Chapter 232: Chapter 232
This was the handgun Suzy used regularly for target practice. It had always worked flawlessly. So why had it chosen this exact moment, facing Wendy, to malfunction?
Was the heroine’s plot armor really kicking in?
Suppressing her frustration, Suzy stored the faulty gun and immediately pulled out another.
Wendy let out a mocking laugh.
"Another one? Seriously?" she sneered. "Who are you trying to fool, Suzy? Do you think I’m a three-year-old child?"
As she spoke, she swung her blade at Suzy.
The knife flashed with a cold gleam. A foul, rotting stench clung to it, carried forward by the force of the strike.
The moment she caught the odor, Suzy instinctively sensed danger and dodged aside. At the same time, she raised her handgun and pulled the trigger.
The motion was swift and seamless.
A muted shot echoed through the stairwell.
"Bang!"
The suppressed bullet shot forward, streaking directly toward Wendy’s head.
Wendy’s eyes widened.
She wanted to dodge, but it was already too late. Until this moment, she had genuinely believed Suzy was waving around a toy gun. She had never imagined it was real.
Just as Suzy thought she was about to end everything once and for all, something impossible happened.
The bullet stopped. It hung motionless in the air directly in front of Wendy’s face. For a fraction of a second, perhaps only five hundredths of one, it remained suspended.
Then it dropped.
The bullet struck the floor and rolled across the concrete.
Suzy stared, speechless.
At that moment, she finally understood exactly how Vanessa had felt. And she finally understood what she had meant by an invisible shield and an enemy that could not be killed.
Wendy really did seem to possess some kind of unseen barrier around her. A barrier that could even stop bullets.
Was this what a protagonist’s plot armor looked like? Wasn’t this ridiculously overpowered?
Suzy nearly choked on her frustration.
That invisible shield was practically invincible. How the hell was she supposed to kill Wendy?
"Pfft... Didn’t expect that, did you?"
Wendy finally realized the gun posed no threat to her at all. Delight spread across her face as she burst into triumphant laughter.
"Give up, Suzy. You’ll never be able to kill me."
Suzy refused to accept it. Without saying a word, she fired twice more.
One bullet aimed at Wendy’s heart. The other at her head.
The handgun functioned perfectly this time. No jams. No misfires. The bullets flew smoothly through the air.
Yet just before reaching Wendy, they stopped, frozen in midair.
A moment later, both rounds fell harmlessly to the floor. The invisible shield had blocked her attack once more.
"Have you learned your lesson yet?" Wendy laughed.
With complete confidence, she charged forward and slashed at Suzy.
Now she was certain––suzy had no way of harming her. Not even bullets could break through her protection. She refused to believe Suzy had any other tricks left.
After all, she was the heroine. The heroine of this world. If she died, the entire novel would lose its reason to exist. Naturally, heaven itself would protect her.
What was Suzy? Nothing more than a minor supporting character.
Wendy’s blade came down with ruthless force, every strike aimed to kill. Fortunately, Suzy’s enhanced physique allowed her to react quickly. She twisted away, narrowly avoiding the attack.
Furious at missing, Wendy became increasingly reckless. Every swing targeted a vital spot. Every attack was meant to take Suzy’s life.
Suzy fired several more shots in quick succession. The result never changed. Each bullet stopped before reaching Wendy, as though an invisible wall surrounded her body.
No one could touch her.
No one could injure her.
Suzy was genuinely beginning to lose patience with this absurd protagonist advantage.
How could plot armor be this outrageously unfair? This had gone far beyond reason. It was practically cheating.
Unable to break through Wendy’s protection, Suzy had no choice but to retreat again and again, constantly evading.
Meanwhile, Wendy chased after her like a madwoman, repeatedly thrusting her poisoned blade toward Suzy, determined to stab her no matter what.
The two women continued their deadly struggle in the narrow stairwell, trading attacks and evasions in the confined space.
The stalemate finally broke when Suzy accidentally missed a step.
