Chapter 317: After the Revenge

"Where is the duffel bag?" Solomon asked.

Paul grabbed the bag from the front basket of the scooter and tossed it to the teenager. "Why did you even make me bring this with us if you weren’t going to use it?"

"Because this was meant to be used afterward," Solomon explained, unzipping the bag. He pulled out a fresh, clean pair of casual clothes for himself. He then handed the bag over to the maid girl. "There is a spare set of clothes in there for you too."

They both changed quickly in the shadows of the alleyway, stuffing their ruined, bloody garments into a nearby dumpster.

After that, he took out some kind of liquid chemical from the bag and washed his hands and face and hair and wherever the blood was, and he asked the maid to do the same. Once they were fully clean, he jumped everything into the dumpster.

Then, he took out the bottle of gasoline from the bag and a lighter and burned it.

"We can talk and discuss the logistics of all this later," Paul urged nervously, hopping back onto the scooter. "We really need to get out of this place right now before we get in trouble."

Solomon let out an exhausted sigh and shook his head. "It is way too late for that. There is absolutely no way the local authorities, the Awakened enforcers, and the high-level tactical response teams are not already on their way here. I literally just detonated the tallest and strongest guild headquarters in the entire district."

He pointed at the burning build and smoke at distance. "The explosion also leveled a few of the surrounding structures, although those were owned by The BlueYorker’s Shield anyway. This district is fucked now. It will take years for it to recover, I guess. And the authorities can’t even cover this incident up."

Just as Solomon finished speaking, the wail of dozens of police sirens pierced the night air, echoing rapidly through the adjacent streets.

"No way! They are here already!" Paul’s face turned completely pale with sheer terror.

Solomon turned to the maid girl, his expression turning serious. "You need to get out of this sector with Paul right now. Do not attack anyone, even if you spot armed guards or police officers in your line of sight. If you happen to run into any authorities while trying to escape the perimeter, just claim that you and Paul are brother and sister trying to evacuate. There should be other individuals trying to evacuate so mix yourself with them."

The maid girl stared at Solomon for a few seconds. She opened her mouth as if she desperately wanted to argue and stay by his side, but she clearly understood the severity of the circumstances. She closed her mouth and offered a stiff, reluctant nod.

Solomon then turned to the terrified clerk. "Take care of her, Paul. Take her back to your apartment and stay out of sight. I will meet up with both of you later."

Solomon grabbed the handlebars of the electric scooter, pulling Paul off the seat. "I am taking the scooter. You two need to go on foot so you can easily hide in the alleyways when the patrol cars pass by. Remember, act normal. You didn’t do anything so you should care about it."

Once Paul and the maid girl disappeared down a dark side street, Solomon hopped onto the electric scooter. He looked up at the night sky and spotted the blinding searchlights of several police helicopters circling the collapsing skyscraper.

Solomon twisted the accelerator and drove the scooter directly out into the middle of the main avenue. He didn’t even try to hide. He casually cruised down the center of the street, completely ignoring the blazing inferno behind him.

He reached down and hit a button on the scooter’s dashboard, blasting an upbeat, cheerful pop song from the vehicle’s built-in Bluetooth speakers.

He rode around the block without a single care in the world, the cheerful pop music contrasting hilariously with the apocalyptic destruction in the background.

Then, he began singing the song although he clearly didn’t know the lyrics, he tried to utter gibberish along with the song.

"TURNING SKY~~ COLOR~FUL~ HIDING STARS~"

Within minutes, dozens of armored police cruisers, SWAT vans, and Awakened tactical response vehicles swarmed the avenue, cutting off his escape routes from every single direction. The blinding spotlights from the helicopters above pinned him to the asphalt.

Solomon casually squeezed the handbrakes, bringing the scooter to a gentle halt right in the middle of the intersection. But he continued singing.

Dozens of heavily armed officers leaped from their vehicles, raising their assault rifles and magical staves, aiming their weapons directly at the teenager sitting on the scooter.

"FREEZE! DO NOT MOVE A SINGLE MUSCLE!" the lead tactical commander roared through a megaphone.

Solomon casually kicked the kickstand down. He stepped off the electric scooter, raising both of his hands high into the air. The upbeat pop song continued blasting cheerfully from the scooter’s built-in speakers. Solomon bobbed his head slightly to the rhythm, unbothered by the dozens of lethal weapons pointed at him.

"CAUSE BABY YOU’RE A FIREWORK!" Solomon sang along loudly, completely butchering the lyrics with confidence. "COME ON LET YOUR COLORS BURST! MAKE ’EM GO AH, AH, AH!"

"SILENCE!" the commander screamed over the megaphone, clearly bewildered by the teenager’s behavior. "GET DOWN ON YOUR KNEES! CROSS YOUR ANKLES AND INTERLOCK YOUR FINGERS BEHIND YOUR HEAD!"

Solomon stopped singing and immediately dropped to his knees on the rough asphalt. He crossed his ankles neatly and laced his fingers together behind his head, executing the instructions flawlessly.

He waited patiently. And waited.

Despite his complete compliance, none of the heavily armored officers stepped forward to arrest him. They kept their distance, their weapons trembling slightly as they stared at the boy who had supposedly just leveled a corporate skyscraper.

What’s more was that even though he was surrounded by so many teams and weapons were aimed at him, he was carelessly driving an electric scooter around with loud music and even singing along. No same person would even think of doing something like that.

"Okay, I am down!" Solomon called out over the blaring pop music. "What is the next step? Are you guys going to read me my rights, or are we just going to listen to the rest of this album together?"

"DEPLOY THE SUPPRESSION FIELD!" the commander barked into his radio.

A specialized tactical squad moved to the front of the barricade. They raised bulky, futuristic-looking launchers and fired three metallic canisters directly at Solomon’s position. The canisters clattered onto the asphalt and detonated instantly, releasing a thick, glowing blue mist instead of standard tear gas.

It was a localized Mana-Nullification vapor, designed specifically to scramble the internal pathways of Awakened individuals and prevent them from channeling aura or casting spells.

Solomon coughed slightly as the blue mist engulfed him, though his Convergence talent was unaffected by the artificial suppression. ℴ

Once the mist settled, a heavily armored, six-man apprehension team finally rushed forward. They didn’t just use standard handcuffs as Solomon was considered a boss-level threat.

They slammed Solomon face-first onto the asphalt, driving their knees into his spine. They aggressively clamped thick, rune-etched titanium bracers onto his wrists and ankles, locking the heavy restraints together with a magnetic tether.

"Suspect is secured!" an officer yelled, roughly hauling Solomon up by the back of his hoodie.

They dragged him toward the back of a heavily reinforced, armored transport van.

"Watch your head, kid," a burly officer sneered, violently shoving Solomon into the dark interior of the vehicle.

The heavy doors slammed shut, plunging Solomon into darkness as the transport van sped away from the intersection, leaving the electric scooter behind on the asphalt, still cheerfully blasting the final chorus of the pop song into the chaotic night.