Chapter 186

  Jake watched Johnny being escorted toward HQ. The two guards were oher side of him to make sure he didn’t make an attempt to flee. Johnny walked with an air of obedience, projeg ess to show he meant no trouble.

  However, Jake khat this outward pliance was a mask for something far more dangerous. Since he was pliant and wasn’t resisting, the guards were lulled into a false sense of security and didn’t restrain Johnny. They didn’t even bother to hold him. It was surely going to cost them dearly.

  Either his obedience had them fooled or they believed all the workers, including Johnny, were frightened into plete submission, being too afraid to rebel. With his hands and legs free, Johnny had a golden opportunity to turables and attack his captors. The only question was: whely was he going to make his move?

  Just wait until you’re inside HQ, Jake thought. Upoering HQ and disc the massacre he had caused within, the two guards would undoubtedly be taken aback. For a moment, they might even fet about Johnny, giving him a perfect opportunity to act.

  There were two bodies of guards sprawled he entrance door, with their ons lying on the floor nearby. If Johnny acted quickly, he could break away from the guards, grab one of the guns, and use it to kill his captors. What to do was another question.

  The door to the security trol room on the sed floor was left wide open, so if Johnny developed some hag skills, he might try to hato the puter and ge the behavior of the turrets to direct them to kill all the guards within the base.

  While Johnny was beio HQ, the gathering of guards he inactive ammo-produg mae was being dispersed by two of the base’s sub-bosses, Dominid Patrick, who were loudly berating them to stop loafing around a back to work. The guards, clearly relut, were beginning to scatter in different dires, dragging their feet as they returo their duties.

  Minh stood a short distance away, the se unfold with a detached i. He hadn’t bothered to approach the dormant ammo-produg mae, likely because he was fident that Dominid Patrick could mahe situation without his assistance.

  Stepping forward, Patrick retrieved a full mana crystal from his rucksack. With an expert flick of his wrist, he ied the crystal into the designated slot aered a sequence of ands into the trol panel. Almost immediately, the mae whirred to life, humming and vibrating as it resumed its produ cycle.

  The two guards esc Johnny to HQ almost reached their destination, and that was when Johnny decided to finally make his move. Having no idea what awaited him inside HQ, he must have thought he had much better ces of breaking away from his captors outside than within HQ’s walls.

  In a swift and powerful motiohrew his body to the side, colliding with the guard on his left. The bandit staggered back, struggling tain his bance, giving Johnny the opportunity to seize the sidearm strapped to the man’s hip. Pulling the pistol from its holster, he gripped it tightly in both hands.

  With surprising agility, Johnny leaped aside wheher guard tried to grab him. Dodging the guard’s reag hands, he poihe stolen handgun at the guard’s legs and popped off a few hasty shots. Screaming in agony, the bandit toppled to the ground.

  Johnny wheeled to face the uard and fired at him as well, hitting the bandit in the chest and sending him crashing to the ground. Both men were still alive, but Johnny didn’t bother to finish them off. Instead, he spun and raced across the base.

  Unfortunately, he didn’t get far. The gunshots eg throughout the base alerted everyohe guards quickly noticed Johnny sprinting across the pound and tracked him with the barrels of their ons. While some hesitated to fire, ed about hitting their own teammates in the process, those with a clear shot at Johnny took aim and pulled the triggers.

  The chattering of automatic fire reverberated through the air as rounds zipped past Johnny. Most of them missed him pletely since he was running fast, presenting a very hard target to hit. However, he wasn’t able to evade every shot. He stumbled when a bullet struck him, its impaog him off bance.

  Another o him in one shoulder, spinning him around and whipping him to the ground. Nearby shots kicked up sprays of dirt, eae creeping closer to where Johnny y. Desperate to escape, he attempted to crawl for cover, but then more rounds drilled into his body.

  Dominic yelled at his men to stop firing because they needed him alive. However, the cacophony of multiple automatic ons being fired at the same time drowned out his voice. It wasn’t until several seds ter that the gunfire finally ceased.

  Johnny y sprawled on his back, bleeding from numerous bullet wounds. Dominic shouted at his men to admiims to the mortally wounded worker, but by the time they reached him, it was too te—Johnny was already dead.

  Jake felt an unpleasaion rising inside him. He had never experienced anything like it before in his life as a mutant, and for a moment, he struggled to uand what was wrong with him. Then it dawned on him—he was feeling sadness. To his surprise, Johnny’s death shook him, leaving him feeling mournful. He realized he had been rooting for Johnny, hoping he would escape, even though he khe ces were literally ent. Now that Johnny was gone, a wave of frustration washed over him, which surprised him greatly. It was the first time he had felt sadness as a mutant. It came as a big surprise because he had previously thought such emotions were long gone due to his mutant nature.

  Then came the anger. Jake slowly rose to his feet, positioning himself at the very edge of the rooftop, gring down at the bandit base ten stories below. He uood anger—after all, it was the very first emotion he had ever experienced as a mutant and one he had occasionally felt ever since. Jake knew he couldn’t have helped Johnny escape, but that realizatiht little fort. His anger quickly escated into wrath. At that moment, all he wanted was to take oep forward, drop to the ground, and charge at the bandit base. He wao kill all the bandits within the perimeter walls one by one, ripping off limb after limb.

  That feeling of wrath threateo e him, and Jake had to summon every ounce of willpower to remain still. He khat he wasn’t in a dition to fight at the moment as his mana reserves were nearly depleted. He had just enough to maintain his Cloak, but it was far from suffit for a tough fight. He also had to remind himself that the turrets proteg the base were extremely powerful. Even one of them could do a number on him, and if all of them opened fire at the same time, he would be done for in no time ft.

  So Jake forced himself to stay at the edge of the roof instead of doing something he might regret. Resisting the urge to act impulsively, he kept staring at the base below and saw that the pickup truck drawing near had picked up speed. Its octs must have heard the gunfire erupting from within the perimeter walls and were hurrying to see what the otion was all about.

  The vehicle slowed as it reached the gap where the gates had oood. After exeg a turn, the pickup truck pulled into the base and almost immediately came to a halt. Miller and the two bandits he had taken with him jumped out of the vehicle and strode toward the guards who had gathered around Johnny’s lifeless body.

  Jake remaianding at the edge of the roof, his gaze fixed on the unfolding se below. He was eager to witness Miller’s rea upon disc what had taken pside HQ while he was away.