Chapter 307: Li

On the second floor of an abandoned factory around a kilometer away, several people had appeared in front of Hebi no Miko.

They were led by a relatively normal-looking young man, but it was clear from the physical appearances of the rest of the group that they were all suffering from some type of mental condition.

Hebi no Miko's gaze roamed over the group, and even though she was also a psychic mutant herself, she had no intention of lumping herself in with these nutjobs.

"Who are you?"

"Now's not the time for questions, all you have to know is that we're the ones who saved you." The young man was speaking very quickly as he pointed out the window. "There are currently more than 100 Mechguard units searching for you out there right now, and most importantly, your location has already been exposed. A large number of Mechguard units will arrive to surround this place soon, so we have to get out of here first."

The young man rushed toward the staircase leading to the first floor as he spoke.

Hebi no Miko had no choice but to follow along.

Everyone else also followed suit, and a middle-aged man with a pair of unfocused eyes was bringing up the rear.

He was controlling several strange automatons that had been assembled from scrap parts, and if Chen Yiran were here, he would be able to identify the middle-aged man as the mathematician that he had seen scribbling random symbols on the ground.

It was his automatons that had destroyed the Mechguard unit that had first discovered Hebi no Miko, and at the moment, he was instructing his automatons to disassemble the destroyed Mechguard unit, which was why he was the last to leave.

"We gotta go, Big Genius! You're gonna die if you stay here any longer!"

His companion was calling out urgently to him from the stairwell, but he didn't care, and only after he had secured all of the parts that he was interested in did he depart.

As soon as he left, the windows of the second floor were shattered, and a group of flying Mechguard units stormed in.

The drone-like Mechguard units scanned the area with their infrared cameras, and they were able to quickly lock onto the escapees before giving chase.

Up ahead, Hebi no Miko and the young man had already rushed out of the factory, and they rushed over to a manhole, following which the young man removed the manhole lid before jumping in.

Everyone else immediately followed suit, jumping in one after another.

Hebi no Miko had a hand clasped over her abdomen, which had been injured by a shot from the Mechguard unit, and she also jumped in after them.

At this point, the aerial Mechguard units had already arrived, and they were opening fire on the group.

"Metal Lump, Raise the shields!" Big Genius commanded, and some carbon fiber structures suddenly sprang out of a round automaton, exploding into layers of umbrella-like shields that were able to keep the bullets of the Mechguard units at bay, giving Big Genius enough time to enter the sewers as well.

Immediately thereafter, the round automaton also pulled into the sewage system, followed by the other automatons.

A spider-like automaton was bringing up the rear, and as it scurried into the sewers, it left a trail of "spider silk" behind it. Each thread was connected to a high-voltage electric generator in its body, making all of the threads high-voltage electric cables that were extremely dangerous.

After smashing through the carbon fiber shields, the aerial Mechguard units swooped down to enter the sewers, but as soon as they did so, they were instantly destroyed by the high-voltage electric threads.

At the same time, all of the weapons and ammunition on those Mechguard units exploded from the influx of high-voltage electricity, causing the entire area to collapse.

Inside the sewage system, everyone heaved a sigh of relief as they heard the explosion and the sound of tumbling rocks ringing out behind them.

"This area is sealed, but the Mechguard units will enter the sewers from other areas, so we can't let our guard down. We'll only be safe once we're below the barriers."

The young man switched on the lighting equipment that he was wearing while leading the way forward.

Now that they were temporarily safe, Hebi no Miko finally had a chance to ask some questions.

"Why are you? Why did you save me?"

"To be honest, I don't know why we saved you," the young man replied. "Personally, I didn't want to save you. In fact, I would much rather see you die."

Not only was Hebi no Miko not enraged by the young man's excessive honesty, she felt more inclined to trust him.

"You still haven't answered my question."

"Raven told us to save you. He looked up your file prior to coming here, and we've heard that you're a very violent and unstable person, but you always repay those who display kindness to you. He told us that if we save your life, we'll be able to use your power to earn back our freedom," the young man replied. "That's the only reason why we saved you."

"Earn back your freedom? Are you being controlled by something?" Hebi no Miko asked while continuing to forge ahead.

"That's none of your business. I signed up for this voluntarily, but killing people every day goes against my moral code. Hence, I want to kill a few important figures so I can be free again."

"I see, you must belong to a hitman organization."

Hebi no Miko was very familiar with Oni-faced Dragon, so she was naturally aware of how hitmen organizations worked.

The situation that the young man was in was a classic case of someone being bound to a hitman organization. Some hitman organizations had certain methods to control their members, but these organizations didn't want to push their members too far for fear of revolt. Hence, it was generally the case that freedom would be granted to a hitman after they had completed certain missions.

"You really did save my life back there. If it isn't for you, I would definitely be dead right now, so I owe you one. I'm willing to lend you my assistance at any time with whatever it is that you're trying to do."

The young man didn't seem to be very fond of Hebi no Miko, and he merely nodded in response without saying anything.

Thus, the group continued to advance through the sewage system, taking a series of twists and turns before finally arriving in a screened area.

This was an area in which pieces of solid sewage were filtered out, and there were all types of machines and screens set up here, making it very difficult for Mechguard units to pass through.

However, some openings had already been cut into the screens, and Big Genius's automatons had been specially crafted to be able to fit through these openings. After carefully making their way through this area for a while, the group finally arrived in a safe zone.

There were all types of crude residential areas set up here, and even some mechanical parts assembly rooms.

There were also some other people living here, and all of them appeared to be rather abnormal.

"We'll be safe here."

The young man didn't seem to want to spend any more time with Hebi no Miko than necessary, and he immediately turned to depart.

"Hold on, what's your name?" Hebi no Miko asked.

"You can call me Li."