Monster - Chapter 146
Chapter 146: Center City - The Witch
Liu Ming monitored his target for tonight's hunt on the tablet in his hand. When they received the assassination mission, they were specifically warned that within 800 meters of the target, any disguise would be easily seen through. The only way to get close was to not communicate with other team members and pretend to be an ordinary passerby.
And to kill the target at close range, the success rate was zero with fewer than five people.
However, assisting in a close-range kill without any communication, relying solely on tacit understanding, required long-term training that couldn't be achieved in a short time. Therefore, Liu Ming and his team could only formulate a plan for a long-range kill.
They had tampered with the security cameras in the target's hotel beforehand. So, as soon as she stepped out of the hotel elevator, Liu Ming immediately zoomed in on the screen, looking at the stunningly dressed woman.
The woman wore a red dress, its hem adorned with faintly sparkling crushed diamonds. Over it, she had on a knee-length black trench coat, worn open, revealing the fine figure in the red dress beneath. Around her neck was a necklace that shone with the same dazzling light. Her long hair was pinned up, her neck slender, and on her small, exposed ears, she wore two teardrop-shaped earrings. This made her already beautiful face even more captivating.
As an assassin, Liu Ming couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at the sight of such a beautiful woman. He felt a twinge of regret that her pretty face would soon be lying in a pool of blood.
It was 4 PM. The winter sky darkened quickly, and it was already somewhat gloomy outside. The recent wave of arrests by the relevant departments had subsided, and the number of people on the streets was gradually increasing. Liu Ming switched camera feeds and saw the woman leave the hotel, hail a taxi at the entrance, and elegantly settle into the back seat.
"Target is on the move. License plate AJ-89760." Liu Ming's calm voice sounded in the ears of the other members of the kill team. This quickly mobilized the others, and a pre-prepared drone began tracking the target from a distance.
The car Liu Ming was in also followed. From the beginning, they had a general idea of the woman's destination. Now, they just needed to use the drone to confirm her route, and then they could spring the trap they had already set up along the way.
After using several drones, they detected a 300-meter-long underground tunnel on the vehicle's route. Liu Ming ordered the team to prepare for action.
According to Liu Ming's plan, the moment the taxi carrying the woman reached the middle of the tunnel, they would immediately detonate the bombs planted at the tunnel's exit. This method was crude, but it would eliminate the target quickly.
He watched as the yellow taxi was about to enter the tunnel. But just as it reached the entrance, the car's wheels suddenly skidded, and it veered to the side, its front end heading straight for the stone bollard at the tunnel entrance.
Liu Ming's gaze sharpened. He tossed aside his tablet and said coldly, "She's spotted us. Plan B."
After instructing the other team members, he turned and pulled a rifle from the back seat. While opening the sunroof, he ordered his driver to speed up and close in on the target's taxi.
Liu Ming didn't lose his composure. He leaned out of the car window and saw that his teammate positioned at the sniper point had already fired two shots at the target. The high-velocity bullets shattered the fragile taxi window. From a distance, Liu Ming could see the woman's head exposed in his line of sight. Her taxi spun like a top, and after turning more than halfway around, it started driving toward them, against the flow of traffic. The terrified face of the taxi driver met his gaze for a moment.
Slightly raising the muzzle of his gun, just as Liu Ming was about to fire, the taxi bizarrely swerved toward the side of the road again. Liu Ming watched this, unable to understand why it was happening. He hadn't seen the woman grab the steering wheel, and the driver's expression clearly indicated he wasn't driving like this voluntarily.
The taxi didn't hit any pedestrians. It spun another half-circle before coming to a stop.
This position created a blind spot for the snipers.
Liu Ming had his teammate slow down. From across the road, he prepared to raise his gun and open fire. A certain distance offered a degree of protection. Not knowing what the woman would do next, this was a seasoned and correct course of action.
"Ah!! What is this!"
"Ah—"
"Captain! Something's attacking us, ahh..."
The screams of his teammates came through the earpiece. This sudden turn of events dealt a huge blow to Liu Ming's fighting spirit. He stared intently at the car still parked by the roadside. The woman's hair wasn't even slightly out of place; she remained seated in the back, neat and elegant. Only a trembling driver was cowering with his head in his hands, too afraid to look at what was happening around him.
Liu Ming found he couldn't raise the gun in his hands. He had always liked to have all his plans meticulously arranged, but the scene unfolding before him was completely beyond his comprehension. He didn't know what the woman would do next. He could only watch the taxi across the street, his fingers trembling.
He saw the woman in the back seat speaking kindly to the driver. After the driver's panicked and helpless reply, she took out her phone and typed something. Only then did she open the door, step out gracefully, and walk toward him.
Liu Ming felt as if he were facing a formidable enemy. The woman's face was kind and bright, but in his eyes, she looked like a demon. He raised his rifle to shoot, but this time it wasn't a mental deterrent. His wrist and fingers felt as if they were bound by something, completely unable to move.
