"What's wrong, Ivan?" William turned and asked after hearing Ivan's words.
Ivan raised his hand and pointed to the group of monks at the front of the corridor, and that mysterious girl, saying, "Father, don't you think they're strange?"
Upon hearing this, William followed the direction of Ivan's finger and frowned slightly when he saw the group of people.
If you were to say strange…
They certainly were a bit.
After all, it was already 2015, yet they were wearing monastic robes and were clustered around a red-haired girl.
William had been chatting with Yelena and Halsey just now, which was why he hadn't noticed the group of 'oddities'.
He then spread his arms, pulling Halsey and Yelena, who were still in a playful mood, closer to him, and said to Ivan in a deep voice:
"Ivan, let's get out of here first."
"Yes." Ivan nodded and followed behind William, walking together towards the exit on the left.
"Dad, what's wrong? We haven't explored many places yet." Yelena asked, a little confused.
Halsey, who knew William best, immediately guessed that they had encountered some kind of situation when she saw William's somewhat solemn expression.
William, meanwhile, first placated his daughter, saying, "Well… Daddy's hungry. Let's go eat first, and we can have fun again tomorrow."
"Oh, okay…" Yelena also sensed that something was off and obediently replied, "Alright then."
"Good girl." William patted Yelena's head.
Immediately after, he took out his earpiece from his pocket, put it on, and said, "Cortana, notify all Phantom crew members to return to the ship.
Also, notify the agents stationed in Venice to immediately come to St. Mark's Basilica."
Cortana immediately replied, "Yes, Boss, I have notified all crew members and agents."
"Mm." William responded softly and continued to lead his family out of the church.
And Ivan, who was following behind his family, felt his heart palpitate more and more, and then…
"Boom—! Boom—!"
Then, low-intensity directional explosions came from the church's roof and surroundings.
"Crash—! Bang—!"
"Ah!! Help me!"
"What's going on? What's going on?!"
"Run! Run!"
Debris and thick smoke from the explosions, mixed with the terrified screams of travelers, filled the entire main hall.
"Damn it!"
Seeing this, William, who usually had good self-control, couldn't help but utter a word that relieved stress.
The reason he was so extremely angry was because he didn't know what those agents in Venice were doing, allowing such unidentified armed individuals to launch an attack.
The main reason was that he wanted to relax with his family!
He had encountered a similar situation last time.
It was when he and Halsey had officially confirmed their relationship; they went to the premiere of "Starship Troopers 2" and were attacked by Elizabeth Greene's virus.
And now?
They came to a church and encountered a terrorist attack.
"Motherf***er."
Thinking of this, William cursed again, then spread his arms, directly sandwiching Yelena and Halsey beside him.
He then turned his head and loudly reminded Ivan behind him, "Ivan! Get ready to leave here!"
"Yes!"
"Detected host's special ability, 'Fast Movement' activated."
As the system's reminder sounded in his ear, the surrounding commotion abruptly ceased, and everything became quiet.
The armed individuals rappelling from the church ceiling were now frozen in their original poses, motionless, and the faces of the travelers around them were all bizarre.
But William, holding the two women, moved through the travelers, who were like living sculptures, and quickly ran out of the church.
Upon reaching the plaza, there were also crowds of people frantically running away from the church.
Seeing this, William did not stop but chose to continue running quickly to the west.
He stopped only when he reached the Santa Croce district port, two kilometers away, and deactivated the 'Fast Movement' state.
"Dad!"
As soon as she returned to normal, a terrified Yelena tightly hugged William, and choked out, "What happened, Dad…
I saw someone… covered in blood…"
Seeing his daughter so frightened, William felt like flaying those armed individuals alive.
But he still showed a gentle face, released Halsey, and patted Yelena's back, comforting her:
"It's alright, sweetie, you're safe. Those people were just injured."
"Mm…" Hearing her father's comfort, Yelena hugged him even tighter, burying her head in William's chest.
Subsequently, in the now completely dark night sky, numerous 'meteors' flashed and streaked towards Venice.
It seemed that a containment carrier in low Earth orbit had responded to the attack immediately, air-dropping a large number of Helljumpers.
Just then, the system reminded William again:
"Detected Ivan Russell's special abilities, 'Fast Movement' and 'Super Strength' activated."
'Super Strength??' William was stunned.
William knew Ivan possessed all of his special abilities, but activating 'Super Strength' usually meant combat.
He quickly turned around and found only Halsey, who looked worried.
Halsey also realized her son wasn't there and tugged at William's sleeve, urgently asking, "William! Where's Ivan?! Where did he go?!"
— — — — — — —
…
During the church terror attack.
Ivan had been following behind William, also preparing to sprint out of the church (activating his special ability).
However, he noticed that the well-equipped armed individuals, the moment they entered the church, began firing towards the Golden Altar.
"Bang bang!!"
"Tat tat!!"
Gunshots of various calibers rang out consecutively.
"Thwack!" At the same time, there was the muffled sound of bullets tearing through flesh.
"Ugh…"
"Help me…"
"Jesus…"
Travelers caught in the line of fire of the armed individuals were indiscriminately mowed down, and the church began to fill with people's groans of pain.
And the monks, who were specifically targeted by the armed individuals, suffered heavy casualties from the sudden attack, with the few survivors being shot down.
Within a few seconds, only the girl remained.
The girl's beautiful face showed extreme fear. She raised her left hand towards the nearest armed individual, muttering some incantation haltingly.
It seemed she wanted to fight back?
But it was obvious…
The well-trained armed individuals completely ignored the little girl's actions and rushed towards her using their mechanical exoskeletons.
Ivan, observing from the shadows, immediately concluded that this little girl was very likely an anomalous phenomenon.
If this girl had nothing special about her, how could she attract such an elite group of armed individuals, who would not hesitate to commit a massacre just to abduct her?
Ivan also knew that Umbrella's rapid response unit, the Helljumpers, could air-drop into the plaza outside within minutes.
But a few minutes would be enough for those armed individuals to abduct the girl.
After all, being able to evade the agents' investigations, these armed individuals were clearly not to be trifled with.
Weighing the pros and cons.
Ivan, with a speed difficult for the naked eye to catch, rushed towards the nearest armed individual to him.
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