The damp, chilly moisture along the Thames, mixed with pungent coal smoke, cast mottled, fractured reflections of gas streetlamps onto the cold, sticky asphalt.
Amber stumbled haphazardly into the gloomy alleyway. The heavy stench of blood in the air intertwined with the foul odor of the storm drains, infiltrating her nose and mouth with inescapable persistence. With every heavy step forward, a raging fire seemed to burn fiercely deep within her abdomen. That agonizing, heart-wrenching pain made even taking a deep breath an extravagant luxury.
"Damn that Long Qianqian... she really didn't hold back, ugh..."
A sweet, metallic taste suddenly surged up her throat. Her vision went black, and another shocking mouthful of dark blood splashed against the cold, cast-iron lamp post.
Her vision began to blur and shake violently, her brain spinning with wave after wave of dizziness, and her ten fingers felt so ice-cold that they no longer seemed to belong to her body.
"Has the magic core... cracked? Damn it, that woman..."
The magical power within her, which once flowed smoothly and responded like an extension of her own limbs, had now plunged into complete, uncontrollable chaos. Deep inside the fractured core, an eerie, splintering sound echoed—one click after another, like the Grimfoot wielding an invisible hammer and gently tapping inside her chest.
The psychological pressure brought by that sound was far more terrifying than physical agony, for she knew better than anyone that it meant her life was heading toward irreversible exhaustion.
"I can't... fall in a place like this..."
She bit down hard on her lower lip until it bled, driven by a nearly frantic survival instinct as she forced her weakened, numb legs to keep moving forward.
At this moment, only a single thought screamed wildly in her mind: before her core completely shattered and her consciousness faded away, she had to find an absolutely safe corner to temporarily suppress her injuries. Even if it was just a mud-filled gutter or a cold wall corner, as long as it allowed her to survive this nightmarish ordeal.
Step, step, step.
A steady, unhurried leather-shoe stepping sound, carrying a playful rhythm like a cat toying with a mouse, abruptly shattered the dead silence of the ruins.
The footsteps came closer from a distance, every step landing precisely on Amber's taut nerves, as if the opponent was entirely certain she had nowhere to run and didn't need to waste a shred of energy chasing her down.
Then, a magnetic yet chilling male voice echoed leisurely from behind her:
"What's wrong, little calico cat? Did you eat a dirty rat in the sewer today and upset your stomach?"
The voice was low and melodic, but the tail end of the sentence rose slightly, carrying unmasked nonchalance and mockery, yet freezing the surrounding air into ice the moment it sounded.
Amber's spine stiffened abruptly, her pupils instantly shrinking into dangerous pinpricks. She didn't even need to turn around to clearly feel that overwhelming, tangible, terrifying pressure weighing down on the back of her neck like Mount Tai—heavy enough like an invisible hand that could easily snap her cervical spine at any moment.
A bleak moonlight barely managed to pierce through the thick cloud layer, stretching the newcomer's figure terribly long.
A tailored, sophisticated black special-issue uniform, trimmed with dark gold edges, gleamed with a cold and noble radiance under the moonlight. The honorary badge on his chest, symbolizing the highest authority of the Exorcism Police, radiated a suffocating authority in the night.
The newcomer was none other than Sirius, the captain of the Exorcism Police Special Operations Unit.
He looked down from above at the battered Amber, a trademark elegant smile always hanging on his lips, his eyes squinted into two narrow slits that completely concealed any true emotion in his gaze—save for a chilling desolation and frost bleeding faintly through those seams.
Amber forced back the tearing pain of her magic core, pressing her spine hard against the cold red brick wall, and squeezed out a blood-stained sneer from the corners of her mouth. Rather than showing cowardly fear at this moment, she preferred to use this frantic arrogance to show the other party that she never deigned to fawn and beg for mercy from a vicious hound.
"So it's the police hound chasing me down to my doorstep?" She let out a hoarse, piercing sneer, her golden eyes burning not with fear of death, but with a delirious, near-death flame. "Heh... Really appreciate Captain Sirius taking the trouble to grace me with your personal presence. What a pity, the things you're after aren't on me at all. Those unspeakable little gadgets from the laboratory drifted away with the wind long ago."
Sirius's always-squinted fox-like eyes twitched ever so slightly. The perfectly arched smile on his face froze for a brief half-second, and then the intent deepened even further.
