She is a natural disaster.

Chapter 38 Dividing the Troops into Multiple Routes

Soon, Anastasia and the other two had gone down to the common area on the first floor.

The departing audience emerged from the doors in the corridor, flowing towards the main entrance of the theater like streams merging into a river.

Anastasia and her two companions blended into the bustling crowd and moved with them toward the main entrance, heading out of the theater unnoticed by the other audience members.

Three waiters, who were hanging at a distance from the three, hurriedly followed, weaving through the crowded people, searching for their target.

At this point, Anastasia was absolutely certain that the three waiters were following them. The next thing she needed to determine was who they were following: Mike Montague or herself.

Anastasia, who had a plan in mind, suddenly tripped a person passing by. The innocent spectator lost his balance and fell forward, flailing his arms wildly.

Like dominoes, the crowded scene triggered a chain reaction, with innocent spectators tripping and bumping into others, causing them to fall as well, resulting in a minor disturbance.

Instantly, chaos erupted in the theater's foyer. Some people were arguing loudly, some were screaming in alarm, and others were pushing and shoving each other, looking like they were about to come to blows.

Taking advantage of the chaos in the crowd, Anastasia leaned close to Jolina and whispered something in her ear.

"Take Mike underground now."

As she spoke, Anastasia discreetly slipped a thin needle into Jolina's hand.

She continued, "Use this to open the door, and remember to keep it safe; it will help me find your location."

As soon as she finished speaking, Jolina didn't dare to delay and immediately pulled Mike toward the curved corridor away from the main entrance, heading down into the underground against the flow of people.

At this moment, the people in the arc-shaped corridor on the first floor were unaware of the small disturbance that had occurred ahead. The surging crowd continued to move towards the main entrance, exacerbating the congestion in the lobby.

Mike and Jolina, going against the flow, finally made their way through the bustling crowd to the end of the curved corridor, where they stood before the tightly closed metal door.

Jolina took out the fine needle Anastasia had given her, and with her other hand she took the large lock hanging on the metal door and inserted the needle into the keyhole.

Jolene Joyce is a detective in the police department. She doesn't have lock-picking skills, but when the thin black needle is inserted into the keyhole, a "click" sound immediately echoes in the curved corridor, and the padlock opens.

Mike and Jolina didn't have time to think, so they quickly pushed open the solid, heavy metal door and stepped into the pitch-black darkness behind it.

The two stood in the rough stone corridor behind the metal gate, just as Anastasia had described in the private box.

The space behind the door was large, and the footsteps echoed in the empty space; the space behind the door was dark, without a single ray of light; the space behind the door also exuded a chill, and although it was only separated by a door, the rough stone corridor and the curved corridor outside the door were completely different in temperature.

Humans have an instinct, or rather a flaw, to fear the unknown, and the fear of the dark is a manifestation of this instinct.

The space behind the door was pitch black, and Mike and Jolena couldn't see anything, but the two of them didn't show the slightest fear; in fact, they seemed somewhat relaxed.

As Jolina, surrounded by darkness, raised her right hand, a bright, warm flame suddenly igniting in her palm. The orange-red light tirelessly dispelled the surrounding darkness, casting its light into the pitch-black space behind the door.

"It seems like it's been many years since I've seen you use this ability."

Mike's voice echoed through the rough stone corridor, reverberating in the dark space, as if many Mikes were speaking at the same time.

“You know, I don’t like mutation powers. It makes me look like a weirdo,” Jolena said. “Every time a flame ignites in my palm, it reminds me of how those boys threw stones at me.”

Not every transcendent can accept their mutated power, and not every transcendent wants to be an outcast, even if the mutated power allows them to rise above ordinary people.

Jolina is one of these people. She doesn't like her mutation or her fiery red hair color, because her hair was originally a dazzling gold.

"I once told Anastasia, 'You're just sick,'" Mike comforted her. "Sick people aren't different; they need healing."

"Don't be silly, Mike," Jolene said. "Have you forgotten how those boys in the church pelted me with stones?"

Mike hadn't forgotten; he remembered it clearly. He remembered how those despicable bad boys had smashed the frail little girl with stones, leaving her covered in bruises, simply because she was an outsider in their eyes, simply because she had no parents to protect her.

“The priest told me not to show my special abilities to anyone,” Jolena continued. “I was incredibly stupid back then. I didn’t listen to the priest’s advice and showed my abilities to the children in the church. I naively thought they would accept me.”

The children in the church not only refused to accept Jolina, but also tried every means to hurt her.

The children were afraid of Jolina's unusualness; they saw her as an outsider and called her a damned witch who should be burned at the stake.

If Mike hadn't arrived in time, the frail little girl Jolena would probably have been bullied by these bad boys for a long time, until she lost her innocence and until her mutant power demonstrated enough destructive force.

"Tell me, wasn't I really stupid back then?" Jolina suddenly asked. "My relatives didn't want to adopt me, and they called me 'little monster' in private. I actually fantasized about being accepted by a group of children and showing them how special I was."

