Cat and Mouse

Just then, Long Ming abruptly appeared at a window and pulled the trigger once more! "Ah!" A subordinate beside Tangke dropped instantly. "Damn it! He's still alive? Old Tu, storm the building with me and wipe this bastard out!" Enraged, Tangke charged toward the building with his last surviving squad member. Inside the building, Long Ming's sharp ears caught the sound of approaching footsteps downstairs. He immediately knew they were storming the place. He didn't bother camping the stairwell, wary that they might still have grenades. Decisively, he vaulted over the windowsill and dropped to the ground outside. Downstairs, Tangke urged Old Tu up the stairs. "Get up there!" Left with no choice, Old Tu braced himself and began climbing. Tangke hung back at the rear, creeping up slowly. When Tangke was halfway up the stairs, Long Ming suddenly appeared, raised his single-shot rifle, and fired point-blank. *Bang!* Tangke realized something was wrong, but just as he started to turn around, a bullet took him squarely in the back of the head. Blood instantly splattered everywhere. Hearing the shot, Old Tu reacted instantly and bolted back downstairs. Long Ming, waiting beside the doorway, swiftly cycled the bolt to reload, then leaned out and squeezed the trigger! *Bang!* Before Tuke could even reach the main exit, his head burst open. Long Ming immediately ran over to Tangke's corpse, snatched the automatic pistol and spare magazine, and quickly ransacked the backpack. He then darted out of the building and hurried toward Johnny's position. Johnny's hiding spot was scorched black from the explosion. Seeing this, Long Ming had initially assumed Johnny and the others were dead. To his surprise, Johnny pushed Doken's corpse aside, gasping desperately for air. "You're not dead?" Long Ming was somewhat taken aback. "Barely!" Johnny scrambled to his feet with difficulty. "Quick, let's go!" Long Ming hurried forward, leading Johnny in pursuit. *** Meanwhile, on the other side of the area, Felonka and his subordinates remained in relentless pursuit of Xiao Qi and the others, firing at them without pause. One rat after another was gunned down. "This won't work, Sister Qi! If this goes on, we're all going to die here!" Yun Yu said anxiously to Xiao Qi. Xiao Qi was equally panicked. Just as they sprinted to the end of the street, they froze! A long, crumbling wall blocked their path. Beyond the wall stood a massive, hemispherical laboratory building constructed of steel. "It's a dead end!" Tang Ye shouted in despair. Just then, Xiao Qi spotted a breach in the wall not far away and urgently yelled to the group, "Over there! Quick, everyone get inside!" Snapping back to their senses, the crowd surged through the breach and dashed toward the hemispherical laboratory building. Seeing Xiao Qi and her group cornered and fleeing toward the lab, Felonka sneered and barked to his men, "Seeking their own graves. Move in! Don't let a single one escape!" "Yes, sir!" the men responded excitedly. Before long, Xiao Qi and the others burst inside the laboratory. The ground-floor hall was immense. The center of the interior was entirely open, anchored by a colossal steel pillar. This central pillar rose straight to the ceiling, branching into aerial walkways that connected to perimeter rooms and circular corridors on the upper levels. "Sister Qi, where do we run?" the others asked in terror. "Head upstairs and scatter! Find places to hide!" Xiao Qi was out of options. All they could do now was stall for time and pray that Sister Mila and the rest would arrive soon. "Understood!" Hearing her command, the crowd scattered at once, rushing toward various stairwells. Xiao Qi led Yun Yu and the others toward the central staircase straight ahead. Just then, Felonka and his men burst through the entrance. They looked up just in time to see Xiao Qi's group break apart and disappear into the stairwells. "Rats will always be rats. You really think hide-and-seek will save you? Ruimeng, you and a few others guard every exit in the hall. The rest of you, come with me—let's drag every last one of these vermin into the light!" After handing down orders, Felonka led his men in pursuit. Watching the enemy storm up after them, the Rat Legion members panicked, scattering into different rooms and