MCL CH121

Chapter 121: They, Also Felt His…

When Shen Nanyang walked out of the isolation room, Lin Xi’s figure was long gone.

He stood in the silent, empty corridor, listening to the chaos from afar. A moment later, a staff member rushed to him, his expression filled with unsurprising panic, his words once incoherent: “Pro-Professor… Lin Lin Lin… Director Lin seems to have undergone mutation. No, I know ability users can’t mutate, but he really seems to… no no no, that’s not the point. The point is he just hijacked a spatial ability user and wants… wants us to teleport him to Country A’s teleportation station 34561! What should we do? Do you think we should quickly contact the United Administration…”

Before he could finish, Shen Nanyang had already spoken in a calm tone. “Send him over.”

“Okay, I’ll arran… What did you say?” The staff member couldn’t react for a moment.

“It’s fine, just do as he says. I will explain it to the United Administration.” As he spoke, Shen Nanyang’s gaze remained fixed on the distant sky. The color of the heavy white clouds was like a deep mist, heavily covering his eyes. “As for Country A’s side… the International Ability General Administration has enjoyed so many of our research achievements. It should be reasonable for them to occasionally step up and help bear some trouble.”

The staff member stared blankly at Shen Nanyang. “Professor… are you, are you smiling?”

“Hm?” Hearing this, Shen Nanyang belatedly reached up to touch the corner of his mouth. A trace of astonishment flashed in his eyes as he felt the slight upward curve.

He didn’t answer the staff member’s question, just waved his hand. “Go and arrange it.”

With a certain person’s departure, the powerful contamination radiation shrouding the Central Research Institute instantly dissipated by a large amount.

Shen Nanyang turned and walked back to his office. He dialed the number for the United Administration’s Executor office. A moment later, he heard Gu Beiqiu’s weary voice from the other end. “Hello, Professor Shen. Is there any new progress with the research?”

“I’m calling you this time for something unrelated to my research projects.”

Shen Nanyang asked slowly, “I have good news and bad news. Which one do you want to hear first?”

Gu Beiqiu blurted out, “The good news.”

Shen Nanyang: “The good news is, your dear Executor did not die. Or rather, perhaps he did die back then, but now, he has returned.”

As his voice fell, a long silence ensued on the other end of the line.

For a moment, neither of them spoke. All that remained in the conversation was Gu Beiqiu’s distinctly heavier breathing from the shock of this moment.

If these words had come from anyone else, Gu Beiqiu would undoubtedly have dismissed them as an absurd prank. But at this moment, the person telling him was Shen Nanyang.

A long time later, Gu Beiqiu finally, with difficulty, found his voice. “Then, what’s the bad news?”

“He found out about Yan Xingzhou losing control of his ability. He just hijacked a spatial ability user and teleported to the front lines of the battle in Country A.”

As Shen Nanyang’s words fell, a silence even more terrifying than before filled the line. He said slowly, “Oh right, I forgot to tell you. The name he’s using now is—Lin Ni.”

Gu Beiqiu: “…I’m coming to see you right now.”

Country A’s teleportation station 34561 was almost completely filled with the sound of blaring alarms, mixed with layers of piercing static.

The excessively high radiation values had caused the surrounding contamination detection equipment to max out one after another. However, at this moment, everyone’s attention was completely focused on the person who had just appeared.

Lin Xi paid no mind to the surrounding high-alert formation. He tossed the Chinese spatial ability user he had casually hijacked back into the crowd and asked in fluent foreign language, his tone sounding quite polite: “Excuse me, does anyone know where those international ability users are fighting? Would it be convenient to lend me a car and then point the way?”

However, no one answered him.

Lin Xi tilted his head with a half-smile. On the black thorns on his neck, bewitching flowers bloomed, making his different-colored vertical pupils appear even more inhuman. “No need to be so nervous. If no one’s talking, then I’ll just have to help myself.”

His peripheral vision swept over a guard car parked diagonally across. Just as he was about to step forward, a figure flashed, and a row of ability users blocked his path in unison.

Lin Xi’s eyes narrowed slightly, a dangerous aura finally faintly emanating from the atmospheric pressure around him. “Apologies, everyone. I’m in a hurry right now and may not have time to play with you here.”

“Play?” Someone was finally provoked. Enduring the numbing pressure all over his body, he asked through gritted teeth, “Who are you? A ability user? No… looking at your condition, you’re a mutated species? But a mutated species could never have such powerful contamination radiation… Hua Country, what kind of monster did Hua Country send over?!”

