Although Colin was a man of few words with little presence, he was at least six-foot-one. All he had to do was stand there, expressionless, to create an intangible sense of pressure.
The belligerent woman did indeed stop lashing out at random, but her anger hadn’t subsided in the slightest. "I was just trying to get so water, and the mont I stood up, she slamd right into . Never mind dislodging my IV—with these old bones, what if I’d fallen and broken sothing? Could you afford to pay for that? She hit and was about to run off without a word of apology! When I called her out, she had the gall to deny it and claim she didn’t see ."
"I already apologized! Stop making a scene. Besides, I barely even touched you. Don’t blow things out of proportion!"
Not to be outdone, the woman in red shot back, "Let’s see what everyone else has to say! The way you were just cursing at ... you have no manners whatsoever! What if you cause emotional distress? Can you afford to pay for that?!"
The two launched back into a heated argunt, neither willing to back down.
A hospital security guard hurried over to intervene. "All right, that’s enough. This is a hospital. If you want to argue, take it sowhere else."
"That’s right. The hospital is full of patients who need to rest."
"Seriously, you’re scaring my child to tears."
Others in the lobby began to chi in, and the chorus of complaints finally put an end to the farce. The woman in red, with a look that said, ’I’m done with you,’ held up her IV drip and moved to a seat on the other side of the lobby.
Shane and Colin exchanged a glance. Shane quickly left the lobby to continue searching the hospital, contacting their teammates to regroup. Colin, anwhile, sat down in the lobby, discreetly scanning his surroundings.
’This is all an act. If that woman in red really is Liu Hanyan, she must have recognized us by now. We can’t expose her and start a fight here—this is a crowded hospital. If a Tier Three Ascender were to go on a killing spree, the casualties would be catastrophic.’
’The best plan is to let Liu Hanyan think she’s pulled the wool over our eyes. Once she lets her guard down and leaves the hospital, we can surround and take her down.’
’Of course, this is all assuming the woman in red is Liu Hanyan. If she isn’t... well, it’s no great loss. With the security caras helping, we only need one person on surveillance to keep the target in sight. The rest of us can keep searching the hospital for clues.’
So distance away, Zhou Chen thought for a mont, then moved to a blind spot and sent a ssage to Jiang Che. He asked for a Tier Three Ascender from the Special Operations Team to co and be on standby, just in case.
He put on a face mask, went to the nurse’s station, and showed his Star Association ID to get set up with a glucose IV drip. Then he sat down in the lobby and started playing on his phone.
About ten minutes later, Colin got up and left the lobby. Fujiwara Shunsuke, disguised as a patient, took over the surveillance.
An hour and a half later, the woman in red finished her IV. After pressing the back of her hand for a mont, she slowly got up and walked toward the restroom.
Zhou Chen frowned. ’According to the intel, Liu Hanyan is a professional assassin with impressive disguise abilities. But to go from a mature, alluring woman to a middle-aged one... that’s obviously sothing beyond the scope of normal makeup. She must be carrying an artifact that can change her body shape and appearance.’
Sure enough, when Liu Hanyan erged from the restroom, her appearance had changed from the middle-aged woman to that of a young high school girl. The one thing that remained unchanged was the conspicuous golden glow around her.
’She can even change her bones and body shape. An unknown Transformation-type artifact or a Forbidden Object... I wonder if the people from the White House saw through her disguise...’ Zhou Chen narrowed his eyes. It seed Liu Hanyan was even more troubleso than he had imagined.
’But what does that have to do with ? It’s not my job to capture her. I’m just here to watch the show, and maybe pop out to show my face when necessary.’
In the distance, Fujiwara Shunsuke, still disguised as a patient, was utterly stunned.
From most spots in the lobby, you could see the hallway leading to the restrooms. And right there, above the head of a high school girl walking out of that hallway, he saw the "arrow" he had secretly placed.
His pocket now contained a fine powder, which had once been a small model of an arrow.
A single-use, Advanced Alchemy Tool: the Arrow Marker.
Crushing the artifact allowed the user to secretly mark a target. An eye-catching arrow would then appear above the target’s head, visible only to the user. The effect lasted for thirty minutes, as long as the target remained within a five-hundred-ter radius. It was the perfect tool for dealing with enemies who used Transformation or disguise abilities.
Fujiwara Shunsuke had used the artifact to mark the woman in red when she got up to leave. He never imagined that after a trip to the restroom, the person he’d marked would transform into soone else entirely!
