After her back slammed against the car door again, Abigail finally understood what the madman was saying.
The man clearly didn't want to slap her face, instead grabbing her shoulders and slamming her repeatedly into the car door to vent his frustration. However, this time, he didn't get his wish. Abigail swiftly dodged his next attack, managing to stand up with as much grace as she could before he could grab her again.
Nonchalantly, she leaned her shoulder against the car and asked, "Is this the car you came to pick me up in? It's crap. Don't you have a better car?"
From the killer's continuous cursing, Abigail had pieced together a rough idea of the situation—he was poor, and the "Anna" he kept mentioning had rejected him for being poor and left him for a wealthier man.
He couldn't accept the fact that the woman he loved had moved on, and for someone so obsessed, Anna had been his lifeline. After she left, the string in his mind had snapped, plunging him into an endless, dark abyss.
However, he still deeply loved the old Anna, and killing her wouldn't bring him peace. So, he sought women who resembled her, killing them repeatedly in his rage.
Abigail keenly realized that for this killer, the most terrifying thing wasn't getting caught by the police—it was the thought of Anna leaving him again.
What's more, the man's emotions were now erratic, his mind unhinged. When a new emotion surged within him, he would forget everything that had happened moments before.
Sure enough, her question seemed to strike a chord. The man, his eyes bloodshot, froze and stood still. He asked in a dazed voice, "Did you... Did you leave me because of this?" His voice broke, like a child whose beloved toy had been taken away. He stood there, lost, and reached out his hands toward "Anna."
In that moment, Abigail seized a brief moment of control. Slowly, she moved toward the exit of the alley, her eyes flicking over the gun on his waist. During the scuffle, he had holstered it, and Abigail knew she had to escape before he noticed and drew it again.
She straightened up, stepped back one pace, and calmly removed her high heels, then said, "You said you loved me, right? Is this the best you can do? Are you lying to me?"
The bloodshot-eyed madman seemed momentarily stung, his face showing a fleeting expression of pain. He muttered, "No, no! I… I can give you better. If you just come back with me! I swear!"
Abigail carefully chose her words, kicking her high heels away and retreating another step, guiding him with her question, "So this isn't your car? Your car's parked outside, right?"
The immediate priority was to get out of the alley, into a more open space, where maybe Peter could find her.
A sliver of hope flickered in her heart.
However, before Abigail could catch her breath, the man seemed to instantly realize her intent to escape. He swiftly drew his gun from his waist and aimed it at her, shouting, "Come back!"
Abigail instantly obeyed and stood still, but just as she did, her gaze passed over the killer's shoulder, and she saw a figure in the far, dim corner.
She froze.
She was sure the person was standing far away, calmly watching them. His posture was leisurely, as if he were watching a play unfold, as though he were waiting for an outcome.
...Peter?
Had he arrived?
The man's face was half-hidden in the endless dark, half-lit by the faint glow of the streetlights. He stood there, and if Abigail wasn't mistaken, there was a slight smile on his lips, a grin that reminded her of a predator hunting in the dark.
But there was no time to daydream. The man with the gun, his bloodshot eyes wide with rage, was slowly closing the distance between them. He gritted his teeth and muttered, "I knew it. I knew you would leave me. No matter how many times I kill you, you will always find a way to leave me!"
His emotions were now completely frenzied, and he suddenly sneered, "So, if you die, you'll stay with me forever, right?"
A terrifying gleam flashed in his bloodshot eyes as his finger pulled the trigger, and a bullet shot toward Abigail's head.
In that split second, extreme fear and frustration overwhelmed Abigail. She instinctively clenched her fists, a terrifying force gathering between her fingers. She thought it was just a deathly hallucination, until she opened her eyes and—
The bullet hung suspended in midair, and the man in the distance began walking toward them.
But what truly grabbed Abigail's attention was the killer on the ground. Struggling, he tried to scream, but his voice was cut off as vines—somehow growing from nowhere—wrapped around his limbs, sharp thorns quickly piercing his skin!
Abigail instinctively tightened her grip on her fingers. She watched, horrified, as the man's mouth began growing thorns, and she screamed and took a step back, losing all strength in her hands.
The moment her fingers relaxed, the vines on the killer's body stopped growing, and at a visible speed, they began to wither away.
Abigail was terrified. For a moment, she thought she was dead or hallucinating, but then she saw the bullet still hovering in the air, faintly reflecting dim light, like a deadly poison hanging at her throat.
The man in black slowly walked closer, extending a hand toward Abigail. The bullet, now without support, dropped into his hand.
He casually played with the bullet, as if it were a harmless toy, not a weapon capable of taking a life.
His voice was low and gravelly, "I must say, you didn't disappoint me."
Abigail instinctively felt he was just as dangerous as the killer, and although he had no gun, the way he controlled the bullet so effortlessly made her realize that even if she tried to escape, where could she go?
The man moved closer. His handsome face emerged from the shadows, and though he was smiling, there was no warmth in his eyes. He gave Abigail a once-over, as if appraising an object, and then spoke, "I've been observing you for a while. I almost thought the information was wrong."
Standing before him, Abigail felt a fear she hadn't even experienced with the killer.
Maybe it was because of his calm demeanor, or perhaps it was because his smile was without warmth. Or maybe it was because he controlled the bullet with such ease.
Driven by fear, Abigail took another step back, trying to flee.
The man's eyes narrowed slightly. The bullet, which had dropped from his hand, suddenly rose again, floating in the air like a living creature, pointing directly at Abigail's forehead.
Abigail immediately stopped moving and stood still.
The dangerous bullet, instead of shooting, softly fell back into his hand.
"Abigail, why are you so afraid of me? After all, I did just save your life, didn't I?"
He smiled again, this time, there was a flicker of amusement in his eyes, like a spark in the dark night.
"If I'm not mistaken, your father had a good relationship with Charles Xavier. Since he's a friend of Charles, that makes him a friend of mine. If you're willing to honor that connection, how about calling me 'Uncle'?"
Abigail's mind raced. He had saved her life, but who knew what this man had done to the killer on the ground.
As if sensing her thoughts, he leaned in close to her ear, speaking low, but with great certainty, "You should realize that tonight, the one who killed wasn't me—it was you. Charles put a lot of work into you, didn't he? But sadly, his experiment failed. In the end, you never became an ordinary person."
Abigail froze. The cold bullet was now pressed to her forehead.
The terror of imminent death gripped her, and she instinctively tightened her fingers. In that instant, the man's handsome face shifted slightly. His finger, which had been controlling the bullet, froze, and little bumps began to form on his hand, like a rash.
But as the bumps grew larger, they revealed themselves to be sharp thorns, growing through his skin.
The man stared at his hand, his smile widening. "The ability to change the properties of surrounding organisms... you truly are full of surprises."
He reached out his thorn-covered hand with a graceful smile, "I am Erik Lehnsherr. Of course, if you don't like the name, you don't have to call me that."
"Or you could call me, Magneto."