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Chapter 143: A Fight to the Death

Large numbers of helicopters took off from a nearby military base, beginning their pursuit in the direction the target had escaped. Ground forces, cooperating with SWAT teams from various surrounding areas, swiftly deployed a cordon.

No one dared to be careless, as the higher-ups had issued a death order: "Alive, they must be seen; dead, their corpses must be seen." Under no circumstances could this data be allowed to leave Huaxia's borders.

Under satellite tracking, the trio's escape route was completely exposed. Yet, the three spies, utterly oblivious that their movements had been compromised, still believed things would proceed as smoothly as the first half of their plan.

"Orders have been issued from above. We are authorized to use all force except nuclear and biochemical weapons," the commander, dressed in a crisp military uniform, said to the missile launch center from within the rapid response unit's command post.

"Instruction received, Commander. Please instruct."

"According to their current trajectory, they are still in the outskirts, far from the city. Therefore, I've decided to deploy eight tracking missiles for a direct strike! No need to leave any survivors!"

"Received. Please enter the confirmation password."

"XXXX-XXXX"

"Password confirmed. Eight MJ-6 missiles commencing launch. Guided tracking will be completed by satellite."

"What's there to worry about? With just Huaxia's helicopters and ground forces, I can easily shake them off by nine streets! Exposing our movements now is just to draw them away for Sheldon. As soon as I use my illusion-creating ability, we'll be safe."

"I'll drive a bit faster then. Your worries aren't entirely unfounded. Huaxia's Ability User forces aren't to be trifled with; it's possible some are stationed right near Tianqing," Mike said, not wanting to be too definitive, considering Mobit was the strongest fighter among the three present.

"Sir, what data did these terrorists steal that it's worth using eight of our most advanced guided missiles to silence them?" the adjutant beside the commander asked curiously.

"The manufacturing method and related data for the Xuanhuang Fruit," the commander said coldly.

"Then it's certainly worth spending hundreds of millions on weapons to silence them," the adjutant didn't press further. He also knew what to ask and what not to ask.

Meanwhile, Sheldon, desperately pushing forward in the darkness towards the direction indicated by his instrument, was completely unaware of the tracking behind him.

As the one who actively created the opportunity for them to act, Bai Mo had guessed they would definitely make their move during the equipment change. So he simply adjusted the changeover time to night, making them feel the opportunity was even greater.

His invisible avatar had arrived an hour early near the testing ground and began searching the surroundings with his divine sense for the people responsible for carrying out the mission.

From the very beginning, he meticulously monitored every detail, heard every word of Mike's plan, understood the entire arrangement of the plan perfectly, and even helped them patch up some minor flaws that could have led to failure.

For instance, when they used the hypnotic gas, several staff members actually still had a two or three-second window to shout loudly, but they were all tightly gagged by the avatar's psychic power, only able to emit muffled "woo-woo-woo" sounds.

After realizing they had decided to "repair the plank road ostensibly, while secretly passing through Chencang," Bai Mo decisively followed Sheldon, who had fallen behind but was carrying the real data.

After nearly thirty minutes of full-speed running, even though he was a Spirit Animation Stage four-layer Ability User, Sheldon, as a hacker who had put absolutely no points into physique, felt he was almost completely exhausted.

He glanced at the instrument in his hand and saw that the contact was only one kilometer away. So he gritted his teeth against the fatigue, intending to rally his spirits and keep running.

But just then, a figure shimmering with white light appeared behind him!

"Ghost!" As a human with an innate fear of such unknown creatures, and with his physical and mental strength already near their limits, he decisively chose to keep running.

But the "Ghost" seemed to have no intention of letting him go, and directly threw a punch at him, as if it wouldn't stop until he was dead.

"Boom!"

"Violent Ghost!" Sheldon, feeling lucky that he had just managed to dodge this fatal punch, looked back and saw that the large tree directly in the path of the Ghost's fist had been snapped in half!

"No, this is a Huaxia Ability User sent to hunt me down!" Sheldon, after all, was an agent operating behind enemy lines. Although his current condition was very bad, after that punch, he still quickly recognized the situation. "The contact is only a few hundred meters away! As long as there's a loud enough sound, he'll definitely notice!"

"Boom!"

"Bang!"

The glowing figure behind him attacked almost without pause, leveling a pile of small and large trees nearby. But Sheldon, relying on his luck, narrowly dodged one punch after another.

"Great! Ma Xiu, save me!" Sheldon struggled all the way, finally seeing his contact, Ma Xiu, who had arrived upon hearing the commotion.

After seeing that all the people who were supposed to be there had arrived, the avatar no longer slacked off. Instead of giving Sheldon the illusion that he could escape or even counter-kill, he directly squeezed his neck.

"Kid, any last words now?" Bai Mo didn't use his psychic power to directly detonate Sheldon, who lacked Life Field protection; he still wanted to see if there would be any special gains at the end.

"You can't kill me! You can't kill me! I know you're a Huaxia Ability User sent to hunt me down, but my ability is information transmission! If you kill me, I'll upload all the data from the computer to the internet before I die!"

Although Sheldon's neck was already squeezed, he didn't choose to struggle. Instead, he desperately hugged the laptop in his hand, then tried to convince the monster behind him not to kill him.

"Are you threatening me?" Although Bai Mo was quite pleased to hear this unexpected boon—with the opponent's "assist," his plan could even trick the whole world—the hand squeezing his neck tightened slightly more.

"I can read some information from electromagnetic waves, and I can also send this information to the internet in the form of electromagnetic waves! If you don't want these secrets to be made public, then release me immediately." Sheldon, terrified of being casually crushed to death, spilled out his abilities like beans from a bamboo tube, continuing to negotiate with Bai Mo.

"Don't!" At this moment, Ma Xiu had also caught up. "Sheldon, quick! Throw me the laptop!"

Sheldon knew that his life and death were entirely tied to the laptop in his hand. If he wanted to upload information, the corresponding storage device couldn't be more than ten centimeters away from him. In other words, as soon as the laptop left his hand, he would lose all his bargaining chips. So he chose to continue clutching the computer tightly.

At this point, his first priority was still to preserve his own life. As for glory and wealth after completing the mission, they held no meaning for a dead man.

Ma Xiu quickly guessed Sheldon's thoughts, but he was helpless. The choice was no longer in his hands; expecting Sheldon to actively choose to "sacrifice himself for righteousness" was too difficult.

"Although everything you said is correct, the higher-ups demand your death, so, farewell." Bai Mo began slowly squeezing Sheldon with his psychic power, so that he would have enough time to pull off a desperate, mutually destructive act.

"You! Since you're going to kill me, don't expect to get away with it easily either!" Sheldon's entire body glowed intensely. With his last strength, he transmitted everything about the Xuanhuang Fruit from the laptop via electromagnetic waves at the speed of light to the entire world, then, with a twisted smile, he mocked the glowing figure behind him.

"Nice smile, too bad you guessed my intention wrong from the very start." Casually killing Sheldon, Bai Mo looked at his final twisted face and thought to himself, "With the United States as the most compelling negative witness, soon, everything about the Xuanhuang Fruit being made public won't be seen as a conspiracy, but a desperate, mutually destructive accident—a spy drama of the year."

"If I rashly leaked it myself, it would easily breed conspiracy theories. After all, in this world, there is never love without reason; it would only increase society's doubts about the Xuanhuang Fruit." Holding Sheldon's corpse, he didn't make a move on Ma Xiu standing nearby, because he still needed him to prove to the American government that everything he saw was the truth of the matter.