Wind and snow polished the coastal highway's asphalt to a mirror shine.
Inside the taxi, the heater roared, mixing stale leather with the acrid stench of cheap cigarettes.
"Just my damn luck, having to drive in weather like this."
The balding driver gripped the wheel with white knuckles, his eyes practically pressed against the ice-crusted windshield.
In the back seat, Ethan pulled his ill-fitting coat tighter, completely sheltering Lily in his shadow.
The little girl slept fitfully.
Even in dreams, her frostbitten hands clutched that half-empty plastic bag with desperate determination.
It represented three months of dignity earned from dumpster diving—even with the coins gone, she couldn't bear to throw it away.
Light.
Blinding white beams pierced the rear windshield without warning.
The cabin blazed like daylight.
Ethan looked up, eyes finding the rearview mirror.
Two modified xenon headlights clung to the taxi's bumper, less than ten feet behind.
Engine noise drowned out the storm.
Within the V8's roar came the sharp ring of metal on metal.
"What the hell! Learn to drive!"
The driver started to roll down his window to curse.
WHAM!
Massive force struck.
The taxi crumpled like an empty soda can, rear end caving in, tires spinning wildly in the slush as the front end swung toward the guardrail.
"Brakes! The brakes aren't working!"
The driver stomped the pedal frantically, his face draining of color.
In the mirror, the attacking vehicle bared its fangs.
A matte-black armored Hummer, its front end welded with a blood-grooved steel ram.
Behind the wheel sat a mountain of flesh, one hand steering while the other stuffed a bleeding raw steak into his mouth.
Codename: Gluttony.
"Found you, little mouse."
Gluttony chewed the raw meat, blood dripping down his chin onto the steering wheel.
The engine roared.
The steel ram aimed for the taxi's gas tank again.
This time, not to push—to crush.
"Mmm... Daddy..."
A pained whimper came from his arms.
The violent impact had jolted Lily awake.
Her face went chalk-white, hands covering her mouth, chest heaving.
"Daddy... Lily feels dizzy... gonna be sick... it hurts..."
Watching his daughter curl up in agony, the gentle facade in Ethan's eyes cracked inch by inch.
In its place came deathly stillness.
Deep in his retina, crimson data streams surged like molten lava.
**[WARNING: Extreme physiological distress detected in offspring!]**
**[Classification: Severe motion sickness/terror!]**
**[Distress threshold: BREACHED!]**
**[Authority unlocked: God's Eye - City Traffic Control (Transportation Hub Edition)]**
**[Note: Traffic lights are mortal law, but now they're keys on your piano.]**
The world deconstructed before his eyes.
The city's dark nightscape transformed into countless intersecting lines and points of light.
Every signal light, every surveillance camera pulsed on his retina, awaiting commands.
Ethan pressed one hand to the back of Lily's head, cushioning her cheek against his chest to block the outside world.
His other hand pulled out the cracked-screen burner phone.
"Driver."
His voice was quiet, emotionless, yet it instantly silenced the panicking man in front.
"Close your eyes and floor it. Don't you dare let up until I say stop, or I'll snap your neck."
The driver shuddered.
That tone wasn't a request.
It was an order.
Driven by primal fear of death, the driver slammed the accelerator.
VROOOM!
The ancient taxi released a dying roar, carving a crooked path through the snow as it hurtled toward the red-light intersection ahead.
Cross-traffic flowed like a river. Forty-five seconds left on the red.
"We're dead! We're all dead!" The driver screamed, eyes squeezed shut.
Behind them, Gluttony watched the scene unfold, his fat jiggling with laughter. "Panic makes you stupid! Choosing your own death!"
He could already picture that piece-of-junk car becoming scrap metal under a cement truck.
One-tenth of a second before the taxi would cross the line, Ethan's slender fingers tapped the cracked screen.
Click.
The intersection's blood-red signals jumped to green without warning.
In the same millisecond, all eight lanes of cross-traffic locked into red!
SCREEEECH!
Ear-splitting brake sounds tore through the night.
The cross-flowing traffic stopped as if grabbed by an invisible giant hand, every vehicle halting precisely at the stop line.
A straight path opened through the steel jungle like the parting of the Red Sea.
The taxi slipped through the death trap like a fish through water, completely unharmed.
"What?"
Gluttony's smile froze.
Before he could react, a double-decker bus that couldn't brake in time slid sideways across the road, perfectly blocking the Hummer's path.
"Damn it!"
Gluttony pounded the steering wheel in fury, crushing his steak to pulp.
He yanked the wheel hard, the Hummer mounting the shoulder, smashing through barriers to pursue in the wrong lane.
"Ungrateful piece of trash."
Gluttony pulled a sawed-off double-barrel shotgun from under his seat.
No more games.
Time to blow that car to pieces.
Inside the taxi, Lily heard the monster-like engine roar behind them, her small body trembling like a leaf in the wind. "Daddy... there's a monster growling... Lily's scared..."
Ethan gently covered his daughter's ears, his palms dry and warm.
"Don't be afraid. Someone's just setting off fireworks to celebrate the New Year."
He stared at the crimson dot representing "Gluttony" on his phone screen.
Approaching at 110 mph.
