Bella didn't think the Claire siblings' investigation meant much. Other people might not know the truth—but she did.
This was Death's doing.
If you knew a bit about religious mythology, you could narrow it down to an American death god—more specifically, a Mayan one.
Nothing to do with high-tech criminals. Nothing to do with Magneto.
But when a car parked on the roadside suddenly started up by itself and charged straight at the three of them, Bella became a lot less certain.
She was sure Death's presence wasn't anywhere nearby. The car was just an ordinary commuter's sedan—definitely not a ghost vehicle, not being controlled by any supernatural or magical force. But the driver's seat was empty.
So how did it start?
Her psychic abilities were focused more on defense than offense. She was never strong at detection. And with Claire and Chris right beside her, their presence muddled her already limited psychic perception.
Bella leaped aside, and right after that, the car barreled straight toward the siblings. They managed to dodge separately.
At that moment, the car door swung open—and an invisible giant hand seemed to materialize out of thin air and strike Claire. The brunette barely managed to raise her arms before she was knocked to the ground. Then a sharp kitchen knife appeared out of nowhere, aiming for Claire's throat.
What the hell was that?
Bella still couldn't see anything unusual. In her psychic sense, she vaguely detected a blurred silhouette, but the interference was overwhelming.
She couldn't just watch Claire die.
Bella accelerated instantly, appeared beside the brunette within a blink, grabbed her arm, and yanked her to the side—while Chris drew his gun and fired repeatedly at the empty space in front of Claire.
The enemy's reaction was even faster than expected.
The knife slashed deep into Claire's shoulder and seemed ready to follow up—but Bella already dragged her five meters away. The knife suddenly dropped to the ground as if its control had been severed.
The empty car fishtailed violently, slammed into Chris, and then sped onto the main road—disappearing into the city traffic like nothing had happened.
Bella's mind went blank.
Everything happened too suddenly.
What kind of enemy was this? Why couldn't she see anything? Remote control? Supernatural? Magical? Some kind of psychic or mutant ability?
Chris had been clipped by the rear of the car, but not badly. He focused on treating his sister instead of chasing.
Fifteen minutes later, back at their temporary safe house, Chris bandaged his sister's wound and explained their recent findings to Bella.
"Two months ago, a middle-aged woman named Cecilia reported her husband for domestic abuse. Soon after, her husband—an optics expert named Adrian—was found dead in an apparent suicide. But Cecilia insisted he was still alive, watching her using some hidden method."
Chris laid out stacks of police reports and photographs.
The woman in the photos looked utterly ordinary, worn-out, hollow-eyed—every bit the picture of a mentally unstable patient, the delusional type.
Bella hesitated. "You're saying...?"
Chris tapped a finger on the photo.
"Police and her relatives think she's mentally ill. But I disagree. I believe her husband may still be alive. And he may be using some kind of optical invisibility technology to stay near her... and that he engineered Flight 180's crash, along with all the killings that followed."
That was a lot to take in.
Bella needed several seconds before she finally asked, voice odd, "So you think the attack earlier was caused by some kind of tech device? That someone was actually there—right next to us—but invisible the whole time?"
Chris nodded firmly. "Yes."
"I investigated Adrian's background. He was controlling, extremely twisted. He even refused a recruitment request from the Department of Defense—all because he wouldn't let his wife out of his sight. His obsession had reached pathological levels."
Chris pulled out another photo—a middle-aged woman gripping a bloody knife, her face stiff with shock. Beside her, a woman lay across a dining table, blood soaking the cloth and pooling on the floor.
"This was Cecilia at the time of her arrest. Witnesses in the restaurant claimed they saw her kill her own sister. But Cecilia insisted the knife killed her sister first—then somehow ended up in her hand. Doesn't that sound like the attack we just experienced?"
Could technology really pull this off?
Honestly, ever since awakening her supernatural abilities, Bella's mindset had shifted—she'd developed a kind of quiet arrogance about tech.
But today? Chris shooting vampires dead, plus this bizarre invisible attacker—she'd been taught a hard lesson.
No shadow, completely unseen, coming and going freely, strong enough to strike hard...
This device was extremely impressive.
The siblings believed the invisible man was the one behind the plane crash. The suspicion wasn't terribly strong—but he did have the ability to commit the crime. And if he thought they were getting too close to his secret, attacking first would make sense...
Chris planned to go to the Santa Maria Psychiatric Detention Center in California to question Cecilia, who had been locked up as a mentally ill patient.
Bella volunteered to take Claire to a hospital. Battlefield first-aid was fine if all you cared about was survival, but Bella knew most women wouldn't want a scar across their shoulder.
Chris—a total straight-arrow—thought "being alive is enough."
Bella disagreed. A doctor would handle the wound better.
They split up. Chris drove alone to California.
Bella helped Claire into her pickup to head for the hospital.
Bella discreetly checked her wallet. The siblings lived like wandering fighters—zero financial sense.
Well... looked like she'd be paying for the hospital bill herself.
They helped her kill vampires. She wasn't stingy.
Bella's previous body had lived in Phoenix for over ten years—she had an insurance card here.
She took Claire to the hospital. Despite knowing how expensive ER visits were, Bella still went through the emergency ward.
When the doctor said Claire was fine, Bella finally relaxed.
Now she desperately wanted to develop a healing ability.
And invisibility... that seemed pretty tempting too.
She didn't understand the invisible man's optical cloaking mechanism, but she could guess the principle—similar to how, during the Fox High truck incident, she used psychic suggestion to make people overlook her.
The person didn't actually vanish—they still objectively existed. People simply couldn't see them.
"Not visible..."
Bella felt a faint spark of insight.