Attracting Big Trouble

Time passed second by second...

Mu Xiao continuously transmitted data from his consciousness into the power system of the motorcycle. The proficiency of "Mechanical Mastery" steadily rose, while the insight required also kept increasing. Combined with his mechanical knowledge from before his rebirth, his progress became faster and faster, but he was still just short of breaking through to the first realm.

"The startup mode is basically complete!"

Mu Xiao forcefully righted the entire motorcycle, swung himself onto the seat, and issued a basic command to the power system's optical computer. "Modify—unregistered driving!"

Unregistered driving meant anyone could operate it without identity verification.

Just as Mu Xiao was about to call An Rongru onto the bike, he keenly sensed a savage, murderous presence rapidly approaching from not far away.

"Get on!"

Mu Xiao shouted at An Rongru while activating the motorcycle's energy. A deep rumble slowly rose from the thermal pipes at the rear, and the massive power system came to life, giving the vehicle the sense that it could shoot out like a bullet at any moment.

Seeing the alarm on Mu Xiao's face, An Rongru immediately realized something unexpected had happened. She did not dare ask questions and quickly climbed onto the seat.

"Hold on tight!" Mu Xiao said quickly. Without waiting for An Rongru to respond, he twisted the throttle. The motorcycle let out the deep roar of a beast, crimson energy blasting from its thermal pipes as the entire vehicle shot forward like a gale.

"Ah!"

An Rongru cried out and instinctively wrapped both arms around Mu Xiao's solid waist.

When Mu Xiao first told her to hold tight, An Rongru hesitated. It had been more than ten years since she had taken the initiative to be intimate with a man, and she was not used to this kind of close embrace from behind, like a couple. But the motorcycle's sudden acceleration startled her so badly that she could no longer care about being reserved.

Powerful gusts howled past them.

Once she calmed down, she realized she was tightly embracing a man she had known for less than a day, and her cheeks grew slightly hot.

However, with layers of thick clothing between them, An Rongru did not feel too embarrassed. Gradually, she found that holding him like this gave her an indescribable sense of security. This stability and sense of reliance, which she had never experienced before, stirred the tenderness in her heart, and her body and cheek unconsciously pressed a little closer to Mu Xiao's back.

"Fuck! So that bastard was nearby all along!" Mu Xiao cursed, utterly ruining the mood. Through the rearview mirror, he clearly saw the wild, violent gust of dust and sand surging closer behind them. At times, it leaped off buildings like an ape, using them for momentum.

Mu Xiao understood that the monster had locked onto them.

Though she knew he was not talking about her, An Rongru hurriedly pulled her body and cheek away as if caught doing something guilty. Her face burning, she asked, "What kind of monster is that behind us?"

She too saw a humanoid monster rapidly pursuing them from behind. Suddenly, it let out a terrifying, brutal shriek, accompanied by the howl of the wind at her ears. It seemed to carry the stench of blood, making her heart tremble with fear.

"It's a security guard from the law firm, except it underwent an extreme mutation and became an advanced mutant even more savage and terrifying than zombies. In short, a mutant," Mu Xiao briefly explained to An Rongru, his eyes repeatedly sweeping toward the rearview mirror to watch its pursuit.

This mutant was the very security guard Mu Xiao had personally seen evolve from a genetic mutation while he and Water Bailan were preparing to leave the secret room. He had thought the mutant had already left the law firm, but he had not expected several grenades to draw it back.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

A sharp gale suddenly swept up behind them, and chunks of unknown hard objects came hurtling over at high speed. An Rongru was directly behind Mu Xiao. If he failed to evade them, she would definitely be struck and severely injured. If several of those objects hit her, she would never survive it, and her death would only come faster.

The motorcycle flashed aside like lightning. At the same time, Mu Xiao used telekinesis to knock against the objects, slightly altering their flight paths.

Bang! Bang! Bang...

The objects turned out to be stones and metal fragments, obviously grabbed at random by the mutated security guard for long-range attacks.

One hard object after another shot toward them like bullets. The most terrified was An Rongru behind Mu Xiao. She could fully feel the danger bearing down from behind. Each piercing whistle of an incoming projectile was like Death's scythe slicing past her at every moment.

Mu Xiao drove the motorcycle like a gale, rapidly weaving around countless wrecked cars and obstacles on the road, as well as some zombies that had rushed over after hearing the commotion. At the same time, he had to focus on evading the objects flying at them from behind. He immediately found it extremely taxing. If not for his psychic power sensing the front and rear, clearly detecting the obstacles ahead and the trajectories of the incoming projectiles behind, the motorcycle would barely have been able to handle the situation. Otherwise, they might have already crashed.

Without sharp reflexes, it would have been impossible to synchronize awareness and physical movements as Mu Xiao did, allowing such highly agile evasive maneuvers.

Dust and sand billowed into a rolling earthen dragon. The mutated security guard pursued them madly, firing bursts of sand and stones, while zombies ahead charged at them without fear of death. Mu Xiao had no choice but to slow the motorcycle to evade them, but faced with obstacle after obstacle, driving became increasingly difficult. There was even less chance for him to free a hand and counterattack, leaving An Rongru behind him as the only one who could retaliate.

