"Clarice, what's going on?" Why are they—" Michelle asked, struggling to catch her breath as she was dragged along.
"There's no time to explain now. I'll tell you once we get out of here," Clarice replied.
Even though Michelle and Irene were still scared and confused, they chose to trust that Clarice wouldn't hurt them. They stopped asking questions and kept running.
Soon, they reached an area that looked like an abandoned mine.
There were a few buildings that looked like they had been deserted for a long time.
When Sonya saw the buildings, her eyes lit up. "Come on! Let's hide in there first!"
Her idea was simple—find a place to hide for now. Once Clarice had calmed down, she could open a portal and get them out.
Otherwise, with their limited strength, they couldn't run much farther.
But while Sonya's plan sounded good, reality was cruel.
Just as she led the three girls toward the building, loud engine noises suddenly roared from all around them.
The next thing they knew, seven or eight SUVs came speeding in from the edges of the mining area and surrounded them.
Sonya's face changed instantly.
Michelle and Irene were so scared that they almost started crying. They clung tightly to Clarice's hands, their bodies shaking.
Clarice was a little stronger than them, but not by much—she was clearly nervous too.
Then came the clatter of doors opening.
A group of men dressed like mercenaries jumped out of the cars and aimed their guns straight at the girls from every direction.
Even if Clarice's powers were working properly in this situation, there wouldn't be enough time to escape with the others.
These weren't toy guns—they wouldn't let them run.
As for Sonya, her ability was to alter memories, and that only worked if she was close and the person wasn't expecting it. Surrounded , her powers were useless.
"Listen up! Get on your knees and put your hands on your heads—now! You have ten seconds. If you don't do it by then, we shoot!" a man who seemed to be their leader stepped out of one of the SUVs and shouted coldly.
Hearing the words "we shoot," Michelle and Irene collapsed to the ground in fear.
They were just ordinary high school girls. They had never seen anything before. Being surrounded by people with guns was terrifying, let alone knowing those people were ready to kill.
Sonya and Clarice held up a little better, but they were sweating all over.
They looked at each other and saw the same fear and struggle in each other's eyes.
Meanwhile, the man had already started counting down.
There was a loud sound like a watermelon bursting, and the leader's head exploded, leaving only his body standing for a moment before falling backward from the force.
"Watch out! Take cover!"
These people clearly had a lot of combat experience. The moment they saw what happened to their leader, they quickly realized they were under attack—someone was secretly shooting at them!
Clarice and the others were shocked by the bloody scene. Michelle and Irene were so scared they screamed and hugged their heads, shaking all over.
But it wasn't over yet.
Just as a few of the mercenaries shouted "It's an ambush!" and "Take cover!", those shouting were all shot in the head one by one, killed instantly!
"Shit... the shooter is in that building on the left!!"
Someone figured out where the bullets were coming from by the direction the bodies fell.
But the moment he shouted that, his head was blown apart, too.
The other mercenaries were furious and started firing wildly at the building on the left.
But that rage didn't help them. More and more of them were shot down, one after another.
In less than ten seconds, nearly half of the more than thirty mercenaries had been killed, leaving only about a dozen.
"Retreat! If we don't leave now, none of us will get out alive!"
Someone finally shouted.
But it was already too late. If they had all run right at the start, maybe a few could have escaped. But now...
Like fireworks going off, their heads exploded one by one. Clearly, the hidden shooter never missed—each shot took out another mercenary's head.
A few seconds later, only three men remained with their heads still intact.
They had been shot in the arms and legs and were lying on the ground like limp dolls. It was clear that the shooter had left them alive on purpose.
The brutal and bloody scene left Clarice and the others pale with fear.
Even though the shooter had saved them, they didn't know who this person was, or why he helped. Was he just like the mercenaries, here to capture them?
With that worry in their hearts, they saw a figure walking slowly out of the old building—a person wearing a red combat suit and a silver full-cover helmet.
He carried a flashy blood-red long rifle on his shoulder that matched his outfit.
They instinctively looked behind him but didn't see anyone else.
Sonya and Clarice were stunned.
One person had killed all those mercenaries in such a short time—and every shot hit the head?
They couldn't help but feel a bit afraid of him… and the closer he got, the heavier the pressure they felt. They even backed away a few steps.
But they didn't dare make any sudden moves, let alone run.
If they couldn't escape the mercenaries, how could they possibly escape someone who wiped out an entire team in under thirty seconds?
They were terrified, though they didn't dare show it.
When the mysterious figure stopped just a few meters away, a familiar voice came from under the helmet:
"This is what you call… your friend's birthday party?"
Sonya, Michelle, and Irene were all confused by this sentence.
Only Clarice reacted—her body trembled, and she stared at the mysterious figure in shock, stammering, "You, you…"
As she struggled to speak, the figure raised a hand and removed the silver helmet.
Next PS Goal 300 PS (We are down on the support again (Only 30 PS received yesterday) even when I increased the number of daily chapter because y'all said the story was too slow)