Bai Yu stared fixedly at the window for more than ten seconds before his gaze finally landed on his bound hands.
Presumably to prevent him from resisting, the people who captured him had tied the ropes very tightly. However, after carefully studying them for a few moments, Bai Yu figured out how to untie himself.
After carefully checking around to make sure there really were no surveillance devices, Bai Yu felt a bit more at ease.
He brought his wrists close to his mouth and began biting at the knot with his teeth.
Within a minute or two, the rope around his wrists loosened.
Bai Yu rubbed his wrists together, and they quickly came free. The rope dangled loosely, hanging by his wrists.
Frowning, he stuck out his tongue in disgust, took the binding rope in his hand, and stared back at the window, which reflected a mass of dark clouds.
In just a short span of a few minutes, the dark clouds had expanded significantly. The faint sound of artillery fire could be heard, and a haze of smoke was drifting up beneath the storm clouds.
Bai Yu’s expression grew a bit more solemn.
He had to escape as quickly as possible.
Approaching the window to test the height, Bai Yu retreated to the tightly closed metal door, took a running start for leverage, reached the windowsill nearly two meters high with both hands, and pulled himself up. He clung precariously to the window glass, his feet resting on a windowsill only about fifteen centimeters wide, where he could slip and fall at any moment.
Looking closer, Bai Yu noticed that the surface was covered in signs of destruction. Clearly, other capable individuals had attempted to escape through the window just like him. However, although the metal bars reinforcing the window bore numerous dents and scratches, the window remained intact and firmly in place.
Bai Yu’s mood grew even heavier.
This window must be made of some special material.
Pressing against the window glass to look outside, he immediately saw a fierce combat zone unfolding. At the edge of the town, near the hillside, more than a dozen robust frontline mercenaries were fighting with guns and artillery against the Taifeng pouring in through a gap in the town. Gunfire and explosions thundered, yet even when struck, those Taifeng continued to advance, dragging their maimed and broken limbs. Their wounds did not bleed red; instead, viscous blue fluid oozed out, staining their yellow fur before being washed away by the rain, making them look utterly repulsive.
They looked like humans draped in tiger fur, with fierce and malevolent expressions, running on all fours yet moving with extraordinary speed. Wherever they passed, dark clouds covered the sky and rain poured down in sheets. The frontline mercenaries were already thoroughly soaked; the heavy downpour impaired their judgment and aim, and the Taifeng took advantage of their agile movements, lashing out directly at the mercenaries with sharp claws. Wounds immediately spurted blood, which was violently washed down to the ground by the heavy rain, pooling into a crimson expanse.
Bai Yu discovered that his eyesight had improved significantly after transmigrating, and the expanse of bloody red made his heart leap into his throat.
Yet soon, he realized things were not that simple. It seemed the Taifeng that had just charged forward were merely probing.
Immediately after, the torrential rain abruptly stopped, and the dark clouds above swirled into terrifying vortexes, resembling tornadoes from a weather report. The next moment, the heavy rain directly condensed into numerous water spears, like dozens of times magnified needle tips, and with piercing shrieks, they hurtled downwards like a sword formation, striking directly at the flesh and blood of those frontline mercenaries.
Upon seeing this, the mercenaries wore looks of utter terror and scrambled to scatter, fleeing outside the attack range of the Taifeng.
Even so, several people who ran too slowly were caught. One person was pierced straight through the crown of the head by a water spear, their entire body impaled by the sharp stream of water. It seemed the water spear was still churning violently inside their body, and shortly after, with a muffled bang, bloody and whitish viscous matter splattered out from the human body. That shattered corpse slammed violently onto the ground, only to be struck by other mercilessly falling water spears, quickly tearing the body limb from limb.
Seeing these scenes, Bai Yu was completely frozen.
Is this a world with abilities and high technology?
It is far too bloody and cruel.
From the looks of it, humans are at a complete disadvantage.
But why, even though humans have abilities, are no ability users seen stepping forward to deal with these ability-wielding monsters?
An ability monster at merely level 2 could possess such immense lethality. If the monsters broke through the defense line and charged into the town, how many innocent people would die as a result?
It seemed that when he was captured, he even heard those people mention something about Ling infection, likely implying that these monsters could bring about a certain kind of contamination that was absolutely harmful to humans. Under such circumstances, wouldn’t the town’s situation be even more perilous?
In the mere seconds of his contemplation, several more frontline mercenaries were killed or injured.