Mike wanted to say something, and he should say something, but when the words reached his lips, he didn't know how to begin.

"You're not stupid at all, you're the smartest woman I've ever met," Mike said dryly, his words seeming both pale and powerless at that moment.

"Miss Angel probably won't like that," Jolina said with a smile. "Let's go. I see torches and kerosene lamps over there. We can't stay at the gate forever; we'll get spotted."

As she spoke, Jolina walked toward the torch and kerosene lamp placed behind the door.

The dark space behind the metal door is registered with the police station and fire department, so it's normal for it to contain lighting equipment.

Jolina first picked up a torch, lit it with the flame in her palm, and the flame in her palm went out the instant the orange-red light appeared.

Then, Jolina lit another torch and gave it to Mike, who was standing nearby. She then selected two kerosene lamps to keep on hand.

They didn't know how big the underground space behind the metal door was, nor how long they would have to wait there. If the torches burned out, there were kerosene lamps to provide light.

Footsteps echoed in the dark underground space as Jolina descended the steep slope, holding a torch in her left hand and the shortened revolver "Sheriff" in her right.

Mike followed suit, holding a torch in one hand and taking out a revolver for self-defense in the other.

The two descended the steep slope, the path seemingly endless, leading to an unknown depth underground.

The deeper you go, the darker the darkness becomes; the deeper you go, the more persistent the chill becomes, seeping into your body through the pores of your skin.

"Don't you feel like the air is a bit humid?" Jolina asked.

"I can feel it," Mike said. "I think we might be getting closer to that underground river."

Just as Mike and Jolene were venturing deeper into the underground space and getting closer to the underground river beneath the theater, the farce in the theater's foyer finally came to an end.

The throng of people began to move toward the theater's main entrance again. Anastasia mingled in the crowd, moving along little by little. She seemed completely unperturbed, eerily calm.

Before long, Anastasia, who was moving slowly, was pushed out of the theater door by the crowd. She stood on the wide platform in front of the theater, not in a hurry to leave, nor did she turn back to the theater to look for Mike and Jolina who were hiding.

At this moment, a long row of various carriages was parked on the street in front of the Vanessa Theatre. Some were very ordinary, some were very comfortable, and some looked very expensive.

The horses neighed loudly from time to time, the wheels turned, and one carriage after another left, but the length of the procession parked on the street did not decrease.

Anastasia was still standing in front of the theater when she saw Montague's dashing carriage and Rupert in the coachman's seat.

chap!

Anastasia struck a match and lit a cigarette.

At that moment, she was absolutely certain that the three waiters' target was not Mike, but herself.

Anastasia suspected that the three were likely investigators from the Bureau of Anomalies, but Jolina didn't seem to recognize them.

Let's rule out the possibility that the beautiful detective is a good-for-nothing, and also rule out the possibility that she might suffer from prosopagnosia (face blindness). It's highly likely that these three investigators disguised as waiters have never been to the police station.

This means that the investigator who handed over the body to Jolina at the Upper East Side Police Station was most likely not one of the three people who appeared at the theater tonight.

Anastasia was a little annoyed. She should have asked Jolina more carefully about the specific circumstances of the handover of the body and the physical characteristics of the investigator.

The cigarette burned out quickly.

Anastasia threw the cigarette butt on the ground, stomped on the still-burning butt with the sole of her shoe, and crushed it to dust.

Then, without any regard for public decency, she walked straight down the stone steps in front of the theater, leaving the crushed cigarette butts on the platform as if they were a mark etched in the spot.

The three investigators following Anastasia did not rush to catch up. They exchanged glances, conveying their thoughts to each other.

In the midst of that minor commotion at the theater, they were so focused on Anastasia and pinpointing her location that they lost track of the other two people traveling with them.

At this moment, Anastasia has left alone. Should the three of them follow her together, or should they split into two groups, with one group following Anastasia and the other staying behind to look for Mike and Jolene?

As the three exchanged glances, Anastasia had already made her way through the crowd to the vicinity of the long line of carriages, but she did not walk toward Montague's dashing carriage.

Rupert, sitting in the driver's seat, saw Anastasia in the crowd, saw her walking alone, and saw her take out a cigarette and put it to her lips.

The second cigarette was never lit; it should have blossomed into an orange-red flower in the evening breeze, but instead, it fell to the ground and turned into soil.

The rugged-looking Rupert was puzzled; this was different from what had been said on the phone. But he clearly saw that Anastasia did not walk towards him and the carriage, but left alone, in the opposite direction from the carriage.

Rupert scratched his messy hair, then his rough hands urged the reins on, and the tall, strong draft horse neighed and pulled the carriage away from the group.

Instantly, the neighing of horses and the clatter of hooves hitting the ground filled the air, drowning out the curses of the coachmen.

Mike and Jolene hide in the theater's underground space. Anastasia, who was supposed to protect them, leaves alone, and Rupert also drives the carriage away into the night.

If we add Blatter, who didn't show up, the five people who were supposed to return to the Riverside Avenue apartment together actually split into four groups, each going in their own direction.