Free Web NovelChapter 794: April’s Desperate Situation
Mo Nuo Peng City.
Nighttime Mo Nuo Peng City became thoroughly lively at this moment.
With April’s “defection,” leaping down from the building with the Frozen World, this was destined to be a sleepless night.
As time progressed, Mo Nuo Peng City’s alarm system was directly activated.
Even I hadn't expected it to cause such a large commotion; this was likely even triggering the city's air defense alarms……
Accompanied by the mobilization of all standby armed personnel of the Hawthorne Family, plus the people of the Security Bureau fully cooperating with the Hawthorne Family’s actions, a grand sweep targeted at Mo Nuo Peng City began in the night.
They rapidly blockaded the important passages of Mo Nuo Peng City.
Because the area near the Hawthorne Family was located in a place unreachable by modern vehicles, at the very beginning, April had nearly nowhere to run.
Aside from the Frozen World, April didn't have any transcendent means, making it even more difficult for her to escape capture.
Not to mention the surveillance system within Mo Nuo Peng City and sorcery constructs, such as that pollen used for tracking.
Under normal circumstances, marked people would only attract some specific butterflies, but after using a sorcery-modified nose, scent hunting could be achieved through this odor.
However, as a member of a Wizard family, April naturally knew the family’s methods, but that didn't mean she had a way to deal with them.
She lacked any transcendent means other than the Frozen World, making it extremely difficult to clean herself.
Therefore, she could only try her best to avoid those scent markers and rely on freezing to desperately hide the scent emanating from her own body.
But this method of covering her entire body with ice crystals was an immense burden on herself.
The scent-hunting noses deliberately modified by sorcery were extremely sensitive to smells.
If she could find some irritating substances, she could counter them for a bit.
Unfortunately, she had none.
The security forces of the Hawthorne Family were far more numerous than expected.
After all, the more wealth and power one had, the more one feared death.
In a place like Mo Nuo Peng City, it was the Hawthorne Family’s one-man rule.
Even places like the Security Bureau were the same.
Although the Security Bureau interfaced with Transcendent Academies, under the family's maneuvering, even the Security Bureau was dominated by Hawthorne Family people.
In the end, the Security Bureau was just a group of graduated students managing secular stability, whereas the family still had the backing of enrolled students and teaching assistants; the Security Bureau certainly couldn't afford to provoke them.
However… every individual picked out from the Security Bureau was a graduated student, and their own combat power and means were not something ordinary people could compare to.
Therefore, in this pursuit, the Security Bureau also contributed significantly.
Just like the scent-hunting noses modified by sorcery—the technique to modify them belonged to transcendent means, but the finished product did not.
Similar things like body enhancements, limb modifications, and physical mechanization were all common occurrences.
And these would all be April’s opponents.
However… possessing the Frozen World, she wouldn't be caught that easily.
Far away, at a position toward the outer periphery of Mo Nuo Peng City.
Big Sis Bai and I were casually enjoying a late-night snack in a district with an open view.
The gourmet food of Mo Nuo Peng City truly couldn't be failed.
It was just that the sirens echoing across the sky of the entire city broke the atmosphere a bit.
But who could possibly know that the culprit of all these incidents was leisurely eating a late-night snack here?
“Speaking of which, when do you plan to take action, Xiao Han?”
Big Sis Bai toyed with a grilled skewer in her hand, then elegantly brought it to her mouth and took a bite.
“I don't know… I'll watch the fun for a bit longer.”
I shrugged to indicate I wasn't clear.
In fact, I truly didn't know yet.
After all, my goal was to have April’s inner shackles completely undone, and such a thing was only known clearly by April’s own heart.
“You’re really open-minded. But I truly didn't expect you to give that fragment away, Xiao Han. You’ve got quite the nerve. If she hadn't chosen to flee at that final moment and instead succumbed to the family, then your Frozen World would be gone.”
“If it’s gone, then it’s gone at least it would prove that April is just a waste, and there’s no need for me to waste more energy. Anyway, in the end, if they want to gather all the fragments, they still can't bypass me.”
In any case, I looked at it quite openly.
If something isn't mine, don't hold it too tightly; one must give to get.
“By the way, Big Sis Bai.”
I was munching on a skewer, then I wiped my mouth as I thought of something.
“You seem quite concerned about this fellow named April? I remember at the start you always appeared disinterested in her.”
“Oh, you even saw that?”
