Chapter 849: Escape Through Flames

Fortunately, it was already 10 PM and the Soda City Steel Drawbridge was still up.

The guards stationed before the drawbridge were noticeably sparse.

So Lu Xin floored the throttle. Before they could shout and open fire on him, he released his Mental Power at an extremely low frequency, and the guards didn’t even have time to react before collapsing softly beside the drawbridge.

Taking advantage of the moment, Lu Xin sped out of Soda City and raced along the road.

Soon, sirens blared from the Steel Drawbridge behind him, signaling that someone was breaching it.

Normally, Lu Xin wouldn’t act this way, but desperate times call for desperate measures. At worst, after everything settles, he can submit an explanation about his actions to Qinggang and pay a fine.

The most important thing was to escape this whirlwind before the chaos fully erupted.

……

……

“Phew……”

Only after covering over ten miles did he let out a slight sigh of relief.

Just as he burst out from the city, he could feel countless eyes watching him.

Especially one faint gaze, deliberately hidden, that sent a chill down his spine.

Only now did he feel a bit at ease.

In the distance, in the direction of Soda City, he could still see a few weak red lights flitting about like fireflies.

They were probably drones controlled by some organization, tracking his position.

Whenever someone watched him, Lu Xin would sense it immediately.

Even if they observed him through drones or similar electronic devices, he wouldn’t miss a thing.

It was as if, upon noticing him, they forged a subtle psychic link.

Mental perception comes in different layers.

At the most basic level, heightened sensitivity lets him accurately gauge hostile or friendly gazes within a crowd.

A level higher, even with his eyes closed, he can detect if someone is watching him.

An even higher level lets him sense someone’s gaze even through a monitor.

At its peak, if anyone in the world sees his photo, watches a video about him, or even mentions his name in conversation, he will immediately catch it and pinpoint their location.

Or, perhaps, they reach a godlike level.

If anyone thinks of him, he will instantly sense it.

That range extends… to the entire universe?

……

……

At this moment, Lu Xin couldn’t precisely analyze the minutiae of who was watching him—their intentions, identities, and backgrounds. But he could feel a dangerous premonition on a psychic level, so he eased the motorcycle’s speed a bit and furrowed his brow in thought.

These assassins—how could they be so fearless?

Had his previous display of deterrence before entering the city really meant nothing to them?

“Glasses, point out the most open area to me…”

After taking a deep breath, Lu Xin immediately activated the map navigation on his left visor.

He wasn’t afraid of those assassins.

But not wanting to cause a huge disturbance, he had to find a desolate, unpopulated area to sort this mess out.

……

……

“Beep——”

Glasses reacted quickly, the visor flashing blue as a map of Soda City’s surroundings appeared.

A red line snaked past all the settlements, twisting and turning toward a vacant section of the wasteland.

That was it.

As long as he stayed away from the settlements, he could avoid stirring up further trouble.

“Rumble…”

Just as Lu Xin followed the route, accelerating rapidly, an intense burst of dazzling flames suddenly erupted ahead on his left. The dark wasteland was bathed in a deep red glow, and amidst the light came faint cries.

Lu Xin paused for a moment, his grip on the throttle easing slightly.

Looking up, he noticed the black particles in his eyes tremble as the scene in front of him rapidly closed in.

In an instant, his expression changed. Adjusting the bike’s front, he sped off urgently.

A massive explosion had ripped apart a settlement in the wasteland. The oil drums they stored had turned most of the area into a blazing inferno, with an uncountable number of charred corpses and burning bodies fleeing desperately. The survivors barely had time to cry out, shouting for someone to arm themselves and give chase.

“What happened?”

Lu Xin arrived at the settlement and whispered to help, asking,

“Children… children…”

The locals almost mistook Lu Xin for an enemy, but his piercing eyes forced them into sudden calm.

In a hoarse scream, they cried, “The Knight Order attacked our village, blew up the oil tanks, and killed… killed so many people. But… they have to be chased! They’ve taken all the children from our orphanage at the village entrance…”

“……”

Lu Xin’s eyes flickered with black particles as he gripped the handlebars tighter.

Every settlement had an orphanage since no one knew when the adults might perish in the wasteland.

And the word ‘orphanage’ troubled Lu Xin even more.

He quickly inquired about the time and direction of the Knight Order’s departure and then tightened his grip, racing ahead.

As he sped along, he even closed his eyes briefly.

The Distorted Force Field rapidly expanded, stretching deep into the wasteland.

Like an invisible silken thread, it swiftly radiated from him in all directions.

On either side of the rugged path, the dark, barren weeds seemed to be simultaneously combed aside.

For a moment, everything within the reach of his mental field flashed before his eyes.

And the mental field continued to expand endlessly.

The larger the Distorted Force Field grew, the sparser his Mental Power became, and his perceptive ability weakened.

Yet Lu Xin’s field had stretched seven or eight kilometers and still showed no sign of stopping.

Until his Mental Power caught a team of Wasteland Knights speeding from the northeast—a convoy with seven or eight motorcycles escorting a big truck. In the truck bed were no fewer than a dozen terrified, helpless children.

Taking a deep breath, Lu Xin immediately increased his speed.

With his sister’s help, the motorcycle’s performance was pushed to its limits. Under the Red Moon, bursts of black particles flashed as the bike intermittently disappeared and reappeared some ten meters ahead.

This cycle repeated over and over.

In just about thirty seconds, Lu Xin caught up with the Knight Order.

