Chapter 406: Escape (Two in One)

"Huff... huff..."

The man's vision had already begun to blur, his entire body trembling uncontrollably.

He was barely conscious at this point; his body shuddered on pure instinct, like a drowning dog.

The people around him were the ones truly consumed by fear.

They stared at Yan Jing in sheer terror, like ordinary people suddenly confronted by a fierce tiger several times their size.

"You... you... do you know who we are?"

A man whose status appeared second only to the leader stepped forward, trying to flaunt their reputation to intimidate him, just as they always did.

They were from the Presidential Security Department!

Attacking them was tantamount to attacking the President!

But Yan Jing spoke.

"You're what?"

His curly hair, matted with blood, gave him a wicked air. Yan Jing turned to look at the man, his normally elegant and gentle face now forming a sharp contrast.

The man was so terrified he instantly fell silent.

Bzzzt. Bzzzt.

Just then, a buzzing sound came from the wrist of the leader lying at Yan Jing's feet, breaking the deadly tension.

The moment they heard the sound, the others immediately looked toward their leader's Information Component. Their eyes filled with hope, as if whoever was on the other end could save their lives.

Yan Jing suddenly smiled, then did something entirely unexpected.

He crouched down, lifted the man's wrist, answered the call, and put it on speaker.

A gloomy voice came from the other end: "How did the interrogation go?"

Hearing that voice, the surrounding men grew even more frantic. Someone opened his mouth, seemingly ready to cry for help, but before he could make a sound, Yan Jing smiled and said, "We've found him."

"Where are you? I'll send you his location right now."

The men's expressions warped into pure horror. They stared at Yan Jing as if they were looking at a ghost, because the voice coming from his mouth sounded exactly like their leader's.

"No need."

The man on the other end of the Information Component spoke coldly. "I still have a few things to finish up on my end."

"The intel was wrong. This Yaoguang is stronger than Yuheng. He isn't at the Fourth Tier; he's at the Fifth Tier, and he's incredibly powerful."

"But they won't get far. It should take me about an hour to wrap things up. I'll contact you once I'm done."

"Since you've found him, tell the Electronic Communications Division to monitor his location. Don't let them escape."

"Understood."

Yan Jing smiled and was about to hang up. Right then, one of the men nearby screamed, "Vice Minister Huang! He's a fake! We've been taken hostage!"

After shouting, a flash of joy crossed the man's eyes. He forced a smile at Yan Jing. "Come on, kill me! The message is out! You won't escape either!"

As the seconds ticked by, the man's expression suddenly turned to panic. He stared in disbelief at the still-active call, unable to comprehend why Huang Xun was not reacting at all.

The call on the Holographic Screen clearly had not been disconnected!

Slammed by a violent wave of fear, he lost all rationality. He lunged forward, not caring whether Yan Jing would strike him down, and screamed at the Holographic Screen, "Minister Huang! Minister Huang! We've been taken hostage! Taken hostage!"

He screamed until his voice was hoarse. Finally, Huang Xun's voice came through again.

"Why aren't you saying anything? Alright, if there's nothing else, hang up. I'm busy here."

The man snapped his head up in terror. His face pale as paper, he looked at Yan Jing.

Yan Jing smiled at the Holographic Screen and said, "Understood. I won't keep you."

Beep—beep—beep—

The call officially disconnected.

The man had nearly broken down completely. He backed away in terror and slumped onto the floor. "Who are you? What are you?!"

Yan Jing smiled. "Alright, as the most disobedient one, you must be punished."

As his words fell, the man slumped on the ground seemed to sense something. He scrambled to get up in sheer panic, but before he could move, everyone heard a faint sound—like a wooden switch whipping through the air. By the time they registered it, the man had been pinned dead against the wall by a long black spike.

Blood gushed down the spike like water pouring from a stone drain in a park.

Even in death, his eyes were wide with sheer terror, as if he still had not processed what had happened.

Thud. Someone could not take it anymore and collapsed straight to the floor.

In their eyes, Yan Jing was now a demon pulled straight from the pages of obsolete paper books—an entity they were utterly powerless to resist.

"Now then, who wants to tell me about this Minister Huang? Where is he right now?"

As Yan Jing spoke, a rain of black petals suddenly began to fall across the room.

Fear—

Began to spread frantically!

Ten to twenty minutes later.

As the final man died in sheer terror, Yan Jing calmly helped Li Zhiyuan up from the chair.

