Rui's Pov

A stray blast skimmed past my shoulder, searing flesh and spinning me sideways.

My vision blurred in a dizzy haze before I slammed hard against a cold stone pillar, knocking the breath out of me.

The pillar was the only thing between me and the rain of gunfire that shredded the air just inches away.

Pain gnawed at my shoulder, but I forced it into the background. Breathe. Focus.

I scrambled my hands desperately over my utility belt, searching for anything left that could buy me a few seconds.

My fingers brushed metal… two small, steel spheres.

Perfect.

I leaned out just enough, peeking one eye past the pillar.

The soldiers at the dorm entrance stood locked in formation, blasting their rifles carelessly in formation, and without hesitation, I flung the spheres straight into their midst, instantly breaking up their formation.

A deafening crack tore through the hall as the balls detonated, bursting into choking white smoke that swallowed the soldiers whole.

Coughs erupted, the gunfire ceased, and the chaos dulled into momentary blindness.

That was the opening I needed.

Pain screamed at my shoulder with every move, but I ignored it.

I seized a fallen blaster from the ground, as I felt its cold and foreign weight in my grip, and vaulted forward.

The girls were still huddled in a corner, clamping their hands over their heads, letting out sharp and ragged gasps in the muffled storm as I stopped short just in front of them.

The smoke thinned, curling away in ghostly ribbons. Through the haze, soldiers coughed as their shadows revealed them lifting their rifles, leveling their weapons instead at the quiet, hovering security bots stationed all the way at the back of the entrance hall, looming over the terrified girls.

Instinct roared as I didn't have time to think..

I reached back blindly, grabbing the nearest girl, forcing her to let out a startled cry as I yanked her upright, pressing her against me, locking my arm tight across her chest, and pressing the cold barrel of my blaster hard against the side of her forehead.

Her whole body stiffened in terror, as her shuddering frame continued to rattle against mine.

A soldier in the front line snapped his rifle up, with blazing eyes. “What are you doing, Han Rui?!” His voice cracked, tightening a finger on the trigger as he stepped forward.

“Hold your fire!” A sharp command cut through the tension.

The soldiers froze.

From beyond the smoke, boots struck the floor in a steady and authoritative rhythm.

The line of men parted, and Commander Duan emerged, slicing his presence through the haze.

His eyes burned with calculation as he stepped closer.

“Stay where you are, Commander.” My voice was low, venom-spiked, and my finger twitched against the trigger, locking my unflinching gaze on his, daring him to test me.

Duan slowed, raising one hand slightly with a calm posture. “Rui…” His tone dropped softer, coaxing, almost too careful. “She’s just… a civilian. Put the gun down…. You do not need to drag her into this.”

I scoffed, curling my lips into a bitter smirk. Was he serious? After everything, this was his plea?

Then—

“Rui…”

The sound of her voice cut through the static in my head.

I froze, just for a second. Against my better judgment, I turned, finally glimpsing the face of the girl I held hostage.

“Mei?”

The name slowly left my lips as my eyes went wide and my mouth parted without me meaning to. For a second, the world narrowed to the tremor in her voice.

“Rui?” she whispered again, so small it might have been a prayer. “Wh... what are you doing right now?”

Duan’s sharp voice cut through the smoke. “Rui...” He took a step forward.

“Stay where you are, Duan.” My breathing steadied into a practiced calm, and I pinned my vision on him. “Or I’ll really blast her head right through.”

I refused to look at Mei. I could feel her shaky breaths press warm and uneven against my skin; feeling it made something poisonous curl in my gut.

She had helped me when she could have just handed me over. I could practically hear her hatred forming… or maybe that was my shame guessing at it.

I didn’t want to know. I didn’t want the pity, the guilt, or whatever fragile thread connected us to be visible in my eyes. Keep it tight. Keep it cold. Keep control.

Duan frowned, about to raise his blaster. Then three men stepped out from the soldiers behind him in full-faced military masks, leveling their rifles at Duan.

His eyes widened, and he didn’t say a word.

Neither did they. They simply walked until they were standing beside me.

Their weapons never left Duan, and the room contracted around that fact.

One of them moved closer, close enough for his breath not to be heard but for a whisper.

He leaned toward me. “Bo Qin?” I made sure to keep my gaze on Duan, watching for any twitch that might turn the tide.

“Yes, Falcon,” his voice was low, muffled by the mask, but clear enough. “Per your orders... we’ve surrounded the dorm with those...” He stepped back, raising his rifle toward the soldiers.

“DUAN!” I shouted, louder than I’d meant to.

Mei shivered against me and her whole body convulsed in a tiny, terrified spasm.

I tightened my arm around her without thinking, a reflex I disliked and couldn’t stop. “Take your men and step backwards.”

Duan smirked, forming a slow, ugly curl of amusement. “Or what…? You really think you can threaten me with the life of one puny girl? You’ve always been naive, Rui... You’ve—”

I cut him off. Calmly. I clipped the blaster back into its holster at my hip. Then I brought out a small remote, wrapped with a casing of cheap plastic and a red ever blinking LED.

I raised it so he could see the light.

He inhaled sharply; his breath hitched, and his brows drew together. “Rui, surely you didn’t—”

“Oh, Commander,” I let the contempt show. “I did.”

I set my jaw. “And just so you know... I’m damn serious about blowing this place up if you do not take your men and walk out right this minute.”

The remote’s red light kept pulsing. It looked ridiculous and infinitely deadly all at once.

“You’d really blow up every single person in here?” His voice was half accusation, half incredulous fear.

“Duan!” I snapped, forming my voice to a low growl that should have been ugly but which steadied my hands.

The soldiers behind him shifted, and the masked men flanked steadily beside me.

Slowly, and with the same smirk still clinging to his face, he raised both hands, stretching both palms out, and started to wave them backward.

One by one, his soldiers unshouldered their rifles, stepping back the way they had come until they streamed out the dorm entrance.

Duan lingered until the last man had gone, and then he too moved out, the doorway swallowing his silhouette.

I turned my head to the side and met Bo Qin’s gaze. I gave a single, slight flick of my chin toward the door.

He understood, and he moved quickly, shutting the heavy dorm entrance behind him and barricading it with a practiced efficiency.

The door swung, slammed, and the world outside became a muffled worry.

For the first time since the smoke, I let a breath out. I’d bought time. A little. Not much. But time nonetheless.

I loosened my arm a fraction, only enough to prove I could.

Mei took that fraction and, in one swift, desperate motion, she yanked my arm away from across her chest, twisted it hard… making me curse under my breath, and snatched my blaster clean from its holster, pointing it straight towards me.

Her hands shook so violently it looked like the gun might slip, tears streamed down her face in hot tracks, and her breath came in broken, ragged pulls.

Bo Qin and the two masked men turned, immediately training their rifles on her.

The other girls scattered backward in a panicked bundle, causing a clattering echo against the stone floor under their footsteps.

The dorm was filled with noise: coughing, the scraping of boots, and a chorus of small, terrified sounds.

Mei’s eyes… once soft, then frightened, now burned with something else I didn’t have a name for, locked on mine.