“Long Jin?!” Mei Yanlan’s eyes widened in disbelief, and the self-destruct sequence broke off at once.

“It’s me,” Jing Pei said.

Outside, the torrential rain that had been gathering all day finally began to fall.

In the original novel, after Mei Yanlan killed the members of the Ling family, the organization known as Sparrow captured her from behind. She detonated herself today, dragging most of the organization’s members down to hell with her.

Jing Pei did not know the exact time of Mei Yanlan’s death, but the explosion had happened at around this time. After all, the novel had described the air as hot, oppressive, and dry before her death, while the rain began only afterward.

The experiment involving Wen Yuxian and Zhang Simiao had already proven that this rebellious plotline really did not know how to adapt. Both the manner and timing of a character’s death had to be exactly the same as in the original novel.

The disadvantage was that no matter how early Jing Pei intervened, the plot would manufacture one incident after another in an attempt to steer the ending back toward the original. As a result, the process became very difficult to control.

The advantage was that Jing Pei only needed to guide the process a little, wait at the ending, and deliver the final blow.

Miss Hong whipped her head toward the entrance.

Everyone’s attention had been fixed on Mei Yanlan. Between the shouting and the explosions erupting all around them, no one had noticed that the entrance had already been forced open. The guards at the door were sprawled unconscious on the ground.

Presumably, all the sentries outside the bubble had already been taken out as well.

And judging by the situation, Jing Pei had not just arrived.

When had she gotten here? How long had she been standing there, watching?

But she was the only person here. Did that mean there was no one else outside?

Mei Yanlan had clearly noticed this too. She stared at Jing Pei in disbelief. “Why the fuck did you come here alone?”

“I came to take Officer Mei home.”

Under the eyes of everyone present, Jing Pei walked toward her.

Mei Yanlan froze. Something seemed to touch her heart, and the tip of her nose prickled. Yet her face soon returned to its usual carefree smile.

“Do you think you can hide me away, like you did Zhang Simiao?”

“Hmm? Why would I need to hide you?” Jing Pei tilted her head and smiled. “You’re free. You’ll always be free. Besides, I imagine the results are already out.”

At that moment, Miss Hong received a call from one of her subordinates in the research building. As she listened to the furious report on the other end, her expression became even getting worse than when she had first seen Jing Pei.

“What did you say? Say that again!”

The person on the phone repeated the report.

Miss Hong crushed the phone in her hand. Her cultured, composed face darkened with rage, twisting almost beyond recognition.

The Ling family…

The Ling family!

Miss Hong had never been this furious in either of her lives. What sins had she committed in her previous life to be saddled with pigheaded teammates like the Ling family in this one?

The Ling family ought to thank the Tribunal Division for locking them up. Otherwise, Miss Hong would crack their skulls open right now to see whether there were any brains inside!

“Kill them all!” Miss Hong suddenly ordered.

Since Mei Yanlan and Xiao Cheng were no longer useful, they could only be eliminated. Jing Pei went without saying. The organization’s existence had already been exposed.

Her subordinates paused. Though they did not understand the sudden change, they accepted the command at once and shifted their method of attack. At the same time, those carrying Atavist weapons lowered their Atavist weapons and replaced them with more lethal ones.

Mei Yanlan moved at once. Dragging Xiao Cheng with her, she planted herself in front of Jing Pei and unleashed her atavistic power, using her own body as a shield.

“Run!”

She did not know what was happening, but there was no reason Jing Pei should die here too. Jing Pei still had a bright future ahead of her. There was no need for her to die alongside someone who had no future at all.

Mei Yanlan had already given up. She wanted nothing more than for her bloodline, a bloodline that could only bring sin and suffering, to disappear with her.

Jing Pei did not rush to flee. Instead, she spoke from behind Mei Yanlan.

“Teacher Mei, the Ling family made a mistake. Neither you nor your descendants can giving birth healthy hybrids. That’s why they’re trying to silence everyone now instead of taking you alive.”

Outside the bubble, a deafening clap of thunder split the air.

“…What did you say?”

“Your mother was the one they needed.”

Time seemed to freeze.

The enemies surging toward them like a tide stopped. Even the smoke drifting through the air seemed suspended in place.

