Laura

Outside the corridor of the experimental building, Laura's neck was tightly wrapped by that barbs-covered blue tail, and a wave of intense suffocation left her mind blank.

"Aah!!"

She could feel those tiny barbs scraping against her skin, and each struggle brought a deeper, sharper pain. On Night Demon's blue face, a playful and cruel gaze lingered as if he were admiring an interesting toy.

Faced with Night Demon's threat, Laura wore a fierce expression, and the beastly instinct inherited from Logan within her body was completely triggered!

Thus, the little wolf abruptly opened her mouth, used every ounce of her strength, and bit down viciously on that tail resembling an iron whip!

"Hiss—!"

Night Demon gasped in pain, his tail springing back as if burned by fire, and he took advantage of the momentum to hurl Laura fiercely away!

"Bang!"

Laura's back smashed heavily against the cold wall, and her internal organs felt as though they had shifted out of place. Yet she had no time to care about this; the moment she hit the ground, she curled into a ball, rolled forward, and used a clumsy yet effective movement to duck into the corridor's corner.

She leaned against the wall, coughing violently, breathing greedily in every mouthful of air.

However, before she could even steady herself, a burst of blue smoke exploded out of thin air right in front of her.

"Where are you looking?"

Night Demon's voice seemed to ring out directly in front of her, carrying a trace of annoyance at being offended, followed by a claw slashing down.

"Clang!"

Instinctively raising her arm to block, Laura caught the flash of metal-on-metal sparks in the dim corridor, the impact leaving her arm numb. The opponent's speed was too fast, every attack feeling like teleportation, and she could only barely parry by relying on instinct.

This can't go on!

After trading blows a few more times with Night Demon's ghostly, razor-sharp claws, Laura stopped trying to fight him head-on. Her figure suddenly retreated, and following the iron railings outside the window, she scrambled up onto the roof in two or three moves before diving straight into the narrow ventilation duct.

Smoke drifted, and Night Demon's figure followed closely, appearing at the edge of the roof.

"Tch."

Seeing this, Night Demon curled his lips. He was too large, and in a cramped space like a ventilation duct, his teleportation ability would be severely restricted, risking him getting stuck in the walls if he wasn't careful, so of course he couldn't follow Laura inside.

Having lost Laura's trace, Night Demon searched temporarily without success before abandoning the pursuit and walking briskly into the experimental building.

In the mid-level gene laboratory of the experimental building, Night Demon, who had arrived first, pushed open the door to find that the experimental equipment here was still operating automatically. That massive main screen continued to roll data like a waterfall, yet as far as the eye could see, there wasn't a single shadow of a person.

There was neither the wheelchair-bound boy from the intel, nor Professor Charles Xavier who should have originally been with him.

"Hiding?"

Night Demon muttered to himself. Since everyone on this operation carried no electronic communication devices, he could not immediately contact the other squad members and their commander, General Lake. Therefore, for now, it seemed he could only search for the target's traces nearby by himself.

At the same time, in another ceiling vent, Laura was tilting her head, kneeling on one knee on the metal plate, and peering through the grid gaps of the vent below. Holding her breath and remaining completely motionless, she watched Night Demon's blue figure disappear down the far end of the corridor.

In her mind, she was recalling the tactical discussion with Miles and Logan before the battle.

"Night Demon's ability should originate from the former Nightcrawler Wagner. He can teleport to any location within his line of sight, but he will absolutely never easily head into unknown, enclosed spaces, otherwise he might get stuck in complex environments..."

While conceiving the tactics, Laura reached into her pocket, took out the miniature earpiece she had used earlier, and slipped it into her ear.

"Miles, are you there?" Laura called out softly.

However, the voice that answered her was not Miles, but the AI Aurora.

"Need assistance, Miss Laura?" Aurora's soft and clear female voice sounded in the earpiece.

Laura was momentarily stunned, and she lowered her voice to ask Aurora, "How is Miles?"

"He is currently fighting Lightwave."

"Fighting?"

Laura was taken aback. She remembered that the four members of The Purifiers had headband protection, making mind control ineffective and rendering them independent of electronic devices. Besides, that Lightwave could fly, clearly making him the most troublesome fellow among them...

So, how was Miles supposed to fight?

Laura took a deep breath, then gritted her teeth.

"Aurora, I need your help..."

Night Demon had just passed a room when he acutely heard a faint commotion coming from the ventilation duct in the ceiling.

He raised his head and, through the ventilation grid, caught a fleeting glimpse of Laura's terrified face.

"Hehe... Found you, little mouse."

Choosing not to teleport, he deliberately slowed his pace, following leisurely behind below like a beast enjoying the hunt. The commotion in the duct was minor, intermittent, and stumbled all the way toward the building's lower level.

