Outside the villa, Pei Ran let go of the arm she was supporting Abu with and took a night vision device out of her pocket.
Abu’s legs gave way, and she almost fell to her knees. Startled, Pei Ran quickly caught her.
It was obvious that Abu’s condition was not good. Under the dim night light, her face was as pale as paper.
Her leg had been injured for a while. Earlier, she had still been able to limp and hop on her own—it hadn’t been this bad.
Pei Ran suddenly realized: maybe it was because she had just crazily used her prophecy ability.
Pei Ran’s own ability could only be used once in a long while, and her physique had always been strong—when it came to using abilities, she never felt much of anything.
But Abu seemed like she couldn’t hold on any longer.
She had used it too frequently, her face full of exhaustion, as if she were about to die.
Seeing Pei Ran observing her complexion, Abu shook her head at her and pointed ahead, as if saying: I’m fine, let’s go.
Pei Ran supported her, reached for the night vision device with one hand and put it on, then wrapped Abu’s arm around her own neck, helping her forward.
They needed to climb a long stretch of mountain path.
Pei Ran supported Abu, and Nan Yi held onto Nan Xuan. Nan Xuan looked to be about ten years old, his eyes dark and quiet. He followed his brother silently, one hand clutching his brother’s hand, the other pressing against his pocket.
On the dark and silent mountain road, there were only the footsteps of the four of them.
Finally, they arrived at the open green field Pei Ran had passed earlier on her way to the royal manor.
The green field faced the sea. The Yehai was pitch black. The sky was overcast, and only the sound of waves crashing against rocks could be heard, along with the howling wind.
Abu tugged on Pei Ran’s arm, signaling her to stop.
She made a gesture, pointing to the Nan Yi brothers and herself, tapped her feet on the ground, then pointed to Pei Ran and the road ahead.
Pei Ran understood—she meant that, according to the safest route she had foreseen, she and Nan Yi and the others should wait here, and Pei Ran should continue forward alone, find the aircraft, and then come back to pick them up.
That was exactly what Pei Ran had intended.
Nan Yi lived on the island and definitely knew that the largest manor here belonged to the royal family. She really didn’t want to break into the manor and steal the aircraft in front of him.
It was better to let the three of them wait here.
The only concern was that the three of them had very low combat ability. If they ran into a frenzied fusion body, it would be trouble.
But since Abu spoke up, saying staying here was safe, Pei Ran felt much more at ease.
W also said in her ear, “This green field has no trees and is very open. It’s actually just right for the aircraft to take off and land.”
Pei Ran nodded to Abu, indicating she understood, then turned and walked away.
But as soon as she took a step, her sleeve was tugged.
It was Nan Yi. He was frowning, his expression anxious, completely unable to understand why Pei Ran suddenly wanted to go alone and leave him here.
Pei Ran looked like someone very capable. He was afraid Pei Ran would just leave like this, so he clutched her sleeve tightly and refused to let go.
It was too difficult to communicate in the silence, and there was no time to waste. Pei Ran’s solution was simple and violent—she raised her hand, planning to knock him out directly.
Abu shook her head at her, patted Nan Yi, and tapped open her wristband, drawing on the screen.
She sketched out this whole green field and the nearby low shrubbery, then added an aircraft in the sky above.
Nan Yi finally understood what the two of them meant: Pei Ran was going to find the aircraft and bring it over to pick everyone up.
He looked at the drawing again.
One person after another had died tonight, and Nan Yi was a little panicked, but he wasn’t stupid.
He recalled all the bizarre coincidences that had happened along the way just now, and suddenly had an epiphany.
He pointed at Abu’s eyes, then at the drawing, as if asking: Do you have the ability of prophecy, and you foresaw this scene?
Abu didn’t respond directly. She simply pointed firmly at the ground again, used one hand to mimic an aircraft descending, and then used the index and middle fingers of the other hand to imitate a little person walking, walking onto the aircraft that had landed.
