Chapter 179 The Chase

When Luo Huayi propped herself up from the door frame and climbed onto the rooftop, Xin Que was still sitting in the same spot, seemingly gazing at the distant street.

"What exactly did you mean by what you said to Mr. Zhen today?" Luo Huayi sat down next to her and asked.

Their conversation at the dinner table was like a riddle, leaving the audience completely bewildered.

But Luo Huayi could tell that Xin Que was trying to win Mr. Zhen over to their side.

“Mr. Zhen’s attitude is a bit like that of a seasoned businessman,” Luo Huayi said. “He calls you brother and sister affectionately, but in reality, he only cares about how much benefit you can bring him.”

"Although such people can be used, they cannot tolerate any risk of failure in speculation... We still need to be wary that one day they might sell you out to save themselves when the chain of interests breaks down."

“Hmm,” Xin Que didn’t refute him, “but it’s precisely these people who are good at speculation who hold considerable leverage in their hands…”

A prize that makes people envious.

Xin Que recalled the mechanical voice she heard when she was trapped in the thorns, which directly commanded the Five Observation King to obliterate the King of Biancheng.

Luo Huayi knew that Xin Que was thinking further ahead, so he turned to look at the woman beside him, "You have a plan?"

Xin Que nodded, her gaze falling on the distant horizon. "How long do you think the prison will keep us isolated?"

Luo Huayi felt inexplicably panicked whenever she heard the word "prison".

The "prison" that exists above this virtual world is like a death warrant; you must always be on guard against it casting out new adversaries or transferring them to some new hell.

"I don't know," he said in a low voice, "I just feel like every peaceful day we have now is one less day we have left..."

Luo Huayi was mentally exhausted by her chaotic and anxious thoughts, but thankfully, the most important person in her life was still by her side...

As long as she's still by my side.

These messy and cumbersome thoughts can be ignored for now.

After nightfall, a light rain began to fall outside the window.

Luo Huayi dreamed of some unpleasant scenes.

The villa in front of him seemed to be covered by a soft-focus filter, making it impossible to see clearly.

Getting up and stepping barefoot onto the floor, Luo Huayi called Xin Que's name as she went to turn on the light.

But the villa seemed to be without power; no matter how many times the switch was pressed, the lights did not turn on.

Xin Que, who should have been resting in the living room, did not respond to his shouts at all.

Luo Huayi was immediately gripped by immense panic.

He took off running towards the area where Xin Que had rested, but no matter how far he ran, it was as if he was standing still and he could never get there.

"Bang!"

As if she had stepped into thin air, or as if someone had pushed her, Luo Huayi's vision blurred, and she fell heavily downwards.

A mechanical voice suddenly rang in my ears.

[Global scan in progress... City plan... No survivors...]

[No... Humanoid Restraint Program 01... can still receive signals normally.]

Luo Huayi had a splitting headache.

The sharp, piercing mechanical sound relentlessly assaulted his eardrums, and no matter how hard he tried to cover his ears, the sound wouldn't lessen in the slightest.

"Luo Huayi?"

Just as Luo Huayi was painfully banging his forehead against the floor, he suddenly felt a moment of clarity.

Slowly opening her heavy eyelids and meeting Xin Que's eyes, Luo Huayi finally woke up from her nightmare.

"Did you have a nightmare?" Xin Que noticed that Luo Huayi's mood was off and reached out to touch his forehead.

Just as Luo Huayi was about to answer her, she smelled the scent of rain mixed with the earthy smell on Xin Que's body.

The woman's clothes were also covered with a layer of damp moisture.

"I'm fine." His voice was the same as usual. He simply lifted the covers and got up, subtly avoiding her hand.

"What kind of dream did you have?" Xin Que's tone was much gentler than usual. "You seemed to have experienced sleep paralysis just now, and you kept struggling."

Luo Huayi turned on the light and looked at the person on the sofa. "Nothing... By the way, it's so late, and it's raining outside. What are you doing out there?"

He walked to the dining table to pour himself some water, his gaze falling on the clean floor by the window.

"Go out for some fresh air," the woman persisted, getting up and walking towards his spot. "Luo..."

Before he could finish speaking, Luo Huayi quickly turned around as the woman approached him.

The man's military knife was completely embedded in the woman's chest.

"You are not Xin Que," Luo Huayi said coldly, looking down at the astonished woman before her. "Who are you?"

The moment the body fell to the ground, Luo Huayi suddenly opened her eyes.

A dream within a dream?

As Luo Huayi sat up and touched the hilt of the military knife that Xin Que had given him, he didn't feel much relieved.

This nightmare is very unlucky.

The light rain outside the window was still drizzling.

Luo Huayi rolled off the sofa and went to the wall to turn on the light. In the light, she saw Xin Que's resting area by the window, with only her coat casually draped over her body.

The person is not here.

A slight noise came from behind.

He stiffly turned around and looked behind him.

The woman, disguised as Xin Que, sat on the sofa like a puppet, her lifeless eyes fixed on him through the light.

The mechanical structure rotating within the pupils can be faintly seen.

[Underlying Program 01,] Her voice shifted instantly, becoming a emotionless, mechanical tone, [So you were the traitor all along.]

Before the words were even finished, the villa collapsed with a loud crash.

Xin Que's body disintegrated into data out of thin air, which then formed a mechanical eye as tall as a person in the night sky.

[As a regulatory mechanism, it actually colluded with the criminals it was supposed to punish...]

【you----】

"Click!"

A long spear pierced through the air and went straight through the mechanical eye from behind.

"Luo Huayi," Xin Que pulled out a long spear from behind, "The prison is investigating, let's go immediately!"

Xin Que stared solemnly at the mechanical pupil that had been pierced and destroyed by the spear.

Cheng Zheng immediately transmitted his consciousness after the villa's spatial data showed a slight change.

But she was too late.

Unexpectedly, this time the prison's target bypassed her and went straight for Luo Huayi...

Did she realize what she had done to Luo Huayi?

Luo Huayi didn't care about anything else and immediately followed Xin Que's footsteps.

As soon as they reached the second floor, the two were plunged into the pitch-black shadows.

"The administrator's clone actually appeared here?" Mr. Zhen, who was hidden in the shadow space, also became much more serious. "The prison's comeback is happening faster than we imagined."

Luo Huayi saw Cheng Zheng, who had been taken to the Shadow Space by Mr. Zhen in advance, and then looked at Xin Que beside her.

“Even if they wanted to slack off, their employers, who are keeping a close eye on them, wouldn’t allow it.” Xin Que showed no surprise.

It's impossible for the prison to expose such a huge scandal as the death of executive Qu Huan in the mental prison system to the Huo family.

Not wanting to lose the Huo family as the largest shareholder, yet also unwilling to expose the truth that Xin Que was unable to be controlled during interrogation in prison, the mental prison had no choice but to bite the bullet and continue to arrest Xin Que.