Eventually, the sound vanished into the subterranean area.

Tracing the footsteps, Night Demon pushed open a creaking iron door to reveal a storage room filled with abandoned equipment, the air heavy with dust and the smell of rust and blood.

He had just stepped inside when, the next moment, all the lights in the entire room clicked off with a snap!

Absolute darkness enveloped everything.

A chill struck Night Demon's heart, and almost simultaneously, the ceiling directly above him was violently shattered, a slender figure fiercely plunging down amidst the debris!

"Swish!"

In the darkness, facing Laura's premeditated assault, Night Demon failed to exert his full strength out of panic. Barely managing to evade the vital spots, he was closed in upon by Laura.

"Clang!"

Two pairs of cold-glinting steel claws exchanged blows twice, and then Laura threw herself forward with reckless abandon!

"Splat!!"

Even with his vision obstructed in the darkness, the combat-experienced Night Demon still precisely drove a claw straight into Laura's abdomen!

Yet at the same time, enduring the excruciating pain with all her might, Laura swung the steel claws of her other hand fiercely toward Night Demon's head!

Night Demon instinctively tilted his head, Laura's steel claws brushing past his temple, but concurrently, the silver-white Anti-Mind-Control Headband he wore on his head was precisely snagged and torn away by the tips of Laura's claws!

With a crisp clank, the broken headband flew high into the air, dropping into the dark pile of debris to make no further sound.

"Disobedient brat..."

Swinging her claws at empty air, Laura's body was already devoid of strength, hoisted aloft and impaled upon Night Demon's claws.

Night Demon's uninjured hand clamped tightly around her neck, "pulling" her free from his own claws as blood sprayed everywhere.

He stared fixedly at Laura, his dark yellow pupils churning with a bone-chilling fury born of being made a fool.

Choked by the neck and finding breathing extremely difficult, Laura let out a silent, dry cough, and then, in a hoarse, barely audible voice, she softly called out a name.

"Miles..."

The next moment, Night Demon's body stiffened abruptly, followed by a painful groan as he threw Laura to the ground and buried his head in his hands in agony.

Miles's mind control had activated!

Seizing the opportunity and ignoring the searing pain in her abdomen, Laura drove her claws fiercely into Night Demon's knee!

"Crack!"

The muffled crunch of shattering bone sounded piercingly harsh in the silent storage room.

"Aaaah--!!!"

Night Demon let out a non-human shriek, the excruciating pain snapping him briefly out of the mental assault, though his body uncontrollably collapsed sideways to one side.

Giving him no chance to catch his breath, Laura delivered several more rapid, precise strikes to snap his limbs, utterly crippling his mobility.

Having finished all this, Laura finally exhausted her remaining strength, her back leaning heavily against the cold wall as she panted heavily.

The wound on her abdomen began to heal slowly with the rise and fall of her breathing, and then Laura raised a trembling hand to press her earpiece.

"Miles, are you okay?"

"I'm fine... Ugh!"

Over the earpiece, Miles's reply was abruptly cut off by a muffled grunt.

In the cryogenic cold storage, the temperature had plummeted to around fifty degrees below zero, the air so cold that exhaled white mist instantly frosted over.

Davis's entire body was flushed an eerie, reddish hue, suffering intensely from the internal energy chaos. Consequently, he vented all his fury onto the boy who had driven him to this desperate pass.

"Open the door!"

"Damn it... Open the door for me right now!"

Driven near collapse by the fatal threat, Davis grabbed Miles's withered, spindly right arm and snapped it.

Afterwards, he violently yanked at Miles's fingers...

He certainly didn't dare to kill Miles outright, but that didn't mean he couldn't do other things.

Miles's face was pale, cold sweat beading continuously, yet the expression on his face remained entirely unchanged from start to finish.

"How disgraceful, Mr. Davis..." Miles taunted, speaking. "Clearly, you could have just killed me, and it would all be over..."

"So why didn't you just do it? Was it because you didn't dare?"

"When you're practically about to die yourself... You really are obedient to your commanding officer, huh..."

"Shut up!!" Driven mad, Davis brought his foot down to stamp on Miles's neck. "Open the door!"

"I advise you to stay calm, Mr. Davis..." Miles said softly. "You know, what if I actually wouldn't mind serving your Northern Command, but I could also tell General Lake, 'It's not that I wouldn't mind serving you, but the prerequisite is that Davis has to die... because he offended me'?"

"Do you think... if I were to say that, General Lake would agree?"

Davis's expression shifted, and even the foot treading on Miles began to ease its pressure.

Given his understanding of General Lake, the possibility of him agreeing was not small!

