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Helen's driving skills were top-notch. In less than twenty minutes, they reached the foot of Shilong Mountain on the eastern outskirts of Nanming City. Outside, a gentle rain had begun to fall. Helen steered the car along the highway and stopped outside the Shilong Mountain Police Station. The entrance looked dim and deserted, but faint light glowed from inside. Helen quickly parked by the roadside, and the trio got out together.
As soon as they got out, a glance revealed that the police station's outer walls were riddled with craters, and even the nearby road was full of potholes—like some monstrous force had just rampaged through. The three entered the station's front gate and searched around, but found no one. Still, the air carried a faint whiff of gunpowder.
Helen sniffed the air, then inspected the area with sharp eyes. She spotted a brass pistol shell lying on the road outside the station. Tracing the firing direction, Helen quickly found a shattered bullet hole in the wall. She touched the hole, then blurted out, "Hmm, that's a crater from a China-made 92 police pistol, 9mm rounds! At least three shots were fired, and with all these signs of fierce fighting, there was a major battle here about four minutes ago!"
"Uh—Miss Helen, are you saying they were attacked about four minutes ago?" Shawn Young asked urgently.
"That's right. But the station is empty now, so whoever you're looking for must've escaped. We need to find traces of their departure if we want to track them!" Helen replied.
Minnie Wang looked around at the trashed police station, then at the pitch-black night outside, and couldn't help but exclaim, "Oh man—it's so dark, how are we supposed to find them?"
Just then, Shawn Young noticed a torn piece of black fabric on the floor near a window. He quickly picked it up and examined it. It looked familiar, and after thinking for a moment, he suddenly remembered—it was a scrap from Felix Eagleclaw's black Tang suit! Shawn knew that with Felix's skills, anyone able to rip his clothes must be seriously tough!
Helen had already come over, squatting to examine a long, dark skid mark on the road. She also spotted several deep, shattered footprints nearby and exclaimed in surprise, "Whoa—there are tire marks here, so they must've escaped by car. But these weird footprints... They look human, but they're so deep, it's like something mechanical made them. There's no way a regular person could leave prints like that—what on earth are these things?"
Shawn Young followed Helen's gaze and saw the long skid mark vanishing into the darkness at the other end of the highway, where trees cast eerie shadows. For a moment, he had no idea where Felix Eagleclaw and the others had gone. Thinking quickly, Shawn placed the black fabric scrap on the floor, summoned his Qi, and activated the Clairvoyant Light Technique.
"Whoosh—" Suddenly, an image appeared in midair: Felix Eagleclaw was carrying the unconscious Charles Morin into a mountain valley, accompanied by a male and female police officer. The four of them looked battered and miserable, glancing nervously over their shoulders as if someone was hot on their trail.
"Oh—my god! That's a full-on holographic image! How did you do that? What kind of device is it?" Helen was startled by the clear image conjured by the Clairvoyant Light Technique, and couldn't help but ask Shawn Young, brimming with curiosity.
"Yeah! Shawn, what kind of gadget did you use to find them? That's amazing!" Minnie Wang squealed in excitement.
"Oh—no fancy gadgets. Just Qi, some focus, and a spell. Uh—no time to explain right now. They're in a small valley about a kilometer from here, and it looks like they're being chased. It's dangerous—we need to go help them, fast!" Shawn said, grabbing Minnie Wang and rushing to the Ferrari sports car.
Helen was full of questions but didn't press further—things were urgent. She jumped into the driver's seat and fired up the engine. The Ferrari sped down the highway, and within minutes, they saw a huge truck parked across the road ahead. Helen pulled up close and saw that the truck was deserted, but under the headlights, dozens of shell casings glittered on the pavement.
Helen hopped out, checked the scattered casings, then climbed into the truck's cab. She rummaged under the seat and actually found a gun. "Whoa—this is a US-made carbine, and those are 6mm rifle shells on the ground. Looks like we're dealing with pro assassins! And more than one—must've chased them all the way to that valley. We need to move, now!" she said.
"Ah! Helen, you mean they're professional killers?! That means they're super dangerous, right?!" Minnie Wang cried out, her heart pounding with fear.
"Uh—let's get in the car first!" Helen said, grabbing the carbine and jumping back behind the wheel. Shawn Young hurried Minnie Wang into the car, and Helen swung the Ferrari around, dodged the truck, and sped off down the road, searching as they went.
Meanwhile, on a hillside by the road, a middle-aged man in black was watching the red Ferrari race by, using a pair of infrared night vision binoculars.
The man spoke in English to his companion, "Hey, Jon, our targets are here. You ready?"
Beside him was a handsome young European guy, about twenty-five or twenty-six, with a broad forehead, strong nose, deep-set eyes, and blond hair. He nodded, "Yeah, I got it."
As he spoke, he squatted down and opened a black suitcase on the ground. Inside were neatly arranged, precision-made parts of all shapes and sizes. The European guy named Jon moved with lightning speed, and in a blur, the parts came together into a sleek black SDV sniper rifle!
He stood up and set the assembled SDV sniper rifle on the rooftop, tilting his head to peer through the scope. In the infrared night vision lens, the red Ferrari racing down the highway quickly came into view.
"Peter, I see them—the kid's driving! Heh, give me the distance and wind speed!" Jon said coldly, grinning.
"Right, right, target is thirteen hundred yards away, wind speed is... It's a bit strong, might affect your shot, Jon. I'd suggest you wait a bit longer!" said Peter, the spotter.
"Oh, wind? No biggie, don't worry—I can send that kid straight to hell in seconds! You know my skills! As for those two hotties, you take one, I'll take the other—heh heh..." Jon said confidently, his SDV sniper rifle tracking the red Ferrari along the highway, his grin growing colder by the second.