Beeep Beeep—
A completely white space with nothing in sight.
Was it light formed through the walls, or a specially designed prison to trap Climbers?
Liu Ying… No, she had been stripped of all her belongings and was clad in a straitjacket.
Not that it mattered—Liu Ying was more sensitive and sharp than most thought.
You never know when things might explode… Indeed, she was a survival expert. Her identity and concept set by Wakamou, which she never forgot and always kept.
Like pins stuck to the roof of her mouth—her nails were neatly and transparently done in such a way that even Monsters could be easily taken out with a precise stab.
Using the Tai Chi learned from Wakamou, she came up with ideas to use it for both defense and offense.
Just brushing lightly while evading and defending, her sharp attacks could rip through skin leading to fatal bleeding!!
Tap Tap Tap—
Liu Ying taps with one hand while fiddling with a bomb necklace with a pin using the other.
Thanks to Liu Wei and other allies like the Russian President Dmitry, she used her knowledge as an Alchemist to research every tool used for kidnapping and subduing Climbers.
There were people everywhere targeting her on a whim. To Wakamou, she was the most precious person(?) and his only weakness(?).
As an Alchemist, underestimated and considered weak, Liu Ying evaluated every possible scenario.
Click—
The bomb necklace drops off and starts to blink.
Beeep Beeep— Liu Ying kicks the beeping bomb necklace to the corner, sets up a bed as a barricade, and hides behind.
──Kaa-boooom!!!!!
With a loud explosion, the walls of the prison collapse.
Agents storm in, armed, under the misconception that the hostage blew herself up.
They proceed cautiously, raising their guns in front while stationed at the entrance.
“Go check it out, Carlo.”
The senior agent nods his chin towards a junior, presumed to be the rookie, to check inside. Carefully heading in, he scans for any trace of Liu Ying but only finds the crumpled bedframe devoid of her presence.
“It seems she was blown to—”
Just as he tries to report to his senior outside, Carlo’s head is grabbed and lifted, prompting him to scream in struggle.
His writhing legs stop abruptly—with a thud, scorching red blood splashes to the floor.
“Grenade!!!”
There was an order to execute if the hostage resisted, so their actions were swift.
The opponent was a Climber—it wasn’t easy to subdue them. In a battle between Climbers, the one who acts faster and more decisively wins.
Victory favors those who move with the resolve to kill!!
Their opponent was merely a girl about to turn 18.
They wanted to believe that she wouldn’t possibly be accustomed to killing.
But sadly, having survived for a decade wandering the devastated Chinese lands, learning firsthand that humans can be scarier than Monsters, and wielding a gun, one could never imagine the life Liu Ying had led.
Displaying movements closer to a Monster than a Climber, Liu Ying swiftly bypassed them and stood behind.
What’s more, she didn’t sprint across the ground; using pure “Agility”, she maneuvered right through, hanging upside down from the ceiling.
She moved at a speed akin to a cockroach. In the blink of an eye, Liu Ying had already positioned herself behind them.
How many additional stat points did she gain going from the 90th to the 100th floor?
Investing everything as usual into Agility, her movements had long transcended an Alchemist’s.
Accrued with ten years of survival experience… She evolved from a desperate survival expert to a Predator born of nature.
“Ugh…!”
Inserting her hand into the senior agent’s belly, Liu Ying grabs his face amidst his pained grimace.
“Not willing to talk?”
Seeing her look at him in the eye, he finds words unnecessary, realizing her intention before answering—and she breaks his neck effortlessly.
With the agent who could give orders dead, two agents on either side aim their guns, but something sharp penetrates their brows, necks, and philtrums.
Using alchemical skills, Liu Ying had turned her hair into sharp needles infused with Mana and launched them.
The agents remain frozen, locked in their shooting stance, their breathing slow until it stops.
Targeting and severing the spinal cord in the neck, and piercing seven vital points on the face, was more than enough to kill soldiers, not Climbers.
“Not a Climber, but trained soldiers…”
Checking the dead agent’s belongings, Liu Ying dons a bulletproof vest, equips a handgun, and picks up a watch attached to her wrist.
It sat powered off due to a ban on electronic devices in the facility beforehand.
You were supposed to store it in a locker, as stated on the wall, though in reality, it was just left powered off and worn, leading Liu Ying to mentally rate the military discipline of the soldiers in the secret base as disgraceful.
