Volume 4, Chapter 63 – Why Are You Chasing Me?

“You know everything now?”

Anran turned around at the sound.

A tall woman stood behind her, dressed in ordinary, inconspicuous clothes. Even so, her presence could not be concealed. She was cold and aloof, yet seemed to contain an explosive flame within her.

Heloise.

Anran’s mind raced.

Heloise had been thirteen in Imperial Calendar Year 8094. It was now 8102, which meant she was actually only twenty-one.

With her curvaceous figure and mature appearance, Anran had always assumed that she was twenty-four or twenty-five. She had not expected her to be so “young.”

What surprised Anran even more was that Heloise in the photograph was clearly just a little bean sprout.

She was not tall, her chest was flat, and her bottom had none of its current alluring curves.

But the Heloise of today was the perfect example of a flat board making a comeback.

Girls changed dramatically as they grew up. Anran remembered that she was only sixteen herself. Perhaps she would make a comeback in the future too.

Besides, the Pirate Princess Anran she had experienced for a few minutes earlier had also been a character who was very good at winning people’s hearts.

…

“What exactly do I know?” Anran pinched the photograph between her fingers and edged backward, putting some distance between herself and Heloise.

Heloise paid no attention to Anran’s small movement. She explained, “I don’t know how it works, but I know you’ve already seen my past.”

“You’re amazing!” Anran nodded. “When I was your age, I was still selling cakes.”

“You’re amazing too. Every time we try to assassinate you, you turn the tables on us. You’ve destroyed our bases again and again, and even after we came to the Tabus Western Continent, you still chased us all the way here.”

“There’s something I don’t understand. If you wanted to overthrow the Empire’s puppet government because you hated what that officer did, then what Morningstar is doing now isn’t much different from what he did, is it? Why are you still working for an organization like that?”

Anran’s face lit up as though a light bulb had switched on. “Oh, right. There’s also that Dawn guy who calls himself Morningstar’s leader. With someone that lame in charge, it’s no surprise the organization he leads is just as lame.”

“At least Morningstar wasn’t like this a year ago,” Heloise suddenly said.

That answer startled Anran.

So you know it too?

“Then why are you still risking your life for Morningstar? Even if Morningstar really succeeds, I don’t think No. 1886 will be any better under Dawn’s rule than it is now.” As Anran spoke, she held the photograph in front of her body while one hand quietly moved behind her back.

Heloise did not answer her question directly. “Do you know who released me?”

Released her?

Umm…

“Was it that man called Rons?” Anran asked tentatively.

Heloise nodded. “Morningstar has had four generations of leaders since it was founded…”

She suddenly began giving Anran a history lesson on Morningstar.

“After founding the organization, the first leader led his followers in battle for more than a year. He was assassinated afterward. Although the resistance movement achieved no concrete results, it completely awakened the will to resist in those who still longed for their homeland.”

This felt like listening to a history of the revolution…

“Then the second leader took office. He was Dawn’s father and also the longest-serving leader. During his tenure, Morningstar’s resistance movement achieved considerable results and eliminated several high-ranking officials of the puppet government. But because someone betrayed them, the second leader was killed in a car crash.”

“…”

It was supposed to be a serious moment, but Anran could not help wanting to laugh.

“The third leader after that was Rons…”

“Oh, I understand.” Anran interrupted Heloise. “Since the current leader is Dawn, that means Rons is already dead. You’re still working for Morningstar because you promised him that you would overthrow the Empire’s puppet government no matter what! Ah, what a moving and tragic love story.”

“…”

“What nonsense are you talking about?” Heloise’s expression darkened. “Rons was old enough to be my father!”

“Age isn’t the ques…”

Fine. Anran obediently shut her mouth.

Now she understood why the quest difficulty was rated B–A. If Heloise cornered her, it was A. If Heloise did not, it was B.

Umm…

No, that did not seem quite right either. Those Z-series people had not been strong enough to threaten her. It probably referred to where she was cornered.

