanding that the string attack was seamless and unyielding, frantically sought something to defend himself with. His hand slid up Nie Jiuluo’s leg, finding and drawing out a dagger. With the string constricting his neck, he maneuvered the dagger’s tip towards her heart.
Nie Jiuluo’s body tensed as the dagger’s sharp edge pierced her flesh. Blood seeped through her torn nightgown, slowly trickling down her abdomen. The skin around Yan Tuo’s neck had been torn by the string, and he looked at Nie Jiuluo with a smirk. “Bare hands? Miss Nie, you seem to have more hidden up your sleeve than I anticipated.”
Neither moved, fully aware of the stakes. The risk of damaging vital organs made any further action potentially fatal.
At this tense moment, Sister Lu’s trembling voice came from the stairs: “Miss Nie, is everything alright?”
Nie Jiuluo’s heart sank, and she roared back, “It’s none of your business! I’m just dismantling things. You’ll clean up tomorrow morning!”
Sister Lu replied, “Oh, alright then.”
Sister Lu’s calmness was partly due to her experience with odd situations. Their housekeeping company dealt with many unusual cases, including one where a previous worker had drawn a bloody heart on a wall. Thus, Nie Jiuluo’s loud activity in the middle of the night wasn’t seen as particularly unusual.
Once Sister Lu’s footsteps faded, Yan Tuo spoke again: “Miss Nie, are we going to continue this until dawn?”
Nie Jiuluo swallowed hard, her grip on the bracelet trembling slightly. After a long pause, she replied, “Fine, you go first.”
Yan Tuo sneered, “Me first? What makes you think you get to dictate terms? You go first.”
The standoff continued, each waiting for the other to make the next move.
The words “lying into a fine” did not seem to have wronged her. Nie Jiuluo declared, “Okay, I’ll go first.” She locked her gaze on Yan Tuo, then released one end of the bracelet. The bracelet snapped back into its original form, no longer a threat. She raised her hands to show she was no longer armed and slowly retreated.
Yan Tuo watched her, let go of the dagger, and stood up, kicking the weapon away as he did. They were back to square one, with neither having gained an advantage.
Two words slipped between Nie Jiuluo’s clenched teeth: “Come again.”
Yan Tuo, however, had no intention of continuing the fight. “Miss Nie, I came here to discuss matters, not to fight. You’re a bit unhinged right now. Let’s do this another day.” As he spoke, he turned toward the stairs, his gun swaying behind him.
Another day? The thought of waiting indefinitely was unbearable. No one could stand the constant threat of violence. Nie Jiuluo shouted, “Come back!” and lunged forward to grab his gun.
Yan Tuo, confident she wouldn’t reach it, moved swiftly. He dashed diagonally, leaped, and knocked down a statue covered in transparent plastic from a display shelf near the wall.
The statue was a Water Moon Guanyin, exquisitely detailed even through the plastic. Yan Tuo knew how much Nie Jiuluo cherished this work and was certain she would not let it be destroyed.
Seeing the statue fall, Nie Jiuluo’s mind raced. Despite her instincts telling her to pursue Yan Tuo, her professional training took over. She dashed to catch the statue, sliding on the floor and using her body to cushion its fall. Just in time, she reached out and stabilized the Guanyin.
Facing the compassionate face of Guanyin through the plastic, Nie Jiuluo’s heart pounded furiously, her back slick with sweat. The sound of breaking tiles filled her ears. Yan Tuo had tricked her—he had escaped through the window, leaving her to deal with the fallout.
After ensuring the statue was relatively unharmed, Nie Jiuluo noticed some minor damage: a thumb, a beaded jewel, and a corner of the crown had fallen. Though they could be repaired, each piece felt like a personal loss.
Grimly, she stood up, making her way to the open window. The air outside carried a faint floral scent. Tiles were scattered on the ground, and Sister Lu’s room light was still on, though it would be turned off soon.
Realizing Sister Lu wouldn’t be back tonight, Nie Jiuluo knew her anger and waiting were pointless. She bolted the window, retrieved the dagger Yan Tuo had kicked away, and navigated through the mess in the room. Suddenly remembering something, she turned back to the sofa and lifted the cushion.
The item she found was a stainless steel buckle that clicked under pressure. She took the buckle and stumbled into the bedroom, her head still reeling from the impact.
Holding the buckle tightly, Nie Jiuluo seethed with rage. The next time she encountered Yan Tuo, she intended to force the buckle into his mouth and make him swallow it.