Chapter 41: The Female Captain America—Xun Lili

Volume 1 “Year of Calamity”

“The key points of rifle shooting require attention to four elements: posture, weapon holding, aiming, and trigger pull. Let’s start with aiming – simply put, it’s about three points aligning! The front sight, rear sight, and target form three points. Use your eyes to align the top edge of the front sight with the bottom edge of the target, forming a straight line. When aiming, keep your eyes focused on the target, never stare at the front sight as that will blur the target. The front sight should appear as a sharp, clear black silhouette in your vision. Everyone find a distant target to practice.”

Skinny Monkey stood on a rock, earnestly explaining shooting fundamentals and precautions to over a dozen women lying prone for aiming practice. Truth be told, despite his current appearance as a military instructor, his heart was racing with anxiety. He thought to himself: What was the captain thinking, assigning him these dozen women from the fortress? How was a young man under twenty supposed to handle this? First, he’d never even been in a relationship – a complete novice. Having almost no contact with girls during military service, coupled with his introverted nature, even speaking to these women made him blush. Second, as a vigorous young virgin, being around these women was inevitably awkward. But what could he do? Military orders were absolute, so he had to grit his teeth and teach these young ladies military skills.

“Hey, Instructor Monkey, besides the prone position, can we use other stances? This is really quite uncomfortable!” A woman in her late twenties spoke to Skinny Monkey in an extremely delicate voice.

Skinny Monkey paused, then kindly explained: “Sister, this is crash course training. Given your current physical condition, standing or kneeling positions would be difficult – the firearm’s recoil might injure you.”

“Is that so? Well, alright then. It’s just that lying on the ground like this feels rather suffocating and uncomfortable.” Though reluctant, the woman knew Skinny Monkey meant well, so she endured it.

However, the woman’s words puzzled Skinny Monkey.

“Uncomfortable? Not really, lying prone should be fine. Though the ground is somewhat hard, it shouldn’t feel suffocating.” As he spoke, Skinny Monkey lay down himself to experience it.

“Instructor Monkey, how could we be the same? We’ve got two lumps of flesh on our chests!”

Skinny Monkey finally understood why the woman felt suffocated and uncomfortable. Those two lumps on the chest! The sudden mental image immediately turned his face as red as a monkey’s bottom. Though he’d never personally seen those two snowy peaks on a woman’s chest – well, if you haven’t eaten pork, haven’t you at least seen a pig run? Back before enlisting, his computer hard drive had stored several gigabytes of various adult films!

Skinny Monkey’s embarrassment immediately provoked laughter from all the present girls. Their amusement made him feel even more mortified. Left with no choice, he could only excuse himself to urinate and make his escape.The military training at the fortress was in full swing, and the happiest among them were the retired veterans. Once again holding their beloved steel spears, their excitement was tinged with nostalgia for their passionate bygone days. As for those who had never served in the military, though they lacked basic training, their enthusiasm for these weapons remained undimmed—after all, many had dreamed of becoming valiant soldiers wielding steel spears in their youth. Now, even without green military uniforms, they were genuinely experiencing the thrill of holding real steel spears, and how could they not be exhilarated? However, by the time the morning training session ended, these novices to military drills were utterly exhausted, like frostbitten eggplants, wishing they could just melt into the ground and never move again. Unlike training the women, Nie Chong and the other Special Forces soldiers employed their team’s rigorous methods on the men to quickly build combat readiness. The veterans fared better, gritting their teeth through the fatigue thanks to prior experience, but those without military backgrounds suffered immensely, barely able to straighten their backs from the strain.

While the young and middle-aged men underwent intense military training, the elderly and children weren’t idle either. Su Yao led a group of older adults in preparing delicious meals, with the children helping wash vegetables and rice. Every survivor in the fortress was busy working for their future. Only An Sheng and Xun Lili stood under a pine tree on the mountainside, staring at each other in a standoff.

“Are you really sure there’s no change in your body at all?”

An Sheng refused to give up. Even though Xun Lili’s body showed no abnormalities, he had an inexplicable premonition that this girl who had ingested the Purifier’s blood couldn’t possibly be entirely unaffected—it just hadn’t manifested yet.

“Everyone else is training with spears, and you dragged me here just to ask this? You’ve questioned me over a hundred times these past few days! I’m telling you for the last time: there’s nothing unusual with my body!”

Xun Lili was exasperated. This man had been hounding her with the same question day after day, driving her to distraction! If she weren’t genuinely no match for him in a fight, she’d have already pummeled this annoying man until he was picking his teeth off the ground!

