Chapter 239: Can't Break Through

Luckily, at that critical moment, Jing Shu’s bees managed to sting the robbers in time, narrowly averting disaster.

Jing Shu couldn’t afford to worry about her family’s condition or the newlyweds—she had to trust that her grandmother, aunt, and the others in the kitchen were safe from the burning oil bottles. Her parents were outside, likely avoiding the worst of the danger. All she could do was swiftly eliminate the threat posed by the robbers.

The eight robbers who had entered the courtyard began to scream in agony shortly after being stung. The venom from the five-step snake and strychnine made its effects known immediately, causing them to convulse and fall to the ground.

Jing Shu emerged from the darkness, her movements calm and deliberate. She quickly ensured each of the downed attackers was dead by slitting their throats with her knife before heading toward the courtyard gate, where she suspected more of them were waiting.

Stripping a device off one of the fallen robbers, Jing Shu discovered it was a rudimentary thermal imaging device. Donning it, she could see human silhouettes through the smoke—crude but effective. She also found a bulletproof vest and put it on for extra protection.

Outside the courtyard, several robbers were rifling through the stolen gifts, cursing under their breath.

“Whatever, we got a gun out of it, so it’s worth it. Can’t believe these people had weapons—lucky for us, we came prepared,” one of them grumbled.

They had arrived in a pickup truck with a trailer attached, clearly intending to load up as much loot as possible.

Jing Shu’s eyes darted to the other side, where she saw her mother, father, grandfather, and Qiao Lian’s father and brothers all lying unconscious on the ground. Whether they were dead or alive, she couldn’t tell.

Her fury surged—there were no words to describe the rage she felt at that moment. Something primal and uncontrollable seemed to stir inside her, a raw energy pushing to the surface. Her body felt hot, as if about to explode, and her rational thoughts were quickly drowned out by a single urge: Kill.

Jing Shu’s body tensed, veins bulging under her skin. Long-term use of the magical spring water had given her great strength, but now it seemed to come with a cost—whenever she became agitated, she risked losing control. Her vision blurred, her thoughts filled only with bloodlust.

"Kill! Kill! Kill!" The chant echoed in her mind as she charged toward the remaining robbers.

Sensing her approach, one of the men shouted, “Someone’s coming fast!”

Jing Shu’s voice, cold and menacing, cut through the air. “Your friends are already in hell.”

“Who the hell are you? Shoot her!” another robber yelled.

One of the men quickly threw a cloud of powder into the air, but Jing Shu didn’t slow down. With her enhanced strength, she swung her wolf-tooth club, smashing one of the men into a bloody pulp. The sound was sickening, a heavy thud that reverberated through the air.

Wearing her gas mask, she was immune to the powder. She was unstoppable.

The remaining men screamed in terror, firing their guns wildly, but the bullets couldn’t stop her. The next man fell with a single, bone-crushing blow, his screams cut short. Another tried to run, but Jing Shu hurled her club at his head, taking him down instantly.

Her heart pounded furiously in her chest. If she could measure her pulse at that moment, she would’ve been alarmed.

“Mom, Dad!” Jing Shu called out as she ran to her fallen family members. After checking their pulses, she sighed in relief—they were alive and unharmed, merely unconscious from the drugs the robbers had used.

It became clear that the robbers had used sedatives to subdue them. Jing Shu’s father had managed to fire a couple of shots before succumbing to the effects of the drug, allowing the robbers to steal his gun. Thankfully, the robbers hadn’t bothered to kill anyone—they were more interested in looting.

Jing Shu winced in pain as she realized she had taken a few hits. Though the bullets hadn’t penetrated her vest, the impact had left her abdomen and chest bruised and sore.

“Good thing I was wearing a bulletproof vest and a gas mask,” Jing Shu muttered through gritted teeth, still feeling the pain coursing through her body.

Her emotions simmered down as she turned to the remaining robbers. One by one, she dragged their bodies to the truck and finished them off, making sure there would be no more threats.

After securing the situation, Jing Shu grabbed a megaphone and announced, “It’s over! If you’re burned, get out and let the rain cool you down.”

The whole attack had lasted only a few minutes, but the terror it had caused was immense. Most of the wedding guests were still huddled in fear, unable to believe the ordeal was truly over.

In the aftermath, Jing Shu overheard some of the guests whispering:

“What happened?”

“I heard it was one of Wei Chang’s relatives who single-handedly took down all the robbers. Even Old Xing couldn’t believe how brutal it was—said she crushed their skulls!”

“Is that for real? We should be grateful to have someone like that here. Otherwise, we’d all be dead.”

“Yeah, Old Xing mentioned there’s a reward for turning in the bodies—thirty virtual coins per head.”

“Well, at least that’s something.”

*

Jing Shu’s uncle, alongside a retired police officer, began putting out the fires and helping the injured. Fortunately, only three or four people had suffered serious burns, and they were being treated with the ointments Jing Shu had provided. The rest had only minor injuries.

Jing Shu’s grandmother wept openly, relieved that her family was safe. “Heaven help us! Thank the gods for sparing us!”

With the situation under control, the unconscious guests were taken indoors and given water to flush out the drugs from their systems. Jing Shu added a little of her diluted magical spring water to aid their recovery.

Her uncle, always a savvy man, immediately declared that the gifts would be returned as compensation for the ordeal, and everyone was invited to stay for a feast to celebrate the wedding.

The guests initially protested, but when Jing Shu’s uncle promised two additional meat dishes per table—braised pork ribs and Dongpo pork—their spirits lifted. In these times, meat was a rare and precious commodity, worth three times the value of grain.

Those who were injured were also promised free medical care until they recovered. The generosity, along with the promise of a meat-filled feast, quickly improved everyone’s mood, and they began to look at Wei Chang’s family with newfound respect.

As the chaos subsided, Jing Shu retreated to her room to practice solving her cube. She noticed that after such intense situations, her progress always seemed to accelerate. There was a certain clarity in her mind, a sense that she was on the verge of a breakthrough.

It was as if there was a barrier—like a thin layer of paper—that she just couldn’t break through, no matter how hard she tried.