Chapter 171 Rescue
At three o'clock in the morning, the residents of Sky City were all fast asleep. Suddenly, a sharp and piercing air raid alarm broke the silence. Everyone woke up from their beds in a daze. They only heard something being shouted on the loudspeaker outside. All the communication devices popped up a red warning message:
[A vagrant from Prison No. 7 has escaped. The whole city is under martial law. All citizens are required to close their doors and windows and are strictly prohibited from going out. Wait for official notification! ]
The residents were all shocked when they saw the news. What?! The wanderers fled?!
What kind of place is Prison No. 7? All the most vicious and ferocious wanderers are imprisoned there, at least several hundred of them, and they are all key research targets of the Monitoring Institute. Now they have rushed out overnight. To exaggerate a little, the impact may be more serious than the last siege. After all, the last time the wanderers attacked the city, they were outside, but this time they ran directly inside!
Sky City's top management held a meeting overnight and activated the first-level emergency plan, sending out almost all the troops that could be mobilized. The director was so angry that he almost slammed the table in the meeting room. The first to be hit were the guards in charge of guarding the prison: "How could the cage be suddenly opened when it was locked well? What on earth are you doing? There are several level 4 wanderers among those who escaped. How much effort did we waste to catch them back? If civilians are killed, can you afford the responsibility?!"
The head of the security department said with an unpleasant expression: "Director, the moon turned red tonight for no apparent reason. I suspect the wanderers may have been affected by the power of the red moon. It's a small matter if they escape, but it will be troublesome if they become agitated as a group again like last time!"
When talking about the last red sun phenomenon, everyone fell silent. Sky City had already been badly damaged, and it would definitely not be able to withstand it if it happened again.
The director felt a throbbing pain in his head. He closed his eyes and wiped his face. His gray hair was clearly visible under the light. "First, we need to find a way to seal off Sky City and prevent those wanderers from escaping to Devil City. Let the superpower team do their best to search and arrest them to ensure the safety of the citizens."
Someone said worriedly, "I'm afraid it's a bit difficult. It's easy to stop those ordinary low-level wanderers, but it's very difficult to restrict their aerial activities from level three and above..."
Upon hearing this, the director slammed the table again, shocking everyone into silence. His angry voice pierced through the loudspeaker, "What if there are difficulties? I have to solve the difficulties! Team 10 is stationed at the checkpoint and cannot be transferred. The rest of the teams are dispersed to protect the citizens. The task of hunting down vagrants will be handed over to Xing Yuan. He will be in charge of deploying teams one to nine. He must catch those vagrants who escaped!"
Xing Yuan sat in his seat wrapped in a thick black coat, his face looked a little pale under the cold light of the conference room. His eyes drooped lazily and he seemed indifferent to everything until he heard the words of the president, then he finally raised his eyelids.
What does that mean? He was asked to clean up the mess made by the security department, does he look like a living Buddha? He was already in a bad mood after being pulled out of bed in the middle of the night, and the words of the director were undoubtedly adding fuel to the fire.
Xing Yuan sneered in his heart, but didn't show it on his face: "How can I be that capable? This matter is of course handed over to Director Yan to take full responsibility, and a team will just assist from the side. Time is tight, I will lead the team out first, and use the communicator to contact you if you have anything."
As soon as he finished speaking, he pulled out a chair, stood up, and walked straight towards the door. Seeing this, Luo Yang and others also stood up and left, leaving Director Yan sitting there with a green face.
"Director, Xing Yuan is too disobedient!"
"You won't listen to my orders? If I don't want to clean up your mess, then of course I won't listen to my orders! I don't care whether you kneel down or beg, or even go into battle with a gun in your hand, you must solve the problem for me, otherwise it won't be solved by just resigning!"
The chief dean was so angry that he almost had a heart attack. There were few useful people in the entire Sky City. Only Xing Yuan was relatively strong, but he was unruly and could not be controlled at all.
Tonight, almost all the teams that Sky City could mobilize were dispatched. There were dozens of aircraft flying overhead, and the ground was densely packed with patrol cars. The sound of gunfire was as incessant as the fireworks during the New Year. The residents saw the chaos outside through the windows, and the fear and anxiety in their hearts reached its peak in an instant.
Xing Yuan personally led a team to chase the escaped fourth-level wanderers. His figures were so fast that only shadows were left in the dark. Every time a lightning flashed around, a high-level wanderer was struck to ashes. Luoyang and his team cooperated with each other and took care of quite a few escaped T3s, but the number was still not enough.
"Damn it! The Monitoring Institute said that those wanderers have been running towards the Devil City, and dozens of them have already broken through the air checkpoints!"
Xing Yuan stood on a tall building, as if he was only one step away from the red moon. The night wind blew towards him. He could feel the power in his body boiling under the moonlight. A certain monster nature was gradually awakening, clamoring to tear something apart, preferably something fishy, bloody, and with bones...
He closed his eyes, forced himself to suppress the desire, and coldly spat out one word: "Chase!"
Those wanderers would not flee towards the Devil City for no reason. It seemed like they were summoned by something. He urgently needed to confirm something, so he led his team to chase after them.
