The gate was already halfway down. Zhou Tianming had shifted most of his attention to Zhou Hanxiang, causing his rifle's accuracy to drop as he focused more on suppression than precision.
"Hurry! Faster!"
His gaze darted between the enemies and Hanxiang as he kept urging her on.
Suddenly, a man hidden behind a round pillar charged out through the gunfire, only to be hit by Zhou Tianming's bullet the next second.
But the man wore a fanatical grin as he laughed maniacally through the bullet impacts, raising his gun to fire at Hanxiang.
The bullet whistled through the air. Hanxiang's legs were still numb from her earlier jump off the building, making movement difficult. She couldn't dodge in time and was hit in the lower back.
The impact sent her sprawling to the ground, blood gushing out and staining her white lab coat red.
"Mom!"
Zhou Tianming rushed over and grabbed Hanxiang's arm, dragging her toward the door.
As soon as his gunfire stopped, the remaining Blue Cosmos members emerged from behind couches and the reception desk, raising their weapons to shoot.
Hanxiang shoved Tianming away just as bullets flew between them.
Tianming returned fire, forcing the Blue Cosmos members to duck back behind cover. Bullets tore through couches and the reception desk, sending stuffing and wood splinters flying everywhere.
The shots looked powerful but did no real damage to the enemies.
With the gate nearly closed behind them, Tianming gritted his teeth, forcing himself to stay calm as his mind raced.
Formulas from his past life surfaced in his mind, along with scenes from gunfight movies he'd watched.
Trajectories, ricochet angles, material properties of impacted objects...
He adjusted his aim, sending bullets into corners to create wild ricochets.
Applying mental calculations to these bouncing bullets, he completed the computations in an instant.
The next moment, the seemingly random ricochets became guided missiles—some striking the ceiling before arcing down to explode a head, others hitting the floor-wall junction to strike enemies hiding behind pillars from behind...
In a flash, the gunfire ceased as one by one, the figures behind cover fell.
Tianming lowered his gun and hurriedly pulled Hanxiang along as she struggled to push herself forward.
Just as they reached the gate about to exit, a blood-soaked woman crawled out from the second-floor corridor. Half her face was blown apart, her single remaining eye filled with madness as she pulled the trigger toward the doorway.
Her aim was off due to the missing eye, bullets sparking against the ground about two meters away before gradually walking toward them as she adjusted.
Tianming raised his gun to fire.
Click-click-click—!
The empty click of a spent magazine sounded.
As bullets closed in, Hanxiang suddenly stood up, her black shadow enveloping Tianming as she shielded him.
Tianming's pupils contracted in shock.
At the critical moment, he leaped up and kicked Hanxiang's arm, causing her to tumble sideways to the ground.
Zhou Tianming was exposed to the gunfire.
"Tianming!!"
As the bullets approached, Zhou Tianming, still mid-air, activated his Mental Commands.
[Concentration] [Sure Evade]
The world slowed down in his eyes. The bullets crawled forward, their red trajectories extending toward him.
The bullets came in staggered succession. Zhou Tianming positioned his rifle horizontally across his chest, tilting it slightly.
The first bullet struck the rifle and ricocheted upward, the immense force slamming him back to the ground. The subsequent bullets whizzed past his head.
The moment his feet touched the ground, Zhou Tianming bent his knees and kicked backward, leaping away.
The bullets chased his silhouette.
Repeating the same tactic, he blocked with his rifle.
The rifle shattered instantly. A bullet grazed his cheek, leaving a scorching mark as the impact sent him flying backward.
He hit the ground and rolled under the descending barrier gate just in time.
The next second—Boom!—dust erupted from the ground.
The gate sealed shut, bullets sparking against the metal surface in rapid succession.
Zhou Hanxiang lay weakly on the floor, blood pooling beneath her. Her pale face wore a relieved smile.
Upstairs in the corridor, the woman's eyes were wide with disbelief, her expression frozen in unwilling silence.
Outside the gate, Zhou Tianming tried to stand, but a sharp pain in his head sent him crashing back down.
Mindpower: 63/63
Gritting his teeth against the pain and dizziness, he crawled toward the gate.
"Tell me! How do I open this gate?!"
Inside, Zhou Hanxiang struggled to prop herself up, dragging a trail of blood as she inched toward the barrier.
Her voice was faint through the metal. "Go… quickly. Mom will find a way."
Clenching his jaw, Zhou Tianming refused to budge.
"Are you disobeying me the moment you wake up? I'll be fine. The gunshot isn't serious."
"What about the leaked chemicals…?"
"The lab's containment measures exist for this exact reason. As long as no one disrupts them, they won't spread here."
Zhou Hanxiang continued, "You said yourself—if you're caught, they'll take you away. Protecting yourself is what matters most. I'm a registered professor here. If I hold on until help arrives, I'll be saved."
Zhou Tianming fell silent, scanning the seamless metal gate for any weakness.
When he didn't respond, a flush of frustration colored Zhou Hanxiang's pallid face. Her voice rose sharply. "Zhou Tianming! Are you ignoring your mother?!"
Frowning, lips pressed tight, Zhou Tianming found no way to breach the gate. Finally, he sighed. "Give me a contact number. Once I'm safe, I'll call immediately. If you don't answer, I'm coming back."
Behind the gate, Zhou Hanxiang's expression softened with reluctant fondness. She recited her phone number.
Memorizing it, Zhou Tianming steeled himself. "I'm leaving. Answer the call."
Clutching his throbbing head, he turned and staggered away.
...
Inside the gate, Zhou Hanxiang panted, pressing a hand to the gunshot wound on her lower back. Blood seeped relentlessly through her fingers.
Tearing strips from her tattered lab coat, she bandaged the injury to stem the bleeding. The fabric soaked red quickly, but it slowed the blood loss.
Leaning against the gate, she hauled herself upright and limped toward a corpse to retrieve a rifle.
Then, step by step, she made her way to the first-floor infirmary.
"You don't need to worry. There are no other enemies left here."
The broadcast echoed through the hall as an elderly voice emerged from within.
Zhou Hanxiang recognized the familiar voice: "Professor Keller..."
A weak smile appeared on her face. "You're safe... that's..."
Suddenly, her words halted as her heart pounded violently.
"Your sixth sense-like intuition is truly remarkable. Even this you could detect?"
Keller's tone carried both admiration and a trace of regret. "Indeed, you are the future of us Naturals. What a pity it came too late."
Fury laced her voice as Zhou Hanxiang gritted her teeth. "Why would you do this? Do you know how many died in this attack?"
Keller's voice remained eerily calm. "Because Hibiki was too much of a genius—so much so that he completed a technology that should never have been realized."
"We thought the Ultimate Coordinator was just a mad fantasy, yet somehow this technology was actually achieved."
Gasping for breath, Hanxiang endured the pain as she staggered step by step toward the infirmary, Keller's voice reverberating through the corridor.
"Just because of that?" Confusion flashed across Hanxiang's face.
"You're too young. Let me ask you this—why did George Glenn expose himself as a Coordinator?"
Hanxiang froze. She had never pondered this and could only repeat what she'd heard. "To show humanity the path of evolution."
"Hahaha—still such a child." Keller laughed heartily before continuing slowly, "It was for monetization. To attract investment. That's all."
"Every technology must go through this stage. No one develops a worthless technology. So tell me—how do you think the Ultimate Coordinator technology would be monetized?"
Without waiting for Hanxiang's answer, Keller abruptly shifted topics. "Do you know what Tenmei did before he found you?"