"Little calico cat, your mouth is still as unlikable as ever."
He murmured softly, his tone as gentle as a lover's whisper, yet laden with a chill from the depths of an ice cellar. He strode forward on long legs, closing in on Amber step by step.
That gloved black hand slowly raised, a faint yet lethal pale magical energy dancing on his fingertips, like the Grim Reaper lightly sharpening its claws in the dark.
"It seems that you really saw a lot of interesting things over at the 'Abyss of Abandonment' today, and learned secrets you shouldn't have."
Sirius finally came to a halt just a step away from Amber. He towered over the blood-soaked, dangerous hunter, his condescending posture carrying a suffocating oppressive force. He leaned in slightly, his impeccably handsome face unexpectedly closing in on Amber. Even though he still kept his eyes squinted in a gentle, elegant smile, the threat at close quarters felt all the more blood-curdling.
He spoke in a whisper so faint it sounded like a cursed warning:
"However, haven't you ever heard an old saying?—Curiosity killed the cat."
"Cut the crap... If you're going to kill or carve me up, just get on with it."
Amber slowly closed her cat-like eyes, which still retained flecks of golden afterglow, resting her head limply against the rough, prickly red brick wall, waiting calmly for the final curtain call in the dead silence.
At this very moment, her body could no longer squeeze out any extra strength to resist, and even the energy to deliver sarcastic remarks was fading away along with her life. Despite all this, she had no intention of begging for mercy, not even once.
However, the fatal blow she expected never landed.
Sirius stopped in his tracks, a cruelly mocking, cat-and-mouse expression surfacing on his Greek-god-like perfect face. He squinted down at the frail Amber, who looked ready to draw her last breath at any second, a venomous, sinister gleam flashing faintly through his narrow slits.
His slender fingers lightly stroked his chin, his tone as casual as if he were discussing tonight's dinner menu, yet the words he uttered dripped with nauseating bloodlust:
"Get on with it? Before that, you still need to spit out the whereabouts of those core data files, Amber."
He tilted his head slightly, the upward curve of his mouth carrying a harsh and vicious taunt:
"Otherwise, I won't let you die so easily. What on earth should I do with this pretty skin of yours? Should I pull your fingers off one by one while you're still alive, or simply use this sword to carve up that proud face of yours into a little calico cat?"
He chuckled softly as if suddenly remembering something amusing:
"Oh, look at my memory—you already bear a feline mutant face anyway. For you, perhaps my merciful disfigurement might even count as a blessing?"
This vicious mockery sounded exceptionally grating in the empty, silent ruins of the alley. The heavy smell of blood hung in the air, and Sirius's step-by-step psychological warfare turned this late-night standoff into an ultimate torture of flesh and dignity.
Amber abruptly snapped her eyes open. Those golden cat-like eyes held not a shred of hesitation or submission, instead erupting with a fierce glare mixed with disdain and delirious near-death madness.
She forcefully spat out a glob of bloody froth mixed with fragments of her internal organs, squeezing a hoarse and sharp retort from the depths of her throat:
"I spit on you... I have nothing to say to you lot of police lapdogs."
She stared fixedly at Sirius's unchanging, squinty-eyed smiling face, her chest heaving violently. Even though every breath felt like swallowing countless steel knives alive, her words remained sharp as blades, piercing straight into the other man's sore spot:
"If you're going to kill me, just finish it quickly, you nagging, long-winded Chihuahua!"
"——You're asking for death!"
The trademark squinty-eyed smile on Sirius's face finally shattered completely. Those narrow eyes flew wide open, exposing the twisted, bone-chilling cruelty and blood-red glare deep within them.
Without wasting another half-word, his right hand reached precisely toward his waist.
Accompanied by a crisp, piercing chime of metal friction, an exorcism holy blade wreathed in chilling frost leaped instantly from its scabbard, its edge refracting a lethal gleam in the dim moonlight.
"Don't worry," Sirius's voice was frighteningly low, exceptionally calm amidst the nearly tangible killing intent, yet brimming with the sadistic thrill of slaughter. "I am going to strip your limbs off one by one with my own hands, and drag you back alive to the underground laboratory to dissect your internal organs—just to see if they're covered in filthy spots, just like this detestable skin of yours."
With a flash of cold light, the blade tore through the night, driving straight toward Amber's heart with decisive intent to kill.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5yMb2HRnpF
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