Alex felt it, this wasn't his cousin. His real cousin would have glared at him, maybe even threatened to smack the back of his head for questioning her.
This woman was just focused on dragging him into the shadows.
Not far behind them, completely unnoticed by the morning crowd, two men in heavy black robes matched their pace, sticking closely to the edges of the alleyways.
"Hey, I don't expect this new girl to be an expert disguiser," one of the men whispered to the other, a nasty grin on his face. "She didn't even speak much but already fooled the target without causing a scene."
"What can you say, she was the one personally selected by Lady Clara herself... and also awakened a special profession." the second man chuckled darkly, his eyes lingering on Alex's narrow waist and naturally swaying hips ahead. "I must say, Lady Clara's taste over men is quite weird."
Back on the street, Alex's heart was hammering against his ribs, a chilling suspicion creeping down his spine… it all screamed danger.
Although he felt deeply suspicious, he forced himself to act completely normal.
He let his shoulders slump submissively and allowed himself to be dragged along, playing the part of a confused, weak youth.
He didn't want to alert her.
Now that he had secretly broken through to be a C-Rank Awakener, he had the raw physical strength to snap her grip in half if he wanted to, but he needed to know exactly who he was dealing with first.
He usually didn't use his Appraisal Eye on others.
In a world full of powerful cultivators, randomly spying on people with system skills could easily trigger someone's mana defenses and attract trouble.
But right now, his gut told him his life was on the line.
Taking a steadying breath, Alex focused his gaze squarely on the back of the woman pulling him.
Deep inside his dark irises, a faint golden hue flickered to life.
[Skill Activated: Appraisal Eye]
Instantly, a sleek, translucent blue interface popped up in his vision, hovering directly over the fake Elena's head.
[ Name: Liria ]
[ Race: Human ]
[ Profession: Thief, Dis ]
[ Gene Ability: Shapeshifter ]
[ Cultivation Level: D-Rank ]
"Fuck!!" Alex's blood ran ice cold as he stared at the glowing blue text hovering over the back of her head.
'A D-Rank Thief. A shapeshifter, although strong, but not much for my current self.. However, is she alone?' The woman gripping his wrist wasn't his cousin at all.
A wave of panic hit his chest, but he forced himself to take a deep, steadying breath.
He didn't jerk his arm away or scream out. Instead, he let his shoulders slump, acting like a meek, obedient civilian while his eyes subtly darted left and right from beneath the heavy shadow of his hood.
He needed to see if she was alone, or if this was a coordinated trap.
Without moving his head too much, he scanned the morning crowd. At first, everything looked like a normal, busy street.
But as his gaze swept past a bakery stall across the road, he noticed two men in heavy black robes moving in tandem with them.
They were staying very far back, blending into the morning shadows and keeping a wide distance so they wouldn't draw any attention.
Alex focused his vision, trying to trigger his Appraisal Eye on the two trailing figures, but they were simply too far away for the skill to read their stats or cultivation levels without him turning around and staring them down directly.
He casually checked the street a few more times as they walked, letting his eyes wander like a curious, nervous kid, but it was just those two men trailing behind.
No one else was watching.
"Why are we going down this way? The main patrol station is back on the avenue," Alex asked softly, keeping his voice breathy and pitched a little higher to play the part of a defenseless, confused youth.
"We're meeting the captain at a temporary outpost. Stop asking questions and just keep up," the fake Elena snapped back, her voice completely lacking his cousin's usual underlying warmth.
He forced himself to be dragged along without offering any physical resistance. His brain, however, was rapidly calculating his options.
With his current C-Rank strength and his Major Achievement in the Flowing Spirit Sword Forms, he was confident he could overpower a D-Rank thief without catching his breath.
If it came down to a raw fight, he could break her grip and snap her neck right here on the sidewalk.
But the thought of where she was taking him made him cautious.
Why were they steering him away from the crowds? If there was a hidden ambush waiting at her intended location, maybe magical restraints, poisoned traps, or higher-level experts, walking blindly into their territory would be suicidal.
They reached the end of the block.
Up ahead, the fake Elena slowed down slightly, preparing to take a sharp left turn into an empty, narrow alleyway that smelled faintly of damp brick and rotting garbage.
Her attention was focused forward, scouting the shadows of the alley to make sure the coast was clear for the kidnapping. Her grip on his wrist relaxed just a fraction of an inch.
That was the only opening Alex needed.
In a split second, Alex twisted his delicate wrist, using the flexible, slippery grace of his Serpentine Musculature to slide his hand right out of her grasp like a smooth snake.
Before the fake Elena could even register the loss of contact or spin around, Alex bolted.
He didn't turn back to look at her. He just pushed off the pavement and ran straight past the turn, heading down the right side of the street toward the older industrial district of Sector 4.
"Hey! What the fuck… come back here!" the fake Elena yelled out, her disguised voice cracking with sudden, genuine panic as he slipped right through her fingers.
Behind him, Alex heard the sharp scuff of boots against cobblestones as the shapeshifter and the two trailing men broke into a sprint to chase after him.
Alex kept his head down, his dark hair blowing back against his face under the hood.
He didn't use his full C-Rank speed; if he used his maximum agility, he would vanish from their sight in seconds, blowing his cover as an ordinary, weak civilian.
Instead, he carefully regulated his pace. He ran just fast enough to stay out of their reach, making his strides look clumsy and frantic, like a panicked teenager running for his life.
Every heavy step caused his soft, developing chest to bounce against the restrictive band of the sports bra, the rhythmic friction sending tight, distracting waves of heat spreading across his pale skin.
He guided the chase away from the roads with civilians, purposely leading his pursuers into a dark, abandoned corner between two closed-down brick warehouses.
He turned the corner, his sneakers squeaking loudly on the damp asphalt, only to find a towering, ten-foot-tall brick wall blocking the path ahead.
It was a dead end.
"Fuck!!" Alex stopped abruptly. He slumped his upper body forward, resting his small, pale hands on his knees as he pretended to be completely out of breath.
He let his chest heave wildly, sucking in loud, ragged gasps of the cool morning air.
To make it look real, he let a small, breathless whine slip from his lips, playing the part of an exhausted, trapped prey.
Seconds later, rapid footsteps echoed at the entrance of the alleyway. The shadows shifted as the fake Elena came running around the corner, quickly followed by the two heavy-set men in dark black robes.
They spread out instantly, blocking the only way out of the narrow brick corridor.
"Run away now, you little brat!" the fake Elena panted, a nasty smirk replacing her previously stoic expression as she blocked the alley exit. "Let's see where you can hide from us now."
Her face and body began to shift right before his eyes, returning to its original form.
The illusion of Elena's athletic build rippled like disturbed water.
Her height shrunk by an inch, her shoulders softened, and her long dark brown hair rapidly began to turn a bright, striking blond.
When the transformation settled, her face was still undeniably beautiful, but completely different from Elena's, she had sharp, foxlike features, thin, arched eyebrows, and a pair of calculating, pale green eyes that looked at him like he was a caged animal.
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