Lin Xiao crunched loudly on his lollipop.
He had been following this girl for almost twenty minutes, jumping from an apartment building onto a laundromat roof, vaulting over three outdoor air-conditioning units, then climbing a fire escape to the roof of an old six-story building. Gwen Stacy's route had no pattern whatsoever. She was simply running wild.
Lin Xiao crouched behind a water tank and watched Gwen Stacy hesitate for several seconds at the edge of the opposite rooftop, take a deep breath, and leap. Just like that, she made it across!
But she tumbled twice on landing, rolling around like a little panda ball. Lin Xiao grinned so widely he almost laughed aloud. The girl had good athletic instincts and plenty of guts, but her control still needed work.
Gwen Stacy stood up and brushed the dust off herself, then suddenly whipped her head around. Lin Xiao had already ducked back behind the water tank.
Gwen Stacy scratched her head and muttered, "Weird. Why do I feel like someone's following me?" She carefully studied the area for another few minutes, then, after confirming she was just being paranoid, started running again.
By the time Lin Xiao poked half his head out, Gwen Stacy had already run off into the distance. He frowned. This was the third time she had looked back. That kind of intuition did not seem like coincidence. Ordinary people did not suddenly glance behind them every few minutes while walking. Spider-Sense? The term suddenly popped into his head. Lin Xiao shifted the lollipop to the other corner of his mouth. No wonder Spider-Man always sensed danger immediately in the story. This stuff was innate, not something acquired through training.
The wind in the alley suddenly changed direction. A faint scorched smell drifted through the air, mixed with the pungent odors of cheap gasoline and burning rubber.
Two black Hummers barreled off the main road onto this street, moving as fast as if they were street racing on a highway. The lead vehicle's doors were already battered, half its rear window was shattered, and several fresh scrapes marked its body. Both vehicles charged recklessly ahead, clipping and overturning several roadside trash cans, spilling garbage everywhere. The lead vehicle swerved into an alley, its tires grinding white smoke off the pavement with a piercing screech.
Three police cars pursued close behind, their flashing red and blue lights painting the walls along the entire street.
"Vehicle ahead, pull over! Otherwise, we'll open fire!"
The engine noise tore the voice from the radio into broken fragments. The front passenger window of the lead police car rolled down, and a middle-aged man in uniform leaned halfway out, holding a radio as he shouted at the three Hummers.
Lin Xiao lay at the edge of the rooftop and narrowed his eyes. That cop's profile looked familiar. He had seen him tonight: square jaw, short hair, brows knotted into a lump of iron. George Stacy. Gwen Stacy's dad. Lin Xiao instinctively turned to look for Gwen Stacy and found she was no longer on the opposite rooftop. He lowered his gaze and spotted her in the shadow of the fire escape. She was sliding down against the wall, moving much more smoothly than when she had climbed it earlier.
Lin Xiao spat out the lollipop stick and flexed his fingers. He backed up two steps, took a two-step running start at the rooftop's edge, planted one foot on the low wall, and launched himself like a cannonball, landing in the shadows on the opposite rooftop.
The Hummer convoy turned into a dead end. The lead Hummer braked hard, its tires dragging a scorched-black skid mark across the ground. The vehicle behind it stopped too. Their doors sprang open together, and five or six armed men climbed out. Their leader was bald, with a knife scar stretching from his cheekbone to the corner of his mouth. His right eye was half closed, though it was unclear whether he was actually blind or the scar was pulling it shut. He held up a phone, speaking in a low but forceful voice while dragging someone out of the back seat.
It was a man in his fifties, one sleeve dangling empty and his eyes tightly closed. He was dragged out and dumped on the ground. He appeared to be unconscious.
"Scar-Eye, the cops behind us have caught up!"
"I see them." Scar-Eye hung up, turned his head to spit, and pocketed his phone. He glanced down at the unconscious one-armed man on the ground and rolled him over with his toe. After confirming he was still alive, he jerked his chin toward the unfinished building at the end of the alley. "Carry this guy up there. Don't kill him."
The police cars stopped at the mouth of the alley, their headlights lighting it up as brightly as day.
George got out of the driver's seat, one hand resting on his holster, and surveyed the alley. Two empty Hummers sat in the middle, their engines running and headlights still on, but everyone had vanished. He drew his pistol, thumbed off the safety, and signaled to the officers behind him. Two young officers immediately came over, and the three formed a triangle as they advanced into the alley along the wall.
"Chief, this alley's too narrow. Should we call for backup-"
"We can't wait." George kept his voice low. "Their hostage is a biologist, Curtis Dr. Connors. And I know the man who abducted him. His name's Scar-Eye. He works for Kingpin. I don't know why they kidnapped Dr. Connor or what they're planning, but we can't let those bastards get their hands on him."
The two officers fell silent.
George scanned the windows and fire escapes on either side of the alley, then looked up at the pitch-black unfinished building. Only the rough outline of its frame was visible in the night. He took a deep breath and beckoned. The officers all followed him into the unfinished building.
An unknown amount of time passed before a muffled thud came from the darkness. George whipped his head around. The officer on his right was gone. Immediately afterward, another muffled thud came from his left, and that officer was gone too.
"Everyone, group up! Don't act alone!" he shouted toward the doorway.
