Chapter 324 – Return to the Federation
But compared to Tu Ran’s speed, everyone else’s movements were a full beat slower. The last time Tu Ran escaped, they had still been able to see her afterimage, but now, with the naked eye, there was no trace of her at all.
The only way to detect her now was through the automatic targeting device carried by the helicopter overhead.
Tu Ran had already left the guards far behind, swiftly taking out a combat helmet from her space and putting it on.
The moment the helmet was on, the long-absent mechanical voice of Zero sounded: “Welcome back, our collaborator.”
“Stop with the unnecessary chatter and find me an escape route. The drones above are catching up,” Tu Ran said, always vigilant of her surroundings.
Suddenly, a bomb, about the size of her head, appeared on the left side, heading straight for her. Tu Ran hurriedly stopped, and the bomb flew past her helmet just in time. Before it could explode, she shot off more than a hundred meters away.
Boom!
The bomb exploded behind her, and Tu Ran heard a scream. It was likely the explosion had hit one of the observing guards.
Now, the Federation’s financial conglomerates had stopped caring about the lives of ordinary people in their pursuit to kill her.
“Don’t worry, I’ve already altered the drone’s tracking mode. It won’t track you anymore.”
“That’s good.” Tu Ran focused on dealing with the bombs occasionally fired at her from the side.
“However, I suggest you don’t run yet. There’s someone you need to kill.”
“Who? Why? You want me to kill someone as soon as I return? Can’t I take it easy for a while?”
Zero’s mechanical voice was cold.
“First of all, you should have already rested enough in other worlds.”
“Secondly, this person has a greater influence on you. He possesses a power similar to [Ability Identification]. He’s been hired by the Federation at a high price, and he’s stationed outside the Threshold, specifically to identify your abilities.”
Someone specifically identifying her abilities?
Tu Ran’s mood darkened.
“Where is he?”
“The route has been planned.”
A green path with an arrow appeared in front of her goggles.
Tu Ran immediately changed direction, drifting ninety degrees.
The patrol car trailing her hadn’t reacted in time. It traveled several hundred meters in the original direction before it began to turn, but by then, Tu Ran’s figure was almost out of sight.
The area outside the Threshold was in complete chaos.
It was even more chaotic than when a mutant had run out of the Threshold before.
People from all directions gathered, chasing after Tu Ran. They couldn’t catch up, often rushing in one direction, only to realize they were chasing the wrong person, and hastily turned around to follow another group, running around like headless chickens.
In fact, Tu Ran had already followed the arrow to the location of the person with the [Ability Identification] power.
The Federation had specially built a small lookout tower for that person outside the Threshold, so that he could see her as soon as she stepped out.
Looking up, Tu Ran saw three people standing atop the lookout tower, and she immediately recognized their abilities.
The person in the center was likely the one hired by the Federation for a high price. The words [Ability Identification] appeared as a glowing screen above his head, though it was only at the basic level.
He had another ability as well.
[Shadow Warrior]
Tu Ran didn’t have time to check the details, but just from the name, she could roughly guess what kind of ability it was.
The person standing on his right had only one ability: [Air Extraction].
He could manipulate the air in a certain area, suffocating any living beings within it.
As soon as Tu Ran read the description of this ability, she didn’t have time to check the third person’s abilities. She raised her laser gun and aimed at them.
A blue-white laser beam shot out from the gun’s muzzle. In an instant, it reached the lookout tower, but just as it was about to hit the three of them, an invisible barrier blocked the beam. The laser was cut in half, and it caused no harm to the three individuals at all.
What’s going on? Tu Ran turned her attention to the third person.
He was completely wrapped in black clothing, even his face hidden beneath a black hat.
There was no ability panel above his head.
There was no time to think about that now. Tu Ran decisively abandoned the laser gun, her gaze fixed on them as she activated [Blooming Flowers and Full Moon].
In the brief seconds she paused, the air around her became thinner, and her breathing grew increasingly difficult.
[Air Extraction] was taking effect. Tu Ran had been running until now, and the speed of air extraction couldn’t keep up with her pace, so it had been ineffective. But now that she had stopped, the ability was starting to show its true power.
Tu Ran quickly realized this and immediately moved away from her position. The air around her became rich again.
[Air Extraction] was a powerful ability, but it required the target to be stationary. No one was foolish enough to just stand there waiting to be suffocated, so this ability worked best when someone else helped control the target.
Tu Ran kept her eyes trained on the other two.
The first to react was the person in the center. He clutched his stomach in pain, his face contorted.
As he bent over, the black-clad person beside him leapt off the lookout tower, which was five or six meters high.
The person landed directly in front of Tu Ran and threw a punch at her.
Tu Ran took a good look at him, and he looked exactly like the person in the center of the lookout tower.
Shadow Warrior!
The person in front of her was a clone of the one on top of the lookout tower.
She couldn’t see his ability, but he was able to block the laser beam, which was likely due to this.
The one on the lookout tower was the original, and the one in front of her was just a clone. The original had already had a seed planted inside his internal organs, and the seed had begun to sprout and grow. It wouldn’t be long before he died.
Tu Ran briefly glanced at the ability panel above the original’s head. The notes there stated that if the original died, the clone wouldn’t survive either. If the clone died, it would cause severe damage to the original’s body.
