New York is okay today?

Chapter 4

"50th floor," New York was more useful than any logistics personnel, but when it came to the mission objective, his tone became urgent. "Keep up with them! When the last person passes by you, follow my instructions!"

Throughout the journey, Laleye relied entirely on repeatedly hypnotizing herself that she was playing a game to stay calm. If she hadn't been using someone else's body, she wouldn't have been able to accurately follow New York's instructions.

She took a deep breath and watched the orange fan representing the security guard's field of vision repeatedly pass over her position. Suddenly, at a certain moment, everything around her became clear.

"Follow them!" New York commanded.

Almost instantly, Laleye transformed into the image of one of the armed personnel. She took a step and followed behind the last person, running to the elevator.

The armed personnel filed into the elevator, and Laleye followed, turning to face the elevator doors like everyone else.

She could feel everyone's gaze encompassing her, and the orange fans on her body overlapped heavily. If someone were to count the number of people in the elevator, she would definitely be exposed under the barrel of a gun.

The elevator quickly ascended, and the narrow space felt oppressive. Laleye silently counted the floors, and finally, with a "ding," the elevator smoothly came to a stop.

The stage objective in her imagination was crossed out by a line, and a new objective appeared on the next line.

【Find the target hiding in the ventilation duct】

"Have you found the person?"

"Found him. Fifteen meters ahead on the right. He's in the ventilation duct. The vent is in the third room ahead, but if you go in now, you won't be able to avoid the surveillance," New York said.

"?" Laleye was puzzled. "Why avoid it?"

Wasn't her goal to create an opportunity for the child hiding in the ventilation duct to escape? Just now, she hadn't reached the location yet, but now she was on the 50th floor. Of course, she should attract attention however she could.

Anyway, she could resurrect at full health if she died.

She took a step forward, suddenly grabbed the neck of the enemy in front of her, intending to choke him unconscious. However, considering the opponent's equipment, she exerted a little more force than before.

With a "click," before the opponent could even struggle, his body went limp.

Laleye was taken aback, and it took her a moment to react. She then took the gun from the opponent, and when she looked down, various highlights had already marked the key points on the firearm.

Before Laleye could follow the instructions, a gunshot rang out, and her chest suddenly exploded in pain. Then, everything went black before her eyes.

The bright red word "DEATH" popped up in the center of her vision.

"You're dead," New York said.

The heavy gun slipped from her hand, but before it could hit the ground, another pair of hands seized the grip forcefully.

Laleye gasped heavily.

At the moment of death, Laleye's body disintegrated into points of light. However, New York hadn't lied to her. In the next breath, Laleye's vision lit up once again, and a new body formed instantly without even the process of falling down and getting up again. She resurrected at full health on the spot.

Laleye breathed a sigh of relief.

"Is there a laser sight?" she asked.

"Just shoot casually, no need to aim too accurately," New York replied.

As they communicated, Laleye picked up a machine gun. The commotion from earlier had already attracted the armed personnel in front, and their guns were now aimed at her. The trajectories of the bullets were marked in her field of vision. Without hesitation, Laleye pulled the trigger, and bullets poured out. In an instant, the opposing armed personnel fell to the ground, their heads exploding with each shot, blood splattering everywhere.

...So it was automatic aiming?

Laleye recalled the wind that had supported her earlier. If the wind could affect the trajectory of bullets, it could certainly automatically adjust their direction.

In a moment of distraction, her arm suddenly hurt as a bullet pierced through her flesh, leaving a gruesome hole. Laleye couldn't hold onto the gun handle anymore, and then another bullet tore through her knee, causing her to stagger and kneel down.

"You can't stand still and shoot. Move," New York instructed her.

As he spoke, Laleye died again. This time, she learned her lesson. After resurrecting at full health, she immediately rolled away, firing wildly as she moved.

With the wind automatically adjusting, there was no problem with accuracy. She could even clear the area while jumping around like a ballet dancer. Before long, all the armed personnel in the team had fallen, and blood pooled on the marble floor.

"The nearest team is on their way. You have 17 seconds," New York reminded her.

Laleye had already changed guns twice just now. She threw away the empty gun, stepped over the bodies, and picked up two more.

"Has he left?" she asked.

"He... hasn't moved," New York sounded a bit confused, then fell silent.

Laleye was also puzzled, but she wasn't about to stand still. She lay down in the pile of corpses, smearing blood on herself. Then she heard New York's voice, clearly troubled: "He's infected... He's in a coma due to a high fever."

