Chapter 104: Escape |
"Bunker buster bombs, the Gray Suit Squad, a drone array, and so many sniper positions... this operation alone must cost over a million, right? I thought they would use human wave tactics... Since they're so rich, they should really give me a raise."
Angie pulled her eyes away from the binoculars.
The billowing thick smoke in the distance obscured the moon, and the ignited trees in the forest illuminated the depths of the mountains. Not long after the shockwave dissipated, fire hoses moved in, and a Combat Group could be seen heading toward the bombing site.
Regardless of whether that was truly a Stronghold of the hostile Ascension Society, there definitely wouldn't be any living creatures left inside.
This was an annihilation operation right from the start.
For these dregs who had turned their backs on humanity, their only options were surrender or destruction.
"Eighty percent of the mysterious armed forces in the district are here. The Tenth District hasn't had any outstanding achievements in recent years. Delivering good results makes it easier to request funding and equipment from the Order. Consider it an investment. This kind of situation happens a lot where I'm from," her partner explained beside her, also holding up a pair of binoculars and panning around.
"Your Second District sure is rich."
"How else could we be ranked second? The Bureau sent people over, but we didn't bomb their spot. What are they getting so worked up about?"
Coughing, she hunched over and retreated to the leeward side, stumbling and tottering down the relatively gentle mountain road. Her foot slipped, and she nearly rolled down the slope, but fortunately, the field agent grabbed her just in time.
By the time they ran to a place where they could breathe freely, her shoes were nearly kicked off. She was completely covered in dirt and soot.
Her outfit was completely ruined.
"I didn't account for the wind changing, my bad..." The agent adjusted his jacket, pretending to act natural. "Anyway, our only remaining task is to write the mission report. Do you want to go catch a movie after this, as my apology?"
"I just watched a massive spectacle that no special effects could ever beat."
Having not slept a wink for two days, Angie was exhausted and had no energy for socializing. She did not understand how anyone could try to hit on her at a time like this. They had both turned into little soot-covered ash statues; what was there left to talk about?
The transition was so forced, and he really didn't pick a good time.
Pulling out her mobile phone, she noticed it was almost eleven o'clock. She gave Shi Rang another call, planning to use it as an excuse to escape this awkward situation, only to find that his phone was still turned off. The joy of a successfully completed mission vanished instantly.
Shi Rang had been out of contact for an entire day.
"I need to go to my friend's place and see if something actually happened. Can you give me a ride? I'll take care of your mission report."
2
Aside from tightly clutching the cardboard boxes in his hands that carried hundreds of lives, Shi Rang could do nothing.
If he hadn't stubbornly forced his way into Sector 257 before the Ascension Society showed up, it wouldn't have led to the agent's death. If he hadn't relayed the Ascension Society's existence to the Alliance, it wouldn't have brought about this bombing that nearly cost him his life. If he hadn't written those Records that night, none of the subsequent events would have happened.
Out of curiosity, he had tossed the initial pebble, wanting to see the shape of the ripples. Yet the waves he stirred up grew continuously, turning into a tsunami that drowned countless people.
He knew Qin might have forcefully dug the memories out of his brain, and he knew there were many murderers like Ring Worm in the Stronghold. The Alliance's surprise attack had actually helped him eliminate these hidden dangers. But he had nearly died, and people had died right in front of him, all because of the pebble he had tossed.
If Qin hadn't called over a helper with a teleportation ability, Shi Rang would have died right there.
It was impossible for him not to be deeply shaken.
These people... these people were villains. Just moments ago, they were still using and scheming against each other...
"Hurry up. They've blockaded the roads out of the city, and they'll start searching soon," the young man known as Mirror said, pulling him along.
In the darkness of the night, it was difficult to catch the expression on the man's dark skin.
Mirror's voice was full of apathy. As he walked, he took off his cloak, using the fabric to wrap the severed hand before cradling it in his arms. Stripped of the cloak that heavily featured Outer Zone styling, he was actually wearing casual clothes underneath.
Shi Rang forced himself to speak. "Did they..."
"The Alliance rarely leaves survivors, and we are still alive. So move quickly and let's get out of here."
"But..."
Death had arrived so swiftly. There was no blood or screaming, lacking the intense shock he felt when that agent had died right in front of his eyes.
Turning his back on the burning forest in the distance, Shi Rang followed Mirror away from the hunter's cabin.
It wasn't until the stone steps brought him to the foot of the mountain that the haze in his heart gradually solidified into a heavy gloom.
The suffocating smoke of gunpowder drifted over to their vicinity. The undigested food in his stomach suddenly made its presence overwhelmingly known. Shoving the cardboard boxes aside, Shi Rang leaned over the nearby bushes and began to dry heave. His entire body trembled as if he were trying to vomit his internal organs out through his throat.
Mirror waited for him for a moment, but seeing him squatting there, looking like he was about to break down and refuse to move, Mirror finally walked over and dragged him forward.
This morning, Shi Rang had viewed the Ascension Society as a threat; in the afternoon, he had viewed them as enemies; and by nightfall, driven by his own desires, he had hesitated over whether to engage in a mutually beneficial arrangement with them.
He had not yet completed such a massive psychological transformation, yet the people who had brought about these changes in him were already gone.
Looking on the bright side, he didn't need to worry about his identity being exposed anymore. All the informed persons were already dead—perhaps someone had transmitted a tiny bit of information outward, but the actual individuals who knew the full story were dead.
Shi Rang wouldn't grieve for those who were deserving of punishment, but he didn't want to see lives snuffed out with a mere snap, crushed like dried dead leaves...
