Volume One, Chapter 121: The Chase and the Escape

The figure emerged from the teaching building and headed toward the southwest side of the campus.

Mo De concealed his presence, trailing far behind. As he watched the man stride toward the southwest, his heart sank slightly. That direction led exactly to the guest apartments where the forty-member winter camp delegation was staying. Holding his breath, Mo De continued to follow, determined to uncover the man’s objective.

When the figure passed the guest apartments, Mo De breathed a quiet sigh of relief and pressed on. The number of students around dwindled as the man navigated a labyrinthine path, eventually entering a dense thicket between the south and west campuses. This area was remote; aside from couples seeking a secluded spot for a clandestine rendezvous, few ever ventured here at night. The campus lights could not pierce the heavy canopy, and the layered shadows seemed to harbor unspeakable secrets.

Mo De stepped into the grove, ears pricked and senses heightened. It seemed he wasn't the only one there besides the man.

A stifled, melodious moan suddenly shattered the silence of the woods, startling Mo De, who had been creeping along in a low crouch. The man ahead immediately sensed the disturbance, accelerated, and bolted toward the high wall separating the west and south campuses.

Realizing he had been exposed, Mo De abandoned all caution and broke into a sprint, giving chase. The young couple in the woods, spooked by the sudden rush of footsteps, hurriedly adjusted their clothing and fled. Hand in hand, they whispered to each other, deciding to forgo such thrills for a while; after all, there were risks in the wild, and one had to be cautious when "driving."

Meanwhile, the man vaulted over the wall after a few agile leaps and sprinted toward the area outside the school, with Mo De in hot pursuit. The chase led them out of the Third University of Ability and into the narrow alleys beyond. Mo De kept his focus locked on the man’s aura, tracking him no matter how fast or erratically he moved.

As they turned into another alley, Mo De sensed a sudden danger. He slowed his momentum and raised his arms to block a fist flying toward him.

The blow was heavy and powerful, sending Mo De reeling backward. Before he could regain his balance, the man’s follow-up attack arrived. In close-quarters combat, losing the initiative was a major disadvantage; Mo De was forced to dodge and parry, blocking a relentless tide of strikes. A faint golden light shimmered over his arms as he channeled his metallic ability, forming a defensive layer on his skin to dissipate the opponent’s brute force.

Seeing that he could not quickly overpower Mo De, the man let out a cold snort and attempted to break away. Mo De, unwilling to let him escape, lunged forward. Golden light flashed across his five fingers as he struck toward an opening in the man’s guard.

"You persistent pest." The man caught Mo De’s right hand, spat a vicious curse, and took a sharp step back, intending to hoist Mo De over his shoulder and slam him into the ground.

As his right hand was gripped, Mo De yanked his arm back to close the distance, simultaneously unleashing a secretly charged left punch. The man was forced to abandon his throw to block the sudden, rapid strike.

A heavy, muffled thud erupted where their fists met. The man released Mo De’s hand and used the force of the impact to propel himself backward. He crashed through several shop signs before vanishing into the night. Mo De felt as though his right hand had gripped a boneless fish; no matter how tightly he locked on, the man had slipped away.

Mo De chased for a few more steps, but his expression shifted. Eventually, he let the faint golden light around him fade and prepared to leave. The aura he had been tracking so closely had suddenly vanished, as if it had never been in the alley at all. With no sign of the man in sight, further pursuit was futile.

This was no place to linger, as the commotion had already disturbed the local shopkeepers and residents. Mo De slipped out of the alley, avoided the security cameras along the way, and returned to the west campus of the Third University of Ability. Back at the scene of the struggle, several shop owners were already outside, cursing and stomping about over their shattered signs.

...

By the time Mo De returned to the artificial lake, the crowd had dispersed and the arena lights were out. Mu Qing was leaning against the railing, waving at Mo De as he approached from afar.

"What happened? The matches weren't enough, so you went out for some real combat practice?" Mu Qing looked him over, immediately noticing the signs of his recent skirmish.

"Let's change first; I’ll explain when we get back," Mo De said, brushing the dust off his clothes.

They found a place to change back into their original attire and returned to the guest apartments. Once they were inside Mo De's room, he gave Mu Qing a brief account of what had transpired.

"I’ll go talk to Yueyue later. I'll tell her we found someone suspicious and have her notify the school to heighten security," Mu Qing said, rubbing his smooth chin in thought.

Mo De nodded in agreement. He didn't want to draw too much attention to himself, though as the champion of the Grand Assessment, he was already conspicuous enough.

After Mu Qing left, Mo De lay on his bed alone, hesitating for a long time before pulling out his phone. He unlocked it and opened the "Extradition System," hoping to find some clues among the vast ocean of intelligence.

Because of a previous piece of information from the system that had left him and Mu Qing wandering through the Lunar Tides for so long, Mo De had been wary of the app and hadn't opened it much lately. Unfortunately, after searching for "Third University of Ability," the results were either high-priced, red-flagged classified documents—like "Joint Research Project 35" or "Information on the Original Owner of the Tower of Enlightenment"—or trivial, scattered reports.

There were entries like "Surge in Feral Cats Outside the Research Building in the East Campus," "Suspected Unauthorized Filming in the Combat Club Activity Room," and "List of Candidates for the Next Batch of the Tower of Enlightenment." He even saw a title labeled "List of the Forty-Member Delegation for the North China Winter Camp."

It wasn't that the "Extradition System" was useless; it was that he lacked the foundational information to filter the right answers from the sea of data.

With a sigh, he closed his phone and went to wash up. Since Mu Qing was handling the notification to the school, he would leave the investigation of the suspicious figure to the Third University of Ability. Tomorrow was the first day of the winter camp, and he needed to rest and recharge.