Free Web NovelChapter 38: 38 | Assassin!
Dexter sat in the front passenger seat while the SUV rolled through the bustling streets of the City.
Morning sunlight reflected off towering glass buildings as streams of vehicles flowed across the highways. Advertisements flickered on massive billboards. Some advertised hero gear. Others promoted dungeon raiding gear or cultivation supplements. One massive billboard displayed the face of a famous hero winking at the camera above the words "Protect Tomorrow, Today."
Below the billboards, the city moved with its usual energy. Pedestrians crowded the sidewalks. Food vendors called out from street corners. Children laughed as they walked to school in small groups.
Occasionally, awakened heroes streaked across the distant skyline, leaving faint trails of light behind them as they headed toward missions only they knew about. Some flew. Some ran across rooftops. Others rode specialized vehicles that hummed with mana.
In the vehicle behind Dexter, Selene sat in the middle of the back seat with her eyes closed. Her silver-white hair rested neatly over her shoulders. Her hands lay calmly in her lap. She was listening to the familiar rhythm of the city.
Beside the window, Mira rested comfortably in the chair. Her seatbelt was fastened securely across her chest.
She silently admired the city outside, watching buildings and people pass by through the glass. The sunlight caught her pale skin and made her look almost delicate.
On the opposite side, Lyra leaned against the door, watching everything through her AI glasses. The smart lenses continuously translated the sounds around her into text.
[Car horn. Left side. Thirty meters.]
[Engine. Front. Close.]
[Wind. Moderate.]
She found it fascinating how much information she could gather just from reading those simple labels.
Dexter had his eyes closed as well.
He wasn’t sleeping. Far from it.
Instead, he was silently circulating the Primordial Universe Star Scripture, using its profound breathing method to suppress the unbearable pain that still lingered throughout his body. Every breath followed a specific pattern. Inhale for four counts. Hold for seven. Exhale for eight. Each cycle pushed mana through his meridians in tiny, controlled bursts.
Every nerve felt as though it were being stabbed by countless needles.
The pain he had absorbed from Mira, Selene, and Lyra hadn’t disappeared. Like a fire that refused to go out no matter how much water he poured on it.
His body had merely begun adapting to it.
The human body was remarkably adaptable. Given enough time, it could grow accustomed to almost any level of suffering. But adaptation wasn’t the same as healing. The pain was still there.
Fortunately, the cultivation technique continuously soothed his nerves, preventing the agony from affecting his expression. The mana flowed through his pathways like cool water over a burn. It didn’t heal the damage, but it kept the pain manageable.
---
The SUV continued moving smoothly along the elevated highway. The driver hummed quietly to himself, keeping a steady speed in the middle lane.
Then —
Buzz...
A faint sound brushed past Dexter’s enhanced hearing.
It was so soft that it resembled a mosquito flying beside his ear. Even awakeners with enhanced hearing might have dismissed it as background noise.
But Dexter didn’t.
His eyes snapped open.
"...?"
Slowly, he turned toward the driver.
His pupils contracted.
A perfectly round hole had appeared on the side of the driver’s head.
For a brief second...
Dexter couldn’t comprehend what he was seeing. One moment the driver was fine, humming his little tune. The next moment, there was a hole in his head.
Then blood slowly trickled down the driver’s temple before dripping onto his collar.
The driver’s lifeless eyes rolled upward, showing only white. His mouth fell open slightly. His hands went limp on the steering wheel.
His head slumped forward onto the horn.
"HOOOOONK —"
The horn blared continuously.
The steering wheel jerked violently to the right as the driver’s full weight fell against it.
The SUV immediately veered across the highway, cutting across two lanes in an instant.
Only then did realization strike Dexter like a bolt of lightning.
The driver was dead.
A sniper.
Someone had just killed the driver with a single shot.
Without hesitating, Dexter lunged forward.
His left hand seized the steering wheel while his right shoved the driver’s corpse aside. The body slumped against the window with a sickening thud. Dexter pulled the wheel hard to the left, barely preventing the vehicle from crashing into the guardrail.
"Get down!" he roared.
"Assassin!"
The shout exploded through the car like a bomb.
Selene reacted instantly.
Despite being blind, she trusted Dexter without question.
She immediately pulled Mira downward while shielding her with her own body.
Lyra didn’t hesitate either.
The warning flashed across her AI glasses almost instantly. The text appeared in bold red letters.
[ASSASSIN — GET DOWN]
She ducked beneath the window, pressing herself against the seat to avoid the line of fire.
Dexter lowered his own body while struggling to keep control of the speeding vehicle. The SUV was still moving forward at highway speed with no driver. The engine revved loudly as the car drifted between lanes.
Horns blared across the highway as terrified drivers tried to avoid the out-of-control vehicle.
Cars scattered in every direction. One minivan swerved so hard it nearly rolled over. A delivery truck slammed its brakes, sending crates tumbling inside its cargo hold.
Dexter gritted his teeth.
Where...?
Where is the sniper...?
His hearing expanded to its absolute limit.
The world around him suddenly became incredibly clear. Every sound within hundreds of meters flowed into his mind simultaneously. It was overwhelming.
Then —
Click.
A tiny metallic sound.
Barely audible. Like a pen being clicked in a quiet room.
But to Dexter...
It sounded like thunder.
Someone was chambering another sniper round.
His eyes narrowed.
Above.
Overhead bridge.
The sound had come from the bridge they were approaching. The concrete overpass that stretched across the highway approximately two hundred meters ahead.
Without even looking, Dexter instantly slammed his head downward.
A split second later —
"BANG!"
The bullet pierced straight through the windshield. The glass didn’t shatter immediately. The round punched a clean hole through it, sending a spiderweb of cracks radiating outward from the impact point.
The bullet flew exactly through the space where his head had been less than a heartbeat earlier. The round continued through the cabin and tore out through the rear window in a shower of shattered glass.
Glass fragments rained down onto the back seat.
The girls froze.
Had Dexter reacted even a fraction of a second slower...
