A Doltish Ally

Tu Ran straddled her again, pulling out the dagger she'd picked up downstairs and driving it into the back of Zeng Jing's neck.

Her movements were rough, reckless of whether Zeng Jing lived or died.

She had no intention of letting Zeng Jing walk away.

Zeng Jing struggled weakly, futilely, pounding the ground and reaching back to grab at Tu Ran. Tu Ran, focused on finding the inner core, casually grabbed her restless arm and yanked it back, dislocating both arms.

"Ugh..." Zeng Jing buried her head in the ground, unable to speak, sobs and whimpers spilling out of her throat in broken bursts.

The tip of the blade dug around for a dozen or so seconds before a gleaming inner core appeared.

Tu Ran fished it out with the knife, gave it a careless wipe, and pocketed it.

She didn't swallow it immediately.

She still remembered the half-dead, blood-coughing state she'd seen Zeng Jing in on the surveillance footage.

Unsure whether it was the inner core's doing, she'd need to find a safe place to study it before consuming.

For now, the priority was getting out of here. She'd already wasted plenty of time hunting Zeng Jing down.

She rose from Zeng Jing's body, and Zero had already sent her the optimal escape route.

Tu Ran cast one last glance at Zeng Jing, who had passed out from the pain, face-down on the floor. She wiped the blade twice to clean off the blood, sheathed it, picked up the submachine gun from the ground, and made her exit through the back door of Wanle Temple per the route.

It went smoothly.

Stepping out the back door of Wanle Temple, she was met with a tall wall.

Roughly four meters high, she estimated.

Tu Ran approached and pressed her hand against it.

Landslide.

The wall began to crack, fractures spreading outward like open jaws.

Tu Ran withdrew her hand, then kicked the fissure-ridden wall. It collapsed in an instant, leaving a hole large enough for one person to pass through.

Tu Ran immediately slipped through the gap, then froze mid-step.

Stephen Wells was standing a little over ten meters away, watching her with an easy, unhurried air.

Behind him were Andre and a retinue of fully armed men.

They carried all manner of high-damage weapons—several laser guns among them—and their dark muzzles were all trained on her.

Tu Ran instinctively took a step back, eyeing them warily.

Stephen spoke up. "I can save you, spare you a life of running. As long as you're willing to stay quietly by my side and continue our cooperation."

Tu Ran let out a cold sneer. "Is Mr. Wells trying to save me, or save my inner core?"

Exposed, Stephen didn't seem angered. Instead, he said seriously, "Of course I'd save you too. As long as you show no signs of running, I won't kill you."

Are you kidding me, imprisonment?

"Not interested." Tu Ran raised her submachine gun, aiming it at him, her gaze icy. "Are you going to step aside on your own, or do I have to shoot my way through?"

Stephen's expression darkened slightly as he stared at her. He wanted to kill her, yet he was wary of her abilities.

Seeing him waver, Tu Ran suddenly softened her tone. "Stephen, I really don't want to kill you. I've seen how good you've been to me. We may not be allies anymore, but we don't have to be enemies, right? Besides, you can't kill me right now anyway, so why not just let me go? Someday, when I'm alone and drifting with nowhere to turn, the one wealthy family I can reach out to will be yours. Think about it—won't I repay you then?"

Tu Ran's manner was especially sincere, her eyes utterly earnest. "You're the head of one of the three great conglomerates, so you must know investing better than anyone. Letting me go is an investment. The returns I'll give you down the road will be limitless. If you move against me now, your own safety will be at risk. Tell me, isn't that a terrible deal?"

Stephen was silent for a moment, gazing at Tu Ran. "Are you sure you'll repay me later?"

"Of course!" Tu Ran smacked her chest with conviction. "A person has to keep their word and stay loyal. You've been so good to me—you're my friend. Of course I'll repay you."

Stephen frowned slightly and emphasized, "Ally. Not friend."

"Fine—ally." Tu Ran corrected herself, going along with the simpleton's preference.

The investment theory Tu Ran had just proposed was something Stephen had never put into practice, though he wasn't opposed to it.

Stephen pondered for a moment, then waved his hand. The men behind him immediately lowered their weapons and cleared a path for Tu Ran.

"You may go," Stephen said.

Tu Ran suppressed the smile in her eyes. As she passed a man holding a laser gun, she stopped, turned back to look at Stephen, and pointed at the weapon. "Could you spare me one of those laser guns?" She added, "Bigger investment, bigger returns."

Stephen: "..." Shameless and pushy—that's what they meant by people like this.

"Take it and get out of here," Stephen said. "The Pioneers are almost here."

He didn't want his investment dying in its cradle.

"Thanks." Tu Ran yanked the laser gun from the bodyguard's grip and hurried away.

The bodyguard watched her retreating back with reluctant, heartbroken eyes, on the verge of tears. It had been his turn to use the laser gun today, and now...

Following Zero's directions, Tu Ran circled to a secluded alley and found a slightly battered grav-car in the corner.

"This one?" Tu Ran asked through her earpiece.

"Yes." Zero replied.

Tu Ran immediately opened the door and slid into the driver's seat.

Staring at the control screen and the array of buttons before her, she remembered she didn't know how to fly a grav-car—and neither did the original owner.

"...It has autopilot, right?"

"Buckle up."

The next instant, the grav-car shot straight up and sped away, heading in the opposite direction from Wanle Temple.

Through the cockpit glass, Tu Ran saw hundreds of patrol cars rushing toward Wanle Temple, along with Pioneer Team helicopters.

Like migrating birds, the sky was blanketed with them.

An oppressive atmosphere hung over all those mechanical birds, like a grim apocalyptic war film.

Zero dropped Tu Ran's vehicle lower, weaving beneath the aerial squadrons above.

The sky was obscured, the cabin darkening. Tu Ran tilted her head up, gazing through the sunroof at the fleet speeding away from her.

It was the first time she'd grasped so deeply just how far the Federal Government's reach extended. Shaken, she also became starkly aware of how powerful a force she had made her enemy.

From now on, all forty-two states of the Federation would hunt her relentlessly.

But fortunately, she still had Zero.

This super-AI serving all forty-two states—she had it on her side.

At the same moment, Zero's voice crackled through the earpieces of every Pioneer and guard racing to Wanle Temple. "Wanle Temple reached. Prepare for landing."

...

Ding Naiqing stood beside Zeng Jing's body, dazed. Min Tao crouched low and pressed two fingers to Zeng Jing's nose.

"She's still breathing! Get the Medical Department!"

Xiao Di hurried to fetch one of the medical officers, and it happened to be Meng Fanchen, who'd been sent over as backup.

Meng Fanchen brought his partner along, and they immediately worked to staunch the blood still pouring from the back of Zeng Jing's neck.