The sofa in the condominium in Wangdu was not too short. Xu Le liked to nestle on it and watch Channel 23 with snacks in his arms. This showed that his life was actually as warm and harmonious as many ordinary young people. However, many things had happened in the past few years were enough to prove that once he was forced into a corner by his environment or his own obsession, he would always squint his eyes and smash his way through with a straight face. He acted out the words' decisive and ruthless' in an exceptionally vivid manner.
Removing the chip from the back of his neck and avoiding the surveillance of the Empire, he quietly entered the vast sea of people in the capital city. Using the prosperity of the common world to hide his tracks, he patiently waited for the Empire to reveal any gaps. He would find all possible ways to leave this planet, infiltrate the border star system, prepare to face the counterattack of the Federal forces, or directly pass through the passage of the Night Scorpion Nebula and return to his hometown. This was his initial escape plan. Once the plan was set, with his personality, he would resolutely carry it out without any hesitation.
Therefore, today's hesitation was not because of the confusion of his identity as an artsy youth or because his spirit was bleak after being severed from the past. It was because of a very simple reason.
He was afraid of pain. To be more precise, he was afraid of fainting from the pain and becoming a pitiful unconscious prey under the iron hooves of the Empire's search and capture forces.
In the autumn of the 65th year of the Constitutional Era, he began the first escape of his life, an escape that changed the trajectory of his life. At the beginning of that escape, he replaced the chip on the back of his neck. As a result, he was unconscious for an entire night in the green hills and autumn forests during the storm.
Now, five years had passed in the blink of an eye, and he began to escape again. However, the pain that humans could not endure and could only passively resist by fainting was still fresh in his mind. He did not dare to forget it, and there was still lingering fear in his heart.
If it was when he was in the Federation, he still dared to look for a secluded place to gamble. Now, countless Imperial soldiers were searching for him. Once he fainted from the pain, he would fall into the sea of death forever.
Moving forward with difficulty in the underground sewers, with the help of the sewers map in his bracelet, he originally wanted to find a safe place to replace the chip on the back of his neck. However, he did not expect the Imperial armies to be so aggressive in their pursuit. There was no good opportunity at all.
In the underground sewer that was as dark as the passage of time, he carried his gun and stepped on his military boots that were constantly wearing out. He looked at the map and moved forward in silence. However, the question kept echoing in his mind: To gamble or not to gamble?
It took him a total of three minutes to come up with the answer. Three hundred meters away, in a dark corner without any light, Xu Le took a deep breath as he looked at the iron gate of the outer passage in the distance. A fierce look flashed across his swollen and squinted eyes as his left hand, which was hanging by his waist, suddenly tightened.
…
…
The metal wire in the bracelet slowly extended like a ghost and aimed at the bare skin behind his neck. The surroundings were pitch black, but the metal wire reflected the light from somewhere.
The extremely thin and sharp metal wire swayed gently in his slightly trembling hand, as if it would snap with a crisp sound if it swayed a little more.
Xu Le took another deep breath and then closed his eyes. His left hand moved closer to the back of his neck again.
When the metal wire was three centimeters away from the back of his neck, the sharp tip of the wire suddenly trembled strangely. It was like a hungry bee that suddenly smelled the scent of enchanting nectar. It quickly flapped its transparent wings excitedly.
Tiny and invisible electric charges continuously condensed at the tip of the metal wire, and an extremely small electromagnetic field enveloped the area behind his neck. A small bump slowly appeared on his bare skin.
Xu Le's face was expressionless, and his eyes were tightly closed. He could feel the strange feeling behind his neck, but he did not have any reaction. Although the last time he replaced the chip was five years ago, he remembered every detail very clearly.
The sewage under the underground platform slowly flowed, and the dry air was full of the smell of decay.
Suddenly, the tip of the metal wire extended automatically and accurately pierced the bump on the back of his neck. Then it kept vibrating and probing into the cervical vertebrae.
The intense pain went along the nerve bundles in the cervical vertebrae and fiercely blasted into the brain. Xu Le's half-kneeling body suddenly stiffened. His tightly closed eyes suddenly opened, and his face twisted in pain. The burning heat and the endless pain in his body intertwined, and it seemed that he was about to burn into ashes.
…
…
A few minutes later, a trembling figure stretched out his right hand with difficulty and touched the heavy iron door. He walked out of the underground sewer and climbed up the old-style stairs to the surface. When he climbed out of the ground, he half crouched in a bush to rest for a while. Then the figure painfully struggled to stand up again and continued to move forward. He looked like a dying seriously ill patient who could fall to the ground and die at any time.
Fortunately, he did not faint from the pain. Unfortunately, he needed to be awake to endure the increasingly intense pain. The joints where the chip was implanted in his cervical vertebrae were so painful that they were about to shatter, and his fingers were starting to feel numb.
The night was dark, and there was not a single person on the streets in the southwest of Tianjing. Xu Le, with a pale face, followed the green field by the street, moving his body that was constantly trembling because of the pain.
