Epoch of Twilight

Not long later, Minister Ren received a phone call. He left immediately after saying goodbye apologetically to Luo Yuan. As Hope City Organization’s deputy minister, he was usually stuck at work with very little spare time. It was impossible for him to spend his time there. Although Luo Yuan’s administration filling would have to wait, it was just a matter of formality, not a necessity. It would not affect Luo Yuan in any manner at all.

The Firearms Bureau became the concentration camp for the super evolved people, while the influence of Hope City remained limited. Luo Yuan who had a strong pair of fists was naturally a member of the department. Furthermore, the dynamics he had brought to the team within half a day had cultivated a force without his knowledge m. Besides Fang Peibin who became his apprentice voluntarily, his relationship with the rest of them was still weak. At least he had made his mark there, where nobody could isolate nor exclude him.

As Luo Yuan was trying all the training facilities in the underground gym, the Exo-suit surprised him.

The interior of the armor was made with a layer of soft, translucent silica gel while the surface was equipped with a great number of sensors. It looked normal from the outside, just like how an ordinary silica gel would look, which was elastic and extremely tough to touch.

It covered his entire body including his head. There was a filtered gas mask on the mouth and nose for breathing purposes. Apart from tightness in the chest, there was no problem in breathing at all. It was like putting on a thick sweater. The position for eyes on the armor was rings of oval, transparent crystals. Through the refraction of light, Luo Yuan noticed that his horizons had widened. Without turning his head, his field of vision was already almost 180 degrees. That was something new for him.

Unfortunately, the suit was incomplete. There was no battery, nor was there any ports for any power supply. He could not witness how powerful this suit really was. However, he was still able to move inside the suit and tried lifting his legs to move forward. Before his attempt, he was not aware how heavy the suit was. He then realized that it weighed no lesser than 200 kilograms to even take a step.

"Bang!" A loud thud was heard with his first step. It was an uphill task at first, but after a few steps, he picked up the momentum and was able to walk faster. The heavy footsteps were like a pile driver hitting the floor rhythmically, echoing in the spacious gym. Naturally, Luo Yuan’s energy was lesser than a ton. As carrying and lifting a ton was completely different, while having his other leg to support him while he walked, the effort that was put into it was lesser than he had imagined. With his +15 Strength, as long as he did not jump, it was plausible for him to walk comfortably.

Next, he experimented with the arms. The structure was the same as that of human arms. They were very flexible and allowed him to grab almost everything in sight. Luo Yuan could imagine that as long as one had the suit on, even a slightly trained person with a cold weapon would be able to fight mutated beasts of a light-green level and below.

Just when Luo Yuan was enjoying himself, a message from the system burst his bubble.

"Grade D+ mission: Rescue Wu Qianru, Wu Qianru has fallen. Mission failed"

"Time limit: 8 hours"

"Accept / Decline"

"A Grade D+ mission!?" He was ecstatic to hear that such a level’s mission had finally emerged!

Luo Yuan closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He realized that taking on a mission of such a level will not be as easy as he had imagined it to be. Since the apocalypse, he had never seen any dark-green level creatures before. He knew nothing about the attributes and abilities of creatures of that level.

"But, who is this Wu Qianru?" Luo Yuan then recalled the introduction that was given by Li Dong. Wu Qianru was also a member of the sword unit, who was on a mission with the vice-captain.

Luo Yuan rejected to take on the mission, as he did not want to be hasty. Everything was unpredictable. He did not even know where Wu Qianru was and had no idea what was going on. Furthermore, the time was insufficient. With only eight hours given, a tiny mistake could hold up the whole plan. If one failed a Grade D+ mission, the deduction of experience points would be just a small number. That would mean that the effort he had put in would have gone to waste.

"What do you think, master?" Fang Peibin asked respectfully. "Not bad, but it’s a little stuffy in here. Oh right, where did the vice-captain go? Why is he not back yet?" Luo Yuan asked. "They should be back soon, I think. They took the helicopter at 7 o’ clock this morning," Li Dong said with an odd feeling. "It’s just a small mission, intending mainly to train Wu Qianru, as she had just arrived here not long ago too."

Looking at Li Dong’s expression, Luo Yuan knew what was happening. There were more males than females in the group, ergo, the ratio was imbalanced. Naturally, the female members would be doted by the rest. It should have been a relaxing mission but unfortunately, a mishap had occurred. The vice-captain was predicted to be dead, and if he did not take any action, Wu Qianru would be dead in eight hours. From past records, Luo Yuan had never doubted the system’s accuracy.

He looked at the time and realized that it was almost noon. It was good news to him, as that meant that his destination was not too far away.

"It’s time for lunch, let’s go." Xie Junhui said, after looking at the time. A logistics staff ran towards them from the door. She was in a state of panic and was panting. "We have received an S.O.S from Ms. Wu!"

"What?" Everybody was shocked. Luo Yuan immediately asked," What time and which location exactly?"

"It was five minutes ago. Here are the coordinates, 83.57773E, 40.08503N!"

Apparently, the staff was trained well, as she could report the numbers fluently.

"It’s where the mission is!" Li Dong was worried," But isn’t that a common mission? The mutated beasts that they encountered were only of a level five. Oh yea, did you receive any signals from vice-captain?"

"No!" The staff shook her head. She looked upset.

"We have sent them a message, but have yet to receive a response."

"Maybe they haven’t seen it yet!" Xie Junhui tried to comfort himself.

To avoid any disturbance during the mission, mobile phones were prohibited for all members. The signals would be sent through their watches, and there would be no notifications, for neither outgoing nor incoming messages.

"What’s the use of talking so much now? Damn it, we only have two helicopters, but since the last crash, we are only left with one. Unfortunately, it has been taken by the captain. We’ll need another one." Fang Peibin said loudly while walking around in frustration.

It was scary when Fang Peibin was furious. Although he was not blaming the staff, her face turned pale," I will inform the military immediately!"

"There’s no need to trouble the military, I’ll go." Luo Yuan said suddenly. Everybody looked at Luo Yuan with curiosity.

"Mas... Master, it’s 400 kilometers from here in a straight-line distance. No matter how fast you run, you will need one to two days. By then, it would be too late." Fang Peibin explained to Luo Yuan, thinking that he did not know how far it was. "Actually, any distance is a straight line to me!" Luo Yuan said with confidence.

Before he could finish his sentence, an invisible force field spread out from his body. His body started to levitate. Everyone’s jaw dropped while looking at Luo Yuan levitating higher and higher defying gravity. The surroundings turned silent; they were shocked and did not move a muscle, akin to a solitary piece of rock.