Chapter 96 - 91: Overlord Aura

Chapter 96: Chapter 91: Overlord Aura

Yin Zhen rode a beat-up motorbike with Zoe clinging on behind her, weaving through Night City’s back alleys alongside the Rebel Army members as they fled the Guard Team’s pursuit.

They threaded endlessly through the city’s narrow lanes, the main group splintering again and again like a school of fish hitting water — too scattered for the Guard Team to pin down, too fragmented for anyone to identify who was in charge.

Leading Yin Zhen was a punk-looking guy with bleached yellow hair and rivets all over his jacket. Once they’d shaken the Guard Team soldiers, they ditched the bikes and dropped into the sewers.

The yellow-haired guy switched on a Special device that emitted low-frequency sound waves, driving off the Fallen Species lurking in the tunnels below.

The three of them waded through knee-deep filth for at least two hours before finally clearing Night City’s boundaries and reaching a nearby abandoned town.

The rest of the Rebel Army had already made it. Dusk was settling outside, and everyone had crowded into a gymnasium that was still mostly intact, sheltering from the last of the daylight.

Some were bandaging wounds. Some were counting ammunition. Some just sat in silence, smoking.

Jenny stood in the middle of it all, blood still smeared across her clothes.

The moment Yin Zhen walked in, every single person in the room straightened up and turned to look at her.

Something was off.

Yin Zhen didn’t slow down. She followed Zoe straight toward Jenny.

Jenny drew her gun without warning and pressed the barrel to Yin Zhen’s head.

"You’re the one who sold out our hideout."

[Gray Card Event Triggered: Who’s the Mole]

[The Law of Fiction]: When a traitor surfaces, the newcomer is always the first one suspected.

[Event Requirements]: Explain yourself, pin it on someone else, or die!!!

[Event Reward]: 300 words, one-time-use Item ×1

"Jenny, what are you talking about? May is the one who helped us today!"

Yin Zhen hadn’t even opened her mouth before Zoe jumped in, her voice urgent.

The Rebel Army members around them raised their guns in unison, all aimed at Yin Zhen. At the back of the crowd, an android quietly activated a Signal-jamming field.

Several Extraordinary Ability Users were hidden among the group as well, biding their time.

Ella, slight and small, pushed her way out from the back of the crowd and stood there, eyes fixed on Yin Zhen.

Yin Zhen’s expression didn’t flicker. "How many hideouts have the Guard Team raided in the past two days?"

Jenny’s brow furrowed.

"Quite a few, right?" Yin Zhen held her gaze and said slowly, "But I only knew about the hair salon — one location. And this is literally my first contact with your group."

Jenny glanced at Zoe. Zoe nodded. "I only knew about the hair salon too!"

Jenny’s finger tightened on the trigger. "Take off your mask. I can’t trust someone who won’t even show their face."

Yin Zhen swept her gaze across the Rebel Army members surrounding her. Most of them were reacting normally — the odds of a new Player being among them were low.

Her eyes lingered on Ella for just a beat longer. Ella’s hand was clenched tight around the fabric of her pant leg, visibly tense. Still too green, mentally.

Yin Zhen raised her hand and slowly pulled off her mask. Pale reddish irises. East Asian features. An air about her that was cold and razor-sharp from head to toe.

A gasp went through the crowd. Ella let out a small sound and clapped a hand over her mouth, stepping back half a pace.

A male android stepped forward from the group. The blue light of his ocular implants flickered rapidly as they scanned Yin Zhen.

"She’s Lucia Dracula — captain of the Bloodthorn Squad!"

Jenny’s frown deepened. "Lucia?" That wasn’t what Lucia looked like.

The android continued, "Lucia underwent a consciousness-transfer experiment. The data in the Guard Corps Building was updated last week — this face is now listed in Lucia’s file."

"No!" Zoe cut in, anxious and urgent. "She was never Lucia. She was just playing the role. I swear on my soul — May and I were in the same batch of test subjects. I ran into her when I went through my Defection. She refused to come with me."

"She went back to the company voluntarily — to keep the other test subjects from being tortured any further — and she went there to kill Lucia. She succeeded. On the drilling platform mission, the one who blew the aggregate core wasn’t me. It was her. If it weren’t for her, I’d be dead at the bottom of the ocean."

The people around them exchanged uncertain looks.

Jenny studied Zoe, then Yin Zhen, turning the story over in her mind.

"I know who your traitor actually is."

Yin Zhen raised her hand suddenly and pointed at a figure near the edge of the crowd who was quietly trying to slip away.

Every head turned at once. Ella froze mid-step, body half-turned, one foot already lifted off the ground.

Jenny’s voice dropped. "Ella. Where are you going?"

Ella’s mouth opened. Her voice came out shaking. "I... I want to go to the toilet..."

