Since some people in the military couldn't be trusted, he was just not going to test them; he didn't have the time or the energy for that. But once this mission was complete, he was going to clean up all the parasites lurking in the headquarters.
While the others helped Lin Zhou set up his temporary workstation, Ling Xiao sent a message to Emelia, informing her of the change of address as well as the room number. All he had to do now was wait for her to show up. He was honestly quite curious about the things she wanted to show him; he wanted to find out what kind of magical object could increase his strength in just a matter of an hour. Even the transformation caused by the awakening of abilities took way longer.
"There is an ambush on that route!" Lin Zhou suddenly exclaimed
Even though he was quite sure it was going to be there, he was just hoping that since this is technically a different world and timeline, some things would not be there, but it seems he was wrong; not much changed from the original. Standing up from the couch and heading towards the table, he released a heavy sigh.
The other three gathered around Lin Zhou to see what he was talking about, and they could see a group of people hiding around the road they were going to take using the satellite's thermal scanner. Objects such as guns and hand missiles could also be seen.
"How, how did this happen?" Who wants to kill us this badly? They couldn't even wait until we left the city. " Su Chen asked. I mean, he knew that they had enemies and that quite a number of people considered them an eyesore, but this was just too much.
"How did they even know which way we were headed? We've barely just left the base; aren't they a little too arrogant to set up an ambush in such a big city and so close to the base?" Qin Yu was perplexed.
"Why would they be scared?" "It's not like they have anything to fear." Ling Xiao commented
"Boss, you mean..." Su Chen looked at Ling Xiao as he began
"Only the people in the army know the route that we had planned to take, or could guess it since it is the main route to the aviation centre, so this is obviously because someone in there prepared this surprise for us. And since they decided to set up this ambush so near the base, they had to have known that there would be no trouble. Most probably, it would have taken the headquarters a very long time to send reinforcements if we had gotten trapped in that ambush. Probably even the police would have been told not to come; after all, military business is not something for them to get involved in." Ling Xiao responded.
"Then, when I find out who's trying to kill us, I'll kill them." Xiao Yuchen
"Okay, don't get too excited; we'll deal with this when we get back." As of right now, what we need to do is get another route and another helicopter. "Who knows if the one there has been tampered with?" Lin Zhou said.
"There's no need to get another helicopter." I have already arranged that, but we will need to drive out of the city first. Just take a break. For now, we will depart at 3:00. As for those men, let them wait and simmer outside. No matter how arrogant the person who set this up is, he can't be so unscrupulous that he will attack us in broad daylight. The number of civilians will be too great. No one will take that risk. "We will use the traffic as cover." Ling Xiao said, heading back to the couch and taking a seat.
"Yes sir"
Just then Emelia's message came through, informing him of her arrival, and Ling Xiao quickly excused himself. "I'll be back in an hour or two." "Be ready to depart when I come back, so don't go running around," he said, immediately leaving the room after saying that.
The others just looked at him and then at each other before shrugging their shoulders and turning back to the screen. They all still couldn't accept the fact that there was a traitor in the base.
Thinking of Lin Xiao's attitude towards Han Xue earlier, Lin Zhou's face quickly darkened. He just hoped that his guess wasn't right and that Major Han had nothing to do with this, otherwise...
When Emilia received Ling Xiao's message, she immediately set off towards the hotel. She knew she couldn't waste any time because he was technically already on a mission, so it wouldn't be good for him if someone knew that they were meeting.
She was also careful not to get noticed as she drove over there. It wasn't really hard for her to evade cameras since it was an essential skill she learned during her previous life. The hotel wasn't too far from the house, so she didn't need to rush to get there; it only took her 10 minutes to get there at normal speed. She sent a message to Ling Xiao informing him of her arrival so he could come and pick her up. Not even five minutes after she sent that message, she saw Ling Xiao heading towards the car.
"Hey," Emilia said as she exited the car when he arrived.
