The moment the door exploded.
Inside, two men were gathered around a worn-out table.
Some banknotes and several small drug bags were scattered on the table.
A burly, bearded man in a greasy vest, with a bulging waist, was reaching out to grab the money on the table.
The other tall, thin man wore a gold chain and held a wine glass.
The liquid spilled out due to the sudden loud noise.
The shock and anger on their faces lasted less than half a second.
"Fuck!"
The bearded man reacted the fastest.
He roared, abandoned the banknotes, and his large, fan-like hand reached directly for his waist.
But Jessica was even faster.
She charged in like an enraged female leopard, with an overwhelming momentum.
William only saw a black afterimage flash by, followed by the muffled sound of bones shattering and the bearded man's short, painful shriek.
"Bang!"
The bearded man flew across like a broken sack, hitting the opposite wall.
As the plaster crumbled, he slid to the ground.
His fate unknown.
The arm he had reached for his waist was twisted at a grotesque angle.
William's eye twitched.
Trajectory Prediction clearly showed him the trajectory of Jessica's kick.
Simple, direct, efficient.
Perfectly transferring kinetic energy to the target.
With a complimentary fracture package.
The tall, thin man with the gold chain was scared out of his wits by this ferocious scene.
The wine glass in his hand clattered to the ground.
He shrieked, turned, and tried to jump out the nearby window.
"Trying to run?"
Jessica's cold voice was like a judgment from hell.
She didn't even chase; she just casually picked up a heavy metal ashtray from the table and flung it backward.
The ashtray whistled through the air, striking the back of the tall, thin man's head with pinpoint accuracy.
The tall, thin man grunted and fell forward stiffly.
His face hit the ground first, raising a cloud of dust.
The entire process, from breaking in to subduing the two men, took no more than five seconds.
William stood at the doorway, his briefcase held across his chest, trying to maintain his composure.
This was Jessica Jones's "method of business"?
It was... too damn direct and effective.
"What are you standing there for? Come in."
Jessica's voice pulled him back from his shock.
She was quickly checking on the two fallen men.
She deftly searched the bearded man's waist, pulled out a handgun, removed the magazine, and tossed it aside.
"Are they... dead?"
He asked in a low voice, trying to make himself sound professional.
"The one on the left has a few broken ribs and a concussion."
"The one on the right might need a few stitches on the back of his head."
Jessica didn't even turn her head.
"They won't die, but it'll keep them in the hospital for a while."
She walked to the table, picked up the scattered banknotes and drug bags, her brows tightly furrowed.
"Damn it, it's 'Angel Dust' again."
She cursed under her breath, sweeping the items into an evidence bag.
Just then.
William's Trajectory Prediction suddenly warned him frantically.
At the edge of his vision.
Several crimson trajectories, representing high-speed moving objects, shot rapidly from the only exit—the corridor they had just come from!
"Watch out!"
William practically yelled, instinctively diving to the side and holding his briefcase tightly in front of him.
"Whoosh whoosh whoosh!"
Several sharp whistling sounds rang out almost simultaneously.
Three cold-gleaming crossbow bolts grazed the spot where William had just stood, embedding deeply into the wooden wall.
This was a hell of a lot more professional than those punks in the alley who only dared to use fists and broken bottles!
And much more ruthless!
Jessica reacted even faster; the moment William shouted, she had already crouched like a leopard.
She seized the opportunity to grab the handgun, whose magazine had been removed, from the ground and threw it at the first figure rushing in from the doorway.
"Crack!"
Another bone-chilling crack of bone.
Accompanied by a scream that sounded inhumanly shrill.
An attacker in all black, holding a short crossbow, rolled to the ground clutching his twisted and deformed knee, twitching in pain.
But more figures poured in from the corridor like dumplings, at least five or six of them.
Each one looked ferocious, armed with machetes and iron pipes.
Some even carried a short-barreled shotgun.
"Looks like your party is just getting started."
William, hiding behind an overturned wooden table with a cracked surface, whispered into the micro-microphone in his collar.
Jessica didn't respond.
She kicked a thug, who was trying to ambush her from the side with a machete, in the abdomen, sending him flying backward, doubled over like a shrimp.
She snatched an arm-thick iron pipe from another dazed enemy with a backhand move.
The iron pipe whirled powerfully in her hand.
Each swing carried a dull whooshing sound, accurately and brutally smashing into vulnerable joints, ribs, and faces.
The dull thuds, bone-breaking sounds, and shrill screams were incessant.
Jessica's fighting style appeared wild and brutal, but in reality, it was full of astonishing skill and precise timing.
Her strength and speed far exceeded ordinary people's.
But even more terrifying was her almost Beast-like combat instinct and her ruthless, crushing will to attack.
Every move was aimed at most efficiently stripping the opponent of their combat capability.
"Right rear, shotgun!"
William saw a guy in the back of the crowd quietly raise a dark shotgun, its barrel aimed at Jessica's exposed back during the fierce fight, and immediately shouted a warning with all his might.
Jessica squatted down sharply without even turning her head.
The iron pipe in her hand swung backward at an incredible angle.
"Bang!"
The shotgun spewed a deadly tongue of Fire and a dense spray of pellets, almost grazing Jessica's scalp.
It blasted a washbasin-sized hole in the wall behind her.
And the whistling iron pipe struck the shotgunner squarely in the face.
His nose bled and teeth flew, as he screamed and fell backward.
The shotgun also flew out of his hand.
"Nice job, insurance kid."
Jessica's voice, for the first time, carried a hint of... almost imperceptible approval?
William gave a wry smile and tightened his grip on his briefcase.
He felt like a weakling in front of Jessica.
This metal-framed, hard leather bag was now his only "shield" and the only "weapon" he could grip to give himself a bit of illusory courage.
The battle raged fiercely in the cramped space.
A desperate struggle.
Jessica was like a tireless machine.
While fighting, she also had to pay attention to whether the thugs were attacking William.
The opponents were numerous and powerful.
And they were all desperate individuals with blood on their hands.
Fearless of death.
One fell, and another immediately filled their place.
Wood chips, blood spatters, and sweat flew under the lights.
William hid behind the shaky cover.
Trajectory Prediction allowed him to anticipate some stray bullets and the indiscriminate swings of enemy weapons, narrowly avoiding several fatal dangers.
He stared intently at the battlefield, watching Jessica fight against multiple opponents.
The feeling of powerlessness coiled and grew within him like a vine.
He realized that besides acting as an occasional alarm sensor, he seemed to be able to do nothing else.
This feeling was worse than facing a gun barrel.
"There are too many of them!"
William saw several more figures squeezing in from outside the damaged doorframe.
One of them even carried a fire axe.
"Should we consider... a strategic retreat?"
"Shut up! Don't distract me!"
Jessica delivered a fierce elbow strike that completely caved in the nose bridge of an attacker who tried to grab her waist.
Suddenly.
A figure silently appeared in a dark, cluttered corner to Jessica's rear-side, a corner that had been overlooked until now.
It was an enemy who had been lurking in the Shadow.
Like a poisonous spider waiting for its prey to relax.
Clutching a Dagger that gleamed with a faint, cold light.
The blade tip shimmered with a dark, venomous glow, using the cover of the others.
Silently, and incredibly swiftly, it closed in.
And Jessica was currently entangled by two enemies wielding iron pipes from the front, having just knocked one down; her old strength was gone, and new strength had not yet emerged, leaving her completely preoccupied!
If that Dagger strike landed, the consequences would be unimaginable!