NOVPUB37: Chapter 37: Awakening (Please Favorite, Follow, and Vote)
37: Chapter 37: Awakening (Please Favorite, Follow, and Vote)
When everything fell silent, He Ao felt as if he could hear the sound of life slipping away bit by bit.
His soul seemed like a water tank with an open faucet, gradually diminishing until it was dry.
Super Memory was draining his soul and life as fuel.
In a daze, He Ao heard faint footsteps and then something cold was placed at his mouth, a strange-tasting, icy liquid spread over his lips.
This was what he needed.
His soul cried out in need, and instinctively, he opened his mouth, beginning to desperately suck the cold liquid.
As the liquid entered his body, the depleting sensation slowly disappeared, as if a torrent of water had surged into the tank, refilling it once more.
Even the original tank, under the rush of this new torrent, expanded further.
As his soul filled little by little, an intense wave of exhaustion hit He Ao’s spirit, and after the last drop was completely sucked, his body could no longer hold on, and he fell into a deep sleep.
——
The piercing sound of alarms rang all around, helicopters with enormous noise sealed off the sky, and the blonde woman, like a streak of light, landed in front of the thin-faced man,
“Mu Xiu, you are surrounded.
Surrender immediately,”
“Federation!”
Mu Xiu, looking at Selena hovering in front of him, let out a roar like a crazed beast.
His skin swelled with bright red blood into an angry red, his originally unimpressive stature rapidly expanded, swelling into a nearly four-meter-tall small giant cloaked in crimson.
He then leaped up, striking at Selena with a fist.
Selena bent her knees slightly and darted to the side, dodging the angry punch.
Mu Xiu’s fist smashed into the car behind Selena, collapsing the roof and nearly flattening the vehicle.
He then grabbed the car and swung it at Selena like a stone.
Selena quickly ran and jumped onto a nearby truck, her palm opened, and a seven-centimeter miniature cannon barrel popped out from her palm, a flash of surging light passing by.
The fierce laser cannon hit Mu Xiu directly on the left shoulder.
The fiery skin charred to a crisp black, with wisps of smoke rising faintly.
Instead of retreating from the laser blast, Mu Xiu advanced with a roar, leaping fiercely, the enormous recoil shattering the solid ground, while his body gained explosive acceleration.
Selena, unable to dodge in time, was grabbed by him, held in his grip like a doll, and slammed into a nearby building.
Mu Xiu and she crashed into the interior of the building, destroying the floors of the partition.
Fortunately, the building had already been evacuated and there were no civilians present.
Mu Xiu turned around to look at the street outside, one hand on the exterior wall of the building, as numerous helicopters surrounded them, and dark gun barrels aimed at him.
About ten meters above the ground, Selena had just been slammed by Mu Xiu against the wall when a series of red alarm windows popped up in her field of view.
“Mu Xiu, you can’t escape.
Surrender now while you still can,”
Selena paid no attention to these alarm windows but instead shouted at Mu Xiu’s shoulders heaving from intense movement.
At the same time, she began to struggle to break free from Mu Xiu’s arm, the cannon port emerging again in the palm of her hand as the bionic skin on her body’s surface was damaged to varying degrees, revealing the alloy protective layer underneath.
“Federation!”
Mu Xiu roared again, then grabbed Selena and tossed her like a child throwing away a doll towards the helicopters in the sky.
Selena’s original shoes had been destroyed, and her pale soles cracked open to reveal two small, round jet ports.
Searing high-pressure gas burst forth, propelling her through the sky.
Using the jet ports to adjust her direction, she evaded the helicopters above and crashed to the ground, creating spiderweb-like fractures on the surface.
At this moment, the spot where Mu Xiu had been standing was empty.
He had reverted to his original form and slipped into the building.
Selena stood up and closed the alarm window in her field of vision.
Her body was damaged in several places, the silver alloy faintly exposed, but this actually hadn’t caused her serious harm.
“Inspector Selena?”
A tentative voice from her colleague at the Federal Bureau of Investigation came through her communication system.
“I’m currently fine,” a semi-transparent 3D map appeared in Selena’s vision, and she quickly calculated Mu Xiu’s potential escape routes.
Her voice was stern and icy, “Arrange for personnel to blockade the roads leading to the Hope Building.
He won’t escape.”
The Hope Building, once the headquarters of the Hope Group, was abandoned later due to security reasons.
As the Hope Group moved to a new headquarter, the building gradually became a nest for Dawn City’s vagrants and gang members.
The place was a mix of fish and dragons, and the Dawn City government was utterly incapable of evacuating it.
Based on Mu Xiu’s previous trajectory, his goal was to flee to the Hope Building.
Once he mixed into the building, he could easily slaughter enough to please the God of Chaos and, with the deity’s blessing, escape from Dawn City.
The Dawn City Police Department and Federal Bureau of Investigation had set up multiple barriers on this route.
Once the higher-ups at the FBI were free to act, Mu Xiu had no chance of escape.
Just as Selena was about to continue the pursuit, a message suddenly popped into her view, making her freeze on the spot,
“Ande…”
——
“It’s nothing…
I’m alright…
The Witch Church member has fled…
Smith must be on her tail now…
You focus on the mission…
Cough cough…
Don’t worry about me…
No need to call an ambulance…
I’ll rest a bit and head to the hospital later…
Relax…
It’s fine…
It’s not your fault… 𝔫𝖔𝔳𝔭𝔲𝔟.𝖈𝔬𝔪
You finish the mission…”
He Ao cut off the connection with Selena.
He had been awakened by Selena’s incessant ring of death calls.
He glanced at his wristband; he had slept for about fifteen minutes.
There were only two messages, sent from Smith:
[You might be facing the ‘Dancing Girl’ from the Witch Church, be careful.]
[I’ve spotted the Dancing Girl and notified Selena.
Your address hasn’t changed, right?
I’ve called an ambulance for you.]
Fifteen minutes had passed, and it was uncertain whether Smith had caught up with the Dancing Girl.
It seemed he had gone straight after her and hadn’t come to He Ao’s location.
After Smith’s messages, there were over a dozen missed calls from Selena.
By the time she woke He Ao, she was ready to abandon the pursuit of Mu Xiu and hurry back.
In reality, Selena’s decision was not very wise.
Like Smith, she should have arranged for rescue personnel and prioritized completing the mission.
But rationality is one thing, emotion is another, and Selena’s problem was sometimes placing too much emphasis on feelings.
Well…
although it felt quite nice to be cared for.
He Ao persuaded Selena to return and cancelled the ambulance Smith had summoned through a message sent from the ambulance.
He laboriously propped his body up, leaning against a wall.
His head still felt as heavy as if it were filled with cement.
He turned his head, looked at the little boy beside him, and smiled, “Thank you.”
The little boy, holding a toy police car, looked up at him with a puzzled expression.
Then, He Ao’s gaze shifted to the briefcase scattered on the ground.
It was the relic left by the man who had been a corpse when he arrived.
Several pens had spilled out.