Belatedly, Shi Rang wanted to refute Mirror's earlier statement. He wanted to say that the Pan-Continent Alliance wasn't as cold and ruthless as the man claimed, but the events had just unfolded right before his eyes. The flames from the Stronghold's explosion shot straight into the clouds. He had witnessed the exact moment the bombs fell and felt a portion of the shockwave.
Thinking back on it now, the bizarre vibrations before the bombing made perfect sense—that was the test firing used for targeting before they opened fire.
"Deer Hunter" was a spy for the Alliance. A spy had delivered crucial intelligence, helping the Alliance complete its strike against the Ascension Society. This was a massive achievement and a tremendous contribution to the organization.
Yet "Shi Rang" was now practically half a member of the Ascension Society, and Qin, the person he had struck a deal with, was dead.
What should he do now? Had Qin passed his identity onto the other members?
If the fact that he possessed an Anomalous Effect was exposed, what would the Alliance do to him? Or would they turn a blind eye?
The Alliance had arrived too quickly. Before the one-minute ultimatum had even ended, the attack had already landed.
Out of the entire Stronghold, only Shi Rang and the mini-humans he carried had received preferential treatment and managed to escape...
No, he also carried away a phrase that kept echoing in his mind—"For the future of humanity."
Was this the slogan of the Ascension Society?
But, why?
The exploding head of the field agent and the nonchalant smile of Ring Worm, Qin's profit-driven words and her resonant, powerful final instructions—all these fragments flashed before his eyes one by one, ultimately replaced by the swaying back of his guide walking ahead of him.
Why on earth did it have to be this way...
A van was hidden among the bushes at the bottom of the mountain. Mirror climbed into the driver's seat, cast a glance at the back compartment that should have been filled with people, and placed the wrapped severed hand in the corner. In silence, he started the vehicle and drove onto the mountain road.
"I'll take responsibility for bringing you to the next Jump Point to obtain a photograph—if that place hasn't been blown up yet, we should be able to shake off the Alliance's people. She said you memorized all the files. Which district is the Eye of God in?"
Shi Rang was stunned for a moment before realizing that "she" referred to Qin. "The Second District."
"Then I will contact the people in the Second District and have them come pick you up. Until then, I will protect you."
Shi Rang felt a faint, vague sound of crying coming from inside the cardboard boxes, so quiet it was almost completely masked by the rumble of the car. Someone was also poking his hand.
Without him realizing, his fingers had pierced through the cardboard boxes. Perhaps he had caused a brief scare, but he was in no mood to converse with the mini-humans right now. He simply pulled his fingers out and sank into a daze.
He was on the verge of a breakdown himself; how could he possibly comfort others?
Mirror drove in silence. His attire and facial features made him look like someone from the Eleventh or Twelfth District. Not a trace of sorrow showed on his sculpted face.
After they passed a fork in the road and cautiously navigated through an area cordoned off by a cordon line next to the mountain pass, driving past a group of police officers who seemed to be investigating a murder case, Shi Rang couldn't help but ask, "Do things like this... happen often?"
"Did no one introduce the organization to you?"
"There wasn't enough time."
"Both the Alliance and the Bureau have us on their 'kill on sight' lists. They view us as something that ought to be exterminated, and they are actively trying to do exactly that—just like they did to other anomalous organizations in the past. So, yes, this kind of thing happens often. They slaughter us in batches, like butchering cattle and sheep. In the past, the Bureau would at least put some effort into containing Ascenders and turning regular people into test subjects. Later on, they just started executing ordinary members on the spot."
The headlights of oncoming cars repeatedly illuminated the cabin, the flashes intermittently lighting up the faces of Shi Rang and Mirror.
The part of Shi Rang's brain responsible for processing philosophy and ideals had completely crashed. He knew the world wasn't black and white, but right now, he had no energy left to think about such things. He numbly rubbed the spots on his face where bloodstains still lingered until his skin burned with pain.
Never before had he desired to go home so badly; he just wanted to collapse and cast all of this away into a dream.
Before long, Mirror slowed down at an intersection, wanting to turn onto a branch road and drive in a direction away from Yunling City. However, an Alliance vehicle was parked on the side road, forcing him to bite the bullet and keep moving forward.
Without Mirror needing to say a word, Shi Rang could guess that they wouldn't be able to reach that Jump Point.
Based on his observations, Mirror's Anomalous Effect involved consuming photographs to open a teleportation passage to the location depicted in the image. It had distance limitations and a cooldown period for teleporting. The attack on the Stronghold was an emergency, and Mirror had arrived in such a rush that he likely hadn't brought any spare photographs.
The vehicle was still moving, yet they felt as if they were trapped right where they started.
As they continued driving straight, more and more Alliance vehicles appeared on the road. A checkpoint could pop up at any moment to intercept them.
When a road sign reading "40 KM to Yunling City" flashed past the window, Shi Rang remembered something.
"You're driving out of the city?"
"We can't go to Yunling City; there are Alliance people everywhere. There might be a few intersections where they haven't set up defenses yet, we could exit from there..."
"I need to go back for a bit."
"I said, we can't go there."
"I have a—my wife has a friend who works for the Alliance. She drops by my place every now and then, and I've always relied on this connection to cover myself. She couldn't find me last night, so she might come by again tonight!" Shi Rang emphasized his tone. "The Alliance doesn't know I joined you guys. I haven't been exposed yet. As long as I can send her away, my place will be the best safe house!"