passages. "Heh heh!" Armed with firearms, the City of Sin players unleashed volleys from a distance. Several Rat Legion members were gunned down on the spot. Xiao Qi's heart bled at the sight, but there was nothing she could do except run for her life. Felonka immediately locked onto Xiao Qi at the front of the pack. A savage grin spread across his face as he led several subordinates after her. Meanwhile, the fleeing members of the Rat Legion ducked into various lab rooms to hide. Of course, not all of them were resigned to waiting for death. Some members decided to risk it all, crouching in blind spots with knives and axes, ready to ambush their pursuers. *Bang! Bang!* Gunfire echoed from every corner of the laboratory. One after another, the ambushing Rat Legion members were taken down, with only a rare few managing a successful strike. In truth, almost every player selected for the combat squad was properly trained, far beyond what ordinary players could match. In a long corridor, a young woman with a delicate, oval face sprinted in sheer terror into a spacious room. The room was filled with experimental equipment and rows of metal cabinets. Hearing approaching footsteps outside, she quickly pulled open a cabinet and slipped inside. Seconds later, an armed man stepped through the doorway. He scanned the room, his gaze locking onto a metal cabinet whose door was left slightly ajar. An excited grin spread across his face. "Little mouse, where are you hiding?" Inside the cabinet, the woman's face twisted in sheer dread, and she instinctively clamped both hands over her mouth. The man strode up to the metal cabinet and eagerly yanked the door open. "Found you—" Instantly, a monstrous creature was revealed. It had a deformed head with two grayish-white eyes, a maw bristling with razor-sharp teeth, and a humanoid frame covered in gray skin that clung to its bones like melted asphalt. Its hands ended in razor-sharp claws. The smile vanished from the man's face, replaced by absolute horror. "Ah—!" Before he could fire, he was tackled to the ground. A shrill, bloodcurdling scream rang out. Hiding inside her own cabinet, the woman trembled uncontrollably at the sound. Soon, however, the screaming ceased, and everything fell deathly quiet. Forcing down her terror, she leaned toward the crack in the cabinet door to peer outside. She saw neither person nor monster; all danger seemed to have passed. *Phew...* The woman let out a quiet sigh of relief and gently pushed the door open. Yet in the very next second, a hideous head leaned down from the top of the cabinet. "Ah!" A piercing shriek tore through the air. *** Elsewhere, Xiao Qi and her group fled all the way to the top floor of the laboratory, with Felonka and his men hot on their heels. "Sister Qi, they're catching up!" Yun Yu glanced back, her face pale with terror. "Over there!" Xiao Qi looked around, spotted a corridor ahead, and immediately led them inside. Felonka and his men pursued close behind. Not a single person noticed the warning sign hanging at the corridor entrance: *Danger: Restricted Area. Do Not Enter.* "Run! Run all you want!" Felonka was in no rush to kill them, thoroughly savoring the thrill of the hunt. Xiao Qi and the others sprinted frantically down the passage, quickly reaching its end. A damaged black metal door came into view, freezing air constantly seeping through the fractured opening. "So cold!" Yun Yu shivered involuntarily. "Is this a cold storage room?" Tang Ye asked, his face grim. "Get inside!" With no time to hesitate, Xiao Qi led Tang Ye and the others straight through the broken door. They entered a dim laboratory. The space was packed with various instruments and machines. Some indicator lights were still on, suggesting they were still operating. Under normal circumstances, Xiao Qi and the others would have investigated such a place thoroughly. Right now, however, she could only push forward, searching desperately for another way out. Yet when they reached the far end, a solid metal wall snuffed out their last glimmer of hope. In front of the wall stood a massive machine embedded with a transparent glass chamber, thick with swirling white mist. Faintly visible through the glass, a dark figure lay inside. "It's over. A dead end," Tang Ye muttered, their hearts sinking into despair.