Chapter 76 The Unshakeable Golden Man Hurry! Hurry! Even faster! ...
Blade did not break free from her grasp.
Shen Mi led him away from the place step by step, her steps both hurried and careful, as if she were walking on a thin layer of ice, where a slight misstep would attract the beasts that were about to awaken.
Hidden behind the towering trees, she finally couldn't help but turn back and look at the cage that had once imprisoned them.
The wind blew, and the knee-high grass rippled. Under the dim sky, the house looked like a square monster with its eyes closed in the darkness of the forest, only now it was battered and broken.
Although she had only been imprisoned for a short day, she had the illusion that she had been locked up for a long time.
Shen Mi said softly, "Goodbye."
Then he turned around, took Ren's hand tightly, and walked deeper into the forest.
...
Bai Qi stood in front of the screen, her hand resting on the control panel. Her expression was calm, but her eyes were unfathomable. Looking at her mouth, it seemed as if she had secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
She stared at the image for a long time, as if she were thinking, or perhaps waiting for something.
After a long while, she slowly raised her hand and pressed a red button on the far right of the control panel.
"Target escaped, tracking mode activated." A synthesized mechanical voice sounded in the room.
In an instant, countless ingenious mechanisms emerged from the air.
The tracking coordinates on the screen rapidly unfolded, and a trajectory line incorporating thermal imaging and holographic positioning quickly appeared. The search network, centered on Chen Mi, began to capture his movement path within the dense forest area, slowly expanding, link by link, from point to line, like an invisible net.
Bai Qi left with a cryptic statement: "Whether you successfully escape or get caught is up to you."
*
With damp grass beneath her feet and towering trees overhead, Chen Mi remained vigilant, glancing back every few steps to check if anyone was following her or if there was any noise.
She ran until she was parched and panting, then looked back to make sure no one was behind her before stopping to rest briefly.
This woodland is almost indistinguishable from a primeval forest—the trees are so dense that their intertwined branches and leaves obscure most of the view. No matter which direction you look, all you see are layers upon layers of shadows, as if you are in an endless maze.
Shen Mi released her grip on the blade, placed her hands on her knees, and looked around. Seeing the almost identical scenes in all directions, she felt as if she had entered a maze, and she was at a loss as to where to run next.
"Are we there?" Ren's voice came from behind.
"No."
Why did you stop before it was your turn?
"I'm tired. I've been running for so long. Aren't you tired?" Hearing Ren's question, Shen Mi turned around and looked at him. He saw that Ren's chest was rising and falling evenly, showing no signs of running a thousand meters. For him, this kind of exercise was as simple and ordinary as drinking water.
"I'm not tired." Thinking of the other person's stamina, Ren turned his head and said to her, "You should rest for a bit."
After hearing this, Shen Mi took a deep breath, his panting sound particularly noticeable in the deathly silent forest.
Ren looked at Shen Mi, who was half a step away. The emerald green figure became clearer and clearer. He squinted, trying to see more clearly, but saw that Shen Mi was about to stand up. He quickly turned his head away and took the initiative to start a conversation: "Do you know how to get there?"
Before turning around, Shen Mi hurriedly wiped the sweat from his cheeks with his clothes, then turned back to Ren and said, "I don't know."
Ren frowned: "I didn't know you'd been leading me around aimlessly for so long?"
"You didn't tell me the plan either."
edge:……
"I'm confident I can get you out of here. Are you confident you can get me out of this place?" After saying that, he didn't forget to pretend that he still couldn't see the "truth".
He added, "Where are we now? We've been running for so long and haven't seen a single living creature."
Shen Mi was speechless for a moment: "It would be troublesome if there were living creatures. We are running for our lives now, and hiding our whereabouts is the most important thing."
Ren didn't reply. He looked around and silently found his direction.
He gave the order: "We'll head to the right in a bit."
"Right front? Are you sure?" Shen Mi muttered to himself, looking in the direction the blade was pointing. The trees there were becoming increasingly dense, with overlapping branches and leaves, less than ten meters apart, and the trunks were thick and large, making it indeed a better hiding place than the other directions.
Now that he had neither a cell phone to contact anyone nor a compass to determine east, west, south, and north, a question arose in Shen Mi's mind: the immortal ship was already sailing in the universe, would the system for determining direction on Earth still be useful?
She looked up at the sky, peering through the gaps in the leaves at the distant horizon. Stars twinkled, but neither the Big Dipper nor Polaris, which she knew, were there. It seemed impossible to determine direction by the stars.
Shen Mi sighed silently, glancing at Ren. Perhaps he was familiar with the terrain? Oh well, might as well try anything. At least he's a local, and I'm just an outsider. I'll listen to him.
Now all I can do is calm down, hide as much as possible, and wait, hoping that Jingyuan and the others will find me soon.
“Okay,” Shen Mi replied.
I rested there for a while.
Chen Mi patted the mud and leaves stuck to her calves and stood up. The woodland was damp, and countless mosquitoes hid in the leaves under the cover of night. In just a short while, she had been bitten three or four times, and her knees were a little sore from squatting for so long.
Shen Mi glanced back at Ren, who sat to the side, disregarding his image. Ren remained silent, as if his entire body was one with the forest. Even though he was in the mud, his back was still straight, and his face showed no signs of fatigue. However, his eyes, which had not yet healed, were still shrouded in bloodshot veins and could not focus clearly.