“Monster?” Lin Xi heard this and smiled. “As for what kind of species I am right now, I’m also very curious. After I’ve dealt with my current business, I might be in the mood to come over and study it with you. But I’m sorry, not now.”

He waved his hand casually. The dancing flame in his palm seemed to be a manifestation of his inner irritation. “So, could I trouble you all to make way?”

He had clearly not made a move, but the surrounding ability users, driven by their instincts, had already subconsciously taken a step back.

A few minutes later, a car sped out of the space station. The teleportation base behind it was engulfed in raging flames.

The sweeping gale scattered the broken ashes. Even in the daytime, the towering flames still rendered a scene of interwoven light and shadow.

[Humans are truly an overconfident species. The you now is not the low-end fire-type from the beginning. I shall call you Lin ‘Niohuru’ Xi!]

“Put away that useless TV drama knowledge of yours.” Lin Xi held the steering wheel with one hand and skillfully operated the smart device in the car with the other. Soon, a red dot appeared on the display screen, which was their destination. “Years ago, I suggested to Primo that they upgrade those dilapidated systems at their General Bureau sooner. I didn’t expect him to not listen at all. To this day, the entire management system still hasn’t been upgraded at all.”

Under his obviously foul mood, Lin Xi’s tone was completely flat. “Oh, he even forgot to revoke the internal permissions of me, the former Executor of Hua Country.”

[How can a 37-degree mouth speak such cold words.]

[Looking at it from another angle, maybe he just missed you and specially left it as a little memento.]

Lin Xi gave a noncommittal sneer. “He should indeed miss me. At least when I was around, there was someone to help him play the role of the unreasonable villain, allowing him to better play the good cop.”

The location of the spatial teleportation station was already not far from the warzone. As he sped along, he could already see the towering isolation barriers erected by ability users in the distance.

From the vehicle’s current position, the inside of the barrier seemed to be shrouded in a thick fog that couldn’t disperse, making it impossible to see the situation inside clearly.

[Why did you suddenly stop talking?]

Lin Xi didn’t answer Calamity’s question, but instead asked, “Among you contaminants, are there any with the ability to alter the flow of time?”

[Mmm… I remember there’s one called Xuanling who has a similar type of ability.]

[Actually, to be honest, the total number of us S-rank contaminants is only about 30, not much more than your X-rank ability users. But above S-rank, we have a Super S-rank, and that’s me! I’m the one and only Super S-rank!]

Lin Xi: “Mhm, and that’s why you were swallowed by me.”

[…Go die.]

[Whatever, I won’t argue with you. Tell me, what’s wrong with the time-related ability?]

“Nothing, I just thought of what Shen Nanyang said.”

Lin Xi said, “Yan Xingzhou had just received treatment not long ago. Under normal circumstances, his ability wouldn’t fall into chaos again in just a few days. But if there was an S-rank contaminant with time abilities, then it would make sense. You said that contaminant is called Xuanling, right?”

[Mhm, yes.]

“Very good, I’ll remember him.”

Lin Xi’s tone was as light as ever, but it caused the surrounding atmospheric pressure to suddenly drop to a few points.

Calamity: […]

That S-rank colleague he had never met, all that could be said was, take care.

Approaching the isolation barrier, a patrol team stationed on the perimeter had already discovered Lin Xi’s presence.

A team member gestured from afar, signaling for him to stop.

Lin Xi turned a deaf ear to this. Not only did he not slow down, but he floored the accelerator and rushed straight towards the protective barrier.

The ability users who rushed over had no time to stop him. The moment it looked like he was about to crash, sheets of flame shot out, melting a hole in the indestructible barrier.

The black vehicle thus, under everyone’s watchful eyes, plunged headfirst into the S-rank contamination zone.

The moment he entered, Lin Xi felt waves of dense contamination radiation rush towards him. All the cells in his body seemed to become completely excited in that instant, making the emotion surging in his eyes even more crazed.

At the same time, an equally excited voice sounded in his mind: [This is the feeling! I like it here, this is our place! I’m back, I’m back!]

“You’re wrong. It should be—we’re back.”

Inside the S-rank isolation zone he crashed into was a desolate scene completely different from a human city. The vehicle drove through a dilapidated and messy urban area, but Lin Xi’s gaze fell calmly on the more distant horizon.

He could feel that in this uninhabited new world, there were many other things.

They were, now, his true kin.

They, had clearly also felt his arrival.

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