On the other hand, Lu Yan was not idle either. Xing Yuan received an emergency summons to attend a meeting, and he slipped out quietly the next moment.
The last time the Red Sun Anomaly System forced him to come out and fight monsters, this time the Red Moon would not let him go.
[Ding! Congratulations to the host for triggering the side quest - Operation Red Moon! Please go and help eliminate the escaped wanderers. If you have more than ten of them above level 4, you will be rewarded with a special ability upgrade. If you are below level 3, the points will be accumulated and the rewards will be settled the next day. Do you accept it? ]
This mission is difficult, after all, the fourth-level monsters are not that easy to kill, especially if you have to kill ten of them. But the rewards are generous, after all, it is increasingly difficult to upgrade superpowers as you level up, and opportunities are hard to come by. Lu Yan thought for a moment and chose to accept it without much hesitation.
There were at least five or six hundred vagrants who escaped from the prison this time. They were so densely packed in the sky that one could not see the end. Chen Yan and his teammates stood on the patrol car and aimed their guns at the sky. They did not dare to stop even when their knuckles were bleeding. If they were lucky, they would encounter low-level vagrants and they would be wiped out with a dozen shots. If they were unlucky and encountered high-level vagrants, they would be swooped down and eaten by the enemy until only half of the body was left.
Chen Yan was covered in blood, and could no longer tell whether it was his own or someone else's. The strong smell of blood and gunpowder filled his nostrils, but he just kept shooting almost numbly. He saw those vagrants had already begun to ram the windows and doors of the residents' houses crazily, and shouted: "Didn't you have enough food?! Hurry up and kill them! There are only three hours left before dawn, you have to hold on for me with all your might!!!"
Patrol soldiers do not have special powers, they are just ordinary people with slightly better skills. Most of them come from Devil City. They are lucky enough to be selected into the team. They work hard every day to support their families. They earn money every day, and when they die, they can only receive a pension.
Chen Yan has lived in Devil City since he was a child. When he was seventeen, he encountered a wave of vicious vagrants and his entire family was killed. He will never forget the scene when the vagrants broke in that day. His parents' first reaction was not to run away, but to panic and stuff him into the basement, transfer all their health points to him, and then they jumped up to lure the vagrants away.
At that time, Chen Yan only had one and a half years on his wrist, and his family of three only had one and a half years in total. Through the gap in the basement, he clearly heard the sound of the wanderer chewing his parents' bodies. In the end, the other party was full and too lazy to continue searching in the house, so he flew away to the next street. Only then did Chen Yan save his life.
Later, relying on his strong physique, he lived on the edge of a knife with a mercenary group. A few years later, he encountered Sky City recruiting new soldiers and was selected by chance. He fought his way up to his current position.
There were always countless people pouring in around Chen Yan, and countless people dying on the battlefield.
They have reached the end of their lives at a good age, as if nature has not given humans a long lifespan of a hundred years, but that thirty years is already the limit.
There are thousands of psychics in Sky City, half of whom must be stationed in important military locations and cannot be easily transferred, while the other half have gone to the central city to protect high-ranking officials and dignitaries. The outer circle can only be eliminated by patrol soldiers.
Blood and sweat flowed into my eyes, stinging them so much that I couldn't control my tears.
If the Sky City, which represents prosperity and stability, is like this, the days in the Devil City will only be worse. Chen Yan has felt countless times that he should not be standing here. He knows that the Devil City is the place that needs more protection. The people living there are the most miserable and helpless. This city above the clouds may be the last piece of pure land left by the gods, but humans use it as a ladder to distinguish the rich from the poor.
The sound of gunfire was dense, mixed with anger that had nowhere to vent.
“Kill!!!”
Suddenly, a Level 3 Wanderer flew down from the sky and bit the youngest patrolman in the team. He looked to be no more than 19 years old. He struggled in panic and shouted in pain, "Captain! Save me!!"
Chen Yan's expression changed, and he immediately rushed forward: "A Yao!!"
He remembered this soldier, the youngest in the team, who had only been there three months. Every time he got his salary, he would happily hide in a corner and count it quietly, saying that when he saved enough money, he would bring his grandmother to live in Sky City.
Others laughed at him for being stupid. The houses and passes in Sky City were so expensive that he was afraid he wouldn't have enough for his whole life. Ah Yao was not sad either. He smiled foolishly and worked hard just to gain a little more time.
Just last night, he was excitedly saying that he could go back to Devil City to visit his grandmother during the holiday and buy a lot of supplements.
Chen Yan rushed forward with red eyes, and even his teammates nearby tried their best to help shoot, but the bullets did not cause any damage to the third-level Wanderer. They could only watch Ah Yao being carried into the air by the Wanderer like a prey, and shouted heartbreakingly:
"Ayao!!!!"
“Boom——!”
The thunder in the sky came unexpectedly, and a dense blue-purple electric grid suddenly appeared in the air, lingering around the wanderer. It felt the oppressive breath and immediately spat out the human in its mouth and tried to escape, but at that moment it was wrapped in the rapidly shrinking electric grid and struck to ashes, emitting a painful hissing sound.
