The middle-aged man glared fiercely at Grace Miller, wrapped the backpack up again, looked around, and, seeing that no one was paying attention to him, quickly left, blending into the crowd.

"This guy took out Lily Scott's backpack separately—what's he up to? Is he planning a kidnapping?" Grace Miller followed the short man, speechless.

"If it's a kidnapping, Lily Scott's outfit doesn't look like she's from a wealthy family. Maybe it's a vendetta? Now this is getting interesting." Grace Miller carefully tailed the short man.

The snack street was long. The two of them turned into a small alley off the street. The alley was a bit dark, and the ground was wet, clearly from residents on both sides dumping water there at will.

Twisting and turning through the alley, the short man suddenly looked around. Grace Miller quickly ducked back into a corner, holding his breath and focusing. After a while, when he peeked out again, the short man had already disappeared.

Chapter 8: Sudden Change

"Where did he go?" Grace Miller searched the surroundings in confusion. He only saw Lily Scott's black backpack stuffed into a roadside trash bin.

Walking up to the trash bin, he happened to see the short man slip into another alley on the left. Grace Miller hurried after him. In both his past and present lives, he had never done anything like tailing someone, so he actually found the experience a bit exciting and fun.

After following the short, middle-aged man through several more turns, he finally arrived at a row of somewhat shabby little shops. Two gray dogs were chasing and playing in the street, and the passersby were all young, strong men. A strong perfume scent filled the air.

"Where is this? The red-light district?" Grace Miller was a bit speechless. He calculated the time in his mind—he had been following this man for over ten minutes. Watching as the short man slipped into a shop with red lights on in broad daylight, Grace Miller glanced at the sign above: Biyun Hair Salon.

"Biyun, Biyun... sounds like 'contraception'..." Grace Miller was completely speechless and carefully retreated into the alley. "Should I just barge in now? Or call the police first? Calling the police would be the wise choice, but at this point, it might already be too late."

Grace Miller made a small hop to the left.

"Shh!" A sharp fruit knife stabbed at him from behind, missing its mark.

The attacker missed, and the hand holding the fruit knife quickly withdrew. At the same time, a burly man with a beard stepped out from the corner behind Grace Miller, a cigarette dangling from his mouth.

Only now did Grace Miller get a good look at the attacker.

It was a young man with a pale face and dark circles under his eyes, wearing a yellow short-sleeved T-shirt, a silver skull necklace around his neck, and dyed yellow hair. He held a fruit knife and sneered coldly at Grace Miller.

"Be good and come with us! You've been following me for so long—did you think I was an idiot?" The short man suddenly jumped out from the other side, his face full of a cold smile.

At this point, Grace Miller was surrounded by their people, two of whom were holding fruit knives.

"Don't make a sound! Or you'll die!"

Grace Miller's mind raced: "Perfect, I can follow them to their hideout." There were three people surrounding him, two with knives, but with his combat experience, as long as he was careful, he could take them down without injury. But it was rare to encounter something this thrilling, and he still didn't know where Lily Scott was.

"Ah!" Suddenly, a clear and pleasant cry of surprise came from the corner.

"Who is it!" the bearded man barked in a low voice, but didn't move. The other two were the same.

From the corner came a red-haired young man, holding a small fruit knife to a girl's neck, his arm tightly locking her in place so she couldn't move.

Grace Miller now had an even bigger headache.

The girl was none other than Edward King.

"Looks like I need to brush up on my surveillance and counter-surveillance skills," Grace Miller thought, realizing things were getting complicated. Edward King had a powerful background, no doubt about it. But if these people found out at a time like this, the consequences...

These guys were all classic desperados.

With the fruit knife pressed to her neck, Edward King's face was deathly pale, her previous spoiled look completely gone. She trembled all over, not daring to move. Clearly, she was terrified.

"Boss, this girl was following behind and looking this way, so I grabbed her when I saw her," the red-haired guy said with a sly grin.

"Please! Don't... don't kill me..." Edward King's voice trembled, on the verge of tears. Her eyes brimmed with tears that wouldn't stop.

Seeing that she was about to give herself away, Grace Miller had no choice but to speak up. He smiled calmly at the bearded man.

"You're the boss, right?" A trace of energy slowly surged into his eyes, and Grace Miller secretly began to use the eye sword technique he had practiced for days. A chill shot from his eyes straight into the bearded man's eyes.

"Thud!" The bearded man suddenly grunted, was instantly knocked out, and collapsed to the ground, eyes rolling back.

"Big bro!!"