Night settled like quiet water. Inside the spatial bubble suspended high above the cliff, two fugitives slept with their arms wrapped around each other.
After securing the entrance permit from Mei Yanlan, the elite squad from Twelve Zodiac Academy rushed to the floating bubble above the cliff alongside the guards. It was the former base of the Illegal Atavist Genetics Control Organization.
Being an ordinary human, Jiang Qing moved too slowly on foot, so he rode alongside the Wind Rider on her magic carpet. The Wind Rider possessed control over the wind, able to toss a plain blanket into the air and turn it into a magical flying craft.
Standing on the carpet like a mystic, the Wind Rider kept her eyes closed. Invisible gusts hovered around her, bringing a flood of sensory information. Her task was to sift through the chaos of signals to pinpoint the one clue that mattered.
Jiang Qing stared down at the Atavists moving quickly across the terrain below, his brow furrowed. He wasnât completely sure the mercenary couple was hiding inside this particular bubble under Mei Yanlanâs watch. When he made that confident deal with Jing Pei, part of it was a calculated test. Jing Peiâs subtle reactions confirmed his suspicions.
Yet he had never expected Jing Pei to openly reveal the location herself. Could it be that the pair had already left the bubble? If they had, the Wind Rider would have caught their scent immediately.
That meant the fugitives were safe only as long as this bubble stayed unnoticed. The moment suspicion fell on it, whether they stayed inside or tried to run, their fate would be grim.
There was another pressing problem. Mei Yanlan managed this bubble. If two high-profile targets hunted by the government were found inside, how could she explain it? How could she answer for such a breach?
Suddenly, a flash of insight struck Jiang Qing. His eyes widened slightly.
So thatâs it! He finally understood.
She had planned this all along. This approach bought the fugitives time to escape while keeping Mei Yanlan completely clear of trouble. The Wind Riderâs sensory ability was purely subjectiveâher words could not serve as direct legal evidence in court.
Moreover, a fierce battle among Atavists had taken place inside that bubble just months ago. The lingering wave signatures were dense and tangled, taking at least three years to dissipate. Extracting clear signatures belonging to the targets would be nearly impossible, especially since any complete wave chains had surely been disrupted in advance.
Just then, his phone vibrated in his pocket. Jiang Qing pulled it out, his dark eyes dimming as he read the message.
ăStill no useful information? Prove your worth at all times, or you will be replaced by the other children.ă
Jiang Qingâs jaw tightened. He recalled Jing Peiâs calm, almost mocking smile and her composed demeanor.
Fine, he thought. Letâs see how you play this hand.
He tapped out a quick reply and sent it off.
Meanwhile, the squad dispatched by the organization to hunt down Lolita and Isaac was led by Jiang Chaoyuâa team leader ranked alongside Shi Gang and Qiao Ming among the organizationâs top ten captains.
Unfortunately, their team had come up empty since the start of the mission, leaving them bored out of their minds.
“Argh! This is driving me crazy! If we don’t finish this job, they won’t let us take on anything else!” A guy with spiky purple hair paced around frantically, scratching his own face until bloody red marks showed. “If those two don’t show up soon, I’m going to slice them into eight thousand pieces!”
“If it weren’t tough, they wouldn’t have sent us,” a man wearing headphones replied with a smirk, playing a gory video game on his laptop. “Stop scratching yourself. You’re ugly enough already. Any woman who looks at you is going to throw up, hahaha.”
“Who? Who dares to throw up? You?” The purple-haired man rounded on a female teammate nearby.
The woman had bright red hair and was getting a manicure from a terrified technician whose hands shook. Hearing his words, she made a gagging face. âYeah, looking at you makes me want to puke. What about it? Want to fight?â
âHmph! Not youâher!â The purple-haired man suddenly snapped, turning his gaze toward a masseuse who was nervously rubbing their captainâs shoulders.
The poor woman collapsed to her knees in sheer panic. “I… I didn’t do anything… Please don’t kill me, please…”
She wept and begged for her life. If she could turn back time, she would never have accepted a booking online only to end up with clients like these. She was not the first masseuse brought here; several corpses were already piled up in the corner of the room.
Yet the purple-haired man had already made up his mind. Ignoring the lack of any mess around her, he drew a gleaming blade. The masseuse trembled like a leaf, scrambling toward the door, but a hand yanked her back by her hair.
The man enjoying the massage opened his eyes, though not out of pity for the worker. He completely ignored the dying woman who had served him moments ago and focused on his phone. After a brief pause, he stood up.
“Boys, time to work.”
“Work?”
“We have a lead. With any luck, weâll catch them this time.”
“What? Can’t I at least finish my nails before we go?” the red-haired woman complained.
âNo. Opportunities disappear fast, and the Twelve Zodiac squad has already moved out,â Captain Jiang Chaoyu said. Compared to his wild crew, he looked surprisingly calm and steady in both appearance and tone.
