Chapter 35: Escape
“Qin Hua, what the hell are you doing?”
Lin Chuan broke free from his restraint and, without the slightest courtesy, used his mental tendrils to jab hard at Qin Hua’s consciousness cloud.
Feeling the pain in his mind instantly spread through his whole body, Qin Hua said resentfully, “Why are you being so rough?”
“You’re an outsider now. Why did you drag me out?”
“I need you to do me a favor.”
Qin Hua sneakily pulled Lin Chuan aside and entered the destination address of District One military headquarters’ prison into the transporter.
From time to time, his eyes secretly studied Lin Chuan’s expression.
Seeing Qin Hua’s guilty look, Lin Chuan tugged at the corner of his mouth. He put on an expression that said he wanted to see what trick Qin Hua was playing and raised an eyebrow.
“Say it. What favor?”
“Go control the sentinels guarding the prison.”
Qin Hua looked at Lin Chuan with determination, as if he had already figured out that the other party would definitely agree.
Seeing this, Lin Chuan looked at him in disbelief and immediately felt as if his intelligence had been insulted.
“Are you crazy? You want me to control the sentinels guarding the prison? What are you planning? A jailbreak?”
“Mm.”
Qin Hua affirmed it and pulled Lin Chuan toward the prison level where the transporter would arrive.
“Wait, are you serious?”
“Xi Lian and the others are locked inside. Later, control those prison guards and have them open the prison gate.”
Qin Hua pulled Lin Chuan into a corner outside the prison gate, leaned close, and explained his next plan.
“Are you insane, Qin Hua? I’m not like you nobles. I worked so hard to get to this position in the military.”
Lin Chuan looked around warily, grabbed Qin Hua by the collar of his formal wear, and cursed in a low voice.
“Mm, I know. So starting today, you don’t have to come to the military anymore.”
Qin Hua slapped away the hand grabbing his clothes and looked past Lin Chuan’s left ear at the soldier standing behind them.
When the soldier saw Qin Hua’s face clearly, his fierce expression changed, and he respectfully said, “Mr. Qin, I thought it was some unrelated person. I didn’t expect it to be…”
Before the soldier could finish speaking, a long needle pierced his neck and injected a tube of mental-power destroyer into him.
“What are you doing?”
Lin Chuan widened his eyes, unable to understand Qin Hua’s string of actions, and questioned him.
“Are you crazy? If people investigate later…”
“Consciousness-cloud destroyers can only be used by guides inside the military. Lin Chuan, only you and I are here. Lin Chuan, you are my ally.”
Qin Hua tossed away the syringe in his hand and turned toward the tightly shut gate.
Very soon, two sentinels opened the gate and welcomed Qin Hua’s arrival.
Qin Hua, standing before them, gave no response. He turned and gave Lin Chuan a look, mouthing the message: Do it.
“Damn it.”
Lin Chuan cursed, then released his mental tendrils. Several branches extended out, successfully controlling the consciousness clouds of the two sentinels.
Only after their brains were completely controlled did Lin Chuan direct his mental tendrils, manipulating the two sentinels to walk familiarly toward one prison cell.
Before long, the electricity in the prison bars was completely cut off.
The two beastmen who had been inside for nearly two days twisted their wrists, which were almost about to rust, and followed Qin Hua out of the prison.
Seeing the group approach the gate, sharp-eyed Lin Chuan noticed the extra weapons in each person’s hands. His temper instantly flared, and he roared at them, “Hurry up! What time do you think this is, and you’re still looting heavy weapons? I’m fucking about to lose hold.”
Beads of sweat slid down Lin Chuan’s forehead. Forcibly controlling two consciousness clouds had consumed a large amount of his mental power. In just a short while, he was already drenched in sweat.
“Can you do it or not? Do you want another mental-power enhancer?”
Qin Hua pretended to ask with concern, but his eyes, glued to Xi Lian, exposed how fake his concern was.
“Let’s leave first. Hurry and explain your plan.”
Lin Chuan impatiently shot him a sideways look and was the first to enter the transporter.
As the transporter carrying them headed toward the ground floor of the military headquarters, an alarm also rang out.
“Hurry and explain your plan.”
Lin Chuan injected a mental-power enhancer into his neck and irritably listened to the urgent alarms ringing one after another.
“When the transporter reaches the first floor of the military headquarters, use your mental net to block the guide unit’s search. We’ll break through from the front. Five hundred meters outside the military headquarters, in the forest, someone will meet us.”
Qin Hua checked the energy rifle in his hands, quietly waiting for the word “first floor” to appear on the transporter’s display.
The moment the transporter doors opened, a group of sentinels carrying long guns and short cannons blocked the entrance, warily watching the four people’s movements.
Just as the soldier in front prepared to negotiate with the three of them, Edwin transformed into beast form and used his forepaw to slash open the necks of several soldiers.
Immediately afterward, energy-rifle bullets fired. Qin Hua knocked down the sentinels blocking the door one by one.
Before the other side could fire back, the harpy eagle’s giant wings stirred up a violent wind. The swirling dust instantly disrupted the enemy’s vision, and he used the stolen energy barrier to block the sweeping fire from the enemy’s energy guns.
“They really are insane.”
