Chapter 154: Escape

Chapter 154: Chapter 154: Escape

[Fucking awesome!]

[Back in the day, I watched this big star’s movies and heard all the fight scenes were real martial arts, but I didn’t quite believe it. Never thought I’d see a celebrity today pulling off those classic escape moves from the films.]

[This is seriously amazing. Even if you’ve got real skills, it’s not like everyone can react this fast when they’re in danger.]

Hugh’s face changed drastically. He swung his arm around, grabbed the sniper rifle hanging on his body, and aimed it at Renee Morgan downstairs.

But Renee was even faster. She reached for the crossbow at her waist and aimed at Hugh on the rooftop.

Hugh gave a cold smirk, pulling his lips. Smart one.

All the viewers in the livestream instantly caught on to the meaning behind Hugh’s expression.

[Renee’s reaction is insane. At Hugh’s position, with him above and Renee below, even if she pulls out a sniper rifle, she can’t really threaten Hugh.]

The three dots on the helmet are the death zone. With five floors between them, Hugh up top, Renee below—geographically, trying to headshot Hugh would be super hard for Renee.

On the other hand, it’d be way easier for Hugh to go for a headshot on Renee.

Neither of them was the talkative type. Hugh pulled the trigger in an instant.

Renee fired her crossbow at the exact same moment.

In the next split second, she flipped in midair, rolled on the ground to dodge Hugh’s shot, tumbled against the side wall, used the jutting eaves for cover, and sprinted right at full speed.

Hugh had seen first-hand how deadly the mechanism crossbow was—the short arrow flew straight for his face. He was forced to twist away, flinging his body down onto the rooftop tiles to dodge, propped himself up with one hand, shot back to his feet lightning fast, eyes scanning all around for Renee’s figure.

The livestream audience was floored by how slick both their moves were.

[Hugh’s moves—you can instantly tell he’s a badass.]

[Yeah, Jay Monroe is totally the comic-book puppy-dog type, but Hugh’s more like the main character—sharp eyes, cold aura, killer jawline.]

[Honestly, I thought Renee only pulled out the crossbow because the sniper rifle couldn’t do much to Hugh. I thought she just wanted to injure him, but turns out she just wanted to use it to make her escape.]

[Pretty, smart, high IQ, insane combat power—no wonder she’s blowing up in the rankings. Still don’t get why so many people hate on her.]

[Just pick any hater’s page, see whose fan they are. All those trending starlets—their fans can’t stand that Renee’s outshining their idols.]

[How come nobody feels bad for Renee? Hugh was actually trying to cripple her with that shot! This guy’s ruthless—how do so many fangirls still go crazy for his face? Does nobody see the beast inside the man?]

International and domestic viewers always focus on totally different things.

Domestic viewers treat the base competition more like a reality variety show. They casually guess if the show’s scripted, check for character edits, even speculate that the results are up to the producers.

They know next to nothing about power, resources, or influence at the Merrick Base.

The international fans, though, were always here for the Mercenary Guild stuff.

Now, everyone knew Zayed’s Mercenary Guild didn’t hold any real weight in Merrick—they’re downright last-tier, and honestly, their combat power was nothing special either.

But the base’s influence ended up way bigger than they thought. On the way, they ran into The Pugilist Kings and even a few Freyos big-shots they’d only dreamed of.

Dane—aka Honey Badger—had his codename dropped by Jay Monroe himself. His public identity even got official certification: he’s the heir to a Freyos mega-corporation.

As for Jay Monroe, not much was leaked, but no way was his background less impressive than Dane’s.

Hugh was so far the only one with no leaks or gossip at all.

That actually didn’t mean he was a nobody.

On the contrary—it might be that nobody dared to talk, nobody dared to even speculate.

Enough to prove the guy’s status was not to be underestimated.

And here was Renee Morgan, facing off with a guy like that, and not losing ground at all.

How can you not root for her?

[I remember there’s an old saying from Country Z, and it’s perfect for this: "Evenly matched opponents."]

[Yeah, I don’t even know what that means, but it sounds badass.]

[When Z-country kung fu first shocked the world, I used to wonder if stuff like that could be real or just a myth. Now, watching this, I totally believe it.]

[Renee fulfills all my fantasies about Z-country martial arts and legendary heroes.]

By the time Hugh dashed down from the rooftop, Renee Morgan was already long gone.

Hugh closed his eyes, trying to calm his still-pounding heart.

After pulling off her escape, Renee met up with Dane at the agreed spot. They made it out of the building area without a hitch and ran into Bama and his three teammates who’d come to pick them up.

"Go!" Dane urged them into the car, and the whole group headed off to rendezvous with Jay Monroe and their team leader.

Jay and the team leader had already reestablished a new camp—this time, they’d gotten smarter and set up rotating patrols, so if anyone got close, they’d be onto them right away.

Dane’s car halted; everyone piled out, and the rest came over to greet them.

The team leader even gave Dane and his group a quick hug.

Jay came out too, just coldly watching them.

The vibe was a bit awkward for a moment.

The team leader figured they must’ve argued, so he had Dane’s crew come in and talk.

The area was mostly abandoned buildings, and the temporary camp they’d set up this time was no different.

Renee strolled inside and casually found a rock to sit on.

The team leader started telling Dane about Hugh’s sneak attack on them.

"That was my own screw-up..." the team leader admitted with guilt.

He’d assumed that setting up camp in the wild meant Hugh and his people couldn’t track them down. After retreating from Team Red Tower the night before, everyone was exhausted, so they didn’t bother with patrols.

By noon, while they were still having a meeting trying to predict what Team Red would do—if Hugh took his squad up the mountain road, could they attack Team Red, split their forces even a bit—right in the middle of all this, Hugh showed up with his own sneak attack.

They’d had over sixty people, but because they pulled back quick, only lost a dozen or so. Now just forty-something left.

"So what’s the next move?" Dane skipped the comfort talk, jumping right to strategy.

Their team only had forty-something people left, Team Red Tower had also lost the customs squad, plus he and Renee’s earlier ambush took out another dozen or so—so they still had a little over sixty.

Sixty people doesn’t sound like much, but Team Red’s on defense. With just this number, they weren’t sure they could storm Team Red Tower.

The team leader had learned his lesson, and didn’t offer up suggestions right away. He looked questioningly at Renee and Jay Monroe.

Jay stood with his arms crossed, cold and unreadable.

Renee was deep in thought, but didn’t answer.

The silence dragged on, so the team leader had to speak up, a bit uncertain: "With our numbers, do we still have a shot at attacking Team Red Tower?"

Honestly, he didn’t have much confidence in it himself.