Ambush
Ambush
Nolan glanced over her shoulder at the "civilian," who had been carrying the dead blonde girl on his back for quite a distance on foot. He did not fall behind at all. She wondered what fuelled his tenacity. Was it his physical strength, or determination? Or was she to blame it on this troubled world?
"I thought he wouldn't even make it through one kilometer," a mercenary recruit who reclaimed weapons from the dead soldiers whispered to his companion. "Tsk, I lost. I owe you."
His companion muttered, "Speaking of which, she looks like a second-generation Evolved. It is the first time I have seen a Natural having a relationship with a second-generation Evolved."
Nolan gave the two men a reproving stare. "Shut up and hurry up," she scolded.
Meanwhile, Hao Ren, who appeared silent, was talking with his MDT. The MDT was giving his two cents about the gossip. "This isn't the first time you've gotten involved in gossip. Remember the pot in your house, and what Hessiana thought about you? You still think you're innocent?"
The MDT was such an annoyance. Hao Ren did not want to argue with it. "Cut the cackle, would you? You better go and figure out what's wrong with you."
"I've tried. Nothing's come up," the MDT was rather frank. "I'm a machine, built to run quantifiable data. For intuitive stuff, you should look for Lily—she has an imaginative mind at least."
Hao Ren sighed quietly. "It's either you've met with some interference and turned into this image while entering the Plane of Dreams, or you have walked-in to another person. It sounds like the latter is probable."
Before the discovery of the Tannagost rift, they had to enter the Plane of Dreams through dreams. They had conducted many studies on this. When a spiritual body came into the Plane of Dreams, the physical body remained in the Surface World; it would create a phenomenon similar to an avatar, which was what seemed to be happening to the MDT. The image of an avatar was usually dependent on self-cognition. So, a schizophrenic person who entered the Plane of Dreams through dreaming may not recognize himself or herself. But Hao Ren did not think that an MDT was capable of schizophrenia. Even if it could, there was no way the MDT could turn up as a blonde, not to mention a dead one.
Judging from all the above, the chances of a "walk-in" was more probable. Perhaps the moment the MDT entered the world; the blonde happened to have just died, and there happened to be some resonance between the two... Was it not written in the book?
The MDT thought for a moment and said, "It's all speculation. There's no data to back that up. I don't work subjectively. All I know is that something's wrong; I'm still unable to perceive things and move. This body is useless…"
"Nonsense. Putting Windows into your brain, yet you expect it to run properly? You should be grateful that you are still breathing and bickering with me." Hao Ren had more to grumble about than the MDT. "Don't even let me begin with the weight that I have to carry on my back! It's not like I can shove you in my front pocket or the Dimensional Pocket; there are people here."
No one realized he was talking with the MDT telepathically. Ulyanov turned his head and looked curiously at the man who had been "quiet" along the way. "You were planning to go through the Lawless District into Ground Zero, or Black Street?"
Hao Ren had no idea what those places were. But he also could not appear too ignorant, so he asked back, "What's the situation in the two places?"
"They're not places that you would want to go," another mercenary chimed in. "Ground Zero is a little better, and someone's managing the city. Right now, the Evolved are in charge, but the Naturals can still survive. However, getting in is a problem. Unless you have money or skills, they'll find fault with you. But if you can fight, you can join their city guards. Black Street is laxer than Ground Zero; anyone can enter but how long you can survive depends on your luck. The Naturals and the Evolved have little difference; their lives are cheap in there."
Then Ulyanov added, sounding sullen, "By the way, we 'Gray Foxes' are doing business in Black Street."
"I suggest you go to Zero City," Nolan said in front without looking back. "You won't survive more than three days in Black Street; your gold will cost you your life. But you can hand over all your property to the city management committee in Zero City. In return, you should be able to get the right to live for three years. In three years, you should be able to find a way out by then."
Hao Ren tried to digest what he had heard. In his mind, he outlined the map of the power distribution in the nearby area and the status quo of that world. But in Ulyanov's eyes, Hao Ren's silence meant another thing. The soldier patted Hao Ren on the shoulder. "Get a grasp of reality. After crossing the Gray River, you have to play by the rules."
Nolan suddenly stopped in front. She signaled the mercenaries behind her to be on guard. They quickly hid behind a partly collapsed concrete wall. From behind the ruins, Hao Ren saw distorted air in the open space not far ahead. He focused his eyes and could now tell that the distorted air was a layer of optical disguise.
Nolan half crawled in the shadow, her hand pressing the comm in her ear as if she was talking to someone. A moment later, she motioned everyone to relax as she stepped out of the shadow and waved in the direction of the open space before her.
The optical camouflage above the open space disappeared like a ring of water curtains falling to the ground. A big armored truck then appeared in front of everyone's eyes. Hao Ren quickly noticed that the front of the truck had the same symbol as the one on Nolan's uniform. It looked like this was the extraction team.
"Follow me." Nolan gestured with her hand while she moved out in front. Right when Hao Ren was about to get out, his battle-hardened intuition suddenly sounded an alarm!
"Ambush!" He and Nolan almost shouted in unison. As soon as their shouts trailed off, they heard gunshots!
Bullets flew in from all directions from nearby buildings without warning. The intense gunfire sounded like torrential rain. The mercenaries quickly came to their senses and scrambled for cover. Nolan was far too out in the open, no way she could make it back in. She clenched her teeth and quickly ran towards the armored truck. She wanted to use the truck as a cover.
Hao Ren had put down the "corpse" on his back and was waiting for an opportunity to fight back. At that moment, he suddenly saw the truck door opened from the corner of his eyes. An arm stuck out, and it was pointing a gun at Nolan.
In a split second, Hao Ren took out a hard object from the Dimensional Pocket and threw in the truck's direction, knocking off the pistol. Nolan fired a shot and killed the enemy instantly before she jumped into the truck like an agile monkey. Ear-shattering gunfire and explosions pierced through the air. Judging from the situation, Hao Ren decided to tuck away his psionic gun and plasma spear because they were too eye-catching for the occasion. Soon after, he snuck out towards a nearby building. Ulyanov shouted from the back, "What are you doing?"
Hao Ren did not reply. He half crept, then disappeared in the shadow of a building.
A moment later, there was a scream before an enemy sniper was thrown off the top of a building, and died instantly.
Hao Ren poked his head out from the edge of the roof as he beckoned to the mercenaries, wondering if it was within the limit of what a human should be able to perform.
Ulyanov looked in horror and could not believe that Hao Ren was a civilian. At the same time, a sound was heard coming from the open space. The roof of the truck rose up slowly as a weapon rose from below. Nolan was standing behind a heavy quad-barrelled gun and pointing it at the nearby buildings.
Nolan's face lacked emotion as she pressed her finger on the "fire" button, emptying all the bullets in the quad-barrelled gun into the surrounding buildings.