CNS | Chapter 26

Chapter 26, Seven Years Ago (2)

Beneath the overpass in Oak District, a row of barricade pillars with red lights lit up rose from the ground, and police officers in dark blue uniforms stood with their hands clasped behind their backs, forming a human wall.

Amid the sound of alarms, a black-and-yellow motorcycle came hurtling in. With his appearance, the entire district lost power in an instant and plunged into darkness, leaving only the police cars’ red and blue warning lights flashing against one another.

Shen Run did not slow down as he approached the barricade. He suddenly twisted the grip, accelerated, the bike’s front end lifted, and he surged over the barricade pillars. @无限好文，尽在晋江文学城

Behind him, SGPD police joined the formation of Ark Research Institute soldiers, pursuing him, while Anderson’s shouts echoed through the communicator.

-The chip is still in his hands!丨Use large-scale tactical weapons!

Bullets of the same caliber roared toward Shen Run. The bullets grazed the body of the bike, kicking up streaks of sparks, and Shen Run’s subcutaneous armor shielded him from these lethal incoming rounds.

As he neared Polaris Hotel, he took the rocket launcher off his back. Keeping one hand on the handlebar, before the Suzuki agents stationed at the entrance could even react, they were already hit squarely by an anti-tank grenade.

The fire and smoke from the explosion surged upward in thick billows, obscuring the entire area from view. Shen Run took the opportunity to climb the outer wall of the high-rise and enter Suzuki Hiko’s suite.

The moment he entered the hotel suite, seeing the mangled corpse lying on the floor, as well as the corpse’s obviously elderly appearance, he understood everything that had happened in this room.

This was not some bullshit party at all. This was a massacre.

Looking at Jiede, her face covered in blood and tears as she fought desperately against the Suzuki agents, Shen Run only said one word.

-Run.

Jiede held a heated energy katana covered in blood, and only one word remained on her lips.

-Sorry, sorry.

Behind her, there was also a girl pressed tightly against her, her face full of panic.

-Leave her here, she’ll die.

The girl had a pair of aquamarine eyes, much like Shen Ze’s, reminding Shen Run of what he and his younger brother looked like when they first met.

Shen Run pulled her into his arms, held a submachine gun with one hand, and took Jiede down from the hotel through the pipes to the underground parking garage.

On the way here, he had contacted Leon in advance and asked him to drive here to pick him and Jiede up.

After sending Jiede and the girl into Leon’s car, he synced a coordinate to the vehicle system through the network access pod.

This was part of the evacuation plan Lu Yun had prepared for him before coming to Saint Grange, a speedboat docked at a certain port in Oak District.

-We’ll split up. Once you get to the dock, wait for me. I still have another way to get out. You go first.

-Captain! We leave together!

Shen Run took an electromagnetic crossbow from the car and said in a low voice to Leon.

-Take her and go.

The brown-haired young man bit his lip hard, and in the end steeled his heart, ignored the girl inside the car screaming and crying, and quickly drove the off-road vehicle away.

Suzuki’s cyber warriors surged in from all directions. Shen Run used “Gram” to hack into a coupe in the parking garage that was equipped with an automatic combat system.

He got into the cockpit, raised the electromagnetic crossbow, and fired electromagnetic pulses at the cyber warriors whose bodies were entirely metal cybernetic prostheses. Before they could recover, he drove off at high speed.

That night was Christmas Eve. Snowflakes drifted through the sky. The black coupe sped between the high-rises, and behind it came armed flying cars and swarms of drones with sirens blaring.

Bullets flew everywhere. The car’s kinetic deflection shield was on the verge of collapse, and warnings of intrusion kept popping up from Shen Run’s access pod and the car’s central control system.

He not only had to find a way to evade the fierce firepower of the pursuers behind him, he also had to guard against hackers lurking in the shadows, always ready to breach the ICE and burn his brain to ash.

Shen Run held the rocket launcher, with only one grenade left, leaned his upper body out of the car window, aimed at the pursuers behind him, and fired.

In a daze, he drove the car onto Emerald Bay Bridge. Across the bridge lay Emerald Bay District, which was being divided up by warlords. Shen Run had no choice but to grit his teeth and keep driving forward.

-He’s heading into Emerald Bay! We can’t let him into Emerald Bay!

The in-car communicator somehow connected to Suzuki Group’s internal communications channel, and Aylan language with a Liu Island accent sounded inside the car.

A cyber warrior wearing black kinetic armor dropped from the sky and landed on the hood of the coupe. Two thermal mantis blades mounted on his arms glowed a scarlet red. He effortlessly sliced through the front windshield, the blades brushing past Shen Run’s eyes.

Bang-

The electromagnetic crossbow erupted with a powerful wave of energy. The cyber warrior was thrown off the car body, but he seemed to be equipped with military-grade cybernetic limbs. His speed was so fast it left afterimages, and the blade on his arm stabbed back into the hood.

