Even with her Rubik's Cube Space nearly full, Jing Shu still cleared a spot for the robot. As long as there was a clue, she wasn't afraid of losing track of Job Sbus.
At the same time, she couldn't help but feel a surge of anticipation. The Rhine Manor was stuffed with luxury goods so extravagant that even in her past life she couldn't have imagined owning them. Yet to that rich bastard, they were nothing more than trinkets he couldn't take with him. When she found him again, she wanted to see what kind of treasures he'd still be hiding.
No one knew what she was really planning. The teams stationed outside, upon hearing the rescue helicopter's arrival, quickly withdrew. Meanwhile, the priest who'd just entered the area led the nuns into a final sweep. Jing Shu saw everything clearly.
From a distance, the priest spoke in his usual tone of tragic compassion. "I shall pass over you and smite the Egyptian idol. The plague shall not touch you, nor destroy you. The Lord says, fear not. Go forth, my brave children. Redeem them!"
The helicopter dropped its rope ladder. Yang Yang climbed up first, while Jing Shu tied the half-crippled Monkey and the unconscious Hao Yunlai together, securing them to the rope. The two of them dangled in midair like a pair of hanging corpses.
"Hurry up!" Yang Yang yelled, his legs hooked around the rope as the helicopter swayed up and down.
Then came the first explosion.
Boom! Boom!
The blast erupted from the center of Rhine Manor. Mushroom clouds billowed into the sky, and a scorching wave of heat washed over everything. A split second later, shockwaves ripped through the underwater section, shattering reinforced glass that turned into deadly shrapnel, slicing through anything in its path.
The initial explosion acted like a fuse, igniting every bomb in a visible chain reaction. The ground quaked violently while mushroom clouds kept bursting one after another across the manor. The deafening roar made it impossible for anyone to hear a word.
Jing Shu had already packed everything from the eighth-floor vault, and when the others weren't looking, she crammed even more supplies into her space. She didn't even know what half of it was, but it all looked expensive, so she'd sort it out later.
She bundled seven or eight sacks of goods together and strapped them to her back. After placing the ID chip back onto the corpse, she leapt upward and grabbed hold of Yang Yang.
There was a sickening crack.
Crack!
Yang Yang's arms broke under the sudden force of her weight. Jing Shu and those bags easily totaled a few hundred kilos, and yet he still didn't let go. Pure willpower kept him hanging on.
Sweat dripped from his pale face, but he didn't make a sound.
Jing Shu swung herself up to grab the last rung of the rope ladder. "That was close. Hold on. I'll fix you up once we're safe."
Yang Yang: …
Rumble!
The explosions were getting closer. In less than ten seconds, the chain reaction spread outward. The pilot, seeing the last person onboard, pushed the helicopter to its limits, engines screaming as it climbed several dozen meters higher. But then the aircraft stopped rising—it was too heavy!
The overloaded helicopter shuddered violently. The sacks tied beneath them flapped like a string of kites, lifted several meters by the shockwave.
Another explosion rocked the earth.
Boom!
The self-destruct charge at the base of the tower detonated. A wall of heat surged upward, and Jing Shu's face and legs burned as if they'd caught fire. A massive mushroom cloud blossomed right beneath their feet. The helicopter veered away at full speed, but the lowest bag still caught the edge of the blast.
One sack snapped off and plummeted into the inferno below. Jing Shu winced, clutching her chest in pain. She had no idea what was inside, but losing it hurt.
She held the ladder in a death grip as the helicopter wobbled dangerously. The thing was never meant to carry this much weight. It was supposed to rescue a few people, not haul several tons of loot. The pilot probably thought the last person hanging below was insane, lugging so much stuff and still not dead. The aircraft's balance was completely off.
The rumbling went on endlessly. No one knew how many explosives Job Sbus had buried in the place, but the result was terrifying. The multi-billion-dollar underwater world was obliterated, taking the surrounding areas down with it.
From above, Jing Shu could see what used to be the majestic Rhine Manor. Now, it was just a field of smoking ruins, black ash rolling across the sea in waves.
"Cough, cough…"
The helicopter turned toward the canal. After several minutes of flight, they finally escaped the blast zone and regrouped with Tank's team. More helicopters appeared overhead, and armored vehicles rolled out from the Zhuangyan Temple area. The situation was clearly much bigger than they'd imagined.
Just as she expected, the robot had sent out a signal. Dozens of units were on-site now, though no one could tell whether they were from the government or some private force.
Once Jing Shu's group was dropped off, the helicopter immediately pulled away. They boarded the cargo ship No. 808 waiting for them and slipped away amidst the chaos.
It wouldn't be long before the news of Job Sbus's "death" dominated America's headlines. The priest and the few surviving nuns stayed behind to clean up what was left. In New York, that priest still had considerable influence, no matter how mysterious he was.
Tank looked back at the devastated shore, fury twisting his face. "Should we expose him? Job Sbus isn't dead. This whole thing was a staged death!"
Zhen Nantian frowned, pulling out his phone and handing it to Jing Shu. With Yang Yang's arms broken and Monkey and Hao Yunlai unconscious, she was the only one still capable of acting.
Zhen Nantian said, "You've been listed as wanted fugitives in America. Your faces are all over social media. Every major group's gonna be after you now, especially since you've got those formulas. Honestly…"
He gave a bitter smile. "It'd almost be better if you'd died in that explosion."
"In other words," he continued, "we can't expose anything. Anyone tied to this will be implicated."
Snake Spirit frowned. "They saw the helicopter. Even if they didn't have time to follow us, once they investigate and find no bodies, they'll start suspecting something."
Ling Ling calmly wiped her gun. "That's fine. As long as we get back to China before the trail gets cold, they won't be able to touch us."
Jing Shu stood, flexing her hands. "Of course we can't let anyone find out that rich bastard's still alive. I've got the robot's chip. If we can track him down later, his entire fortune will be ours."