Chapter 146
There were quite a few Ability Users within Xucheng’s City Defense Department Forces.
But the moment they tried to launch a surprise attack at the city gate, that group of Ability Users could practically be treated as though they did not exist. For a long time, power in Xucheng had been controlled by the strongest local gangs, which made the City Defense Department Forces rather superfluous and also meant the soldiers never received the training they should have.
Once they actually had to fight nimble Hunters, the only ones who would lose were the city defense troops.
Ji Qing bent down, picked up the headset from a soldier who had gone dizzy from lack of oxygen, and coolly held it to his ear. He did not hear anything else. The communication channel was filled with nothing but noisy static, as though it had been jammed.
Ji Qing knew perfectly well what that meant.
He casually tossed the headset to You Xingluo and instructed, “The gangs have jammed it for now. If communications come back midway, let me know.”
“All right,” You Xingluo replied seriously.
Because he had never personally taken part in any overt conflict between powerful forces, he found the current situation rather novel. But compared with that… what concerned You Xingluo more was what Ji Qing intended to do. Right now, Ji Qing was preparing to find the route Xucheng used at night to leave the city.
During the day, anyone entering the city had to pass through the tightly controlled city gate, but that gate was already shut.
Out of concern for the safety of Xucheng’s residents, they could not open that gate at night, so the only way to leave Xucheng was through a separate special passage used exclusively by the military.
That part alone was a pity, You Xingluo thought.
The government functions under his charge did not include the building layout plans held by the City Construction Department, so at this point, You Xingluo could only search for the exit together with Ji Qing. After a moment’s thought, he asked, “Are we looking for the monitoring room now?”
If the passage had been built by humans, then there had to be surveillance installed.
“Exactly,” Ji Qing replied as he walked.
He instinctively lowered his gaze and glanced at the time displayed on his Terminal. It was currently 8:54 at night.
The four of them had not been moving through Xucheng for all that long, but neither had it been a short time. Considering the drain on the three of them, both physically and mentally, Ji Qing wanted to find a way out as soon as possible. And what worried him most was this: Xie Chang’an and Feng Youyou had not shown up as expected.
According to the original plan, all four of them should have reunited by now.
And yet right now, only Ji Qing and You Xingluo were here. There was no sign of the other two within several kilometers either. Ji Qing thought calmly: it was probably the result of Feng Youyou drawing too many enemies, which had delayed them on the way.
Although Ji Qing was grateful that Feng Youyou had reduced the pressure on his side by a great deal, he was still worried.
Ji Qing had confidence in the strength of those two.
But no matter how confident he was in them, the difficulties they actually ran into were not something he could predict on his own. After all, Ji Qing had never teamed up with Feng Youyou before, so he did not really understand the combat style she was best at or most familiar with.
As for Xie Chang’an… his strengths and weaknesses were both glaringly obvious.
Just as Ji Qing’s thoughts were growing more and more tangled, the footsteps behind him suddenly stopped. Standing by a window in the city wall, You Xingluo stared gravely at the scene outside and said, “Ji Qing, I think I found where the monitoring room is.”
“Hm?” Ji Qing instinctively took a few steps back.
He returned to the stone window he had just passed and followed You Xingluo’s line of sight.
The two of them were currently inside Xucheng’s city wall.
In every Safe Zone in the wasteland, the inside of the city walls was built so that people could walk through it. The city defense troops were usually stationed in the wall’s watchtowers, sentry posts, and interior rooms in order to observe changes among the Aberrants outside the city, as well as monitor and control how dangerous incoming and outgoing people might be.
A red flag stood on the rooftop of the city wall, fluttering in the wind.
The evening wind was fierce today, and the area where that red flag stood was an exposed height with nothing to block it, so the gale was able to unfurl the flag completely.
Ji Qing calmly stared at that red flag. But his attention was soon drawn elsewhere. Beneath the section of wall where the flag stood, he noticed several members of the City Defense Department Forces hurrying down the stairs through the windows below.
“Are they evacuating?” Ji Qing tilted his head.
At once, Ji Qing quickly reviewed what he had done after landing just now: he had chosen to let You Xingluo evade things on his own for a moment, then strode straight forward with the kind of momentum that flattened anything standing in his way.
In the end, all of it had to be credited to how unexpectedly useful his Ability was.
It had practically let him cosplay as Accelerator on the spot, though that was also the unfortunate part… Ji Qing did not have the brainpower necessary to keep his Ability running twenty-four hours a day without blind spots, and it was still nowhere near Accelerator’s level.
But Ji Qing’s display had successfully bluffed the City Defense Department Forces.
Up to this point, Ji Qing still had not seen a second wave of city defense reinforcements. The two of them only wanted to leave Xucheng, and they had not caused any real physical harm to the soldiers. At worst, the men would only end up lying in a hospital bed for ten days or half a month.
So the city defense troops should have realized by now that they were looking for the monitoring room, right?
A thoughtful gleam flashed through Ji Qing’s eyes.
Under these circumstances, withdrawing the monitoring room staff ahead of time would definitely be their choice. After thinking that through, Ji Qing turned to You Xingluo and said, “Let’s head over there and take a look.”
