Outside the Courthouse gate, a tall young man in a black suit, faint stubble on his chin, leaned against the doorway smoking a cigarette.
When the verdict was announced, he flicked the cigarette away.
The Inspector who'd earlier escorted Dong Guangjie approached, regarded him respectfully, and said, "Lord Hu, I'll have to trouble you from here on."
"No need for courtesy; I'm only following protocol." Hu Yanning shook his head, indifferent.
With technology's rapid advance, a crop of mad scientists had appeared—researchers who specialized in the human body and conducted human experiments without the slightest regard for life.
In the face of such reckless civilian scientists, the official response was execution, pure and simple.
Yet some Awakened Ones organizations began hijacking these condemned scientists en route. To ensure the executions proceeded smoothly, the Xuanjian Division dispatched Awakened Ones to escort the convoy all the way to the final penalty.
At the Courthouse gate, Dong Guangjie was loaded back into the same transport vehicle, his expression still calm, showing no reaction to the death sentence awaiting him.
Hu Yanning sat opposite him, watching quietly.
Three escort vehicles started up, a law-enforcement car ahead sounding its siren to clear the way, all heading for the execution ground.
Inside the transport, Hu Yanning studied the man who'd topped the national trending list and asked curiously, "Before you die, could you satisfy a bit of my curiosity?"
Dong Guangjie lifted his gaze; he said nothing, his eyes placid as still water.
Hu Yanning didn't mind; he simply continued, "Did you discover something during human experiments that pushed you into the even more forbidden realm of genetic experimentation?"
The question made the previously calm Dong Guangjie glance at him in mild surprise, then shake his head. "Of course. If even a commoner like me could sense something, how much more so the state with all its resources."
He already knew Awakened Ones existed, but what intrigued him was how an ordinary person could suddenly mutate into one.
Hu Yanning leaned back, tone casual. "Everything you did was pointless. This isn't something a lone individual can crack; the state pours in billions every year with barely any progress."
Dong Guangjie's face remained calm. "If you never try, how will you know? When I discovered in an ordinary person a special gene never before recorded—
I became intensely curious and wanted to understand how this gene could turn a normal human into an Awakened One."
"Attempting to artificially trigger an awakening—reaching this point without any backing as a mere ordinary person—you're quite something." Hu Yanning couldn't help but admire Dong Guangjie a little.
A talent like him would shine anywhere, but Nanwu Country has never lacked for geniuses.
As the convoy headed toward the western suburbs, Li Yong, expression calm, followed in a white sedan some distance behind.
From time to time he lifted his phone to send a location pin.
On a route the convoy had to take to the Western-Suburb Execution Ground, inside a Hundred-Storey Tower, Jiang Yan and Han Qi stood at a Thirteenth Floor window, quietly watching the distant escort vehicles appear.
"Mr. Jiang, they're here. With so many people around, are we really going to act right in the open?" Han Qi eyed the dense traffic below.
In his mind, hijacking vehicles was something done in lonely spots, yet Jiang Yan had chosen a bustling downtown stretch.
Whooo—!
The convoy slowed, the lead enforcement car clearing the way.
Watching the scene, Jiang Yan raised a hand toward the vehicles below, a cold smile tugging at his lips. "I chose downtown because I have absolute confidence in its power."
"Roar!" The instant his words fell, a terrifying roar exploded from the far end of the road.
Bang, bang, bang!
Every vehicle window along the street shattered under the roar.
Beep—! Car alarms wailed one after another.
"Aaaah!"
What is that thing!"
Terrified screams rang out.
Inside the transport, Hu Yanning's face changed at the fearsome roar. "An Awakened dares strike in the city center!"
He shouted toward the front, "Turn around! Quick!"
"Sir, the road ahead is jammed—we can't turn," the soldier up front replied, face paling.
"Ram them—clear a path!" Hu Yanning barked, yanking open the door and jumping out while pulling his phone to report the incident.
