TYMIMA Chapter 157

The red-glowing barrier was soon bombarded by the messengers, but remained completely undamaged for the moment.

 

Zhan Pingchuan endured the stifling pain in his chest as he ran inside. These messengers’ attacks were even more terrifying than Benbu’s, but the barrier still valiantly bought more time.

 

He saw the green-bronze door in the distance. The Utopians were all crowded in the corridor, trying to minimize space, while Lance stood at the front of the group, anxiously waiting for him and reaching out his hand.

 

Zhan Pingchuan felt a metallic sweetness in his throat as red threads pulled him forward at high speed, wind whistling past his ears.

 

Only Lance remained in his vision as he instinctively reached forward.

 

The red-glowing barrier finally showed some cracks at this moment, the violent attacks nearly shattering the entire Loracity Icefield.

 

Crack!

 

The barrier finally couldn’t withstand the assault and shattered with a crash, dissolving into faint sparks in the air.

 

At the same time, Zhan Pingchuan’s palm finally touched Lance’s. With a crisp sound, their hands clasped tightly together. Lance pulled Zhan Pingchuan toward him with force and shouted behind him: “Now!”

 

In an instant, [Virtual Realm] was lifted, space shifted, and the narrow corridor flipped upward rapidly like a corner of a Rubik’s cube. Stone walls, lights, ceilings, cells, and frozen earth flashed past at high speed before disappearing.

 

Due to inertia, Zhan Pingchuan crashed solidly into Lance’s embrace, and Lance fell backward holding him.

 

The two embraced tightly as they fell to the floor.

 

The next second, the corridor leaped out of the frozen earth layer and stood prominently on the snow. Cold air suddenly struck as daylight blazed bright.

 

“Snow! It’s snow!”

 

“It’s the earth, the sky, the world!”

 

“We’re out, we’re finally out!”

 

“Mom, Dad, it’s been three years! Ah! Ah!”

 

The Utopians cried out as they fell to their knees, sobbing aloud.

 

Everyone could barely control their emotions, throwing themselves into the snow and truly feeling the temperature of this world, feeling the sun’s blessing.

 

Those days and nights without seeing daylight, that endless humiliation and torture, finally brought a trace of comfort the moment their fingers touched the snow.

 

Being alive, living freely—what a wonderful thing.

 

Thanks to Lily’s ability, the Loracity Icefield remained sunny and pleasant, and the blood traces Adrian had left weren’t blown away by the wind.

 

Lance and Zhan Pingchuan got up hand in hand and immediately said: “Mad Clown, send the old madman back to High Tower Guild first!”

 

The old madman’s body was at its limit and couldn’t withstand the low-temperature freezing.

 

He was only covered by a tattered, foul-smelling cloth. Now on the surface, he was nearly fainting from the cold.

 

His nutrient bag was also almost empty—he needed immediate nourishment.

 

“Got it!” Lucas tore off a mud-like soul fragment from his body and threw it onto the old madman’s shadow.

 

Lance supported the old madman’s shoulder: “Hold on, I’ll come find you soon!”

 

The old madman nodded with chattering teeth.

 

After Lucas snapped his fingers, the old madman disappeared on the spot.

 

Lance breathed a slight sigh of relief, summoned Moth Rong Weng to sense the scent of blood, then said to the freely celebrating Utopians: “We’re not out of danger yet—keep running!”

 

 

Only by crossing the chain bridge and entering Samp Town would they truly be safe, because the Federation wouldn’t launch attacks on foreign territory, and those eerie cult-like messengers wouldn’t dare appear openly before people.

 

Moth Rong Weng perked up and flicked its two antennae. Lance held it and ran in the direction the antennae pointed.

 

The Utopians quickly got up and followed closely. Their hearts were about to leap from their chests—they’d never felt so clearly what it meant to be just one step away from freedom.

 

“Run! Everyone run quickly!”

 

“I’m a falcon Awakened—don’t worry, irradiated compatriots, I’ll fly you across!”

 

“I’m an enhancement-type Awakened—I can carry you across!”

 

“I’m an animal-type cheetah Awakened—you can ride on my back!”

 

The Awakened each found ways to pull their compatriots forward. Not a single person was abandoned or left behind in this life-or-death escape.

 

Deep and shallow footprints were left in the heavy snow. Small but resilient humans ran wildly across the vast, boundless icefield like flower petals blooming with vitality at the world’s end.

 

The moment the barrier shattered, twelve messengers rushed in, followed by the assembled guards.

 

However, the depths of the corridor were empty—only bewildered prisoners on both sides and a dark cement road.

 

Before them was no longer the secret passage holding the old madman, but had become an ordinary eighth-floor cell corridor.

 

The messengers stopped and looked around in confusion.

 

They didn’t know much about AGW Special Dangerous Death Row Prison. Benbu hadn’t had time to brief them in detail before coming, so they completely didn’t understand the old madman’s abilities and could only search around bewilderedly.

 

Benbu arrived late, swaying on his two leg bones. Seeing the completely different corridor, he trembled with rage, opening and closing his mouth but unable to make a sound.

 

One of the messengers grew impatient: “Lord Benbu is severely damaged—he should rest first. Call Director Si.”

 

Benbu was furious.

 

A guard came running to report: “Report! Director Si is currently lost in despair and won’t listen to anything!”

 

“Useless!” one of the messengers cursed.

 

This person immediately turned to interrogate Benbu: “Lord Benbu, knowing Director Si has deep obsessions with plant-type S-levels, why didn’t you have him investigate Selarl’s death earlier? Why didn’t you follow the elders’ orders?”

