49 Apocalypse Rules

Chapter 314: Chapter 291: The Final Victor

TAP TAP TAP TAP...

The sound of frantic running came from Yelena’s feet. After escaping through the back door, she sprinted toward the nearest wall, her mind racing to analyze the situation.

Rijeka had set this trap for her, but their grandmother’s tacit approval alone wouldn’t have been enough.

Because her father would normally have attended this birthday banquet, but he hadn’t come. ’Was he lured away by Rijeka’s scheming, or did he also tacitly approve of this trap?’

’...Probably not.’

Yelena didn’t think her father would allow Rijeka to do this.

If her father had truly decided on a successor, he would have just announced it. He wouldn’t resort to such despicable tactics.

As their grandmother said, her father was a very proud man. Even if time had made him more composed, it wouldn’t change his fundamental nature.

She believed her father had been lured away by a joint scheme between her grandmother and Rijeka. The two of them wanted to use this window of time to create a fait accompli.

They must have thought that as long as they made her lose her ability to inherit, her father, despite his fury and dissatisfaction afterward, would be unable to punish Rijeka severely for the sake of the nation.

’So what I should do now is...’

SWOOSH!

Just as she reached the wall, someone vaulted over it from the outside.

Yelena was about to raise her guard when she saw it was her protector, Sikokun.

"Princess, are you hurt?"

"No, but you... your shoulder!"

Yelena noticed a large tear in the clothing on Sikokun’s left shoulder. The wound underneath must have been deep.

"It’s just a minor injury," Sikokun said.

In her haste to provide support, she had used a life-or-death fighting style to quickly dispatch Gaelic and his dozen or so men, but she had been injured and expended a great deal of Psychic Power in the process.

"Listen to me," Sikokun said quickly. "Rijeka is determined this time. Military personnel are already moving outside, sealing off this area."

"He actually dares to collude with military generals. It seems he’ll stop at nothing to see me dead."

"Yes. And I just tried—Teleportation Items can’t be used. He must have used special items or abilities to create interference in the manor and the surrounding area. He’s really spared no expense."

Items that could interfere with or disable Teleportation Items were extremely rare and expensive. For Rijeka to be willing to pay such a price meant he couldn’t afford the consequences of failure.

"Princess, I believe your father, the Governor, has surely received word and is on his way with reinforcements. What we need to do now is hold out until then."

As the two spoke, they could hear shouting from not far beyond the wall. The chaotic, jumbled voices suggested at least several dozen people.

Yelena frowned. "If we had enough Psychic Power, we wouldn’t have to run at all."

She believed that with her abilities, her mastery of Psychic Power Flow, and Sikokun fighting by her side, she had no reason to fear other Ascenders.

The only problem was that they didn’t have enough Psychic Power.

This was a major limitation for even the strongest individuals. No matter how powerful your abilities or items were, you could still be overwhelmed by sheer numbers.

Others could use their numerical advantage to trap you and wear down your Psychic Power with their lives. An Ascender without Psychic Power was like a Martial Arts master who had lost their protective Inner Strength—completely at the mercy of others.

And this was precisely the tactic that Sakura Prayer had wanted to use against Shadow. They just hadn’t realized that for someone like Shadow, who could store Psychic Power, this tactic was completely useless.

"Princess, you run in the opposite direction. I’ll hold back the enemy for as long as I can and buy you time," Sikokun said in a low voice, her tone filled with the resolve to die.

But Yelena rejected the proposal.

She would not allow Sikokun to die here for her sake.

In a flash, she remembered the item Guan Tong had given her before she left North Star.

She immediately took it out from her storage.

Sikokun saw the Energy Bar-like object and recalled, "Is that the Bystander Transformation Device your teacher gave you? But even if you can turn into a stranger, you’ll definitely be stopped if you run out. They won’t let any suspicious person go!"

Yelena blinked. "Who said I’m running outside? The darkest place is under the candlestick."

Sikokun immediately understood Yelena’s meaning. "I see. I get it. In that case, I’ll break out alone to make the enemy misjudge the situation."

"Okay. Be careful."

"Don’t worry, they won’t focus on me. Well then, there’s no time to lose."

Sikokun immediately vaulted the wall and ran, while Yelena used the item, her body and appearance instantly changing to that of a random woman in her thirties.

She quickly circled back to the house. Rijeka’s men were all searching the perimeter; no one imagined she would have actually run back.

After re-entering the room through the back door, she immediately saw the bodies of the assassins she had killed on the floor.

’Just as I thought...’

She had guessed that a person like her brother would be so focused on finding her right now that he wouldn’t bother with the bodies of his dead subordinates.

Yelena made a split-second decision. She went over and lay down on the floor, pretending to be one of the corpses.

Meanwhile, the search party on the perimeter couldn’t find Yelena at all. They only spotted Sikokun, who had jumped the wall and was fleeing the encirclement.

"Report, we’ve spotted Sikokun fleeing north. Should we intercept her?" a subordinate contacted Rijeka to report.

Rijeka asked, "Isn’t Yelena with her?"

"No, she’s alone."

"Idiot! Then what’s the point of intercepting her? Yelena is what’s important! Sikokun must be trying to lure us away... Yelena must have gone in the opposite direction!"

"Yes, sir! We’ll go look right away!"

Rijeka’s men, plus the military personnel he was secretly colluding with—over a hundred people in total—searched everywhere but found no trace of Yelena.

The perimeter was completely sealed, helicopters were dispatched, and teleportation interference devices were deployed throughout the area. There was no way Yelena could have escaped. So why couldn’t they find her?

A few minutes later, General Puli, who was in league with Rijeka, called.

