At the sight of the situation, Black Panther was filled with chagrin.
Never would he have thought that Abbott would have the guts to launch an attack right in front of Clifford!
Neither did he expect Abbott to move so fast, either. It seemed that the Hitman League had been hiding their true strength when the two were up against each other in the past.
The Hitman League was a gang with a long history, after all, it was founded earlier than the Assassin League. It was no wonder that they had a more robust foundation, as well as more powerful hitmen unknown to others.
It was also no wonder that they would have the guts to challenge and provoke Black Cat.
Even so…
Black Panther couldn’t help but look at Nora. Didn’t they say that she was the Big Sister of the Quinn School of Martial Arts? Why had she been restrained so easily? If it was Black Cat, there definitely wouldn’t have been any problems!
As Black Panther thought about it, faint anger came over his face, and he said furiously, “You are so shameless, Abbott! You attacked your own allies?!”
Black Panther then turned to Clifford and said, “Mr. Clifford, are you going to condone Abbott’s actions? Black Cat came here overnight from the United States on our request, you know. She hasn’t slept a wink since last night. Isn’t it understandable that her reaction would be a little slow today? Besides, who would have thought that he would launch a sneak attack right in front of
you?”
Clifford also broke into a frown and looked at Abbott. “What are you doing, Abbott? The two of you are allies in this operation! Why did you attack Black Cat as soon as you came over? You’re being very antagonistic.”
Abbott replied, “Mr. Clifford, I was just wondering if we should let someone else take over the command for this operation? The Hitman League’s momentum may not have been as strong as Black Cat’s from the Assassin Alliance during the past two years, but you’ve already witnessed my abilities today.
“Besides, considering how ‘Black Cat’ here was restrained so easily, even if she really is Black Cat, can you trust her abilities? In this industry, the strong have the final say.”
Clifford’s brows drew together at once.
He looked at Nora again, a touch of doubt also coming over his face.
After all, while it was certainly true that Abbott had launched a sneak attack just now, in their industry, who could say for sure that no one among their peers had been bought by the enemy?
Because of that, there were extremely demanding requirements on one’s abilities as an individual.
Moreover, the government had only deployed 30 people from the two organizations for this operation because they simply did not have enough manpower, and all 30 of them had already agreed that Black Cat would be the one in charge of their deployment.
After all, Black Cat’s status in the hitmen world was among the highest.
However, for her to be restrained by another party at such close range, was Black Cat really as strong as the stories claimed? Or was it really like what Abbott had claimed—the person in front of him was not Black Cat?
Hesitance came over Clifford’s countenance.
Black Panther said firmly, “Heh, even tigers doze off at times, let alone humans? Abbott, don’t you go too far now!”
Abbott smirked and said, “I don’t care, I will only bow down to the strong. So, tell me, Black Panther: is it Black Cat who is lacking in vigilance? Or is this person here not Black Cat at all?”
Black Panther: “!!”
As an assassin, it was simply humiliating to be labeled as lacking in vigilance!
Yet, if he were to answer that Nora was not Black Cat, it would mean that the Assassin Alliance was deceiving the DDPS. If that happened, it would become even harder for them to obtain good resources in Switzerland’s security industry in the future.
Black Panther glared at Abbott furiously. Just as he was about to speak, Nora, who had stayed silent all this time, suddenly said, “Who are you calling an assassin lacking in vigilance?”
As soon as she spoke, Abbott smirked and answered, “You, of course. It’s rumored that those who have seen your face are all dead. I’m already about to take off your mask, yet you still haven’t noticed at all. Is this not proof that you’re lacking in vigilance? Besides, the way I see it, all that talk about how everyone who has seen your face is dead must all just be rumors, right? The Assassin Alliance sure knows how to generate buzz for themselves. They make it sound so real that it’s as though it’s legit…”
He had only just said that when he suddenly heard a low chuckle.
Abbott was taken aback. The next moment, the masked woman said icily in a low voice, “Oh? Then try taking off my mask.”
Her words made Abbott dumbfounded.
He broke into a frown and said, “Heh, are you still talking big even at this point, Black Cat? Well, since you’ve given me the permission to take off your mask, then I will do just that and show everyone what a stunner Black Cat really is!”
Immediately after he spoke, he gripped the mask to rip it off.
But the next moment, he found that he couldn’t exert any force in his hand at all!
Stunned, he lowered his head. It was only then that he discovered that stuck into the underside of his wrist, outside of his sight, was a silver needle gleaming with subtle light.
It was exactly this needle that had prevented Abbott’s hand from exerting even the slightest bit of force.
Abbott was stunned.
Seeing that Abbott wasn’t doing anything despite his big talk, the rest all looked at him
-only to see him standing where he was, beads of cold sweat forming on his forehead, yet his hand showed no further signs of moving
Only then did they follow his line of sight and finally spot the needle.
Additionally, they also noticed that Nora’s other hand was on Abbott’s chest.
At first glance, they thought that she had recovered and was intending to push him away.
But if one looked closer, they would see that there was another barely discernible needle in between the fingers of Nora’s fist, and it was pointed right at Abbott’s heart.
With just a little force, the needle would quietly pierce his heart without anyone even realizing it.
e even
Nora’s icy voice resounded in everyone’s ears.
“I told you, everyone who has seen my face is dead. So, do you still want to see it?”
For no reason whatsoever, her words carried a sense of ferocity and domineeringness!
It shocked and awed everyone present.
Abbott didn’t dare to move.
When Clifford, who was next to him, saw this, he breathed a sigh of relief.
He had finally witnessed Black Cat’s ability to take someone’s life without making a sound.
Moreover, with just a mere silver needle, she could take someone’s life without them even realizing it. This was simply too horrifying!
Clifford’s attitude toward Black Cat underwent a huge change at once. He said, “Please don’t be mad. Abbott just likes to trash-talk. We have to work together to protect the Queen in this operation. Everyone here wants to serve the country, so let’s not fuss over these things anymore. Black Cat, can you forgive Abbott this once?”
Nora didn’t really take Abbott seriously.
The man could somewhat be considered a chivalrous hitman.
The assassination missions he took on all targeted bad guys… So he was quite famous in the hitmen community.
Of course, this was also the reason why the Swiss authorities were willing to accept them.
Neither of the hitmen organizations was made up of heinous miscreants. Now that they wanted to clean up their act, the government was more than happy to see this through. Which was why they had given them this opportunity.
Thus, upon hearing what Clifford said, with a flip of Nora’s slender fingers, the silver needle disappeared.
Then, she took a step back and put some distance between Abbott and herself.
With her intimidating murderous intent gone, Abbott finally breathed a sigh of relief.
He stared at the masked woman in front of him and said, “Just you wait. I will definitely find proof that you are not Black Cat!”