SDVIMVFoanVzY1YwSVhjamMzUkt1Uk1oK0sya3NRU1YxcUQyKzVnbkpjMU1vLzkyS0RHNm5pMHpWV08zR0Q2bg
While reading a warning paper that said not to steal a colleague’s belongings due to surveillance cameras, she realized she was somewhere in the American continent.
Or, it might be a secret base established by the US in another country.
She hoped for the latter.
If it were Korea, escape would mean an easier return home.
“Asuka.”
Liu Ying speaks towards the active watch, calling Asuka’s name.
The screen begins to glitch, revealing an SD character version of Asuka on display.
True to the swift response of a cyber VTuber monitoring the entire network in real-time.
“[Yes, this is Asuka. What do you need, Liu Ying? We’re all gathered here having fun together!]”
“…You mean my stand-in is there? She’s a fake. Take care of her.”
“[Every one of them here is a fake except me! Olga Romanova is blissfully unaware they’re all fake! Hahaha!]”
“Sigh, that oblivious reptile… her brain’s a flower field. I got kidnapped. Where am I?”
“[You’re in America! According to satellite coordinates, nothing but wasteland—possibly a secret underground base? How romantic!!]”
“Can you hack into the facility?”
“[Not difficult. Initiating ‘Z Knight’ mission. Call me Kit. Miss MacGyver. Shall I play you a song?]”
“Then… Queen’s ‘Don’t Stop Me Now’, please.”
Doon Doon Doon──♬
With the strumming of the guitar, drum beats reverberate through the underground base’s speakers.
Unaware of the unfolding situation, the agents look around with curiosity—those monitoring inside witness the distressing sight of all surveillance cameras ceasing to function, grasping for breath.
The notion that no facility in this era uses “electricity” was close to impossible.
Not just across the network, Asuka could interfere with any place where electricity merely flowed.
The surveillance camera screens start flickering ominously, the underground base’s power flickers on and off, and all passageways are securely blocked with override firewalls, making entry and exit nearly impossible.
Engineers within the facility rush in, wrestling for control to somehow manage the situation.
“[Sultry, Kaboom VPN and Joo-dtak, Channel’s Gap]”
The duel between the strongest troublemaker and the world’s strongest nation.
Which side will become the challenger?
“[Full version of every hate image on the internet, coupled with ransomware and a colossal data—]”
“[Tactical Nuke]”
Those manning the security cameras scream, experiencing Korea’s most hideous images.
Simultaneously, Asuka rapidly scans through any potential research data to extract but discovers only recorded numerical results, revealing extremely few documents to take. Nevertheless, she fully seized control over all facilities in the underground base.
By displaying the base’s map on the watch to Liu Ying, Asuka guided her to the armory.
Grabbing duct tape and a Swiss army knife from the engineer’s storage, Liu Ying strides boldly down the hallway.
In this chaotic setting, it was impossible to discern the intruder.
Loudly, joyously, and repeatedly, Queen’s iconic song reverberates through the secret base, and inside, the officers hustle, recognizing the calamity. Asuka watches their movements through the cameras.
Agents swarm in to eliminate Liu Ying, but Asuka doesn’t bother to warn her.
The approaching footsteps from every direction were warning enough.
First, they made her vulnerable.
Then, they made her angry.
“This way!!”
As they come around the corner, the underground base plunges into darkness.
Agents instinctively activate night vision, but Liu Ying pulls the trigger first.
Amid the repeated flashes, trained soldiers steady their firearms and unleash a barrage.
Blink—
When the light returns, bodies litter the floor, yet no sign of Liu Ying can be found along the battered hallway walls marked with bullet holes.
Once more, they lose light, now hearing only the faint swoosh of air.
Standing back-to-back in grim vigilance, only two out of the initial ten soldiers tremble, realizing their dwindling numbers in a cold sweat.
Blink—
“Damn! Hell’s bells! Communication is down! We’re gonna die here!!”
“They’re already dead.”
“…What?”
The person they had their back against wasn’t an ally.
Liu Ying brushes past, severing the startled soldier’s neck, flicking the blood off her fingers with a sneer.
“She’s here!!!”
“Man, they’re annoyingly numerous.”
Seeing reinforcements arriving, as anticipated, Liu Ying grabs the Swiss army knife.
Snap—
With alchemical transmutation, she morphs it into a long metal sword, giving the agents a nonchalant shrug.
