Chapter 1 Gray Mist

Suddenly, within a two-kilometer radius, all the corpses emitted gray mist, gathering remotely around Hela.

Hela abruptly opened her eyes, but her pupils no longer possessed a dark red glow. Instead, they were a deep gray. Cracking sounds came from her body as her injuries began to heal. In just a few breaths, the bones that had been shattered into pieces were basically corrected, and the shocking wound on her abdomen closed and scabbed over.

"Ha, she's not dead!" Han Xiao exclaimed in surprise.

Looking at this scene, wasn't this the legendary unkillable cockroach exploding with cosmic power? What doesn't kill me makes me stronger, just like how the close-combat mage Gandalf was directly upgraded to a White Robe Knight after narrowly escaping death.

As expected of the future Goddess of Death, unleash your Musou, sister!

Hela sat up, the gray mist dissipated, and her pupils returned to their normal color. She coughed violently, appearing extremely weak. "Go, leave me. My condition is too bad."

Han Xiao's mouth twitched.

Damn, so all this commotion wasn't her unleashing Musou? Was she just messing with him? His excitement had been for nothing. She was too weak!

"Right, I remember she has a specialty called [Ignore Instant Death]. When her health is below 1%, she gains a special state. I thought it meant ignoring instant death attacks, but it turns out it's a life-locking near-death recovery. Her vitality is really tenacious. This specialty must have a cooldown limit," Han Xiao thought to himself.

The enemies surrounded them. He was in poor condition, and Hela had become a burden. Their situation was extremely bad.

"Didn't you say you'd abandon me when necessary? Now is the time. Leave quickly!" Hela said, her face pale, barely managing to force the words out between her teeth. She pressed her hand against Han Xiao's chest, trying to push him away.

"Okay." Han Xiao nodded decisively. He wasn't the kind of person to be indecisive. This was the best choice at the moment. There was no point in staying. He wouldn't make such a futile decision.

Even though Hela was a potential investment he wanted to win over, he would not hesitate to abandon her if necessary.

Seeing that Han Xiao didn't waste time with hesitation, Hela finally breathed a sigh of relief. "My sister, leave her to…"

However, at that moment, Han Xiao's communicator rang with an unfamiliar voice.

"Hey, I see you guys. Hang on!"

Han Xiao had a feeling. He looked south and saw three heavy, unmarked armored SUVs appearing on the side of the battlefield, speeding toward them in a triangular formation.

Germination's armed helicopters flew over to meet these uninvited guests. Han Xiao's zoomed-in vision clearly saw the leading SUV lower its window, revealing a slender, white female hand. On her fair wrist was a string of red pearls.

The next moment, raging flames ignited out of thin air in her palm, instantly transforming into a roaring fire dragon that swept across the sky, turning several armed helicopters into exploding fireballs.

Boom!

The helicopters crashed.

The three vehicles drove past the burning wreckage.

"The reinforcements are here!" Han Xiao felt a huge weight lift from his heart. He patted Hela's face and smiled. "Looks like you don't have to stay here and wait to die."

The reinforcement team members were elites selected by the six nations, all Supers, and well-equipped.

The three heavy armored SUVs charged into the battlefield, tearing apart the Germination forces' encirclement. The female pyrokinetic unleashed a sea of fire without restraint.

This wasn't ordinary fire, but a special pyrokinetic flame generated through qi. It would inevitably cause an explosion upon impact. It was called explosive flame and was one of the more powerful forms of pyrokinetic flame.

After just one glance, Han Xiao judged that this woman was a Class C Super.

Just as the Germination forces were preparing to turn their guns, the three heavy armored SUVs simultaneously ejected smoke-screen-like thick smoke from their undercarriages, which quickly spread to cover half the battlefield, obscuring vision.

The Germination forces immediately lost their targets, unable to see even their comrades. Visibility was less than a meter.

A chorus of coughs rang out in the thick smoke. The smoke contained irritating components similar to tear gas.

"Where are the enemies?! I can't see, cough, cough—"

"Too choking, cough, cough."

"New enemies have appeared, requesting instructions, urgh, requesting instructions!"

"Radar malfunction, the enemy has electromagnetic interference!"

Germination's side was thrown into chaos. The four veteran executives decisively followed their memories from before their vision was obscured, rushing toward the most important target, Han Xiao, only to discover that he was no longer in the same place.

"Not good, he's running away!" Jeros exclaimed in alarm. "Who can sense his location?"