"Tch..." Miles let out a silent, mocking chuckle. "You really respect your commanding officer, Mr. Davis... Were you perhaps sodomized by him in the past? Don't be nervous, that sort of thing isn't uncommon in the U.S. military... I'm very open-minded, I don't mean to look down on you..."

While verbally provoking Davis on the surface, Miles was also multitasking, maintaining contact with the distant Laura through his ability.

"Laura, listen carefully..." Miles's voice continued to emanate from Laura's earpiece.

"Kill Night Demon, then go to the side door... Charles was hidden by me in room 1034 over there using an automated ambulance. Take him and leave via the side door. Logan and X-24 should still be able to hold them off for a bit. Once you're safe, take Charles to another hospital for post-op care. Aurora will go with you..."

"...Wait, Laura, what are you doing?!"

In the basement, Laura disconnected the earpiece.

Miles's suppressed and urgent instructions abruptly ceased.

The world instantly fell silent, leaving only her own heavy and ragged breathing.

The wound on her abdomen had initially healed, and the little wolf glanced at Night Demon, who lay on the ground like a dead dog, before slowly clenching her fists.

She had no intention of obeying Miles's command to escape with Charles; she could tell that Miles had no intention of leaving this place alive at all!

That guy had always been like this, often disregarding his own life due to his unstable mental state, only becoming somewhat normal recently after meeting Mr. Charles.

Pity that it had only lasted for these few days...

Only these few days.

Thinking this, Laura walked over to the corner, lifted a heavy solid-wood cabinet, and walked back slowly. Using all the strength in her body, she smashed it down hard against Night Demon's head!

"Thud!"

Night Demon's body quivered, and without even a groan, he passed out completely.

Afterwards, Laura grabbed his long blue tail and dragged him out like a heavy piece of cargo.

Even with her training, a ten-year-old girl's strength could hardly be considered great.

"Urgh-ah!!"

Clenching her teeth tightly, Laura dragged Night Demon's tail and stepped onto the steps leading toward the lobby, moving upward inch by inch.

In the front yard of the experimental building, X-24, who had been heavily wounded and rendered unconscious, had already been secured by military troops using specialized restraint devices, with a dose of specialized anesthetic administered.

Fire Giant was also sitting nearby, closing his eyes to rest after experiencing the battle with X-24. His weight was too heavy and his abilities extremely draining physically, requiring him to rest briefly and leaving the subsequent work to the others.

"Done. Smoother than anticipated." A young soldier wiped the sweat from his brow, wanting to let out a breath of relief.

"Cut the chatter, prepare to enter the building. The General's order is to capture all targets alive," the squad leader barked.

No sooner had they turned to face the entrance of the experimental building than a dragging sound came from inside the doors.

A blood-covered little girl was dragging a man's long blue tail, emerging from the stairway step by step.

The man was none other than their comrade, a member of The Purifiers squad, "Night Demon".

Instinctively, everyone raised their guns to aim at Laura, yet maintained their vigilance without launching an immediate attack.

The scene before them was far too bizarre: a bloody little girl dragging a heavily wounded, unconscious super-powered operative, facing a group of armed-to-the-teeth soldiers without a trace of fear as she blocked their path.

"Girl, don't move!" someone commanded aloud. "Let go of him, put your hands up, and crouch down!"

Unfazed, Laura stared at them coldly, stopping a few meters away from them, each step leaving a dark red footprint on the ground.

Amidst the soldiers' doubtful and uneasy gazes, the back of one of Laura's hands emitted a shing sound as two sharp steel claws popped out, pressing unhesitatingly against Night Demon's temple.

"Don't move!"

The little girl's sharp voice rang out. "Go back! Or I'll kill him!!"

This was Laura's decision.

This little girl intended to use the hostage in her hands to save everyone.

The soldiers exchanged glances, momentarily truly cowed by a child.

Lacking walkie-talkies and unable to contact the command post in real-time, the current situation completely exceeded the scope of their mission briefing. For them, while the mission targets were important, the status of The Purifiers members was also special within the military, leaving them uncertain how to act under these circumstances.

Fortunately, however, this predicament did not last long.

Merely a few seconds later, another figure walked unhurriedly in from the side door of the experimental building.

The man codenamed "Impact" arrived before the crowd, dropping the bloody, half-dead old wolf Logan from his shoulder onto the ground like a sack of garbage.

"..."

At this sight, Laura's body trembled violently, and she instinctively clamped her teeth down hard onto her lips until blood welled up, entirely unaware of it.

Before Laura, Impact ignored the half-dead old Logan on the ground and looked calmly in her direction. Behind the man, dozens of fully armed figures simultaneously raised their gun barrels, aiming straight at her head.