Bai Yu watched with a growing sense of panic and dread.
He had thought that humanity in the apocalypse already lived a harrowing existence where life and death were completely out of their control, but this transmigrated world seemed even crueler.
What was even more astonishing was that the town residents, who were not close to the battlefield, were still going about their own business as though the battle taking place in that corner was just casual conversation, treated as routine and commonplace.
A stark numbness was plain for all to see.
However, just as Bai Yu almost forgot his initial motive of escaping and focused on the distant battle situation, a squad suddenly rushed in from another direction.
It turned out to be mechs!
Humanoid mechs, which only had preliminary research results in the apocalypse!
Bai Yu was stunned for a moment.
Shortly after, he noticed the battle situation easing up.
Once the mechs joined the fray, they launched a barrage of bombings directly at the dark clouds in the sky.
Instantly, the cloud layer dissipated, and those water spears vanished abruptly.
The Taifeng prepared to unleash their abilities again to gather the dark clouds, but the mechs were far faster than them.
The battle situation for the frontline mercenaries, who had previously been chased and beaten by the Taifeng, was instantly reversed.
Only then did Bai Yu snap out of his spectator mindset.
Once the battle over there ended, those people would quickly notice that he was trying to escape!
Bai Yu’s mood instantly grew heavier, and he immediately pulled back his focus.
Yet he still found it strange: even mechs had been deployed, but not a single ability user was seen joining the fight. Could it be that these level 2 monsters were not even worthy of an ability user making a move?
Bai Yu set his sights on the window again, using his hand to tap on the window bars and scraping against the somewhat yellowish window glass through the gaps.
A metallic creaking sound rang out, yet the bars didn’t budge at all.
His frown deepened.
How could he break these sturdy, hard metal bars and smash the glass to escape?
Bai Yu glanced downward. Although this was several stories high, there were outward-protruding windowsills and drainage pipes. For someone who had practiced the seventy-two arts of Shaolin since childhood, this wasn’t a particularly difficult task.
Withdrawing his gaze, Bai Yu reached out to grab the window bars and shook them hard, but they still didn’t budge. Even breaking the outer glass wouldn’t allow him to escape.
If only the window could shatter on its own, just like special effects in the movies, collapsing into scrap iron the moment it was touched.
At this moment, Bai Yu felt discouraged, having already indulged in unrealistic fantasies.
Still, he brought his mind back to reality.
If he couldn’t escape through the window, his only option was to wait for an opportunity in this confinement room. When someone came to open the door, he would capture them in one fell swoop and take them hostage in an attempt to escape.
Bai Yu frowned tightly and began plotting alternative plans in detail.
However, right at that moment, Bai Yu felt the metal bars in his grip suddenly begin to flow.
He was startled and instinctively pulled his hand back. How could metal possibly flow?
He stared intently at them. Right before his eyes, the metal bars first softened and writhed, and then, with a bang, shattered into tiny particles that fell down one after another.
Bai Yu heard only the rustling sound of metal particles striking the windowsill, followed by them sliding down along the high wall and spilling into the confinement room.
In just an instant, Bai Yu was dumbfounded.
These metal bars broke the moment they were touched, and shattered so thoroughly, what on earth was going on here?
In a daze, he fixed his gaze on the thick glass still standing in the window. If the metal bars could shatter, the glass should be able to shatter too. He had to seize every second to escape!
However, the moment this fantasy crossed his mind, the glass shattered instantly as well, transforming into fine, crumbling particles that cascaded down, bypassing even the step where the metal bars softened and flowed.
Looking at the suddenly clear view outside the window, Bai Yu widened his eyes in astonishment.
The light that shone in came in direct lines, striking Bai Yu, who was wearing a lab coat, and casting a soft glow, no longer tinted with that slightly dim, yellowish hue.
Bai Yu froze in silence.
The things happening right now completely shattered his worldview.
Could it be that he actually possessed an ability as well, such as psychokinesis or something similar?
Yet right at that moment, Bai Yu heard the sound of a door lock turning at the entrance. He widened his eyes again and quickly turned his head to look.
He saw a testing station staff member appear at the doorway. The staff member’s lab coat fluttered slightly in the breeze blowing in from the window the moment the door opened. However, the person was staring straight at Bai Yu, their jaw dropping in profound shock and their eyes widened in disbelief.
Seeing someone there, Bai Yu’s heart instantly sank to rock bottom.
His escape attempt had been discovered by the people here!
