The helicopter's spotlight blazed through the Beijing night, a relentless hunter's eye pinning Feng Ruoxi and her battered crew in the wreckage of Liang Tianhua's smoldering lab. Xia Zhenguo's voice thundered from the chopper's speakers, a venomous snarl cutting through the chaos: "You're mine, Ruoxi!" The words dripped with malice, a predator closing in, but Ruoxi's knees buckled, her phoenix mark flickering weakly against her wrist, the fire that had erupted moments ago now a fading ember in her exhausted frame.
Jiang Yukang held her upright, his arms a steel cage around her trembling form, his pistol raised defiantly at the descending machine. Blood streaked his face, his dark eyes burning with a fury that matched the storm raging above. "Not today," he growled, firing a shot that cracked through the rain, forcing the helicopter to swerve. The bullet pinged off its hull, a futile spark against Xia's armored beast.
