The Road Home is Long

"Stop right there, don't even think about running!"

"I'll shoot!"

Having never expected Xi Nian to bolt so swiftly and decisively, both SWAT officers were stunned. One of them, in a panic, didn't care whether they were in a busy urban area—he aimed his gun at Xi Nian's back and pulled the trigger.

Bang!!

The gunshot sent nearby pedestrians on the street screaming.

"Hm?" Xi Nian glanced back as he ran, clearly seeing the bullet chasing after him, even making out every spiral groove on its head.

Though he lived in America, a place known as "gunfights every day," this was still his first time witnessing a real bullet—he just never expected it to be fired at him.

Any normal person would pale at the sound of a gun. After all, even the weakest modern pistol could be lethal if it hit a vital spot!

But Xi Nian didn't catch a whiff of fear.

Because, to him, the bullet was far too slow.

So slow that Xi Nian felt if he just kept accelerating, he could leave it far behind—and so, quite naturally, as he moved at high speed, he made a slight sidestep to dodge, and the pursuing bullet obediently passed through his disheveled silver hair.

"Not good!"

Xi Nian had barely dodged the bullet when his peripheral vision caught a car stopped at the intersection ahead, waiting. After only a moment's hesitation, he shot out his empty left hand like lightning and actually caught the bullet that had passed him in his palm!

"What did he do?" "How is that possible?!"

The SWAT officers screamed in terror at the sight.

A faint sting and heat spread through his palm.

Xi Nian glanced back at the officers, tossed the bullet—now crushed into a metal button—to the ground, and turned to leave again.

This time, the two SWAT officers made no sound. They stood there, guns raised, rooted like wooden posts.

It was as if Pandora's Box had been opened—tonight's ordeal wasn't over yet.

It was only beginning.

Xi Nian turned at the street intersection and spotted three police cars roaring toward him on the road ahead, clearly coming for him.

Not only that, sharp sirens faintly echoed from the roads on both sides.

"I just want to go home—is that wrong? And seriously, this efficient?" Xi Nian's mouth twitched. In movies, didn't robberies or crimes always end before the cops showed up to clean up the mess?

Why was it so fast when it came to him?

That wasn't realistic!

"Forget it. Anyway, I can't stay on the busy streets." Not wanting to accidentally hurt civilians, Xi Nian scanned the buildings lining the road and quickly picked a relatively low four-story convenience store.

He sprinted forward, stomped hard with his toes, and tried to leap onto the store's rooftop.

But this time, unlike his earlier overexertion, a sudden wave of weakness hit his body. He only jumped about six meters up, and before he could even reach the building, he was already falling back down.

Below, police cars from every direction were screeching to a halt.

"Damn it, don't screw with me!"

Flailing midair, Xi Nian felt the familiar sensation of falling, watching the rooftop slip farther away.

Just then—

Shiiing!

From Xi Nian's left hand, which he'd swung forward without thinking, a golden rope materialized out of thin air, snaking through the city sky like a swimming dragon. One end of the Golden Rope was firmly gripped in Xi Nian's hand, while the other stretched forward like a lasso, wrapping around the Lightning Rod on the building ahead!

No time to figure out where the rope came from. Xi Nian yanked it with his left hand, and his suspended body shot upward again, vaulting onto the four-story rooftop beside the intersection.

"That was close."

Still shaken, Xi Nian retracted the Golden Rope, pulled his gaze away from the police cars that had missed him, and used the tall buildings nearby as stepping stones to flee the scene at top speed.

Down on the street, five or six police cars screeched to a halt at the spot where Xi Nian had jumped.

"What the hell was that?"

An officer stepped out of his patrol car, staring at the cracked pavement with footprints embedded in it, muttering in disbelief.

"Definitely not a normal person," another officer chimed in as he got out.

"No kidding." Many officers were speechless. Catching a bullet barehanded, running over a hundred miles per hour, jumping four stories high—if that was normal, the world was insane!

"What do we do now?"

Just as the officers were at a loss, a police car with sirens blaring finally arrived late, pulling up alongside the others.

The door opened, and Officer George stepped out briskly, scanning the officers as he asked quickly, "Where did the target fugitive go?"

"Reporting, sir—he flew... no, wait, he jumped away!" The officer on scene saluted, pointing at the building over ten meters up.

"???"

It took Officer George five seconds to process what "jumped away" meant.

After a brief pause, he said in a low voice, "Immediately request helicopter support from the local precinct. We can't let such a dangerous unknown entity run rampant in this city."

"Yes, officer!"

Xi Nian moved swiftly across the row upon row of towering skyscrapers. Though he still couldn't fully control his current body's extraordinary physique, he'd grown somewhat familiar with it through this outdoor escapade.

"So this is what flying feels like."

With the aid of the Golden Rope in his hand, Xi Nian leaped back and forth across the rooftops of buildings ranging from a few stories to over a dozen. Whenever he used too much force or his momentum waned, he'd use the lasso to pull himself to another building, ensuring he didn't fall off the edge.

He had no idea what material this Golden Rope was made of. It could stretch and contract at will, latching onto railings, eaves, hanging laundry—anything at all.

He made a startling discovery.

Even if it wasn't a tangible solid—just a wisp of black smoke curling from a chimney—the Golden Rope could still latch onto it like a solid object and borrow leverage!

Xi Nian even suspected he could use it to snare clouds, or even deeper concepts like souls!

Of course, that assumed souls existed in this world.

"I should have shaken them off by now, right?" Xi Nian reached the top of a skyscraper, standing near the almost-overhanging railing. Looking down at the cars and pedestrians that were no more than tiny specks, he still felt a genuine pang of fear in his heart.

"Time to head home."

With that thought, Xi Nian leaped again with all his strength, midair, intending to throw the Golden Lasso to close the distance to the opposite building. But only as his left hand made the throwing motion did he notice that the Golden Rope, which had come to his rescue so promptly, had vanished into thin air again...

"No way, you're messing with me again?"

Xi Nian's heart clenched violently—the third time tonight—as he once again plunged into a long, drawn-out fall.

Newton would be thrilled!

And so, we arrive at the scene we saw at the very beginning.

Xi Nian crashed diagonally onto the rooftop of a five-star hotel. Spotting the police helicopter pursuing him, he could only keep fleeing with his unstable powers.

Ten minutes later.

Even Xi Nian himself had no idea how long he'd been leaping across the high-rises. He only knew he was getting farther and farther from the city district where his home was.

Once more, he ducked into the shadow of a water tower atop a skyscraper, watching the helicopter sweep away in the wrong direction until it vanished completely from sight.

Only then did Xi Nian let out a breath. The heat rising from his body was enough to melt frost and snow, and his eyes were heavy with exhaustion.

"Now, can I finally go home?" he murmured softly.

It was like setting up a flag.

No sooner had the words left his mouth than a figure appeared from nowhere—graceful and light—landing on the very peak of the water tower!