Awakening

When everything fell silent, He Ao felt as if he could hear the sound of life slowly draining away.

His soul felt like a water tank with the tap turned on, gradually diminishing until it was dry.

Super Memory was consuming his soul and life as fuel.

In a daze, He Ao heard faint footsteps, and then something cold was placed against his lips. A cold liquid with a strange taste spread across his mouth.

This was what he needed.

His soul cried out with longing and thirst. Subconsciously, he opened his mouth and began to frantically suck the cold liquid.

As the liquid entered his body, the feeling of constant depletion gradually disappeared, as if a surging current of water had rushed in and refilled the tank.

In fact, the original water tank was even expanded under this new, surging current.

As his soul gradually filled, a wave of intense fatigue washed over He Ao's mind. After the last drop of liquid was completely sucked in, his body finally couldn't hold on any longer and he fell into a deep sleep.

Piercing police sirens blared all around. Helicopters with loud noise sealed off the sky. A blonde woman streaked across the sky like a beam of light, landing in front of a man with a gaunt face.

"Mu Xiu, you are surrounded. Surrender immediately."

"Federation!"

Mu Xiu looked at Selina hovering in front of him and roared like a mad beast.

His skin was filled with bright red blood, turning an angry red. His originally not-so-tall figure rapidly expanded, instantly swelling into a small giant with a body completely red and a height of nearly four meters.

Then he leaped up and punched Selina.

Selina slightly bent her legs and dodged to the side, avoiding the angry punch.

Mu Xiu's fist hit a car parked behind Selina, directly collapsing the roof and almost flattening the entire car.

Then he directly grabbed the car and swung it at Selina like a stone.

Selina quickly ran and leaped onto a nearby truck. She opened her palm, and a miniature muzzle about seven centimeters long popped out from her palm. A surging light flashed.

The scorching laser cannon directly hit Mu Xiu's left shoulder.

The fiery red skin was scorched black, and some smoke was faintly rising.

Under the attack of the laser cannon, Mu Xiu did not retreat but advanced. He roared, leaped up fiercely, and the huge recoil shattered the solid ground, while his body gained explosive acceleration.

Selina couldn't dodge in time and was directly grabbed by him, held in his hand like a doll, and slammed against the building next to them.

Mu Xiu and Selina directly crashed into the interior of the building, destroying the floor slabs between levels.

Fortunately, the building had already been evacuated, and there were no civilians inside.

Mu Xiu turned around and looked at the street outside, one hand gripping the exterior wall of the building. Countless helicopters surrounded him, and their dark machine guns were also aimed at him.

He was about ten meters above the ground. Selina had just been slammed against the wall by Mu Xiu, and red warning windows popped up in her vision.

"Mu Xiu, you can't escape. It's still not too late to surrender now."

Selina ignored the warning windows and looked at Mu Xiu's shoulders, which were constantly heaving from the intense movement, and shouted loudly.

At the same time, she began to try and break free from Mu Xiu's arm. The surging muzzles reappeared in her palms. The bionic skin on her body had been damaged to varying degrees, revealing the alloy protective layer underneath.

"Federation!"

Mu Xiu roared again, then grabbed Selina and threw her towards the helicopter in the sky like a child throwing a doll.

Selina's original shoes were already destroyed. Her fair feet broke open, revealing two small circular jet ports. Hot, high-pressure gas sprayed out, propelling her to fly in the sky.

Using these jet ports to adjust direction, she dodged the helicopter in the sky and crashed onto the ground, leaving spiderweb-like cracks on the surface.

At this moment, there was no one at the spot where Mu Xiu had been standing. He had returned to his original size and burrowed into the building.

Selina stood up and closed the alarm window in her vision.

Her body was damaged in multiple places, with the silver alloy vaguely exposed, but this had not actually caused her serious injury.

"Inspector Selina?"

A tentative voice from a Federal Bureau of Investigation colleague came through her communication system.

"I'm fine for now," a translucent 3D map appeared in Selina's vision. She quickly calculated Mu Xiu's possible escape routes. Her voice was cold and stern, "Arrange personnel to block the roads leading to the Hope Building. He won't get away."

The Hope Building was once the headquarters of the Hope Group. It was later abandoned for safety reasons. As the Hope Group moved to its new headquarters, the building gradually became a den for vagrants and gang members in Dawn City.

It was a mixed bag of people, and the Dawn City government couldn't possibly evacuate it.

Based on Mu Xiu's previous route, he was heading towards the Hope Building. Once he blended into the Hope Building, it would be easy for him to kill enough people to please the God of Chaos and escape Dawn City with divine favor.

The Dawn City Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation had set up multiple roadblocks along this route. By the time the Federal Bureau of Investigation higher-ups were free, Mu Xiu wouldn't be able to escape.

Just as Selina was preparing to continue the pursuit, a message suddenly popped into her vision, freezing her in place.

"Ander..."

"It's fine... I'm fine... That Witchcraft Church guy has run away... Smith should be chasing her... You focus on your mission first... cough cough... Don't worry about me... No need to call an ambulance... I'll rest for a while and go to the hospital later... Don't worry... It's fine... It's not your fault... You finish your mission first..."

He Ao cut off the connection with Selina.

He had been woken up by Selina's frantic calls.

He glanced at his wristband. He had slept for about ten minutes. There were only two messages, both from Smith.

[The person you're facing might be the 'Dancer' from the Witchcraft Church. Be careful.]

[I found traces of the Dancer and notified Selina. Your address hasn't changed, right? I called an ambulance for you.]

Ten minutes had passed. He didn't know if Smith had caught up to the Dancer, but it seemed he had gone directly after the Dancer and hadn't come to He Ao's location.

After Smith's messages, there were more than a dozen missed calls from Selina. By the time He Ao was woken up, Selina was already thinking of giving up on Mu Xiu and rushing back.

Actually, Selina's approach wasn't very wise. Like Smith, arranging for personnel to rescue and prioritizing the mission was the most important thing.

But reason is reason, and emotion is emotion. Selina's problem was that she sometimes valued emotions too much.

Hmm... although being cared for feels quite nice.

He Ao persuaded Selina to go back and canceled the ambulance Smith had called through the text message from the ambulance service. He struggled to prop himself up and leaned against the wall.

His head still felt heavy, like it was filled with cement. He turned his head to look at the little boy beside him and smiled, "Thank you."

The little boy, holding his toy police car, looked up at him in confusion.

Immediately after, He Ao shifted his gaze to the briefcase scattered on the ground.

It was the relic left by the man who was already a corpse when he arrived.

Several pens were scattered out.