Had they not been inside this narrow room, Anran could have looked for an opportunity to escape using the jet propulsion system on her exoskeleton armor.

“So, how did Rons die? Was there another traitor?”

Rеаԁ оո ΚatRеаԁіոɡСafе

“He died of illness,” Heloise said.

“Of illness? Are you sure someone didn’t poison him? Dawn, for example? He was the second leader’s son, so it’s very possib…”

“Heh.” Heloise sneered.

“Heh!”

Anran sneered right back.

I can do that too.

Enough.

Anran stopped wasting words with Heloise. She moved the photograph aside and flung forward the hand she had hidden behind her back.

A round High-Energy Explosive immediately flew behind Heloise.

The pin had already been pulled, and Anran had thrown it behind Heloise without warning. Although the room was small, even if it exploded, Heloise would still suffer the worst injuries. Part of that was due to the distance, and part of it was because Anran was at least wearing exoskeleton armor with 50 points of Armor.

However, Heloise merely stamped her left foot on the floor and slapped the High-Energy Explosive downward.

A hole suddenly opened in the floor. The instant the explosive fell inside, it detonated. The blast was loud, but it did absolutely nothing.

“…”

Heloise smiled at Anran.

Damn it.

This woman had been toying with her the entire time.

In that case, Anran stopped thinking about anything else. She suddenly drew her double-barreled scattergun and fired at the lights in the room.

“Bang, bang…”

During the brief moment Heloise was stunned, the room fell into complete darkness. Fragments from the exploding rounds also struck her body, but they only inflicted pitiful forced damage.

“-1 -1 -1…”

The damage was low, but it was more than enough.

At the instant the room shifted from light to darkness, even Anran’s eyes were dazzled despite her tactical goggles. However, the floating “-1” indicators allowed her to pinpoint Heloise’s position.

She charged forward. The speed enhancement in her footwear erupted instantly. By the time Anran emptied the double-barreled scattergun’s magazine, she had already swept past Heloise.

Trying to leave?

Although her vision was briefly disrupted, Heloise still sensed the sudden movement of air around her.

Breaking the lights to create a distraction, then using the gunshots to conceal the sound of her movement. It was a decent idea, except…

Heloise reached to seize the space beside her. She could clearly feel the air moving there. Just a little farther forward…

Hm?

Her movement abruptly froze.

She had grabbed nothing!

Anran, who had forcibly shifted one body-length to the side, had already reached the doorway. She did not hesitate, nor did she turn around to say something pretentious like “until we meet again.”

Anran simply ran.

She was as fast as the wind. Even including all the turns and changes of direction, it took her only a little over ten seconds to race from the second underground level to the first floor.

“Anran, Anran!” Aila suddenly emerged from the staircase leading to the second floor.

“Phew.”

Anran secretly sighed in relief. When Heloise had suddenly appeared, she had worried that Aila might have been hurt. Since Aila was fine, Anran had plenty of time to deal with Heloise.

“Aila, stay here and don’t move. Once I lure Heloise away, remember to drive the car back.”

With that, Anran sprinted down the corridor.

“Anran, Anran!” Aila watched her disappear into the distance and could only quietly say, “All right.”

She continued crouching in place without making a sound, like a stone statue.

Heloise rushed up from underground soon afterward. She was so fast that one glance backward was enough for Anran to know she could not outrun her.

But Anran had never intended to race Heloise on foot.

Besides granting her greater speed, the exoskeleton armor also tripled her jumping ability.

Jump!

Rеаd oո KatRеαdіոgСаfе

With a light pull on a window frame, Anran leaped directly to the second floor, then the third, the fourth, and continued upward.

Heloise followed closely behind. The two of them soon reached the rooftop.

The rain was still falling, and the depressions in the ground were nearly turning into ponds.

Anran’s hair was quickly soaked. She wanted to jump away immediately, but Heloise had already caught up behind her.

If Anran jumped straight off now, Heloise might punch her down into the ground.

