The flames from the explosion gradually dispersed. Chen Xiaolian and his group got up from the ground and were greeted by the sight of the demolished Thunderstorm Tank. All that was left of the tank was debris on the ground.
There were also some broken limbs littering the ground and the corpses were incomplete. Chen Xiaolian quickly extended his hand to cover Qiao Qiao’s eyes.
Roddy exclaimed in surprise and pointed towards the middle of the road…
…
Nicole laid there. The angel like war armour on her body had disappeared and returned to its metal ring shape. The Floater hovered beside her.
Apparently, with the disappearance of the green coloured glow upon its surface, it appeared to have… shut down. It hovered silently without making a single movement.
Then, with a “bang”, the object… disappeared!
As for Nicole, she had fallen on the ground and both her eyes were closed.
Roddy hastily rushed over.
…
Chen Xiaolian paid no heed to Roddy’s actions.
He looked at the ground and searched. Then, he caught sight of a severed corpse.
The upper half of the corpse had disappeared and Chen Xiaolian kicked away the lower half of the corpse. On the ground was the item that he was looking for.
Three energy sources!
Chen Xiaolian showed no hesitation and quickly moved to pick them up.
“There fellows are impressive. The instance dungeon had only just started, yet they managed to get their hands on so many energy sources!” Chen Xiaolian silently praised.
He turned to regard the incinerated fragments of the Thunderstorm Tank and inadvertently caught sight of a pattern upon them.
Chen Xiaolian rubbed away the charred area.
“Huh? What kind of flower is this?”
…
Chen Xiaolian did not choose to hang around and quickly led the rest of them away from the street area.
They could no longer return to the hotel.
Their stay in this block had resulted in explosions and the collapse of big buildings. Even if the police forces of Tokyo were in a state of chaos, it was only a matter of time before the government sent an armed force to this area.
Chen Xiaolian had no interest in starting another firefight with the Japanese armed forces.
Bei Tai and Lun Tai emerged from the corner of the street on foot, while Soo Soo and Xia Xiaolei sat atop the Black Widow.
“Didn’t I tell you guys to go hide?” Chen Xiaolian walked over. Both his expression and posture revealed a higher level of friendliness. Regardless, these two brothers had charged out to provide assistance during such a critical moment. Even if their assistance failed to achieve much, such intentions to help were rare.
Lun Tai gave a faint smile. “We are a guild. We brothers could not possibly just stand by and watch as you all go fight with your lives on the line. Besides…” He pointed at Soo Soo. “This little girl persistently insisted on coming for you. Since she had already summoned out the Black Widow, we could not possibly allow her to come alone, right?”
Qiao Qiao had already moved over to embrace Soo Soo, holding her hands tightly. Chen Xiaolian walked over as well. As he bent down, he realized that there was something wrong with her face.
Err…
This little girl’s face showed no trace of fear and cowardice.
Her pair of black eyes looked at Chen Xiaolian in the eye with an indifferent and cold expression.
“Err… second personality?”
Soo Soo silently nodded her head.
Well… it appeared that this little girl had at an unknown moment switched to her second personality without them realizing.
“Hmm?”
Chen Xiaolian suddenly turned his attention to the system radar. There, another golden blip had appeared!
He had just retrieved the energy sources beside the charred wreckage of the Thunderstorm Tank when the system assigned him another target location at random.
“There is quite some distance in between,” Chen Xiaolian examined the map of the radar. The location of the target appeared to be close to the Port of Tokyo.
However, do we want to go snatch it?
Chen Xiaolian turned his head and glanced at Nicole.
He then walked to face her.
“Xiaolian?” Roddy raised his head to look at Chen Xiaolian, appearing hesitant to say anything.
“Roddy, carry her. We are leaving this place…” Chen Xiaolian quickly said.
Seeing the complicated expression on Roddy’s face, Chen Xiaolian shook his head. “I will not hurt her as long as she is willing to cooperate.”
“We need to leave this place as soon as possible!” Lun Tai shouted loudly. “Half of this street area has been levelled! The armed forces of the Japanese government will be coming here soon. There is no need for us to engage the Japanese police officers or their army.”
“Yes,” Chen Xiaolian nodded. “We cannot use cars. As of now, the main roads are all blocked. If we use cars, we will encounter the police force and become easy targets. We will have to walk. First, leave this commercial district and think of a way to enter the residential district. There, we can find a place to hide for a while.”
Chen Xiaolian retrieved the map, examined it for a moment, and got their bearings before leading the others away from this ruined street area.
After having moved on foot for less than 500 metres, shrill siren sounds rang out from behind them. The roar of helicopter engines resounded from the skies above. Raising their heads, they saw two helicopters moving in from afar. They could clearly see weapons installed onto those two helicopters, which also bore the painting of the Japanese flag.