“[Shooters] engage!! Execute using Critical Hit and Penetration type skills!!”
“Do you even know what my class is?”
Stomping her foot, sparks erupt, and the floor rises, twisting the ceiling into warped, transformed structures.
The immediate disappearance of the corridors with the metal transmutation rendered the Shooters’ skills ineffective.
Before they could act, the metallic walls slammed together like a press with a clang.
A narrow escape left some shell-shocked on the ground.
An utterly one-sided massacre unfolded without leaving so much as a meaningful scratch on Liu Ying.
Listening to this, no—more accurately, watching from Asuka’s feed, hoping to provoke some sense of anger or urgency, the officer’s face turned beet-red, shouting at the top of his lungs.
“She’s just an 18-year-old Non-combatant Alchemist!! And yet seasoned soldiers and agents are being outmaneuvered?!”
“…Major. She’s not merely an 18-year-old Alchemist. She’s a monster cultivated directly by the Fox Deity…”
“I don’t want excuses!! Deploy all our project’s results!! She must not escape!!”
“Major!!”
“What now!”
“An intruder’s coming from above…!!”
“─This entire area is a minefield! Unless they’re a Wizard capable of spatial relocation, it’s impossible!!”
“It’s an Esper!!”
How long since the operation spiraled into chaos? Were they been fooled by the Fox Deity from the very start?
If it’s an Esper, they would be a Legendary Class Climber with allegiance to the U.S. military…? Betrayed by a patriot? For what reason?
Since when, exactly…? Were they planning with the Six Legged Beast from the beginning? Or did they make contact after coming to America? Or perhaps had ties to the Fox Deity before?
“…She’s of no use now. Dispose of them all at once.”
Thump… Thump…
“[It’s amusing to witness them frantically attempt to manually self-destruct the facility.]”
“I’m not amused. Kit, hurry and get here.”
“[Conducting secret experiments on citizens… Robert’s conspiracy theory was spot on! Listen carefully, Snake. We need to discern the research data within the facility. There might be information regarding the Legendary Class.]”
“Just show me the exit.”
Grumbling, yet arming herself with weapons from the armory, Liu Ying prepares for action.
Despite her delicate build, as a Climber she effortlessly carries heavy armaments, following the escape routes laid out by Asuka.
The deeper she delved into the underground base, the more jaw-dropping the scenes that unfolded.
Researchers frantically rushing, growing pale upon seeing Liu Ying, would skedaddle and scream in terror.
Among them, some Climbers attempted to throw flasks or pull out firearms, but mere Alchemists were no match against Liu Ying.
Constantly cooped up in her room concocting potions and poisons, regaining sight and health through tower climbing, hadn’t she been the same?
Without having Climbed, the researchers couldn’t hope to contend against the impregnable fortress that was Liu Ying.
“Ah, no!! I cannot let these documents be taken!!!”
“More precious than your life?”
“They must not fall into the hands of the Chinese government!! Where are all the guards?! Kill her!!”
“Less talking and more shooting, maybe?”
Hammering a bullet into the forehead and verifying with another to the chest, Liu Ying scans her attention over the paper documents that couldn’t be smashed. The fleeing researchers avoid her gaze, terrified of being near her.
Even a researcher under the table attempting to activate a defense system gets a threatening knife thrown his way with nary a glance from Liu Ying.
“Get lost.”
“Hii, Hiiik…”
Flutter Flutter—
Examining the research documents labeled ‘Legendary Class Project’ reveals pertinent information. While written in English, Asuka translates the parts Liu Ying cannot understand.
Is it possible to artificially produce a Legendary Class? Can a trained soldier be class-changed to a Legendary Class by fulfilling certain conditions? It detailed research regarding these topics.
The documents detailed considerations on how to deal with the current “Man-eater” and included research outlining methods for controlling the Man-eater over three generations.
The study also included research on whether to cut his wages.
From inserting chips to suppress emotions in the brain to brain surgery to control emotions, it even suggested using emotionless psychopaths… Liu Ying frowned at the stories that didn’t respect humanity at all.
“Psychic Unit?”
Liu Ying found the materials about the experiments that artificially created Psychics by utilizing the DNA of Espers and clicked her tongue.
