Chapter 116: Escaping Death by the Skin of One's Teeth

Inside the manor.

Ji Cheng hurried along, not daring to waste a single moment.

To ensure Yao Lun would endure this round of bombardment, he had deliberately headed toward the previously designated impact points while escaping. As a result, the manor he was now in lay fully within the blast radius of those nuclear warheads.

By the clock, only five minutes remained until the missiles were launched.

Clatter, clatter, clatter.

His feet moved swiftly, pushing deeper into the house, though he remained cautious, avoiding reckless sprinting.

First, he needed to conserve energy after heavy exertion.

Second, he had to stay alert for any sudden threats—mutated creatures hiding inside, for instance.

Thud.

After passing through another corridor, Ji Cheng kicked open a door.

It was a long, narrow room with tall, slender windows that left almost no wall space. The bright white sunlight filtered through the special glass, casting a gentle glow without a hint of harshness.

On either side of his view stood tightly arranged display cabinets filled with numerous children's doodles. Some were quite old, and Ji Cheng’s keen senses even caught a faint, aged scent of oil paint and stiff paper as he brushed past.

At the far end of the room, a staircase descended downward—its design elegant and deliberate. Even a fool could guess it led to an underground safe house.

Ji Cheng cracked his shoulders, feeling a tingling itch, then quickened his pace.

“The genetic prototype—Ghost Vine—is truly remarkable. The way it enhances cellular vitality is thorough. My arm, smashed badly by old Yao earlier, is already showing signs of recovery so quickly.”

The secondary-stage prototype’s gene core modifications gradually manifested throughout his body through transcription and expression.

Far beyond what the gravity well tests had revealed—muscle strength, nerve reflexes—it had improved his regeneration, eyesight, hearing, sense of smell, and even digestion, all by leaps and bounds.

“Finally here.”

Ji Cheng arrived at the stairs and allowed a faint smile.

...

“The mech suit’s remaining energy is only enough to activate the locator once.”

Yao Lun stood beneath a neatly trimmed Chinese Flame Tree, his hand resting on the slender trunk, his expression conflicted.

He’d possessed the mech suit for years; the energy shield it housed had saved him many times in the wilderness zone. But energy was a one-way street—once used, it could not be replenished.

Now, with only a fraction left, he felt a pang of regret.

After several seconds of silence, Yao Lun gritted his teeth and said, “Activate the locator. Find him.”

A surge of pale blue light burst forth as the alert tones sounded in rapid succession.

—Mech suit activated.

—Locator activated.

—Searching.

...

—Signal not found.

“What! How could he turn off the wristband computer at a time like this?”

Yao Lun slammed his fist hard into the Flame Tree, splitting the trunk in two.

Could it be... he guessed how I was tracking him?

Yao Lun was certain Ji Cheng could not know of this locator device’s existence. But judging by Ji Cheng’s adeptness at covering his tracks after killing during the previous selection for ability users—his meticulous staging of crime scenes—Yao Lun knew this newly minted councilman was cunning and sly beyond measure.

“After all, I did catch him once before.”

Yao Lun pondered.

Ji Cheng likely pieced together some clues, deducing a method to lock onto him, and guessed it involved the wristband computer...

Such terrifying talent, such formidable insight.

He thought highly of Ji Cheng.

“This time, I probably won’t catch him. Fine, I’ll go start the ‘Hunter’ spacecraft. The new city is destroyed, but the old city should be fine...”

Yao Lun took two steps, then suddenly remembered something.

“First, I need to go home and bring those paintings Zhenyuan made as a child.”

He changed direction toward a nearby private residence.

...

Before the multi-layered nuclear defense door of the underground safe house.

“There really are people inside.”

Ji Cheng could almost hear the noisy chatter within.

Beep.

He pressed the intercom button fixed beside the door.

“Hello, I’m Ability User Ji Cheng. There is an emergency, and I need to use this underground safe house. Please open the door.”

Even putting aside his councilman status, as an ability user, he had the right to requisition this safe house in emergencies.

“There are no mutated creatures nearby. You can safely open the door.”

Time passed little by little; the voices inside quieted, yet strangely, the door remained shut, and no response came through the intercom.

What’s going on? Even my ability user status is ineffective?

That shouldn’t be.

Ji Cheng grew anxious; there were just over three minutes left until eight in the morning.

“Open the door immediately, or I will be forced to break in.”

With Shana’s help, cracking a protective door was no great challenge. That was why, even knowing a nuclear explosion was imminent, he still dared to rush here with Yao Lun.

“If you don’t open soon, I’ll break it myself—but then you’ll have truly offended me.”

Ji Cheng’s gaze grew cold as he stared into the intercom camera.

...

“No, wait!”

Suddenly, his face twisted, and every hair on his body stood on end.

“Why would anyone inside refuse to open the door when an ability user is calling?”

“Either they’re not afraid to offend me, or they’ve already made enemies of me.”

“Could this... be old Yao’s home?”

Heavens above!

The more Ji Cheng thought about it, the more likely it seemed.

Yao Lun’s home was indeed not far from the hangar where he kept his personal spacecraft, but Ji Cheng was unfamiliar with the Jade District’s roads.

He had turned off his wristband computer long ago to avoid being tracked, leaving him without maps or navigation. Since he’d only recently become an ability user, he’d never visited Yao Lun’s residence and truly couldn’t recognize it.

“Now that I think about it, that abstract, snake-shaped fish tail statue outside the door must be an electric eel!”

In other words, those electric arcs before were not traits of his secondary prototype but rather life resonances of his primary gene prototype. His primary prototype was most likely an electric eel!

“This is bad. This has to be his home.”

Cold sweat drenched Ji Cheng from head to toe.

“But even if this is his home, theoretically, the chance he’s back now is slim...”

Images of Yao Lun flooded his mind. His other relatives were long dead; only Yao Zhenyuan, his only son, was raised by him.

So whoever was inside this underground safe house now was at most servants, butlers, or secretaries. Perhaps loyal to Yao Lun, but Yao Lun likely did not value their lives highly.

“No, no, I can’t gamble!”

If he actually returns and I get trapped inside, I’ll have nowhere to turn—utter doom!

“Two minutes left. I have to move quickly and find another ability user’s residence in time.”

Time to get out of here!

Ji Cheng turned and sprinted back up the stairs, instantly bursting into his fastest speed, becoming a black shadow flashing through the manor.

“I saw several manor houses nearby earlier. No matter what, once I reach an underground safe house, I’ll just hack the protective door and break in.”

Lost in thought, he suddenly slammed on the brakes at a door, his face draining of color.

“Captain, what a coincidence...”