Chapter 72: Hao Mei's Wonderful Journey
Blades clashed against each other, producing crisp clinking sounds as sparks flew from the metal collisions.
Bang!
The handle end of Su Xiao's blade slammed against the spine of Hao Mei's sword as she parried.
After taking this heavy blunt strike, Hao Mei first felt her arms go numb, then a surge of force penetrated into her chest cavity, causing her breath to catch. The stifled air remained trapped in her chest. She didn't think this was a coincidence, but rather that the enemy had seized the timing and figured out her breathing rhythm.
With a booming sound, Hao Mei crashed backward into the ground, creating a crater as she landed on her back, specks of blood splattering from her mouth.
Just as Hao Mei was about to forcibly leap up despite her body's condition, a dark shadow pressed down from above.
Boom!
Su Xiao's left fist, wrapped in a crystal layer, slammed into Hao Mei's abdomen. Crystal fragments scattered everywhere. Hao Mei, already lying in the crater, curled up as a shockwave spread outward, kicking up dust.
Inside the now much larger crater, Hao Mei still hadn't given up. As a technique-type fighter, as long as there was still a possibility to fight, there was a chance to turn the tables. The strength of technique-types lay in their sharp offensive capabilities. If the enemy showed even a hint of carelessness, they could be decapitated, achieving an extreme comeback against all odds.
Climbing out of the crater, Hao Mei sat amidst the dust, gripping her sword tightly. Her thought was: 'Just wait for the enemy to appear, and I'll have my chance for an extreme comeback.'
A spatial fluctuation suddenly appeared in front of Hao Mei. Sensing this, she felt incredibly frustrated. Both being technique-types, why did the enemy have a spatial ability like Space Penetration, which was top-tier for movement speed? She was really envious, her heart sour with jealousy.
"Shameless!"
Bang!
The last image Hao Mei saw before losing consciousness was a fist wrapped in a crystal layer hurtling toward her. As her awareness grew hazy, she overheard a conversation.
"Boss, this woman's out. What now? Should we put a collar on her?"
"No need. Contact Kaiser over there, have him set up a temporary coordinate to Warehouse 2. I want to take this woman back to the fortress's Alchemy Laboratory."
"Boss, isn't this woman a withdrawal machine? Won't she die after dissection?"
"It's not dissection, just some research."
"Research sounds pretty terrifying too."
"Woof."
Hearing this conversation in her daze, Hao Mei's heart was completely panicked. She wasn't too afraid of dying in battle, but the current situation was more complicated than that.
Though Hao Mei appeared unconscious, as a Sword Grandmaster, her will was exceptionally strong. Even in a "comatose" state, her consciousness could still receive external information, similar to the feeling of dreaming, somewhat hazy.
In her haze, Hao Mei sensed a spatial fluctuation, and then she arrived at a noisy place. There were many auras here that were closer to beasts, but these individuals also somewhat resembled humans. Their souls were especially unique, as if directly bathed in sunlight.
After more than ten minutes, Hao Mei felt herself finally stop, laid flat on some kind of bed. The bed was a bit cold, and Hao Mei mentally gave it a bad review.
Soon, something that enraged Hao Mei happened. She felt someone removing her clothes. She struggled desperately, but couldn't move a single finger. However, after a while, she hazily heard the only two people in the room talking. The voices were female, which made Hao Mei breathe a sigh of relief.
Unfortunately, this relief only lasted about ten minutes. She sensed that the aura that had defeated her had come to her side. Hao Mei cursed inwardly: 'Pfft, so you really do covet my body after all.'
Just as Hao Mei's anger reached its peak, she sensed the enemy take out a full set of instruments that seemed unremarkable at first glance but made her hair stand on end upon closer inspection.
When an electrode patch was placed on Hao Mei's forehead, she knew that today's matter was definitely not about coveting her body.
After an unknown amount of time, accompanied by the beeping of instruments, Hao Mei slowly opened her eyes. The lower half of her face was covered with a complex breathing mask. Raising her right hand, she saw a probe sensor clipped to her index finger.
This plastic clip, resembling a clothespin, was connected to dozens of hair-thin wires, which in turn connected to several different instruments. Some displayed body energy parameters, others monitored cell activity indices. Of the dozens of specialized data points on each instrument, Hao Mei couldn't understand anything except the numbers.
Hao Mei sat up, pressing one hand to her throbbing head, her gaze dazed. She vaguely remembered that something seemed to have happened in the past few hours.
The memories from that period were very blurry, as if sealed away by herself. Even with careful recollection, it was hazy. She could only recall that a man wearing a tube mask had asked her many questions. What exactly those questions were, she had forgotten.
"How strange."
Hao Mei checked herself. Her body was fine, not only fine but the injuries from the previous battle had healed. Yet, for some reason, she felt completely weak, causing her combat power to plummet to the point where she couldn't even beat second or third-rank contractors. The good news was that this weakened state was temporary.
Hao Mei removed the probe sensor from her finger, tore off the electrode patches stuck to her body, then put on a white hospital gown. Before putting it on, she even sniffed it. The gown was dry and new, soft and loose when worn. Hao Mei silently gave it a good review.
First, she observed her surroundings. What met her eyes were instruments, instruments, and more instruments... and an experimental table with many test tubes, mixing cups, and other containers.
The metal door of this laboratory was slightly ajar, with intricate patterns on it. Some represented the sun, while others showed a war hammer inside a circle. With Hao Mei's knowledge base, she only felt that these patterns had an inexplicable sense of majesty, but she didn't know anything else.
Walking out of the metal door, Hao Mei entered the main command room. She looked around; there was no one in sight. The solid wood furniture she saw all had a sense of the times.
"Not good, this can't be the border zone, can it?"
From the battle a few hours ago and the fragmented information she had sensed along the way, Hao Mei guessed at some things. She immediately reported to the Apocalypse Paradise through her brand.
"I guess you're reporting us."
Baha flew out from the alternate space and landed on the coffee table.
Hearing Baha's words, Hao Mei's expression remained unchanged, but she had already secretly reported. She said, "I never report others."
As Hao Mei said this, she had already completed the skilled three-step process of "Apply, Report, Submit" in secret.
[Prompt (Apocalypse Paradise): Your report has been received.]
[Report successful. Checking the action trajectory of Contractor No. 207753·Woya.]
[Abnormal node detected.]
[Contractor No. 207753·Woya confirmed dead. Tracking the held brand.]
[Tracking failed. This brand has been decomposed.]
[Checked that this brand has been decomposed by Reincarnation Paradise. Forcibly retrieving the decomposed brand.]
[Retrieved 10%, 30%, 70%, 90%, 99%...]
[Forcibly interrupted. Retrieval failed.]
[This incident involves brand seizure, storage, disguise, etc. Contractors are not allowed to disclose any information regarding this matter to outsiders.]
[Thank you for your report. Your brand reputation +2 points.]
...
Hao Mei was momentarily stunned. She couldn't quite figure out whether her report had succeeded or failed.
If it succeeded, the Reincarnation Paradise Hunter hadn't been affected at all. If it failed, she had gained 2 points of brand reputation from the report.
From the many prompts, Hao Mei felt that the Apocalypse Paradise was telling her to keep quiet about this matter. Those 2 points of brand reputation looked very much like hush money.