Absolute Gate

Chapter 34 Lion Grass Mercenary Group
A dozen minutes later, Luo Yi was driving his Mustang and was about to leave the city.

Xia Heng started frequently checking the rearview mirror, and Wu finally realized that someone was following them again.

"Which car?" Wu Zhong asked, glancing back from the back seat.

Luo Yi picked up a cigarette, thought for a moment that he was driving and didn't light it, but just put it in his mouth and chewed it: "Hey, don't bother looking, it's seven or eight cars away, it's that silver refrigerated truck in the distance."

Wu finally found it after a long time; the license plate was from Hunan Province, meaning they had been following the car since within Hunan Province.

Have you two fought each other?

"Ugh, a newbie who doesn't dare to fight me." Luo Yi picked up his milk tea cup, found it was already empty, and casually tossed it to the back seat.

Wu Zhong picked up the empty cup and sniffed, only to realize that Luo Yi hadn't been drinking milk tea, but rather baijiu (Chinese liquor)!

"Huh? You're drinking?"

Luo Yi hummed in response: "What's wrong?"

Wu Zhong's eyes widened: "No, you're driving! You're driving after drinking? Let Brother Xia drive."

Luo Yi chuckled: "It's nothing, it's nothing."

Wu was speechless. How could Brother Xia let a drunkard and mentally ill person be his driver?

Xia Heng said casually, "It's nothing serious. He's a very good driver and has an even higher alcohol tolerance."

"This isn't about alcohol tolerance; what if we get stopped by the traffic police?" Wu Zhong said excitedly.

Luo Yi lit another cigarette and chewed: "Where are the traffic police? Don't worry, I haven't drunk for twenty minutes. We'll just leave the city and get on the national highway."

Wu had no choice but to continue observing the person behind him.

They also found his bag inside the car; the pistol and the Laughing Grenade were still there.

After observing for a while, Xia Heng said, "He's still that newbie. His multi-faceted secret technique should be tracking type."

Luo Yi spat out the cigarette butt, lit another one, and chewed it: "Something like Qi observation."

"He must have sensed my overwhelming presence, as striking as a firefly in the night... "

Xia Heng rolled his eyes, then said with some annoyance, "Too many mercenaries have been sent out to search for us."

"Among them are methods of tracking by observing the aura. When we drive across provinces and bump into someone's family, there's nothing we can do about it."

“My multifaceted moments are always on. No matter how well I conceal them, you can still sense them if you get too close. That guy probably discovered it when he was cheering us on.”

Wu Zhong asked curiously, "Just one person? Didn't you say it was a mercenary group?"

Xia Heng nodded: "It's a mercenary group. So far, we've only found their scouts."

"So this guy only dared to follow, not to fight, because we were traveling at high speed before you woke up, so their main force never caught up."

Luo Yi chuckled: "After I found him, I led him to a park to play with him, but I didn't expect him to run away."

"Logically, he should have lost track of him, but he has managed to keep up now. He must be using a method of observing qi, and his perception is also very strong."

Wu pressed further, "How did you determine that it was a specific mercenary group?"

"Can't you be a lone wolf, flying solo?"

Xia Heng's tone was quite arrogant: "What kind of weak lone wolf would dare to wade into this mess?"

Luo Yi chuckled and said, "If you know each other, just say you know each other. Why pretend?"

Xia Heng curled his lip and said, "Lion Grass Mercenary Group, I've seen this scout before."

"Oh?" Luo Yi asked curiously, "When did you get involved with Reinhardt's group?"

"We met once." Xia Heng was unwilling to explain further.

Luo Yi didn't ask any more questions, only saying, "I don't think much of the other members of this mercenary group except for Liongrass Reinhardt."

Xia Heng pondered for a moment and said, "If it's domestically, it might be Matsutake leading the team."

"Matsutake's illusion magic is really troublesome."

"His illusions are extremely sophisticated, perfectly integrated with the current environment, making it impossible for people to distinguish between reality and illusion, and difficult to detect. He can even create multiple illusions, and ordinary methods of deception are useless."

“If we fall under the illusion spell, Xiao Wu, you’ll have to rely on yourself more.”

Wu Zhong pursed his lips. Him? How could he possibly fight against a group of veteran mercenaries?

