Female Special Forces: Sharp Edge

Chapter 1: Where Did This Super-Strong Girl Come From?

It was July, the height of a sweltering summer.

Ning Xi sat on the bus heading back to the city from her university, gazing out at the empty highway, baked so fiercely by the sun that waves of heat shimmered above its surface.

The bus was nearly empty. Most of her classmates had already left, but she had delayed her departure by two or three days, torn over her future after graduation. She had initially been inclined to join a frontline combat unit, but two months prior, her boyfriend Qi Yiyang had visited her at school and voiced his strong opposition to her entering a dangerous military branch. For that reason, Ning Xi had applied to stay at the university as an instructor.

Mid-journey, Ning Xi spotted a black sedan parked on the opposite side of the road. A thin man with dyed blond hair leaped onto the highway, waving frantically for the bus to stop.

The driver rolled down his window. “What’s wrong?”

“Where are you heading, sir?” the thin man panted, sweating profusely.

“Into the city.”

“Perfect! Our tire’s blown, and my boss is in a terrible rush for a meeting. Could we hitch a ride back with you?”

“Sure, sure. Come on up.” The driver pressed the button to open the doors.

Ning Xi rested her chin in her hand and narrowed her eyes. She watched as a brawny man dragged a middle-aged businessman in a tailored suit out of the back seat of the sedan.

Both the tough guy and the thin man wore T‑shirts and jeans, drenched in sweat, while the middle‑aged man was impeccably dressed in a suit, his brows deeply furrowed and his expression stern — clearly someone who spent all his time in air‑conditioned offices. The contrast in their attire and bearing could not have been more stark.

As soon as they boarded, the middle‑aged man’s gaze swept the interior. Ning Xi sat by the window in the second row near the front. Diagonally behind her were two plainly dressed women, heads bowed, chatting about TV dramas and celebrity gossip. The rear of the bus was completely empty.

A flicker of subtle disappointment crossed the middle‑aged man’s eyes. Ning Xi watched lazily as the three moved toward the back and settled into the row right beside the exit door, which was partially shielded by a half‑height barrier. The brawny man and the thin one flanked the businessman on either side.

The bus pulled away. Ning Xi glanced back at the sedan across the road — its front was pointing toward the outskirts of the city.

“Driver, how long until the next stop?” she asked suddenly.

“Seven or eight minutes,” he replied without turning around.

Ning Xi fell silent. She pulled a foldable compact mirror from her backpack at her feet, opened it, and pretended to tidy her hair.

Through the mirror, she could see what was happening behind her. The middle‑aged man pressed his lips together in silence. The thin man by the window peered anxiously outside. The brawny man on the outer seat twisted sideways, his gaze fixed unwaveringly on the businessman.

Something was off. These men did not behave like subordinates attending to their boss. If anything, the suited man was clearly being manipulated by the brawny thug.

Ning Xi closed her mirror. She sat quietly for several minutes, estimating they were approaching the stop, then called out to the driver: “Sir, I’m getting off at the next stop.”

The driver acknowledged her. Ning Xi bent down, picked up her large backpack from the adjacent seat, walked to the rear door, and held onto the vertical pole, waiting for the bus to halt.

From the corner of her eye, she noticed the brawny man’s expression turn noticeably guarded. She pretended not to notice, leaning against the pole with an air of bored indifference. After about a minute, his attention shifted back to the middle‑aged man.

A stop came into view ahead. The driver pressed the announcement button long in advance, and the automated voice echoed through the bus. As soon as it came to a complete stop, the rear door slid open with a sharp hiss. Ning Xi bent to grab her backpack.

Before lowering her head, she stole a quick glance. The thin man was still staring distractedly out the window. The moment the door opened, the brawny man tensed up, his eyes locked fiercely on the man beside him.

This was her chance.

Ning Xi shot to her feet and swung her backpack hard at the brawny man’s face!

She lunged forward in one swift movement, seized the middle‑aged man by the front of his suit, and yanked him violently out from behind the barrier, sending him tumbling to the floor by the rear door.

The thin man froze, stunned that a seemingly frail young woman would attack them without warning. He had just jumped up from his seat when Ning Xi punched him squarely in the face. He clapped a hand over his bleeding nose and howled in agony.

Everyone else on the bus was petrified by the sudden, violent turn of events.