"Come on, follow me. I've booked another single room." He said this while taking her hand in his and leading her into the hotel. Ling Xiao led her to a single room on the second floor. Unlike the suite the rest of the team was in, this room consisted of just a single bed, a table, and a small bathroom. Ling Xiao didn't really care about the size of the room because they weren't even going to stay there for long. It would have just been too suspicious if the two of them just disappeared out of thin air.
"Come on, help me sweep the room," Lin Xiao said to Emilia as he headed to the desk lamp.
"Ok," she responded as she began checking the room for bugs and cameras with him. The two didn't think they were being too paranoid, since there had been news reports about some hotels that were in the business of secretly spying on their guests. Neither of them wanted the act of their disappearance to be caught on camera.
If the end of the world had already started, they wouldn't really care much about being discovered, but unfortunately, it hadn't started yet.
"Wait, scratch that," Emilia thought; being discovered during the apocalypse might just be as dangerous as being discovered now. So it was best not to be discovered at all.
"Okay, it's clean." Ling Xiao said she was approaching her. "So what did you want to show me?" he asked.
"Come on, take my hand," she said, extending her hand towards him. Ling Xiao just looked at her for a moment before he reached out towards her. The moment Emilia had his hand in hers, she drew a circle on the flower on her ring with her finger.
Ling Xiao felt a blur appear in front of his eyes for just a second, and the next thing he knew, he had appeared across what appeared to be a mountain with a lake not too far in front of him. Turning around to face the other direction, Ling Xiao came face to face with a large forest of trees. He couldn't see the end of it from his standpoint. Further away, to the left of the lake, was a large clearing where he could see some boxes piled up. Ling Xiao guessed that they were probably supplies Emilia had collected.
"What is this place?" "How did you get it?"
"It's a space. I didn't even know I had a space until just this morning when I appeared in this place and met the Plumeria spirit, but that's not what's important right now. What you do need to know is that once I take a petal from this tree and throw it into the lake, the lake turns into some sort of potion. The moment you get inside, your body will undergo a major transformation, increasing your strength. You'll probably grow a little taller, and who knows, it might even help you receive your abilities earlier than before. Well, that's still a theory of mine since I haven't gotten mine yet. " She rubbed her chin on that last one.
"Well, the abilities can wait anyway; there's been no sign that you can get them before the apocalypse, but you must be aware that this process is a painful one. Not only will you feel suffocating pressure, but you also won't be able to move, and you'll feel your blood being drained from your body. It's not a pretty process, but it definitely does work," Emilia said, looking straight at him.
"Are you sure about this?" Lin Xiao asked her.
"Yes, I am; both Lin Qin and I have already undergone the change, so I can assure you that it works. The only thing is that if you don't put those petals in the lake first, you might as well be throwing yourself to your death."
Ling Xiao was silent for a moment before he spoke up. "OK, let's do it."
"ok'' With that said, Emelia headed towards the tree and picked two petals from it. She planned to give Lin Xiao as much strength as she could for this mission. She didn't want any mishaps to happen. Even if he did get injured on the offset, with a stronger body, a stronger healing capacity is sure to follow, so that was an added advantage.
Ling Xiao watched as Emilia moved around. He watched as two petals magically came out of the tree trunk and as the lake turned a golden colour once those petals were thrown in. The sight intrigued him quite a lot. He was now quite curious about this space and its mysteries.
"Come on, just walk in," Emilia said, gesturing for him to enter.
"Okay," Ling Xiao said as he approached the edge, but instead of going straight in, he stood there and stripped down to his vest and boxers.
"Why are you taking off your clothes?" Emilia shrieked
Ling Xiao said, as if it were common knowledge, "I can't get my uniform wet or damaged."
"But your clothes won't get damaged, and you'll also be dry upon exit too," Emilia responded speechlessly.
"You didn't tell me, though, so how would I know?" Ling Xiao shrugged. "I've already undressed anyway; there's no point in putting them back on now."
"Whatever," she snorted.
"Hm," Ling Xiao said before he walked into the water. The moment his feet stepped into the water, a large suction force came from underneath, dragging Lin Xiao down into the water. completely hiding him from sight.