Of course, the research didn’t progress easily, and there was an explanation that it was a long-term project, but it said that with the emergence of the Sub Class, the problem was solved, and they succeeded in making the Shooters’ sub-class into Espers.
A Psychic unit, huh? It’s not even a movie─ Just looking at these human experiments gave Liu Ying stress.
Isn’t this unethical? Kidnapping their own citizens for experiments?
In the meantime, there was also a mention of agents dispatched abroad supplying people from China, the Middle East, and Africa.
From operations that caused artificial Tower collapses to create national chaos, to the piles of documents at the heart of a secret base, they were all unimaginable and horrifying.
It was all to strengthen the position of America as the world’s peace and the national police, and their endless arrogance was beyond words.
In the meantime, while countries other than Asian ones were joining forces and helping the Guardians, those people were thoroughly excluded from the lists in the paper documents.
It meant they were being managed in a point organization.
“【Second Generation Legendary Class】? Already?”
From the documents, it appeared that they pretended to deal with all Legendary Classes with too much power, yet like how KKK allows Black members, there seem to be exceptions here too.
A Legendary Class called 【Phantom Thief】. With a Skill called “Hijacker,” it can steal without regard to distance once conditions are met, and after several trials, they accurately identified and kidnapped the “Legendary Class Climber’s” identity and even handled two people according to the records.
And the third target was information on Liu Ying, whose identity was most exposed.
Immediately after the kidnapping, they planned to brainwash her to use as a pawn against or as a hostage to kill Wakamou; if it wasn’t feasible, they’d dispose of her like livestock, not a human, which made Liu Ying’s eyes tremble with anger.
Bzzz─!
Her intuition warned her fiercely, and as Liu Ying threw herself and rolled on the floor, the air distorted.
Without stopping, and sensing the continued warnings from her intuition, she dashed frantically, darting outside the research facility.
She couldn’t see any enemies, nor any attacks, but she was being attacked.
Hastily she came to a halt even before the attack hit, and she saw the air twist.
The attack was discreet and silent enough that you could barely see the distortions unless something lay in between the scenery.
Did such types of assassination attacks exist?
“Kit! I’m under attack!!”
“[Nothing appears on the surveillance camera. It’s the same with thermal imaging.]”
“Oh, really?”
She threw a stolen smoke grenade onto the ground and detonated it. For good measure, she tossed a flashbang with a loud bang and dashed with her eyes closed.
Boom boom! The sound of Liu Ying’s military boots hitting the ground echoed as she navigated the surroundings without looking, as if she could see it all, dashing boldly.
On top of that, genuine weapons in exoskeletons started appearing equipped with machine guns and began a barrage of fire.
Dodging their offensives, Liu Ying rolled into the dining hall and clicked her tongue.
A dining table couldn’t stop bullets.
Helplessly, she wrapped duct tape around the hand gripping her sword and focused her gaze toward the dining room entrance.
Boom!
“Target found!”
“Press and kill!!”
She transformed, kicking a table into a steel spear and shooting it, but the armor-bearing soldier intercepted it with a shield. As they seemed to be composed of Climbers, they even used magic-like [Skills] trying to restrain Liu Ying with Shooters showering her with bullets.
Clang clang─!!
Then, Liu Ying, deflecting the oncoming barrage with her sword, crouched low.
“I wanted to save it due to the cooldown!”
A syringe appeared in her hand, and as she jabbed it into her thigh, Liu Ying’s hair turned white. Her red eyes gleamed─ And the flying bullets stopped as if frozen in mid-air.
In a world at a standstill, Liu Ying drew her sword, leveraging her drastically increased agility to charge toward the soldiers.
The [Materialization – Hyper Adrenaline] Skill she acquired as a reward for clearing the 100th floor.
A high-risk skill with a horrendous cooldown, along with the side effects from using the drug, but certainly capable of yielding high returns.
[Status Window]
[Climber: Liu Ying]
[Job: Intermediate Alchemist]
[Age: 18 years old]
[Attributes]
Stamina: 100
Mana: 100
Strength: 35
Agility: 350
Vitality: 10
Intelligence: 84
Wisdom: 10
Charisma: 1
She invested all the newly gained attribute points into agility this time.
150 extra attribute points!! In accordance with the 90+100 floor rewards, her agility stat surpassed 350.
With the Hyper Adrenaline skill she just used, her strength and agility had increased tenfold.
