The moment Alice pushed the door, the fishing line was pulled and snapped.
As if a miniature star had exploded before her eyes, a blinding white light instantly filled her entire field of vision.
Following closely was a high-frequency noise of up to 170 decibels, piercing her eardrums like sharp cones.
Even Alice was deprived of her vision and hearing at this moment.
She rolled backward on instinct, covering her head with both hands.
Five seconds.
A full five seconds later, Alice endured the tinnitus and the double vision, stumbling out of the drainage channel entrance.
By now, the sunset had completely sunk below the horizon.
On the side of the street outside the drainage channel, that expensive Harley motorcycle was discarded casually next to a pile of garbage, its rear wheel still spinning and making a buzzing sound.
And Fox herself was long gone.
Beneath this area was the most complex subway network in New York.
It was the evening rush hour, and the tens of millions of daily passengers provided the best cover.
That woman had turned into a drop of water, disappearing into the vast sea of people.
Alice stood at the empty exit, looking at the slightly warm sensor fragment she had picked up from the explosion, and smiled helplessly.
She gently rubbed her still-ringing ears.
"Using glass refraction to create visual decoys, using the leather jacket for a 'cicada shedding its skin' escape, and finally using a logic trap to counter supernatural stealth—is this what a top assassin of The Fraternity is like?"
The smile in Alice's eyes deepened.
"This game has only just begun."
...
Half an hour later, on the other side of Manhattan.
Fox had changed into an inconspicuous gray hoodie and a baseball cap, blending perfectly into the crowd during New York's evening rush hour.
As she walked, she used the shop windows and the rearview mirrors of cars parked on the side of the road to observe behind her without drawing attention.
Her intuition, that assassin's intuition honed by countless trainings, was screaming warnings.
Still there.
That ghost was still there.
Even though she had changed her disguise and even crossed half the city, that feeling of being watched still persisted, and was even getting closer.
Fox frowned slightly and suddenly turned into a bustling department store.
Once inside, she immediately quickened her pace, using the complex shelves to block lines of sight, weaving through the crowd, then quickly left through a side door and cut directly into an alley.
However, when she stepped out of the alley, that sense of oppression followed like a shadow.
Fox stopped, leaned against the wall, and lit a cigarette, appearing to be resting, but actually using the flow of smoke and the surrounding sounds to build a panoramic map.
Still nothing.
As far as her eyes could see, there was only that high school girl she had seen at the entrance of the department store, looking down at her phone, seemingly looking for directions, walking slowly across the street.
Too ordinary.
So ordinary that Fox's gaze had swept over her three times, and her brain automatically categorized her as a harmless background character.
"Interesting."
Fox exhaled a smoke ring, threw away the cigarette butt, crushed it, and turned to walk toward an inconspicuous black Mustang parked at the intersection.
This was her pre-arranged getaway vehicle for the safe house.
Since she couldn't win at stealth, she would change the playing field.
Speed.
Fox opened the car door and sat in the driver's seat.
As the engine roared, that confidence of controlling everything returned to her.
As long as she held the steering wheel, no one could catch her.
As Fox stepped on the accelerator, she habitually glanced at the rearview mirror.
Just at that moment.
"Knock, knock."
Someone politely knocked on her passenger side window.
Fox's hands gripping the steering wheel tightened suddenly.
In an instant, her adrenaline surged, and the World seemed to slow down at that moment.
She hadn't noticed anyone approaching the passenger side at all.
She turned her head abruptly.
Through the car window, a perfectly ordinary-looking high school girl was leaning over, looking at her with the calm expression of someone asking for directions.
Alice smiled slightly at Fox inside the car, a smile that carried a shy apology, as if she were really just a lost student.
"Excuse me, sorry to bother you. Are you heading to the textile mill? Could you give me a ride?"
Kato Megumi's passerby aura was pushed to the extreme at this moment.
Even when caught in the act, Alice still didn't feel like a threat, but rather like a girl next door who had wandered onto the wrong set.
But Fox was not an ordinary person.
The moment she saw Alice, she made an extremely decisive move.
Floor it.
Boom—
The modified V8 engine let out a beastly roar.
The tires rubbed violently against the ground, emitting billowing white smoke.
The car body, like an out-of-control bull, didn't charge forward, but instead violently whipped its tail to the right in a stationary spin.
The massive rear of the car, with immense force, swept fiercely toward Alice standing outside the passenger door.
If Alice didn't retreat, she would be sent flying.
If she retreated, she would lose her position.
"Whoa."
Alice exclaimed softly.
Facing this deadly tail whip, she had no choice but to give up the plan to open the car door.
The girl tapped her toes, leaped lightly backward three meters, and avoided this fierce blow like a falling leaf in the wind.
Screech—
The screeching sound of brakes intertwined with the roar of the engine.
The moment Fox shook off Alice, she immediately executed a perfect launch, the car instantly hitting sixty miles per hour, rushing out of the intersection like a black bolt of lightning.
Just as it was about to disappear at the end of the street, the window of the black Mustang rolled down a crack.
A gloved hand reached out and gave a slightly exasperated middle finger to the back.
Alice stood by the roadside, watching the black sports car speeding away and those red taillights gradually fading into the distance.
The surrounding passersby only then realized what had just happened, and began to exclaim and point.
But under the passive effect of Kato Megumi, they soon ignored Alice standing in the middle of the road again.
Alice brushed the dust off her skirt, not angry, but instead revealing a smile of interest.
"The Fraternity at the textile mill, since we've greeted each other, next time we meet, I won't be so polite."
Alice watched the direction the car disappeared, murmured softly, then turned and blended back into the bustling crowd.
------------------------
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