The brawny man shoved the backpack away — and Ning Xi caught sight of the black pistol in his grip.

This was unquestionably a k********g.

Ning Xi’s brow tightened. She grabbed a vertical pole for leverage and snapped a kick toward his face. In the chaos, a deafening gunshot rang out. A hole was blasted through her backpack.

“Murder! Help!” The two women who had been gossiping moments earlier shrieked and scrambled frantically off the bus.

The driver was also terrified, yet at the critical moment, he displayed the professionalism of a seasoned driver — he killed the engine, yanked out the keys, and bolted through the front door.

The middle‑aged man, whom Ning Xi had dragged out, rolled onto the roadside. Instead of fleeing in panic, he immediately shouted at the women: “Call the police! Hurry, call the police!”

But the two women were already gone, sprinting faster than rabbits. Helpless, the man rushed over to the driver and urged him to phone the police at once.

Inside the bus —

The brawny man had fired wildly in his panic. Unflinching, Ning Xi lunged forward, grabbed his gun‑wrist, and twisted it outward, aiming the dark muzzle straight at the blood‑nosed thin man.

“Don’t shoot! Don’t shoot, boss!” The thin man was nearly wetting himself, terrified his accomplice would pull the trigger by mistake.

“Argh!” The brawny man howled in pain. Was this girl a gorilla? How could she be so impossibly strong?

Ning Xi smirked. Amateurs like them dared to commit crimes? She slammed her fist into his face. The man cried out, clapping his hands over his crushed nose. She effortlessly disarmed him.

She weighed the gun in her hand — a common counterfeit Type 54 from the black market, and by the feel of it, still loaded. She pointed it at both men. “You two think you can pull off a job this sloppy? Do you have any idea where you are?”

Where were they? Could this woman be connected to the underworld?

The brawny man covered his nose and trembled. “Lady, we’re just here for the money. We didn’t mean to cross you. We’re all in the same life. Let us go, and we’ll meet again someday —”

In the same life? Ning Xi raised an eyebrow. They mistook her for some local gang leader.

As he spoke, he secretly nudged the thin man’s foot. Whimpering and holding his nose, the thinner criminal dropped to his knees in the narrow aisle. “Miss, please let us go. We’ll never do this again —”

Before he finished, he pulled a switchblade from his pocket. Ning Xi’s reflexes were lightning‑fast. She twisted the gun and fired another shot!

The switchblade flew out the rear door. The thin man clutched his hand and wailed at the top of his lungs: “My hand! My hand, ahhh —”

“Shut up. Your hand’s fine. Move again, and I swear I’ll hit your thumbs, not your forefingers. Want to test me?” Ning Xi gestured with the gun for them to retreat to the very back of the bus.

The two men had no idea who she was. The thin one was already terrified out of his wits; seeing that his hand was unharmed, he did not dare resist. The brawny man, however, refused to give up and still tried to appeal to some twisted code of honor.

Sirens wailed in the distance, approaching at breakneck speed. The emergency hotline had dispatched units immediately upon receiving a report involving a firearm — even the special police had been deployed. This was the imperial capital, after all! The moment the local police chief heard shots were fired, he rushed to the scene with a large contingent of officers.

At the sound of the sirens, the brawny man’s face twisted with rage. He was a wanted man. If he was taken in, he would almost certainly face execution. He would rather risk everything and take the girl hostage.

Ning Xi saw him lunge suddenly and stepped back two paces. Although she held the gun on them, her mind remained clear. She knew she could not shoot to kill, not even suspected criminals — the legal trouble would be unavoidable.

Seeing her gun barrel shift slightly, the man roared and charged at her.

The interior of the bus was cramped. Fearing he would wrest the gun away, Ning Xi acted without hesitation: she ejected the magazine, slammed the unloaded gun into his face, gripped the horizontal bars on both sides for support, and drove both feet hard into his chest. The man flew backward a full meter, slammed into the railing, and spat up blood.

This woman really was a gorilla, he thought, clutching his chest, unable to stand.

“Police! Freeze!” Two special police officers in black uniforms and helmets stormed onto the bus, guns raised.

Ning Xi immediately squatted down with her hands over her head, complying obediently with the officers’ orders. Only after they had restrained the brawny man and the thin one did she lift her head and grin brightly at the special police.