Their coordination fell into Lin Chuan’s eyes, making him grind his teeth. He braced himself and unfolded his mental tendrils, forming a huge mental net around the group.
“Go!”
Edwin used the swift attack of a wolf beastman to tear open a breakthrough. The others immediately followed and fled the encirclement of the sentinel troops.
Lin Chuan, who followed at the very rear, stayed on guard for the mental-power attacks that were about to arrive.
Before they could get out of the military headquarters’ gate, a mental tendril attacked the group, trying to break through the mental defensive net Lin Chuan had unfolded.
“Damn it.”
Sensing the strength of that mental power, Lin Chuan instinctively cursed. His gaze drifted toward the top of the military headquarters building. That mental tendril had come from the upper-level office of the military headquarters.
A chill rose from nowhere and instantly spread through his entire body. Before Lin Chuan could think too much, Qin Hua grabbed his hand and pulled him out of the military headquarters.
The military headquarters, located in a suburban forest, was surrounded by huge trees. The massive primeval forest all around effectively concealed their escape route.
The military unit that had suffered losses inside headquarters soon sent out a guide unit to search.
Very quickly, outside Lin Chuan’s mental net, he sensed many highly aggressive attack-type tendrils.
He unconsciously frowned and was just about to inject a second mental-power enhancer into his neck.
But an Alaskan malamute mental body leaped behind him and released powerful mental energy at the same time, helping the group block the guide unit’s search.
Immediately afterward, a sniper bullet from a hundred meters away broke through the defense of an energy barrier and shot straight into the head of a guide soldier behind them.
Not far ahead, Father Qin was holding a high-powered sniper rifle from ancient Earth and slowly walking out of the forest.
The instant his eyes met Edwin’s, Father Qin looked this somewhat foolish-looking silver wolf up and down in irritation. Then he questioned Qin Hua with dissatisfaction.
“You found something like this?”
Before Qin Hua could respond, a harpy eagle circling in the sky blocked the little sunlight that filtered through the forest. Carrying a guide sniper, it dove toward the ground and killed the soldier who had been trying to snipe the group in one strike.
At this moment, Father Qin saw the familiar brand totem behind the harpy eagle, and his rather ugly expression softened slightly.
“That’s more like it.”
“Dad…”
“Hurry and go. The aircraft is already prepared.”
“Thank you, Dad.”
Qin Hua’s eyes instantly lit up. He tugged at Xi Lian’s wing and headed in the direction the other party pointed.
Lin Chuan, who had fallen behind the group, grew increasingly uneasy. His unfolded mental net sensed a powerful mental force approaching.
Just as they reached the aircraft hatch, a mental tendril arrived beside them in an instant. Its branches transformed into blades and completely dismantled Lin Chuan’s mental-net defense in a single moment.
Because his mental tendrils were severed, intense pain in his mind made Lin Chuan collapse to his knees.
Seeing this, Qin Hua immediately turned back to help him, but the movement of his hand was interrupted by a voice carrying mental power.
“Where are you taking these serious criminals?”
Amelie slowly revealed herself on the path they had come from. The charged cannon in her hand was aimed at the aircraft they were about to board.
As her voice fell, four mental tendrils simultaneously passed through Father Qin’s attacks and struck toward the group’s consciousness clouds.
Just as her attack was about to arrive, countless mental tendrils extending from all directions blocked all of her attacks.
From the distinct mental powers, it could be sensed that these mental tendrils all came from District One’s high bloodlines.
“Amelie, detaining District One nobles without authorization—is that an order given to you by central military command?”
Mother Qin’s voice echoed through the forest. Following the source of the sound, a noblewoman draped in an exquisite silk shawl appeared behind Amelie with several noble guide ladies.
Just as Qin Hua was about to speak, the guide lady behind Mother Qin winked at him, completely blocking his words in his mouth.
Immediately afterward, the aircraft’s unmanned hatch gradually closed, carrying the group as it took off vertically.
On the forest ground, Amelie’s mental tendrils still wanted to launch a second attack, but Mother Qin’s words stopped her movement.
“The lives of us nobles are different from miscellaneous trash like you. Are you certain you want to fight me? Or do you want to become the second young master of the Jin family?”
“What do you mean…”
“I mean, if you want to become the second military guide wanted by the empire, you can try stopping my son from leaving.”
“Tch.”
Amelie bit her lip and helplessly lowered the charged cannon in her hand. She ordered the guide unit that had followed her there, “Mission interrupted. Prepare a vehicle and send these ladies and gentlemen home.”
“Then I’ll have to trouble you, General Amelie.”
Mother Qin lost her earlier vicious expression and gave Amelie a kind smile. She linked arms with the noble lady beside her.
“Let’s go.”
Mother Qin and the others turned and left. The female wolf mental body beside her sensed Little Gray’s scent fading. It merely bared its teeth slightly, then followed them into the hovercar prepared by the military.
On the way back, Mother Qin looked through the window toward District One’s sky.
Before her emotions could spill out, the noble lady beside her interrupted her thoughts.
“Auntie Qin, does this count as Qin Hua running away from marriage? This is quite unfavorable for the relationship between our two families.”
The noble lady’s gloating tone made Mother Qin see through her thoughts at a glance. She responded in a low voice, “You may choose any suitable-aged sentinel from the Qin family. Female sentinels from the branch families are also allowed.”
