Rulu sat inside one of the Rebels' armored transport vehicles as the convoy moved eastward. Along the way, Captain Guan periodically contacted General Li's forces to check on their situation.

  General Li's side reported that the Sanctuary had deployed heavy forces to block several key thoroughfares, cutting off all retreat routes. Their troops had attempted to break through multiple times, only to be driven back each time by the Sanctuary's forces. Under the relentless pressure of constant attack, their numbers were steadily dwindling, and if they could not break out soon, they faced the possibility of total annihition.

  "Commander, the situation on General Li's end keeps getting worse," Captain Guan said anxiously into the communicator. "What are we going to do? How do we save them?"

  "Don't worry. Give it a little more time. I promise I'll get General Li and his people out," Rulu said, completely calm.

  "But we're almost at the underground tunnel. The signal inside is terrible — once we're in there, we'll lose contact with General Li's side entirely. We can't keep putting this off."

  "Almost there already? All right — I'll start now."

  "That's a relief. So — what do we need to do?"

  "Nothing. You don't need to do anything. Just stay as you are."

  "Stay as we are? How is that supposed to save General Li's forces?"

  "Rex, Captain Guan. Just sit back, enjoy the scenery, and wait for good news from me."

  "Uh… all right… fine." Captain Guan said, only half convinced, and ended the call.

  The other Rebels in the vehicles had overheard the exchange, and quiet murmurs began spreading among them. "Hey, do you think that kid actually knows what he's doing? General Li's forces are so far away — how could we possibly save them from here?"

  "Right, and he says we don't even need to do anything. What, is he going to drive the Sanctuary's forces away with his mind? That's absolutely absurd."

  "If just sitting here could rescue General Li's troops, that really would be a miracle. It's just not possible."

  "My guess is he's pnning to sell out General Li's forces to cover his own escape. The coward. The liar!"

  "At this point, what's there even left to say? General Li's forces are finished. We're finished. Huaxia Nation is finished!"

  Sighs and ments rippled through the Rebels as despair set in. And then Rulu made his move.

  He left the interior of the armored transport and climbed up through the roof hatch onto the top of the vehicle. C.C., A-Niu, and the Sphinx, who had been riding in the same vehicle, followed him up and stood by his side.

  Rulu scanned his surroundings, then gazed into the sky. In the far distance, he spotted a small pink figure hovering in the air. He took out a megaphone he had prepared in advance, held it to his lips, and called upward: "Jason — I have a gift I'd like to send to your Governor Suwen. Come over here and receive it."

  Up in the sky, Jason heard the words and flew toward the source of the voice. When he saw it was the bck-cloaked Masked figure — with the Sphinx and the four-armed Minotaur at his side — Jason halted in mid-air, hovering at a great distance, watching from afar.

  Rulu raised the megaphone again. "Jason — where is your Governor Suwen? Where is he? Doesn't he want my gift?"

  Jason was baffled, having no idea what Rulu was talking about. But since Rulu had mentioned Governor Suwen, he opened a line to him: "Governor, it's me, Jason."

  "What is it? Has something new happened on your end?"

  "Well — the assassin who attacked you before just said something to me about wanting to send you a gift."

  "A gift? What game is he pying?!"

  "I'm not sure either. My guess is he wants to lure me closer so he can attack me."

  "Then ignore him. Keep watching the Rebels' every move over there, and report to me the moment anything happens."

  "Understood." Jason was about to end the transmission when Rulu's voice rose again from below: "Suwen — have you forgotten what the Emperor entrusted to you? Have you given up on finding the person the Emperor sent you to find?"

  Those words carried through Jason's communicator straight to Governor Suwen. The moment he heard them, Suwen snapped to attention. "Wait — what did he just say? Did he just say the Emperor?!"

  "It seems so," Jason said. "Something about a person the Emperor wants found."

  After a brief silence, Governor Suwen said, "What's the situation around that assassin right now? Who does he have with him?"

  Jason surveyed Rulu's surroundings from a distance. "The assassin has the four-armed Minotaur and the Sphinx with him, and… and a young woman with long hair."

  "A young woman with long hair?!" Governor Suwen's voice suddenly went taut with urgency. "Does she have any distinctive features?"

  "The distance makes it a little hard to see clearly," Jason said, "but her hair appears to be green—"

  "Green hair — are you certain? Are you absolutely certain it's green?!" Suwen's voice shot up in pitch.

  "Yes. I'm certain."

  "I… I finally found her. I can finally leave this wretched pce and return to the Sanctuary — ha ha ha ha…!" Governor Suwen erupted in barely contained excitement, his voice overflowing with etion.

  Jason said, puzzled, "Governor, what are you talking about? Why are you so excited?"

  "Move — now!" Governor Suwen barked. "Bring me that green-haired young woman immediately!"

  "Now?"

  "Yes. Now. This instant."

  Jason looked at the four-armed Minotaur and the Sphinx standing beside Rulu, and his face showed hesitation. "That may be rather difficult. They have numbers and strength on their side, and I'm alone. This isn't something I can manage on my own."

  "Useless wretch — and you call yourself a Level-Five Ultra-capable!" Governor Suwen snapped furiously. Then, after a beat, he continued: "Then send in troops. Send troops after them. You must intercept them before they reach the underground tunnel. If they escape through it and get out of Blue Sea City, it'll all be over."

  "That… also won't work," Jason said, deeply uncomfortable. "The Rebels will reach the underground tunnel in less than ten minutes. The forces we just dispatched will take at least another half hour to reach the tunnel entrance. I'm afraid we won't be able to cut them off in time."

  "Then she'll escape — no, absolutely not. I will not let her escape." Governor Suwen was growing frantic. "Quickly — send our troops to every entrance and exit of the underground tunnel! Seal them all! No matter what, they cannot be allowed to get away!"

  "Governor, that won't work either," Jason said. "Blue Sea City's underground tunnel system has over twenty entrances and exits. Deploying troops to seal all of them would consume a huge portion of our forces — and right now our troops are in the middle of fighting the Rebels. We simply don't have enough men to do it."

  "Forget about the Rebels' troops. Right now, the one thing that matters is sealing every underground tunnel entrance and exit. Everything else is secondary. I'll say it again — this is the top priority. Are you clear on that?!" Governor Suwen was practically shouting.

  "Y-yes, sir. Understood." Taken aback by Suwen's reaction, Jason issued the orders without fully understanding why the Governor was so fixated on this, and redirected the Sanctuary's forces currently engaging the Rebels, ordering them to make for the underground tunnel entrances and exits at full speed.