A Yao fell to the ground like a kite with a broken string, and landed on the edge of the patrol car. His right shoulder was bitten and bloody, and he choked on it.
"Ayao!"
Upon seeing this, Chen Yan and the rest of his teammates immediately rushed over to help him up, their panic-stricken voices unable to conceal: "Hold on, I'll take you to see a doctor!"
"Captain...Captain..."
A Yao's pale and tender face was covered in blood. He widened his eyes and pointed to his wrist with difficulty. The data representing his health was rapidly disappearing. He uttered a few words with his dying breath: "Take... away... take it away quickly..."
His last words were: "Don't waste..."
He let Chen Yan take away his health.
Don't waste those lives, don't waste those times.
This is the last words of most poor people before they die.
Chen Yan's eyes were red, and he almost bit his teeth off: "What do I need your life value for! You better hold on for me, if you die, no one will take care of you!"
He took off his watch in a hurry and wanted to transfer health points to A Yao. However, the time on the other's wrist passed more than ten times faster than that of a normal person, just like the blood gushing out of his shoulder. No matter how much was transferred, it would soon be consumed.
At this moment, a bony hand suddenly pushed the crowd apart. The man's deep voice sounded very familiar, like a stone that calmed everyone's panic: "Let me see his injuries."
Chen Yan turned around subconsciously and found that the person who came was actually Lu Yan. He was the one who dealt with the third-level wanderer just now. However, A Yao's condition was too critical, and everyone didn't care about him for the time being. After hearing the words, they dispersed and made room for him.
Lu Yan squatted down and helped A Yao up. He found that he was still breathing, so he fed him a small bottle of recovery potion that he had exchanged for points from the system. The flow rate of the health points on his wrist slowed down visibly, and his pale and blue face finally softened a little.
Lu Yan opened A Yao's eyelids and took a look, then said to Chen Yan, "Is there a team doctor? Hurry up and bandage his wound to stop the bleeding."
Chen Yan came back to his senses after hearing this and said incoherently, "Yes! Yes! Quick, quick, call the team doctor over!!"
Now the hospital gate was closed, with only a few basic team doctors accompanying them. A Yao had almost been to the gates of death, but was saved by Lu Yan and brought back to life. Chen Yan wiped the blood or tears off his face, wanting to cry and laugh at the same time. The iron-clad man's eyes actually turned red: "Brother, you saved us again. I... I really don't know how to thank you."
"It's just a small favor, why should I say thank you?"
Lu Yan just happened to pass by. He looked up at the sky after he finished speaking and found that the wanderers who were lingering around had not dispersed yet. He frowned slightly and asked, "Why are there only patrol teams and the special power team outside?"
Chen Yan shook his head: "Sky City is short of manpower. The superpower team went to protect the core leaders. We are responsible for the areas outside. However, those high-level wanderers have already rushed out of the aerial checkpoints."
Breaking through the aerial checkpoint means that they all went to the Devil City.
Lu Yan's face changed slightly when he heard that, and he subconsciously wanted to go and take a look, but he remembered something, took two steps and turned back, he turned his wrist, and suddenly a huge electric grid shot out from his palm, covering all the wanderers who were hovering in the sky like a dark pressure.
“Boom——!”
Dark clouds rolled in the sky, thunder rumbled, and lightning flashed continuously. The vagrants that the patrol team had been clearing out for an hour without any success were suddenly turned into ashes in the blink of an eye. Their screams of pain almost broke the night sky. The scene was so shocking that it took a long time for people to recover.
Lu Yan wiped out most of the wanderers in the area, and only withdrew when he felt his supernatural power was exhausted. Little did he know that Chen Yan and his teammates standing nearby were dumbfounded. Even the soldiers who were performing shooting missions on patrol cars in the distance stopped their actions. Their astonished eyes passed through the crowd in the dark, and without exception, they all fell on the tall figure.
Chen Yan took a step forward subconsciously. He could not hide his shock. His lips moved several times before he spoke: "Brother, you..."
Lu Yan stood in the distance and gave him an OK gesture: "My name is Lu Yan. If you need any help next time, please come to me. I have something else to do, so I'll leave first."
He hurried to chase after those fourth-level wanderers. As soon as he finished speaking, he disappeared into the darkness. The other patrolmen came up to him, excited, and asked:
"Captain, who is he? He's so awesome!!!"
"When did you get to know such a powerful psychic!"
"It's late at night, where is he going?"
Chen Yan's head was dizzy, and he didn't hear the first few sentences clearly. He only heard the last sentence. He raised his hand and slowly took off his hat, squinting his eyes and looking into the distance. There was still blood between his nose wings, and he sighed and said:
"Maybe he went to Devil's Town."
Although the word "maybe" was used, Chen Yan was inexplicably certain that Lu Yan must have gone there.
There was a group of abandoned people living in an abandoned city. The sun rose and set countless times, but the light never fell on them.
Nature did not eliminate them, but a utopia on the clouds kept them out.
Chen Yan thought that the precarious city had not collapsed completely after all. Even if only a few people among the millions were willing to go against the flow, the fire would not be extinguished.
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