But Xia Heng himself said it was very troublesome, so he had nothing to say.

Luo Yi glanced at Xia Heng: "Oh? Matsutake's multi-elemental magic includes illusions? I've never heard of that."

"How did you know? Old Xia, you've really changed a lot since we last met."

“…” Xia Heng paused for a moment, then said, “Although we’ve only been apart for half a year, a lot of things have happened.”

Both fell into silence.

Wu Zhong blinked, wondering what Xia Heng was like before, that made Luo Yi feel he had changed so much.

To break the awkward silence, he casually asked, "Um, does Master Luo have any connections to help me become an Awakened One?"

Luo Yi chuckled: "Why don't you let Yang Chunsha marry Lao Xia, and then you become their son? Wouldn't that solve the problem?"

"..." Wu Zhong thought to himself, how could he possibly rely on him?

Xia Heng is clearly more reliable. Even Xia Heng has difficulty becoming an Awakened One, let alone Luo Yi.

Wu said no more and looked out the window.

Suddenly, his pupils contracted, and the others in the car were also taken aback.

At the next bend, a group of traffic police were checking for drunk driving.

"what?"

Yang Chunsha patted Wu Zhong on the shoulder: "You really have a jinx."

Wu Zhong asked in a low voice, "What do you mean? Can we turn around?"

"We can't turn around." Xia Heng looked at Luo Yi: "Are you sure you can do it?"

"Just kidding, how long has it been since I last had a drink?" Luo Yi was indeed calm, showing no signs of drinking at all.

Wu Zhong glanced at the milk tea cup from before and couldn't help but grin: "How long has it been since you had any? You drank some before..."

Luo Yi ignored it, drove straight over, and pulled over to the side of the road as instructed, rolling down the window.

Seeing how cooperative he was, the traffic police saluted him and let him blow the whistle.

However, after Luo Yi took a breath, the breathalyzer beeped...

Wu Zhongxin finished speaking, because at a glance, well, the screen was all red.

The traffic police were stunned. 198mg/100ml?

"Please get out of the car!" The traffic police officer's voice even changed.

Luo Yi looked completely innocent: "Huh? I didn't drink it."

The traffic police officer was furious: "You still say you haven't been drinking? Turn off the engine! Get out of the car!"

He pulled the car door open, found the car keys, and held them directly in his palm.

Luo Yi got out of the car and spread his hands: "I really didn't drink it, it's a misunderstanding, the machine is broken."

Wu was speechless.

Several traffic police officers gathered around and asked him to move to the side of the road: "You smell like alcohol on your breath, haven't you had a drink yet?"

"I really didn't drink anything, the steamed buns I ate went bad and smelled bad..." The traffic policeman laughed in exasperation and took out a new blowpipe: "You won't admit it, huh? Fine, let's test you again."

"This is our disposable blowpipe. Open it in front of you."

Luo Yi spread his hands honestly: "Don't worry, I haven't drunk any recently, I'm fully cooperating."

The traffic police officer emphasized, "It's best if you haven't been drinking. If you haven't been drinking, you're a law-abiding citizen."

He changed the blowpipe and handed it to him: "Put the tip in your mouth and blow in at a steady pace... Blow air, blow..."

Luo Yi cooperated perfectly, and the sound of the beeping bells filled the air as soon as he blew it.

"Damn..." Wu Zhong was wondering what tricks he had up his sleeve, but he was just being stubborn.

The traffic police officer said coldly, "Your blood alcohol level is 100 milligrams per 100 milliliters of blood."

"This is far beyond the legal limit for drunk driving... You haven't even been drinking, but you've certainly had a lot to drink."

Luo Yi's eyes were clear, and he looked completely innocent: "Do I look like I've been drinking?"

"They drank it all. There's something wrong with your machine; it might be contaminated."

"I demand a blood test!"

The traffic policeman nodded: "Blood test, okay... take him to get his blood drawn."

Luo Yi was quickly taken away, leaving Wu Zhong stunned. He was really stubborn.

Other traffic police officers were questioning Xia Heng: "What is your relationship with him?"

Xia Heng calmly replied, "They're all friends."

Have you been drinking?

“The three of us drank a little bit this morning, but he didn’t drink anything because he had to drive,” Xia Heng replied calmly.