"I've rested enough," Shen Mi said, implying that we could set off now.
Ren nodded slowly and stood up quickly. His movements were without any hesitation, and there were hardly any signs of injury on him, or perhaps he had long since become so accustomed to pain that it was as common as breathing.
Shen Mi took Ren's hand again and patted his hand as if to comfort him.
edge:?
"What are you doing?"
Shen Mi paused for a moment, feeling embarrassed to say that she felt sorry for him, so she made up an excuse: "Are you talking about what we did just now? I meant I wanted you to hold on tighter, in case the pursuers catch up and we get separated."
Blade: "...No way."
They stepped back into the dense forest.
The slippery grass beneath his feet wrapped around him again, and branches brushed silently against the hem of his clothes. It was now late at night, even darker, and the forest was shrouded in mist, as if something was lurking behind the trees, watching him. Chen Mi tightened his grip on the blade and unconsciously slowed his pace.
"Did you hear anything?" she asked softly.
Blade tilted his head slightly and remained silent for two seconds: "Not yet, but at their speed, they should have already discovered that we are missing. As for why they are being so quiet, I tend to think there are two possibilities."
"First, they haven't found us yet. Second, they have already discovered us, but they are holding back, waiting for the right opportunity to wipe us out in one fell swoop."
"Huh?" Hearing Ren's description, Shen Mi felt even more terrified. She pulled Ren along and quickened her pace, urging him as she walked, "Then let's walk faster."
"Hmm," Ren responded softly, but his steps faltered slightly the next second, as if he were listening to something.
"Let's go this way." Ren suddenly turned to the side path and quickly changed direction, pulling Shen Mi along.
"Why did you suddenly change direction?" Shen Mi was pulled so hard that she stumbled and almost got her feet stuck. She quickly steadied herself and followed him anxiously.
“I heard the sound of nimble flight in the sky.” Blade’s tone was low and his expression tense. “There’s more than one. We must avoid their patrol paths. It’s dark enough now that their vision is limited, so they can hide as long as there are obstacles to cover them.”
He spoke quickly, his eyes scanning the surroundings warily, his voice extremely low, "Go find a bigger tree."
...This batch? Shen Mi caught the details in his words and her heart tightened, but she didn't have time to ask any more questions. She immediately pulled him down and carefully moved between the trees until they finally found a large tree that could shelter the two of them.
Panting, Shen Mi leaned against a tree trunk for a moment to catch her breath. Once the area above her was quiet and she was sure the crisis was over, she lowered her voice and asked, "How did you know that these machines couldn't see us?"
“By listening.” Ren chuckled, revealing a smug expression, his tone matter-of-fact. “Most of the current mechanisms are based on the prototypes I designed back then, which have been continuously improved and iterated. Not to mention anything else, even the most basic drive is still based on my original design drawings.”
After saying that, he paused, then asked in a calm tone, "Do you think the child's father wouldn't recognize his own child?"
Chen Mi: "..."
Even though he knew Ren was blind, Shen Mi still gave him a thumbs up: "Amazing."
She genuinely admired Ren. Although he could be quite sharp-tongued and merciless at times, he was a kind and righteous gentleman to her, and his abilities were enough to make people overlook his shortcomings.
Even in his current predicament, he remained calm and composed, as if no predicament was a threat to him.
Suddenly, Ren turned his head and said calmly, "By the way, if we get caught, I'll hold them off while you run. To them, I'm always a more important target than you."
Shen Mi was speechless for a moment, and the corner of his mouth twitched slightly.
She genuinely understood his good intentions and knew he was telling the truth, but the way he said it always made people want to complain.
Brother, I believe you're a good person, but you don't need to tell me this way that I'm safer than you...
"I'm not an ungrateful person, am I? I just can't leave you here alone..."
Before she could even wait for Ren's reply, Chen Mi looked up and was suddenly struck by a pair of scarlet eyes appearing amidst the dense canopy of trees above. She had no idea how long they had been hidden, only that their gaze was as cold and sinister as a wild beast's, fixed intently on her. Her heart tightened, and in her terror, she couldn't help but scream:
"ah--!"
Before Chen Mi could finish his scream, a cold, mechanical voice came from the branches above: "Target locked, initiating capture mode."
Immediately afterwards, with a "click," the pair of scarlet eyes lit up with a fiery light, and a metallic mechanical arm suddenly emerged from the depths of the tree canopy, grabbing at her with lightning speed.
Shen Mi's pupils contracted sharply, and his body instinctively leaned back and rolled, narrowly avoiding the mechanical claw that fell from the sky.
She collapsed heavily to the ground, her heart pounding, her back drenched in cold sweat, her clothes soaked through. A sharp pain shot through her right foot; she had probably twisted it while dodging.
The large tree where they were hiding swayed incessantly, its leaves falling in a rustling sound. From among the dense foliage, a humanoid golden figure slowly emerged, its joints clicking, clearly indicating that it had activated its battle mode.
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Author's Note: Dear readers, the next chapter will also be updated every two days, as I'm currently working on reducing the word count. There's a small red envelope (cash gift) for this chapter's update, so please comment to participate! [Starry eyes][Starry eyes][Starry eyes][Starry eyes]
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