With the Christmas season approaching, the North American Continent was starting to see the first signs of winter. However, the breeze from outside the window behind Geraldson was nothing compared to the surging chill in front of him.

The cigarette on the corner of his lip was still burning faintly, spreading their ashes in the air. Shaking off the ashes was the last thing on Geraldson's mind, for he was staring intently at the stairway at the other end of the corridor.

The corridor was covered in pitch-black darkness. The steady sound of footsteps was slowly inching closer toward Geraldson. Each dull footstep seemed to beat into his heart.

Geraldson instinctively reached for the gun on the inside of his s.h.i.+rt.

It was a Beretta M9, measuring 217 millimeters and weighing only 0.96 kilograms. Its muzzle velocity was 333.7 meters per second with an effective range of 50 meters…

This gun was Geraldson's faithful companion that had been on countless missions with him. Over the years, it had claimed more than dozens of lives.

With his fingers firmly grasping his companion and feeling the familiar pattern on the handle, Geraldson felt himself becoming slightly more composed. He continued glaring at the dark tunnel.

After what was a couple of seconds which felt like several minutes, the approaching footstep had finally reached the stairway. Geraldson saw a man in a trench coat and a cap appearing at the end of the corridor…

The man was roughly 180 centimeters tall, medium build. He wore a black trench coat with a black scarf wrapped around him, topped off with yet another black fedora. From a distance, he seemed like just another person coming to the hospital for treatment.

The brim of the man's fedora and his scarf s.h.i.+elded his appearance from Geraldson.

Geraldson did not let his guard down when he saw this. His heart tightened as he raised his gun and aimed at the mysterious man near thirty-meters away from him.

“I'm a federal investigator! Sir, please hold your ground immediately!”

Geraldson's urgent voice echoed across the empty corridor but the mysterious man seemed to pay no mind to the warning. The mysterious man kept his head down and defiantly approached Geraldson.

“I'll give you one more warning, hold your ground! Stop right there!”

Geraldson gritted his teeth and shot another warning.

However, the second warning was just as ineffective.

At this point, Geraldson had all but confirmed the approaching person's ident.i.ty. He aimed at his opponent's right thigh and swiftly pulled the trigger!

“Bang!”

A violent gunshot shattered the tranquility of the night and rang across the corridor. However, Geraldson displayed a look of utter shock as his pupils shrank rapidly.

He saw clear as day that the moment he pulled the trigger, the opponent only slightly s.h.i.+fted his right leg and dodged the bullet!

Was it a coincidence? Or…

Seemingly understanding the danger the opponent posed, Geraldson no longer held back as he aimed at the opponent's chest and hammered away at the trigger!

“Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!”

A round of gunshots followed after but the very moment Geraldson fired, the mysterious man suddenly avoided the volley of bullets as if his body was possessed by swift lightning. He bent his back downward at lightning speed!

All five shots failed to hit their mark!

Geraldson felt the hair on his back standing up when he saw the mysterious man continue approaching him nonchalantly. How was it that this opponent could dodge bullets? It was impossible!

Geraldson suddenly spotted what appeared to be a cut left behind by a bullet on the corner of the mysterious man's clothes. He immediately realized that the reason his opponent was able to dodge his bullets was that the opponent's attention was fixed on his fingers.

The moment Geraldson's finger clicked the trigger, his opponent had calculated the trajectory of the bullet. This allowed his opponent to perform what may appear to the untrained eye as dodging the bullet, but it was not truly the case.

It was a form of prediction!

It was near impossible for an average person to make such a prediction since a bullet's velocity was up to 300 meters per second, which was far beyond a human's reactionary speed. There was no other way to avoid a bullet other than to form a prediction in advance!

With this in mind, Geraldson wrapped both his arms around the handle, s.h.i.+elding his finger on the trigger and aimed at the opponent's head.

“Let's see how you can dodge this if you can't see my fingers bending!”

Geraldson muttered to himself and icily pulled the trigger again!

“Thwack!”

However, the instant Geraldson pulled the trigger, he felt his vision turning into a blur. All he could see was what seemed to be the opponent's rapidly enlarging figure!

The opponent moved extremely fast and crashed into Geraldson's field of vision like a freight train. Before Geraldson managed to properly pull the trigger, the barrel of the gun was trapped in the firm grasp of an iron claw!

No good!

Geraldson's pupils shrunk. At the moment, the gun barrel was being held down by the opponent and had its bolt jammed. There was no way the gun was going to fire no matter how hard he pulled the trigger. Geraldson decided on a quick retreat and performed a sweeping kick on the opponent's lower body while he leaped backward!

With built-up strength as a special forces soldier over the years, anyone whose lower body was struck by this kick would be immediately immobilized, whether it was a man or a woman!

Having said that, this kick was bound to miss. As the opponent slightly took a step back, Geraldson's kick fell short. After that, the opponent proceeded to go in for a simple counterattack. With his right fist raised, he thrust his fist into Geraldson's chest in a devastating blow!

Having just committed to a kick, there was no chance of avoiding the attack. Still, the battle-hardened veteran instinctively formed a guard with his arms crossed across his chest!

“Clack!”

Unfortunately, his opponent's blow barely grazed his arms but instead prodded into the gap between his arms at a sharp angle, instantly shattering his ribs!

“Ah!”

A small trace of blood appeared on the corner of Geraldson's lips. With what remaining battle will that was left in him, he made a last-ditch effort to poke the mysterious man's eye, but his fingers only barely grazed a fedora. He s.n.a.t.c.hed the hat off his opponent!

A pair of unfathomably cold eyes barely resembling that of a human's immediately presented themselves before Geraldson.

Just what sort of eyes were these supposed to be…

Geraldson had seen countless pairs of eyes in his time, some of them were vibrant, some of them dark. Some of them were full of anger while others were drowned in sorrow… However, not a single person he had met had eyes like this person before him. Those eyes reeking of death without the faintest signs of life behind them!

“What kind of monster are you…”

Geraldson muttered the words and gritted his teeth before he ferociously slammed behind him!

The jarring sound of shattering gla.s.s took over. Geraldson had completely crashed through the window and was going to tumble down the building!

This was no time for him to worry about his colleague's life. If he fell here, there was still a chance of him surviving this encounter. He was certain that he was going to die if he continued confronting this monster in front of him!

This was the only thing Geraldson had in his mind at this very moment.

Everything that had just occurred only took place within a matter of seconds. From the common person's point of view, the two had only exchanged blows briefly. However, within these few short seconds, the two had gone from armed combat to hand-to-hand combat, in which Geraldson, the retired ace of the special forces, was ruthlessly toyed around by his opponent!

Just as Geraldson was preparing to potentially fall to his death, he felt yet another tug at his chest. The opponent had reached out of the window with his giant hands and grabbed Geraldson by the collar!

It was over…

Geraldson's body was frozen solid. The despair in his eyes was unmistakable…