With an agility stat at an absurd 3,500, Liu Ying reached a speed momentarily that even Wakamou couldn’t keep up with, unmatched by anyone there to counter her blade.
Even the Shooter’s accelerated bullets seemed slow. Although [Critical Hit] was homing onto Liu Ying, slicing those bullets was enough.
Swinging her sword, even the lingering gleam of mana remained in the air as Liu Ying rushed through the corridor, cleaving the soldiers with a speed leaving afterimages.
Stepping on shoulders and moving like an acrobat, she cut down necks indiscriminately and reached the other side of the dining hall in an instant.
“Phew…!!”
The duration was disgustingly short. As Liu Ying’s hair turned back to black, the tremendous fatigue and the pain from her racing heart had her clutching her chest, gasping for breath.
And a beat later, watching the armed soldiers spew blood and collapse, Liu Ying leaned against the wall, trying to catch her breath.
But without a moment to rest, feeling an attack coming, she tilted her head to the side, and the wall got shaved off.
Bang─!!
It was a perfect ambush taking advantage of her fatigue, but with still a trace of the drug effect remaining, Liu Ying’s sharpened instinct shot into thin air.
“Aaagh!!!”
Then, in a transparent state, the 【Phantom Thief】, who had been hiding, clutched his chest and revealed himself.
“……Second Generation Legendary Class….”
“Ugh…!!”
Even while fleeing, loyally looting from here and there, Liu Ying injected a truth serum into the back of the Phantasy Thief’s neck. Despite his struggling, begging for life as the bleeding wouldn’t stop, Liu Ying grabbed his hair and pressed the muzzle of a gun to his temple.
“You confessed the conditions for transfer?”
“Ugh..ugh…At the prison…transferred….hired by the government….Please…the blood…”
“The skill penalties, tell me, how do I avoid [Hijacker]?”
“Huff..huff….Neither your identity…nor your location…should be known….You…media coverage…..to block it…[Magic] system….skills…”
“Okay, thanks.”
Flipping his body over to stop the bleeding, Liu Ying quickly ended the treatment and propped the nearly dead Phantom Thief against the wall.
There was no necessity to spare him─ but making a promise and keeping it, wouldn’t that make a “good kid”?
“Next time we meet, I’ll have an Artist taxidermy you. I’ve memorized your face. If killed, it’ll move to the second generation, right? That’s even more cumbersome.”
“[Indeed! I dug up the identity! It’s assuredly safe Aoi Asuka!]”
“Is it alright to leave now?”
Knowing there was a [Second-Generation Man-eater] in this facility, Liu Ying wanted to escape.
Based on merely the information about her, Liu Ying would surely collapse dead from shock once she entered her field of view.
Buzz Buzz─
Just as she was about to leave, feeling something unsettling while crashing into the ceiling.
“Urgh…!”
Slamming to the ground and bouncing between the walls, she dropped the gun she held and dangled upside down in the air.
The gun that fell to the ground floated up on its own with its muzzle aimed at Liu Ying as she blinked, realizing she was late in assessing the situation.
Soldiers who had been invisible began to reveal themselves around her.
These were the Psychic Unit, all transferred to Espers created by America.
“You’ve been quite rampant. Thank you immensely for straining to become the achievement of our newly formed unit. Now, die.”
Raising his hand, presumed to be the commander, as the triggers pulled themselves.
Struggling futilely, unable to find a way to escape─a powerful invisible force abruptly swept through the entire area collapsing the unit’s formation.
“What’s happening!!”
“Why not exert more power? Is it challenging since it’s acquired?”
With the voice from the shadows reached amidst the dust, they all simultaneously used their [Psychokinesis] Skills—yet appeared unfazed, Ava stepped forward with a jaded expression.
“Making fools out of people who’ve earnestly donated blood!! Mass-producing an Esper unit with my blood?! Where did the Free Country I knew go!!”
“An original… But even so, our unit… Can’t…win….”
All the squad members were being lifted in the air.
“Can’t win?”
What might the gap be between a Sub Class and an Original Class? The commander exerted full psychokinetic power yet couldn’t move a strand of hair.
An insurmountable disparity in power was present between them.
“Battling an Esper who uses psychic power from birth?”
“You bastard!! Ex-Green Beret, do you think I can be beaten!!”
“Why don’t you try it? I was ex-special forces too”
Merely twisting her wrist resulted in a person bending and folding in half.