"Don't just sit there waiting to die! Shoot back! Use grenades!" Mu Xiao felt An Rongru trembling slightly. It was only natural that she was afraid under the pressure of death she felt from behind, so he shouted to remind her, "If you counterattack, you can disrupt the mutant's attacks and stop it from closing in. That gives us a better chance of staying alive!"

"I... I understand."

At his words, An Rongru abruptly turned around and raised her hand to fire. Unfortunately, her marksmanship was awful. A pale blue beam shot into the distance, completely missing the mutated security guard. Even she felt her face flush at such terrible shooting. The mutant did not even bother to dodge, instead hurling another pile of small stones at them, spraying them like shotgun pellets.

The pile of stones covered an area around two meters wide. Mu Xiao's eyes narrowed. Knowing they could not evade them, he could only increase his telekinetic output and form an invisible shield that blocked most of the stones. The rest struck the pavement outside the bike with a rapid series of sharp clatters.

"Use high-explosive grenades! Watch the grenade type..." Mu Xiao knew that marksmanship was not something one could master overnight unless they had an ability suited to enhancing it. Reaching godlike shooting skills was even more impossible. The mutant possessed high-speed mobility; even ordinary police officers might not be able to keep up with its movements, much less An Rongru, a complete novice among novices.

An Rongru also knew that most of her shots were useless. Following Mu Xiao's instructions, she took out a high-explosive grenade. Carefully judging the motorcycle's speed, she gently threw it onto the mutated security guard's path.

She fixed her gaze on the grenade she had thrown and thought, At this speed, if I throw it too hard, that monster might pass it. If I use less force and give it a higher arc, it should land without being overtaken and block the monster's advance. If I miss this time, I can adjust the strength of my throw again...

An Rongru did not seek a direct hit, only to obstruct the mutated security guard's attack and slow it down.

"Sure enough, desperate situations are the best training for forcing rapid growth." Mu Xiao's psychic power constantly sensed both the front and rear, so naturally he could tell that An Rongru had thrown the grenade correctly.

Boom!

A fireball erupted atop a building, and a large amount of building debris tumbled down in front of the mutated security guard, forcing it to brake abruptly and dodge in a sorry state. This immediately allowed Mu Xiao's motorcycle to pull some distance away, and the barrage of incoming objects temporarily stopped.

"Not bad. Keep throwing grenades." Mu Xiao felt the pressure ease greatly. Only then could he spare some attention to use telekinesis to draw out his laser pistol and fire beam after beam, picking off the zombies blocking the road and breaking through their interception during the opening.

Using telekinesis to fire a gun was not difficult. As long as the muzzle was aimed forward and the trigger was pulled, it could shoot ahead. Moreover, the zombies were charging straight at them, making them even easier to hit. If Mu Xiao repaired several laser pistols, a single volley would clear the zombies blocking the road even faster.

Of course, such control did not provide a very high hit rate and could only be used for crowd killing. It also consumed a considerable amount of telekinesis, since every extra measure of control placed more strain on the mind.

Rumble!

An Rongru successfully disrupted the mutated security guard's advance again. Her confidence immediately surged, and she threw two high-explosive grenades in succession, continuously blocking its path. The attacks from behind almost vanished.

This was because the mutated security guard radiated a fierce and savage aura, making many zombies afraid to pursue recklessly. The mutant was like a king. Zombies at the bottom of the evolutionary hierarchy were naturally suppressed by it and did not dare compete with it for food. Just like in the animal kingdom, the evolutionary hierarchy was even more pronounced.

Mu Xiao soon followed the direction An Rongru had given earlier and entered the villa district. Before long, a private road appeared ahead, surrounded by landscaped woods. As An Rongru had said, there were not many zombies wandering through this lush green garden. The mutated security guard behind them also seemed to have been shaken off and did not continue following them.

But Mu Xiao knew mutants would not give up their prey so easily. Especially after suffering setbacks from several attacks, their vicious, vindictive nature meant that sooner or later, it would track them down through the lingering scent.

Once you encountered a mutant, it was a fight to the death. Otherwise, it would haunt you endlessly.

Mu Xiao slowed the bike, freeing a hand to retrieve the laser pistol suspended before him with telekinesis. He shot several zombies charging toward them, then asked An Rongru behind him, "Can you drive this motorcycle?"

"Hm?" An Rongru had been watching the situation behind them and had not noticed the bike slowing down. Only when Mu Xiao spoke did she snap back to her senses. "I don't know how, but the optical computer system on this kind of racing bike should have autopilot..."

"I haven't fully repaired the bike's optical computer system. Otherwise, we would have shaken off that mutant long ago." Just as Mu Xiao said, the thermal racing bike had not even reached half its original speed. Its hover wind-speed function had not been activated, and more than half of its auxiliary functions remained unrepaired.

"The mutant behind us won't give up. I'm planning to hide and ambush it, eliminating this potential threat." Mu Xiao explained just how terrifying a threat the mutant posed.

Thinking of a monster even more terrifying than a ghost lurking in the shadows, constantly hungering for her flesh and blood, An Rongru shuddered from head to toe, her face turning pale.

"Then what do we do?" An Rongru grew even more anxious at the thought that she might lead that terrifying monster to her villa, possibly putting her daughter's life in danger.

She had never allowed herself to think the worst about her daughter—that she might have died in the jaws of those monsters. She had a feeling that her daughter was definitely still alive. Especially after becoming a new human, that feeling had grown even stronger. Gradually, she had come to believe that her intuition was right.