The three martial artists stared at each other, dumbfounded.

They were good at smashing things, but finding people was not within their scope of expertise.

Inris, who could sense the earth, had considerable sensory abilities, but she had already been shot down.

In the thick smoke, Han Xiao carried Hela over his shoulder like a sack. The reinforcement team directed him via communicator, and he soon found the three armored SUVs. The lead vehicle opened its rear door, and Han Xiao jumped in without a word.

Inside were three people: a Sharnuk driver with sunglasses and a leather jacket, a Caucasian woman in a combat uniform in the passenger seat, with red pearls on her wrist, the same fire-wielding Super who had displayed great power, and a person of East Asian descent in the back seat operating a control panel on the roof that was clearly a modification.

"We've picked up the person, let's retreat immediately!" the Sharnuk driver said in a deep voice.

The three vehicles changed direction, broke through the smoke, and sped away.

The Germination forces regrouped and chased after them, with helicopters following from a distance, wary of the fire controller's power and afraid to get too close.

"We're safe…" Hela was about to say something when Han Xiao hurriedly covered her mouth.

Just be quiet!

The East Asian person looked at Han Xiao and smiled. "Long time no see. We finally picked you up. I'm Tang Tang from the Star Dragon Thirteenth Bureau. The director has been mentioning you a lot recently. You've really done something big. He's Alo Pae of Tilius, and this lady is Dannina of Red Maple…"

"Alright, stop talking nonsense." Dannina snapped without looking back. "We've picked up the person. The enemy is behind us. Which way do we go?"

Tang Tang: "Mm, they have reinforcements behind them. Don't stop to fight. We'll take the planned route. We should be able to shake off Germination's sight in about half a day and return to a concealed state."

"Why didn't you use a plane?" Hela asked, regaining some strength.

"Do you think flying through Germination's territory is inconspicuous, or do you want us to be targets in the sky?" Dannina said sharply.

The reinforcement team had a total of three vehicles. He didn't know who was in the other two vehicles for now.

He had successfully joined up with the rescue team, and were temporarily entangled by Germination's pursuers, but fortunately, they had already broken through. As long as they took some time, they could shake off the pursuers.

Han Xiao breathed a sigh of relief. The six nations' help was something he had traded information for. It felt good to have support.

Besides Tang Tang, the other two people in the car frequently observed Han Xiao through the rearview mirror. They were all aces from their respective six nations. This joint operation was launched with great fanfare just to protect one target. After learning about Han Xiao's shocking deeds from the written information, they were naturally curious when they saw the person in real life.

These people, who had stolen important information from Germination's headquarters and fought their way out, were all arrogant people, and couldn't help but size up Han Xiao.

They escaped for two hours, and the vegetation gradually thinned out, the ground turned to sand, and they entered a desert from the wasteland. This was once a nuclear bomb explosion zone, with high radiation concentration and no grass growing. They could cross the desert in eight hours, and beyond the desert was a more complex hilly terrain. They had to avoid the Germination bases along the way... Tang Tang explained the route.

At this time, Han Xiao's built-in computer received a communication request.

It was a call from the Leader.

"Not bad, you broke through the encirclement of the New Stone Wasteland." The Leader's tone was calm, not as furious as expected, and Han Xiao immediately became vigilant.

Something was off!

"Heh, do you think you're safe?" The Leader sneered. "Do you think I really didn't know about that infiltration team that secretly operated in my territory for several days, thinking they weren't discovered?"

Han Xiao's expression froze, and he had a bad feeling.

"I didn't deal with them all along, just waiting for this opportunity. I can't pinpoint your location, but I can track them. I know you're going to rendezvous with the reinforcement team. By combining your location and route with their position, I can at least calculate the location where you will rendezvous in advance. That's right, your reinforcement team came to the eastern New Stone Wasteland, which means you will break through from this direction, and I knew about it more than ten hours ago."

"Zero, you're not omniscient, are you?"

The Leader's tone was full of murderous intent.

"Open your eyes and take a good look at the—graveyard—I prepared for you!"

Han Xiao suddenly looked out the window, and saw dense, massed, hidden troops on the sand dunes far in all directions, dozens of armed helicopters circling in the sky, hundreds of sandbag emplacements with machine guns, and soldiers holding submachine guns, revolving grenade launchers, and other various firearms, ready and waiting.

The number was several times more than the pursuers!