Chapter 200

At that moment, a text message appeared in Fang Li’s mind.

“The blood of a Magecraft user will be spilled on this land.”

“—Butei Assassin.”

This text message was still stored in Fang Li’s cell phone.

At this moment, the vibration of his cell phone triggered a memory in Fang Li’s mind.

Thus, Fang Li finally understood the thing he was missing. He realized where the sense of discomfort had come from.

As he looked at Aria, who was raising the plastic bomb high above him, Fang Li’s eyes suddenly hardened.

“Bang!”

The sound of a gunshot echoed through the air. Accompanied by a flash before Fang Li, a bullet shot out violently, breaking the space.

It was a shooting skill that even an S-Rank Butei like Aria couldn’t react to.

By the time the muzzle flash registered in Aria’s eyes, the bullet from that breaking space had heavily hit the plastic bomb she was holding.

“Clang!”

Under a sound akin to metal colliding, sparks suddenly erupted.

Immediately, Aria’s raised plastic bomb was sent flying.

“Eh?” Aria couldn’t react at all.

At that moment, Fang Li dashed forward and reached Aria’s side, pinning her down.

At this instant, an anomaly occurred.

“BOOM!”

An ear-splitting explosion erupted in the sky behind the speeding bus, accompanied by a berserk shockwave that instantly swept all around.

The asphalt road on the ground was partially covered by the explosion’s fire.

The rainwater in the air was instantly vaporized.

The powerful blast wave rushed toward the bus like a tidal wave, almost lifting it off the ground. After swaying violently, it barely maintained its figure.

“Aaaahhh!”

Inside the bus, the girls’ screams began to echo.

On the roof of the bus, Fang Li held onto Aria tightly, managing to maintain their balance. At this moment, if Aria still couldn’t figure out what had happened, she wouldn’t deserve to be an S-Rank Butei.

There was no doubt; the bomb had exploded.

The bomb that Aria had just removed from under the bus and held high above her head a second ago.

If Fang Li hadn’t knocked the bomb away, what would have happened?

It wasn’t hard to imagine.

Thinking until this point, Aria couldn’t help but raise her head and look at Fang Li beside her. There, Fang Li was still on one knee, gazing silently at the scene of the explosion behind them.

Watching Fang Li like this, Aria’s eyes began to flicker, showing a hint of contemplation in them.

With the danger averted, the bus finally began to slow down until it came to a stop.

At this moment, the sound of police sirens resounded in the area, signaling the arrival of reinforcements while the rain continued to pour down.

…

For Butei, encountering such incidents was as common as regular morning practice for ordinary students. It didn’t matter when they happened; it was not unusual at all.

Therefore, even though there was a major bus hijacking incident, all involving Butei, the police, and the Butei Agency quickly concluded the case, leaving the follow-up investigation to Butei High.

Subsequently, on Butei High’s bulletin board, commissions targeting Inquesta and Repier appeared. Now, all they needed was someone to take up the commission, complete the investigation mission, and then this case would be considered closed. However, true closure was still far away because the culprit had not been caught.

Afterward, Fang Li and Aria returned to the raid department’s building on the helicopter, just like Butei who had completed a quest. “Wait for me here; I have something to discuss with you,” Aria said, leaving Fang Li and entering the changing room to switch back into her uniform.

About ten minutes later, Aria changed out of her Counter-Strike-like CEquipment and appeared before Fang Li again, wearing Butei High’s female uniform. “You’ve waited long enough,” Aria said briskly, “Let’s go.”

“Alright,” Fang Li nodded and followed Aria out of the Assault department’s building, heading towards the general school building.

As they walked, Aria asked Fang Li about the sudden explosion of the bomb earlier. Apparently, Aria didn’t know why the bomb had detonated unexpectedly. So, Fang Li told Aria about Butei assassin’s SMS.

“What?” Aria exclaimed in surprise, “So, you were threatened by the Butei assassin?”

“Initially, I thought it was a threat, but now it seems like it was a criminal warning,” Fang Li took out his cell phone, retrieved the previous SMS, and handed it to Aria. “The culprit clearly wants to target me, but instead of attacking me directly, they planted the bomb on a bus full of Butei. It doesn’t match the content of a typical criminal threat.”

“So, I guess you realized something was off, and that’s why you suddenly shot at me?” Aria looked at the SMS signed by the Butei assassin, understanding dawning on her, “The hijacking was a ploy to lure you in. Once they confirmed you were on the bus to defuse the bomb, they would remotely detonate it.”

“That’s probably it,” Fang Li nodded, saying, “With the power of that bomb, it could blow up not just the bus but even a tank. It wouldn’t matter who defused the bomb; once I got on the bus and it exploded, I would be caught in the blast.”

This way, the self-proclaimed Butei assassin could effortlessly kill Fang Li, completing their crime.

That was their plan.

“You noticed this, which is why you suddenly shot at me, right?” Aria continued walking while looking up at Fang Li, “At that moment, I was really scared. We were so close, yet I had no idea when you drew your gun or when you fired. By the time I reacted, the bullet had already hit the bomb and sent it flying. That’s what you call the Invisible Bullet, right?”

“Thanks to that, I can finally confirm your ability.”

Saying this, Aria suddenly stepped closer, turned around to face Fang Li, and spoke up, “Fang Li, be my partner!”