They were asked a few more questions and then stood by the roadside waiting for their turn.

Wu Zhong glanced at the silver refrigerated truck that had been following them; it had also pulled over for inspection.

The driver was a young man in a white shirt and suit pants, who looked quite refined and wore a pair of subtly flamboyant glasses.

He certainly hadn't been drinking; he was to be released after the test.

The reserved young man drove past the three of them, glanced at them, and his eyes met Wu Zhong's.

However, he did not flinch; his gaze was even somewhat defiant.

"Ouch..." Wu Zhong grimaced and watched him drive away.

The other party knew they had been exposed, so they didn't even change their car; this was blatant stalking.

"His teammates should be arriving soon."

Xia Heng agreed: "We didn't arrive before because we drove all the way to Chengdu without stopping."

"Now that you've had time to recuperate in the hospital and the delays on the road, you should be here by now."

Wu Zhong whispered, "We've been exposed. This group might have reported our location to the firefighters..."

Xia Heng reassured him: "If they were going to take action, they would have done so already. These guys are after you; they plan to secretly eliminate you and inherit your things."

Wu Zhong didn't know whether this was good news or bad news.

985 couldn't find them, but other mercenaries found them instead, and those mercenaries wanted him dead!

As they were talking, about twenty minutes later, the traffic police brought Luo Yi back.

The traffic police officer looked somewhat bewildered.

Luo Yi said arrogantly, "It's nothing, it's all a misunderstanding."

The other traffic police officers were taken aback: "What's going on?"

The returning traffic policeman pursed his lips and said, "His blood test was normal."

"Huh? He blew up a blood alcohol content of 198!"

"But the blood test results showed no alcohol consumption, so the manual testing machine must be broken..."

"But the rest of us tested normal."

"In any case, let's get a new machine."

The traffic police officers discussed among themselves and let Luo Yi return to the car.

"It was all a misunderstanding, let's go." Luo Yi's eyes were clear as he took back the keys and started the car.

The traffic police also instructed the others: "Although he didn't drink, you are not allowed to drink in the car either."

"I know, I know, I haven't had any for a while."

The others agreed and drove off.

Before long, they left the city and got on the national highway.

Wu Zhong couldn't help but ask, "What happened? The blood test passed! What did you do?"

Luo Yi said calmly, "I didn't tamper with it. There's no alcohol in my blood to begin with."

"The alcohol you drank so early has already been broken down long ago."

Wu Zhong was shocked: "You drank half a jin of baijiu, and only twenty minutes later your blood test showed it had been completely metabolized?"

"Twenty minutes is the time when alcohol has just begun to enter the bloodstream in a normal person, right?"

Xia Heng explained, "You said he's a normal person, so why isn't he a person?"

"Of the mental illnesses he contracted, five reached a severe level, which made his physique at least six times that of an average person."

"Note that this is comprehensive, with cell activity and the immune system more than doubling, reaching twelve times."

"Therefore, his liver can break down pure alcohol at a rate of at least 120g per hour...equivalent to breaking down more than half a jin of 50-proof liquor per hour."

"This liquor has a low alcohol content, and he deliberately drinks it slowly when he drives, so it's basically like water, and it's gone before it even enters the bloodstream."

Wu was speechless with astonishment.

Xia Heng continued to explain to him that the Mad Blood Clan gains an overall improvement in physical fitness for each type of mental illness they ingest.

This includes, but is not limited to, muscle power, neural response, sensory function, immune system, and cell activity.

Cellular activity and the immune system received the most boosts, while neural responses and sensory functions received the least.

But considering that his physical condition is five times that of an average person, it is still exceptionally terrifying.

"So it's based on type? If it's repeated absorption of mental illness, then it won't have any effect?" Wu finally pressed.

Luo Yi took out another cigarette, put it in his mouth, and chewed: "Yes, I only choose acceptable diseases."

"Repetition won't make you stronger, but repeated absorption of the disease can have a therapeutic effect, which is actually more useful."

"If I get injured, I can basically heal my injuries by taking drugs from two or three alcoholics who have severe withdrawal symptoms."

Wu suddenly realized: "So it's about adding attributes that don't repeat, but adding health that repeats?"

Luo Yi smiled: "Insightful."

……

　P.S.: Sorry.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)