Chapter 17: Knife Master

“Money?”
The shopkeeper flinched the moment he heard the word.
“Tsk—no need for that, Miss! If I had known Boss Wang’s daughter was coming to shop here, I—I would’ve paid out of my own pocket to throw you a welcome party!”

“Take whatever you want. I’m not charging you.”

“…Oh.”

Shi Yue felt a bit guilty taking things for free, but she didn’t dare say too much and risk exposing herself. She simply went along with it. Besides the impressive Miao dao, she stuffed all the short daggers into the burlap sack as well. She even asked whether they had any long-range weapons like bows and arrows. The shopkeeper regretfully shook his head.

“This place isn’t a treasure vault. Small operations like ours all rely on fixed channels. Each shop only deals in one category of goods. I specialize in restricted knives—I don’t know anything about the other stuff, and it’s risky for me to dabble in it. Please forgive me… eheh.”

The entire time she browsed, the shopkeeper hovered beside her, grinning obsequiously, leaning in at every chance to explain things. He acted like he feared his round pudgy face might disappear from her sight for even a second.

“Hmm… What’s the deal with these clothes? Who are you selling clothes to?”

Shi Yue pointed at the garments laid out on one of the tables. She’d been wondering since earlier—why would a shop selling dangerous weapons have clothes lying around?

She picked one up and examined it.
It was a cosplay outfit.
Amazingly, she even recognized the character.

“Isn’t this the Kill Princess from Bloody Maiden Chronicle?”

“Oh—yes, yes.” The shopkeeper had never watched the anime, but he nodded along. “Miss, you really know everything. I got that outfit from a pawnshop. Someone must’ve worn it before. They say costumes like these can fetch sky-high prices, so I always keep a few in stock.”

“For scamming people.”

“Heheheh. That’s all I’m good for. The real big shots? They rob people right in front of a judge, and the judge can’t do a damn thing about it. That’s what you call high-class.”

Shi Yue nodded. She stuffed the outfit into the sack as well. “I’ll take this too.”
Testing the weight of the bulging bag, she prepared to leave.

“I’ll help you carry—heh—” The shopkeeper hurried to lift the heavy bag out of the basement and followed her upstairs.

Shi Yue was just about to walk off. She glanced back and saw the shopkeeper wearing a hesitant expression. Thinking for a moment, she casually asked for his name.

“Oh—hehe—Zhao Qian! Please remember it, Miss. I’m Zhao Qian! Right here on No. 4 Street, next to Qianqian Hair Salon—Convenience Supermarket! Don’t forget to mention me to your esteemed father! Come again anytime!”

“And me! Me—I’m Huang Mao!” The blond youth piped up excitedly.

“So your name really is Huang Mao.”

Shi Yue slung the sack over her shoulder and turned to leave, but the two suddenly jumped in front of her.

“Wait!”

“…Hmm?”

Shi Yue narrowed her eyes warily.

“No—it’s just… we were thinking… maybe you could give us a little demonstration.”

“Huh?” She was confused.

“You know… your blade skills! You see, we didn’t charge you anything, right? So maybe you could show us just a little? We—We won’t record it! Look, our hands are empty!”

Shi Yue’s eyes widened. She immediately seized on a reason.
“You don’t trust me?”

“N-No! It’s not that! We just want to broaden our horizons!”

“Yes, yes!” the blond youth echoed. “If you show us a little, we can say we really witnessed it with our own eyes!”

Hearing this, Shi Yue’s heart skipped.
These two clearly still didn’t fully believe her—suspecting she might be an impostor.
Which she was.
But doubting her identity was one thing… doubting her skills? That was an insult.

“So you want to see real skill?”

“Yes, yes! They say Boss Wang’s daughter is a master of the blade, so we just want to see what a true expert looks like—not doubting you at all!” The shopkeeper rubbed his shiny bald head nervously.

Real skill, huh…

Shi Yue took a deep breath, scanning her surroundings.
Autumn was approaching, and the late-night wind cut sharply through the alley. The small crooked trees lining the street rustled under the trembling breeze.

An idea flashed through her mind.

She walked to the small tree she had stabbed earlier with her fruit knife. Pulling the blade out, she shook the trunk. The malnourished little tree shed a handful of leaves with each shake.

“You two—come here. Watch closely.”

They did watch closely. The shopkeeper even pulled out a flashlight to illuminate her. They weren’t sure what she intended, but they didn’t dare blink.

Shi Yue looked up toward the treetop and roughly estimated the height. A falling leaf from there would take about one to two seconds to reach the ground—definitely under three seconds… probably not much more than that.

That’s enough, she told herself.

She took the Miao dao from her bag, hung the scabbard at her waist, and gripped the hilt, taking a stance. Then she picked up a pebble and flicked it lightly at a branch. With a soft “creak,” the branch shook, and several leaves plunged rapidly downward.

Before the two men could even guess what she intended, Shi Yue had already drawn her blade.

Bullet time triggered.

The world nearly froze around her. Even the passing cars crawled by at a speed she could reach out and touch. In this state, aside from actual bullets, there was nothing she couldn’t handle.

Shi Yue locked onto the falling leaves—seven in total.
It wasn’t difficult because of reaction time; it was difficult because her body couldn’t keep up with her mind. Previous bullet-time bursts lasted only an instant, so she never fully felt the strain. But now, sustained for a full three seconds, it was a brutal test.

First was the overwhelming fatigue.
In slow-motion state, her body felt unbearably heavy. Though she clearly saw the trajectory of all seven falling leaves, her arm refused to move as fast as she commanded. The blade was moving—but inside bullet time, even that movement was painfully slow.

She gathered all her strength, forcing out a slash she could never manage in normal conditions.

The blade crawled forward in her eyes, but compared to the falling leaves, it was still faster.
The first leaf split cleanly in two.

Six left.

Shi Yue panicked for a heartbeat, suddenly regretting overestimating herself. But she had already boasted—there was no backing out.

She kept slashing with everything she had.

One leaf—
Then another—
And another—
Until all seven leaves were cleanly cut mid-air.

When the agonizingly long three seconds finally ended, bullet time faded. Exhaustion slammed into her like a wave. Her arms felt as if they would fall off. Gasping, she steadied her breathing, then turned—

Only to see the shopkeeper and the blond youth frozen in place, staring with their mouths wide open.

From their point of view, Shi Yue had moved in a blur too fast for the naked eye, cutting every falling leaf before it touched the ground—leaves that fell within mere seconds. Yet she missed not a single one.

Not one.

…Terrifying beyond measure.