But besides running fast and flying, Anran had another trump card.

The active skill attached to her mechanical armguard: [Charged Impact].

A fully charged, 50-point Charged Impact erupted in an instant, combining a threefold amplification coefficient with a burst of compressed air.

Anran suddenly turned around. With a mysterious smile, she drove her fist straight toward Heloise’s chest.

If she did not block this punch, even “Mount Everest” would be flattened into the “Mariana Trench.”

Even yours, Heloise.

“…”

It was too late for Heloise to dodge. She could only gather her strength and answer with a punch of her own.

“Bang!”

Two slender fists collided.

The resulting wind pressure and compressed-air shock wave instantly blasted away all the rain around them, briefly creating a vacuum-like space.

“Pfft!”

Anran spat out a mouthful of blood. Standing at the edge of the rooftop, she was sent flying backward. Her arm felt as though it were about to snap. Without the protection of the mechanical armguard, the bones in her hand would probably have shattered. Even so, the Armor of the armguard had dropped by more than twenty points.

This woman was terrifying.

Anran looked at Heloise as the jets behind her propelled her farther away.

Heloise was in even worse condition.

She wore only a pair of protective gloves. At the moment their fists collided, Heloise was sent flying backward and even smashed through the small structure on the rooftop.

“-501”

“-137”

Two enormous damage numbers floated into the air.

Anran’s expression did not change. She pulled a pile of components from behind her and rapidly assembled them while flying. A rifle soon appeared in her hands.

Load.

Aim.

Fire.

“Bang!”

“Ugh!” Heloise grunted.

“-108”

Aim. Fire.

“Bang!”

The second shot missed. Heloise forced her injured body to dodge.

Heh.

Anran aimed again and was about to fire when Heloise unexpectedly jumped down to the floor below.

Was she leaving?

Anran flew some distance in the direction opposite the car. This would give Aila a chance to drive it back. Although Aila was small, Anran trusted that she had plenty of ways to manage it.

She only needed to fly a little farther before landing.

As that thought crossed her mind, Anran suddenly noticed a small black speck rapidly closing in from the distance.

“…”

Holy crap. Heloise!

Even while injured, Heloise was still running at astonishing speed. She held one gun in her hands and had another strapped across her back.

“…”

Rеαԁ оո KаtReadіոɡCαfe

“Bang!”

“Bang!”

They fired at each other, and both missed.

Anran could only increase her altitude. The maximum height was 200 meters, and with a Movement Speed of 20, she could fly at roughly sixty kilometers per hour. The problem was that her flight time was limited to twenty minutes. The twenty-three units of energy provided by Basic Load Charging Lv. 3 could keep her going a little longer. If she transferred the remaining energy from her footwear as well, she could drag things out a bit more.

The problem was that this speed was nowhere near enough against Heloise.

Since her bullets could not hit Anran, Heloise simply stopped firing. She silently followed below, neither too fast nor too slow. Whenever Anran tried to use complicated terrain to shake her off, Heloise immediately accelerated.

In the end, after all that effort, Anran discovered that Heloise was still beneath her.

“…”

Anran’s face immediately darkened.

What the hell…

“Bang! Bang!”

She fired two shots to vent her frustration, then tossed a High-Energy Explosive downward. The blast covered Heloise in mud.

She was still chasing.

“Hey, big sis, why do you have to keep chasing me? It’s not like I loved you and abandoned you. Even if you’ve fallen for me, you don’t have to pursue me this closely.”

“Heh. You’ll have to come down eventually. You’d better pray you don’t fall into my hands.” Heloise wiped muddy water from her cheek.

Anran landed on a raised stretch of ground and began sprinting. That allowed her to conserve flight energy.

Since she could not shake Heloise through her own strength, she needed some help.

Help from the players.

Anran quickly called Zhou Jieyu and Li Zhuying.

She explained the situation to each of them and told them to summon people in a more tactful way.