Across from him, Dong Guangjie's eyes flickered at the roar. 'Looks like an unexpected twist.'
Bang, bang, bang!
The moment Hu Yanning stepped out of the vehicle he heard the thud of heavy objects slamming into the ground up ahead.
"Aah! Monster!"
"Run!"
At the far end of the road appeared a three-and-a-half-meter-tall creature, its purple skin glinting like metal, charging straight at the convoy truck.
Rumble—!
It plowed recklessly through the dense traffic, flinging one-ton sedans aside; one unlucky man who'd just climbed out was smashed to pulp on the spot.
With every brutal step the asphalt cracked into craters beneath its feet.
Hu Yanning's face paled in shock. "What the hell is that thing?"
Tap-tap-tap!
The escort soldiers leapt down and formed up beside him, rifles snapping toward the onrushing horror, their expressions tightening.
The street dissolved into chaos—drivers abandoning cars, people fleeing in terror, the monster's arrival feeling like a nightmare made real.
"Sir, do we open fire?" the squad leader asked, legs trembling as he glanced at Hu Yanning.
Seeing the last civilians clear the vehicles ahead, Hu Yanning roared, "Fire!"
Bang-bang-bang!
A dozen rifles behind him spat tongues of flame.
Bullets streaked through the air, sparking harmlessly across Tyrant's hide; the combined fusillade couldn't even scratch its skin.
Feeling nothing worse than an itch, Tyrant bellowed and accelerated. "Roar!"
Hu Yanning and the soldiers turned ashen.
"Sir, we can't hurt it!" the squad leader cried in panic.
"Get Dong Guangjie out of here. I'll hold it off—if I fail, shoot him on the spot." Grim resolve settled on Hu Yanning's face; the monster was clearly after Dong Guangjie.
Bang—he launched himself a few centimetres off the ground and streaked straight at Tyrant.
The remaining soldiers hustled Dong Guangjie off the truck toward a side alley; the road was jammed with driverless cars, their convoy vehicle trapped.
Head forced down, Dong Guangjie kept staring at the charging behemoth. "A creature like this actually exists on Earth?" he breathed.
On the Thirteenth Floor window of a tower, Han Qi sucked in a breath as bullets merely sparked off Tyrant's body.
"That defense is insane—those soldiers' Type 65 Rifles fire 7.62 mm Rounds that can punch through brick walls!"
Jiang Yan ignored him, eyes tracking Dong Guangjie being spirited away below.
He whipped out his phone and dialled Li Yong; it connected after one ring. "Mr. Jiang!"
"Those soldiers are taking Dong Guangjie down the alley to your left—move in and snatch him. No surprises!" Jiang Yan snapped.
"Yes, sir!"
In a white car below, Li Yong—cap and black mask on—pulled a half-meter, ice-cold Machete from the passenger seat.
He drew a crystal from his coat and absorbed it.
Crack!
As the black energy within the buddha crystal flowed into him, his frame swelled and stretched, dark veins bulging across his face.
Bang—he kicked the door off its hinges, tucked the Machete along his forearm, and sprinted after the soldiers.
After awakening, his body had already been strengthened once; pre-crystal lab tests clocked him at over 340 kg. With the buddha crystal he was now even stronger than Han Qi.
On the street, Hu Yanning faced the onrushing Tyrant ten metres away and thrust out his left hand; a ripple of transparent, space-warping force blossomed before him.
His Awakened Ability—Repulsion, the power to push away all things.
Boom—the concrete in front of him exploded into dust and flying cars, an invisible tide hurling everything straight at Tyrant.
"Roar!" Unfazed, Tyrant bellowed and plunged straight into the maelstrom.
Crash!
A thunderous impact shook the street; chunks of concrete and vehicles blasted outward, crushing fleeing pedestrians—many died in that instant.
Bang—cars were flung aside as Tyrant, unharmed, pressed through the Repulsion field and bore down on Hu Yanning.