"Captain, that woman was Liu Hanyan in disguise!" Fujiwara Shunsuke reported urgently. "She’s changed into a high school girl and just left the hospital through the main entrance! She must have a Transformation Artifact. We absolutely cannot let her escape again!"
Liu Hanyan had already consud enough blood to suppress the Arbiter’s mark for a longer period. Combined with her Transformation Artifact, if she escaped their surveillance and disappeared into the crowd, finding her again would be like searching for a needle in a haystack.
"Copy that. We’re tracking her now," Xu Li’s stern voice ca over the comms channel.
·
Liu Hanyan, in the guise of a high school girl, walked down the street in a cheerful mood. Not only had she replenished enough blood to heal her injuries, but she had also made fools of her pursuers. ’Greenhorns are still greenhorns, so inexperienced. Out in the wild, I’d have a dozen ways to turn them against each other and pick them off one by one.’
’It’s ti to leave Jinzhu and shake off these annoying flies for good.’
But as she continued on her way, she realized sothing wasn’t right.
The number of pedestrians on the street was gradually thinning out. It was as if they were under so form of Mind Control, instinctively avoiding the area.
Liu Hanyan’s heart leaped in alarm. She snapped her head up just in ti to see a dark figure descending from the sky like a cannonball, a massive, brutal Heavy Sword crashing down on her.
A deafening roar erupted in an instant.
At the last mont, Liu Hanyan’s body dissolved into pure scarlet blood, which was sent flying in all directions by the terrifying Power of the blow. As if alive, the blood quickly coalesced in the distance, reforming into Liu Hanyan’s true appearance.
"So you were hiding another unknown Ability... Body Essence Materialization?" said a leanly muscled Xu Li, pulling his Giant Sword from the shattered asphalt.
"How did you find ?" Liu Hanyan’s expression was grim. ’My act was flawless. It’s impossible that they found !’
Xu Li offered no explanation. He took a deep breath, his muscles swelling once more as he grew two feet taller. Like a prehistoric bull, he charged, his steps causing the asphalt to explode, leaving a trail of deep footprints in his wake.
Liu Hanyan waved her hand, flinging out a large amount of her blood. It sizzled and smoked, scalding hot, before a BOOM echoed as it detonated in mid-air. Using the resulting cloud of blood and dust for cover, she turned to flee.
Yet, she had barely taken two steps when a bright flash of a blade cut her off. The young woman from Yingzhou, Morishima Ryoko, had rushed back from a nearby expressway entrance, drawing her tachi to block the way.
At the sa ti, a hail of bullets flew toward her. Gu Shian, holding an Enchanted Rifle, had switched to full-auto and was unloading on Liu Hanyan.
Liu Hanyan’s figure abruptly vanished, leaving a series of afterimages in the air. She easily dodged the incoming attacks using her Body Technique alone.
But her expression turned ugly. In that single instant, her pursuers had completely surrounded her.
’It’s co to this. My only choice is to fight for my life. If I’m fast enough, I might be able to break through their encirclent...’
"Nice Body Technique. Dodging bullets from an Alchemy Rifle with just your body... damn, that’s seriously impressive."
A sudden shout of applause ca from a distance. It was Zhou Chen, sitting at a table outside a cafe, an iced cola and a super-sized order of fries he’d acquired from sowhere laid out before him.
"Hey, don’t look at . You guys do what you gotta do. I’m just here to watch the fun."
Zhou Chen blinked innocently and took a couple of sips of his iced cola.
’What, can’t a guy even watch the fight? I’m acting on orders here!’
’Besides, eating and drinking over here isn’t going to affect the battle. If ten Tier Two Ascenders from noble families, all ganging up on her, still let Liu Hanyan get away, then they might as well all go ho and beco pig farrs.’
"..."
Everyone was silent for a mont, wondering what the hell was wrong with this guy.
"Ignore him. Kill her!" Xu Li roared, leading the charge toward Liu Hanyan.
BOOM!
The fierce battle erupted in an instant.
"Get her! Yeah, that’s it, go for the head! Hmm? Her body turns to blood? Heh, what a sha. I happen to have a Forbidden Object that loves drinking blood."
"Anybody here know any ice abilities? This would be a lot easier if you just froze her."
"Whoa, what Skill was that? Badass!"
"Nice one, little bro!"
Looking like a spectator who loves drama and has no problem fanning the flas, Zhou Chen ate, drank, and cheered them on. He watched the dazzling display of brilliant Skills on the battlefield, sipping his cola with great relish as if he were watching a big-budget Arican action movie.
Now he understood why the King of Music loved to spectate battles so much.
Observing from a God’s Perspective was so much more satisfying than getting his own hands dirty.
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