“Don’t get angry, and don’t blame me for being persistent. The way you looked after swallowing the Purifier’s blood was exactly like my reaction after being infected with the Red Tide Virus. You remember what I turned into, don’t you? I don’t know if the Purifier’s blood will cause the same outcome, but if you say nothing’s changed, I’ll never believe it, even if you beat me to death!” An Sheng remained stubborn, a trait ingrained in his personality—once he latched onto an idea, it was nearly impossible to change his mind.

“I said that was the last time I’d entertain this topic with you. Please stop pestering me about it from now on! OK?”After Xun Lili finished speaking, she turned to leave, but An Sheng was not about to let this girl off so easily. He took a swift step forward and grabbed her shoulder. Xun Lili was a martial arts expert, and it must be understood that reaching from behind to grab a martial artist’s shoulder is an extremely dangerous move. Most trained fighters are highly sensitive to attacks from the rear and will instinctively counterattack when assaulted—Xun Lili was no exception. However, while her attacks were lethal to ordinary humans, was An Sheng ordinary?

The moment An Sheng’s hand seized Xun Lili’s shoulder, she lowered her body deftly to evade his grasp, simultaneously driving force from her calves and waist as she pivoted, using her elbow to strike back at An Sheng’s neck. It was a standard Muay Thai move—the spinning elbow strike! Her movements flowed like water, but her target was no ordinary person—or rather, not human at all! An Sheng merely raised his hand casually to block, effortlessly neutralizing Xun Lili’s attack. Yet, though her assault was defused, An Sheng’s actions had thoroughly enraged this Young Miss Xun.

As a martial artist, Xun Lili was inherently combative and possessed the stubborn temper of a young miss who refused to admit defeat. From the moment she met An Sheng, she had been repeatedly thwarted, and these past few days, An Sheng had truly infuriated her. The pent-up rage within her finally erupted. With a sharp glare fixed on An Sheng, she assumed a Muay Thai fighting stance. Little did she know, her reaction was exactly what An Sheng had hoped for. An Sheng had long intended to use combat to awaken the Purifier blood within her, for he himself had gained the ability to transform into a Demon through battle. He suspected that Xun Lili, like him, might require the same method to unlock her latent power. However, the girl had refused to give him an opportunity these past days, and he couldn’t outright attack her—if others misunderstood, it would be difficult to explain.

An Sheng did not transform into a Demon. After numerous battles and transformations, even in his ordinary human state, he possessed immense strength and reaction speed. Dealing with a young girl, even one trained in martial arts, An Sheng remained confident he could overpower her. Indeed, he could easily overwhelm Xun Lili. Though she held a significant advantage in technique, the disparity in strength and speed between them was vast. Fighting An Sheng was like a child contending with an adult—even if the child mastered every Move, they could inflict no harm on the grown-up.

“Not enough yet. Perhaps she must feel the threat of death to awaken her latent ability.” With this thought, An Sheng resolved to do just that.An Sheng abruptly accelerated, his body moving like a phantom as he appeared before Xun Lili. Before she could react, he seized her throat and lifted her entire body into the air. Dangling mid-air, Lili struggled desperately with both hands and feet, but soon realized it was futile—An Sheng’s grip was as unyielding as an iron clamp, impossible to break free from. Most critically, she could sense the man’s genuine intent to kill her; the pressure from his hand around her neck intensified relentlessly. Oxygen deprivation set in rapidly—within a minute, she would either be strangled or suffocated. The threat of death sent tremors through Lili’s body, her blood heating up as her beautiful pupils dilated abruptly. The black irises expanded swiftly, spreading across her eyes until they transformed into the Purifier’s distinctive, obsidian-like, ink-black orbs!

“You think killing me is that easy?!”

A roar of sheer fury erupted from Lili’s throat. As she spoke, she drove a knee strike into An Sheng’s left chest. An Sheng felt as if he’d been hit head-on by a speeding car, hurtling backward instantly, his grip on Lili loosening. Using the powerful recoil, Lili executed a flawless mid-air flip and landed steadily. Without hesitation, she lunged toward the still-flying An Sheng, intent on tearing him to pieces. Her agile movements, combined with overwhelming strength, made her resemble a formidable warrior. Strangely, as An Sheng flew backward, watching Lili charge at him, the name of a Hollywood sci-fi movie protagonist flashed through his mind—Captain America!