“You didn't even prepare a pork chop rice for me. Your parents, wife, and children back home must be crying by now, right?”
Just as Yu Lian was about to say this, his spiritual energy, which had spread out, sensed a strong fluctuation. It was the effect of psionic energy nearing loss of control due to a mental shock.
“Don’t actually lose control! I still need to keep him alive.” Yu Lian quickly ran to the corridor window.
However, at that instant, the spiritual energy that was nearing loss of control suddenly ceased its violent fluctuations. Immediately after, a “clang” of glass shattering came from a room on the fourth floor of the building opposite. A slightly overweight body shot out from it, then landed on the ground with a “splat.”
Four stories high, even in the relatively low and compact space station buildings within a Starport, is nearly ten meters. If an ordinary person fell like that, they would be crippled if not dead. But that person must have trained, as after lying on the ground for a few seconds, he shakily stood up and started shuffling forward, his legs no longer very agile.
One of his hands must have been broken, dangling at his waist, yet it still couldn't stop his stride towards freedom.
“What a true warrior!” Yu Lian said with reverence.
“What are you still standing there for? Go chase him! Yu Lian, I’m talking to you!” Yang Xiyi’s voice echoed through the broadcast again.
Yu Lian chuckled, opened the window, flipped out, and floated down gracefully, his landing without a hint of effort, much more elegant than the other party's rather wild fall. This was natural; the other party was on the fourth floor, while he was only on the second.
Yu Lian finally got a clear look at the fugitive. It was Major Horn, the logistics chief of staff for the expeditionary fleet, rumored to be a big shot who decided whether the Command HQ would be forced to eat five-nut mooncakes during the Mid-Autumn Festival.
He must have heard Yu Lian land as well, gritting his teeth and quickening his pace.
“You don’t need to risk your life. Whether you’re a fanatic or a believer, the mental shock from a dream illusion attack being shattered is inevitable. If you don’t rest well, you’ll be seriously ill at best, or go berserk at worst. Oh, right, you might not understand what ‘going berserk’ means. The Virtual Spirit Temple calls it ‘supernatural loss of control,’ sounds terrifying, doesn’t it? Hey, Major Horn, I’m talking to you! Please stop.”
Yu Lian continued his verbal assault while chasing.
The other party didn't speak, or even turn his head, merely threw two grenades back.
A Tier 1 spiritual energy user couldn't withstand this with their physical body, so Yu Lian could only retreat to avoid the explosion's core. After two loud “booms,” he was still aching all over from the shockwave.
It wasn't until this moment that several mobile infantrymen in power armor emerged from the hotel lobby. Colonel Yang Xiyi, unarmored, followed behind them.
“Why are you so slow!” Yu Lian shouted.
“I didn’t expect him to jump out the window!”
“Nonsense, you clearly weren’t sure either, so you deliberately tricked him!”
“Then why didn’t you catch up? He’s already injured! At least one arm and one leg are useless.”
“Nonsense, I don’t even have a weapon! Are you telling a defenseless, delicate, and weak student like me to fight a fierce traitor? Is that even a human thing to say?”
“Oh, oh, is the Tulon hero, who kills without batting an eye, not going to adorn his shield with the traitor’s head? Delicate and weak? Only Miss Fina and those silly girls from the student council would believe that.”
Well, although they were bickering, the two of them had already labeled Major Horn a “traitor” in just a few words.
As for the person in question, he was still staggering forward, the scene so tragic it could be put into an inspirational movie.
Major Horn finally reached the roadside, raised his hand, and a hovering car parked nearby automatically started and drove to him.
The infantry began firing, but perhaps because the Starport security officers' exoskeletons were white, the bullets flew to who-knows-where. Major Horn took the opportunity to flip into the car and sped away with a roar.
“What marksmanship! Is this even the runner-up of the Gibraltar Shooting Competition?” Yang Xiyi cursed.
“I, I clearly aimed!” a security officer with a sergeant’s rank lowered his head, feeling wronged.
“The opponent is a spiritual energy user, skilled in illusions, capable of creating visual distortions in the air that affect aiming,” Yu Lian interjected, defending the soldier. He looked at Yang Xiyi and said, “You must have a proper arrangement, right? Otherwise, I would truly suspect that you’ve degenerated into a greasy, incompetent, middle-aged corporate drone.”
Meanwhile, Major Horn, who was already in the car, gritted his teeth and operated the hovercar with one hand. He didn't relax until he had shaken off the guesthouse and all the pursuers behind him.
He had been fleeing continuously, and only now did he have the leisure to carefully assess his current situation.
He must have fallen into a trap, right? Yang Xiyi and his student planned it, deliberately letting him overhear their conversation to make him act and provide evidence? In other words, Yang Xiyi had already been suspicious of him?
Yang Xiyi, oh Yang Xiyi, you squinty-eyed people are truly insidious! What grudge do I have with you? You’ve only been in office for a year, and the mooncakes I gave you for Mid-Autumn Festival were all the latest cumin beef and double-pepper king oyster mushroom flavors, wasn’t that friendly enough? Why did you scheme against me!