She was saying that once the aircraft arrived and landed on the green field, they could board it.
She gently pushed Pei Ran, telling her to go quickly.
Nan Yi finally let go of her hand.
Pei Ran left them and continued alone along the mountain road toward the manor.
W said, “Pei Ran, you’re leaving them alone—aren’t you worried Abu is actually a traitor and might now kill Nan Yi?”
Abu, though weak, still had a gun in her hand.
“What is there to worry about?” Pei Ran said. “If she doesn’t kill Nan Yi, we finish the mission and report back to Black Well. If she does kill Nan Yi, then I’ll rightfully gain a prophetic ability myself—no matter how it goes, I don’t lose.”
W continued, whimsically, “Then aren’t you afraid she’s sending you to get the aircraft, but actually sending you straight to a deadly trap?”
Pei Ran: “What benefit is there in sending me to die? Can she scale the wall and steal the aircraft herself? Can she fly it?”
W seemed to have really gone to check Abu’s file. After a moment, he said, “Indeed, she can’t.”
Pei Ran said, “If I want to leave the island, I need her. And she needs me too. Unless she has some even more monstrous trick up her sleeve. I can’t predict the future—I can only take it one step at a time based on the current situation.”
W suddenly said, “I went through her file and found something.”
Pei Ran was curious: “What is it?”
“It was a prophecy she submitted online on the morning the Silence occurred, predicting an imminent disaster.”
“According to the records, the report was submitted to Li Yin. Team Leader Li immediately forwarded it to a security officer at the Ministry of National Defense, but the officer didn’t even look at it that morning, nor did they report it up the chain.”
Abu’s prophetic ability was limited, but she still issued a warning several hours in advance.
Unfortunately, as an ordinary FBSMD employee, she had little influence at the Ministry of National Defense, and no one took her prophecy seriously.
Pei Ran continued walking up the mountain path. “Actually, after analyzing everything, I still trust my own intuition. I clearly remember that afternoon when the Silence broke out—she stood alone at the entrance of the supermarket, in the middle of a looting crowd, entering information on the virtual screen one line at a time to help everyone survive. Disasters reveal a person’s true nature. A person’s first reaction after a crisis happens doesn’t lie.”
She concluded, “I choose to trust her.”
W fell silent. After a while, he suddenly asked, “Pei Ran, let me ask you something—if one day, it’s between me and Abu…”
Pei Ran interrupted him: “Of course I’ll save Abu first. She’s already that worn out. Give her a break, will you?”
W: “….”
The ancient royal manor finally came into view.
Familiarity breeds ease. Pei Ran climbed swiftly up the tall roadside tree, crouched on a branch, and peered into the courtyard.
The front lawn was peaceful—she didn’t see the night-running Slime.
Pei Ran was puzzled: “Did it run inside the house?”
The mechanical spider crawled onto her shoulder, scanned the area with its eyes, and said, “It probably didn’t go in. The villa’s doors and windows all appear normal.”
No one knew where the night-running Slime had gone to work out.
But it was best that it wasn’t there. Pei Ran lightly leapt onto the wall and slid down along it.
Once she landed, she headed straight for the helipad in the backyard.
The two sleek Black Falcon aircraft belonging to Xing Wuxian were still quietly parked there.
W said, “Bring the keycard near the area by the cockpit door handle, and the door will open.”
He clearly knew she didn’t know how to use the keycard.
Pei Ran ran over and waved the keycard beside the cockpit door of one of the aircraft. No response.
Not this one. She dashed to the other aircraft.
As soon as the keycard approached, the cockpit door immediately opened automatically.
Pei Ran got in and closed the door.
The control panel of this Black Falcon aircraft was similar in some ways to the military aircraft Pei Ran had flown before. There were joysticks and display screens, but there were also differences—a mess of various buttons, with no labels at all, making it impossible to tell what they were for.