The deflection shield completely failed. Amid a hail of gunfire, the coupe’s roof was torn off. Shen Run used “Gram” to keep attacking the cyber warrior’s access pod and processor, implanting a Trojan to raise the temperature of the brain-machine interface.

-Gram, he’s a Security Bureau agent!

-Mr. Sakai, he has subcutaneous armor!

-Fire a microwave missile.

-No good! The chip, Pru

Ark Research Institute.

I must be remade. I must avenge my master and make him pay the price!

Ignoring Ark Research Institute’s objections, the electromagnetic pulse wave had already exploded outward, sweeping over Shen Run’s entire body. His subcutaneous armor instantly failed, and the neural implants in his brain and spine were nearly shattered as well. His head roared with pain, and he almost passed out.

Bang-

Countless bullets rained down. He was hit in multiple places, and one round pierced his left chest.

The cross-sea bridge was already nearing its end. Shen Run abandoned the mangled coupe, leaped from the bridge, and plunged into the dark waters of Emerald Bay.

His neural processor and other brain implants had been destroyed by the electromagnetic pulse. In a dazed state, he made it ashore and could no longer clearly remember how he had climbed into that mansion-like estate.

The security of the entire estate was no less than at Polaris Hotel, and soldiers in navy uniforms were everywhere.

Using the access pod that was on the verge of collapse, he hacked into the estate’s security system, found a room without surveillance, climbed inside, and there he encountered its owner.

Joshua Phoenix, the sole heir of Phoenix.

His injuries were too severe, not only the gunshot that had pierced his chest, but also the brain damage caused by the electromagnetic pulse. Shen Run thought he would die. He remained unconscious in Phoenix’s estate for seven days, yet miraculously survived.

Joshua Phoenix somehow repaired his shattered neural synapses.

When Shen Run woke up, he beat up the several Phoenix soldiers who had imprisoned him inside the bedroom with his bare hands, and only after searching the room for a long while did he find a phone.

He dialed that number which could roam automatically no matter when or where, the Security Bureau’s internal line.

The call was quickly answered.

-Hello, Brother Lu, it’s me.

An incredulous voice came from the other end.

-…….Arun? You, you’re still alive?

Time was tight. Shen Run was afraid of being discovered by Joshua and did not have time to waste words with Lu Yun.

-I didn’t die. I’m in Emerald Bay, the territory fenced off by that renegade naval general. Help me find a boat, or a plane, anything, the faster the better.

Unlike what Shen Run had expected, Lu Yun on the other end fell into a long silence.

-…Brother Lu? Are you still listening?

Lu Yun’s voice had changed from usual. He was trembling.

-Arun… you, you can’t come back… you can’t come back to Alysia…

Shen Run clenched his fists, and a bad premonition rose in his heart. He felt the blood in his entire body rushing upward.

-Arun, the south is going to lose. The situation is very bad.

-Suzuki Hiko is dead, Suzuki Masao received the news and is very angry. Right now it’s the critical period for negotiations, we can’t provoke the Hua Lian people. You, you understand?

Hearing the sound coming from the phone receiver, Shen Run opened his mouth stiffly, almost speechless.

How could he not understand what Lu Yun meant? The operation had failed, his identity had been exposed, and under these circumstances, Aylan could not possibly break with the Suzuki Group.

He recalled what Joshua had said to him before he lost consciousness.

-All the information about the operation team has already been made public. You have been abandoned by that man.

Shen Run was swallowed by endless bitterness. He knew the Security Bureau’s methods. They would wrap this operation up as an “accident.” In their story, Shen Run would be a spy turned by an outside force, or simply a spy sent by some organization to sabotage peace. All of it would be his personal act, unrelated to Aylan, unrelated to Messeris Palace.

And no matter how the story was told, Shen Run knew that one fact could no longer be changed, in order to calm the rage of these Liu Island people, he had already been handed over to the Suzuki Group as the necessary price for peace.

In his twelfth year of loyal service to the Security Bureau, he had become a discarded piece in the hands of the one who held the board.

-Arun, what about Prometheus?

He heard Lu Yun ask this.

The lover he had treated like a lifeline was, compared with his own life, actually more concerned about that damned chip.

With a vindictive heart, Shen Run deliberately lied.

-It’s destroyed, it was blown up by the Suzuki Group’s own people.

Lu Yun on the other end of the phone fell silent again.

Shen Run gripped the edge of the phone tightly, his fingertips turning white. He still could not accept the reality before him.

-No way, Brother Lu, I, I have to go back, I have to go back to Alysia.

-Shen Ze, Shen Ze is still waiting for me at home, you know that, he can’t manage without me, I have to go back.

In the long silence, Lu Yun let out a long sigh.

-I’m sorry, Arun, sorry.

-You can’t come back, really, you can’t come back. If you come back, you’ll die.

-We can’t let anyone know the operation orders were issued directly from Messeris Palace. Right now the entire Security Bureau is being turned upside down. You are the leader of the operation team. If he finds out you’re still alive, he’ll kill you outright.

