Alice whispered to herself, opened her eyes, dragged a cardboard box from under the bed, and fished out the gray sportswear she had worn back from S.H.I.E.L.D.
She quickly changed into the clothes and tucked her dazzling golden hair into the hood.
"System."
She recited silently in her heart.
"Load Character Card — Mikasa Ackerman. Status: Physical ability enhancement only."
[ Beep! Character Card Mikasa Ackerman activated. Omni-directional Mobility Gear not loaded. ]
In an instant, a warm power flowed through her whole body. Her originally slender and weak limbs seemed to be injected with some kind of high-density energy; although the muscle fibers did not enlarge, the explosive power contained within them grew exponentially.
Her core abdominal muscles tightened instantly, her senses became sharp, and the faint whistling of the wind blowing across the wires outside the window could be heard clearly.
Alice, only equipped with the character card and no gear, slipped out of the skylight silently like a cat.
Standing on the top of the six-story building, the night wind whipped around her.
Beneath her feet were the lights of thousands of homes, the lives of ordinary people.
And in the distance, the dazzling neon of Stark Tower in Manhattan flickered in the night sky, like a palace of gods.
Alice looked down at the dark, dirty, maze-like alleyways below, filled with crime.
Within them, countless amounts of dirty money were flowing.
Black money from drug deals, stolen loot from robberies, protection money collected by gangs...
That was the blood of crime, and also her prey for tonight.
She leaped nimbly between the rooftops, landing silently every time, like a gray Shadow.
When passing by a night market vendor on the street, she stopped.
The vendor was a drowsy old man, with a wall full of cheap plastic masks hanging.
Alice casually tossed down 1 U.S. dollar and took one of the masks.
It was a Japanese-style fox mask.
A white plastic base, with bright red paint outlining squinting eyes and an exaggerated, upturned mouth.
The workmanship was very rough, with burrs from the injection molding still on the edges, but under the dim streetlights, those squinting red fox eyes exuded an indescribable eeriness and mockery.
Half-smiling, half-crying.
As if mocking the absurdity of this World.
Alice put the fox mask on her face.
Through the narrow eyeholes of the mask, the World became focused and cold.
On the late-night streets of Queens, the streetlights flickered dimly, stretching her Shadow long.
In the distance, the faint sound of sirens could be heard, rising and falling, like the ceaseless background music of this city.
In the distance, the faint sound of sirens could be heard, rising and falling, like the ceaseless background music of this city.
This was the low point of New York's public safety, a festering wound that superheroes occasionally visited but could never fully cure.
Alice stood at the entrance of a dark alley, looking left and right.
There was no one around, only a few stray cats rummaging through trash cans were startled by her footsteps, arching their backs vigilantly.
"System."
She recited silently in her heart again.
"Dismiss Character Card — Mikasa, Load Character Card — Kato Megumi."
[ Beep! Character Card Mikasa dismissed, Character Card Kato Megumi activated. ]
[ Presence Concealment activated. ]
A strange feeling instantly enveloped her whole body. It was a cool sensation as if she were isolated from the World, as if she had been pulled out of the layer of this dimension.
Under the dim yellow streetlights, the petite figure wearing the fox mask, though still standing there, seemed to have suddenly turned into a blurry Shadow, a trash bag on the side of the road, a meaningless rock.
The few stray cats that had been vigilantly staring at her suddenly had their pupils dilate, then they turned their heads in confusion and continued to rummage through the pile of rotting food, as if no one had been there at all.
Even the drunk homeless man passing by only let his gaze slide over Alice, his brain automatically ignoring this information, just as it would ignore a utility pole on the side of the road.
As long as she didn't actively launch a strong attack, the World would subconsciously forget her.
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