With just gripping and releasing, bodies slammed into walls and crumpled.
Mobilizing themselves against Ava with invisible barriers deflecting the bullets, the reinforcement troops revealed themselves from inside the corridor.
“Calm down.”
Placing a finger on her temple and using the [Mental Interference] skill, soldiers toppled over like stringless marionettes.
Even the members trying to escape in transparency were snagged by telekinesis as Ava looked into their eyes and read their minds.
“This is real??? The conspiracy theories of that donut-munching Robert were all true!!”
Dumbfounded by such a grotesque reality, making a face as though to vomit, Ava met Liu Ying’s eyes.
“I’m here to save you. Do you remember me?”
“Oh….yeah”
“Then let’s go, Trinity! Call me Neo!”
As she clasped Liu Ying’s hand, Ava instantly teleported them away.
She extended her hand further, unlocking a parked car with Liu Ying, dazed, thrown into the passenger seat.
Amid the auto-fastened seatbelts, while Liu Ying was going “uhh,” Ava took the driver’s seat.
“Fly, Ford Anglia!”
“[Just call it Kit! An AI!”]
“What era is that from!”
“This is awesome..! Isn’t it overpowered to be an Esper?”
“Pardon? Aren’t all Legendary Classes overpowered? Aren’t they supreme with straightforward attack skills?”
“……Really?”
Ava mentioned that, given how the ESP Skills had all turned out spectacular, it felt like she’d end up captured in America as a test subject someday, igniting the engine.
Soaring into the sky with her telekinesis, the car turned invisible traversing across the American sky.
“Neo! Someone’s chasing us?!”
“Damn, bloody Oracle!! Answer your phone!! Need a signal!!”
A military helicopter was fiercely pursuing the invisible car.
With an Esper Unit, they undoubtedly tracked them by sensing psychic abilities.
Glancing at the rearview mirror, Ava shook her head vehemently, claiming everyone had gone insane.
“Fasten your seatbelt tightly, Trinity!”
“What are you planning?!”
“Submersion!!”
Plummeting daringly toward the ground, phasing through it.
Given no time to marvel at how many Skills the Psychic Class possessed, they began a reckless sprint on the railway, chased by an underground train.
“You can do it, Neo!”
“Thank you for your support, Trinity! By the way, have you watched The Matrix!? Aren’t you 18?!”
“I’m a VTuber!! I’ve watched all sorts!”
“Be sure to watch Harry Potter, got it?!”
Applying a tight turn, the car erupted up the stairs.
The sight of the car erupting from within the subway made people scream and scatter.
Homeless individuals were startled, jumping up and fleeing as doors opened with Ava lifting people forcefully via telekinesis, successfully making an escape to the urban area and pulling the car up onto the asphalt road.
The car now barely a wreck, if not near scrapped.
Pausing briefly, she pulled out an iPod, earbuds inserted as she played [Bellbottoms] tapping her fingers on the steering wheel in rhythm.
“Ugh, I’m getting sugar-lows”
“The police are arriving?”
“Congratulate me. Because now I’ve switched from an elite to a gangster criminal.”
“Our boss will hire you.”
“Screw it, maybe I’ll thrive in the big leagues too!”
Performing along with the intensifying drums of the song, she initiated the [Skill], and the battered car transformed, completely morphing into a [Subaru Impreza] model.
Leaving Liu Ying’s jaw dropped by the overwhelming upper-tier Skill of the Shape-shifting System combined with Alchemist’s Materialization Skill.
“What’s this?!”
“Watch the X-Men! There’s hardly anything one can’t achieve with psychic powers!!”
“Shooting beams from your eyes, too?”
“Oh─ everyone always asks that.”
Claiming disagreement, she hammered the accelerator, flames enveloped the car as it melted the asphalt road beginning a blazing rampage.
Pulling a chain brought along, kindling the flames, she swung it outside the window coating an explosion of flames that ignited the police car’s engine, crashing it against the wall.
Catching a cigarette with telekinesis and biting it, Ava offered Liu Ying a handgun having let the steering wheel move automatically.
“Just shoot the tires, okay?”
“Not hard, right?”
Thus began a chase alongside a shootout unfolding on the streets.
The pursuing police helicopter and fire-engulfed car galloped the city.
And Sadako, previously drinking, spat out incredulously, seeing Liu Ying and Ava’s photos on the TV screen.