The words barely left her mouth before the color drained from her face. She’d forgotten that the Blood Clan didn’t need to use the bathroom — and she’d forgotten to grab the Item before saying it. Her mind had been entirely focused on getting a message to her captain.

The two people on either side of Ella swung their guns around instantly, both barrels pointed at her head. Ella threw her hands up in a reflex — pure instinct from watching too many trashy shows.

Jenny didn’t rush to interrogate Ella. She turned back to Yin Zhen.

"You really think I’m going to trust you?"

Yin Zhen had no interest in talking herself in circles. Sometimes the more you explained, the worse things got — even though, well...

She was the one who’d reported them. All those other Rebel Army hideouts that got raided? Also her fault.

"Heh."

Yin Zhen let out a cold laugh, activated her Overlord Aura, dug her toes in, and let it rip.

"Lady, congratulations — you’ve actually managed to impress me with how stupid you are."

"???"

Something shifted in Jenny’s head, like a gear clicking into place. Yin Zhen seemed to transform on the spot — presence cranked up to an eleven, radiating the kind of authority that made you want to believe every word she said.

"I didn’t come here to explain myself to a bunch of losers like you."

Jenny and the people around her found themselves thinking, almost involuntarily: she’s this arrogant — she must have every reason to be.

Someone leaned close to Jenny and murmured, "I saw her kill White Phosphorus and Lighthouse. Those two had been with Lucia for over a decade — core members of the Bloodthorn Squad. If Lucia sacrificed two of her most loyal people just to infiltrate us, that’s a hell of a price to pay."

Jenny thought back to her own brief glimpse of it — this person had taken on two opponents simultaneously and killed two B-level Extraordinary Ability Users, Guard Team elites, in under three minutes. It was terrifying.

Another person leaned over to Jenny and said, "Given how arrogant Lucia is, she’d never lower herself to dealing with us. She’s nobility. Undercover work isn’t something she’d ever do."

Zoe nodded vigorously from the side.

Jenny was silent for a long moment. Within the thirty-second window of the Overlord Aura, she talked herself into it. She lowered her gun.

"Until we can verify all of this, you’re staying put."

[Gray Card Event ’Who’s the Mole’ Complete — Reward: 300 words, Item · The Black Cauldron]

[The Black Cauldron: Look at it — big and round, black and heavy. Shout ’XXX, catch this!’ and for the next three days, that person will take the fall for one stupid thing you’ve done. The target must be someone you know and must be in the same city as you in the same world. (Obviously, do the blame-shifting in private — getting caught would be a social death sentence and blow your cover.)]

Yin Zhen exhaled and watched Jenny turn to walk toward Ella.

Ella was too panicked — her hand was already sneaking toward her pocket. Yin Zhen was at her side in an instant, delivering a sharp chop to the back of her neck.

Ella went limp. A pack of tissues slipped from her fingers and hit the floor.

[I Want to Go to the Toilet: One-time escape Item. Hold the tissues and say ’I want to go to the toilet’ to be randomly teleported to any bathroom within a five-kilometer radius — guaranteed you won’t soil yourself, though you may end up stepping into a pit latrine.]

"What do you think you’re doing?"

Jenny stared at Yin Zhen in surprise, equally startled by the blink-and-you-miss-it speed she’d just displayed.

Yin Zhen handed the unconscious Ella off to the nearest person, then bent down and picked up the pack of tissues from the ground.

"She was trying to escape. I just got there first. I’d suggest you hold off on killing her for now — keep her unconscious if you can. Whoever’s pulling her strings might come looking to buy her back."

Jenny couldn’t make sense of the Item in Yin Zhen’s hand and didn’t press the matter. She waved for someone to take Ella away.

She looked at Yin Zhen, then at Zoe, her expression unreadable.

Two extraordinary individuals had come out of this batch of Saint Group test subjects — both carrying two or more Extraordinary Abilities. It was deeply unsettling.

If test subjects like these could be mass-produced, their chances of ever overthrowing the three ruling families were as good as zero.

This batch had been created by Dr. Ian and his team of researchers. That technology — they had to find a way to get their hands on it.

Ian was worth another attempt. Maybe his capture this time was actually an opening — a real chance to bring him over to their side.

Ideals and interests — and interests always won.

Jenny turned to face everyone in the room.

"The Guard Team took the lives of a lot of our people today. We can’t let that slide. We’re not going to let them think the Rebel Army is just a rabble. I’ll reach out to command and get authorization to make the Guard Team pay for what they’ve done."

"Yeah!" The room erupted, fists raised.

Seeing it play out this way, Yin Zhen let out half a breath of relief. The other half refused to come — because a new post had just appeared on the forum.

[Lucia is with the Rebel Army]

Ella — also known as Xian Yu — had posted it right before Yin Zhen knocked her out.

"May!" Zoe appeared in front of Yin Zhen. "Ian sent me a letter, but I can’t read any of these square characters."