"Xu Yue!" Mrs. Xu cried out in panic when she saw Xu Yue's state worsening. "Where is my phone?! We need to call the ambulance!"
"She is going to die before she can even get to the hospital," Liu Ye replied as he forced himself to stay calm. "Zhenzhen is our only chance."
"And what can she do?! Is she a doctor?!" Mrs. Xu questioned in doubt, looking at Liu Ye as if he was crazy. Liu Ye didn't blame her.
When the life of someone close was on the line, how could one believe in abilities like healing? Liu Ye wouldn't believe in himself but this time he didn't have any choice.
"Can you feel it?" Liu Ye asked Zhenzhen with hope and grabbed the glass of water from the table. "Try it. We don't have time."
Zhenzhen was still in a daze only to awaken when the rain of bullets resumed, turning the villa into a shooting range. She looked up at Liu Ye and then at the water before extending her hand.
He was worried the Water Stone didn't work as the water remained still only to regain his hope when it suddenly moved. It slowly levitated upwards like a worm before flying towards Zhenzhen's palm.
Mrs. Xu was momentarily stunned as if she just saw a ghost.
"I did it!" Zhenzhen called out excitedly and walked to Xu Yue. She only made two steps though before she shivered and staggered.
"I'm okay," Zhenzhen assured right away as she shook her head to stay focused. "It just made me a little dizzy."
"Be careful," Liu Ye warned, but he didn't stop her. Even though she just awakened, she had no other choice but to act unprepared.
Liu Ye ripped the table cloth for Xu Yue to bite on and wrapped his palms around the ice spike. "You need to stop the bleeding right after I remove it. Don't worry, I am here with you."
Xu Yue grunted in pain, reminding them she was dying.
"I am ready," Zhenzhen called out with surprising determination.
Liu Ye had no reason to wait any longer.
Ughhh!!!
Xu Yue cried out through the cloth as her whole body trembled. Her back gushed with blood but Zhenzhen was already there, leading water into the existing hole.
It was working!
The blood stopped flowing out, prompting Liu Ye to slowly take off Xu Yue's bullet-proof vest. Now that they knew who they faced, those vests were pretty much useless.
"I can't do it too fast… When I try to speed up, my mind is hurting," Zhenzhen informed as she squinted her eyes at the open wound.
"Take your time. I have something else to handle…" Liu Ye muttered as he decided to leave them when Xu Yue grasped his wrist.
"You haven't awakened yet… How do you want to defeat him?" Xu Yue questioned, her speech cracking.
"I don't know," Liu Ye replied honestly. "But I can't sit and do nothing."
He caressed her hand and let go as he rushed out of the dining room. Barely anyone was still shooting as they already emptied their ammo or were leaning against the walls with blood all over their bodies.
"Liu Ye!" Leader Xu yelled his name the moment he saw him. "Where were you?! He is going to shoot again!"
Liu Ye only needed one look outside the window to see multiple ice spears forming above the ice fortress. Compared to Zhenzhen, that Waterbender didn't seem limited with his usage of abilities.
"I was saving your daughter. She got shot in the back," Liu Ye explained as he took cover next to the coffee table.
Seeing the change on Leader Xu's face, he added, "Don't worry, she is stable and recovering. My sister is helping her right now."
He didn't wait for a reply as he grabbed one of the few pistols from the table and finally stood up, walking towards the door with a pistol stuck at the back of his pants.
"Where are you going? He is going to shoot you!" Leader Xu warned but Liu Ye didn't stop moving. He walked to the front door and raised his hands up to surrender.
"Stop! I'm the one you want!"
Liu Ye didn't know why he thought it was a good idea but it was the first that came to his mind. With Xu Yue injured in the back, they couldn't escape easily anymore, forcing him to somehow stop the man from advancing. The only way to do that though was pretending to give him exactly what he wanted.
Just as he thought, the ice spikes aimed at him but the Waterbender didn't shoot to kill him just yet. Liu Ye took a few steps outside and slowly took off his vest to increase his credibility.
"Let's talk it out, okay?! I don't want anyone else to get hurt!" Liu Ye called out again and this time the ice fortress reacted. It began to melt rapidly only to float around the young man like a whirlpool.
"Sure, but if I see a gun pointed at me again, I'm going to kill everyone in this place," the young man replied with a smile. "I'm just here to collect you, alive or not."
Liu Ye didn't hesitate and shouted, "Everyone, stay put. I will solve it on my own."
"That's right. We can avoid any more bloodshed if you just surrender," the young man confirmed in approval.
"How should I call you?" Liu Ye questioned, not in a hurry to approach but it immediately backfired.
"Why should I tell you my name?" the young man frowned and warned, "Stop wasting time and come here or I will send you to another world right where you stand."
"I don't know why I am being targeted by you all but I'm sure Master Yang would prefer it if you brought me back alive. If you kill me, he will just think you are incompetent," Liu Ye called out calmly. "I just want to know how to address you."
"I'm Tian," the young man as he beckoned Liu Ye. "Now come over with your hands in the air."
"Alright, but you have to put down those ice spikes. I don't want you to attack my people when I'm in your hands," Liu Ye demanded as he stared at them fearfully.
"Tch, fine," Tian snickered in response and melted the ice spikes into the large whirlpool. It was still scary but at the very least, it gave Liu Ye more time to react.
'Damn, if only I could awaken…' Liu Ye cursed in his mind as he watched how effortlessly Tian manipulated the water. He didn't even use his arms to coordinate the moves and depended only on his mind.
Katherine mentioned he was close to awakening but how did that happen? What kind of trigger did he need? Was he supposed to put himself in a life or death situation?
"Stop!"
Liu Ye paused his thoughts as Tian halted him halfway. "Pull up your shirt and turn around. I need to make sure you don't have any weapons on you."
"Sure," Liu Ye nodded calmly, already imagining such a scenario.
He actually hoped he could get much closer and give Tian a quick bullet into his body but ten meters away wasn't that much of a difference. Tian's reaction time would need to be amazingly fast to dodge a bullet from such a close distance and Liu Ye knew how hard it was even in the game.
The only problem was the water wheel that was floating right in front of him.
"I'm going to reach down, okay?" Liu Ye asked as he moved to lift up his shirt. "Should I take it all the way?"
"Slowly and then turn around!" Tian warned as he replicated multiple ice spears in the air.
"Okay, okay, geez," Liu Ye commented lazily as he slowly reached the edges of his shirt. "You act as if you are enjoying me stripping mysel—"
Just as his head was passing through the shirt, Liu Ye cut his speech and dropped down while reaching down to his back.
Bang!
He fired blindly at Tian's legs before instantly dodging on the grass. His shirt was already gone when he landed and he fired again before the lone cry even reached him.
Just as he thought, Tian protected his head and torso with water while his legs were the only place that he wouldn't prioritize.
"Fuck!" Tian cursed in pain and immediately shot his ice spears in retaliation. Liu Ye could only drop to the ground and roll behind one of the plants for any viable cover.
He continued to shoot while rushing back to the villa when he spotted something he didn't think about. Tian sounded hurt earlier but somehow he was still standing. The two holes in his legs didn't bleed at all as he immediately froze them.
"Now you are fucking dead bitch," Tian yelled as he spawned a water curtain in front of him and hundreds of ice shards shot out straight in Liu Ye's direction.
He only found time to extend his palm forward, the habit he got from playing Avatar Online.
"Stop!"
