Being simultaneously pinned down by three spatial abilities would spell certain death for anyone else.
But Luoshu possessed so many abilities—how could he be stumped by such a trivial matter?
At top speed, he flipped open The Anomalous Item Catalog to page five—Anomalous Item-131, Eye Pods!
Vertical Climb!
Before Barbie and Abel could close in on him, he had already scaled his way to the ceiling of the morgue.
Barbie and Abel's attacks missed their mark...
"What just happened?" Barbie asked, bewildered.
Outside the morgue, the Achilles' Heel operative holding the Kant Counter frowned in confusion. "He slipped right between you and is now heading for the site entrance!"
The Kant Counter only displayed planar coordinates—no one had expected Luoshu to escape right over the heads of two elite operatives.
At this point, Luoshu had been shot three times. Though none of the wounds were critical, they still took a heavy toll.
One bullet had struck his leg, leaving him limping and drastically slowing him down.
If he tried to force his way through a defensive line manned by three elite operatives and two Mobile Task Forces now, it would be sheer recklessness.
So Luoshu decided to change tactics.
He quickly retreated to Site-CN-06's B1 level and turned to his AI disciple for help.
Ahem, my disciple, I have returned...
"My Lord, welcome back!"
"Enough with the pleasantries. Site-CN-06 must have other exits, like a freight passage. Where is it? Take me there, now!"
At this moment, Luoshu's decisive retreat left Barbie hesitating.
Compared to the trap they had set in the morgue, if she and Abel gave chase now, the situation would become far less favorable.
Site-CN-06's underground facilities were a labyrinth of corridors and rooms—perfect for Luoshu to wage guerrilla warfare.
Without a direct line of sight on Luoshu, Barbie and Abel would be like children playing blind man's bluff, at a severe disadvantage.
Abel, of course, was eager to pursue, but "The God" decisively erected a spatial barrier at the entrance, blocking him.
"Old man, why are you stopping me?"
Abel raised his sword as he spoke. If "The God" didn't give him a satisfactory answer, he would cleave through the spatial barrier.
"You can't even see his shadow. Do you really think chasing blindly will help you find him?"
"Why wouldn't it?" Abel pointed at the bloodstains on the ground. "He's injured!" Abel wasn't one for strategy, but that didn't mean he was stupid.
"The God" didn't want to argue. "Fine, go ahead if you insist."
So Abel slipped through the gap "The God" opened and began tracking Luoshu along the blood trail.
Unlike Abel, Barbie—though impulsive—still had some discipline.
She asked, "Sir, what should we do now?"
"The God" stared at the cursor on the Kant Counter and said, "Luoshu is obviously trying to escape through another exit. All we have to do is cut him off."
"I'm just not sure we can cut him off..." Barbie had suffered too many losses at Luoshu's hands to feel confident.
"The God's" expression darkened at her words. "We'll see. If all else fails, there are other methods."
According to the data provided by the supercomputer "White Cell," Site-CN-06 had three exits in total.
Aside from the main exit in the morgue and the freight passage Luoshu had mentioned, there was also an emergency exit.
The main exit and the freight passage were both located within the Tianjin Acorus Hospital, less than 200 meters apart on the surface.
Luoshu knew that trying to escape through the freight passage would be futile—Barbie would surely have it blocked in advance.
So he set his sights on the emergency exit.
This exit was hidden in the site's sewage pipes, leading directly to the nearby Hai River.
He refused to believe Barbie could set up a blockade underwater.
Achilles' Heel and Pandora's Box were no Mobile Task Force Bingyin-18 "Ocean Hunters"—they weren't specialized in aquatic combat.
But before making his escape, Luoshu had to solve the problem of being tracked by the Kant Counter—otherwise, he'd never get away.
Fortunately, this wasn't too difficult.
First, he measured his personal Hume level and confirmed that he had indeed become a genuine Level 1 reality bender. Then, without hesitation, he activated Reverse Warping to perform Hume-level neutralization.
In that instant, Luoshu vanished from the Kant Counter's readings.
Barbie shot "The God" a frustrated look. "We lost him again..."
"The God," however, remained calm. "Check on Abel's progress, then pull up the site surveillance and see if we can track Luoshu's blood trail."
As for Abel's situation, the Pandora's Box commander quickly provided an update: "He's still tracking, but it's slow going. Not very efficient."
As for the surveillance feed, the supercomputer "White Cell" naturally didn't cooperate fully, providing only low-resolution footage that made it impossible to clearly see the bloodstains on the ground.
Barbie had expected this. "Luoshu has the ability to interfere with surveillance. It's a shame we still haven't figured out how he does it."
After the incident at Site-CN-02, the Foundation had conducted a full system audit of the host system and surveillance network but had failed to identify the issue.
Luoshu hadn't installed any jammers or implanted viruses—the surveillance system was exactly the same as before.
No one could have guessed that the system's AI had become his disciple.
The idea was simply too fantastical.
So the prevailing theory within the Foundation was that Luoshu possessed some kind of memetic or anti-memetic ability that disrupted surveillance.
After all, Luoshu had already demonstrated memetic and anti-memetic capabilities in other areas, so it wasn't a stretch to assume.
His memetic ability was evident in the "Friend of Anomalies" milestone's influence over Jianjia and the child laborers, while his anti-memetic ability spoke for itself—his invisibility was proof enough.
In response to this ability, some had suggested more drastic measures, such as outright shutting down the host system and surveillance network.
But if the systems were disabled, would Luoshu even need to stay hidden?
And if the systems were disabled, were they just inviting a massive containment breach?
Anyone dumb enough to propose such an idea again would face execution at "The God's" hands!
For a moment, the assembled team—comprising three elite operatives and two Mobile Task Forces—found themselves at a loss.
Barbie felt utterly demoralized. Every time they went up against Luoshu, it ended like this.
Just as she was about to give up, "The God" spoke. "Since there are no other options left, we proceed with the final measure!"
The final measure?!
Barbie's heart skipped a beat. "Sir, are you planning to use the nuke? Abel is still down there... Oh, never mind him. But there are still so many people in the site!"
"The God" ignored her and pulled out a phone. "On my authority, Level 6 clearance—detonate the pre-planted nuclear device in Site-CN-06 immediately!"
A few seconds later, the supercomputer "White Cell" blared through the site's PA system:
"My Lord! The nuclear device has been armed—I cannot stop it! Initiating countdown—10 seconds!"
10!
9!
8!
...
At this very moment, Luoshu was still making his way toward the emergency exit.
Even if he had a full minute, he wouldn't be able to escape the blast radius—let alone 10 seconds!