Before she even said anything, her wristband was already vibrating.
W had sent over a diagram he’d drawn of the operating instructions.
Pei Ran quickly scanned through it, followed the steps, tapped the keycard to light up the panel, and pressed the button to start the aircraft.
All the lights and display screens lit up.
Pei Ran pulled up the control stick, and the aircraft steadily lifted vertically into the air.
That was the biggest advantage of a hover-type aircraft: vertical takeoff and landing, no runway needed, and the operation was quite simple and convenient.
W commented objectively, “The takeoff was very steady.”
Pei Ran responded matter-of-factly, “Of course it was, I’m a veteran pilot.”
W: “…”
A “veteran pilot” who had only ever flown an aircraft once.
The aircraft rose above the treetops. Pei Ran adjusted the direction and flew toward the green field.
The distance was just a matter of seconds. From the air, Pei Ran could easily see Abu and the Nan Yi brothers waiting on the green field.
Besides them, there was something else.
Hovering mid-air with a great view, Pei Ran spotted the night-running Slime.
It had somehow managed to sneak back out of the manor. That massive dark blob must’ve wandered around the mountaintop, and now it was running down the mountain path—just about to reach the green field.
There was still some distance—it should be in time. Pei Ran followed W’s tutorial, pressing buttons one by one, preparing to land.
On the green field, Nan Yi and Abu were waiting anxiously. Finally, they saw the aircraft fly over the treetops and hover above them.
It began to descend.
Nan Yi looked up at the aircraft and thought—it really did look like the one the girl had drawn.
He’d long known that FBSMD members possessed abilities, and this limping girl really did seem to have the power of prophecy.
But deep in Nan Yi’s heart, something felt… off.
That uneasy feeling pressed against him, awkward and uncomfortable.
And then, he suddenly realized what it was.
The picture that girl had drawn back in the tool shed—the one where they were sitting on the aircraft—there had only been three people: him and the two girls.
There was no Nan Xuan.
The hair on Nan Yi’s back stood on end.
So where was Nan Xuan?
He had been looking up at the aircraft in the sky, but suddenly jerked his head around.
He realized that, at some point, the hands they were holding had let go.
On the dark mountain path, his younger brother was bent forward, running down the mountain. A few steps ahead of him on the path, a small creature was darting and leaping.
It was his brother’s pet hamster—originally tucked safely in his pocket tonight, but it had somehow gotten out.
A loud hum rang in Nan Yi’s mind.
He opened his mouth, then suddenly remembered—during the Silence, you couldn’t make a sound. But the aircraft was about to land, and his brother was still chasing his pet.
Maybe in Abu’s prophecy, he hadn’t even realized his brother had run off, and was still standing there dumbly, waiting for the aircraft to land.
He definitely couldn’t leave his brother behind. Nan Yi took off running.
Abu saw him suddenly bolt and was momentarily stunned.
The path she had predicted—waiting on the green field for the aircraft—had suddenly been disrupted. Nan Yi had chosen a different path on his own.
Pei Ran in the sky saw it too.
“What’s going on? Why did Nan Yi suddenly run?”
W answered, “He’s chasing after his brother. His brother is chasing a hamster.”
Nan Yi didn’t stay on the green field to wait for the aircraft—this was not the branch of fate Abu had just planned out.
Pei Ran suddenly understood. “Nan Yi has become an uncertain monkey.”
W said, “Exactly. He saw the existence of other branches and chose to leap onto another one.”
Abu’s prophecy was like a road—if she made no interference or changes, everyone else would continue forward along that path.
Prophecy was like a special force that existed outside of that road.
At the start, Nan Yi had simply been someone walking along this predetermined path, nailed firmly to his direction. But then he realized the nature of Abu’s prophetic ability—he understood what the fixed fate was.
Once someone knows what their certain fate is, it’s equivalent to discovering the existence of other possibilities.
