When everything fell silent, He Ao seemed to be able to hear the sound of life slowly ebbing away.
His soul was like a water tank with its tap turned on, gradually emptying until it ran dry.
Super Memory was drawing on his soul and life as fuel.
In his daze, He Ao heard faint footsteps. Then something cold was placed against his lips, and a chilly liquid with a strange taste spread across them.
This was what he needed.
His soul cried out in longing. Instinctively, he opened his mouth and began greedily sucking in the cold liquid.
As the liquid entered his body, the feeling of constant depletion gradually faded, as though a raging torrent had poured into the tank and filled it again.
Even the original tank seemed to be stretched larger by this new, surging current.
As his soul gradually filled, intense exhaustion crashed over He Ao's mind. Once he had sucked down the last drop of liquid, his body finally gave out, and he fell unconscious.
Piercing alarm bells rang all around. Helicopters roaring with tremendous noise sealed off the sky as a blonde woman streaked across the horizon and landed before the gaunt-faced man.
"Mu Xiu, you are surrounded. Surrender immediately."
"Federation!"
Mu Xiu looked at Selina hovering before him and let out a beastlike roar.
His skin was suffused with crimson blood, turning an angry red. His previously unremarkable frame rapidly swelled, and in an instant, he became a nearly four-meter-tall little giant with a body as red as blood.
Then he leaped into the air and swung a fist at Selina.
Selina bent her knees slightly and darted to the side, evading the furious blow.
Mu Xiu's fist smashed into the parked car behind Selina, crushing its roof and nearly flattening the entire vehicle.
He then grabbed the car and swung it at Selina as though it were a stone.
Selina sprinted forward and leaped onto a nearby truck. Her palm opened, and a miniature cannon barrel about seven centimeters wide extended from it. A surge of light flashed past.
The blazing Laser Cannon struck Mu Xiu directly in the left shoulder.
His fiery red skin was scorched black, with faint smoke rising from it.
Rather than retreat under the Laser Cannon's attack, Mu Xiu charged forward. He roared and sprang up violently, the tremendous recoil shattering the solid ground as his body gained explosive acceleration.
Selina could not evade in time and was seized in his grasp. Like a doll, she was held in his hand and slammed into the nearby building.
Mu Xiu and Selina crashed straight into the building's interior, destroying the floors between levels.
Fortunately, the building had already been evacuated, and there were no civilians inside.
Mu Xiu turned around and looked out at the street. One hand gripped the building's exterior wall as countless helicopters encircled him, their black machine guns trained on him.
They were more than ten meters above the ground. Selina had just been smashed against the wall by Mu Xiu, and red warning windows popped up across her vision.
"Mu Xiu, you can't escape. It's not too late to surrender now."
Ignoring the warning windows, Selina looked at Mu Xiu's shoulders, which were heaving from the intense exertion, and shouted.
At the same time, she began trying to break free from Mu Xiu's grip. The cannon barrel emerged once more from her palm, while the bionic skin across her body had suffered varying degrees of damage, exposing the alloy protective layer beneath.
"Federation!"
Mu Xiu roared again, then gripped Selina and threw her toward the helicopters in the sky like a child tossing away a doll.
Selina's original shoes had already been destroyed. The pale soles of her feet split open, revealing two small circular jet ports. Scorching high-pressure gas blasted out, propelling her through the air.
Using the jets to adjust her direction, she dodged the helicopters overhead and crashed into the ground, leaving spiderweb-like cracks across the surface.
By then, Mu Xiu had vanished from where he had been standing. He had returned to his original size and slipped into the building.
Selina stood up and closed the warning windows in her vision.
Her body was damaged in several places, silver alloy faintly exposed, but she had not actually suffered any serious injuries.
"Inspector Selina?"
A hesitant voice from a Federal Bureau of Investigation colleague came through her communications system.
"I'm fine." A translucent 3D map appeared in Selina's vision as she rapidly calculated Mu Xiu's likely escape routes. Her voice was cold and stern. "Deploy personnel to seal off the roads leading to Hope Building. He won't get away."
Hope Building had once housed the headquarters of Hope Group. It was later abandoned for safety reasons. After Hope Group moved to a new headquarters, the building gradually became a den for Dawn City's Homeless Man population and gang members.
The place was a tangled mess of people and factions. The Dawn City government had no way to evacuate it.
Judging from Mu Xiu's previous route, he was heading for Hope Building. Once he blended in there, he could easily kill enough people to please the God of Chaos, then use divine favor to escape Dawn City.
The Dawn City Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation had set up layer upon layer of obstacles along this route. Once the Federal Bureau of Investigation's higher-ups freed up their hands, Mu Xiu would have no chance of escaping.
Just as Selina was about to continue tracking him, a message suddenly popped into her vision, leaving her frozen in place.
"Ander..."
"I'm fine... I'm fine... that Witchcraft Church guy already ran away... Smith should already be chasing her... just focus on your mission first... cough, cough... don't worry about me... don't call an ambulance... I'll rest for a while, then go to the hospital... relax... I'm fine... it's not your fault... finish the mission first..."
He Ao cut off the connection with Selina.
Selina's relentless barrage of calls had woken him up.
He glanced at his wristband. He had slept for roughly ten minutes. There were only two messages, both from Smith.
[The one you faced may be the Witchcraft Church's 'Dancer.' Be careful.]
[I found traces of the Dancer and notified Selina. Your address hasn't changed, right? I called an ambulance for you.]
More than ten minutes had passed. He did not know whether Smith had caught up with the Dancer, but it seemed Smith had gone directly after her rather than coming to He Ao.
After Smith's messages came more than a dozen missed calls from Selina. By the time He Ao was awakened, Selina had already been ready to abandon Mu Xiu and rush back.
In truth, Selina's decision was not particularly wise. Like Smith, the most important thing was to arrange for someone to provide rescue and prioritize completing the mission.
But reason was reason, and emotions were emotions. Selina's problem was that she sometimes placed too much importance on emotions.
Still... it felt pretty good to have someone worry about him.
He Ao persuaded Selina to go back, then canceled the ambulance Smith had called through the text message from the ambulance service. With difficulty, he propped himself up and leaned against the wall.
His head still felt as heavy as if it were filled with cement. He turned to look at the little boy beside him and smiled. "Thank you."
The little boy hugged his toy police car and looked up at him in confusion.
Then He Ao shifted his gaze toward the briefcase scattered across the floor.
It was the belonging left behind by the man who had already been a corpse when He Ao arrived.
Several Fountain Pens had fallen out.
Before you continue