They Hated Me in My First Life, But Now I Have the Love System
Chapter 307: Being Outran By A Girl

Chapter 307: Being Outran By A Girl

But she did have her instincts.

They veered sharply into a winding street filled with market stalls. The scent of spices and dried fish hit them instantly. Nnenna did not stop.

She grabbed a colorful shawl hanging from a rack, threw Lionaran currency to the seller, and threw the shawl over her shoulders and head without breaking stride. She snatched another and tossed it to Ekene.

“Wear it. Fast,” she said.

“What?”

“Now!”

He fumbled but followed her lead, wrapping the fabric like a traveling shawl around his shoulders and lower face.

They ducked into a fruit stall where a plump old woman with sharp eyes was arranging oranges.

“Please,” Nnenna whispered. “Just for a moment.”

The woman raised a brow, glanced at the guards storming toward the market, and without a word, pointed to a large overturned basket. Nnenna and Ekene crouched and hid behind it.

The guards burst into the market seconds later, scanning the crowd.

“They went this way!” one shouted.

A vendor raised a brow. “Who? Those kids?”

“Yes! Where are they?”

“Not my problem,” he said, popping a peanut in his mouth. “Saw some kids running. But they all look the same to me.”

A young man chewing gum smirked from the sidelines. “You think we are just gonna snitch? What do we look like? Your informants?”

Someone laughed.

“Yeah, go do your own job.”

Another woman called out while selling tomatoes, “Maybe you should learn how to run faster instead of asking us where they went.”

The guards grew frustrated.

“Do you not understand these are orders from the King of Lionara?!” barked one of the more senior guards.

“And?” the gum chewing man said, unimpressed. “Still doesn’t pay me.”

The guards cursed under their breath.

Meanwhile, behind the fruit basket, Nnenna mouthed a silent thank you to the old woman, who gave a subtle nod before tossing an extra cloth over the hiding spot to make it less obvious.

When the guards finally left, grumbling and sweating under the sun, the old woman tapped her foot twice.

“That’s our cue.”

Nnenna and Ekene slipped out the back of the stall through a narrow path between buildings that connected to another street entirely. Once out, they mingled with the crowd, walking instead of running, blending into the sea of motion like chameleons.

Ekene let out a slow breath. “That… was insane.”

Nnenna smiled, adjusting the shawl on her head. “Yeah. But it worked.”

To the south was Karen.

Unlike the others, she did not have a single problem evading most of the guards, because speed was her gift.

She was lightning on her feet, weaving between people, carts, and motorcycles like she was born to do it. Hand to hand combat? Not her thing. But sprinting away from danger? That was where she shined.

Karen had represented her high school in numerous athletic competitions, often returning with gold medals. Her legs were used to long distance endurance, but even now, this kind of street chase felt like a new kind of adrenaline rush.

Still, she stayed focused. Every morning jog she had ever done now felt like preparation for this exact moment.

Behind her, some of the guards were panting hard, clearly struggling to keep up. A few exchanged glances, shame rising on their faces as they realized they were being outrun by a girl, easily.

“Is she flying or what?” one of them muttered breathlessly.

“I told you we should have gone after the guys!” another hissed, starting to regret his choice.

But it was too late.

The lead guard tried to encourage the rest. “Pick up the pace! If we lose her, Assistant Michael will have our heads. First the royals at the airport, now this…”

One of the guards slowed, a thought dawning. “What if this was all a trap? A diversion? I mean, they knew how to split so fast. This must have been planned.”

That unsettling realization passed through the team like a wave of cold water.

They were quite clueless on that front. None of the guards wanted to be among the crew that failed to catch the royals. They could already imagine the punishment: black rash, suspension, public scolding, or worse.

And to think all this would happen over something that was not even their fault? Yet, here they were… running after a girl who made it feel like they were chasing the wind.

Karen was barely even panting. In fact, with each stride, it almost looked like she was enjoying this. Her braid whipped behind her like a trail of fire, and her legs kept pumping like she had jet engines in her sneakers.

One of the guards muttered, “Is she even human?”

Still, a few of the more athletic guards were managing to keep a fair distance behind her. They were proud of their own stamina, their months of discipline. “She can’t keep it up forever,” one said, breathing hard but still pushing. “She will slow down eventually. When she does, we pounce.”

They were wrong.

Just when they thought she would slow down… Karen did something none of them saw coming.

Her lungs now burned, but her legs kept moving like they were on auto pilot. Every sharp turn she took earned her only a moment’s lead before the group behind her started gaining again.

These ones at the front now were not ordinary guards, they were fast, professional, and they weren’t tiring out as quickly as she’d hoped.

“They’re getting closer,” she muttered to herself, glancing over her shoulder. Three of the men had pulled ahead of the rest, their focus laser sharp. Their footsteps were getting louder.

She darted into a narrow alley between two buildings. Trash bins. Clotheslines. Buckets. The smell of pepper soup from a nearby canteen filled her nose as she dashed past a confused food vendor. “Sorry!” she shouted, nearly toppling his stack of plates.

One of the guards lunged at her at the end of the alley.