Prophecy had influenced his judgment, interfered with his behavior—suddenly, he had broken away from that road of fate of his own accord.
Pei Ran was silent for a moment, then said to W in her heart, “I should’ve knocked him out earlier. He’d probably be waking up about now, just in time to match the prophecy.”
The most terrifying part was that the night-running Slime was also coming down the mountain path, closing in on the green field.
A horde of people, wrapped in translucent jelly-like substance, moved like dull, ghostly shadows, their footsteps unnervingly synchronized.
“Clomp, clomp, clomp, clomp.”
“Clomp, clomp, clomp, clomp.”
If the aircraft landed on the lawn now, it would only be able to pick up Abu.
Pei Ran didn’t hesitate—she continued descending as originally planned, preparing to pick up Abu. As for Nan Yi, it wasn’t like he absolutely had to be saved. If it came to that, she might as well just leave him behind.
On the green field, Abu also saw the night-running Slime approaching from the mountain path.
She had just used her prophecy ability repeatedly, and her vision was still white and hazy, but she gritted her teeth and activated it once more.
She rapidly searched through all possible outcomes.
The situation was terrible.
Nan Yi had altered the path, and now, no matter what choice was made, someone would suffer greatly.
She made a firm decision, finally picked one option, looked up, and made a gesture toward Pei Ran in the sky, pointing in the direction of the Nan Yi brothers, and then limped after them.
Pei Ran received the gesture and understood instantly—the plan had changed.
The night-running Slime was almost there. She couldn’t land the aircraft on the green field and wait for them to finish chasing a hamster. She could only follow in the same direction.
Pei Ran stopped descending, raised altitude slightly, and flew forward.
The aircraft was much faster. In the blink of an eye, Pei Ran had flown ahead of Nan Yi and the others.
She looked down carefully, selecting a landing spot.
Once off the green field, the road was shaded by tall roadside trees. Only at the mountain road’s turns were there slightly wider and flatter areas.
Pei Ran locked onto a spot and began descending the aircraft onto the narrow, sloped mountain road.
On one side was the mountain wall, and on the other, a cliff facing the sea. W said, “This one’s going to test your skills.”
Pei Ran operated with extreme caution, but replied confidently in her mind, “Relax, I’m a veteran pilot.”
On the mountain path, Nan Yi was running fast, taking large strides. He was already close to catching up to Nan Xuan.
Anxious, he stretched out an arm and lunged forward, trying to grab the back of his brother’s shirt.
Just then, something suddenly flew out diagonally from the wall of a nearby villa courtyard—spinning through the air toward the two of them.
It was a circular saw blade spinning at high speed, likely the kind used by the deranged cleaning bots to trim trees on the mountain.
Nan Xuan’s eyes were fixed solely on the hamster scurrying along the ground. He didn’t even see the saw blade flying through the air.
The blade sliced cleanly across his neck.
His head rolled to the ground. Blood sprayed. His body collapsed.
Behind him, Nan Yi was stunned.
He forced himself not to scream.
Up ahead on the mountain road, Pei Ran had already landed the aircraft steadily.
She had seen everything—and wasn’t surprised.
Back in the tool shed, she had already noticed that in the picture Abu had drawn, there were only three people on the aircraft—herself, Abu, and Nan Yi. Nan Yi’s younger brother, Nan Xuan, was not there.
That meant, on the route Abu had originally chosen, Nan Xuan hadn’t survived.
Pei Ran guessed that what was originally supposed to happen was: Nan Xuan chased after the hamster, while Nan Yi was looking up at the aircraft in the sky and didn’t notice. Nan Xuan’s head was cut off by the spinning saw blade. At that moment, the aircraft landed, and the night-running Slime was just about to arrive. With time running out, Nan Yi had no choice but to leave behind his decapitated brother and board the aircraft.
Losing Nan Xuan must have been the best possible outcome Abu could manage under the circumstances.
But now, everything had completely changed.