Chapter 1962 - 1961: Over the Wall

Keskein Mayor’s Mansion

"What?"

A somewhat broad-bodied man suddenly sat up from the soft bed, pushing aside the slender, fair-skinned arm draped over him, and picked up the bracelet, exclaiming in surprise,

"You said Bod, covered in blood, took control of the control room and claimed he was attacked? Attacked by whom? What do you mean you saw the Secret Service Bureau attacking him? The Secret Service attacking the Vice President, can you think for a moment? Do you think this makes sense?"

The man quickly put on a thick robe, then picked up a cigar from the table, cut it, and placed it in his mouth, "Can you confirm again, did you really see someone from the Secret Service Bureau?"

He struck a match, lit the cigar, and seemed to be quietly listening to something. Then, he paused slightly and said, "What do you mean it seems to be those Secret Service members who returned with Bod this afternoon? Are you saying Bod’s bodyguards attacked him? Or are you suggesting that Gray Stone Palace is planning to take down their Vice President! Idiot!"

The man took a deep breath, and then, as if realizing something, paused for a moment, and quickly said, "Those are not the Secret Service; they’re cultists disguised as the Secret Service, rebels disguised as Secret Service attacking the Vice President. You need to immediately, right now, go protect Bod!"

He dangled the cigar in his mouth and walked out of the bedroom, the thick smoke quickly rising with his movement.

Then, as if he heard something, he stopped in his tracks, "What did you say? Bod boarded the plane?!"

—

Inside the Private Jet

"Mr. Bod," the pilot looked up, facing He Ao, and seeing He Ao covered in blood, he said nervously, "What on earth is going on?"

"I’ve been attacked," He Ao quickly moved to the cockpit, pulled out a data cable, and connected it to his bracelet, then said, "A group of cultists kidnapped my daughter, and I need to find them immediately."

"Should we start the plane? Where are we going?" the pilot looked at He Ao, quickly asking.

"You all don’t need to come," He Ao glanced at the two, "these matters are very complicated and dangerous; following me, you might end up dead on the way."

The tall woman shrank back in response to He Ao’s words.

"You all go back to the hotel for now," He Ao glanced at the starting aircraft systems, "if anyone asks, just say I was attacked by cultists, and answer honestly."

The woman behind the pilot glanced at the somewhat silent pilot, then quickly nodded and responded, "Okay."

She looked at He Ao, "Mr. Bod, should I head out first?"

"Go ahead," He Ao said casually, "The people from the Mayor’s Mansion should be here soon to protect you."

"Alright!" The woman nodded, quickly turned around, and ran off the plane.

At this point, the system copy was complete. He Ao unplugged the data cable and looked at the pilot who had yet to leave, "Aren’t you going? Aren’t you afraid to die?"

"Mr. Bod, I served in the Central Army for many years," the pilot looked at He Ao, laughing hoarsely, "soldiers cannot be afraid to die."

He glanced at the flight system, "You need someone to fly the plane for you in your current condition."

"The autopilot system will manage." He Ao said casually.

"In the wilderness, an autopilot system isn’t as reliable as a seasoned pilot." The pilot looked at He Ao again, saying.

He Ao gave him a glance and asked casually, "Mark, following me might mean you die."

"We have to try," the pilot looked at He Ao, "what if you become President?"

He Ao withdrew his gaze, reached to close the cabin door, "Then let’s take off."

"Where to?" Mark looked at He Ao and quickly asked.

"To Vissen," He Ao said slowly, "depart immediately."

"Take off directly?" Mark was slightly taken aback, "Shouldn’t we notify the Keskein Mayor’s Mansion or something?"

"Tell the tower that I have important matters and need to leave immediately." He Ao glanced at the deep black night outside and moved towards the passenger cabin.

"If we forcibly break through the high wall without permission," Mark hesitated for a moment, cautiously saying, "the City Defense Army might consider it an illegal invasion and destroy us directly."