 

Benbu went “click-clack, click-clack.”

 

He’d been afraid of Si Hongche leaving his sight and leaking the AGW Special Dangerous Death Row Prison trap. Everything he’d done was for the Federation, but now it had become his fault.

 

Unfortunately, no one could hear his explanation.

 

“The prisoners vanished before our eyes—what do we do now?”

 

Benbu went “click-clack, click-clack.”

 

They must have been transferred by the old madman. He’d tested Mad Clown’s ability—taking twelve people at once was already the limit. So many Utopians couldn’t all be taken away.

 

So Benbu frantically pointed upward with his hand bones, indicating they’d run up above.

 

The messenger said with a dark expression: “Lord Benbu needn’t cheer us on either—with everyone gone, what’s there to cheer about?”

 

Benbu: “…”

 

At this point, the guard captain finally managed to squeeze forward and speak fairly: “Lord Messenger, they must have used [Space Cube] ability to transfer upward. I think we need to quickly search the surface—with so many people, they definitely can’t run far!”

 

Benbu nodded frantically. Without muscle support, his skull nearly flew off his neck.

 

“Hurry up!” The twelve messengers rushed out of the corridor, led by guards straight to the damaged elevator.

 

The fifty-meter height was nothing to them—they leaped up the shaft in mere seconds.

 

The guards also climbed out of the shaft one by one, following the messengers.

 

Benbu lay on a guard’s back, carried out of the prison.

 

In the vast white world, Black Lantern Society and the prisoners had long disappeared.

 

“Look, footprints!”

 

“They ran toward the chain bridge—we must stop them on the Loracity Icefield!”

 

The Utopians were running desperately forward. Cold wind poured into their throats, sticking them together. Their thin prison uniforms couldn’t block the severe cold, freezing their skin purple-red.

 

But no one stopped. Almost there, almost…

 

Five hundred meters left.

 

Three hundred meters.

 

One hundred meters!

 

Suddenly there was commotion behind them. Twelve rapidly running figures appeared on the white snow, visibly closing the distance.

 

“They’re catching up!”

 

“Run! Don’t look back!”

 

The Utopians trembled with fear while encouraging themselves.

 

Lance finally saw the thick, long chain bridge at the cliff’s edge. A cable car sat quietly in the snow, and one meter away were steep cliffs and rushing seawater.

 

“Abaddon start the cable car, Fata disassemble the bombs!” Lance shouted.

 

Both received orders and used their abilities simultaneously. Spirits drilled into the machinery room, forcefully pressing the lever. The chain bridge powered up and shook, the cable car doors slowly opening.

 

“Research institute and non-ability Utopians board first!”

 

The fleeing army was orderly under Lance’s command, giving the initial escape opportunity to their most vulnerable compatriots.

 

Over twenty people squeezed densely into the cable car. The doors closed and the car began sliding forward.

 

When the first cable car safely reached Samp Town, the Federation’s pursuers had also arrived.

 

“Fata!”

 

“Understood!”

 

Fata reaggregated the black cord gold separated from the second cable car and hurled it at the messengers.

 

The messengers instinctively counterattacked with abilities. The black cord gold exploded rapidly upon impact, the powerful blast wave sending all messengers flying bloodily. Even the guards following behind fell from the shock.

 

The cliff made an unbearable muffled sound, as if the internal stone was fracturing.

 

The explosion bought time for the Utopians. Lance shouted: “All Utopians board the cable car! Elemental types transform, those with pheromones take pheromones!”

 

The irradiated people were hard to squeeze in, but Awakened could be packed however—even folding their bodies, as long as there were recovery-type Awakened, they could be restored perfectly.

 

Over forty Utopians squeezed into the cable car with difficulty. Fortunately, the looted pheromone vials included wind and smoke transformation abilities, freeing up considerable space.

 

The chain bridge sagged significantly under double the weight limit, gears making unbearable creaking sounds.

 

Fortunately, without major incident, the cable car moved forward smoothly.

 

“Black Lantern Society! Thank you!”

 

“Utopia will never forget your kindness!”

 

“Plant boy, strength boy, card boy, necromancer boy—thank you for saving our lives!”

 

“You must stay safe!”

 

The Utopians shouted hoarsely in the cable car, countless hands pressed against the glass, reluctantly bidding farewell to their benefactors growing distant.

 

No one turned back at the shouts. The joint rescue team stood with their backs to the cliff, ready for battle, guarding the cable car controls.

 

“Phew, now it’s just us left,” Abaddon said.

 

“Send this cable car across and the mission’s perfectly complete,” Fata murmured.

 

“Lucas, remember to take us all back to Phobos Royal Hotel—Lance left the anchor point he gave you at the hotel,” Lily reminded.

 

“Ah, in this freezing cold, I really miss Phobos Bay,” Fulunla sighed.

 

“I think the irradiated Utopians are fine since they’re evidence, but the Awakened Utopians probably won’t be accepted by Polar,” Mudeli mused thoughtfully.

 

“Being Awakened, how can they not survive? Even finding an uninhabited island, they could live,” Ling Qi said.

 

“Alright, stop chatting—these white-robed people are almost recovered,” Dream Witch said.

 

“Really hard to fight. All S-levels, do your best,” Lucas continued gripping his brother’s waist tightly while slipping his cold hands inside his brother’s collar.

 

A wave of recovery energy passed by. The messengers who’d been blown bloody gradually stood up, their angry ability pheromones surging forward.

 

In the midst of chaotic battle, Lance raised his right hand and made a farewell gesture toward the cable car that was about to disappear.

 

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 (advanced chapters available on kofi)