28 Curious About Her

A few minutes earlier, after waiting for almost an hour, Xavier finally saw Iris exit from the X Bar.

His eyes showed a strange glint, seeing this girl spending a night in such a place. His feet suddenly stopped as he hesitated to approach her. He decided to get back to his car and head home.

'You're such a fool, Xavier! Why are you worried about her?' He talked to himself while walking back to his car. He couldn't understand why he had impulsively rushed to follow her and why he was worrying about her.

However, Xavier's steps halted once again when he heard the thoughts of several men following behind Iris.

He turned to take a closer look at her. As he saw a few men following her, a vein appeared on his forehead, thinking about something. After a while, he disappeared from his spot. Then he reappeared atop another building, silently tracking Iris as she walked towards a smaller, darker alley.

'What is she doing now? Why did she take that street?' Xavier couldn't help but question her actions.

His pale face slowly darkened as he heard the thoughts of the men following her, which started to annoy him. And to make matters worse, he couldn't hear Iris's thoughts. Not even a bit or an echo. It frustrated him. He blindly didn't know what Iris wanted to do. And for the first time, he realized how mortal felt.

Countless questions filled Xavier's mind, but what made him extremely curious was whether this girl deliberately led them down this empty path or if she was unaware that it was a dangerous place. Could she defend herself?

Standing motionless in place, he watched as the men verbally abused her. Hearing their flirtatious words irritated him, and he felt the urge to go down and kill them all. But something stopped him.

Another strange question now tormented his mind, 'Why do you care about her?'

Xavier rubbed his brows as he searched his mind for an answer. However, no matter how hard he searched, no answer appeared. He felt annoyed with his own attitude and thoughts toward this mysterious girl who suddenly captured his attention.

'Should I help her?'

After a few moments, he decided to help her. He knew that Iris had no martial arts skills, and they would definitely harm her if he didn't step in.

Just before Xavier wanted to intervene and take on all these men, his eyes widened when he saw a man being sent flying by Iris's kick.

'Since when did she know martial arts?'

He was even more stunned, observing how fast and choreographically beautiful her moves, effortlessly spin kicking a man much bigger than her.

The more Xavier watched the girl beat up all the men that attacked her, the more astonished he became by her abilities. He grew increasingly convinced that Iris Gray was someone else; she was not the same Iris he knew.

The situation below heated up as Xavier saw the red-haired man pointing his gun at Iris. He felt curious and wanted to know what other abilities Iris' had.

'Could she avoid that bullet?'

Before he could find the answer, he heard the man's thoughts. It made him worry about her.

"Okay, we're done here!" The red-haired man said as he released the gun lock and slowly pressed the trigger.

BANG!

In an instant, Xavier disappeared from his spot and appeared right in front of Iris.

There was a sudden silence, and the groaning of people on the ground ceased. Even the sound of the wind stopped. It was as if time had frozen, and the surroundings were suspended.

Xavier calmly raised his hand and touched the bullet that had stopped inches before him. He gently tilted the bullet a few inches from Iris.

His calm eyes stared at the frozen red-haired man in front of him. With his index finger swaying gently, an invisible force propelled the red-haired man several meters back, crashing into a large tree by the roadside. A loud crash was heard as the tree toppled over, and his lifeless body slumped to the ground.

After confirming that the red-haired man was dead, Xavier turned his attention to Iris behind him.

He watched Iris freeze with her eyes tightly closed. Carefully, he looked at her face, trying to find anything that would make her attractive, but he found nothing; she looked the same as her usual self, often using heavy makeup like now. Somehow, he preferred to see her without makeup, just like when he saw her this morning.

Xavier took a deep breath before gently snapping his fingers in the air.

Slowly, everyone around him came alive, just as before; the six men on the ground moved, their eyes looking around, confused. When their eyes saw a pale man in a black outfit standing in front of Iris, their eyes widened in fear.

Xavier ignored them, his eyes locked onto Iris' blue eyes, noticing a glint of shock in them.

"...You!" Her voice trembled, and her eyes wavered.

He didn't say anything but felt amused when he saw her slowly raise her hand to cover her O-shaped mouth.

Iris seemed shocked to see Xavier standing so close to her, close enough to smell his fresh scent, just like the scent she had kept in her mind from when he hugged her this morning.

For a moment, Xavier and Iris just stared at each other, ignoring the bandits trying to get up and escape from the place. But no matter how hard they tried, they couldn't move, as if someone glued their feet to the ground.

"Iris," Xavier's soothing voice made Iris snap out of her daze. "Aren't you glad to see me?" he said gently, enough to warm Iris's face and calm her heart. She silently gulped, still unable to utter a word.

"Okay, let's go!" Xavier said, turning his back and walking towards the main street. She could only follow him closely while trying to remember what happened just now.

Why didn't the red-haired man's bullet hit her? Why did Xavier suddenly appear before her? And where is the red-haired man?