“Get off the streets!” Chen Xiaolian shouted hastily. Coincidentally, there was an underground tunnel before them. The tunnel appeared to be leading to a certain underground plaza. He pointed at the entrance stairs. “Come here!”
…
…
One hour later, all pedestrians have moved far away from the street area.
The chaos in Tokyo had reached its climax. As for Chen Xiaolian and his team, they kept walking until they reached another street area.
The other streets were also deserted, devoid of any human presence.
As they walked through an intersection, a large digital screen was showing the news. The anchor for the official news media was reporting about the chaos engulfing Tokyo. The anchor cautioned everyone over and over again that it was best for them to stay at home and wait for government assistance.
At the same time, some of the news report revealed that within some residential districts, chaos has erupted and acts of vandalism were being committed.
The police forces of Tokyo were in a miserable state. The government announced that Tokyo might be suffering from a large-scale terrorist attack.
Chen Xiaolian even saw himself in the news!
The screen cut to the earlier scene with the three of them driving the Type 10 tank out of the Metropolitan Police Department. The part where they flattened the police cars and rampaged through everything in their path was displayed!
But that was not all.
Chen Xiaolian broke into a bitter smile as he watched the screen. The video shown on the screen had jumped to the scene within the Metropolitan Police Department!
Clearly, there were video surveillances within the Metropolitan Police Department building.
The video displayed the part where three men rushed through the Metropolitan Police Department building… the one in front totting the M16 and shooting it was obviously Bei Tai. Behind him was Chen Xiaolian, holding onto the Bone Crusher Axe.
There was also Roddy, who held onto a katana while looking around.
“Damn… we are wanted now!”
Chen Xiaolian forced out a smile.
The Tokyo police force sure was efficient though. Through the appearance displayed within the video surveillance footage alone, they had immediately determined their identities!
Nationality, age, name, entry time, all of them were pinpointed!
“Damn!” Roddy’s eyes bulged out. “We are now wanted by the Japanese police? What do we do?”
“Don’t be afraid. Once the instance dungeon is completed, everything will be refreshed. You will not truly become a wanted man,” Lun Tai comforted him.
…
There were also some reports on other images of the many districts in Tokyo, which suffered from unexplained large-scale explosions and disastrous fires… Chen Xiaolian judged that these must be the result from the battles between either Awakened ones or Players.
The police had already mobilized all their armed forces out – however, this huge city of Tokyo was now infested with who knew how many Awakened ones and Players. Their capabilities were in no way inferior to Chen Xiaolian. With people like these wantonly starting a bloodbath, all the police officers could do was to cough out mouthfuls of blood.
It was said that the government had ordered the Self Defence Force to rush over.
After walking for another half an hour, Chen Xiaolian and his group reached a street area. At the end of the street, a few police cars were stationed and several teams of armed forces blocked off the area.
Clearly, the police could only block off the streets to some of the districts embroiled in chaos. With the limited number of police officers, they did their best to separate the chaotic districts and the safe districts apart.
Chen Xiaolian did not start a fight with these police officers. Instead, he led his group around through two other streets, bypassing the blockade by the police. Then, they entered a quiet residential area.
…
“Now what? You fellows are now wanted, hotels are out of the question. Once we appear in public, the armed government forces will come at us,” Qiao Qiao asked Chen Xiaolian.
Chen Xiaolian narrowed his eyes and suddenly raised his head.
At that moment, they had reached a high slope. Standing upon the ramp of the slope, they looked forward to see an area filled with residential houses…
The area was not filled with high-rise buildings found in the commercial districts in the centre of the city. Two or three-storey residential homes lined up on both sides of the streets there. Observing the area from the tall slope, the streets intersected each other and the majority of the residential homes had nothing to do with the word ‘luxurious’.
Let’s put it this way, that was a very… ordinary residential district.
…
“Just find a family and stay at their house temporarily,” Lun Tai smirked. “We are leaving first thing tomorrow anyways. If it comes to it, we’ll just throw some money at them.”
Just then, a loud engine sound roared out from behind. Their group was standing beside the road; they turned their heads to see a group of youngsters howling as they rode motorbikes past the area. Their clothing was of miscellaneous mix and their hairs were dyed in varying colours. Some of them howled out arrogantly.
Others had the skeletal image of a skull painted on their helmets.
These youngsters howled loudly as they rode past, throwing a ruckus within this residential district. They acted as though this was an uninhabited area.
Watching this group of people ride past, Chen Xiaolian was surprised. “Is this the Japanese biker gang?”
“… sure seems like it.”
“Hmm, there does not appear to be a big difference between them and the punks of our country.”
“Let’s go. First, find a place to buy some food and water,” Chen Xiaolian thought and said. “The things we bought earlier have all been left behind at the hotel.”
“There appears to be a store in front.”
Roddy pointed to the distance.