Bursting out of Eden's break room, Li Mu carried the "unconscious" Eden in his arms, sprinting toward the exit of the concert hall.
Behind him, the kidnappers ran with everything they had, feeling like their lungs were about to explode.
Not from anger, but from sheer exhaustion.
"Slow... slow down... Ace of Spades... slow down!"
As professional assassins, peak physical conditioning was a basic requirement. Most of the killers present were at the pinnacle of human fitness.
Yet, they were currently pushing their bodies to the absolute limit just to barely keep up with the "Ace of Spades" running ahead of them.
And she was carrying a person! Yet she moved as light as a feather, her steps elegant and tireless, as if she were merely taking a leisurely stroll in the park!
Noticing their struggle, Li Mu turned his head slightly while running, flashing a taunting smile at the people behind him.
"Tsk tsk~ You guys are really useless, aren't you?~♬"
"With stamina like this, why be assassins? You should just go home and babysit instead."
"You...!!!"
The assassins trailing behind him nearly exploded with rage.
Already in a state of extreme tension, this provocation instantly turned their eyes red. They sprinted desperately, looking as if they wanted to tear the woman running at the front to shreds.
Li Mu withdrew his gaze and continued carrying Eden along the planned route.
Of course, he wasn't interested in just teasing these assassins. Everything he did was to drag them into his tempo, throwing one emergency after another at them so they had no time to think.
Specifically, to make them forget one crucial thing: doubting his identity.
Yes, this was fundamentally still a play.
The goal was to draw out the mastermind behind this kidnapping.
These kidnappers were just hired guns, mere tools doing a job for money. The person hiding behind the scenes was the true orchestrator of this operation.
Feeling Eden lying perfectly still in his arms, acting genuinely unconscious, Li Mu nodded inwardly.
Working with smart people was so easy.
As an intelligent woman, after her initial confusion, Eden had quickly understood what Li Mu was trying to do by observing his actions. So, she decisively played along.
Of course, the reason for her compliance was largely due to Li Mu's current appearance.
Eden's eyes were slightly open, taking in the features of the person holding her.
Although the hair color was different, the eye color was wrong, and a mask covered most of the face...
Being held this close, she could easily sense the person's aura. And this aura... was extremely familiar.
Elysia, it really is you!
You said you didn't have time to come support my performance, but here you are. Oh, you...
A faint, almost imperceptible smile touched Eden's lips. Trusting in Elysia's strength, she wasn't worried about their safety. Instead, she was curious to see what Elysia planned to do.
What to do?
Of course, infiltrate the enemy directly. Since the real "Ace of Spades" was late, Li Mu decided to borrow her identity to mix into the kidnapper team and follow them to their so-called employer.
Because he planned to recruit Sakura later, Li Mu had some knowledge about these assassins employed by "The Chrysalis."
Their identities were managed centrally by the organization. Members didn't know each other's real identities and only formed temporary teams for missions, usually using fake personas.
Only truly trusted Chrysalis members would reveal their identities to each other.
Therefore, there was a high probability these people didn't know who each other were and relied on code words to confirm identities.
This meant he could exploit this information gap to impersonate the missing Ace of Spades.
And if they did know each other?
Well, too bad for them. He'd just have to say these assassins were unlucky. If he couldn't dig out the mastermind, he'd just clean up these pawns first.
After all, finding the mastermind was just a means to sell Eden a favor, and then... demand repayment!
Finding them was good. Not finding them was fine too.
Fortunately, these people really didn't know each other's identities, so the show could go on.
Li Mu smirked beneath his mask, whispering words that vanished into the wind, but the close-proximity Eden heard them clearly.
"Sigh... ε=(´ο｀*))) You guys just saved your own lives."
"Aren't you going to thank Miss Faded Elf?"
However, even if he infiltrated the group, there was still a problem.
Even if they didn't know each other's faces, such an important operation would definitely involve code words or other identity verification methods.
He didn't know the codes. So, he had to find a way to skip the verification process. That was exactly what he was doing now.
Kidnap Eden, then yell for them to retreat together. Subconsciously, they would assume he was their teammate.
Simultaneously, use the crisis and a constant stream of events to pressure their mental state, leaving them no time to question Li Mu's identity.
Like right now.
A pre-planted bomb detonated, sealing off the path ahead.
At the same time, loud police sirens wailed in the distance.
Li Mu stopped running. The kidnappers following him finally got a chance to breathe, clutching their chests and gasping for air.
Li Mu turned around, his cheerful tone instantly becoming serious.
"Bad news. Enemies ahead. Change direction."
Hearing Li Mu's words, the kidnappers, who had just caught their breath, shuddered.
The captain pulled out a syringe of adrenaline and decisively stabbed it into his thigh. Then, gritting his teeth, he snarled at Li Mu:
"Ace of Spades! You take the target and stay in the back with the others. I'll lead the way!"
"Do not break formation without permission! Do not run in front of me!"
If they let this woman—who ran faster than a rabbit—lead again, their lungs would explode before they even broke out of the encirclement.
Hearing this, Li Mu stood at attention, snapping his legs together.