The remaining officers immediately tightened their formation, forming a close circle around George. They stood back-to-back, guns pointing outward, each watching a different direction. A shrill whistle answered him.
An RPG.
George's pupils contracted. Its exhaust drew a dazzling white streak through the darkness as the warhead spun toward the densest cluster of officers. In that instant, his brain made the decision to push the people beside him away, but his body could not keep up. He was already in his fifties, and his body was nowhere near what it had once been.
Just then, a dark figure dropped from above. As she landed, her dark bodysuit outlined a slender frame. A shapeless piece of black cloth covered most of her face, leaving only two blue eyes exposed.
But those eyes were now filled with fear.
Still, she stood in front of George and shoved him hard to the side in a fraction of a second. George flew more than two meters, his back slamming into a concrete pillar.
With a tremendous boom, the RPG exploded where the officers had just been standing, spraying rubble and dust in every direction. The shock wave left George's ears ringing and his vision darkening. He saw the person who had pushed him get flung away by the blast, tumble twice through the air, and slam back-first into a wall with a dull thud. She slid down the wall, braced a hand against the floor, and stood up. Shaking her head, she took a deep breath and stood in front of him again.
Her legs were trembling now.
"Stay back." Her voice was a little hoarse. George froze for a moment. Scar-Eye emerged from the shadows and dropped the empty rocket launcher on the ground, a sneer on his face. Two of his men followed, holding M4s with their muzzles trained on the masked figure.
"The New York Police Department." Scar-Eye smacked his lips. "Since when did you hire a clown fresh out of a costume party? Did you tear that mask off your pajamas?"
Gwen Stacy said nothing. She only glanced back at George. He saw the look in her eyes.
"Go." Her voice trembled. "Hurry and go. I'll hold them off."
Scar-Eye did not wait for her to finish. He charged straight at George. Gwen Stacy gritted her teeth and lunged, driving her right fist toward his ribs. Scar-Eye twisted aside and swung an elbow back at her temple. She tilted her head back to dodge, but his knee was already coming up, striking her squarely in the lower abdomen. Gwen Stacy grunted and staggered back two steps, her toes leaving two streaks across the floor. She could sense danger. Before every punch Scar-Eye threw, the back of her neck tingled, and a blurry image flashed through her mind, telling her which direction the attack would come from. But her body could not keep up. She knew she needed to dodge, yet could not get out of the way; she knew she needed to counterattack, but her fist was always half a beat too slow. Scar-Eye punched her shoulder, sending her flying sideways into a pile of discarded wooden boards.
"That's all you've got?" Scar-Eye shook out his hand. "Dressed like that, I thought you were some mercenary. Turns out you're just a brat." As he spoke, Scar-Eye drew a pistol and aimed at her head.
A hand suddenly settled on his shoulder.
Scar-Eye's smile froze.
He had brought six men today, every one of them a vicious character who had fought his way through the streets alongside him. Aside from his men, the only people in this unfinished building were that masked girl and a few officers who had been stunned with electricity. No one could possibly approach him without a sound. Yet that hand rested on his shoulder, its touch as light as someone greeting a friend.
He spun around, simultaneously aiming his gun behind him-
The muzzle was caught.
The hand gripped his gun barrel and bent the muzzle upward. Scar-Eye pulled the trigger without hesitation. A shot rang out, and the bullet flew over their heads. At such close range, the muzzle flash lit up the newcomer's face.
It was an angular face wearing a lazy smile, the sort that annoyed people just to look at it. That face stood in stark contrast to a torso that stretched a hoodie into skintight clothing. His body was built like a humanoid steamroller, yet he had the Asian face of a top-tier handsome man. Sharp brows, a straight nose, a clean jawline, and the faintest hint of languor in the upward curve of his lips. He looked less like he had come to fight than to watch the fun.
Gwen Stacy leaned in a corner, clutching her arm, and stared in a daze. She recognized that hoodie. The big guy at today's science fair had worn it, the one who had caused her to get bitten by a spider, then texted her an apology afterward. At the sight of his face, she instinctively held her breath. Back in the exhibition hall, she had only gotten a look at him wearing sunglasses and a cap. Now his face was fully exposed in the muzzle flash, and it looked better than anything she had imagined. Sharp brows, a straight nose, a jawline as crisp as if it had been measured with a ruler. Such a burly body paired with a face like that. Although he was Asian, well, it wasn't out of the question.
He had even apologized today. He knew he had caused her to get bitten by a spider and had specifically sent her a text. He was so tall and huge, yet he had taken the time to tell her he was sorry.
Now he had appeared here and saved her.
Gwen Stacy opened her mouth. Her heart pounded even harder than when the RPG had exploded. It was not as if she had never seen a handsome guy. There were plenty of good-looking boys at school, but not one had dropped from the sky when her dad was in danger. Not one could hold a gun barrel in one hand and still smile so casually. Not one had leisure to spare in a situation like this. But the next second, she felt every last filter shatter.
Because, at that very moment, Lin Xiao actually reached back and scratched his butt.
He scratched it twice, casually and without a trace of embarrassment, even looking as though he was enjoying it.
Gwen Stacy: ...
Just then, he spoke:
"We're all in the game here. Could you do me a solid?"