Big Sis Bai didn't directly deny it.
“It’s nothing. She just catches my interest a bit. After all, the project she chose… is also the Ordinary Project.”
“Ordinary Soul…… I have to say, Mentor Chris truly knows how to pick projects; it suits her well.”
I also spoke this way, yet ultimately shook my head with regret.
“But April failed Chris’s expectations time and time again. A pity.”
……
In a narrow alleyway, after April knocked down a “hound” that had been pursuing her, she darted into the depths looking somewhat disheveled.
Those scent-modified hunters were called hounds.
Even ordinary people could undergo the modification, so the physical quality of most hounds wasn't very strong.
Even if they were graduated students, as the primary purpose was tracking, their areas of expertise were speed and mobility.
Therefore, these people were no match for April at all.
However, such harassment was enough to delay her for a while.
What's more, the hounds were equipped with positioning systems and some special odors, making it easier to be converged upon and besieged by other hounds.
And… April subconsciously patted the shattered ice crystals on her body.
If no accidents occurred, she had already been scent-marked.
But as a layer of ice crystals on her body shattered, the places marked by that special pollen also dissipated with them.
This was the only means she had to deal with the odor.
But the ice crystals covering her whole body also brought an immense burden to her entire frame, and the chill was constantly eroding her body’s core temperature.
The manifestation of undying nature was only healing wounds, the repair of physical integrity originating from the life essence, but the chill could put physical functions into hibernation.
The life level was not something those transcendent abilities could resist in terms of abnormal characteristics, so April couldn't maintain the Frozen World forever.
“Over there! Quick, give chase!”
From afar, hearing the voices of the hounds coming from that direction, the exhaustion in April’s heart inevitably deepened.
Right now Mo Nuo Peng City must have blockaded the important passages.
The longer time was dragged out, the more unable she would be to escape.
Right now she was just taking things step by step, no longer having any plans that were too distant.
The only thing supporting her in not stopping her footsteps was the thought of escape.
Escaping that family that made her feel suffocated.
“Found you!”
A sudden voice instantly made April’s alarm bells go off.
In the next moment, a figure lunged directly at her.
“Damn it, do you all have to be so persistent!”
April roared in anger, not knowing if she was angry at the person before her or at herself.
“Just a traitor. If you can't take it, just surrender obediently!”
The man before her launched a sneak attack again without mercy, but facing April’s combat instincts, it failed again.
“Get the hell away! You can't beat me… are you not afraid of death!”
Although April appeared to handle it easily at this moment, she was still at a disadvantage.
The thing she could afford to waste the least was time, yet this fellow before her was a graduated student, clinging to her relentlessly.
His strength was far from what those hounds of the Security Bureau could compare to.
But it still couldn't match April, who had once been a teaching assistant.
In just a few exchanges, the opponent had already been beaten to a state of heavy injury by April’s bare hands.
This was April’s first time witnessing the terror of her own physical strength so intuitively.
“Pah…”
The opponent spat out a mouthful of blood, still not letting go.
In the dark night, those pairs of modified night-vision pupils shimmered with a blood-colored, dangerous light.
At this moment, he was like a predatory wolf with only prey in his eyes.
“You’re going to die!”
April finally stamped her foot heavily on the opponent on the ground.
She couldn't delay any longer.
But the moment she wanted to leave quickly, she felt the opponent death-grip her leg.
“Why won't you just give up! For this family, is your life really so…… ahhh!”
April wanted to turn back and say something more, but the opponent summoned a final burst of strength and lunged up, like a genuine wild beast, and bit down hard on her ankle!
The opponent's modified tiger teeth bit through skin and flesh, embedding into the bone.
The heart-piercing pain made April react abruptly.
She had no choice…
As a fierce look appeared on her face, she for the first time showed a murderous gaze toward the people pursuing her.
The survival instinct belonging to an escapee turned her into a cold-blooded executioner at this moment.
Accompanied by a series of bone-cracking sounds.
The strength death-gripping her ankle gradually loosened.
Blood constantly flowed from the wound, yet a life departed just like that, lightly as a feather.
She had thought killing was simple, but she had never imagined it would be so heavy.
The rule in the Witch Academy that one could not kill made her revere life.
The only person she had ever killed was in a life-and-death struggle in the arena, but that was not true death; at least… the existence of the Resurrection Spell meant she had never truly experienced what the departure of life was like.