The frantic Rijeka’s heart leaped with joy when he saw the number, thinking Puli had good news. He answered and immediately shouted, "Did you catch her?"

But the voice that came through the receiver plunged him into despair.

"Rijeka, you have committed a grave crime," his father’s icy voice came through. "I am now ordering you, in my capacity as the Governor of Sisiya, to cease all resistance, or you will be immediately annihilated."

The moment Rijeka heard his father’s voice, he knew it was over for him.

His plan had been to get rid of his sister, Yelena, before their father returned. But now, his father had already captured General Puli, and he couldn’t even find Yelena.

"Father, I..."

BEEP BEEP BEEP.

The call had been disconnected.

Rijeka let out a bitter laugh. Just then, his confidant, Gaelic, ran over.

He had previously been in charge of stopping Sikokun. After proving no match for her, he had fled. Sikokun, worried about Yelena, hadn’t pursued him, which was the only reason he was still alive.

"Lord Rijeka, your father’s men are here! Your sister still hasn’t—"

Before Gaelic could finish, he saw Rijeka collapse to the ground with a THUD, clutching his head with both hands, his eyes vacant. "It’s over, it’s all over... Gaelic, this was all your rotten idea! You’ve doomed me..."

"...No matter what, you cannot admit to it!"

"You bastard! At a time like this, you’re still—"

"Blame it on the Alien Spores of this rule!" Gaelic shouted, cutting off the furious Rijeka. "Afterward, you must tell the Governor that you were so desperate to win that the spores took advantage of your weakness and manipulated your thoughts! That’s the only way you’ll have a chance to survive!"

Rijeka froze at his words.

Just then, a large number of personnel entered the manor to lock it down, bringing everyone inside under control.

The father of Rijeka and Yelena, Governor of Sisiya Gutman Konia, arrived shortly after.

Upon seeing his father, Rijeka immediately began to plead as Gaelic had instructed. "Father, I didn’t mean to... It was because of the spores. I was being controlled by the spores..."

"Where is your sister?" Gutman interrupted.

"She... I..."

"Father."

Just then, Yelena walked out of the mansion, having already removed her disguise.

Rijeka couldn’t believe his eyes when he saw she had been hiding in the mansion the entire time.

’How is that possible! I saw her run out the back door with my own eyes. Even if she snuck back in later, how did she avoid being seen by everyone? There were people coming and going around the mansion the whole time!’

"As long as you’re all right."

Seeing his daughter was safe and sound, Gutman didn’t ask how she had evaded capture.

"Father, I need an explanation for this," Yelena said bluntly, her eyes cold.

As the ultimate victor of this struggle for succession, she made it clear she would not spare anyone involved, including her own brother and grandmother.

"You will get one."

...

「Antu City Public Security Bureau.」

In the bombing investigation team room, the investigators were stunned to hear Yoshino announce the martial law order.

"The order came from the highest-ranking officer," Yoshino said. "Starting today, Sakura Prayer is under full martial law. Civilians are forbidden from going out without reason. Sheriffs will be patrolling the streets 24/7."

The investigators were bewildered.

"But... why?"

"Did Banzhen find some kind of explosive?"

"No, this probably has nothing to do with our bombing case..."

"Chief Yoshino, what on earth is going on?"

Yoshino shook his head. He didn’t know why martial law had been declared so suddenly either.

However, he suspected it might be related to the infiltration case at the administration building.

Because of that case, headquarters had kept his subordinate, Suzuki, to assist with the investigation. Now Suzuki hadn’t returned, and the higher-ups suddenly declared a nationwide martial law... ’Did something go wrong?’

Unfortunately, he didn’t have the clearance to inquire about it.

"Alright, we just need to follow orders and do our jobs," Yoshino said, then turned to one of the investigators. "Has North Star sent over the information on Wu Wang?"

The investigator replied, "North Star sent some files, but you called this meeting before I had a chance to organize them."

"Just put them on the screen. Let’s take a look."

"Yes, sir."

The person projected the files onto the large screen in the office. Many videos appeared in a list format.

"North Star said these files were recently sent to them by Anonymous. The ’star’ of these videos is the very same Wu Wang we’re investigating."

Then, the videos were opened one by one.

After seeing the content, everyone in the investigation team fell silent.

After a long moment, someone finally managed to choke out, "This bastard... he’s just an inhuman demolition maniac!"

As their chief, Yoshino couldn’t help but feel a headache coming on.

He pressed a hand to his forehead, understanding why North Star had sent these videos.

This Wu Wang had been behind so many bombings, with countless victims. The relatives and friends of every single victim could be a potential suspect seeking revenge.

Under these circumstances, thoroughly investigating Wu Wang’s social connections was a fool’s errand. It was practically impossible.

"Chief Yoshino, how are we supposed to investigate this...?"

It wasn’t just Yoshino with a headache; everyone in the investigation team was dumbfounded.

"...I’m going to make a call."

Yoshino took a deep breath, stepped out of the room, and dialed the director at headquarters.

He had to request Suzuki’s return. Without her abilities to assist, it would be incredibly difficult to move forward with this case.

Once the call connected, he carefully explained the situation and made his request: "...If there’s been any progress on that case over there, I’d like to have Suzuki return to the Antu Public Security Bureau as soon as possible. She..."

"She’s not coming back!" the director roared, somewhat manically, before the line went dead.

Yoshino froze, stunned. He had no idea what was happening at headquarters to make the usually composed director lose his temper like that.

And what did the director mean, ’Suzuki wasn’t coming back’? ’Could it be that something really has gone terribly wrong with that case...?’

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