Almost instantly, Bai Yu made up his mind: he had to escape immediately!
He instantly snapped his gaze away from the staff member, looked out the window, and without a second thought, jumped straight down.
Yet this action instantly snapped the shocked staff member back to reality.
That was metal and glass capable of withstanding attacks from at least a level 3 Elite ability user, yet it had been smashed by this suspect, who had been tested as having no abilities, allowing him to successfully escape!
The person actually had an ability?!
And it was no lower than level 3!
Even though the machine hadn’t detected the other party’s ability, nor any contraband capable of concealing abilities, the facts were already laid out before his eyes!
This strange unregistered ability user was neither a certified ability user nor a defected wanderer, he could be extremely dangerous!
Seeing Bai Yu leap recklessly out of the multi-story window, the staff member became even more certain of this.
However, for such a person to appear in their South Village Town, which belonged to the slums, was an incalculable danger. It had to be reported immediately!
Almost in a flash, the staff member turned to the side and heavily pressed the alarm button.
Now that the Taifeng were attacking, the occurrence of this incident only added insult to injury for an already murky situation!
Bai Yu jumped down with resolute decisiveness and landed smoothly on the windowsill of the floor below on the other side.
His mind rapidly calculated an escape route, planning his path down while gazing into the distance, his powerful memory quickly committing the town’s street layout to locking.
Hearing the piercing alarm blaring from the direction of the confinement room, Bai Yu felt a surge of urgency, yet his mind only grew calmer.
He took out the rope tucked around his waist, stretched out to tie it to a nearby drainpipe, vaulted over, and used the rope to guide himself in sliding rapidly down the pipe.
Everything went smoothly.
Behind the testing station was a somewhat dilapidated asphalt road, surrounded by several side streets and alleys with numerous old shops. At this time, there were very few people around, making it easier to blend in and escape.
Soon, Bai Yu reached the ground. The moment his feet touched the pavement, his suspended heart instantly settled.
He had no time to dwell on it. Giving one last glare at the confinement room, which was still blaring its alarm, he immediately turned and ran toward the back alley.
However, right at that moment, standing right in a small alley directly facing the direction of the testing station was a tall, long-legged man with an upright posture.
He was draped in a black cloak with a hood. His head was obscured by the hood, leaving only a few strands of fine black hair and fair skin exposed on his forehead, while his high nose bridge and everything below it were covered by a black mask. Those slender, deep eyes were a rare shade of red.
At this moment, his brows and eyes were stern, and he was staring fixedly at him.
Bai Yu was instantly stunned. When on earth did this man appear?!
When he was on the windowsill, he hadn’t seen such a mysterious and eerie figure at all!
What was he trying to do?! Why was he staring at him? Was he in cahoots with the people who captured him?!
Yet soon, the thoughts in his mind were shattered by another notion.
This mysterious man also had black hair and red eyes, giving him a sense of déjà vu.
Lately, he had constantly been having a strange dream, repeatedly, across many occasions, and the contents of this dream had even popped up abruptly right when he was locked in that confinement room.
The powerful black figure in the dream also had black hair and red eyes. It seemed he was always searching for the other person, wanting to save him.
After waking up, many details were hazy. He even found it strange: how could someone so powerful be waiting for him to save them?
His own self-interpretation of the dream was that he himself was trapped in a predicament, yearning for someone to come and rescue him, pulling him from the shackles of the research center and restoring health to his dying body.
Originally, he hadn’t cared about such a frequently recurring dream, but upon seeing this familiar figure, a bizarre feeling inexplicably welled up inside him.
Was this dream real or fake after all?
And he couldn’t help associating it with another matter that had just popped into his mind: the brick-thick book that had suddenly appeared at home, containing handwriting he couldn’t even remember writing.
The key terms were dreams and sacrifice.
Could all these things truly be interconnected internally?
However, before he could think deeply, almost in the blink of an eye, the mysterious man staring at him suddenly vanished into thin air.
Bai Yu was stunned for a moment, thinking he was seeing things. But the next instant, he realized what was going on.
This mysterious man was definitely an ability user!
“Quick! Catch him! He must have escaped into those alleys!”
At that moment, a stern and urgent voice rang out, accompanied by seven or eight hurried footsteps. Bai Yu snapped back to reality instantly, the people from the testing station were pursuing him!
RUN!
Bai Yu had no time to hesitate. He bolted straight into the small alley where the mysterious man had just been standing.