**Chapter 13: The Extraordinary in This World**
"Why are you here?" Zhou Ming asked. According to their previous plan, Yang Zhisheng should have been in a fierce battle with the Cronus Organization's higher-ups by now.
"The Cronus Organization's higher-ups evacuated long ago. The people left behind are probably less than half, and all of them are pawns."
"We need to leave immediately, or it will be too late."
Yang Zhisheng said anxiously, "Damn it, that's ruthless. To abandon half their members at once—there must be a trap."
"Are you saying the people left behind are bait?" Zhou Ming's heart jolted, and he urgently said, "Go. Hurry. Oh my god, they aren't planning to blow the whole place up, are they?"
Zhou Ming felt his idea was a bit exaggerated, but he couldn't rule out the possibility.
Moreover, the battle between the police and the assassins had already been decided. The police had powerful firepower and continuous reinforcements. How could this group of assassins, treated as pawns, possibly contend with them?
At this moment, the gunshots outside had thinned considerably. If they didn't leave soon, once the police completely controlled the area, they wouldn't be able to escape.
The two immediately fled toward the factory exit, avoiding sporadic battles, dodging whenever possible, and never getting entangled with anyone. They quickly reached the edge of the factory.
They could see an endless stream of police cars arriving from afar outside. There were helicopters in the sky and a large number of police on the ground. There was no blind spot where they could slip away unnoticed.
"This is troublesome..." Zhou Ming murmured.
Earlier, he had praised Glomo's police for their swift action and strong mobility, able to assemble in such a short time to "follow" them in attacking the Cronus Organization.
Now, he was secretly cursing them for such a quick response and powerful execution. This was simply unscientific.
"What do we do? Force our way out?" Zhou Ming asked.
"Wait." Yang Zhisheng said decisively. "From this position, we can break out whenever we want. I still don't believe the Cronus Organization would give up half of its members so easily. If they have another purpose, then something unexpected will definitely happen..."
Before he finished speaking, Zhou Ming grabbed his shoulder.
"Break out. Now."
Veins bulged on Zhou Ming's forehead. An unprecedented sense of crisis swept over him, clearly telling him that danger had arrived and his life hung by a thread—an absolutely terrifying and fatal crisis.
Yang Zhisheng was startled by Zhou Ming's intense reaction, but immediately, a violent explosion interrupted all his questions.
Flames shot into the sky, the explosion was deafening, and thick smoke billowed. A factory building in the central area of the factory was completely engulfed by the blast.
With an explosion of this magnitude, no one inside that factory building or within a few meters around it could possibly survive.
"Shit."
*Boom!*
Yang Zhisheng's curse hadn't even fully spread when another factory building exploded violently. The heatwave, carrying fragments from the explosion, even flew close to the two of them.
"Escape. We must escape immediately."
Yang Zhisheng's scalp tingled. He grabbed Zhou Ming's arm, directly throwing him onto his back.
"No choice. Hold on tight."
"Full power, overclock."
*Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!*
A series of continuous explosions erupted almost simultaneously, engulfing the entire factory in violent blasts and raging flames. The fire illuminated the horrified and despairing faces of the large number of police outside the factory.
*Boom!*
Amidst a massive roaring boom, two figures burst out from the waves of fire. The air, distorted by the high temperature, blurred both figures. Carrying astonishing heat, they broke through layers of blockade at a speed too fast for the naked eye to follow.
Many police officers were so stunned by the massive explosion that not a single one reacted to intercept them. In an instant, the two figures broke through, leaving a long trail of smoke, rushing over a thousand meters, and plunging straight into the river.
At this moment, the many police officers finally awoke as if from a dream, reacting to what had happened.
"Catch them."
"Quick, contact the fire department. Start rescue operations immediately."
In the river, bubbles gurgled up from the bottom, as if the river water was boiling, and steam was rising.
Underwater, Zhou Ming held Yang Zhisheng's arm with one hand and paddled with the other, trying his best to swim to the opposite bank.
Yang Zhisheng's semi-mechanically modified body was extremely heavy. After operating at overload, he was in a temporary state of paralysis, with mechanical parts throughout his body emitting astonishing high temperatures, occasionally twitching as if short-circuiting, making Zhou Ming's movements even more difficult.
Fortunately, Zhou Ming himself was not seriously injured. He finally managed to drag Yang Zhisheng ashore before his strength ran out.
"Huff, huff, huff..."
The two lay sprawled on the riverbank, panting heavily, unable to even think of moving a finger.
"You... how are you... can you still run?"
Zhou Ming asked intermittently, gasping for breath.
"No more running. Damn it, even if they arrest us and take us to the police station now, I won't run."