"Yes, sir!"
Glaring at Li Mu one last time, the captain led the group toward the pre-planned escape route.
Carrying Eden and following behind the captain, Li Mu mentally celebrated. Plan success.
As long as he followed these guys, barring any accidents, they would soon lead him to their employer.
Then he could sell Eden a huge favor, and then... demand repayment!
Hehehe, perfect!
Just as Li Mu was finalizing his plan, a figure suddenly rolled down from a higher floor in the distance, landing squarely in front of the group.
It was a tall woman with pink hair, dressed in stylish urban clothing, her face covered by a black mask.
But the most eye-catching thing was the long katana strapped to her back.
Seeing this, the assassins raised their guns to open fire, but the woman immediately shouted:
"Wait! I'm the Ace of Spades!"
"I'm on your side!"
But her greeting was met with gunfire.
Bang! Bang bang!
A barrage of bullets rained down.
The pink-haired woman was extraordinarily skilled. Before the gunshots even rang out, she had already flashed behind cover on the roadside.
"You're attacking me?!" After the gunfire paused, an angry voice shouted from behind cover. "Infighting during a mission? Are you trying to violate the organization's rules?!"
The captain sneered, unhooking a grenade from his waist.
"Idiot! If you want to impersonate us, do your research first! Our Ace of Spades is right here in the team! If you want to sow discord, find a better excuse!"
He prepared to pull the pin and throw.
"The Ace of Spades is in the team?" The person behind cover sounded confused. "No, you've been tricked! I am the real Ace of Spades!"
"AE535! That's the mission code!"
The captain's finger froze on the grenade pin. Simultaneously, all the strange occurrences since the mission began flooded his mind.
He whipped his head around to look at Li Mu standing in the formation.
He saw Li Mu tilt his head and say apologetically, "Sorry. I'm the mole."
Bang!
The captain fired instantly, but the shot was easily dodged.
"Heehee. I originally wanted to follow you to dig out your employer and sell Eden a favor."
"What a pity~♬"
Bullets rained down like a storm, but Li Mu evaded them effortlessly.
Watching Li Mu practically stroll through the hail of gunfire, the assassins' hearts sank to rock bottom.
"Dammit! Is that speed even human?!"
At this moment, the pink-haired woman who had been hiding behind cover charged out, wielding her katana and rushing straight at Li Mu.
Her speed was incredible, arguably surpassing human limits. The blade she swung even crackled with arcs of electricity.
Li Mu sensed a faint flow of Honkai energy. It was a Honkai weapon.
Unfortunately, it was useless.
In this era before MANTIS soldiers existed, in terms of individual combat capability, aside from the alien Kalpas and the Herrscher Elysia, he feared no one.
Even carrying Eden, he was invincible!
He raised his leg, kicked the sword out of her hand, and sent her flying with a kick to the gut. She slammed into a distant wall.
She tried to get up.
Li Mu tapped the tip of his foot against the fallen katana.
The blade shot out like a bullet, pinning itself into the wall right next to her head, severing a few strands of pink hair.
The pink-haired woman froze.
Although he was wearing a mask, she could feel the mocking smile beneath it through his eyes.
Seeing this scene, the remaining assassins exchanged glances.
The captain gritted his teeth and shouted to his men, "He's alone, and he has to protect Eden! Get out the automatic weapons! If we attack together, we have a chance!"
Hearing this, the others' eyes flashed with ferocity. They responded in unison: "Right! Let's get him together!"
The assassins' reaction surprised Li Mu.
Oho? They aren't running away? They actually dare to charge me? Are these hired guns really this dedicated?
Thinking this, Li Mu prepared to disable them.
However, before he could move, the leading captain took one step toward him, then suddenly pivoted and sprinted away in the opposite direction at breakneck speed.
At the exact same moment, everyone else turned and ran for their lives in different directions.
In an instant, the assassin team scattered like birds.
Any assassin who lived this long wasn't an idiot.
They all knew perfectly well—they couldn't beat this monster!
Since they couldn't win, there was only one option left.
—Run away!
This was where the importance of teammates came in. There were so many of them; no matter how fast the opponent was, he couldn't catch them all. As long as they ran faster than their teammates, they would survive.
"I don't have to outrun the bear, I just have to outrun you."
Unfortunately, every single one of them had the exact same idea.
The fleeing captain looked back at his teammates who were keeping pace with him, cursed under his breath, and stabbed another adrenaline shot into his body. His speed skyrocketed again.
Watching the scattering assassins, Li Mu didn't bother chasing. He only needed intel, and he had a much better candidate for that now.
Li Mu turned his gaze to the pink-haired assassin pinned to the wall, still wearing her black mask.
She was currently trying to inch her body away stealthily, not even daring to touch the Honkai weapon embedded in the wall next to her head, attempting to slip away unnoticed.
When Li Mu's gaze locked onto her, she froze instantly. Stiffly turning her head, she met Li Mu's smiling eyes.
Cold sweat instantly poured down the Ace of Spades—or rather, the girl named Sakura's—back.
Uh... can we still make peace now?