Chapter 121 – Why Didn’t You Say So Earlier?

The thing Su Lifeng found most reassuring about those research fanatics was that they did not care where the experimental material came from. It seemed Jiang Fusheng had chosen his people after careful consideration. Almost everyone he sent over was the type you could toss into a laboratory and then lose all sense of when they ate, when they slept, or why they seemed to be working around the clock every time you looked at them.

Of course, Su Lifeng himself had once belonged to that category.

But now, he had far more things to consider.

“That heartbeat probably wasn’t my imagination… but it should be different from the way Xenospecies sense each other.” Although he still did not know exactly how Xenospecies detected their own kind, it definitely was not through “hearing.”

“What caused this change?” Su Lifeng thought of the “Brain Theory” he had proposed, and from there, he thought further of his Precognitive Ability.

“No matter what, completing myself with the Wisdom Species did have some effect. Unfortunately, it lasts too briefly, and entering that state is far too difficult. If I could maintain it for a long time, maybe I’d know whether that was sensing or precognition…” Su Lifeng thought silently.

…

“Today, waves of panic have broken out across the country. In many places, large-scale public panic buying was triggered by the impact of the Ningnan Incident. Data shows that the amount of salt purchased in panic buying alone exceeded, within a single day, the quantity purchased during the nuclear power plant explosion incident in Japan that year… The state urges citizens not to panic excessively, stating that our strategic reserves are sufficient. Even if the worst happens, we can still guarantee the people’s basic living needs… Next, we will broadcast a live speech and press conference by an official.”

“Why did you mention ‘the worst’? Is this implying that the Ningnan Incident really happened?”

“Riots have broken out nationwide, right? Were the killers Xenospecies?”

“The online livestream just captured footage of a large Xenospecies eliminated by the Ningnan military. Please respond!”

Click.

Su Lifeng turned off the car radio, then turned his head and said, “We’re almost at the city. Let’s get out.”

With a group of Mutants in tow, it was better to be careful.

After abandoning the car Gouzi had originally “picked up,” Su Lifeng led Su Lian and the others cautiously toward the city on foot. The stretch of road they took was fairly deserted, so by rights it should have been safer. But after they had walked for a while, Su Lifeng discovered that even this road had inspection checkpoints set up along it. Fortunately, he had been on guard in advance. Otherwise, they would have walked straight into the muzzle of a gun by now.

But as Mutants, as long as they were careful enough, slipping into the urban district was not difficult. Su Lifeng waited quietly for a while, then found an opportunity and quickly led the group around into a small alley.

“Su-Ge, I’ll head back first. At a time like this, those thugs should be at their most active. I’ll take down those bosses as soon as possible. I’m sure I can dig up a lot of information,” Gouzi said.

Su Lifeng nodded. “Be careful.”

After watching Gouzi disappear over the wall, Su Lifeng stealthily moved closer to the wall and glanced out toward the street.

Although this place was near the suburbs and was never exactly lively, it had never been as deserted as it was now.

“Wooo-!”

A siren suddenly sounded from far away. Soon, Su Lifeng saw a military vehicle mounted with a machine gun driving over from the distance.

A loudspeaker on the vehicle was blaring at the same time. “Attention, all residents. Please remain in your homes as much as possible and do not go outside. Attention, all residents…”

By the time the military vehicle passed the place where Su Lifeng was hiding, he had already pressed himself behind the wall. With a flicker of his figure, he vanished.

“Let’s go. We’ll take another look downtown.” Su Lifeng tugged the brim of his cap a little lower as he spoke.

The closer they got to the city center, the more shocking the scenes Su Lifeng saw became.

He had never imagined that in less than a single day, Ningnan would change from a city that still maintained surface stability into this.

Shattered glass lay everywhere along both sides of the streets. The ground was covered in trash, and in many places fresh bloodstains could still be seen.

When some soldiers came out of the mall, they were either carrying stretchers or carrying black body bags.

Those body bags were placed by the roadside, then loaded together onto a truck.

“I didn’t do a damn thing! Fuck…” A young man had just rushed out from around the corner when two soldiers charged out behind him and slammed him hard to the ground.

“You nearly assaulted that girl just now, and you say you didn’t do anything? Watch your mouth! At a time like this, I can shoot you on the spot!” One of the soldiers raised the butt of his rifle without the slightest courtesy and cut off the young man’s struggle with a single blow.

The young man was left with nothing but wails…

“Tonight, there probably won’t even be enough places to lock these people up,” Su Lifeng said with a sigh.

“I hate people who take advantage of a disaster the most. They should all be shot. Better yet, give them a vicious beating first,” Su Lian said.

When she saw both Su Lifeng and Jiang Yushi looking at her, she immediately curled her lip. “What, I can’t just say it? Besides, it’s one thing for Yushi-Jie to look at me, but Ge, why are you looking at me? Isn’t the reason I think this way because you taught me? I’m still a child.”

“When did I teach you that…” Facing Jiang Yushi and Cheng Xiaomei as they both turned to look at him at once, Su Lifeng hurriedly waved his hands.

The moment he finished speaking, a middle-aged man suddenly ran out from a corner diagonally across from them.

From the look of it, this man had been hiding there for some time. After seeing the young man get arrested, he had panicked and could no longer restrain himself from rushing out.

He looked left and right, then spotted Su Lifeng’s group at a glance.

In his eyes, a young student like Su Lifeng was immediately ignored, while the three remaining girls looked frailer than the last.

“Use them to draw attention away. If that doesn’t work, grab one as a hostage!” the middle-aged man thought as he charged toward them.

Su Lifeng had originally thought the place where they had stopped was fairly hidden. He had not expected to be discovered by such a shifty-eyed man.

Even from a distance, Su Lifeng could already see the killing intent in the other man’s eyes, as well as the bloodstains on his pants. Who knew whether he had just robbed someone and fled?

Seeing him approach, Su Lifeng immediately frowned, a trace of disgust appearing on his face.

“Get out of my way!” The middle-aged man revealed a small dagger in his hand and shouted with a vicious expression.

“Courting death.” Su Lifeng’s figure blurred. Without even revealing his Bone Wings, he had already rushed straight up to the middle-aged man in the blink of an eye.

From the military spike stabbing upward into the man’s throat to its withdrawal and return to the sheath, only the span of a blink had passed.

And only then did Su Lifeng’s faint “courting death” drift into the man’s ear.

“You… didn’t… say… so… earlier…” The middle-aged man’s eyes bulged wide as he watched Su Lifeng lead the three girls over the wall and disappear from this place. He saw it clearly. When one of the girls climbed the wall, a ring of pink light flashed distinctly around her ankle, and her entire body seemed to spring upward.

Another girl raised an arm, and her fingers instantly turned into long, silver hooks that latched onto the wall.

“Stop!”

A soldier had already noticed the movement here. He charged over with his gun raised, only to see the middle-aged man with blood all over his neck.

The middle-aged man looked at the soldier, but when he opened his mouth, another great gush of blood surged out from his throat. “Gurgle…”

In his heart he was shouting, “There are monsters! Why are you… going after me!”

“This is 0786. Found a violent criminal. Looks like he may have been taken out by another criminal. Send someone over to collect the body.” Yet before he died, all he heard was that report, along with the contemptuous look in the soldier’s eyes as he collapsed, and one cold sentence:

“Serves you right, scum.”