"No worries, they won’t attack us. Send a signal to the tower, let them know we’re pursuing cultists, and we need to leave now." He Ao reached the passenger cabin, opened the wine cabinet, pulled out a bottle of red wine, and moved to the wine opener on the side.

He looked at the still hesitating Mark, and laughed, "Regretting it?"

"No." Mark stood straight, "I’ll set off immediately."

With that, he sat in the pilot’s seat, fastened his seat belt, and began maneuvering the controls.

Boom—

Accompanied by a loud roar, the massive aircraft began trembling and slowly lifted off.

Pop—

The cork of the red wine was also pulled out by the wine opener. He Ao picked up the red wine and took a decanter from the wine cabinet next to him.

He poured the red wine into the decanter, stood by the window, and looked at the gradually descending lights and the city outside.

Bod’s private jet was a huge modified transport aircraft, equipped with many comfort features, along with a significant amount of ammunition and a super high-power engine.

It could vertically take off and land, hover mid-air, and achieve supersonic flight at its highest speed.

Under normal circumstances, Bod couldn’t have gotten such a fine private jet; this jet was actually an old presidential aircraft.

After Skewis came to power, he immediately procured a new presidential aircraft from the Evis Spatial System. The new presidential aircraft was delivered recently, and this old one was initially set to be scrapped, but as Bod took on numerous visit tasks, it was temporarily allocated to him.

He Ao placed the decanter on the table and looked at the flickering lights below.

Then he looked towards the still open cockpit door, "I’m going to take a shower, call me when we’re leaving Keskein."

"Okay." Mark nodded slightly.

He Ao turned around, walked towards the wardrobe, took out a bathrobe, and headed towards the bathroom.

With the patter of water, Bod slowly adjusted the direction of the aircraft, flying towards the eastern city walls.

The flashing warning lights on the high walls were vaguely reflected in his pupils, and as the plane approached, one bright searchlight after another lit up, seemingly warning him.

Seeing these lights, he gritted his teeth, still pulling up the plane to cross over according to the predetermined route atop the entire city wall.

The night was incredibly quiet.

—

"He’s boarding the plane, ready to leave Keskein? Says he’s going to capture cultists? Did cultists really attack him? What’s a civilian like him doing hunting cultists?" The broad man with a cigar in his mouth sat in the soft, genuine leather sofa, almost sinking into it entirely.

"Do we need to stop them?" Opposite the broad man was a holographic projection of a man in military uniform, who cautiously asked while watching the broad man.

"Stop him? Do you have any reason?" The broad man sneered upon hearing this, "Are you a cultist too?"

The man in uniform hesitated slightly, then said with some uncertainty, "He’s leaving so abruptly without applying for air routes; logically, we could indeed stop them."

"What benefit do we have from stopping them?" The broad man almost laughed out of anger as he watched the man in uniform, "Can you kill him or what? Killing the Vice President, are you planning to join the rebels?"

The man’s face stiffened.

Soon after, the broad man shook his head, "Or are you planning to obstruct him? What if he becomes the President in the future?"

The man in uniform’s expression changed slightly. He lowered his head, "What do you mean?"

"That’s their business in Ains," the broad man shook his head, extinguishing the cigar in his hand, "Bod leaving is a good thing; we’ve seen nothing and can’t get involved. I’ll go back to sleep."

"Yes." The man in uniform nodded slightly upon hearing this.

——

Amidst the flashing warning lights and bright searchlights, the massive plane soared over the towering city walls.

It felt like someone on the walls was watching them, yet it seemed no one was.

The plane echoed with radar detection alarms, but everything was still safe.

The enormous plane naturally skimmed above the high walls, just like the countless times it normally departed before.

The sound of water still echoed from the bathroom.

Mark seemingly let out a sigh of relief, driving the fighter jet onward.

Soon, the points of light on top of the walls formed a single patch of light on the jet’s monitor; they had already distanced themselves from Keskein, heading toward Vissen’s direction.

Beep, beep, beep——

At that moment, the previously silent radar of the fighter jet suddenly emitted an ear-piercing alarm.

