Chapter 14: Means of Escape

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

The few gunships hovered in the sky.

Huge searchlights locked onto an area.

This area was the place where Elrond was last active.

Under normal circumstances, it was almost impossible to survive after being locked onto like this.

Although the gunships could position themselves, they could only lock onto one area due to the densely packed trees.

It was impossible to shoot directly from the gunship and hit the target because there were too many obstacles.

Unless the gunship used the Eagle guided missile to kill the target directly.

Such a disadvantageous situation was beneficial for Elrond.

Anyone who wanted to catch Elrond had to enter this bright area. It was equivalent to exposing themselves to him.

“What I need to do now is to maintain a certain distance from these people, even if this is the open area.

“It doesn’t matter if I’m exposed. As long as I keep moving, I will be able to cause a lot of trouble for them,” he thought inwardly.

“There are many shrubs and vines in the forest, and that greatly interferes with the shooting routes between us.

No one dares to shoot recklessly. Shooting would mean exposing their position.

If their exact positions were exposed, that person could turn out to be the next corpse.”

On the helicopter, Helen Harry’s emotions were complicated.

There were many experimental subjects in the experimental base.

However, Zero was the only one who had accompanied her day and night for more than half a year. She imparted her fighting techniques and all kinds of knowledge to him.

She had even treated Test Subject Zero as her own child, her student.

Because she knew that he would not betray them, so she accepted him with sincerity and affection.

There was even a time when she thought of nurturing Zero to become her successor and not a tool for the organization.

But when she saw the gunships sweeping down with three huge searchlights, she knew it was all over.

In the forest, the ones chasing after Zero were successful experimental subjects.

Every one of them had the strength equivalent to a top human agent.

They had set an inescapable net and there was no way he could escape.

There were only two endings for Zero.

One was to capture him alive and study the reason for his betrayal.

The second was to collect his dead body and bring him back to the lab to study why he betrayed them.

There would not be a third ending. This was what Helen Harry thought.

“Bang!”

Another shot rang through the night sky.

One made a hand gesture, and everyone dropped onto the ground.

This time, no one was killed.

The helicopter clattered in the sky, and the searchlight locked onto a position.

One made a hand gesture, and everyone put on their thermal imaging sensors.

This thing could sense the image of any hot-blooded animal.

After they locked in the range, putting on this thing at night was basically announcing Elrond’s death sentence.

The searchlights above their heads locked onto the position.

The agents on the ground had thermal imaging to lock onto the specific target.

There was no room for him to make a comeback.

“Zero, I really wanted to have a fair fight with you to see how strong you are, but it’s impossible now,” One muttered to himself regretfully.

Everyone put on their thermal imaging sensor.

Suddenly, Elrond’s position was exposed to everyone.

“One, what should we do? Shoot him directly?” His subordinate asked for instructions.

One hesitated for a moment and said, “It’s best to capture him alive. He can’t escape under this situation. Let’s fan out and surround him.”

Everyone nodded.

However, Elrond suddenly moved.

“One, it’s not good. The target is moving at high speed.”

One gritted his teeth and said, “Strike him down!”

He could not bear to make this decision and wanted to have a fair fight with Zero. But if he made a mistake in his judgment and allowed Zero to escape, then he would have to face death.

Not that he wasn’t afraid of dying.

“Bang—”

“Bang—”

Sniping sounds echoed through the forest.

One asked, “Did you hit the target?”

His subordinate took out his night vision goggles and took a look. However, he did not find Elrond.

Everyone found this a little strange. 

Could he have been killed so easily?

However, after thinking about it carefully, One did not find it surprising. 

With so many external conditions, he was a live target.

Everyone slowly advanced towards the target’s position.

But when they reached that position, everyone was dumbfounded. It was a wild deer.

“Oh no!”

One immediately realized that something was wrong.

“Ah—”

Elrond, who had a simple guerilla outfit on, suddenly appeared. He used a dagger and slit the throat of the last person in their line.

He could have killed the people around him. But he knew that if he continued to linger around, he would be the world’s biggest fool.

Without hesitation, he retreated after killing one person.

One quickly turned around, and all his team members sprawled on the ground.

Helen Harry, who was in the helicopter, was shocked.

“How did he do it?”

Everyone on the helicopter was also shocked.

Test Subject Two, who was in the same plane as Harry Helen, lashed out at the pilot, “How do you fix the positioning? How did he appear behind One?”

The pilot had an awkward look on his face.

“Calling, calling. Increase the range of the searchlight.”

The three helicopters adjusted the brightness and increased the range of the searchlight.

Elrond appeared within the range of the searchlight again.

One’s face was slightly sinister as he muttered to himself.

“Zero, I’ve got to admit that you seem to have some ability.

“But if that is all that you’ve got, you still won’t be able to escape.”

Such an outcome was simply a disgrace to One.

His superior, Helen Harry, was watching them.

This time, he had specially asked for permission to complete the mission.

Until now, they had barely caught sight of Elrond but three people had already died.

This was simply a disgrace.

“Captain, we have found the target.”

At this moment, a subordinate suddenly said.

One sprawled on the ground and asked, “Are we able to kill him?”

“No, he’s hiding behind a boulder. The sniper rifle can’t penetrate through within three shots.”

One gritted his teeth and came in front of a sniper. “Give me the gun.”

“You guys keep a close watch on the front, back, left, and right of the boulder. Don’t let go of any blind spots. Once he’s out of the boulder’s range, kill him immediately.”

“Yes!!!”

Putting on the thermal imaging sensor, One licked his lips and said, “Zero, since I can’t have a face-to-face battle, let me finish you off then.”

“Bang—”

“Bang—”

“Bang—”

Three consecutive shots were fired from the sniper rifle.

At the same time, Elrond moved.

He had no choice but to move. What if he was one second late?

“Bang—”

On the fourth shot, the bullet from the sniper rifle pierced through the boulder and hit the spot where Elrond had been hiding earlier.

Elrond did not have time to dodge. He felt a sudden pain in his shoulder. This shot was from One’s subordinate.

He crawled on the ground at an inhuman speed and hid behind another boulder.

There were dozens of small mechanical arms on his abdomen, thighs, and the surface of his arms.

These mechanical arms allowed him to crawl speedily on the ground.

In the past six months, Elrond came up with three escape plans.

If Helen Harry did not leave the case, he planned to use this mechanical design to escape through the ventilation pipes or underground sewers.

For this reason, he secretly dug a super-long tunnel during his spare time.

This third escape plan had now become his life-saving means.