In other words, they were to announce on the forums that a Morningstar boss had appeared in the wilderness.

Anran then sent both of them her route and refreshed the shared location from time to time.

[A world boss?]

[Someone get over here! I can’t solo it!]

[The more people, the better. Everyone knows how good the drop rates are for world bosses.]

[Coordinates: XXX, XXX.]

[Huh? Now that you mention it, I was already doing Anran’s quest nearby.]

[This lord has arrived!]

[Form a party! Form a party! Get a healer in here!]

Hehehe. I have a surprise for you.

Anran smiled at the still-oblivious Heloise.

“Bang!” “Bang!”

Anran fired another two shots in celebration.

She lowered her altitude slightly and shouted, “Once I get stronger, I’ll come back and kill you!”

“I won’t kill you that quickly!” Heloise replied coldly.

She raised her gun to return fire when a gunshot suddenly rang out from directly ahead.

Hm?

Heloise quickly dodged.

Someone was here?

Was this an ambush?

There should not have been any government forces in this area.

“Bang, bang, bang…”

Dense gunfire erupted without pause.

They’re here, they’re here.

Rеαԁ οո KatRеαdinɡСаfe

Anran immediately increased her flight speed. She would let these players, so dedicated to farming world bosses, take their time playing with Heloise.

Heloise was powerful, but no one could withstand the players’ overwhelming numbers and endless dirty tricks.

Heloise quickly realized that the newcomers were Outsiders.

Her expression immediately darkened.

Ever since the Outsiders appeared, many of Morningstar’s operations had gone disastrously wrong. Most of these locust-like people had joined the government forces.

“Bang!”

“Swish!”

Heloise eliminated the player in front of her with a few moves, then continued chasing Anran. But as the pursuit continued, she became trapped in the mire.

Although she was never in real danger, she could only watch as Anran flew farther and farther away.

“Aaah!”

Heloise screamed inwardly. She was going to let Anran escape again. Why was that woman always so lucky? She did not need all of Anran’s luck. If only she had half of it…

“Heh, it’s actually a Level 23 world boss.”

“Damn, isn’t that [Flying Fire Meteor Slash], ranked fifth on No. 1886’s level leaderboard? He’s a god-tier sniper and a legend when it comes to stealing kills!”

“Damn it, we can’t let him steal the kill… Ugh!”

Blood sprayed through the air.

“Bang!”

Heloise pulled the trigger, followed with a sweeping strike, and chained it into a close-range slash.

“Pfft!”

[Flying Fire Meteor Slash] was killed instantly.

“A bunch of trash. Trash, trash…”

Heloise continued forward, repeating those words under her breath.

After charging another kilometer ahead, she stared at the empty, rain-filled sky and froze for a moment.

“Bang!”

“-98”

“Bang, bang, bang, bang!”

Only after emptying both guns did Heloise leave.

[Good grief, this boss is way too strong.]

[You can’t just farm a world boss whenever you feel like it.]

[Back to soaking in the fountain again.]

[Hey, brother. Fancy meeting you here. Let’s soak in the fountain together.]

…

“Phew. I finally can’t see her anymore.”

Anran landed on the ground. She looked around, confirmed the direction, and broke into a run.

She ran all the way back to Lunga Town. The distance was more than two hundred kilometers, but at Anran’s current speed, she was much faster than a car. When she stumbled back in a sorry state, Aila had not yet returned.

“What happened to you?”

Liang Minyao stared at the disheveled Anran in confusion.

“Don’t ask. I ran into Heloise. I barely managed to escape.”

Anran shook her head. She did not continue talking to Liang Minyao and instead followed the road she had taken earlier.

After traveling more than twenty kilometers, Anran finally found Aila.

“Thank goodness. Thank goodness.”

Anran hugged Aila, and the weight hanging over her heart finally lifted.

Both of them were safe and unharmed. The quest had also been completed when Anran escaped Heloise’s pursuit.

“Anran, Anran, let’s go back first,” Aila said.

“Mm.”