Transcendent Gene
Chapter 167: Mysterious Escape [1]

Chapter 167: Mysterious Escape [1]

Vooooooom!

Gio’s eyesight was instantly blocked by the blue light. If he had to describe what it felt like to be a holographic screen, this would have to be it.

The key thing was that he wasn’t being injured.

Gio’s body was completely unharmed within the inferno. At least, that was the case externally.

’I won’t get injured by my own Sequence...’ Gio thought through gritted teeth.

’But I still have to feel the pain, huh?’

It definitely wasn’t to the same extent as what an enemy would experience, but he could feel the flames ravaging his body, dropping him into a cold pit of water.

There was a buzzing in his ears that hurt more than most of his wounds, but he had to ignore it.

How was he supposed to uphold this level of energy drain? It was nonsense to believe this raging flame would last more than a few seconds. He had to move as fast as possible.

A new kind of energy went into his eyes. His sclera were tinged black as he focused on change.

The effects of his own Sequence were blotted out and portrayed in a different color from things happening outside his control. Hekat specifically separated the two for him.

He could see clearly the lifeform desperately fighting through the flames.

He trudged towards it as fast as he possibly could, bringing out his sword. He was already too exhausted to summon another weapon.

He pushed towards the doppelganger until his eyes returned to normal. He could see it even without having to sense change.

It was flailing around. Its eyesight didn’t work as well in this kind of environment, and as it felt its body being incinerated, its base instinct to escape returned.

How was Gio capable of this?

It did not expect such a situation in the slightest. It thought that a "Sequencer" as weak as Gio wouldn’t be able to do something so dangerous.

The doppelganger was correct. If he hadn’t set up the flame curtain beforehand, it would have been impossible to summon.

However, by using his previously thrown flames as a medium, he was able to use all of his energy to manifest it.

Seeing the state the doppelganger was in, he knew it was already worth it.

He ran up and swung his sword fiercely.

Shing!

It cut through the air and the flames, putting a gash in the monster’s side.

It screeched out, wildly swinging its claws. However, Gio had already retreated far away.

Shing!

He moved around and attacked it again, confusing its senses. He used random patterns and swung his sword from strange positions to make it completely lose track of his location.

He slowly brought the flame curtain inward, lessening his energy consumption and concentrating the force of what he used in the surrounding area.

The brightness became unbearable. The doppelganger was left blind.

SKREEEE!

Its screech reached the moon, yet still went unanswered. Gio cut and cut and cut until he lost track of what he was doing. He just knew that he had to keep cutting, keep cutting, and keep cutting until the enemy was no longer alive.

His brain became mushy as the exhaustion caught up to him, but he used Aether to force his adrenaline pumping, keeping himself wide awake.

The flames became smaller, but so did the doppelganger. It was swallowed piece by piece, turned into nothing more than a shrieking mess of slime.

And when the shrieking finally ended...

’It’s dead.’

There was barely any slime left. What did exist between the licks of flame vanishing into the ground was squirming and writhing around like it still thought it could survive, but that was only an action of instinct.

The doppelganger had been killed. It no longer had a mind or a voice. Its remnants could be considered alive for now, but they’d die soon enough.

’I can’t preserve them with something like a vial,’ Gio thought as he hastily collected the remaining sludge into a glass and metal container.

’I need to get this to the lab as soon as possible so Klyde can store it pro–’

He couldn’t finish the thought.

Bright lights suddenly flashed down from the sky, illuminating the entire alleyway.

The police had arrived.

There were several helicopters in the air with bright lights trained on Gio. When they appeared, the streets on either side of the alley were also blocked off by several charge vans.

"Put your hands up and stand by the wall! If you make any sudden movements, you will be seized by force!"

A voice played through a speaker that spread sound through the entire city block, accompanying the sirens coming from the cars on the ground.

Gio frowned as he glanced up, making sure to keep his face covered in his hood.

The sample he took was already hidden in his clothes, and the doppelganger’s remaining traces were incinerated.

’I have to go before they can approach...’

Gio stumbled forth, but he was suddenly overcome by a bout of dizziness. He’d been ignoring it for too long and now it refused to be ignored any longer.

’They brought helicopters.’

Still, he shook his head off.

The helicopters above were police units much weaker than omnicopters, but they only needed to be used in pursuit.

Gio couldn’t attack the police forces of this world easily. He especially couldn’t do so if the ones who came down from the helicopter were an Enforcer Unit.

’Shit.’

He put his hands up and slowly retreated towards the wall, pretending like he was listening to their orders.

In his current state, he couldn’t escape without falling to their weapons.

His eyes remained trained on the wall, looking for a way out. He plotted his way up the building behind him and prepared for the moment the other side engaged him.

He didn’t know how, but he’d find his way out.

Or, perhaps someone else would find it for him.

Crackle!

Bang!

All of a sudden, a new kind of light filled the sky. It was the colorful light of fireworks that exploded around the horde of helicopters.

"Yo!"

A woman’s voice echoed through the world. One of the spotlights swiveled to the roof of the building Gio leaned against, where its owner was standing.

She was wearing a hat and a mask covering the top half of her face, but the pink ponytail coming out of the back of the hat made her quite easy to spot.

Though, it wasn’t as if she was trying to hide herself.

"You...!"

The voice of the man on the speaker told that story well. He had already choked on his anger the moment she appeared.

"So he’s one of yours. You can’t take this one from us, Rabbit. Your little operation will be unraveled starting here."

"That guy?"

The woman on the roof grinned as she pointed at the ground.

"He’s not one of mine."

"There’s no point ly–"

"I’ve never lied to you once. You guys just suck at your jobs."

Despite using nothing to boost her vocals, the woman was somehow able to cut off the helicopter speaker.

Her grin contained a sense of confidence that came from the countless victories she’d won over the Enforcer Units of this world.

And this time...

"I’m going to be taking that one with me, so lay off."

Naturally, the police were not going to listen to her orders.

But she, the one titled "Moon Rabbit," had a reputation that preceded even her title.

To this day, she had encountered NEXUS’ Enforcer Units 372 times.

And to this day, she had escaped untouched 372 times.

Of course, it was an amazing thing for backup to appear at a time like this.

But the question in Gio’s head was:

Why?