The dark muzzle of the assault rifle reflected the flashing red-and-blue light of the patrol car's rotator, locking onto Jason's chest at point-blank lethal range. The air in the narrow alley felt frozen, leaving only the roar of the patrol car's engine and the thunderous beat of a heart pounding inside a ribcage.

"Jason! What do we do?!" Leo screamed hysterically, his voice cracking amidst the wailing sirens. The young man gripped Jason's jacket sleeve with violently shaking fingers. "They're cops! How can the police be hunting us too?!"

"Cops in this city aren't paid by taxpayers, Leo. They're paid by whoever holds the most power," Jason answered coldly, his eyes never leaving the twitch of the officer's trigger finger. "And right now, ten million dollars is a hell of a lot more tempting than a badge."

The scar-faced officer on the left lifted his chin, giving a sharp gesture to his subordinates to ready their weapons. "On three, your heads are getting ventilated. One..."

"Listen to my instruction," Jason whispered rapidly without breaking his gaze, his body dropping low like a coiled spring ready to snap. "When I say run, don't look back. Head straight for the black SUV parked at the left corner of the alley. The keys are hanging in the ignition."

"But that car belongs to someone else! We can't—"

"Two..." the officer's voice cut in, echoing harshly off the alley's concrete walls.

"Do you want to live, or do you want to worry about etiquette inside a grave?!" Jason snapped sharply, making Leo flinch in shock.

"Three! Take 'em—"

"RUN!" Jason bellowed.

Simultaneously with the scream, Jason hurled his empty backpack straight into the lead cop's face, breaking their targeting focus for a fraction of a second. At the same time, Jason shoved Leo hard to the left, diving behind a massive commercial dumpster to evade the first volley of incoming lead.

Bang! Bang!

Assault rifle rounds slammed into the brick wall behind them, scattering chunks of masonry and a suffocating cloud of white dust. Wasting not a single second, Jason sprinted like lightning after Leo, who was stumbling frantically toward the sleek black SUV parked at the far end of the alley.

"Get in!" Jason growled, slamming open the driver's door.

Once they were inside the cabin, Jason ripped off the lower steering column panel with a single barehanded yank, snagged the emergency ignition wires, and hotwired them together manually. The high-capacity V8 engine roared savagely to life, emitting a fierce growl that rattled the rearview mirror.

"Hold on tight!" Jason shouted.

Screech!

Jason slammed his foot down hard on the gas pedal, the SUV's rear tires spinning wildly and kicking up white smoke from the friction against the asphalt. The luxury vehicle leaped forward, slamming violently into the side of the police patrol car, caving in the corrupt officers' vehicle and sending it careening into a storefront wall.

"Argh!" Leo cried out as his body slammed against the passenger door from the violent impact.

Jason whipped the steering wheel to the right, bolting out of the narrow alley and plunging straight into the bustling traffic of District 7's main highway. Yet, the scene unfolding outside was far more terrifying than anything they could have imagined. That night, the city had transformed into a modern-day gladiator arena.

Along the four-lane highway, gridlock stretched endlessly. Not due to a routine traffic accident, but because hundreds of drivers and pedestrians had abandoned their cars right in the middle of the street. Phone screens blazed in thousands of hands, creating a sea of blue-white light reflecting off the glass facades of the skyscrapers. Taxi drivers, delivery couriers, and pedestrians alike were tearing into one another, locked in a brutal frenzy over a single obsession: finding and catching Leo for the ten-million-dollar bounty.

"Oh god, they've all gone mad!" Leo whimpered, burying his face in his hands as a heavy rock flew through the air, starring the SUV's windshield with a thousand cracks.

"Eyes on the road, Leo! Don't look at the glass!" Jason ordered, his hands moving fluidly across the wheel, executing extreme maneuvers through gaps in abruptly abandoned cars.

Jason laid hard on the horn, cutting through the gridlock at high speed. He jerked the wheel left to clear a stalled container truck, then snapped it back right as a sedan suddenly swerved to cut them off. Adrenaline pumped furiously through Jason's veins; his sharp eyes scanned every inch of the asphalt ahead, calculating distance, speed, and cornering angles with millimeter precision.

Yet, amid the chaotic sea of burning vehicles and frantic crowds, Jason's killer instinct tripped an alarm deep inside his skull. Something faster and deadlier was closing in from behind.

Jason flicked a quick glance into the rearview mirror.

His heart skipped a beat. Weaving through the gridlocked traffic, three pitch-black sport bikes were hurtling forward at breakneck speed, slicing through the line of vehicles with terrifying zig-zag maneuvers. Their headlights were dark, replaced by the cold, blood-lusting glares of their riders.

"Jason... there are bikes behind us!" Leo shrieked with a voice trembling with terror after glancing at the side mirror.

"I see them," Jason replied flatly, his jaw locked hard.

At the head of the trio, the lead pursuer—a burly man clad in a scuffed black leather jacket and a jet-black full-face helmet—stood somewhat upright on his footpegs. In his right hand, the man didn't hold a handgun, but rather a one-meter heavy iron pipe bristling with wicked, razor-sharp steel nails gleaming under the streetlights.

The sport bike roared furiously, accelerating drastically and eating up the distance separating it from Jason's SUV in mere seconds. The helmeted assassin stood atop his speeding motorcycle doing 120 kilometers per hour, raising the nail-studded pipe high above his head, ready to smash the SUV's rear window into a million shards.

"Duck, Leo! Now!" Jason barked.

Leo instantly dropped, pressing his face nearly against the floorboards.

The next second, a deafening crash rang out from the back of the SUV. The helmeted assassin had closed the gap, bringing his bike alongside and bringing the spiked iron pipe crashing squarely into the rear window, spiderwebbing the safety glass into a jagged mosaic ready to cave in completely on a second blow!