Laleye took a sharp breath in her mind.

She remembered what New York had said earlier—the research institute was studying some kind of extraterrestrial virus. There was no doubt that the child had been infected with this virus.

"The lab has developed an antidote, still in the trial phase... But it's worth a try," New York hesitated to say.

【Find the antidote in the laboratory】

Laleye felt like she heard the sound of the stage objective changing.

Rescuing the person was paramount. Taking advantage of the new enemies passing by her, Laleye suddenly played dead where she stood. Swiftly, she grabbed her gun and aimed precisely at them, firing a barrage of shots. After dispatching this new team, Laleye turned and walked away. "Where's the lab?"

The lab wasn't far, but there were quite a few enemies on the way. Laleye fought her way through, dying and resurrecting several times. New York's death count had reached 12, but she guessed she was more terrifying to the enemies—being virtually unkillable and a c***k shot. If they weren't mentally strong, they'd have cracked long ago.

By now, though, the coast was clear. When Laleye reached the lab door, there was no one around.

One hand clutching her gun and the other gripping a half-dead researcher—New York had reminded her to leave someone to open the lab—Laleye dragged the researcher by the neck to the door. The system scanned his iris, and the lab doors silently opened, releasing a burst of white mist. Laleye walked into the lab, where the freezer containing the antidote was marked with a golden arrow.

"You need a remote key control to open it. Any attempt at violence will trigger a high-voltage shock," New York said.

In other words, there was no way to open the freezer now.

Without a word, Laleye walked straight to the freezer.

"Can I smash it open?" she suddenly asked.

New York fell silent for a moment. "It will be very painful."

Of course, it would be painful... A high-voltage shock could fry a person in an instant. But how much longer could the boy in the ventilation duct hold on if she delayed any further?

One second of pain for a chance at life. It was worth it.

Taking a deep breath, Laleye adjusted her punching stance and struck the freezer with all her might!

There was a flash of electricity, the glass shattered, and Laleye's body disintegrated into points of light. In the next moment, her body reformed, but the residual pain in her consciousness made her body convulse uncontrollably.

Damn it.

Although she had died so many times along the way, this time, the feeling of "she died" was the strongest for Laleye.

Shaking, she cursed countless profanities in her mind, repeatedly taking deep breaths until the instinctive convulsions subsided. Then, she stood up and retrieved the antidote from the broken freezer.

Her body was unharmed now, and of course, her consciousness wasn't either, even though things clearly weren't as simple as that... But Laleye didn't regret it.

For some reason, this time New York didn't comment on her actions.

With the antidote in hand, the objective changed.

【Inject the antidote for Peter Parker】

With the serum in hand, Laleye repeated her previous actions, guided by New York, avoiding the incoming enemies to return to Peter's location as quickly as possible. She removed the cover of the ventilation duct and crawled inside, finding the boy lying in the duct.

Laleye crawled over and flipped him over. "Where do I inject?"

He was indeed a child, with a slight frame hidden under loose clothing. Laleye couldn't see his face clearly, not just because of the dim light, but also because he wore a red mask over his face, concealing his features. His eyes were covered by goggles, which looked remarkably like... swimming goggles.

The fever caused by the virus had clouded his brain, and despite Laleye's approach, he didn't open his eyes, only his rapid breathing could be heard. New York highlighted the injection site on Peter's body with a red light. Laleye rolled up his sleeve, revealing his upper arm. She felt a bit of his thin muscle, which was drenched in cold sweat, contrasting with Peter's incredibly hot skin.

She injected the serum into Peter, not waiting to see if it took effect. New York's reminder came immediately: "Fourteen people will arrive in this room in 10 seconds."

Red arrows appeared in the ventilation duct. Laleye hoisted Peter on her back, followed the direction indicated by the arrows, avoiding the pursuing enemies, and crawled through the ventilation duct to another opening. They were all drawn to the lab, leaving the surroundings silent. With Peter on her back, Laleye ran as fast as she could, quickly finding the stairs to the rooftop. She rushed up, kicked open the door, and the howling wind blew past her. The empty helipad outside the door suddenly came into view.

They weren't far from the top floor to begin with, but Laleye didn't know why New York guided her to the top. They didn't have any means of transportation, and it would be even harder to escape from the top floor.

Surely they weren't expecting a helicopter to come and rescue them?