I've Fooled You All!

"Those guys are catching up. They've blocked the original route with armored vehicles. Plan B!"

"I know, I know. Don't worry, I'll handle it."

Camellia's companions' voices echoed in her ear. She arched an eyebrow, her mood quite pleasant as she spun the steering wheel with one hand. She began humming a delightful melody, looking like a huntress delivering her prey to the slaughterhouse.

From the corner of her eye, she spotted several land-air vehicles gaining on her in the rearview mirror. Propping her face on one hand, she shifted gears and worked the clutch, turning the wheel with precision. The violent metal beast was tamed into perfect submission by the girl, roaring as it smashed through the roadside iron guardrail. She made a sharp turn onto another road, simultaneously dropping several cone-shaped roadblocks that spewed a massive amount of purple smoke; the electric arcs dancing within the smoke were designed to disrupt the warning systems of the land-air vehicles.

The land-air vehicles chasing her slammed straight into the roadblocks. The impact sent the entire chassis flying into the air before they crashed onto the pavement not far from the jeep. Their float power units sputtered out after a moment, sending small showers of sparks flying.

A satisfied smile curved Camellia's lips as she handled the pursuit with ease. She led the dozen or so land-air vehicles into a maze-like section of the old city district. Due to the heavy industrial pollution of Dragonfly Town, most military-industrial enterprises discharged their exhaust and wastewater here. As far back as ten years ago, this old city district had become a ghost town. The Mountain Crow family planned to completely demolish the area within the next three years, but for now, it was the girl's personal playground.

With a sudden, sharp turn, Camellia's jeep fired a giant high-fiber net, snagging three of the pursuing land-air vehicles in mid-air.

The electronic mist radiating from the netting caused the land-air vehicles to malfunction instantly.

"Camellia, stop playing around. The monitoring facilities are about to be restored. These new models are connected to Universal Heavy Industries' smart Skynet. If you cause any more of a scene, we won't be able to handle it if the military drones show up."

Her companion's urgent shout came through the earbud. Camellia waved her hand dismissively. "Relax, I'll lose them. Give me two more minutes. The bigger the scene, the better. I can't wait to make our name known to more people, to strike fear into the hearts of those villains."

Her companions didn't know what else to say. Everyone knew this dark-red-haired girl was headstrong and willful, refusing to listen to anyone—a spoiled little princess through and through. Yet, she possessed an inexplicably massive amount of funding. After she joined the Night Walkers, she had managed to turn an obscure small organization into a household name in just one month. Now, almost the entirety of Dragonfly Town had heard of their exploits.

[Camellia: Yuzu, Yuzu, did you see that?]

[Yuzu: It's quite something.]

Camellia tilted her head proudly.

[Camellia: Of course. Don't worry, I keep my promises. I'll cover you; no one in Dragonfly Town will dare touch you.]

[Yuzu: You said the whole of Red Heaven before.]

Camellia let out a hum, taking a moment during the life-or-death chase to text Xu Xiaoyou.

[Camellia: Did I say that?]

[Camellia: Whatever, I'm speeding up!]

Camellia gripped the steering wheel with both hands, her eyes fixed on the scenery blurring past. The bitter taste of the bitter-gourd-flavored lollipop in her mouth gave way to a lingering sweetness. The girl floored the gas, charging into a tunnel and leaving the vehicles behind her far in the dust.

The jeep drove steadily. Seconds before the deadline, she spotted a large truck that slowed down to let her catch up. As the cargo doors slowly opened, several companions were already waiting inside. She could hear their voices clearly without needing her communication device.

"Camellia, if you do this again, we won't bring you on the next mission!" a girl with a ponytail wearing a sparrow mask scolded her in a low voice.

"It's like this every time. If something goes wrong one day, every single one of us could be caught because of you. Have you thought about the consequences?" the leader-like woman wearing an owl mask said, crossing her arms with a blank expression.

"I said from the beginning we shouldn't have let this girl join us. She's going to get us all killed sooner or later," a youth wearing a nightjar mask added coldly.

Another heavily modified jeep backed out from the truck's cargo hold. Camellia saw an elderly man with a kind and gentle face in the driver's seat. His deep, tranquil eyes held a sharp, eagle-like intensity. His blank license plate shifted to match the one on her jeep.

Camellia gave the elderly man an OK gesture. He was the old butler who had watched her grow up. No matter what she did, he was always by her side. She had absolute confidence in this man; as long as he appeared, he could clean up any mess she left behind. It had been that way since she was a child.

She stepped on the accelerator, and the jeep beneath her gave a heavy grunt as it drove into the truck's cargo hold. As the doors closed once more, only one jeep remained driving in the vast, deep tunnel, completing a perfect bait-and-switch.

Before long, the silence of the tunnel was broken by a cacophony of horns. More cargo trucks and private cars appeared ahead, and the group's truck blended perfectly into the flow, following the private cars out of the tunnel.

Those private car owners didn't know why they were there; they only knew that someone had paid them a large sum of credit points to gather here at this time of night and maintain a specific speed.

Upon hearing the city radio broadcast that the wanted vehicle had entered the tunnel, these private car owners realized what was happening and simultaneously increased their speed.

The moment the jeep burst out of the tunnel, the Sky Eye surveillance system, which had restored its signal, scanned the license plate. It locked onto the vehicle and immediately sent an alert to the Mountain Crow family. Countless land-air vehicles swarmed the jeep, eventually forcing it to a stop at the side of the road.

A member of the Mountain Crow family stepped out of his car, cursing loudly, "Dammit, what a rotten day. Who the hell thinks they can provoke our Mountain Crow family? We finally caught you. You're going to pay for this!"

"You in the car, get out!"

Someone pounded on the window. A dense crowd gathered behind him—innocent onlookers and even more men from the Mountain Crow family.

The jeep remained motionless, like a wounded, crouching beast. The heavy breathing of the engine faded into a whine as it shut off. Feeling like he was losing face, a burly man from the Mountain Crow family spat on the ground. His arm muscles bulged as he swung a fist, shattering the jeep's window. But as he reached in to drag the occupant out, he froze.

Everyone froze. The car was empty. There was no girl, and there was no Chi Tianyi. They had all been fooled.

At that moment, a sharp-eyed individual reacted, pointing at a red doll on the empty seat with a look of terror. "There's a bomb!"

The cloth-sewn red doll emitted the girl's uncontrollable, manic laughter. It clapped its short, stubby round hands together, its body trembling violently. Its eyes glowed red, and the beeping frequency grew faster and faster. Time seemed to freeze at the final second as everyone near the car threw themselves to the ground.

The red doll's head tilted to the side as it collapsed onto the driver's seat. Its short limbs twitched once and went still. The girl's mocking voice rang out:

"It's not going to explode. I've fooled you all, dummies!"