Chapter 97: Blue Ocean Runaway
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
At the passageway for spacecrafts, Ye Chong hid at the corner with his eyes focused on the path as he discovered the substantial increase in the number of cops. He frowned slightly, wondering if the police force was in cahoots with the Black Covers. If that was the case, Black Cove was truly meant for retrieval this time as they actually took the trouble to gang up with the security force just to prevent Ye Chong from running away easily. Without a spacecraft, he would not be able to perform a space warp. Even if he were to use a master-craft like Mu to run away without leaping through the space-time continuum, it would be far-fetched for him to fly beyond the proximity of the police force, since eventually, a few hundred thousands or even millions of kilometers were considered a pathetic length in the boundless universe.
Despite being drastically outnumbered by his foes, Ye Chong trusted his strength. It would not be that difficult to infiltrate the area. "Let’s do this!" Ye Chong was going to lift his steps, then his eyes discerned something - a number of mechs from the Black Cove lurking at an overlooked corner, coveting their prey to fall in.
The idea was scrapped.
That would not work! Ugh, such a pain in the head! Even if I did manage to sneak in, it would be pointless if I could not launch the flight promptly. Any spacecraft would be as slow as a snail without performing space-warping in comparison with the mechs. With those Black Covers’ mechs at the corner, launching a flight promptly would be just a dream! A wild dream! He would be shot into a beehive before he could even boot the engines.
He then wondered if he could catch one of the spacecrafts taking off being that uninvited guest to the flight and escape.
Sadly, there was no miracle for Ye Chong that day.
He peeked for quite a while but there was simply no spacecraft taking off.
"Ye," Mu’s voice broke the silence. "Let’s just go. The spacecrafts are not flying here anytime soon."
"What do you mean… Oh!" Ye Chong was dumbfounded as he figured out what Mu probably had meant. "Mu, don’t tell me they are actually holding back all the spacecrafts here? But wouldn’t this cause a mess at the port or something?"
"Look at this," Mu explained as he read on the extract.
"According to the latest news at the center, the local government of the Blue Ocean Planet has validated the possible infection of the virus, Charles-II. As stated by the ‘Treaty of uncommon and dangerous microorganism spread-control in the 5 galaxies’, any flight beyond the planet would be forbidden from today onwards. In addition, all residents are strongly advised to perform a body check-up at any local hospital or temporary inspection center in the following 3 days. This is to ensure your safety and others. As reported, reinforcement would arrive to provide assistance to the local police forces for the time being. In addition, please make sure that everyone of your family and friends had performed their checkups. If not, please do advise them to do so immediately. If they are showing resistance, kindly contact your nearest police station for not only your safety but your family’s…"
Wow, such coincidence, of all times a virus could have appeared. Ye Chong was troubled.
This was more than a mere coincidence! This couldn’t be a coincidence! If this is some dangerous Charles virus actually thrashing mankind, then what were those Black Covers doing with their killing machines here? Were they… Were they here for me?
Ye Chong speculated so unconvincingly. Though feeling unconvinced, whatever he had deduced made more sense as he thought over time.
"Mu, do you think they are here for us?" asked Mu.
"As shown in my data, the probability is roughly between 72% and 76%," Mu stated calmly.
It was puzzling for Ye Chong. Assuming there would be no spacecraft for him to hop on, his mobility would be severely limited while it would only be a matter of time before he got cornered and there would not be another plot twist for him by then. Game over. However, Ye Chong was bothered as he felt something amiss. While the Black Cove took such a hassle to get him, the FMPA did not seem to have initiated anything - they were quiet, too quiet. Ye Chong did not bet his life on them though. It was just a glimpse of speculation flashing in his head.
How should I get away with this? Ye Chong cracked his head thinking.
"Ye!" Mu’s voice echoed. "Go to the north of Jesha zone, the place where you did your training. Take care and stay low."