Even during that duel match with Tan Han, she hadn't been as decisive as just now.
Others thought her killing intent was well-hidden, but in fact, it was because she hadn't recognized the weight of killing at that time.
“Must… leave here quickly…”
April supported herself against the wall to stand up, feeling the condition of her ankle.
Undying nature couldn't possibly repair it so quickly without any impact.
What's more… her blood was left there.
Having remembered the smell of her blood, it would be even easier for those hounds to find her.
Could she truly escape?
And while April was thinking this way, the Hawthorne Family’s encirclement had completed its convergence.
Mo Nuo Peng City was their home ground.
After locking onto the general direction, they only needed to blockade the roads, then have the hounds harass April, giving her incorrect judgments and guiding her to flee into the encirclement, and then everything would be over.
As for the Frozen World in her hand?
With the consumption of April running from the Hawthorne Family’s castle to the outer periphery of Mo Nuo Peng City, she couldn't sustain it!
The family indeed had no means targeted at [Transcendent Knowledge] fragments, just as one couldn't win against Tan Han holding the Wand of Absolute Cold without equivalent means.
But they were very good at a war of attrition.
Even if she was a person whose life level was close to transcendent, she ultimately had her limits.
Without any means, she couldn't fly or tunnel into the earth, so a plain and unadorned war of attrition was the best plan.
And… the family people weren't without transcendent means; they also had transcendent items!
One only needed to bear the price of using them to harness transcendent characteristics and power.
April had encountered such people more than once.
But they were all ignored by her using the Frozen World.
The opponent wanted to force her to constantly use the Frozen World, constantly exhausting herself, but she had no way around it.
“Damn it…… was there poison in that fellow’s mouth too?”
April’s condition was getting worse and worse at this moment.
Simultaneously, she confirmed that the earlier mad dog had poisoned her at the final moment of his life.
This poison couldn't kill her, but its destructive power on the body was too strong, and this destruction constantly consumed her own undying nature.
This characteristic was specifically used for dealing with enemies with undying nature, being able to rapidly exhaust undying nature, physical strength, and energy.
It could be said that this was a special means “custom-made” for families by those Wizard students in the Wizard Academy, giving the family trump cards to deal with traitors or invaders like her.
How was a person whose undying nature had been exhausted different from an ordinary person?
“Is this… my limit? It’s… too… unsightly…”
Unwillingness arose in April’s heart.
She didn't know why.
She had felt unwillingness before, but this time it was hope for life.
She didn't want to lose just like that to the family—that family that controlled everything.
If she hadn't even escaped by the time she died, then her resolve, her reflection, her yearning, her…… all of it would just be a bubble.
She didn't want these to be a joke, or… she didn't want to see the family people succeed in the end and reveal triumphant smiles.
“This place is…”
After turning through several curved streets and alleys, she suddenly arrived at an open place.
But this was not the place she looked forward to, nor was it the place where she escaped with her life.
Mo Nuo Peng City was large, so large that she hadn't strolled through all of it in her entire life.
Should she turn back?
April knew very well she was just a rat putting up a desperate struggle in a dark place; she could only flee frantically through the city streets and alleys.
But turning back……
She seemingly had no chance.
The road behind was blockaded by the hounds that had pursued her.
She was no fool; by the time she realized she had entered a dead end, it was already too late.
Accompanied by the bright lights at the exit, the people responsible for waiting in ambush and blockading here all made their appearance.
Uncountable Security Bureau cars and Security Bureau personnel, plus the Hawthorne Family’s security forces—fully armed people holding thermal weapons.
All of this was for the sake of waiting for her arrival.
Even April hadn't imagined she would one day have such treatment.
“You have been surrounded! Stop resisting! Stop resisting immediately, put your hands behind your head……”
A person from the Security Bureau used a megaphone to give a formulaic surrender persuasion to the surrounded person, but in the next moment, the megaphone in this person's hand was snatched away by someone from the Hawthorne Family.
“Motherf*cker… what’s the point of you saying that! Give it to me!”
That person indignantly took the megaphone and turned it to the maximum, not caring about the Security Bureau’s face at all.
In Mo Nuo Peng City, the Hawthorne Family stood above the Security Bureau!
“April, you traitor, you’ve been surrounded! If you don't want to die, put down the thing in your hand, otherwise what awaits you is a hail of bullets! You can't escape! Do you hear me!”