Memories flashed past like scenes from a film.

A happy family of three from her childhood.

Her father, so handsome he looked almost impossible, always wore his hair tied in a bun behind his head. Her mother often stared at his childish antics with helpless exasperation, yet her eyes were always full of affection.

Then came her mother’s pale, twisted, lifeless body.

Her father stood beside her with his head bowed, his face was shrouded in gloom, making his expression impossible to make out.

Finally, beneath a murky yellow sky, Wen Can waved goodbye to her with a smile. To keep an autopsy from revealing the true cause of death, Wen Can threw themself onto the railway tracks…

“Ha!”

A sudden laugh burst from Mei Yanlan.

Frozen time began to move again.

Mei Yanlan suddenly withdrew her atavistic power. With Xiao Cheng dragged in one hand and Jing Pei hoisted in the other, she charged toward the spacetime bubble’s sole entrance, the only passage connecting it to the outside world.

Like Xiao Cheng, Jing Pei’s feet left the ground, and she streamed behind Mei Yanlan like a flag in the wind.

Well…

Jing Pei could have run on her own.

But sometimes, a teacher cared for you by deciding you could not possibly escape without help. It was a rare experience, so Jing Pei accepted it with pleasure.

She turned to look at Mei Yanlan’s face. Because of the angle, all she could see was the sharp, taut line of Mei Yanlan’s jaw and the smile curling at the corner of her lips.

There was a wildness about her now. Her murderous aura was overwhelming, terrifying beyond words. She looked like a vengeful ghost on her way to claim a life.

If the Ling family were standing before her, Jing Pei had no doubt Mei Yanlan would crush them into meat paste with her bare hands.

All the suffering in her life, everything she had lost, had happened simply because of their stupidity.

It was ridiculous.

So ridiculous that it made her furious.

And when that fury reached its limit, a fierce desire to survive awakened inside Mei Yanlan.

She could not die before killing the Ling family!

She would slice them apart with a thousand cuts and tear them limb from limb. She would use every form of torture she could imagine on them. Even if she died, she would crawl back out of hell to take their lives!

Her violent surging emotions forced her potential to erupt once more. Dragging two people along, Mei Yanlan darted between the Atavist weapons attacking from behind and both sides. Explosions boomed endlessly around her ears, almost deafening her.

Jing Pei flexed her fingers. Any Atavist bullets fired at her or Xiao Cheng were flicked aside with her fingers or kicked back toward the enemy.

“Ah!”

“Ugh!”

Among the enemies surrounding and intercepting them, someone would collapse to their knees every few moments.

At such speed and amid so much smoke, an ordinary human like Xiao Cheng could not open his eyes, just as before. He could only squeeze them shut, relax his body, and let Mei Yanlan swing him around. From time to time, she even used him as a weapon to smash aside someone charging toward them.

But he could sense the change in Mei Yanlan.

She no longer wanted to die. She had also understood Jing Pei’s meaning. There really was no reason for either of them to die. Their bloodline did not need to end at all.

Wonderful!

First Baby, Second Baby, Third Baby, keep protecting Daddy! Our family of five will be reunited soon. Happy days are waiting for us!

Jing Pei had already dealt with the enemies guarding the entrance, saving them considerable trouble. Just as the group was about to escape, Miss Hong shouted, “Stop them! Do not let them get away!”

Then she noticed something.

Her eyes narrowed. She snatched the rifle from the sniper beside her and took aim.

“Bang!”

The bullet was not headed for Jing Pei, Mei Yanlan, or Xiao Cheng. Naturally, no one paid any attention to it.

It struck the shoulder strap of the bag still hanging from Mei Yanlan’s body and flying out behind her.

The strap snapped.

As the bag fell through the air, an object flew from its unzipped opening.

Mei Yanlan’s expression changed.

The instant she hurled Jing Pei and Xiao Cheng through the exit, she spun around almost on instinct and reached for the object.

As Xiao Cheng flew out, he saw that it was something wrapped in brown paper. He had no idea what it was.

A moment later, he had no time to wonder.

The situation changed in the blink of an eye.

“Bang!”

A large Atavist shotgun shell struck Mei Yanlan. Countless tiny pellets tore through her chest and abdomen in an instant. Blood burst from her body in a great crimson spray.