The woman's reflection in his eyes grew closer and closer. Liu Ming was frozen on the spot, able to do nothing but watch her approach.
"Nice gun." Lou's slender fingers tapped the rifle Liu Ming was holding in front of him. Then she casually opened the car door and sat inside their vehicle.
Uncontrollably, Liu Ming lowered his gun and sat back down in the passenger seat. The driver, who had been unable to move from the start, automatically stepped on the gas and started the car.
"You're all non-mutants. It must not have been easy for the Rose Society to gather people like you," Lou said, as Liu Ming watched his own hand rise and pass his weapon to the woman in the back.
"...Why can't I move?" Liu Ming suppressed his fear. Realizing he could still speak, he looked at the woman in the rearview mirror and asked.
"In some places, people like me are called witches," Lou said. In her eyes, the entire car was now filled with lines emanating from her body, wrapped around Liu Ming's and the driver's joints, the steering wheel, and more. "You can see me that way, too."
Just then, a crow flew in through the open window and landed on Lou's shoulder.
"No more ambushes."
"They were just Tree's way of testing me." Lou wasn't concerned about Liu Ming hearing her. She slightly adjusted the gun's muzzle, looking boredly at the scenery receding outside the window.
"What test?" Liu Ming glanced at the crow, his heart pounding, and asked. His attention was fixed on the gun barrel pointed at him.
"The person who hired you to kill me wanted to see if I would kill. If I don't, He would see it as a weakness to be exploited."
Liu Ming's breathing suddenly grew heavy. He saw Lou raise the gun in her hand and pull the trigger.
"Bang! Bang! Bang!" The bullets tore through the driver's seat, hitting the driver. In an instant, blood and flesh splattered onto Liu Ming in the passenger seat, making the hair on his body stand on end and his heart pound wildly.
But even so, the car they were in continued to drive forward steadily.
"I don't kill simply because I don't want to upset the person I care about. But that doesn't mean I won't kill." Lou's expression was calm, and her tone was neither cold nor violent. She was just stating a fact, with no hint of a threat. But the muzzle of the gun in her hand moved toward Liu Ming.
"Let me, let me show you my loyalty!" Liu Ming said, trembling and drenched in a cold sweat.
Lou smiled faintly. "Thank you, but that won't be necessary." She pulled the trigger.
Amidst a burst of gunfire, the vehicle continued to drive steadily forward, its speed increasing.
Lou felt no emotional fluctuation over today's assassination attempt. But she recalled that if this hunt was a test for her, it meant some state of affairs had been broken.
Because she had contacted Pie yesterday and decided to fight alongside Lin Sandie, to kill all of Tree's minions, Tree had sent people to test her today. This meant Tree was very likely to make other arrangements concerning Lin Sandie.
This made Lou even more desperate to get to Lin Sandie's side.
Lou suddenly became afraid. She was afraid that by the time she saw Lin Sandie again, Tree would already be by her side, which would make things much more complicated.
Racing to the Bite Mark organization's base, Lou followed the route from memory to find the two-story house where Lin Sandie lived. However, as soon as she got close, her vision was distorted again, and she couldn't get near Lin Sandie.
Lin Sandie's attitude toward Lou was still one of complete indifference. This reaction actually made Lou breathe a sigh of relief, because it meant Tree hadn't appeared by Lin Sandie's side yet.
In fact, Lou wasn't helpless against Lin Sandie's distortion. As a veteran Sentinel whose skills had mostly recovered and whose mental state was good, it would be too embarrassing to be stumped by Lin Sandie like this.
Among the advanced skills of a Sentinel, there was one called "Infiltration," which could be used in this kind of battle between a Sentinel and a Guide.
Outside Lin Sandie's "Island," Lou found a quiet spot on the edge. From her Space Bag, she took out a notepad she had been carrying for some time. The notepad was very cute, pink, and each page was printed with a cartoon rabbit. It looked like something for a child.
Tearing off a page, Lou folded the note into a small paper airplane and threw it toward Lin Sandie's "Island."
The paper airplane was blown far by the biting wind before landing forlornly in the yard of the two-story house.
"Time for a magic trick~" Lou thought smugly, imagining the look on Lin Sandie's face when she appeared in front of her.
Immediately after, invisible lines began to emerge from the paper airplane that had fallen in the yard. More and more lines appeared, densely covering the surface of the paper airplane and continuing to grow upward, unattached to anything, fluttering in the wind.
These lines soon found their destination. After dancing in the wind for a while, they all drifted toward Lou's position. In less than a few minutes, they connected with the lines emanating from Lou's own body. A force then dragged Lou's entire body toward the paper airplane's location.
Lou relinquished control of her body, and she floated up lightly. Then, her vision returned to normal as she landed next to the paper airplane.
"Ta-da~" Lou smiled and looked around. The paper airplane that had fallen to the ground naturally flew up, held aloft by countless lines, "flying" beside her. She had successfully infiltrated Lin Sandie's "Island."
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