“No, I can’t stay here. I must escape immediately. Tell the Kaitaian that the Outer Rim fleet is ready. Yes, that’s it!”
As a double-crosser, Major Horn certainly wasn't unprepared.
He had long ago hidden a high-speed yacht in a private hangar, and his identity had already been entered into the hangar's autonomous management system, which would grant him passage. The owner of that private hangar was ostensibly a multinational tourism company, but behind the scenes, it was actually an peripheral organization of the Imperial intelligence department.
Nevertheless, as it was a private dock, so-called private property was sacred and inviolable. The Commonwealth law enforcement agencies had no right to enter without a formal search warrant, which bought him time to escape.
Yes, as long as I can safely reach the hangar, I can escape.
Major Horn was, after all, just an ordinary double-crosser and had no sense of self-sacrifice. At this point, his top priority was still his own life. If he were a proper spy, he would surely be thinking of ways to get the intelligence out first.
However, we must also understand that Major Horn simply couldn't bear to die when he thought of his small villa on Paradise Star City and the two cat-eared sisters living there. In fact, when he was on the verge of supernatural loss of control earlier, it was thinking of them that allowed him to forcefully reconstruct his mind.
“Shalili, Meluro, you, you must wait for me to return!”
Although that pair of Terrabi cat-eared sisters was given to him by that Kaitaian merchant last time, Major Horn felt that this must be true love.
“And Martha and my little Robin.”
Thinking of his wife and son back home, he naturally didn't want to die even more. He truly loved his wife, and even more so his son.
Yes, I swear to the universe spirit, the reason I could awaken from the mental backlash just now was because of my love for my wife and son! Horn intertwined his middle and index fingers and swore to the universe spirit this way.
It definitely wasn’t because he thought of the fragrant bodies (meow) of those two cat-eared sisters, truly!
Also, having mistresses outside and cherishing one's wife are not contradictory! You know, the nobles on the Empire’s side practice polygamy… Yes, I am a spiritual energy user, and as long as I escape to the Empire, I will be a noble! Didn’t that Kaitaian merchant say last time? Valente King especially appreciates awakened ones like me who can manipulate spirits and illusions. I can totally become a vassal under that Lord!
Heh heh, a Lord's vassal in the Empire, a glorious Imperial spiritual energy noble, who knows, I might even join the Star Realm Knight Order. It sounds much more advanced than being a mere Commonwealth Navy Major.
Once I escape, I'll find a way to bring Martha and little Robin over. They'll also be Imperial nobles, and they'll surely accept two new family members!
As Major Horn pondered this, he felt that life was still bright, and a warmth surged in his heart. He didn't feel like a despicable traitor at all. After all, the ruling class and the main ethnic group of the Empire were also humans—though there were indeed some physical differences, they were so subtle that non-human races couldn't distinguish them. More importantly, there was no reproductive isolation, which already qualified them as the same race.
“Vehicle number Gibraltar G7724 Ding, Vehicle number Gibraltar G7724 Ding, please stop immediately for inspection! Please stop immediately for inspection!”
The warning voice from outside shattered Major Horn’s delusion. He gritted his teeth, driving the car with his only functional right arm, completely ignoring the swarm of police robots behind him. However, these parrot-sized police drones only had basic alert protocols, so they relentlessly followed, continuously issuing alarms according to their pre-programmed routines.
“Vehicle number Gibraltar G7724T, Vehicle number Gibraltar G7724T, please stop immediately for inspection! This is the second warning. If you disregard five warnings, we reserve the right to enforce compliance! Gibraltar β Starport Police Department kindly reminds you not to let yourself down, not to let down your loved ones, not to let down your country. Please do not embark on a criminal path!”
Major Horn spat, then suddenly yanked the spherical steering wheel. The hovercar, which had been floating about twenty centimeters off the ground, abruptly climbed a meter, and with a “whoosh,” it directly crashed into the nearest drone.
The drone flew backward, smashing into its companion nearby, which had been tirelessly urging him to turn back, and sparks flew.
“The subject has violently resisted. The subject has violently resisted. Authorization for forced enforcement granted, authorization…”
More drones accelerated and swarmed forward, but Major Horn's modified hovercar was much faster, quickly widening the distance, crossing an entire block in seconds. He could already see the red tower of the distant hangar, and a smile finally appeared on his face.
But then, his smile suddenly froze. The spiritual energy user's spiritual sense and danger perception made him instinctively look towards the source of his unease, only to vaguely see a black shadow leap from the rooftop over there, instantly appearing at the driver's side window.
Today is another happy, delightful update!
Also, thank you, Thousand Colors Memory-chan, for the reward... Uh, although I'm not entirely sure what 'book points' are, I'm still very grateful.
Additionally, to all who have given rewards, I love you all and keep you in my heart. I'm just too lazy to name each one individually.
And also, I've actually eaten peppercorn beef mooncakes and double-pepper king oyster mushroom mooncakes, and even wasabi fish-flavored mooncakes and durian puff pastry mooncakes. And what's more, they were Mid-Autumn Festival gifts from a rather famous restaurant here to its VIP customers... Of course, they only sent them once.