“No!”

It was as if the ammunition had struck Xiao Cheng directly in the heart. His eyes nearly split with anguish as a piercing scream tore from his throat. While still flying through the air, he reached helplessly for her.

Then Jing Pei caught him, and the two landed on the cliff.

What was that just now?

Standing beside Xiao Cheng, Jing Pei searched her memories of the original novel. There had been no mention of such an item at all.

Was it something she had never written, something the world had automatically filled in on its own? Had that rebellious plotline arranged for it to appear so Mei Yanlan would be driven toward her predetermined death?

So the wretched thing had kept one last trick in reserve.

Inside the bubble, Miss Hong watched the wounded Mei Yanlan, the corner of her mouth lifting.

“Just as I expected.”

After such a long battle, Mei Yanlan had never discarded her bag. It had not even sustained much damage, which made it obvious that Mei Yanlan had been protecting it.

Miss Hong’s guess had been correct. Something important had to be inside.

Atavist weapons were designed specifically to counter the unique physical constitutions of Atavists. They were made from special materials, and their power was incomparable to weapons from the ordinary human world.

Mei Yanlan could feel that all her internal organs had been damaged. If part of her atavistic power had not returned without conscious thought to shield them, her organs would have been reduced to pulp.

Even so, so, her condition was not much better.

The countless toxin-laced pellets were embedded in her fragile organs, invading and destroying her cells at a frantic rate.

The enemy already knew that Mei Yanlan had undergone resistance training and that ordinary poisons had little effect on her. They had therefore used a newly developed biological virus, and the dose was terrifying high.

The agony made Mei Yanlan’s muscles tremble and spasm. She looked at the object lying nearby. Her lips moved soundlessly as one hand dragged itself across the ground, struggling to reach it.

Several shadows stretched over her body.

The enemy had surrounded her.

Someone bent down, picked up the package, and tore open the brown-paper wrapping.

“What? It’s just a diary.”

After casually flipping through a few pages, the person lost interest.

“Finish her off.”

A sharp longsword entered Mei Yanlan’s field of vision, raised in preparation to sever her head.

Over the past ten years, she had confronted death countless times. Again and again, she had walked a swaying tightrope suspended above hell.

Not only had she felt no fear, she had danced upon it, leaping without restraint and gazing at the blazing karmic fires below with a provocative smile.

But this time, for the first time, she felt a deep reluctance to die.

A powerful desire to survive surged from the depths of her heart.

Those idiots from the Ling family were still alive. How could she die before them?

Yet she could no longer move.

No matter how fierce her anger or how bitter her resentment, as the cold blade drew closer, all of it could only turn to despair.

At that moment, a gold-and-crimson figure flew into the bubble from outside.

Its colors blazed like fire, and its long tail feathers streamed like banners.

It was a phoenix.

“What?”

“This is bad!”

Members of the Atavist families leaped into the bubble one after another. When they saw the people and the research facility before them, the family heads erupted in thunderous rage.

“Someone is always trying to get their hands on our noble Atavist genes!”

“I want to see what they’re scheming this time!”

Miss Hong almost fainted.

It seemed the people sent to hunt down Jing Pei had already been killed. Jing Pei had indeed come prepared.

But how had she discovered this place?

Miss Hong turned and strode away, pulling out her phone as she went.

“Boss, something’s gone wrong…”

The entire scene descended into chaos. No one had any attention to spare for Mei Yanlan.

Even so, Mei Yanlan could still feel death approaching.

She was growing weaker by the second. The destructive toxins in the ammunition had overwhelmed her healing ability, and blood continued to pour from her wounds.

She would soon die from blood loss.

Someone, save me…

Please, save me…

Footsteps hurried back and forth around her, but not a single pair stopped.

As her consciousness blurred, two pairs of feet rushed to her side.

One figure crouched beside her. The faint smell of disinfectant drifted through the air, and a first-aid kit thudded to the ground nearby.

“How is she? You can save her, right?”

“Let me take a look…”

When Mei Yanlan heard Jing Pei’s familiar voice, she finally closed her eyes in relief.

A single tear slipped from the corner of her eye.