The icy night wind howled past He Ao's ears.
He glanced down. The ground beneath his feet was so distant, and the broad eight-lane road stretched thin like golden threads beneath the streetlights.
He was standing on the rooftop of a high-rise, wrapped head to toe in a pitch-black Combat Suit.
He Ao estimated that the building was at least two or three hundred meters tall.
There was nothing wrong with him. He was just a little afraid of heights.
"Relax. It'll be fine."
A gentle laugh came from behind him. Selina seemed to notice his nervousness and patted him on the back.
Then she walked to He Ao's side, stood at the edge of the rooftop, and pointed at a red pull ring on the left side of his Combat Suit's chest. "If anything goes wrong later, pull this ring. The automatic glider will deploy and get you safely to the ground."
"So, are you ready, kid?"
Selina turned around, her back facing the two- or three-hundred-meter drop.
Who would have thought that thirty minutes ago, He Ao had still been in the hospital, wrapped up like a giant rice dumpling and carefully tended to by a beautiful, busty, curvy nurse.
Thirty minutes later, he was standing here, dragged into overtime by Selina to carry out his first mission since arriving in Dawn City.
Selina glanced at He Ao, a faint smile curling her lips. She spread her arms like a bird unfurling its wings, then rose lightly onto her toes and fell backward.
The girl's graceful body dropped from hundreds of meters in the air. The howling wind swept through her golden hair and brushed against her delicate skin, like a golden canary circling an elf in flight.
He Ao took a deep breath, turned around, and closed his eyes.
Humans were born from the earth and grew upon it, and they always retained an attachment to the ground.
Once people left the earth, all their experience seemed to lose its use. Their lives seemed to slip beyond their control, and so they inevitably felt fear.
He Ao disliked that feeling of losing control.
But everything had a first time.
Just as fledgling eagles would eventually spread their wings, humans too dreamed of conquering the skies like birds.
He Ao closed his eyes and leaned back slightly. He could hear the surging wind. It was the sky breathing.
The instant his center of gravity passed a certain point, everything went out of control.
He Ao's feet left the rooftop, and the roaring gale lashed against his face.
The earth would extend invisible hands to seize those who tried to conquer the sky, dragging those children back into its embrace.
And under that pull, He Ao kept falling.
Faster and faster.
Until he reached a certain limit.
Buzz--
It was the trembling sound of the thin steel cable snapping taut.
His body came to a stop and was swiftly flung toward the wall.
But Selina moved even faster than he did.
The young Assistant Inspector kicked directly at the massive glass curtain wall.
Bang--crash--
After a brief impact, the faintly blue-glowing glass shattered at once, blasted open with a huge hole. Selina crashed through the opening into the room, the thin steel cable on her body snapping as she flew inside. Her legs bent slightly as she landed steadily on the floor.
She raised her hands, and two small silver pistols appeared in them, aimed at everyone in the room. "Federal Bureau of Investigation. Hands on your heads, squat down. All of you."
He Ao rushed through the opening after her. He did not have Selina's powerful braking ability and had to roll once to bleed off the force.
He drew his pistol and stood beside Selina.
This appeared to be a luxury hotel's presidential suite. Two sofas stood opposite each other in the center of the room, with one person seated on each sofa.
The man on the left was extremely tall and muscular, sitting there like a small mountain. He wore a gray tank top, and his right arm was a massive exposed mechanical limb that radiated a violent aura.
The man on the right wore a Silver Suit and looked refined and courteous.
A long coffee table stood between them, with several open silver briefcases placed on top.
"Fuck, the Federal Bureau of Investigation."
The moment He Ao and Selina appeared, the man on the left reacted. He rose swiftly to his feet and stared at Selina.
Only then did He Ao notice that the man's left eye had also been modified into a mechanical camera.
At the same time, seven or eight armed men rushed out from each side, confronting He Ao and Selina.
"I'll repeat myself. Federal Bureau of Investigation. Hands on your heads, squat down."
Selina looked at them and spoke coldly.
"Bitch."
The burly man spat, his huge mechanical arm clenching into a fist as it smashed toward Selina.
Selina laughed. She instantly put away both pistols and pulled a thin steel cable from beneath her waist.
Then He Ao saw her lean sideways, slipping past the burly man's punch in an instant. She gave a light leap, landed directly on his shoulder, and flicked the steel cable in her hand around his neck.
She gripped both ends of the cable, straddling the man's neck, and yanked hard. The burly man choked at once, his remaining eye widening as he toppled backward.
The move looked intricate and complicated, but it took less than a second. In practically the blink of an eye, the mountain-like burly man fell backward.
He crashed onto the floor with a boom.
Only then did his subordinates react and raise their guns at Selina.
But Selina had already vanished as the burly man fell. Just as those men were about to pull their triggers, gunshots rang out beside their ears.
Their wrists were pierced by scorching bullets, and their guns fell to the floor.
Hearing the shots, the people on the right who had not joined the fight instinctively moved to fire. The man in the Silver Suit immediately raised both hands, signaling his men not to act rashly.
Selina kicked the guns on the floor toward He Ao, put away her pistols, then turned and stomped the burly man, who was trying to get back up, back down. Then she looked at the silver briefcases on the table.
The briefcases were filled with black foam. Narrow grooves had been carved into the foam, each holding an equally slender transparent glass vial filled with pale green liquid.
"IB-Ⅱ?" Selina casually picked up a vial, shook the liquid inside, and looked at the man in the Silver Suit. Then she instantly drew her pistol and pressed it to his forehead. "I told you to put your hands on your head and squat down."
An awkward smile appeared on the man's face. Holding his head, he slowly slid off the sofa and squatted in front of it. "Inspector Selina, we're just earning some formula money for the kids."
But his gaze shifted behind Selina.
Among the people whose wrists had been shot through, one man slowly pulled a small pistol from his pocket and aimed it at Selina's head.
Bang--
Bright red blood splattered across the floor.
Before you continue