The cold moonlight, like a searchlight, cast a sickly pallor over the pair's escape route. Behind them, the roar of engines and the whistling of psychic abilities grew ever closer. The base's elite pursuit squad, aided by vehicles and superior stamina, was rapidly closing the gap.
"Left! Into that rocky ravine!" Gu Xun gasped, his face eerily pale in the moonlight.
Lu Zhao grabbed him and charged toward a dry riverbed strewn with jagged boulders. Vehicles couldn't traverse this terrain, offering a brief delay to their pursuers.
But barely had they plunged into the valley when a searing blast of heat suddenly erupted from behind a massive boulder ahead!
"Where do you think you're going?"
Jiang Jin! Like a specter, he blocked their path, his body engulfed in a smoldering, oppressive blue flame. He had somehow arrived first and intercepted them here!
Trapped between a rock and a hard place.
The base's elite squad swiftly arrived, sealing off the valley's exit. The Ice-element Captain coldly surveyed the two men and one "beast" trapped in the middle: "Capture them! And that Fire-element lunatic—try to take him alive!"
Battle erupted instantly!
Jiang Jin paid no heed to the base personnel. His sole targets were Gu Xun and Lu Zhao. Roaring, he unleashed a dark blue fire dragon that coiled toward Lu Zhao first! Lu Zhao strained to channel his wind-element abilities, dodging desperately in the narrow river valley.
The base squad launched their assault simultaneously. Icicles, earth spikes, and energy binding nets descended upon Jiang Jin from all directions.
Chaos erupted! Jiang Jin fought like a caged beast gone mad, simultaneously fending off Lu Zhao's harassment and the base squad's encirclement. His intense blue flames, scorching hot, held their own against the onslaught!
Yet, two fists could not withstand four hands. As he parried a devious wind blade from Lu Zhao, Jiang Jin's back was left wide open!
"Now!" A cold gleam flashed in the Ice Team Captain's eyes. A frigid beam, channeling the bulk of his power, shot toward Jiang Jin's back like a venomous snake!
Jiang Jin sensed the deadly threat behind him, but it was too late to fully evade!
At that critical moment—
Gu Xun, who had been pale-faced and biding his time, suddenly raised his hand!
He didn't attack anyone. Instead, he channeled the last remnants of his light-elemental ability, blending it with faint water vapor. Instantly, behind Jiang Jin, it coalesced into a thin, diamond-shaped shield that shimmered with pure white light!
"Pfft!"
The frigid ray slammed into the shield! It trembled violently, emitting an overburdened hum as cracks instantly spread across its surface. Yet it did not shatter immediately! It bought Jiang Jin those crucial fractions of a second!
Using this brief respite, Jiang Jin twisted violently. The deep blue flames skimmed the edge of the frigid beam, scorching and freezing his shoulder blade, leaving a horrific wound—yet sparing his vital heart!
He whipped his head around to see the shattering light shield and Gu Xun staggering backward behind it, nearly collapsing from complete exhaustion. For the first time amid the madness, Jiang Jin's crimson eyes held a clear, incredulous shock.
Why? Why did he save me?
That split-second hesitation proved fatal.
The base squad seized the opportunity, unleashing multiple attacks upon Jiang Jin simultaneously! He let out a wretched howl as the flames around him flickered erratically. He crashed heavily to one knee, blood spilling from the corner of his mouth—clearly gravely wounded.
Gu Xun, drained from his final exertion, saw blackness overtake his vision and collapsed to the ground.
"Gu Xun!" Lu Zhao's eyes widened in fury as he rushed forward recklessly, catching him.
The Ice Captain surveyed the gravely wounded Jiang Jin and the incapacitated Gu Xun, a flicker of satisfaction crossing his eyes as he prepared to order their capture.
Suddenly, the gravely wounded Jiang Jin snapped his head up, unleashing a roar unlike any human voice—filled with agony, fury, and a kind of resolute determination! He frantically compressed every last shred of flame energy within him, then—detonated it with a thunderous explosion!
"BOOM—!!!"
It wasn't an attack directed at anyone, but a pure, explosive surge of energy radiating outward! A deep blue ring of fire spread violently from his center, carrying an aura of utter destruction!
"Watch out! Retreat!" The Ice Team Captain's face paled as he hastily erected an ice wall for defense.
The terrifying explosion hurled every rock in the river valley skyward. Dust and smoke filled the air, and the scorching shockwave made it impossible for anyone to open their eyes.
When the dust finally began to settle, the Elite Squad members were in disarray, many bearing injuries. At the valley's center, aside from a charred crater, the figures of Gu Xun, Lu Zhao, and Jiang Jin had vanished without a trace.
In the distance, at the edge of a thicket of withered grass, Lu Zhao carried the completely unconscious Gu Xun on his back. His face was deathly pale. He glanced back at the explosion's epicenter and the empty river valley, clenched his teeth, and without further hesitation, mustered his last ounce of strength. Staggering, he carried Gu Xun deeper into the darkness. He ultimately had neither the strength nor the reason to carry Jiang Jin—the man who had repeatedly sought his life and just moments ago unleashed that colossal explosion. Jiang Jin's fate, whether life or death, was now left to the whims of fate.
"Search! They can't have gone far!" The Ice Squad leader wiped soot from his face and barked the order through gritted teeth. But surveying his men's injuries and the deserted valley, he knew tonight's pursuit would likely end here. He signaled his squad to comb the area thoroughly, especially for Jiang Jin's trail, before reluctantly leading them out of the valley.
Lu Zhao carried Gu Xun on his back, unaware how long they'd run until his legs felt like lead weights and his lungs felt torn apart. Only then did he collapse, exhausted, behind a concealed earthen slope. Clutching the unconscious Gu Xun tightly, he felt the faint rise and fall of his breath. As the first pale light of dawn spread across the distant horizon, his heart swelled with relief at surviving the ordeal—yet was also filled with a deeper, more profound confusion.