Ye Chong was more than merry to hear the instruction from Mu knowing that Mu must had gotten some brilliant idea for his escape! As he finally got a plan, time had elevated as his primary concern. "There’s no time to waste." He sneaked out of the passageway and hit the street. He lowered his body as he weaved through the crowds. Soundlessly he hastened his journey to north. The Harmony of the Winter Aria had already been kept back to the alternate dimension. He would not be foolish enough to deploy such badly damaged piece of mech in the public. A mech this broken would only be much more outstanding than a potential outlaw like Ye Chong!
The number of police officers on the street had blatantly increased. They patrolled the area and scanned for suspicions among the pedestrians from time to time. Fortunately, Ye Chong was more than familiar with this game of urban jungle escape after an epic chase on the mech one after another. Additionally, Mu provided pointers on spot regarding his motion - whether to stop at one point or to move straightaway to the alley; whether to take a look into the window pretending shopping or to take the corner at the store. A moment later, Ye Chong had arrived at the forbidden flight zone without much trouble.
It was the same old place he knew - a deserted desert, with veils of sandstorm, darkness and fuzzy vision on both naked and mechanical eyes.
"So… Mu, you have brought me here." Ye Chong asked out of curiosity, "Does that mean you found a spacecraft here?"
"Nope."
"Then why are we here?" Ye Chong questioned in confusion.
To travel this desert zone, Ye Chong had to deploy Harmony. Tick! He slid into his cabin and activated the interface. Harmony did not seem to be in a good shape, as anyone could tell. Hak’s final blow to Harmony was mortal, with the spikes skimming inches away from Ye Chong’s cabin. If Hak did intend to kill, Ye Chong would have been dead. And if the spikes of Kai’s fist was much broader, the mech would be permanently beyond repair.
Beep.
Ye Chong was still able to boot the engines! Apparently, the circuits were not overly damaged. It looked like Ye Chong had not run out of luck, even though the energy remained in the battery was pitifully scarce after that much struggle - only about half was left.
Ye Chong browsed through the projected news on the processor from Mu.
"As specified by the original schedule, Fred the Great who has been on a galactic tour would be making his arrival at Blue Ocean Planet in 3 days time. Report shows that Fred the Great would also be stopping by the planet for about 7 days. He would be visiting some well-known scenic spots and give a talk at Blue Ocean Academy on the very last day. Based on what the great one had told, apparently the aim of his tour this time is to look for inspiration…"
"And that is the news from 2 days ago," Mu spoke stilly.
Ye Chong’s eyes lustered, "That means, he would be arriving in a day?"
"Mhm, if it is a day away…" He did not wait for Mu to answer as he began plotting, "That means he’s close enough for us to work on something… First we could pilot a mech to leave Blue Ocean Planet then we hijack his ride. After that, we could go wherever we want from there!"
"But wait…" Ye Chong knotted his brows. There was a catch it seemed, "That dude we are dealing with did not look like any folk from the street. I think it’s still quite hard for me to actually hijack a huge spacecraft with a mech alone, especially when Harmony seemed pretty busted at this instance."
"Alone? Are you alone?" Mu rebutted.
"Who else?" Ye Chong was bewildered, "Who else would there be? Is there anyone else? Oh, Mu, you are telling me that you are finally making a debut?" Ye Chong could not believe what a crazy assumption he had just made. It had been quite some time since Mu helped him out directly after leaving Trash Planet-12.
"Well." Mu worded with no emotions, "I had performed calculations on the data available. With the current condition of Harmony and you, the possibility of hijacking a spacecraft successfully alone would be less than 15%. That includes the chances of you acting up out of sudden during the operation. After much consideration, this would be the correct move to the situation."
"Right…" Taking his current condition into account, he agreed that Mu’s decision was undeniably the best. His mind relaxed as he thought about Mu’s full participation in the big escape this time. Confidence went inflating in him uncontrollably. Was there anything in this world that would hinder the great Mu?
He took the suggestion to heart yet he did not make his move right away. Instead, he took a look around Harmony, just to make sure nothing could go wrong on his side or even if something would, Harmony could still arm itself to fight. And he blasted off through the fluttering shrouds of dust particles into the sky!