“All right.” You Xingluo nodded.
Meanwhile, Xie Chang’an was dragging Feng Youyou along in a desperate sprint.
Gunfire crackled behind him. From time to time, heavy objects fell from above their heads. Figures would suddenly flash into view along the path ahead, rush him in an instant, then get knocked unconscious in an instant, after which he would start running for his life all over again.
If he had not been worried about someone sneaking up behind them, Xie Chang’an could have sheathed his saber already.
This was way too terrifying!
If time could turn back, he would absolutely go back two hours and slap to death the version of himself who had let Feng Youyou talk him into this. Do not let Feng Youyou brainwash you with her crooked logic! She is not doing this purely to save a classmate. She also wants a better shot at making Xucheng’s headlines!
A sudden current of wind lifted the hem of Xie Chang’an’s coat, and in the next instant Feng Youyou darted up alongside him.
As she manipulated the airflow, Feng Youyou complained, “Xie Chang’an, you are running too fast. You are pulling my arm so hard it hurts. Please pay a little more attention to how your teammate feels.”
“How is this my fault?” Xie Chang’an exclaimed in shock.
Boom—
Even as they spoke, the area they had just been in erupted with a deafening explosion.
Feng Youyou and Xie Chang’an both turned around at the same time, only to see that the fire-type Ability User they had fought in the casino earlier had caught up again. Not only had he caught up, he was carrying multiple bombs with him and shouting furiously, “You two little rats, stop running so fast!”
“If we do not run fast, we are going to die!” Xie Chang’an shouted back.
“My makeup will get ruined too!” Feng Youyou abruptly sped up again.
“What? You actually put on makeup?” Xie Chang’an glanced at Feng Youyou in disbelief, his expression full of shock. “You… you… no! I truly do not understand you anymore!”
Before tonight, Feng Youyou had been, in his eyes, an enthusiastic and dependable companion. After tonight, she had become a super-super-unruly troublemaker on par with Jiang Cuo and Xie Chang’an himself. Feng Youyou’s particular brand of recklessness lay in the fact that she would stop at nothing for news material.
“I was just thinking I could also gather some firsthand information on Xucheng’s casinos while I was at it,” Feng Youyou said rapidly. “But who would have thought I would only get halfway in, snap a few pictures, and be discovered ahead of time? So I just called you over to cover me.”
“…” Xie Chang’an’s eyes turned vacant.
Now he finally understood why the pursuit from the casino was so frenzied. So it was not merely because they had deliberately provoked them? Then again, Feng Youyou really had drawn a terrifying amount of hatred onto herself, enough to send them fleeing all the way from the east side of the city to the west.
“No—think of a way to shake them off!” Xie Chang’an shouted again.
He did not want to keep being chased by a bomb-crazed maniac!
“Why are you still thinking about that?!” Feng Youyou stamped her foot and lightly vaulted over the pile of firewood blocking the road. “We are almost at the city gate. Think about how to notify Ji Qing so they hurry up and drive out of the city. Then we can get in the car as fast as possible!”
Xie Chang’an swiftly veered around the firewood pile as well and shouted, “What way could I possibly have?!”
He was a close-combat fighter who only knew melee. If he had any second option besides running, he would not still be sprinting madly all over the streets right now. Bombs completely neutralized him. He could not even raise his head!
Suddenly, Feng Youyou said, “I just thought of a great idea!”
Xie Chang’an gasped, “Th-then—say—it—”
Feng Youyou said, “Go into the headwind. I will strengthen the airflow and force the bombs back behind them. Then the two of us split up. You go meet Ji Qing and the others, and I will lure them away a little longer before riding the wind straight onto your car! Remember—do not drive too fast!”
Xie Chang’an shouted, “Good idea—”
Seeing a fork in the road right ahead, Xie Chang’an hurriedly added, “So which side is the headwind you’re talking about?!”
“Right now!!!”
With that, Feng Youyou immediately turned around.
Xie Chang’an: “???”
At first, Xie Chang’an turned back with his head full of question marks. Then, gritting his teeth and shutting his eyes, he kept sprinting straight ahead. As he ran, he shouted, “I am absolutely never walking with you again! This is far too absurd!”
This whole night had practically shattered Xie Chang’an’s understanding of her.
The Feng Youyou he had imagined: reliable and warm, bright and outgoing, someone who occasionally said surprisingly profound things.
The Feng Youyou in reality: someone who would stop at nothing for a news lead, prone to acting on sudden impulses, impossible to guard against, and forever springing around full of energy.
Could Ling You’er and Song Xiaoran really adapt to that… Xie Chang’an thought in despair.
At this very moment, Jiang Cuo’s image instantly acquired a halo in his heart. Xie Chang’an had once deeply disliked Jiang Cuo’s grinning face and unpredictable manner, but Jiang Cuo had never once been unpredictable in battle. Even when acting on sudden inspiration, he would always explain it properly to Xie Chang’an first.
Nothing hurt quite like comparison.
Xie Chang’an swore that the next time he saw Jiang Cuo, he would absolutely apologize to him properly—ahhhhh!
