Female Special Forces: Sharp Edge

Chapter 3: The Unforgiving Slap

Confusion flickered through Ning Xi’s mind. She had just stepped forward to ask what was going on when a stylishly dressed young woman emerged from the weathered building entrance—none other than her cousin, Chen Sitong.

Two years younger than Ning Xi, Chen Sitong was a second-year university student. Today, she wore a tiny spaghetti-strap miniskirt and stiletto heels, her bare chest and thighs exposed to the summer air.

Before Ning Xi could call out to her, Sitong wrenched open the rear door of the luxury SUV and slid inside.

Ning Xi strode over, her hand raised to tap on the window, when she caught sight of two writhing silhouettes in the back seat, accompanied by muffled, breathless voices.

As one of the few female master’s graduates in special operations from the military academy, Ning Xi’s hearing was far sharper than the average person’s. She could make out that the two inside were bickering even as they fumbled with each other.

“Ugh, stop it, what’s the rush…”

“Your sister’s coming home today! Of course I’m in a hurry—”

The second she heard that man’s voice, Ning Xi froze, a jolt shooting through her.

Two months prior, that same voice had murmured to her, soft and full of affection: “Don’t go somewhere dangerous. Think about our future together.”

And now, barely two months later, he was here with her own cousin.

Without a word, Ning Xi wrenched the car door open.

They’d been too frantic to lock it, treating the back seat like a bed in their haste.

The scene inside was laid bare before her. The straps of Sitong’s miniskirt had slipped down to her elbows, exposing most of her chest, while the skirt itself was hitched up around her waist, leaving nothing to the imagination. And the man with her—

Ning Xi stared coldly at the man scrambling to pull up his pants, and spoke. “Qi Yiyang. What the hell is the meaning of this?”

“N-Ning Xi…” Qi Yiyang’s face drained of all color, his earlier bravado vanishing in an instant, shriveled up by sheer terror.

“You said you had a last-minute emergency and couldn’t pick me up. This is that emergency?” Ning Xi’s fists clenched at her sides, every muscle taut as she fought to reign in her rage.

She’d only ever seen scenes like this in training videos for her special operations courses. She’d never imagined how sickening, how utterly revolting, it would be to witness it in person.

“Ning Xi, y-you have to let me explain! AHH—” Qi Yiyang fumbled frantically with his zipper, his hands shaking so badly from terror and panic that it caught on his skin, tearing a sharp cry of pain from his lips.

Ning Xi’s patience snapped. She grabbed Chen Sitong by the arm and hauled her stumbling out of the car.

“AHH—what are you doing?! Someone will see—” Sitong’s clothes were in complete disarray: her bra was slipping down one arm, her underwear was halfway down her thighs, and one stiletto had fallen off her foot. To be dragged out of the car like this was the height of humiliation.

“You care about being seen? How old are you, to be doing this with a man?!” Rage boiling over, Ning Xi slapped her hard across the face.

The sharp c***k of the slap echoed through the courtyard. A bright red handprint bloomed across Sitong’s heavily made-up face, half her false eyelashes peeling off, leaving her looking utterly disheveled and humiliated.

“You hit me?! You dare hit me?!” Sitong clapped a hand to her stinging cheek, screaming. “My parents raised you for years! How dare you lay a hand on me?!”

“I’ll hit you again if I have to! How old are you? Have you no self-respect?!”

“I’m twenty years old!” Sitong didn’t care that her clothes were falling off; she shoved Ning Xi hard with both hands. Ning Xi stepped back half a pace, staring at her with icy coldness.

Sitong felt a flicker of guilt—she’d been caught sleeping with her cousin’s boyfriend, after all, and she knew she was in the wrong. But one look at Ning Xi’s ridiculous outfit, and all her shame vanished, replaced by righteous indignation.

Ning Xi had ear-length short hair, wore an army-green T-shirt and summer service uniform trousers, and carried a tattered army-green backpack. She wore not a scrap of makeup, and with her freakish strength, she was nothing short of a brute. How could someone like that ever compete with her for a man?

Sitong ran a hand through her messy hair, curled her smudged lip in disdain, and spat haughtily: “Cousin, do you really think everyone’s like you? You’ve never even touched a man’s hand! No wonder Yiyang left you, you frigid old relic. You’ve known each other for almost two years, and he’s never even so much as touched your finger. What gives you the right to act so high and mighty? Yiyang said he’ll marry me the second I graduate! You? Just go crawl back to your little army camp, you butch freak!”

Watching her arrogant sneer, listening to her venomous words, Ning Xi felt a sharp, searing twist in her chest—something even the harshest, most brutal training at the military academy had never managed to break.

Was being chaste a crime? Was this woman really her own cousin? Would she really say such cruel things to her, all for a man?

Qi Yiyang had finally sorted out his clothes. He jumped out of the back seat, stepped forward, and spoke in a soft, placating tone. “Ning Xi, just let me explain—”

He reached for her hand, but Ning Xi grabbed his wrist and twisted it hard behind his back in one fluid motion.

“AHH—” The pampered young Master Qi let out a shrill scream of agony.

“You’re insane! Let him go this instant!” Sitong kicked off her remaining shoe, her clothes still hanging off her, and lunged forward to shove Ning Xi hard.

Ning Xi narrowed her eyes at her, and released her grip on Qi Yiyang’s wrist.

“Yiyang, Yiyang, are you okay? Did that violent brute hurt you?” Sitong threw her arms around him, her eyes swimming with tears, her face etched with concern.

Qi Yiyang gasped for breath, his face twisted with conflict as he glanced first at Ning Xi, her face like stone, then at Sitong, her face soft with affection even as her clothes hung off her. Finally, he steeled himself and spoke. “Ning Xi, you couldn’t even have your phone on you at the academy. I was going to tell you the truth when you got back…”

At the tone of his voice, Ning Xi’s heart sank.

“Sitong and I got together two weeks ago. I was going to explain everything when you came home, we—”

“We’re in love! Truly in love!” Sitong cut in quickly, seeing the flicker of guilt in Qi Yiyang’s eyes.

“And don’t you dare act like you’re his scorned wife, Cousin. You never even held his hand. Do you really have the nerve to call him your boyfriend? What century are you living in? Or is this just what all you army brats are like? Clinging to your little chastity plaques, forcing your partners to live like monks too?”

“Fine, I’ll admit you’re pretty. But look at you! Short hair, no makeup, dressed like a frump. How can you call yourself Yiyang’s girlfriend? People would laugh him out of the room if he took you out! You should just find some equally frumpy army man to settle down with.”

Sitong was in the middle of her vicious tirade when another sharp c***k rang out. Before she could even react, Ning Xi had slapped her hard across the other cheek.

Ning Xi had held nothing back this time. The blow sent Sitong’s vision spinning black, and she nearly collapsed to the ground.

“Stop it!” Qi Yiyang wrapped his arms around Sitong, shouting in fury and distress. “Ning Xi, she’s your cousin! How could you hit her like that?!”

“Cousin? A shameless woman like her doesn’t get to call me sister. She makes me sick. And you?” Ning Xi, who had barely spoken this entire time, fixed them with a frigid glare. “Get out of my sight.”

With that, she turned on her heel and strode away, not looking back.