Her foot slipped and she crashed hard onto the stairs.
Wendy’s eyes instantly lit up.
An opportunity!
Without hesitation, she rushed forward to press her advantage. In the blink of an eye, she was standing over Suzy, her blade plunging downward.
The knife was moments away from piercing Suzy’s body.
Damn it.
Suzy’s heart skipped a beat. Instinctively, she tried to retreat into her storage space... And failed.
Her blood ran cold. The space wouldn’t open.
Why? Why couldn’t she enter it?
Had Wendy’s protagonist’s luck become so absurd that it could even interfere with her storage space?
There was no time to think. The blade was already descending. At the last possible moment, Suzy twisted violently to one side.
The knife scraped across her shoulder instead of piercing her chest.
Fabric tore. A shallow line of blood appeared across her skin.
Ignoring the pain, she clenched her teeth and rolled away, slipping past Wendy’s side. She landed on one knee several steps away, gasping for breath.
Wendy’s strike had missed.
Rage immediately twisted her features.
"Suzy!" she shrieked as she charged again. "Why are you still running? You’re going to die today, no matter what!"
Suzy stared at the crazed expression on her face while her mind raced.
The gun was useless. The storage space couldn’t shelter her. And her stamina was draining rapidly.
She couldn’t keep this up. If the fight continued for even a few more minutes, she would be dead.
She needed an opening. Something Wendy would never expect.
Wendy lunged again, her poisoned blade slicing through the air, carrying that same rotten stench.
Suddenly, Suzy raised her hand. A flash of thought crossed her mind. Instantly, something white appeared in her grasp.
Thank goodness. The storage space itself still worked, she just couldn’t enter it.
Without hesitation, Suzy hurled the white object directly at Wendy’s face.
"Go, Dummy! Go!"
A streak of white flashed through the air. Something cold and slick smacked into Wendy’s face.
Startled, she instinctively reached up to grab it. Then she saw what it was.
A snake! A snow-white snake. Its tiny ruby-red eyes stared directly into hers. Its forked tongue flicked out so close it nearly brushed her nose.
"AAAAAHHHHH!"
A bloodcurdling scream exploded from Wendy’s throat. She threw herself backward in pure panic.
The knife slipped from her hand and crashed onto the floor. Both hands flew to her face as she frantically clawed at herself.
The white snake was flung away, tracing a graceful arc through the air before landing neatly on a nearby step.
Snakes. Of all things, snakes were what Wendy feared most.
"Snake! There’s a snake!" she shrieked.
Her voice was so sharp it nearly pierced the eardrums. She collapsed onto the floor and desperately scrambled backward. Her face had gone completely white.
"Suzy, are you insane?! You threw a snake at me! You..."
Her words died abruptly. The white snake had not slithered away. Instead, it remained exactly where it was, watching her. Its crimson eyes remained fixed on her as it flicked its tongue in and out.
Then it turned its head toward Suzy as if understanding something.
A moment later, it shot forward, fast as a white arrow.
Before Wendy could react, it reached her, its jaws snapping open.
Crunch.
The snake sank its fangs directly into her ankle, perfectly placed, right over a major blood vessel.
The attack was so fast Wendy barely felt it until a sharp burst of pain erupted from her leg.
She looked down.
The white snake’s fangs were already buried deep in her flesh.
Screaming, she reached down to grab it.
But Dummy was faster.
The snake released its bite immediately and sprang away, darting back toward Suzy.
It coiled neatly beside her feet, flicking its tongue and looking almost proud of itself, as though waiting for praise.
"You... you bitch...!" Wendy clutched her leg.
Something was wrong. Very wrong. A strange numbness was spreading outward from the wound. It felt like icy water flowing through her veins, creeping upward.
Her legs weakened. She could no longer stand. The stairwell began to spin. Her vision blurred around the edges.
"Poison..." Terror flooded her face. "The snake... it’s venomous..."
Her voice trembled violently.
"System... save me..."
Her lips were already beginning to turn purple.