The severed hand had already been sutured with silk threads. He had even treated some of the other wounds and hidden ailments along the way. For injuries of this level, Yan Jing did not even need to put his Life-Sewing Garment on cooldown.

"Mr. Luo, I truly cannot thank you enough."

Li Zhiyuan bowed to Yan Jing.

Yan Jing bowed slightly in return and smiled. "I should be the one thanking you, Doctor Li. Not only did you keep my location a secret, but you also gave me an opportunity to vent."

"Vent?"

Li Zhiyuan blinked, not quite understanding.

"It's nothing."

Yan Jing did not want to elaborate. He smiled and said, "Alright, Doctor Li. Go back to the hospital, and tell everyone to be careful for the time being."

"Are you planning to go after Minister Huang, Mr. Luo?"

Li Zhiyuan hesitated.

He felt this was inappropriate. The opposition belonged to the Presidential Security Department. In his eyes, Luo Sheng's course of action was far too reckless.

After all, the President represented the highest symbol of power in the Heavenly Kingdom. No matter how strong Luo Sheng was, he could not possibly take on an entire nation by himself.

But as Li Zhiyuan slowly voiced his concerns, Yan Jing smiled. "I don't think the current President is very good, so I've decided to oppose him."

"And I don't plan to do it verbally. I'm going to take practical action."

"I see people marching on the streets from time to time. What I'm doing should be about the same as them."

Li Zhiyuan felt Yan Jing's reasoning made sense, yet it also felt bizarre.

In the end, he could only bow again. "Thank you once more, Mr. Luo. I'm sorry for causing you trouble."

Yan Jing shook his head. "An elder once told me that there are actually no good or bad deeds in this world, only right and wrong things. If the vast majority of people believe that a ruler's actions are wrong, then that ruler ought to be overthrown."

"The one in the wrong isn't me, nor is it us, and it certainly isn't you. There's no need to apologize to me. Farewell, Doctor Li."

Hearing Yan Jing's words, something stirred inexplicably in Li Zhiyuan's heart. He looked up, wanting to say something more, but Yan Jing had already vanished.

Ultimately, he pressed his lips together and hurried away.

Meanwhile, the young girl wearing a beret was being carried in Yaoguang's arms as they sprinted frantically across the rooftops of the Anthill.

Behind them was an endless swarm of flying aircraft—dense as a plague of locusts or a hive of bees, their lights flashing incessantly.

"How did we get targeted by the Security Department?"

The girl was Tianquan. Although her words on the Information Component had always leaned toward the androgynous side, under the sunlight, she looked like an utterly normal young girl. Every inch of her skin radiated youthful vitality, and the white ankle socks traced a perfect curve around her calves.

It would have been even better if not for the bloody lacerations marring those very calves.

Right now, she was shouting at the man carrying her, "Yuheng is definitely dead! The problem is, how did they get our intel?!"

Her words were fleeting in the wind. Yaoguang's expression remained as calm as stone. "It was Tianshu. He wants to get rid of us."

"The boss?"

The girl froze. "How is that possible?"

"I know him better than you do. This is the only possible explanation." As they vaulted over a massive gap between two distant rooftops, Yaoguang's figure suddenly dropped into a sharp descent.

The girl's skirt billowed in the wind, fluttering wildly alongside the young man's suit.

"But the ones chasing us are the Security Department! The President's men! Wait, wait!"

The girl gaped in realization. "Are you saying Tianshu leaked our intel to the Peace Mansion (the Presidential Palace)?"

"I wouldn't rule out the possibility."

Yaoguang remained stoic.

He knew exactly how deranged that man truly was, because he was likely the only person among the Seven Stars who had ever seen his real face.

It was a face entirely covered in black hair, with blood-red eyes.

Even though his own Tier was relatively low, the truth was that he had joined the Seven Stars very early on.

Everyone knew this.

But they had always assumed he was the second person to join. In reality, he wasn't.

He was the third.

Before him, there had been someone else.

The previous Tianquan.

She had also been a young girl, just as much in the prime of her youth as the one he was currently holding.

The only difference was that the previous girl was very timid. And so, after Tianshu took the two of them on a mission, the girl became so frightened that she ultimately decided to quit the Seven Stars.

Tianshu tried to stop her, but she refused.

And then—

To this day, Yaoguang still could not forget the sight of that girl collapsing in a pool of blood.

Every night when he drifted off to sleep, he would picture that face—dotted with tiny freckles, twisted in terror, her mouth silently opening and closing as she begged him for help.

