At this very moment.

Robert endured the excruciating pain, grabbed the remaining knives from the kitchen counter, hurled them violently toward Jiang Ran, then bolted out the door.

He was perfectly clear about his current situation.

He was no match for this Hua Country person before him.

If he didn't run now, he would absolutely die at his hands!!!

After Robert burst through the door, he heard footsteps following closely behind.

Because of this, he didn't dare take the elevator—waiting for it would give Jiang Ran enough time to catch up.

He could only sprint toward the emergency staircase at the far end of the hallway, running desperately downward.

He kept rushing down floor after floor.

Even though his shoulder had been slashed and blood flowed continuously, to Robert in his current state, this meant nothing.

His speed descending the stairs reached truly extreme levels.

Jumping down multiple steps at once, he raced breathlessly from the 7th floor all the way to the 1st floor.

Just as he reached the 1st floor lobby, he slipped and fell hard.

Lying on the ground, he wiped his right hand across the floor and discovered why—the area around the staircase entrance was covered in slippery soapy water?

As he prepared to get up and continue fleeing, he lifted his head and saw Jiang Ran standing right in front of him.

The Jiang Ran before him appeared completely calm and unruffled.

None of the breathless exhaustion or extreme dishevelment that came from rushing downstairs.

"How is this possible? You came down faster than me?!" (in English)

Robert's face showed complete shock.

Jiang Ran merely sneered coldly: "You didn't take the elevator, but that doesn't mean I couldn't?"

Robert angrily punched the ground.

Jiang Ran said: "I only arrived slightly before you. I took the opportunity to use the cleaning supplies kept on the 1st floor to create this soapy water surface. I didn't actually expect you'd really slip and fall." (in English)

Jiang Ran continued: "While riding the elevator down just now, I reread your online biography that I found." (in English)

"The biography said you engaged in petty theft and robbery since childhood. Your first murder occurred after reaching adulthood—one night you broke into a 79-year-old grandmother's home to steal, but finding nothing valuable, you felt the trip was wasted. In your anger, you slit the old woman's throat with a knife. And what made me think I must be seeing things was that the biography said you actually engaged in necrophilia with her corpse." (in English)

Jiang Ran's tone rose at this point, clearly genuinely surprised.

"Seriously, and this was only your first murder case." (in English)

"Afterwards, similar cases became too numerous to count." (in English)

"I take back what I said earlier when I mocked you." (in English)

"I think that as a serial killer, while you became famous, your actual skill level really isn't much. If you don't rely on nighttime ambushes, your success rate becomes extremely low." (in English)

"But you truly are a deranged pervert, that's beyond doubt. Not even sparing a 79-year-old grandmother, and doing that after she was already dead." (in English)

"I've encountered many perverts, but you're definitely among the most extreme and disgusting." (in English)

"Given this, I'll reluctantly acknowledge you as a deranged serial killer! Of course, it's your perversion that earned you the points!" (in English)

"But as for being the so-called 'greatest serial killer in history'—you're not qualified." (in English)

Jiang Ran felt he was giving praise, but Robert certainly didn't see it that way.

He only felt humiliated.

From when he began committing crimes, except for finally being captured.

He had almost never failed or suffered losses.

Now, here he was suffering defeat and being mocked by his opponent.

This made him absolutely furious with rage.

He only wanted to kill the Jiang Ran before him.

Because of this, he climbed up from the ground and charged at Jiang Ran again, only to meet the same outcome—being kicked flying several meters away.

"I told you—without relying on nighttime ambushes, you're just garbage waiting for collection at the dump." (in English)

Robert received such insults but could do nothing against his opponent. He could only get up and run toward the apartment building's exit, passing through the glass automatic sensor doors.

He ran all the way toward the main gate where the security guard booth was located.

It seemed he had chosen to flee.

Just like back when, on the eve of his capture, Mike's girlfriend and two other male detectives had severely wounded him.

Then being discovered by a large crowd of concerned citizens nearby, he could only escape.

The only difference was.

Last time a whole crowd chased him, this time only one person pursued.

Jiang Ran also passed through the glass automatic sensor doors.

Unlike Robert's frantic escape after crossing through, he simply stood before the glass automatic doors.

Holding in his right hand the kitchen knife that had previously slashed Robert's shoulder.

Muttering under his breath: "1, 2, 3"

His body also took a throwing stance.

Then, the kitchen knife left his right hand.

Did it hit or miss?

Regardless, judging by Robert's agonized scream followed by collapsing to the ground, it presumably hit.

Across from Alice Apartment stood a tall hotel building.

After leaving Alice Apartment, Mike had been staying here, using extremely professional equipment to observe the entire front of Alice Apartment.

One could say that since checking into this tall hotel, he had worked day and night. Even when going out, he had a camera worth up to 110,000 Chinese yuan set up by his hotel room window, continuously recording.

And after leaving Alice Apartment, the daily deposits of 10,000 yuan that automatically appeared in his bank account around midnight had also stopped.

This further confirmed the accuracy of what Xiao Q and the other two had told him about the apartment's truth.

Because of this, Mike deeply understood that if he were Sun Wukong from the Hua Country novel "Journey to the West," then Alice Apartment was Buddha's Five Finger Mountain. No matter how powerful Sun Wukong was, he couldn't escape that seemingly small Five Finger Mountain. Therefore, he must keep his distance.

He couldn't fight against it.

If not for needing to kill Robert, he would have already left Nancheng City by now.

The Robert matter had become his inner demon.

If this matter remained unresolved, he would absolutely go mad.

Because now, whenever he closed his eyes, he saw his girlfriend's horrific condition from back then.

Finally, on this night, he had waited for Robert to appear.

However, what he saw through this 50,000 Chinese yuan super-powered night vision monocular telescope.

Left him deeply puzzled.

He could only catch glimpses of Robert flashing past hallway windows, then see Robert's figure again at the next floor's hallway window.

Having lived inside before, Mike knew the apartment's layout and understood Robert was descending the stairs, but why was he moving so quickly?

Chasing someone?

Or being chased?

Too little information available.

Mike thought it must be Robert chasing someone, because Robert definitely wasn't the type to be chased.

After all, Mike understood Robert's brutality—how much effort and cost had he, other detectives, and Maple Country's police force expended to capture this guy?

So many people including his girlfriend had sacrificed themselves for it.

Mike believed Robert's title as one of the world's top ten serial killers was well-deserved.

From Mike's perspective, this was indeed true.

But from Jiang Ran's perspective, aside from Robert's perversion being well-deserved, his skill level as a serial killer was too pathetic, merely mediocre.

Complete garbage.