Failure

Central City, Lower District.

The night sky was clear, and the autumn wind carried a cool breeze. The soft radiance of the full moon cast a diagonal glow on the old buildings of the Lower District. The gentle moonlight illuminated the dilapidation and decay of this old quarter, while the areas the moonlight couldn't reach appeared even darker.

In a dark, damp alley, discarded food scraps were piled up, mixed together, emitting a nauseating odor. Flies buzzed in figure-eights above, preparing to feast.

Gunshots and the sound of running footsteps on rooftops shattered the tranquility that had just settled after dusk, also disrupting the flies' dinner. Startled, a large swarm of flies took flight.

Danton Black's panicked footsteps entered the alley. With a clang, he accidentally kicked a mud-caked soda can. The can rolled and bounced off the wall, making a crisp sound as it tumbled deeper into the alley.

He felt his heart pounding as if it would explode, his legs felt heavy as lead, making it difficult to walk. Sweat drenched his body, and large beads of sweat dripped down his face. His pupils were wide with terror, his face flushed, and he gasped for air, breathing in short, rapid bursts.

He pressed his hand against the bullet-riddled, dark wall, his fingernail beds turning white from the pressure. Bending his aching spine, he supported his body. His legs felt weak, and his feet felt as if the skin was about to tear open from running. Running at full speed for over twenty minutes made his legs feel like they no longer belonged to him.

Danton Black panted, sweat-soaked hair clinging tightly to his forehead and temples. A chill and anger stirred in his heart.

He and his clones shared a localized thought network, allowing him to clearly perceive and control his clones' actions within a certain range.

Just minutes after ordering all his clones to flee, they began to die one after another. At first, he thought a large number of police officers were ambushing and slaughtering his clones.

Later, after more than twenty clones had died successively, he learned from the visual information transmitted through the thought network that there were no other police officers. It was only one person, running on the rooftops, chasing his clones. Each time he caught up and saw one, a gunshot would ring out, and his clone would die.

To date, he had lost over seventy clones, sixty of whom were caught and shot by the mysterious person on the rooftops.

In fact, after the forty-seventh clone died, that person had run out of bullets.

Danton Black thought he might be able to contend with that person without a firearm, but he died even more miserably. It only took two moves. The assailant's skilled killing techniques, exceptional agility, and superhuman strength meant that none of his clones could last more than two moves.

Fortunately, after running out of bullets, the assailant's killing speed dropped significantly. This was because Alex had to jump down from the rooftops into the alleys to kill the clones. Although it was only one or two incredibly fast moves, the time spent looking for clones from the rooftops and then pursuing them wasted a lot of time, allowing Danton Black to escape further.

"Does he also have superpowers?"

The figure running on the rooftops was like the Grim Reaper looking down on him from above, making Danton Black's heart pound with fear. He had never seen a human with such inexhaustible stamina. Even the most professional rock climbers or elite athletes couldn't chase him across more than ten blocks from rooftop to rooftop, making his bones ache and his body drenched in sweat.

Since gaining his superpowers, he felt his own body was stronger than that of ordinary people, but he still felt inferior to this person relentlessly chasing him on the rooftops.

Was he also a super-human?

Thump thump...

The sound of rapid footsteps on concrete suddenly reached his ears.

He was familiar with this sound; it was someone running on the rooftops, quickly crossing from one building to another.

Each time one of his clones died, it was the sound of this person approaching.

By the time he heard it, it was already too late.

Thump thump...

He could imagine that in just two seconds, the person on the rooftop would cross another building and be directly above him.

Danton Black's breathing hitched. Even a single second seemed to slow down, and the air around him felt frozen. He could clearly hear his own panicked heartbeat, and sweat dripped down his cheeks, falling to the ground.

Danton Black turned his head in alarm, his pupils constricting. He saw a black figure leap from the rooftop above the alley, appearing within Danton Black's line of sight.

The figure gradually enlarged in Danton Black's vision, falling from the sky above the alley. Suddenly, the figure kicked off the opposite wall, sending dust flying. Using the wall for leverage, the figure executed a nearly 180-degree turn in mid-air and delivered a piercing kick to Danton Black's chest from above.

The series of movements was incredibly fast and swift. Danton Black had no time to react before his chest caved in. With a pained cry, he was sent flying into a pile of garbage, scattering the trash everywhere and startling the uneasy, hovering flies into a buzzing frenzy.

Alex didn't pause. After kicking Danton Black away, he landed on his feet, quickly stepped forward, and reached out with his large hand towards Danton Black in the garbage pile.

His hand, like a snake, reached into the garbage and clamped tightly around Danton Black's neck, lifting him forcefully from the trash.

"Hk... cough cough..."

Danton Black's face turned red with exertion. Food scraps continued to fall from his body, and he coughed up white foam. He was being held by the neck by Alex, his eyes filled with a mocking glint. He coughed continuously, seeming to try to speak, but his throat was choked, rendering him unable to utter a sound.

Suddenly.

The hand holding Danton Black's neck felt soft. Alex's entire body seemed to melt like a candle, his face beginning to dissolve. In the blink of an eye, his features became terrifyingly distorted and melted, wisps of smoke rising from his body.

Within seconds, Danton Black was electrolyzed. His skin, cells, and bones dissolved into acid, flowing down from Alex's hand with a splash, pooling in the garbage and releasing wisps of smoke from the electrolyzed acid.

"Failed."

Alex's breathing was somewhat rapid. He exhaled slowly, calming his agitated body. A slight sheen of sweat covered him, and the strands of hair on his forehead and temples were damp and stuck to his skin.

Constantly running up and down, crossing gaps between buildings, and using the Desert Eagle to shoot Danton Black with a hundred percent hit rate, all at high speed on unbalanced terrain, even Alex's peak physical condition felt strained, and his breathing quickened considerably.

He had managed to eliminate all the clones he could visually locate within his range. This was the last one; he couldn't find the others. After chasing for more than ten blocks, about thirty of the clones had disappeared into the labyrinthine alleys of the Lower District.

And the main body was among those thirty-odd clones.

Alex calmed his breathing, feeling a slight regret that he hadn't captured Danton Black. He shook the acidic liquid from his right hand, frowned at the smoking liquid, and turned to walk out of the alley.

He reached into his pocket and took out his glasses. One corner of the glasses was cracked, a result of his overly vigorous movements on the rooftops.

He gently touched the cracked lens with his finger, feeling a sharp, gritty texture. The glasses were broken.

With a blank expression, he put on the glasses, their cracked lenses resembling a spiderweb, and walked out of the alley. The moonlight once again fell upon him, and the reflection from the lenses carried a cold glint.

It was time to settle the score!