He jerked the handlebars, sending the bike soaring into mid-air, level with the Red Moon, then dove down sharply.

At the same time, from the box at the back of his motorcycle, a machine dog popped open it and extended a long multi-barrel rotary gun.

“Rat-a-tat-tat…”

Flames erupted, reducing the Knight Order to a bloody pulp.

Lu Xin then deployed a decoy power within his Distorted Force Field to mask the grisly scene from the children’s eyes. With a slight smile on his face, he approached them, planning to escort the survivors back to the settlement. But he suddenly noticed the vacant, desperate looks on the children’s faces.

They didn’t seem to want rescue—they were fixated on the northeast.

“Mom, Mom…”

They murmured, as if their mother was in that direction.

“Mental Pollution?”

Lu Xin frowned, a strange, cold anger flashing in his eyes.

These children had clearly been affected on a psychological level. They weren’t simply abducted.

Realizing this, he took another deep breath.

“Buzz… buzz… buzz…”

Mental Power vibrated continuously, sending out concentric ripples through the air.

Through these ripples, Lu Xin immediately saw another team of Knight Orders about seven or eight miles away, also speeding along.

Behind them, a group from the settlement was frantically chasing.

But the settlement’s weapons were clearly no match for the Knight Order, and they were being completely overpowered.

As his Distorted Force Field continued to expand, more bizarre scenes under the Red Moon appeared on the wasteland.

At least four Knight Orders were seen dragging abducted children in one direction.

Further away, a tall arthropod-like creature, resembling a segmented lotus root, could be seen.

Its body was draped in a black-and-white nun’s habit, cradling a child in its arms as it hummed a lullaby. Under the Red Moon, its movements were eerily warped as it slowly headed northeast.

Trailing behind, a line of children moved in sync with its swaying rhythm.

……

……

“Whoosh!”

Lu Xin suddenly opened his eyes wide in disbelief.

How could so many Knight Orders storm the settlement to snatch these parentless children?

What kind of Mental Pollution were these children suffering from?

And why such a coincidence?

Of all times, why did he encounter such madness upon reaching this desolate land?

There was no time for further thought. Although Lu Xin had sensed some issues, he made a swift decision.

He pulled a Signal Flare from his luggage bag and launched it skyward.

It was a call for help to the people at the settlement, instructing them to come retrieve the children.

Then, he abruptly gripped his handlebars and tilted the bike at a 30-degree angle, charging forward.

During the chase, he kept accelerating relentlessly.

His speed was astounding.

Even his sister couldn’t help but leap forward to help him steady the handlebars as they flew over gorges.

Lu Xin confronted the nearest Knight Order and deliberately left one person alive. In a cold tone, he asked about the purpose behind kidnapping these children, but he only saw the group’s member, who had seemingly lost his senses, murmuring:

“Nun…”

“The Pale Nun wants these children. We’re just helping her find their mothers, guiding them back home…”

“……”

In an instant, everything grew even more complex.

What is this Pale Nun?

Why does she want these children?

Is this some grand conspiracy or merely an incident of contamination?

There was no time to ponder as more children were being whisked away.

Without hesitation, he shot the man dead, hoisted his handlebars high, and sped off once more.

He had to kill the Mental Monster and save those children destined for an unknown fate.

Lu Xin knew this was his duty.

It was only natural, leaving him no room for second thoughts.

Even he couldn’t quite grasp that, through this ordeal, he was gradually being led down another path.

……

……

“He is indeed following our predetermined route.”

“Though with slight deviations, we underestimated his strength. We never expected him to break through so quickly.”

“Overall, he’s even ahead of our expected timeline.”

Inside Soda City’s mysterious Council Room, a man clad in a square cloak received new information and reported softly.

“It’s nothing special.”

A man wearing a red-heart cloak said in a low tone, “Seeing the flames, he naturally couldn’t resist investigating—that’s his curiosity.”

“When he noticed children being taken, he had no choice but to act—that’s his kindness.”

“Realizing there was contamination, as an Ability User, he had to investigate—that’s his responsibility.”

“And even if suspicions arose, in his tense state he wouldn’t turn away—that’s his dedication.”

“Of course, knowing there’s an issue, he pushes forward regardless—that also hints at a bit of…”

“…confidence.”

“…”

“Curiosity, kindness, responsibility, dedication, confidence…”

“These are a person’s finest qualities, yet now they are his weaknesses.”

“If used correctly, these weaknesses will surely trap him.”

“……”

A man in a red-heart cloak sighed softly and said,

“Fundamentally, he’s just someone contaminated and desperate to heal himself.”

“Simply put, he isn’t even an Ability User—just a contamination entity. And his process of healing is, in essence, a journey back to self and humanity. Unfortunately, humanity is inherently weak, which gives us the chance to kill him.”

A man in a plum-blossom cloak paused briefly beside him and asked, “Aren’t we paying too high a price?”

The man in the red-heart cloak replied, “Humanity is his one and only weakness.”

“If we’re to take him down, we must be ruthless.”

“What I want to know now is whether this trap will truly work…”

“……”

At that moment, all eyes turned to the man in the Black Spade Cloak. Beneath his dark hood, his eyes gleamed.

“Once he arrives, he is doomed to die.”

The man in the Black Spade Cloak slightly raised his head, withdrew a playing card with bizarre patterns from his sleeve, and placed it on the table.

It was a small joker.

Then he said in a calm voice, “God cannot be killed, but he is not God.”