Yang Zhisheng said fiercely, "Worst case, Yu Man will break into the police station again and snatch us out. I'm not suffering this torment anymore."
"Alright, if they catch us, they catch us. Anyway, they can't possibly kill us on the spot to vent their anger."
Zhou Ming also lay flat. Now, even if someone held a gun to his head and told him to stand up, he probably wouldn't bother to respond. He was indifferent to whether they killed him or tortured him.
However, the next moment, both of them simultaneously craned their necks, looked up, and stared dumbfounded in the direction of the factory.
The intense explosion and burning created thick black smoke, forming a massive smoke column that reached the sky, incredibly conspicuous.
But at this moment, the two saw the billowing smoke constantly deforming, gradually forming the shape of a head—a green face with fangs, and two curved horns growing on its forehead.
"Devil."
The incredibly familiar image of the giant head made both of them exclaim in unison.
The entire enormous head was five or six meters tall, opening its huge mouth in a silent roar, ferocious and terrifying.
Zhou Ming and Yang Zhisheng simultaneously felt a strong tremor in their hearts, like ants about to be crushed by a human finger. A sense of fear, born from their own insignificance and the vast difference in life levels, arose spontaneously.
*Thump.*
*Thump.*
Among the police officers gathered around the factory, engaged in firefighting and rescue work, people occasionally collapsed to the ground, their faces pale and greenish, their eyes rolled back showing only the whites, and their breathing faint, almost imperceptible.
More and more police officers fell. The remaining police retreated in horror. Those who tried to carry away their fallen comrades, upon merely touching their bodies, also lost consciousness and collapsed.
Due to the distance, they had not discovered the giant smoke devil head as early as Zhou Ming and the other.
But as they retreated further, more and more people saw the silently roaring, ferocious head, and immediately fell into boundless terror and shock, their thoughts frozen, their minds blank. They stood trembling in place or simply collapsed to the ground.
*Roar.*
Accompanied by a roar that was clearly silent but seemed to echo in people's hearts, filled with unwillingness and anger, the giant devil head disintegrated and dissipated, transforming back into billowing smoke and vanishing.
Only then did Zhou Ming and Yang Zhisheng recover from the soul shock of feeling as insignificant as ants. Both of them gasped for air with lingering fear, their faces pale and grim.
At the scene, fully half of the police officers lay incapacitated. The remaining half gradually regained consciousness as the devil head dissipated. Screams, prayers, curses, and cries intertwined with the occasional explosions and the crackling of burning flames, creating utter chaos.
Everything that happened today had too great an impact on them. Especially that last scene—it simply challenged their worldview, and not a few collapsed.
"Let's go." Despite his pale face, Yang Zhisheng said firmly, "No one has the energy to pay attention to us now. It's a good opportunity to leave."
Zhou Ming said nothing, reaching out to help Yang Zhisheng up. The two supported each other, stumbling and struggling to get away from there.
Both remained silent, hurrying on their way, but in their hearts, they both knew that the chaos they had triggered was about to escalate into even greater turmoil.
Night fell, stars dotted the sky.
Dozens of kilometers away from the exploded factory, in a villa, Zhou Ming and Yang Zhisheng lay half-dead on a sofa, watching the news being broadcast on television.
"Just providing our location information gets a 500,000 reward? They're really going all out."
"But why is my photo so ugly? Don't they know how to pick a better-looking shot?"
Looking at their frontal photos on the fifty-inch big screen, Yang Zhisheng grumbled discontentedly.
Undoubtedly, both of them were wanted.
Their actions today were indeed a bit excessive: driving recklessly through the city, directly attacking the police station, looting the armory, and even causing the massive explosion at the cardboard factory, with an unknown number of police officers dying inside.
Although the last point could not be attributed to the two of them, unfortunately, they couldn't rush back into the police station to defend themselves, so they had to silently bear the blame with tears.
"Be content. It's a miracle you two are still alive."
Yu Man brought over two glasses of milk and handed them to the two, then settled into the wide, soft sofa herself.
This was a temporary lodging Yu Man had found. The villa's owner rarely stayed here more than a few times a year, only hiring someone to clean it periodically. The rest of the time, it was vacant.
The milk they drank was specially bought by Yu Man herself, along with some ingredients and daily necessities. They planned to rest here for a few days, at least until Zhou Ming and Yang Zhisheng recovered their basic combat capabilities.
After a major battle, both of them were heavily wounded. Zhou Ming was alright, with only minor issues like gunshot wounds, internal bleeding, multiple bone fractures, sprains, scalds, and burns.
The real trouble was Yang Zhisheng. The overclocking burst had resulted in damaged internal parts and excessive energy consumption. Self-repair and energy replenishment would take time, and during this period, even movement was a problem for him.