His trembling body brushed against the bush, making a rustling sound. Fortunately, the night wind was strong, and the branches of the trees brushed against each other from time to time, covering the sound that could possibly expose his whereabouts.
Because he did not faint, he could clearly feel the strange feeling and unbearable pain behind his neck more clearly than five years ago. He dragged his injured leg slowly in the grass, and his weak body that was about to be unable to support him anymore. He did not even notice that his teeth had bitten through his lips, and the small amount of blood that was originally not much dripped onto his military uniform.
A person who was extremely sleepy would not be able to see the bed, a person who was extremely hungry would not be able to see the food, and a person who was in extreme pain would not be able to relax in the slightest. At this moment, Xu Le's heart was filled with endless temptation. He wanted to collapse right here and now, so that he would never wake up again. He was not willing to endure this terrifying pain and torture.
Other than the pain, there was also a strange feeling of emptiness. This time, he was not replacing the chip, but executing the program to remove it. Since he was born more than 20 years ago, this was the first time that there was no chip at the back of his neck. Although the people of the Federation could not feel the existence of the chip, their rationality told them that the chip was not there. That feeling was like one of their organs had suddenly disappeared, and it was inexplicable.
The pain and emptiness of the frustration, the unknown danger ahead, and the desire to faint constantly assaulted him. Xu Le tightly pursed his lips, resisting with superhuman willpower.
Perhaps it was because in the hospital, during the days when his entire body was paralyzed and he forcefully broke through his meridians, he had already endured too many levels of pain that were rarely seen in the world, so … he managed to hold on, even though it was very difficult.
Fortunately, the pain and suffering were worth it. After leaving the underground sewer system and entering the heavily guarded surface of the city, he did not alarm the ubiquitous monitoring devices of the Empire's chip.
However, the danger still existed. After struggling for a long time in the gaps between the residential apartment buildings, a straight and empty road blocked his way. What was even more troublesome was that there were many military police at the entrance of the road, vigilantly watching the surrounding movements.
The target of his plan was the chaotic slum area that lacked effective supervision a few kilometers away. If he had no choice but to stay in this residential area, it would be very difficult for him to avoid the military police's search during the day.
The road in front of him was not very wide. If he was in his usual healthy state, he would only need to bend his body and take a few steps to pass by without alarming the military police at all. However, the problem was that he was in his weakest state right now, and could collapse at any time.
The dim street lights, through the bushes, fell on his pale cheeks. He narrowed his eyes and looked in that direction, waiting for the right time. However, he found that because of the pain and exhaustion, his vision began to blur.
He could not hold on any longer.
At this moment, a seemingly drunk Empire man staggered across the sidewalk at the edge of the bushes, mumbling something in his mouth, and rushed to the other side of the street.
Probably only the extremely drunk Empire people could ignore the gloomy faces of the military police, and they did not know that there was a curfew tonight.
The military police at the entrance of the road became nervous. They shouted and surrounded the drunk man. The military police who did not move also subconsciously looked in that direction.
Xu Le did not let go of this fleeting opportunity. He struggled to take a deep breath of the slightly cold autumn night wind of the Empire. His throat that seemed to be smoking slightly moistened. His right leg that had already sunk deep into the mud suddenly exerted strength, and the military pants on his leg were torn apart. The last burst of strength caused his body to turn into a gray shadow and instantly swept across the street.
…
…
He fell heavily into the mud. He did not dare to make the slightest sound. He continued to lie there for a long time, resisting the strong desire to faint from his brain. After confirming that the military police did not discover him, he carefully raised his body with his hands on the ground and looked back at the entrance of the road.
The drunk man who could be regarded as his savior had been brutally beaten to the ground by the military police with a taser. He was rolling on the ground in pain.
Xu Le narrowed his eyes and was silent for a moment. Then he turned his head back.
He struggled to walk through the alley with wet flagstones. He held onto the wall to pass through the small paths between the buildings. He painfully used his hands and feet to climb over the low walls. In this strange and foreign city, he slowly but firmly moved forward.
His body was getting colder and colder, and his trembling was getting worse and worse. He felt like his left leg was broken, and he could not feel anything. His vision was getting blurrier and blurrier.
The night was still so dark, and the main street of the city was still so dangerous. After rolling and crawling into the messy and dirty street, he still did not dare to relax his vigilance. His back was against a short wall mottled with gray stains, and his chest was violently moving up and down.
There was a roof on the wall, and dew gently dripped down from the roof onto his face. He subconsciously raised his head and took a sip. The tip of his tongue slid across his dry lips.
His spirit was slightly better. Xu Le observed the messy environment around him. He followed the corner of the wall into a dilapidated small courtyard, and then used the last of his strength to climb up the dusty attic.
Opposite the attic, there was a stray cat. It was curled up in the green grass that grew out of the corner of the roof. It curiously opened its eyes and looked at this strange guy.
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