Chapter 581: Battle

Chapter 581: Chapter 596: Battle

Half-sane and half-mad, Jiang Xia was unable to leave the country due to flight route restrictions, leaving him pacing like an ant on a hot pan.

It was also this incident that spurred Jiang Xia to make up his mind to buy a private jet.

His secretary, standing to the side, noted down Jiang Xia’s comment about buying a private jet. Risking his boss’s wrath, he said, “President Jiang, buying a plane is the easy part. But we still have to wait for flight routes to be scheduled. We can’t just fly whenever we want.”

Jiang Xia shot him a look, and the secretary, clutching his notebook, immediately changed his tune. “I’ll go buy one right now.”

Only Jiang Xia remained in the office. He tried hard to calm himself down.

‘An Ning is a Mystic Master. She’ll definitely be fine.’

‘An Ning is incredibly powerful. She’ll definitely be fine.’

Perhaps it was from repeating it so many times, but Jiang Xia gradually began to calm down.

His next steps were to control the flow of information to prevent anyone from taking advantage of the situation. He needed to reassure the An Family, preferably without letting them know what had happened. He also had to prepare a large amount of cash or gold bars to meet the kidnappers’ potential ransom demands.

Having calmed down, Jiang Xia sprang into action with swift decisiveness. He handled every task personally, needing to keep himself busy, to feel useful.

An Ning’s kidnapping was being taken far more seriously back home than anyone could have imagined.

However, all of this was being handled covertly. They couldn’t show any blatant favoritism, as that would only put An Ning in greater danger.

From the looks of it, the kidnappers only wanted the scientists. An Ning’s role as an assistant shouldn’t put her in as much danger.

At a time like this, countless Mystic Masters were hastily sought out to divine An Ning’s safety and the outcome of the incident.

What brought many people relief was the fact that An Ning herself was a Mystic Master. Her ability to protect herself was beyond compare.

An Ning, the subject of so much concern, had been traveling in a vehicle for over ten hours. After several vehicle changes, the temperature inside began to rise steadily. They had reached a dry, desert region.

When the vehicle finally stopped, An Ning and the others were blindfolded and shoved into a deep cave.

Peeking through her blindfold at the cave’s structure, An Ning realized it was no ordinary cave—it was more like a base.

It was filled with countless weapons and unsettling experiments.

After being led through a winding series of passages, An Ning and the others were locked in a room and made to sit in a row against the wall.

A few minutes later, everyone helped each other remove their blindfolds. The dim light and damp environment made them instinctively huddle together.

Whispers broke out, but a guard outside shouted, “Hey!” and then “Quiet!” in English.

An hour later, a man who seemed to be a leader appeared, wearing a mask. He pulled one of the scientists to his feet with a deceptively friendly attitude, brushing the dirt off his clothes. “Which one of you is the best at math?” he asked.

“That’s hard to say. No one is the ‘best,’ we’re just highly specialized in certain fields.”

The leader wasn’t very satisfied with the rather blunt scientist’s answer, but he still had his men bring paper and pens, telling everyone to write down what they specialized in.

When one of the men handed the paper to An Ning, he suddenly said something in a language that many of the scientists couldn’t understand.

Xu Cheng, who had been quietly observing, suddenly went on alert after hearing their conversation.

The next second, the paper in front of An Ning was snatched away. Another man grabbed her arm forcefully and began dragging her out.

“What are you doing! Let her go! Let her go!”

Yu the Elder rushed forward recklessly, with Xu Cheng right behind him, also shouting at the top of his lungs.

“She’s very useful! She’s very useful! She’s my teacher! My teacher!”

Yu the Elder yelled, but no one believed what he was saying. One of the men kicked him in the stomach, sending him sprawling to the ground.

“Stop! I’ll go with you.”

An Ning spoke, then glanced at Xu Cheng. A voice suddenly echoed in Xu Cheng’s mind.

‘Take care of Yu the Elder. I’ll be fine.’

‘Secret sound transmission? Does that really exist?’

Xu Cheng was skeptical for a moment, but in the blink of an eye, he accepted it. He helped Yu the Elder to his feet, but the old man wouldn’t stand for it.

But the disparity in strength was too great, and shouting was useless. Xu Cheng whispered in Yu the Elder’s ear, “An Ning said she’s fine! An Ning said she’s fine!”

Yu the Elder struggled out of Xu Cheng’s grip, his heart aching with worry. ‘No matter how powerful his master is, she’s still just one person.’

As she was led away, An Ning was completely cooperative, listening as the men spoke freely in their own language.

She gradually began to understand the situation.

A self-proclaimed warlord wanted to use technology to improve his standing. Since they didn’t have any scientists, they just kidnapped them.

They didn’t care how destructive the weapons were or how many people died. They only cared about what they could gain for themselves.

A gang of thugs, committing inhumane acts under the guise of freedom.

Having grasped the general situation, a plan began to form in An Ning’s mind.

‘All she needed was an opportunity to be alone. And wasn’t this perfect?’

‘The battle mecha, weapons, and aircraft in her storage space have been lonely for far too long.’

As An Ning was led to the last room, only one person remained with her.

This man was a leader. He was leering at An Ning, his intentions obvious.

Facing him, An Ning suddenly flashed a breathtakingly beautiful smile, leaving the man momentarily stunned.

“Oh—beautiful Eastern—oh—”

An Ning punched him in the stomach. The man doubled over, about to shout, but in the next second, the glove from his own hand was stuffed into his mouth, silencing him.

A series of muffled grunts and the sound of a table and chairs toppling over reached the group of men waiting outside, who exchanged lewd smiles.

“Sounds intense.”

“I hear they’re all fiercely chaste.”

“That just makes it more fun.”

As the vulgar remarks continued, the sounds from inside grew louder, as if they were tearing the place apart.

In fact, that was exactly what was happening.

An Ning had beaten the man to a pulp. He was now facing the corner, his eyes swollen shut, too scared to even move. He just stood there, yelping and groaning to create a false impression for the men outside.

Meanwhile, An Ning, standing behind him, immediately destroyed the entire cave’s surveillance system.

Next, she took out a protective suit from her storage space and put it on to prevent any stray bullet injuries.

However, when it came to choosing how to fight her way out, An Ning faced a dilemma.

‘Mecha? Would that be too advanced?’

‘Hand-to-hand combat wouldn’t be too difficult, given the skill level of the men outside. But she was worried they might harm the innocent people they had kidnapped.’

In the end, An Ning chose a combination of hand-to-hand combat and robots.

An Ning took out several compact but all-purpose robots. Following a map she had drawn, they set off for their designated points.

Once everything was ready, An Ning gave the command, and a swift battle began.