Lu Yun did not say it directly, but Shen Run knew who he was talking about, that man sitting in the largest office in Messeris Palace, the number one figure in the entire Aylan Federation.

-I’ll tell him you’re dead, erase all your information, and end this matter like this.

-Don’t come back, never come back, and don’t contact Shen Ze either. He’ll be watched over there too. If you go to find him, you’ll harm him.

-Don’t call this number again either. Change your name, change your identity, and live on, Arun. I beg you, don’t come back, live well.

Shen Run did not hear a single word. In front of his eyes was only a pair of intensely aggressive, beautiful blue eyes.

I promised Shen Ze that I would definitely go back as soon as possible, so I have to go back.

He thought this.

He can’t be left all alone. He knew what it felt like to be abandoned by the person closest to him. He couldn’t let Shen Ze taste that kind of pain too, he couldn’t just abandon him like this, he would cry.

His body, just awakened from unconsciousness, was covered in cold sweat. Shen Run could not tell whether the thing running down his cheek was sweat or tears.

-I want to go back, Brother Lu, I beg you, I want to go back.

Lu Yun said nothing.

-Help me, Brother Lu, only you can help me now. I must go back. @无限好文，尽在晋江文学城

Lu Yun’s voice was also full of pain.

-I’m sorry, Arun, I love you.

-I swore under the flag of Aylan that national interests come above all else. I want to kill you with my own hands.

-Sorry….

In the end, only those three words kept repeating. He did not know when the call had been hung up. Shen Run remembered the resolute back he had last seen when he was fourteen.

He clutched his heart and clearly confirmed one fact, today, he had once again been abandoned by the one he loved.

Joshua Phoenix did not know when he had entered the room. He picked up the phone that had fallen to the floor.

-How is it? Given up?

Shen Run lay on the carpet and ignored him.

-Stay, stay in Phoenix and work for me. I’ll give you treatment ten thousand times better than that bunch of stingy Security Bureau bastards.

-No.

Shen Run stood up from the floor, his face pale but his eyes resolute.

-I still want to go back.

At worst, he would take Shen Ze and leave Alysia. Although being forced into a life on the run might not be fair to Shen Ze, it was still better than the two of them being separated. @无限好文，尽在晋江文学城

-You’re still determined to go back?

-Yes.

-Outside are Suzuki’s agents and warships everywhere. Once you go out, you’ll die. Even if you manage to leave Saint Grange by luck, there are your own people in Alysia waiting to clean up the traitors. Even so, you still want to go back?

-I have to go back.

Joshua smiled and looked down at Shen Run.

-Since you won’t accept a gift for free, then, Mr. Shen, how about making an equivalent trade?

He turned on the monitor hanging on the wall. On the television was news from a week ago.

A plane taking off from Saint Grange Airport was shot down over the Misty Sea, with no survivors. The attackers were unknown.

Shen Run’s heart tightened. That was the plane the team members had taken when evacuating.

The scene on the monitor changed, becoming two surveillance feeds. Inside two blank, prison-like rooms, Jiede and Leon were bound hand and foot by electronic shackles.

-These past few days, the Suzuki Group has been searching like mad for the murderer who killed Suzuki Hiko, but I said it before, without my permission, no one can enter Emerald Bay. Look, I protected them very well.

Shen Run looked at the surveillance footage, clenched his fists, and his internal organs were aching.

-Phoenix will protect you and your companions. No one here will discover your identities, no one will harm you. This is my promise.

-In exchange, stay, stay in Emerald Bay, and work for me.

After that came a long silence. Shen Run stared blankly out the window. The waters of the Misty Sea kept crashing against the rocks, snowflakes falling one by one into the sea, melting, disappearing.

Looking at the clear blue seawater, Shen Run thought of Shen Ze. He lowered his head and looked at his empty wrist.

There had once been a thin line there, silently burning his skin.

Shen Ze was thinking of him.

At that moment, all the past flashed before his eyes like a revolving lantern, Shen Ze’s joy and anger, sorrow and happiness, tears and warmth, the promises he had made, the two of them embracing and laughing.

Sorry.

Big brother is going to break his promise.

In endless silence, Shen Run accepted this “equivalent trade” at the cost of his own freedom.

A sudden heavy snow covered Saint Grange in silver white. In one night, many things on the border changed.

The institute that had violated international law was settled with, and disappeared into the long river of history.

The all-powerful corporation suffered a severe blow, leaving a prelude to being uprooted in the days to come.

The warlord lying low in the shadows obtained a priceless treasure, and after the intelligence agency called “Heimdall” was established, he took the opportunity to extend his reach beyond his own sphere of influence.

Messeris Palace, battered by wind and rain, after consecutive defeats in war and heavy losses to the intelligence organization, cut off its own tail to survive, began to restrain its edge, recuperate, and wait for the long winter to pass.

In this equivalent exchange, only one person lost everything, including family and lover, drifting in a foreign land and becoming a complete loser.