Why hadn't he saved her back then? Had he been brainwashed by Tianshu's rhetoric? Was he too afraid of ending up just like her? Or did he truly believe that the Seven Stars could save this country?

"This country needs a fire, and we will be its igniters."

Perhaps he really had believed those words all along.

Right up until this very moment—

Suddenly, just as his mind wandered, a black shadow shot toward them from the distance at an inconceivable speed.

"Look out!"

Tianquan screamed from his arms. She instantly ejected a small cubic box from her palm, deploying a square force field in an attempt to slow the projectile down. However, when the black shadow slammed into the field, its speed barely decreased.

The gap in power between Tianquan and whoever fired the projectile was simply too vast.

Without a second thought, Yaoguang dug his toes into the ground, his calves bulging as he forcefully pivoted his momentum and sprinted sideways.

But he was still a fraction of a second too slow.

The pitch-black, shark-mouthed missile impacted just a few meters away. A deafening roar erupted as the blast instantly ripped the surrounding ground to shreds.

Caught in the immense shockwave, Yaoguang was sent flying through the air with Tianquan in his arms. They landed dozens of meters away, and he had to expend a massive amount of effort just to forcibly stabilize his footing.

His suit, already battered and torn, was ripped open in several more places, exposing the lean muscles underneath.

Their current position was terrible. They appeared to be in an industrial park, boxed in by towering walls on both sides that would take time to scale.

Yaoguang looked up and saw a half-mechanized figure blocking one end of the street. He immediately spun around and bolted in the opposite direction.

But after just a few steps, he skidded to a halt.

Because blocking the other end of the street was a gargantuan figure.

The upper half of its body resembled a bull. Its rippling muscles easily surpassed Yaoguang's own. A pair of massive horns jutted toward the sky, adorned with naturally formed golden runes that glinted in the sunlight.

A bionic species. And one that had used an Ancient Biological Potion.

Yaoguang's expression darkened.

Biological potions were divided into various tiers of quality. Standard biological potions were derived from nothing more than chickens, ducks, cats, and dogs—

Even if technology was used to unlock the genetic potential of these common animals—like amplifying a dog's keen sense of smell by a factor of ten—they fundamentally remained within the realm of ordinary biology.

But an Ancient Biological Potion was entirely different.

First, it was incredibly rare.

Exploration teams could spend a year or two out in the Wasteland and only manage to find a single piece of ancient biomass, which usually yielded just one bottle of biological potion.

They were truly limited, one-of-a-kind items.

Second, its power was tremendous.

The people of the Heavenly Kingdom believed that in the distant past, long before the Source of Mutation had arrived, mighty transcendent powers had once existed on this land. Even though the power within this ancient biomass had almost completely drained away over the eons, technological stimulation could perfectly recreate its original might.

As far as Yaoguang knew, even Nuochen Biotech did not possess many ancient biological Gene Potions.

Yet here one was, standing right in front of them.

"Damn it..."

For the first time, his expression shifted significantly. His face turned grim, knowing their chances of surviving today were incredibly slim.

"Get ready to run."

He set Tianquan down from his arms. "Use your Instant Blink Space Device. I remember it can teleport you a hundred meters, right?"

"No, no, no, no."

Tianquan shook her head like a rattle drum. "You run. You run. Even if I teleport a hundred meters away, I still won't be able to escape."

She wasn't trying to be overly dramatic in the face of death; she was simply stating the facts.

But Yaoguang's next words caught her completely off guard.

"If you stay, you won't be able to hold them off for long. I'm going to give you a number. Contact this person."

"Tell him you're willing to risk your life for him, and transfer all our assets to him. You know my bank card password, right? Give it all to him. Anything, as long as he's willing to come save us."

"If he refuses, beg him again. Tell him I'm begging him too. He's a good person. There's a chance he might agree."

With that, Yaoguang rattled off a string of numbers.

By now, the figures at both ends of the street were only dozens of meters away.

Tianquan was utterly bewildered. "Who is this guy? Where is he? If he's far away, how is he going to get here?"

"It's that Mr. Luo I met before. If he's willing, he will come even if he's far away."

Yaoguang said, "This is our only gamble."

"Now go!!!"

As he spoke, boundless black light erupted from Yaoguang's body. His suit shredded to pieces as his right arm suddenly split open, transforming into a Giant Mechanical Fist. He smashed a hole straight through the high factory wall beside them and violently hurled Tianquan.

Tossing her into the factory.

He then turned around, leaning his back against the blasted hole, and looked at the two figures advancing toward him.