The heavy sandstorm and thrashing turbulence were the treacherous signs for this zone, which however had become an unbeatable camouflage for Ye Chong and Mu!
The anti-detection system in Harmony might not be as overpowered as those from the Black Coves, yet it still was an exceptional device. It was a mech secret in production by the Ji family after all. It was outstanding compared to those junks at the flea market!
…
Hak glanced at the scratches on Kai sympathetically. It was not bad but it was irritating to Hak. The scratches were not an issue, the engines were however. They were exclusive to the Black Covers and could only be fixed at the Black Cove. Hak would have to make his travel back to the Black Cove if he wanted to carry on his hunt. At the moment he could do nothing but to look at his mech in blank dismay.
No. 58 was no doubt a terrifying character indeed!
Hak had brought 10 men from Black Cove this time and he had lost 6 of them in between. It sounded like a painful loss but Hak only expressed an uprising cunningness in his eyes towards the 6 men’s death. "Hehe… it did work out my way." Johansson’s death was heartbreaking enough for him to stone upon in the next few moments, since he was the strongest man other than No.58 in the F group of his. Well, it did turn out to be the happiest news to the other groups.
None of the 6 men were from the F group. However, they were outsourced from the other groups, taking into consideration that there was nobody in the F group who was capable enough to join this operation after Johansson’s death. Hak wanted to do something in the dark to take out a few of these outsourced obstacles in the team, just to knock down the other groups for his own benefits. Taking members of the other groups out equals to better chances of his Group-F excelling! His wish was granted but he never expected No.58 to be this potent to take out 6 of them at once. If Hak was able to get him back to the Black Cove, then F group would be… and then he would be … Hehehehehehehehehehehehehe…
The scheme set off blazing in his heart!
A knock on the door interrupted the nasty plot in his mind. Oh yeah, he was staying with the Ji family. Hak formerly held no impression towards the Ji family other than being a leech to the Black Cove’s authority, but he was very much impressed this time by the surprises. The Ji family was much more formidable than he thought. The 2 mechs Ji family had crafted were about the average level of a standard mech at the Black Cove, with a few perks that the Black Cove could not compete at that moment - that lance for instance!
And it was also because of the Ji family’s involvement in most of the activities this time around that No.58’s escape route was restricted using the forces of the local government on Blue Ocean, making him a fish ready to be netted. Moreover, it held those meddling pilots from FMPA from taking any reckless action. "Impressive…" Hak took back his disdain towards the Ji family.
"Come in," he shouted at the door.
It was Ji Shangyan who came to him. Hak was expressing much admiration and respect towards this fine young man. Not only he had menacing plots in his head, he was also a terrifically terrible character. A bad man to the core! One of his recent plots was the virus news. It worked like a charm.
"Shangyan?" Ji Shangyan was looking bad on his face as Hak asked grimly, "What happened? Shangyan!" Unlike most young men out there, Ji Shangyan was a courteous boy, even towards a uncle-nephew relationship, which was very pleasing to Hak.
"Uncle Hak…" His voice came weakly, "We tried… we tried to retrieve something potentially useful from that Ye Chong guy’s identity card but the result was shocking…"
"Oh? What is it?" Hak was intrigued.
"Every single bit of his information on the virtual networking system was gone… That includes his every record in the academy, which has been erased. We can’t even find any photographic reference of his now. Everything was wiped…," he laughed bitterly.
"Ah!" Hak screamed uncontrollably, "It can’t be!"
…
"Heh…" Dodging the patrolling mech in the sky of Blue Ocean cautiously, Ye Chong’s mech had better dexterity and velocity in smaller scope of travel. The hummingbirds were an additional surprise to Ye Chong’s journey. 5 hummingbird-detectors added could radically enlarge the range and accuracy of detection of Harmony! It also allowed stealth-mode detection too. Ye Chong believed that this was the most successful design added to the Harmony other than Blue Winter the lance.
He looked at the visuals projected in the hologram coming from the hummingbirds and gasped!