Hide and Seek: The Mad Girl Sees All novel Chapter 177

Chapter 177

The two off-road vehicles came to a stop at the edge of the Wraith mist.

Lyra was the first to jump out, twirling her new gun in her hand. It was a bit heavier than the standard-issue pistol, but it felt good in her grip.

“Everyone ready?” Zoe asked, checking everyone’s gear before her eyes landed on the guns in their hands.

“Ready!” Nancy and the other three replied in unison, their voices brimming with excitement.

Lyra holstered her gun and took the lead toward the Wraith mist. “Let’s wrap this up fast, I’ve got a video call with Lina at

ten.”

The group entered the Wraith mist, moving with practiced ease. Ten souls had already drifted ahead.

Soon, the team passed through the Ghost Wall and stepped onto the Invasion Zone’s soil.

“There’s a Wraith about 165 yards ahead,” Jane’s voice called from up front.

Zoe raised her hand, and the team came to a halt.

She lifted her binoculars. In the shadows of the distant ruins, a Wraith was crouched low to the ground, feasting hungrily.

“Toni,” Zoe said, lowering her binoculars. “Take a shot at max range.”

“Yes!” Toni replied.

Toni nodded, stepped forward, and moved out of the formation. Even with her keen eyesight, from about 165 yards away she could only make out a vague outline. She couldn’t tell exactly where the Wraith’s head was.

She held her fire for a moment, raising her binoculars for a closer look. Too bad the Wraith had its back to them, no way to go for a headshot, but the back made for a much bigger target.

She lowered the binoculars, took a deep breath, and raised her gun with both hands, steadying her aim. The Vital Flame inside her surged down her arms, pooling in her palms before being drawn into the bullet’s energy channel.

Bang!

The shot rang out, and a burst of orange-red flame wrapped around the bullet as it tore from the barrel.

Everyone’s eyes followed the bullet’s flight.

The flame clung to the bullet for over thirty feet, much farther than it had with yesterday’s regular gun, but in the end it fizzled out in midair with a soft pop.

With the flames gone, the bullet kept going and landed silently on the Wraith’s back, barely leaving a mark.

The Wraith just paused, pulled its head out of the dirt, and looked around in confusion.

Toni’s shoulders slumped. “Still not working.”

“Don’t worry,” Lyra said, giving her a reassuring pat on the shoulder and flashing a big grin. “That’s pretty impressive! It means Engineer Clark’s energy channel and new barrel are actually doing their job. We got the Vital Flame to go over thirty feet farther!”

She turned to Zoe. “Zoe, should we get a little closer?”

Chapter 177

Zoe nodded. “Advance to about ninety yards.”

The team moved forward, keeping their footsteps light and careful.

From about ninety yards out, the Wraith still hadn’t noticed anything was wrong and once again buried its head in the dirt.

“Toni, give it another shot,” Zoe said.

Toni raised her gun again, her focus sharper than before. Same Vital Flame, same aim, but this time she went further she channeled the Vital Flame into the energy channel and split off another thread to wrap the entire bullet in fire.

Bang!

The bullet shot forward, wrapped in flames, unstoppable.

This time, the flames didn’t go out.

The orange-red spark shot through the air like a tiny meteor and slammed straight into the Wraith’s body.

“Gah,!” the Wraith shrieked.

The Wraith let out a blood-curdling scream as the bullet blew a small hole in its side. The orange-red flames fizzled out fast around the wound, but the pain was real.

It thrashed around wildly, its black tentacles shooting out to patch up the wound as soon as the flames died down. Once the injury was gone, it stopped screaming and started hunting for its attacker.

“It worked!” Vivian whispered, barely able to hold back her excitement.

Zoe’s eyes lit up. Sure, it healed up quick, but that was from about ninety yards away! Long-range shot, and it actually worked!

Toni stared at her hands, then at the Wraith in the distance, unable to hide the excitement on her face.

“Nancy! Your turn,” Zoe called out.

“Yes!” Nancy stepped forward, raised her gun, and took aim at the Wraith Toni had hit earlier, the one now frantically searching for whoever had attacked it.

Just then, that Wraith spun around, spotted them, and charged straight at the team.

Nancy closed her eyes, remembering that feeling of exhaustion from yesterday, right before she hit her limit. She drew out every bit of Vital Flame from her energy core, letting it flood wildly into the gun.

The barrel started to glow with a soft red light, like a red-hot branding iron.

Her eyes snapped open, she locked onto her target, and squeezed the trigger.

Boom!

This time, the shot wasn’t a crisp bang, it was a heavy, muffled explosion.

A fireball, nearly the size of a ping-pong ball, was squeezed into a bullet shape and blasted out of the barrel with a furious roar. No actual bullets here, the Vital Flame itself was her ammo.

The instant the fireball slammed into the Wraith, it detonated. The explosion devoured its entire upper body, and raging flames plus the shockwave tore out in every direction, spraying blackened flesh and scorched remains everywhere.

When the flames faded, only two legs were left standing in place, the Wraith’s upper body had been completely wiped out.

8

O

GT

Chapter 177

The whole team went dead silent.

Everyone just stared, jaws dropped, at what they’d just seen.

Toni stared at her gun, then at Nancy, and muttered in disbelief, “Wait, are we even using the same gun?”

55 veur

“Whoa!” Lyra sucked in a sharp breath, then burst out laughing. “I’m calling this the ‘Vital Flame Grenade’! One shot, and it blows up! That’s awesome!”

Zoe’s face shifted from shock to pure joy, her hands shaking as she tried to record everything.

Zoe knew what this meant, no doubt about it.

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