Mark lifted his head to look at the points of light displayed on the radar.

In the northwest direction, it seemed an aerial unit was rapidly approaching the plane.

From the radar’s detection results, it appeared to be a mech unit.

"What’s this?" Mark was slightly startled, gazing at the radar scene, "Is there a garrison outside Keskein? Or just a passing mercenary corps?"

Click——

At that moment, the water sound from the bathroom stopped. He Ao, clad in a bathrobe, walked out. He raised his head, watching the densely packed dots on the radar through the open cabin door.

—— A while ago ——

The roaring mechas shone under the bright lights in the quiet night.

A middle-aged man of about forty, with a gaunt and stern face, stood before the majestic mechas watching the giant mechanical creations.

"Deputy Captain Es," a young officer came, saluting him, then handed over a tablet, "This is the intelligence sent from the city walls."

The middle-aged man raised his hand, took the tablet, and quickly browsed the contents, "Bod boarded a fighter jet and left Keskein?"

His brows slightly raised, and he laughed, "I thought I was just sent to be sidelined, didn’t expect there to be real business?"

He turned to look at the young officer beside him, "Rouse all the mech pilots,"

He turned back, gazing at the enormous mechas before him, "I want to see all the mechas glowing within five minutes."

—— Now ——

He Ao walked into the cockpit, watching the densely packed points of light, "Looks like they’re coming for us, "

He laughed, "They really think highly of us."

"What to do?" Mark turned, glanced at the map beside him, quickly saying, "Should we change routes, detour elsewhere first, and shake them off before heading to Vissen?"

"Don’t rush," He Ao shifted his gaze to the deep, dark outside, pondering aloud, "Do you think they’ve been watching something outside the city?"

"What?" Mark was baffled.

"Never mind," He Ao gathered his thoughts, watching the map, "Can we shake them off if we detour?"

"Our aircraft is more advanced," Mark lowered his head, observing the densely packed points of light on the radar, he was about to say something but paused suddenly, pressing down his tone, "They’ve blocked all routes for large aircraft; we can only keep going forward, otherwise, we’ll have to abandon the plane and go through the forest, that way they won’t find us."

"That way, it’ll take a long time to reach the destination," He Ao’s finger slid over the map, "Going forward, does this route directly lead to Vissen?"

"Yes," Mark lowered his head to glance at the map, "But this route detours, delaying a lot of time midway,"

He raised his hand, drawing on the map; the route He Ao just traced was almost a U-shape, then he placed his hand inside that U, "Our large fighter jet can’t traverse the inside of this U-shaped valley, will be attacked by flying exotic beasts inside, has to detour, but their mech units are more agile, can quickly pass through this area."

He looked at He Ao, continuing, "We’re slow, they’re fast, we’ll eventually be caught."

"What if we push the spacecraft to its speed limit?" He Ao watched those points of light, softly said.

"There’s a chance to shake them off," Mark focused on the radar’s point map, contemplating aloud, "But it’s risky."

"Try accelerating first." He Ao focused on the map, watching those densely packed points of light, pondering aloud, "Do you think the Consortium would station so many troops here for me? It’s war time now···"

——

One by one, the mechas shimmering with brilliance swiftly navigated between the forest.

The leading mecha was a modified machine painted red and white, a middle-aged officer swiftly maneuvered it above the deep forests.

"Don’t fly too high, it’ll alarm the flying exotic beasts nearby, fly close to the ground." He pressed the broadcaster, quickly saying.

At that moment, a young officer’s image popped up on the screen ahead, "Deputy Captain, the drone sent a report consistent with your expectations, they’re accelerating forward, aiming to rely on the speed advantage to shake us off."

"They can only accelerate forward," the middle-aged officer shook his head, raised his hand, glanced at the map beside him, "Their familiarity with the nearby forests is less than ours, they can only follow standard routes."

"Looks like they’re about to crash into our trap," The young officer slightly smiled.