Five hundred meters ahead lay the central five-way intersection—tonight's mandatory convergence point for the municipal snow removal fleet.
Ethan's mouth twitched into the faintest smile.
It was the merciful expression of a hunter watching prey step into a bear trap.
He selected that intersection on his screen.
His finger hovered over the [Omnidirectional Green] option.
"Driver, turn left at the next intersection. Take that unlit alley."
"Left? That's a dead end!"
"Turn."
One word.
The taxi drifted sideways, wheels kicking up sheets of slush as it slid into the dark alley mouth.
Behind them, Gluttony saw his prey enter the dead end, his eyes blazing with murderous intent.
"Dead end? Perfect. I picked you a nice grave."
The Hummer engaged nitrous acceleration.
The massive black vehicle became a fired cannonball, ignoring all traffic laws as it screamed toward the five-way intersection's center, trying to cut them off.
The instant the Hummer entered the intersection's heart, Ethan's finger descended.
HUMMMM—
In that second, at the five-way intersection, from five directions, dozens of traffic signals went dark.
Then blazed to life in blinding green!
Omnidirectional green.
A passport to hell.
Gluttony blinked in confusion.
The next moment, the earth shook.
From the east, two trucks loaded with de-icing salt roared forward.
From the west, three engineering vehicles with massive snow plows charged ahead at full speed.
From the south, a steel-hauling semi couldn't brake in time.
They were all racing the green light.
They all thought the path ahead was clear.
When that black Hummer appeared in the intersection's center, every driver's pupils contracted to pinpoints.
At this distance, physics pronounced the death sentence.
"No—"
Gluttony's pupils reflected the steel torrent surging from all directions.
It was the last image of his life.
BOOM!
The explosion shattered every storefront window in a three-block radius.
Six mechanical beasts completed their devastating "reunion" at the intersection's heart.
That invincible Hummer, under thousands of tons of kinetic force, didn't last even one second.
It was compressed into a twisted metal pancake.
The gas tank ruptured.
Flames shot skyward, forming a massive orange mushroom cloud that instantly vaporized the falling snow.
In the distance, Roxanne's red Porsche 911 sat parked roadside, its frame shaking from the shockwave.
She removed her gold-rimmed glasses, staring blankly at the hellish scene ahead.
Her mind went completely blank.
That wasn't an accident.
It was an execution.
That man, sitting in his broken-down taxi without even turning around, had mobilized an entire city's steel beasts to complete a perfect kill.
"Ethan Blackwell..."
Roxanne's fingers dug into the steering wheel. "Are you a god... or a demon?"
Deep in the alley, the taxi had long since stopped.
Ethan rolled down his window, pointing at the brilliant flames rising into the night sky.
"Lily, look."
His voice was gentle enough to melt ice. "Those are special fireworks that Daddy's friend set off to welcome you."
Lily carefully removed her hands from her eyes.
Her large eyes reflected the towering flames and falling sparks, her mouth slightly agape.
It really did look like fireworks.
So big, so bright, burning a hole right through the darkness.
"Wow!"
The little girl broke into a smile through her tears, still-wet cheeks glowing as she clapped excitedly. "Such pretty fireworks! Daddy's friend is so rich! Can they set them off for Lily again?"
"As long as Lily likes them, we'll have them every day."
Ethan ruffled his daughter's yellowed hair, the killing intent in his eyes completely vanished.
In the front seat, the driver swallowed hard, stealing a glance at this man through the rearview mirror.
That explosion that nearly cracked the road... those were really fireworks?
He didn't dare ask.
Survival instinct told him that tonight, he was both blind and deaf.
...
Thirty minutes later, in the old district's tenement building, Ethan found the perfect hideout.
This place was dirty and chaotic, but it was the best shelter available. Seven-star hotels were too conspicuous—until he'd completely cleaned house, he wouldn't make Lily a sitting duck.
In the forty-square-meter studio apartment, Ethan gently placed sleeping Lily on the bed, carefully removing her oversized coat and tucking her under sun-scented blankets.
Watching his daughter's brow remain furrowed even in sleep made his chest ache.
Buzz.
The cracked phone vibrated.
A picture message.
Ethan stepped onto the balcony and opened it.
The photo showed a dim, damp basement.
On a worn wooden table sat a single red high heel.
The heel was broken, covered in dust, with an obvious scrape along the side.
Ethan's breathing hitched.
Five years ago, on that stormy night when his wife was dragged onto the helicopter by those black-clad men, this was the shoe that had fallen.
Below the image was a line of text:
[Nice fireworks. Since this stray dog has returned, it's time we settled that old debt from five years ago.]
[By the way, your daughter has the same rare blood type as your wife. Hope she's more... durable.]
Ethan stared at those words in silence.
No rage.
No screaming.
He simply pulled out the phone's SIM card and pinched it between two fingers.
CRACK.
The specialized chip crumbled to dust, scattering on the wind and snow.
He looked up at the neon-stained night sky, his gaze colder than this coastal city's snow.
"Durable?"
Ethan's mouth curved into an extremely dangerous arc.
He turned back, gently closing the balcony door to shut out the storm.
"Since you're all so eager to go to hell..."
"I'll personally turn this world into your crematorium."