“Are we going to fight them for the targets?”
Jiang Chaoyu replied smoothly, “No. We’re going to set a trap and wait.”
The text message he just received stated that the targets were inside the former gene research facility. While the Twelve Zodiac squad and the guards rushed over, the targets would attempt to escape through a secret passage they had built long ago.
All they had to do was wait at the exit.
“Awesome!” The gamer tossed his headphones aside, his eyes shining with excitement. “Tonight we play a real-life hunting game!”
“No way, she’s mine!” the purple-haired man roared, tossing aside the fresh corpse. “I want to taste what the Emperor’s woman feels like!”
The red-haired woman killed the manicurist on her way out. A glowing magic circle appeared beneath another teammate’s feet, enveloping the entire squad. In the next instant, they vanished without a trace.
As Atavists moved through the mountain, the trees quivered softly, and ripples stirred across the quiet night water.
A nearly invisible transparent tentacle floated on the surface of the pond. Drawn by the sudden vibration, it twitched, as if waking a hidden creature.
Isaac snapped his eyes open.
“Sweetheart, get up! Enemies are coming!”
Not long ago, he had opened the secret tunnel door just a crack to release several small severed tentacles. He possessed the ability to teleport objects and himself through nearby water sources, allowing these tiny severed limbs to drift into lakes, ditches, and rain puddles down the mountain to scout the area.
The tentacles were tiny and carried almost no scent. Even after detachment, they could transmit signals back to his main body for a short window. Years ago, when he helped Lolita and her family escape, these two traits had saved their lives. Because this ability had never been revealed in the royal palace of the Kingdom of Pymeshire, it had completely bypassed the Wind Riderâs tracking.
Now he sensed a large group closing in.
“Hurry, we have to leave right now!”
“I knew that information broker wasn’t truly helping us! Otherwise, we would have received a warning by now!” Lolita cursed under her breath as she pulled on the jacket Isaac threw over her shoulders. “Damn information broker! Filthy liar!”
Isaac had already cleared the tunnel entrance, and the two dashed inside without hesitation.
Jing Pei and her group arrived at the cliff.
Having handed over the key through official channels, Mei Yanlan was no longer present. Filing such a request implied questioning the manager’s oversight, so she had to step aside to avoid bias. A different officer from the Tribunal Division stood guard as an impartial witness while they conducted the search.
Wu Ying held the key. She leaped upward, landing skillfully on an invisible foothold. Feeling around the smooth surface, she located the hidden door and fitted the key into the lock.
Click.
The lock mechanism inside the bubble door turned open.
Jiang Qingâs heart thambered nervously at the sound, and a seed of doubt began to sprout in his mind. Was my deduction truly right?
He glanced toward Jing Pei. Seeing her completely calm expression, his doubts grew even stronger.
The existence of a secret tunnel inside this bubble was no secret to key insidersâMiss Hong had once led a group to safety through that very passage. Based on that, Jiang Qing had reasoned that Jing Pei would have the mercenary couple escape through the tunnel before the search team entered. By the time the wind carried their scent back, at least ten minutes would passâmore than enough time for skilled Atavists to put vast distance between themselves and the mountain.
Yet looking at it from another angle, that plan was far too easy to predict. Would a scheme crafted by Jing Pei and the information broker really be this simple?
That broker was a mysterious figure with a terrifying intelligence networkâsomeone who built such a web had to be a master strategist with decades of experience. As for Long Jin, despite her youth, she was already impossible to read. Jiang Qing even suspected she might be the brokerâs apprentice or the true successor to Puzzle Intelligence Agency, though he lacked proof.
So would Isaac and Lolita really flee through the secret passage right now, exactly as he predicted, walking straight into the organizationâs ambush?
Creeeakâ
Wu Ying slowly pulled the door open a crack.
Jiang Qingâs heart sank to his chest, anticipating failure.
A sudden gust swept past. Carried along by the shifting breeze, a scent traveled through the air and reached the Wind Rider.
Her expression shifted instantly. “I found them!”
“What? Are they really inside?” her companion asked in surprise.
“No!” The Wind Rider spun around immediately and sprinted in a completely different direction.
The team froze for a second before giving chase without hesitation. Wu Ying abandoned the half-open door and followed right behind them.
Only Jiang Qing stood rooted to the spot, dazed and shocked.
What? Did I not miscalculate after all? Was her plan really that simple?
Isaac unlocked the final door, leading his lover out of the sealed bubble. Long before Jing Peiâs group had arrived at the cliff, the pair had descended to the base of the canyon and navigated the narrow tunnel leading out of the mountain range.
Then, their breathing stopped.
Ten figures with ruthless, sinister aura waited right in front of them.
“Hell yeah! They actually showed up!” The gamer guy cheered like a kid getting his hands on a newly released game.
