Men's Words Are Lies

"Was that magic just now?" Jill asked curiously.

Xiao Miao looked serious. "It was actually adrenaline. My heart rate just exceeded four hundred beats per minute, and my blood was flooded with adrenaline. It let me control airflow through muscle contractions and create fire. Only a few people in the world have this talent, and they're all the world's greatest assassins... What's with that look?"

Jill rolled her eyes. "You're lying again."

A man's mouth was a lying ghost. She had already seen through him.

"What do you mean, 'again'?"

"You said before that you could last at least two hours, and that you could lift me up."

Xiao Miao said, "...Really, adrenaline can also put someone into Bullet Time. Bullets you fire can even curve. Of course, I don't have that ability yet, and that state isn't something you can enter whenever you want. Just now was purely luck."

"If you don't want to talk about it, forget it. I'll help you up. We need to get out of here as soon as possible." Jill took the initiative to change the subject and helped Xiao Miao back to the pickup.

Maybe Xiao Miao was hiding some painful part of his past. Pressing him further would only make him uncomfortable.

She was a smart woman. Their relationship had only gone as far as a friendly match; they weren't close enough to exchange secrets. Since Xiao Miao didn't want to talk, she wouldn't keep asking. Otherwise, it would only create a rift between them.

The explosion had been loud, drawing quite a few zombies over. They were starting to gather, so they had to leave quickly.

"Oh, right. There's something I need to apologize to you for," Jill said.

Xiao Miao froze. "What is it?"

"I didn't do what you asked me to do earlier."

"What did I ask?" Xiao Miao frowned and thought about it, but he couldn't remember what he had just told Jill to do.

Jill licked the corner of her lips, leaned close to Xiao Miao's ear, and softly breathed out, "Stay dry."

Xiao Miao: Sigh...

Boys had to protect themselves when they were out and about, especially handsome boys. They absolutely had to be wary of getting squeezed dry. Plenty of handsome bastards who liked reading novels surely understood that deeply.

"Now isn't the time." Xiao Miao decisively refused.

"I know. We'll talk once we're safe."

When they returned to the pickup, they discovered that the rear tire on the other side had gone flat too. They could only switch vehicles on the spot.

Fortunately, quite a few private cars were parked haphazardly on the nearby road. Jill blew away a family of three zombies with three shots and acquired a wild Jeep.

Xiao Miao took the female reporter's camera while he was at it. She immediately protested, claiming it was her Pulitzer Prize. The moment Xiao Miao touched his gun, she instantly fell silent.

The three of them got in. Jill was still driving, with Xiao Miao in the passenger seat. Just as they were about to set off, the door suddenly opened, and someone appeared in the back seat beside the female reporter.

Xiao Miao and Jill immediately drew their guns and aimed them. At the same time, Xiao Miao saw the Fate Dice floating above the person's head, and a string of information appeared.

[Story Character: Alice]

[Current Bond: Level 2 (Friend)]

[Draw Cost: 100 Fate Points]

Xiao Miao remained calm on the surface, but he was slightly surprised inside.

The protagonist had come to him on her own, and her initial favorability was already at Level 2? Was it because of his looks?

No, Alice wasn't the type to care about appearances. There had to be some detail he had overlooked.

Facing the pitch-black gun barrels, Alice remained expressionless. She gave Xiao Miao a look of shared misery and slowly said, "My name is Alice. I used to be a security consultant for the Umbrella Corporation... You must have a lot of questions about what just happened. Find somewhere safe, and I'll tell you all the secrets!"

Since it concerned Xiao Miao, Jill couldn't make up her mind and turned to look at the passenger seat.

Xiao Miao nodded and lowered his gun. Jill's gaze wandered over Alice's delicate face, then drifted downward, where she saw two little hills.

She won!

The corners of Jill's lips curled up before she forcibly suppressed the smile. She instinctively straightened her back, her chest surging impressively. She put away her gun, sat upright, and gripped the steering wheel with both hands. "Hold on tight. I know a church nearby. It has lots of rooms, good for resting."

The car roared forward, knocking several zombies blocking the road flying before speeding away.

On the outskirts of Raccoon City, inside a heavily guarded military camp.

The central command room was dead silent. You could have heard a pin drop.

The two staff members controlling Nemesis sat blankly in their chairs, staring wide-eyed at the blackened screen.

What had they just seen? Magic!!!

Was this even their country?

Their worldview had been completely shattered. Science had gone away, theology had come online. Thinking of all the bad things they had done while helping evil, they were definitely going to hell after death, weren't they?

Maybe they should donate two little boys to a church someday and build up some good karma?

Major Timothy Kane, standing behind them, was also having his worldview reshaped. He was the Umbrella Corporation's highest-ranking military commander in Raccoon City, cold-blooded and ruthless, without regard for family or friends.

As befitted a commander, Major Cain was the first to recover. He patted the two subordinates on the shoulders. "Is there an archive of the battle footage?"

"Yes, sir. There is."

"Play it immediately!"

"Yes, sir!"

The screen once again showed Xiao Miao battling Nemesis. Wind Blades howled, fireballs roared, and the two staff members unconsciously held their breath.

Major Cain's eyes flickered as he pondered something.

Suddenly, one of the staff members noticed a communicator flashing. It was an emergency call from a special operations team sent into the city, and he immediately connected it.

The viewpoint from the special operations team's gun barrels appeared on one of the surveillance screens, accompanied by their captain's voice. "Sir, we've captured a wizard who can control water."

Before Major Cain could answer, a second communication came through. Another special operations team had encountered someone with either "witchcraft" or "superpowers."

Major Cain sensed that something was wrong and ordered the staff to pull up surveillance footage from all of Raccoon City. Through intelligent filtering, they identified nearly twenty "abnormal targets"!

Clones, super speed, immense strength, water control, extraordinary endurance... The wide variety of abilities was dazzling.

Major Cain's eyes lit up. He realized that his chance to change his fate and rise into the company's upper ranks had arrived!

If he could get his hands on these people's genes...

No, he couldn't swallow this cake alone. He needed partners!

With that thought, Major Cain immediately ordered his subordinates not to leak the information, then began making calls one by one.

The valuable information spread through a small circle. Countless forces began to move, even including nearby military units. A storm was brewing.

[Traversal Mission: Obtain 200 Fate Points (101/200). If the mission fails, the connection will be permanently severed!]

[Travelers of All Heavens are coming into contact with the current world's course of fate. Please continue observing. Time remaining until settlement: 20:41:37...]

On the outskirts of Raccoon City, under the deep night sky, a massive church stood quietly. Moonlight cast the shadow of the Cross atop its roof onto the corpses in the road, forming an unconventional image of Jesus's crucifixion.

Headlights approached from afar and slowly stopped before the church. Jill had barely stepped one foot out of the car when Xiao Miao pulled her back.

"Wait, I have a bad feeling about this!"

Xiao Miao glanced at the church's name: Umen Church. Good, this was the church from the movie's plot.

There were three Lickers inside!

Jill trusted Xiao Miao completely. At his words, she immediately shut the car door and drew her gun in alert. "What did you find?"

Xiao Miao couldn't directly say there were monsters in the church, so he could only describe it vaguely. "There seems to be something in the church. It's giving me a very bad feeling."

"So you can sense them too."

Alice, sitting in the back seat, chuckled softly. Her gaze at Xiao Miao grew gentler, the look one gave another of their kind. "Just as I thought, we're the same kind!"

Xiao Miao: "???"

Ma'am, have you misunderstood something?

P.S.: Here's a picture of Alice.