Chapter 949: Kidnapped, Again Kidnapped
"..." Hamazura Shiage fell silent for a moment, mourning for two seconds for the five enemies who were also ordinary people. "It's not about calling an ambulance for them, I mean, your injuries..."
He carefully scrutinized the girl in front of him—there were no obvious external injuries on her body; in fact, there wasn't a single scratch visible on the exposed skin of the girl.
As a frontline combatant of the Dark Side Organization and serving as the vanguard human shield, Kihara's skin was enviably good.
At this moment, her upper clothing was tattered due to the explosion, especially the neckline, where her original T-shirt had almost become an open-front shirt, revealing far more than usual.
Yet, even so, it was no exception; despite enduring the bomb explosion at close range from the front, there was still not a single trace of injury on her body.
However, in contrast, Kihara's face was pale, her pupils bloodshot, and she coughed incessantly, even spitting out fresh blood, clearly indicating internal organ damage from the impact.
While the Nitrogen Armor's defense was powerful, it was ultimately just a layer of "armor."
As is well-known, armor cannot defend against blunt objects and impacts.
Gas is an excellent conductor of vibration, and once forcibly compressed into a solid, this characteristic becomes even more pronounced.
Moreover, Kihara manipulated "nitrogen" to form her armor, which meant she couldn't create the same armor inside her body.
Therefore, vibrational impact was her greatest weakness.
A total of three bombs were placed on Kihara's body—on both hands and around her neck.
These specially made bombs utilized "explosive cutting" technology—directing the force of the explosion to turn it into a special "blade."
Although it manifested as an "explosion," the final effect was closer to "cutting."
However, since Kihara dared to wear these explosive restraints, she naturally had nothing to fear—she had already set up a layer of "Nitrogen Armor" between her skin and the bombs.
Although this layer of armor was thin, it was more than sufficient to deal with these small-yield bombs—due to Frenda, Kihara also had a good understanding of explosives.
However, Kihara ultimately suffered from a "lack of practical experience."
Mastering theoretical knowledge was one thing, but she had never actually been bombed at such close range, leading to some misunderstanding of the "explosion's" power.
Or rather, Kihara misjudged the craftsmanship of the enemy's bombs.
If it had been Frenda's handiwork, she should have been able to concentrate all the explosive power in one direction, without waste.
However, a considerable portion of the energy from the actual explosive restraints on her body was still released in the most basic way of a bomb...
This resulted in Kihara being caught off guard and hit by three small bombs at close range in quick succession!
That her internal organs merely suffered impact and did not sustain more severe injuries was already a blessing in disguise.
Kihara rubbed her chest and couldn't help but cough a few more times.
"Don't worry," Kihara said nonchalantly, taking the tissue Takitsubo Rikou handed her.
"My condition isn't too bad, but more importantly—what's the situation at the orphanage?"
Hamazura Shiage immediately turned to look at Takitsubo Rikou, his meaning clear—this question was for her to answer.
Although he had been the one to speak to Kihara just now, the content of what he said was entirely decided by Takitsubo Rikou.
Hamazura Shiage actually didn't know the "safety status of the orphanage"; in fact, this was the first time he had even confirmed the existence of an "orphanage."
However, on another note, Hamazura Shiage had long known that Kihara often went out alone during her breaks, and he also knew she went back to visit and care for her former companions.
As for who those "companions" were, Hamazura Shiage was not clear.
In the Dark Side Item, everyone had their secrets and taboos.
As the one with the lowest ecological position among them, Hamazura Shiage, of course, was even less likely to actively inquire about others' secrets.
Not to mention, every time this matter was brought up, Mugino Shizuri's expression would turn very grim, making Hamazura Shiage even more afraid to probe this taboo.
Takitsubo Rikou did not answer immediately, just quietly looked at Kihara.
"So, what you said just now was a lie?"
"It's not a lie, Mugino went to the orphanage; if nothing goes wrong, she should have already dealt with the enemies by now, right?" Takitsubo Rikou said.
"Mugino?" Hamazura Shiage exclaimed first.
"Didn't you say she went to find Frenda?"
Hamazura Shiage, who was hastily pulled in to help, indeed didn't know much, but he wasn't completely ignorant.
In fact, the reason he was unwilling to directly answer Kihara's question just now was because he believed he was deceiving her—there was no one going to rescue the orphanage hostages!
Just as Kihara was threatened by villains, with her companions from the orphanage as hostages, demanding she assassinate Lin Wuming, Frenda's younger sister, Fremea, was also kidnapped.
Frenda immediately set out to rescue her sister.
Because this was her personal matter, Frenda did not alert the other members of Item, intending to solve the problem with her own strength.
However, her actions could not escape Mugino Shizuri's eyes; perhaps worried about her safety, or perhaps concerned that Frenda would betray her, in any case, Mugino Shizuri also secretly followed her.
Because of this, when Hamazura Shiage frantically fled all the way to the Item headquarters, he found that only Takitsubo Rikou was left at home.
At this very moment, Takitsubo Rikou also learned of Kihara's current situation through the Dark Side intelligence network.
Kihara was very pragmatic; after all, she bore the lives of hundreds of companions, and personal honor and dignity were things that could be sacrificed.
Even if she might be punished by Mugino Shizuri afterward, that would be a matter for later.
What needed to be done now was to save everyone's lives.
So Kihara used the agreed-upon code of Item to send a distress signal.
Takitsubo Rikou, who was left at headquarters, received the distress signal, and so she dragged Hamazura Shiage, who had conveniently shown up, to act together, rushing all the way here.
"Mugino and I have been in contact, so she also knew about Kihara's distress message," Takitsubo Rikou said.
"So Mugino decided to go help you first."
"This... is that so...?" Kihara showed a complex expression.
"Super... super grateful to you all."
—If Mugino Shizuri personally took action, eliminating the enemies would certainly not be a problem; but would she accidentally harm everyone at the orphanage?
However, on the other hand, facing such insidious and cunning enemies, someone like Mugino, who had no relation to the hostages and was unaffected by the opponent's threats, could actually solve the enemies more efficiently.
